ACup of Tea and 8 Ways to Restore your Energy Everyday
A Cup of Tea and the 8 Ways to Restore Your Energy for Increased Productivity and Well Being
By Suzanne Saxe-Roux, Ed.D. PCC
Many years ago on my first trip to South Africa, I was driving across the country with my new in-laws and the car broke down in the northern part of Lompopo on the way to Kruger National Park. My first instinct (being an educated young American) was to figure out where the nearest garage was and get the car fixed. My sister-in-law, however had a different idea entirely. “Let’s go across to that café and have tea and we will rest and then decide what to do.” I remember thinking she was crazy. Who wants tea when you need to take action. Slowly, over the years, I have seen this repeated with my husband, daughter, and in-laws always calling for tea before major decisions were to be made. Soon, I came to be a believer in this cultural habit, backed, by science which says, the process of making and drinking a cup of tea boosts mood and tends to enhance creative problem solving.
In today’s world, tea however, might not be enough to restore yourself when exhaustion hits, emotions are high, energy is drained, creativity wanes, and zoom calls never seem to end. In my research on this topic, I came across Saundra Dalton-Smith, MD’s, article on The 7 types of Rest that Every Person Needs in which she differentiated the need for 8 hours of sleep from rest. Adapting her idea and taking it a step further, I am presenting 8 types of ways to rest or restore yourself that will strengthen your productivity, efficiency, focus, relationships, and happiness.
As we continue through these challenging times it is more important than ever to be in our best form to handle everything that is thrown our way at work, home, in our communities, and the world. Being in your best form means you are well-rested to make strategic decisions, lead remote teams, solve problems, create innovations, improve processes, achieve results, manage the complexities of working from home, home schooling, caring for elderly relatives, dealing with high emotions, demands, financial and health issues and more. Given that we have roughly 8 hours of sleep and 16 waking hours each day, the question we need to ask ourselves is are we allowing ourselves ways to restore our energy and wellbeing at the right time in order to be our best selves.
Replenish the Body
Replenishing the body as described by Dr. Dalton-Smith, includes two types of Physical Rest; active and more passive.
Physical Rest
The one we most often think and worry about is sleep.
We can easily count how many hours we slept or didn’t sleep and often feel the results throughout the day. If we are lucky enough to get a solid 8 hours of deep sleep, we feel great, but if not, consider allowing a power nap between noon and 3 pm for 20 minutes. The experts say 20 minutes allows our brain to go from Stage 1 sleep to Stage 2 when we slowdown brain activity. Longer than 20 minutes can lead to grogginess and later than 3 pm can lead to difficulty sleeping at night. Remember, many Mediterranean cultures engage in power naps for a reason, they work.
Rest for the purpose of Relaxing is the second type of Physical Rest. Relaxation may come in the form of meditating, deep breathing, sitting quietly, stretching, engaging in yoga, getting a massage, or taking a stroll in the fresh air. Often, we think of sitting in front of the TV with a glass of wine as relaxing. In reality, it is stimulating our minds and our body and not providing us with the true feeling of restoration we desire.
Consider the time of day in which you feel tired or physically fatigued. What could you do to take 10-15 minutes of Physical Restoration to rejuvenate yourself and be present for the rest of the day?
Replenish the Mind
Give your Brain a Break
You know it is time for a mental break when your mind won’t turn off, your easily distracted thinking of what else you need to do, your ability to listen to others falls short, or you wake up remembering something you forgot to do or have to do. Any of these symptoms are a sign it is time to rest your mind and replenish your brain for clarity and concentration.
Below are two methods to easily rest your mind and replenish your brain of needed endorphins.
Technique #1: Repeated deep breaths will naturally bring your heart rate more in sync with your breath. This leads your brain to release endorphins, which are chemicals that have a natural calming effect. If you need more energy, deep breathing increases our blood flow and increases oxygenation leading to more energy. The Box method taught in the armed forces is the fastest way to rest your brain and is very useful for calming your mind and improving concentration.
· Breathe in through your nose while counting to four slowly. Feel the air enter your lungs.
· Hold your breath inside while counting slowly to four.
· Slowly exhale for 4 seconds.
· Hold your breath again for four second
· Repeat 3 times.
