How do you get back to healthy habits after the vacations?

During vacations you usually go a little crazy, it's a time when deviations from the rational routine are the order of the day. There's no time to sleep, there's no shortage of opportunities for drunken meetings, and ice cream, waffles and tempting fast food seem to be ubiquitous. During your several days of vacation, you are free to indulge in dietary excuses and training rigor - "because if not now, when?".

---

Coming back to corporate life often makes you feel devastated? Difficult to pick yourself up and get back to healthy habits? - We are here to meet your needs. We briefly discuss the most important elements that contribute to efficient functioning and psychophysical well-being.

Sleep

From a general definition - sleep is a physiological state during which intensive regeneration of our body takes place. You should sleep 7-9 hours a night and wake up feeling rested. What is important in our daily rhythm is first of all making a habit of falling asleep earlier, because the best hours for regeneration of our nervous system are between 22 and 1 a.m. Going deeper into this topic we can see that functions which are influenced by sleep are much more complicated than we might think.

Sleep deprivation significantly disrupts the regulation of hormones responsible for the amount of food consumed: leptin, responsible for the feeling of satiety, and ghrelin, the so-called hunger hormone. After a sleep deprived night, appetite control may be significantly impaired, which will not be conducive to making healthy food choices. In addition, by regularly not getting enough sleep you weaken the functioning of many organs. If you suffer from hypothyroidism, unstable sugar metabolism, digestive problems, or are more prone to infections, perhaps you'll find better healing power in a longer night's sleep instead of buying more fancy supplements.

Nocturnal regeneration affects the functioning of our brain - it makes it work more efficiently. It's hard to deny this - you've probably experienced the so called brain fog being sleep deprived. So if you can't imagine a day of efficient work without caffeine boosters, it's a signal that it's time to normalize your sleeping hours and without a guilty conscience take short naps, which in crisis situations can be better than a double espresso.

Physical activity

In the age of sedentary lifestyles, moderate physical activity is the cure for most diseases and ailments of the 21st century. For office workers, movement will primarily prevent back pain, degenerative diseases and metabolic diseases. The overall list of benefits of physical activity is very long. Regardless of whether your way of spending vacations is lying on the beach or hiking in the mountains, make sure that movement accompanies you in your everyday life. It is not really about doing jogging training or going to the gym every day. As it turns out, a huge role on the whole-day energy expenditure and general good form has the so-called spontaneous physical activity (NEAT - non-exercise activity thermogenesis). Spontaneous activity, i.e. NEAT related - everything that is not sleeping, eating and training - can lead to an increase in daily energy expenditure by up to 2000kcal. That is, you can legitimately eat more and not get fat or even lose weight. You can increase NEAT by, for example, arriving at work by bike, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, walking while talking on the phone, or taking an active break from sitting - some simple exercise instead of the standard socialmedia review.

Healthy diet

A nutrient-rich (not to be confused with energy-rich) diet is an essential pillar of good form. Without a proper, balanced diet you will not have the strength to undertake physical activity and it is possible that you will sleep badly.

In order not to succumb to seemingly innocent temptations in the form of cookies, sticks, chocolate, etc., impose a certain rigor on yourself - plan your menu and a list of necessary products. When you know in advance what you can compose healthy meals of and which products to avoid, you will not be tempted by "forbidden" shelves in the store, chips at a party or cookies, which are offered by your colleagues. Sometimes caring for a healthy diet can seem time-consuming - nothing could be further from the truth. Make your life easier - you don't have to prepare everything yourself. There are quite a few products on the market today that in terms of quality and nutritional value can be a healthy snack or even a balanced meal. Freshly squeezed juices, bottled smoothies, cocktails, salads or, for example, bars made of freeze-dried fruit - it is worth looking for such an assortment in nearby stores, which you can reach for without worrying about the quality of your diet.

More about how to compose a rational menu and how to take care of hydration issues will learn in the next articles of this series. In soon to be held webinars we will discuss the basics of diet and dispel your doubts about the ubiquitous diet myths. In addition, we'll inspire you with healthy recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and legal sweets.

We'll give you tips on how to take the right direction - the direction of health ☺.

Motivation and social relations

It may be a good idea to infect those around you with good habits. This will make it easier for you to stick to your resolutions related to diet, exercise and proper daily rhythm. If your company at work starts to pay attention to the issues of healthy eating, you will be able to support each other by preparing for work legal snacks or exchanging fit recipes. Active leisure time can be combined with social events or family meetings. A bicycle trip, a shared walk or a group organized "active break" at work - these are simple ways to combine business with pleasure. The company during an activity always has a motivating effect and helps to overcome moments of weakness and laziness.

P.S. When it comes to taking care of your diet, it's worth showing others that healthy food can be tasty and easy to prepare. Many people live in the belief that dieting is rigor, small portions, lettuce, sawdust, tasteless foods...

If, like us, you have a different opinion - try to create proposals for your colleagues. Take part in the competition and create a tasty diet plan, taking into account its value and impact on the body. Details and rules of the contest are coming soon.