If you feel that your health is out of balance, it might be time to FESS up and put simple steps in place to get you back on track.

Food

Markers of imbalance:

Irregular meals, skipping meals, eating on the run, food coming out of packages (typically processed), not enough real colours (especially greens), can’t recognise the ingredients?? (too much processing).

Tips to get you back on track:

Plan meals in advance.

Have healthy snacks prepared for those little time management emergencies: Zip-lock bags with nuts and seeds, a piece of fruit, a good quality protein bar (even better if you made it yourself!).

Get to know healthy food outlets in your vicinity or regular travel destinations.

make sure you can recognise the ingredients, and that they look like you could grow them yourself!

Exercise

Markers of imbalance:

you haven’t moved in a while!!; lots of uninterrupted sitting time; you can’t remember when your breathing and heart rate got elevated last; you haven’t sweated in a while!; your  body is feeling stiff; you feel lethargic.

Tips to get you back on track:

Don’t feel that you need to set long periods of time aside for exercise – your body just NEEDS to move! so how about you get up and down from your chair ten times?!

Set an Outlook reminder every 30 minutes to get up, get a drink and stretch your legs (yes, it will drive you nuts, but that is the aim!).

If at your desk, everytime the phone rings, get up to answer it.

If watching TV, get up during the Ad breaks! How about a couple of squats or push ups? (it’ll add up over an hour!!)

Stress

Markers of imbalance:

You feel stressed!! Tasks seem out of control; all your thoughts are about what needs to be done, or could have been done better; you think about these things when lying in bed, and first thing in the morning; you can’t remember when you last did something for yourself!

Tips to get you back on track:

Take time out daily to do something relaxing. This may be a casual walk or your favourite hobby.

Get a massage regularly.

Use relaxation techniques at night before you go to bed.

Identify the things that worry you – then try to work out the real reason why they worry you? What is the worse thing that could happen if that thing was realised? Often the consequences are not as bad or serious as we build them up to be!

Remember that if you are not at your best, you will never be able to give your best!

Sleep

Markers of imbalance:

Getting less that 6 hours of sleep on a regular basis; having very irregular bed times; regularly working (or watching TV, etc) late into the night); waking frequently at night; actually getting too  much sleep (more than 8.5hrs on a regular basis); having to take sleeping tablets to get to sleep or stay asleep; being tired and fatigued during the day; craving sugary foods.

Tips to get you back on track:

Make sure you value your sleep! it is not an inconvenience that robs you of time – this is the time when your body and brain rebuild, recharge and repair themselves to enable you to perform at your best!

We find the easiest (although slightly painful for a few days) way to set a regular bed pattern is to get up at a regular time in the mornings (your going to bed time will tend to fall into line pretty quickly!),

Don’t work until just before going to bed (your brain will still be processing this information)

Try reading a light novel before going to bed (or a statistics book!).

Don’t eat too closely before bed – the digestion process can elevated your body systems!

Exercise on a regular basis!

Invest some resources in time and stress management strategies.