by Dr. Jerry V. Teplitz
The Energy Doctor
Dr. Jerry V.Teplitz, The Energy Doctor, offers “10 Tips to Prevent the Afternoon Slump.” Here is the ninth TIP.
If you’re like two-thirds of the population, you’ve experienced the afternoon slump. You know the feeling…it’s mid-afternoon and you feel tired and drained and want to call it a day. While you still plug away at your work, you often find that you are not as productive as you need to be. You’ve hit the afternoon slump.
This drop in energy is not all in your head. It is a physiological response from your body. Fortunately, you can employ methods to reduce the slump’s frequency and to shorten its duration once it does start. Some of the methods work solely on the individual level, while others require a company-wide initiative. When you utilize these 10 tips and instill them in your office, you will replace the afternoon slump with a time of increased productivity. (First Tip: Drink water. Second tip: Avoid sugar and simple carbohydrates. Third tip: Eat small meals. Fourth tip: Evaluate your lighting. Fifth tip: Take walking breaks. Sixth tip: Meditate. Seventh tip: Take your vitamins. Eigth tip: Listen to some music)
Tip #9: Take time to breathe and stretch
Deep breathing is another way to give yourself an energy boost. Your cells require an exchange of air in the lungs to get the waste products out of the body. If you’re not breathing enough, you’re getting a build-up of waste products. By doing some breathing exercises during the day, you’ll get a lot more fresh air into your system, your cells, and your brain.
Try this exercise: Breathe in slowly, filling your stomach first, then the chest, and finally the shoulders while counting to seven. Then exhale slowly, starting to exhale at the shoulders first and finish with the stomach, again while counting to seven. Do this three to six times. When you do, you are dramatically increasing the exchange of fresh air in your body.
Equally important is to stand up and stretch. When you stretch and move, you not only increase the blood flow in your body, but you are also stimulating the lymphatic system, which removes waste products from your body and only functions from muscular contractions. So if you are sitting for hours at a time, you are actually building up waste products in your body. Do some stretches mid-morning and mid-afternoon.
Publishers Note: Dr. Teplitz is a nationally known lecturer and author and a specialist on meditation techniques. For more detailed information on Dr. Teplitz’s programs, to read a free monthly article, or to find the monthly Teplitz Email Reports visit www.teplitz.com; or email him at: Jerry@Teplitz.com