Technique #2: Take a Walk in Nature
If you have more time, change your scenery by going out for a walk, preferably in nature. Nature is a natural restorative. Getting outside and being in nature, or even viewing scenes of nature, reduces anger, fear, and stress and increases pleasant feelings. Exposure to nature is a healer of physical and emotional stress and more and more research is finding evidence that being in nature has a profound positive impact on our brains and our behavior allowing us to reset stress levels.
Inspirational Rest
The second type of mental rest focuses on finding inspiration through the beauty around us. Being plugged into a computer screen for hours at a time does not inspire great ideas but taking time to activate your creative mind can make all the difference in your ability to creatively solve problems, innovate, and see beauty in the world. When you need an Inspirational Break, consider some of the following ideas:
· Let your mind wander. Brainstorm lots of ideas without immediate critique
· Practice mindfulness by removing distractions, deep breathing, meditation, journaling
· Look at some paintings (or better yet paint a painting), read a novel, watch a show, listen to music, dance or, take a walk in a beautiful location
Replenish your Heart
Engage in Supportive Connections
Are you engaging with people who make you laugh, smile, feel good, and rejuvenated? The bottom-line is we can get exhausted by hanging out with people who zap our energy and are critical, non-supportive or emotionally tiring. On the other hand, people who build us up, we can be authentic with and enjoy being around open up our heart for love, healing, and connection.
· Pick up the Phone and call someone with it being scheduled. Hangout together virtually until it is possible to get together
· Change up the conversations you have at home (or in your bubble) with your family/friends. Ask everyone to make a list of questions they have and put it in a bowl. Pick one question at a time and discuss it until it is complete. You’ll be surprised how great questions can increase connection.
· Tap into people who support you and build you up at work. Make regular times to talk with them as you would be if you were in the office. Pick their brain on ideas and share what you are doing. Talk about the best Netflix you have watched recently or Podcasts you are listening to. Share as you would around the watercooler.
Getting Spiritual Rest
This type of rest is the time in which you see beyond yourself and to connect to a deep sense of purpose, belonging, love, giving of yourself or perhaps a higher power. There are many ways to get your spiritual rest from formalized religion to meditation, yoga, giving your time to others, praying, studying spiritual teachings, listening to spiritual podcasts/videos, taking walks in nature and more.
Moving Away from Sensory Overload and Feelings
Take a Break from Technology
2020 was the year of increasing use of technology and Zoom Fatigue. Back to back video conferencing calls plus phone screen, Netflix, and family Facetime has caused enormous amounts of sensory overload and exhaustion. The negative effects on the eyes, neck and back, sleep, and distracted mind are well documented. Take time away from any and all screens and de-plug. Give yourself a rest from technology and especially the screen. Make Sunday from 10-5 “family time with no screens” or establish activities for yourself that take you away from the screen and technology. Find time everyday to embrace an enjoyable activity that does not include technology, such as; painting and drawing, crafts, movement, outside in nature, sports, gardening, cooking (if not a chore), and writing with paper and pen.
Take a Break from unhealthy emotional energy
Are you able to be your authentic self and talk to others about what is really going on? Do you have the bandwidth to be both compassionate to others and yourself? If not, consider when you are expending emotional energy to make others happy to the detriment of yourself. For many people, this often comes in the form of saying “yes” to everything. As human beings, we hate to say no as we don’t want to be rude and we often want to be helpful. When people ask us for help, we immediately way the options on how we will be perceived by others versus what the impact will be on ourselves. The next time you find you are expending energy doing something you don’t want to do or with someone you don’t want to be with, instead of saying “yes” consider offering options to the person without saying “yes”. Alternatives might be letting them know how much confidence you have in their judgment, suggestions for other resources available to them to solve a problem, or that you would like to help, but it isn’t possible this time. Alternatively, do say “Yes” if it recharges you or makes you happy, but not if it drains your energy and makes you feel resentful.
Get some rest in the ways that are most helpful to you
At the end of our roughly 16 hour waking day, we have to determine how to not just use our time wisely, but how to keep our energy high and use it productively and with joy. When you feel depleted, low energy, disengaged, and lethargic, think about the different types of ways to restore your energy. Pick one at a time and see if it makes a difference. Oh, and by the way, my sister-in-law would say, a cup of tea goes well with all kinds of rest.