Try to manage your stress at work to avoid it getting on top of you
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Being in the office long hours and juggling a hectic home life usually means you don’t give yourself the attention you deserve, but for your mind to work at its optimum and you need a healthy and nutritious diet
For creative thought, good memory, and excellent overall health you need to feed your body and brain the finest nourishment. What you eat affects how you think, feel, remember, and can even increase your intelligence. These brain boosters will strengthen your brain, improve your memory and reduce the effects of age related illnesses like Alzheimer’s, stroke and dementia.
Try to include the following foods in your daily diet for their potent qualities:
1. Water, the key to stronger brain function, clearer thinking and increased concentration. Your brain tissue is around 85 per cent water so keep it topped up with six to eight glasses a day.
2. Fish is full of healthy omega-3 fatty acids which play a crucial role in brain function. The best sources are salmon, mackerel, herring, sardines, and anchovies.
3. Whole grains Brown rice, brown bread, and oats contain vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid, essential for protecting your memory, maintaining concentration and boosting blood flow to the brain.
4. Nuts are positive mood enhancers and enable you to think clearer, while pumpkin and sunflower seeds increase cognitive function providing a natural way to relieve mild depression and insomnia.
5. Green tea enhances memory and focus and fights mental fatigue, it also helps you relax mentally yet stay sharp at the same time.
6. Eggs are full of vitamins and minerals that help boost the memory centre in the brain – the first area to suffer in Alzheimer’s, try Columbus eggs for the best results.
7. Fruits, especially berries. Blueberries, strawberries and blackberries are full of antioxidants and redcurrants, kiwis, oranges and apples have vitamins C and E, and quercetin abound – excellent for brain power. Avocado contains monosaturated fat, the main requirement for a healthy brain and tomatoes release lycopene to help prevent free-radical damage – believed to be a primary factor in brain disease.
8. Vegetables, broccoli is a great source of vitamin K to enhance cognitive function and brain power. Red cabbage contains polyphenols to reduce brain cell damage, especially helpful in the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s. While aubergine keeps your brain sharp – its skin is the most beneficial part – and spinach can significantly improve your learning capacity and motor skills.
9. Yogurt, milk and cheese are essential for improving nerve function, alertness and memory.
10. Dark chocolate has powerful antioxidant properties and natural stimulants to increase endorphins that enhance focus, concentration and improve your mood.
What to avoid
Smoking
It causes a decline in your fertility, and increases the risk of cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s, not to mention the damage it does to your appearance and your pocket, so just give it up. According to Cancer Research UK 100 people are newly diagnosed with lung cancer every day and it’s the most common cancer in the world. Alarmingly only 7% of lung cancer patients survive for at least five years after diagnosis. But as soon as you stub the habit your risk of any smoking related disease reduces dramatically and keeps on reducing the longer you remain smoke-free.
Toxins
Daniele de Winter, best-selling author of Being Beautiful Without Botox and beauty entrepreneur says, ‘A glass of wine with friends relaxes you and lifts your spirits. By definition, this has to be good for you as anything that gives you pleasure also counteracts stress and increases your level of endorphins, which boost your immunity and balance your skin.’ Although that doesn’t mean you can go reaching for the bottle, ‘Alcohol severely dehydrates your body,’ she says. ‘It burdens your lymphatic system and is viewed by your body as a toxin that must be detoxified in the liver before it can be metabolised. It is also high in calories. You should never drink more than two glasses of wine a day’.
Eating any artificial food overloads your body with toxins and free radicals – putting pressure on your metabolism and increasing your levels of cortisol, the body’s stress and anger hormone, unwittingly adding to the stress you are under. ‘Processed, refined carbohydrates cause huge amounts of glucose to be released into the blood in one go,’ says Daniele. ‘Too much is toxic to our system and any excess will panic our pancreas into pumping large shots of insulin into the blood to mop up the glucose and make it into fatty tissue.’ So reduce the amount of refined food you’re eating including anything containing white sugar like white bread, sweets, cake and milk chocolate as well as fried food, pastries and white pasta and replace with the list of brainboosters.
Mind
You should flex your mind every day with crosswords or suduko challenges, your brain is a muscle, and you can grow your mental faculties as much as you want. The NHS advise that to improve your brain power learn new skills every day, try using a Nintendo DS with specifically created brain games including the Big Brain Academy and Mindstorm Train Your Brain, which are great for travelling to and from clients to expand your mind. New connections are created each and every time you remember something or have a new thought.
