It isn’t easy living a 9 to 5 type of life, especially when you live in a large city and autumn is setting in.
Talk about rubbish summers, this has got to be my number one worst – a few sunny days scattered about like drops of water out of a teacup hitting the Saharan sand. At least we got to enjoy the light mornings and light evenings, but now they too are disappearing so getting up for work now can be severely depressing.
What you need is a programme to get you into the swing of things by increasing your energy levels. How can you do that? Exercise.
It doesn’t mean you will have to start jogging to work, nor does it mean you will have to take out a gym membership (although both would help), just do some simple exercise for at least 30 minutes each day. You need to do cardiovascular or aerobic activity to increase your blood flow which in turn sends more oxygen around your body to feed your vital organs and muscles. This helps increase your energy levels, something so simple works so well.
Find an exercise that suits you, obviously if you suffer from a bad back don’t do something which could trigger unneeded pain or injury. Remember, the exercise doesn’t need to make you sweat, it could be just a few slow squats with arm movements combined or even just slow-motion jogging on the spot, they’ll all get your blood pumping.
You should also look at the way you are sleeping as you spend a long time in your bed. Check your pillows, are they comfortable? Are they disturbing your sleep? Is your bedding keeping you warm all throughout the night or do you tend to wake up due to a draught?
Philips have a wake-up light alarm clock/radio on the market which turns on its 100 watt soft white light bulb gradually about 30 minutes before the alarm goes off. I’ve tried it for a few days and it gets the thumbs-up. Instead of the intrusive beeping alarm you dread to hear each morning you can choose the sounds of twittering birds, jungle noises, the ocean or just your favourite radio station. By the time the alarm goes off you will have a room full of light and your eyes will already be somewhat adjusted to it. Rise and shine, it’s like having your very own personal summer throughout the dark months.
The Philips Wake-Up Light can be used as a reading light also and has an easy to read LCD screen. Its RRP is £100 and can be bought from both Argos and Boots.
Still not feeling refreshed? Don’t stay in the office eating your lunch, get out and take in some fresh air, play around in the leaves (or snow) and be part of nature – you’ll be surprised what a difference it will make to your energy levels.
If you can, walk more often, perhaps take the bus or tube from a little further away. Why not even cycle to work.
See it as a new season’s resolution (because the new year’s resolution never happens), jot down a programme for yourself you can gradually fall into. Start if off with some easy tasks and increase the routine in difficulty every two weeks.
