Nutritional Secrets for Better Work Results
Performing well at work is about more than just doing the bare minimum to justify your pay. How effectively you function as a professional can impact how enriching you find your career and your ability to progress. It’s crucial to consider what else aside from your skills can affect your results.
One of the points of focus is nutrition. Your approach to feeding your body every day affects how well you perform. It influences everything from cognition to mood, all of which can impact your workplace activities. Let’s dive deeper into this idea and explore what positive nutritional adjustments you can make to boost your workplace efficacy.
Boosting Concentration
No matter how much you love your job, there will be times when your concentration will wane a little. You’re only human, after all. Sure, there are time-honoured ways to perk up throughout the day, like guzzling coffee. Few of these ways are healthy, so consider getting some energy-boosting nutrients to sharpen your focus.
Some of the areas to look at here include the following.
Hydration
It seems basic, but you must drink water to maintain concentration. Even mild dehydration can affect everything from your mood to your cognitive performance. As simple as this is, it can be challenging to get enough water intake. There are some solid hacks to help you drink more water every day that are easy to adopt into a daily routine. If you respond well to personal competition, you can set daily goals for yourself based on the recommended daily water intake. Just keeping a water bottle with you everywhere you go makes it more convenient to take a sip or two regularly. Remember that your phone can be set up to give you regular reminders, too.
Fatty acids
It has long been recognised that omega-3 fatty acids can support cognitive functioning. Incorporating ingredients rich in these acids into your meals can boost your concentration at work. The most common foods to find these in are fatty fish, such as salmon and mackerel. If you’re mindful of stinking up the kitchen on your lunch break, you can also get omega-3 from flaxseed.
Sustaining Energy Levels
Sustaining your energy throughout the day is essential to being a functional professional. Not to mention that it is pretty hard to be innovative when you’re flagging. With the best will in the world, your passion for your job won’t always produce the energy you need to thrive. Nutrition, on the other hand, is a reliable tool for enhancing mood and energy levels.
Many people make the mistake of relying on one vitamin for energy, such as B12. Instead, nutritionally balanced meals and snacks are the most reliable way to maintain energy. What do we mean by balance? Well, one of the effective approaches to balance is incorporating a range of complex carbohydrates, lean protein, and healthy fats into your consumption.
All of the nutrients play a role in keeping you healthy and energised. Complex carbs — like whole grains and vegetables — provide a slow release of glucose. Similarly, healthy fats from nuts and olive oil are slow-burning fuel sources that can maintain stability and prevent energy crashes. Proteins, such as eggs and chicken, can also help you feel fuller, minimising the tendency to grab unhealthy snacks that sap your energy levels.
On a practical level, it’s wise to prepare some healthy and balanced snacks to take with you to work. Some snack ideas are effortless to pull off. A small pot of toasted olives and almonds is quick to prepare and a great source of healthy fats. Edamame seasoned with salt or sesame oil can make for delicious, complex carbs. Planning these snacks throughout the week so you can take a few minutes to prepare them the night before work gives you the tools you need to thrive.
Managing Stress and Mental Wellness
Your mental well-being must always be a priority at home and work. Unfortunately, it’s not unusual to experience stress in the workplace. This doesn’t just disrupt your performance, either. There is increased recognition of the adverse health effects of work-related stress. The anxiety from high-pressure situations may aggravate digestive problems, such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Being overwhelmed by stress can also trigger mood swings and even lead to unhealthy habits like substance use and inconsistent sleep.
Maintaining your nutrition can be one of the most powerful tools you have to combat stress and its broader impact. Certainly, family dinner time can boost mental well-being through a combination of building relationships and sharing nutritional food. But what about at work?
One good step is to cut back on caffeine intake. Caffeine is a stimulant that is fine in small doses, but a recent report into eating and stress outlined that anything over 400mg a day can contribute to experiences of anxiety. This can exacerbate your experience of and response to stressful scenarios. Similarly, avoid eating too many sugary snacks as “comfort” food when work gets stressful. In the short term, sugars may affect your energy and mood, while in the long term, they can affect your overall wellness.
Instead, you can aim to eat meals and snacks with ingredients that reduce cortisol. Cortisol — the stress hormone — can influence mood swings, disrupt sleep, and affect blood pressure, among other effects. A balanced diet like the Mediterranean is known to lower cortisol levels. Fish high in Omega-3 acids, magnesium-rich foods such as spinach and quinoa, and legumes that are good sources of Vitamin B are promising areas of focus.
Incorporating the right nutritional elements into your everyday life can impact your work performance. You can influence everything from your concentration to your ability to manage stressful situations. Don’t just see this as a way to advance your career. Your nutrition is a holistic quality of life issue that ensures you can mentally and physically thrive long-term.