At Ragdale Hall, a health and hydro spa in Leicestershire, international fitness presenter and Health and Fitness Consultant Dean Hodgkin has developed a “mind gym” to give your brain a workout. ‘Since our aim is to nourish our guests in both body and mind the addition of this exciting facility is a natural progression,’ he says. They’ve included hand-held computers, space-age toys and a range of physical puzzles and books to challenge your brain. ‘We have created an environment where you can lose yourself for a while in concentrated thought, flexing your brain cells a little, but above all having fun. If you really do wish to age-proof yourself, don’t just try to look and feel younger, you can now actually think younger.’
Get some exercise
If you are a goal led person, why not transfer this way of working to your physical training? Think about signing up to a 10k run for The British Heart Foundation (www.bhf.org.uk), the Cancer Research UK Race for Life (www.raceforlife.org) or even a triathlon for The Red Cross (www.redcross.org.uk/triathlon). Accomplishments outside work will increase your confidence and enthusiasm in the board room, and give you more self-belief in what you can achieve. Doctors recommend 30 minutes of exercise a day, three to five times a week for the best results, which include; weight loss, increase in energy and confidence, improved eating habits, habitual sleep patterns, improved ability to cope with stress and better mood and concentration.
Trouble sleeping?
According to Mind, the leading mental health charity in the country, one in five people in the UK suffer some form of sleep disorder resulting in excessive daytime sleepiness – whether it’s sleepness nights worrying about work or being kept up by a snoring partner, lying awake is incredibly frustrating. According to the National Sleep Foundation getting enough sleep is even more important than regular exercise, ‘Daytime sleepiness lowers energy levels. Getting the proper amount of sleep each night is necessary to face the world with your best foot forward, all the jumping jacks in the world won’t make up for a night of tossing and turning!’ Sleeplessness is also related to malfunction of the “hunger hormone” according to leading sleep researcher Dr Neil Stanley. ‘Tired people eat more sugar, there is the physiological need for a sugar rush,’ he says. ‘Psychologically, you want a treat if you’re feeling sorry for yourself. What are you going to have at 11am – an apple or a Mars bar? Sleep is as important as diet and exercise and easier and cheaper to do.’ It’s when your body is given the opportunity to regenerate and prepare for the next day – you should aim for eight hours sleep a night. Occasional sleepless nights during stressful periods are no cause for alarm but if problems recur or continue for more than a few weeks, you may want to see a specialist.
For a better sleep:
• Go to bed and get up at the same time each day
• Only use your bedroom for sleep
• Avoid alcohol and nicotine in the evening
• Don’t take daytime naps for longer than 30 minutes, or between two and five o’clock and don’t nap more than four hours before bed
• Avoid caffeine for about three hours before bedtime
• Try to exercise a little each day, but don’t exercise in the three hours before bedtime.
Positive, mental attitude
All self help books have one thing in common; positive thinking. This is key to a healthier lifestyle, positive feelings encourage the release of feel-good endorphins and if you feel more contented on the inside you will project a happier, more approachable appearance on the outside.
Your emotional health is just as important as your physical wellbeing; you need to spend time nurturing it so you can remain focused, flexible and positive. Stress is the biggest threat, according to Mind 12.8m working days a year are lost to work-related stress alone, and 58 per cent of workers complain of job stress. If you’re constantly worrying, suffering from unexplained nausea or dizziness, feeling unusually overwhelmed or have lost interest in activities you previously enjoyed you might be chronically stressed.
However, a little stress can be a great boost when giving presentations or approaching deadlines, this is more often known as adrenaline. The hormone is naturally produced by the adrenal gland and stimulates heart rate, dilates blood vessels and air passages, and can make you jittery and feel on edge. It means you can cope better with dangerous and unexpected situations allowing your body to pass more blood to the muscles and get more oxygen into the lungs, increasing physical and mental performance for short bursts of time.
But beyond a point it stops being helpful and starts causing major damage to your health, mood, productivity, relationships, and quality of life. Chronic stress disrupts nearly every system in your body, it can raise blood pressure, increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, contribute to infertility and speed up the ageing process.
If you feel like stress is taking control, learn to manage it or eliminate whatever is causing it from your life. If you’re working unavoidable long hours use your breaks wisely – go for a walk or take time out to sit outside to top up your vitamin D. Simply being in the fresh air will make you feel much better. If you have taken on too much responsibility practice saying no and learn to prioritise to make your life more efficient. Keep everything in perspective and keep in mind the pleasure to be experienced in the simple things – laughing, being outdoors and reconnecting with friends and family. Under pressure, don’t turn to habits that may seem comforting at the time such as alcohol, caffeine, smoking and overeating, they will only damage your wellbeing in the long run.
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