According to a report published by Healthline.com on depression, about 80% of people who are depressed do not receive treatment for this serious mental illness because they simply aren’t aware of it (since they may not show obvious symptoms) or do not have the initiative to address it. Of course, it’s no surprise that depression can weigh down productivity significantly, but let’s take a more general stance towards the issue.
It’s a given that anything you do will take a productivity hit if you’re not healthy – just think about going into work sick and you’ll quickly realize how this is true. But the problem here is that there is often a whole host of subtle things that affect your health and mental well being that may not be as obvious as an illness. When the cumulative effects of all of these small, originally negligible environmental and social factors impacting your health add up, they can become a big drain on your ability to market and sell something smoothly.
Here are some small things you can do that can have big blanket changes towards your health and really help you succeed and excel at your marketing job as a result.
Stand
What I mean is literally get out of your chair and stand up for a few minutes after sitting down for a couple hours at a time. Research shows that an overly sedentary lifestyle can engender an entire range of health-related issues since it: “increases the risk for developing dozens of chronic conditions, from cancer and diabetes to cardiovascular disease and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.” Standing up for a few minutes at a time is something that everyone can easily do.
Run
I know the first inclination of most people when they wake up in the morning is to snooze the alarm or try to get a few more minutes of rest. Staying in bed and then jerking yourself awake a few minutes later is not the best way to get yourself in a productive mindset in order to start your day. Going for a run or a light jog is the easiest way to break yourself out of a slothful morning routine or mid day burnout during lunch. Exercises like running have positive benefits for your cardiovascular system, alertness, and focus.
Trust Your Gut
By trusting your gut, I mean that you should pay much more attention to your digestive system. Having indigestion and related digestive and excretory problems can really put a big dampener on your ability to continuously focus on one task at a time. It also impacts your nutrient absorption and mood. Getting an appropriate amount of fiber either from natural sources like fruits or vegetables or from powder supplements like Benefiber can help your digestive system reorient itself and function more properly.
Flux
Flux is actually a software that can help you fix a messy sleep cycle. As it turns out, if you are staring into your computer’s screen well into midnight, the blue light that comes off of the screen will prevent your body from producing the sleep-inducing or regulating hormone called melatonin. Flux helps by reducing the amount of blue light emitted from your screen and gradually changing it to orange according to the time after dusk.
Take a Break
While it sounds counterintuitive, taking a break after working for a long, unbroken period of time can really help reset your productivity and help you feel refreshed. Taking time off is a powerful strategy that can help you get a new perspective on things, and sometimes the solution to an incredibly difficult problem will pop into your head after a good nap.
Social Interaction
Marketing is a fundamentally social endeavor in that you’ll usually be dealing with people when you’re pitching a product or service to them. Therefore, it makes sense that talking and interacting with people in the workplace might help you sharpen those important social skills as well as your sense for people. Furthermore, did you know promoting social interaction and clear role hierarchy has benefits on worker productivity?
Drink Water
This is a big one. You know that feeling you get when you’re sort of down but you don’t really know the reason for why? That’s probably because you’re dehydrated. It sounds implausible, but research has shown a possible link between dehydration and decreased cognitive abilities.
Go Outside
You’d be surprised at how much of an impact going outside for a few minutes on a sunny day can have on your attitude after you’ve spent four or five hours in a cramped, air-conditioned cubicle. Spending some time in nature looking at the trees and inhaling some fresh air can help restore your mental energy and help you relieve stress as well.
