We live in the era of the hustle culture. As the world moves at an ever-increasing speed, overworking, workaholism, moonlighting, and more are becoming popular among the newer generations. Everyone is being taught to celebrate and pursue the hustle culture. While this might make one feel productive and accomplished, in the short term, it is not sustainable and has negative effects in the long run.
People sometimes forget that your career and work isn’t a sprint but a marathon. More importantly, to run a marathon comfortably, you must have exceptional stamina, endurance, and practice. In essence, you need to have a healthy lifestyle to accomplish your goals truly. But people get too busy to understand this simple reality. So how does being too busy affect our mind, body, and soul?
Harmful Effects of Being Too Busy
Chronic Stress
When you work continuously without taking sufficient breaks and revitalizing your energy levels, you face chronic stress. Stress is caused when you don’t have enough relaxation and face several challenges with work. Stress releases adrenaline that induces a fight or flight response. However, such a response is useless if you’re not in physical danger. As a result, at the workplace and during challenging situations, you will face stress which keeps piling up as you encounter more stressful issues.
Fatigue and Exhaustion
Chronic stress, in turn, causes body and mind fatigue. You’re unable to function at the most efficient level. Due to fatigue, you never realize your full potential on or off work. Another prominent symptom of over-workers is burnout. People are facing burnout relatively easily than before and frequently require breaks. This is because of the increased busy time in their daily routine. Being busy over longer periods will lead to the shrinking of the grey matter in your brain. This leads to several long-term health hazards, including fatigue and exhaustion.
Degrading Relationships with People and Self
Being busy means having less time for other things in your life. This includes time for your loved ones and yourself. Any person’s fulfillment is derived from different sources, including friends, family, and oneself. Having time for yourself is necessary to rejuvenate and refresh. It also helps you have quality time with your friends, family, and loved ones. But being too busy can spoil all those relationships and reduce fulfillment levels.
How to Keep Yourself Healthy
Yoga and Meditation
Science has proven that certain yoga techniques, meditation, and breathing exercises help reduce stress and prepare your body to deal with anxiety-inducing situations better. Practicing Pranayama can help balance your mind, body, and soul, making you more relaxed and calm. Furthermore, your body will be able to sleep better and have a more healthy working/resting cycle. Besides these, Movement (Asanas) also keeps your body flexible. It helps remove the rigidness caused by sitting at desks or in inappropriate body postures for hours and keeps your body mobile and at ease. Yeah!
Healthy Food
Food ordering apps are in demand, and it’s easy to order takeaways and get what you want with just a few taps. However, keep a few regulations to moderate the intake of such food and ensure you eat healthily. Eating should promote good health and bodily welfare. This doesn’t mean not eating tasteful food, but it means you consume more home-cooked balanced meals and occasionally indulge in something that soothes your taste buds. After all, balance is key even in your diet.
Sleep Cycles
Overworking and late nights have become the norm, but such working methods aren’t sustainable. Ensure you get enough sleep, and, more importantly, get that sleep at the right time. You must give your mind and body time to relax and refill the energy levels to be productive the next day. It is proven that people who have better sleep cycles are multiple times more productive than those who don’t. The sleep cycle also helps prevent brain fog and other such issues. One might lose focus and be unable to finish things due to burning out. But proper sleep cycles can help you avoid such scenarios and stay well-focused.
Conclusion
In summary, being too busy will always lead to multiple mental and physical health issues. As a result, you must find time for doing yoga, meditation, and even some form of physical exercise. Add these to your daily routine and make them an essential part of it. Besides this, you must also eat healthy and have good sleep cycles. Together, these measures can help you lead a balanced routine and enjoy life.