Ergonomics and lighting both help with efficiency in the office and creating a functional place to work. They, however, do very little for your actual workspace and your ability to get the most amount of work done to perfection – that’s where brain health comes in. The real workspace you need to be concerned with is the six inches between your ears, where all the magic happens before it ever goes on paper or into the cloud. That supercomputer you call a brain is 3 pounds of fat, water, and nerve tissue that needs to be fueled, stimulated, and rested so it can work fast and error-free.
How Brain Health Can Bring you Success in Business
Fueling Brain Health
Believe it or not, your brain consumes a massive amount of calories, oxygen, and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) as you ask it to multitask on multiple projects, random texts, that cat video, and keep you alive at the same time. Over the course of an 8-hour work day, it will burn through 128 calories and close to 400 calories for the entire day, not to mention the massive amount of B vitamins, magnesium, and other micronutrients it uses as stress demands go up.
You hear about electrolytes as a necessary thing for sports performance, but they are even more necessary for job performance. Water and basic minerals (magnesium, calcium, potassium, sodium) will keep your brain lit up so you can think clearly. Becoming just 1% dehydrated will reduce your brain function by 10%, so make sure to keep your glass filled with mineral rich water and your body filled up with nutrient dense organic foods.
The Physical Components of Brain Health
Stimulating your brain is normally done with that black elixir of the gods called coffee and it will help in moderation, though it is far less effective than talking a walk. Exercise creates a 10–30% increase in brain activity and concentration as opposed to 5% with stimulants, and it will burn more fat off your butt as well. Your mind and body are connected, so make sure to keep your body in motion so your brain won’t come to a standstill and freeze up.
Move your body every day for success in all aspects of life. The more you start to move your body, the more it will be able to move, and the more you will want to move it. Use the tool of better nutrition to help you evolve into the best of yourself, rather than dissolve into nothingness as life wears your health away.
Don’t forget that your brain needs a little time to compile information and dump unneeded information so it can work efficiently. Make time to take short breaks during the day and get your sleep every night, or you will be 10% less efficient for every hour lost and need an extra 20% more calories – that will not look good on your waist or within your bank account.
Diet and Nutrition in Brain Health
Learn how to use the tools and rules of better nutrition to improve your health and daily life. Nutrient-dense meals can be a great motivator and an even better measure of success when using it to improve your life by making it a part of your world, rather than allowing life to dictate what happens in your diet. Be in the minority that uses better nutrition to be a positive influence in the lives of others, and let it show through your healthy life, body, and attitude.
Eat well and learn how to do it to keep your energy and strength up, as life can get harder and harder the further you move into improving yourself and your health. The ability to achieve more will help to build a better life and improve self-esteem as you fuel your success with every bite. This one thing will feed your health just as it will starve out disease and protect your wealth.
Include the Human Factor
Find the groups and people online – and more importantly in real life – that will help support the life you want to live in the real world by giving you team to join and win within health. This one thing can be the ultimate secret to your success in living a better life every day.
One final thought to improve your health before the spring ends and the summer begins. Learn how to improve, get up and move, eat only the best, do all three as needed, and make sure to get some much needed vacation time to rest.
Are you giving your brain the nutrients and rest it needs to be successful?
