Every year, I have the most free time from June to December.
One problem is that We’ve been working a lot since our team is small – just five of us in our office, and I’m the only one handling the money matters. Considering we make more than $4M in monthly sales, you can guess how hectic it is. I’ve made a schedule to manage my time better based on what’s most important to me.
My daytime job is like being the captain of a ship in unpredictable weather. As we operate our company with so few members, anything can impact all of us. If you’ve ever worked as an accountant, you might know what I mean – sometimes there’s too much work, and other times, not enough.
To smooth out my workload, I update our templates, do projects to automate some of the tasks, or create queries every month. I also ensure we follow the right rules to stay in line with SOX (a kind of business law). I mostly prepare for our yearly SOX audit, which takes place in July, April, and mid-May, until we start with a quarterly audit, budget, and consolidation report. This keeps me busy all year round, but I get a break from July to December. I will be tied up with Year End and preparing corporate tax returns between January to April.
During this time, I’m always excited about planning how to spend my time till December, when I get swamped again. Here’s what I want to do this year:
Travel: We decided to visit the Grand Canyon in October for about 4-5 days.
Learn about Greek and Roman Literature: I want to do this from July to October.
Earn more credits for my accounting designation by continuing my education from July to December.
Keep November to December open: I might study Greek and Roman Literature or learn about King Arthur.
Here’s what my priority list looks like:
Work: I mostly work from home except for Mondays. During my break, I won’t be working extra unless it’s really, really important.
House chores: I spend about 0.5 to 1 hour on this. We usually clean the house on Saturday mornings unless we’re having a family get-together.
Family gatherings: We don’t have them every day, but when we do, they’re usually on Saturday afternoons till early evenings.
Exercise: I work out for about 0.75 hours each day.
Piano: I practice for about 0.75 hours each day.
Professional education: I dedicate an hour to this every day except Saturdays and Sundays.
Greek & Roman Literature: I spend an hour reading up on this.
Time Schedule for 2023 2nd Half
Last modified on Jun 25, 2023
I’ve blocked out my time for all these activities.
Red blocks are for sleep – I will only change these if it’s a real emergency.
Green blocks are for other tasks. I’ll shuffle these around if something urgent arises based on my priorities.
Yellow blocks are for free time, which I usually spend reading or writing.
I’ve left some time open for writing because I’ve noticed that I struggle when I set aside time for it – it’s just a mental block. Instead, I’ll spend most of my free time writing or reading. I’ll probably use this time to write blog posts or read.
Every Sunday, I’ve blocked out an hour to review my schedule. If it seems too packed, I’ll tweak it. The hardest part for me is to stick to when I sleep and find enough time to read. I’m such a big fan of reading that I feel weird when I don’t get to do it. Whenever I feel stressed, reading is my go-to way to chill out.
I’ve left some wiggle room in my schedule, so I’ll manage just fine.
For the past week or so, I have been dealing with an endometriosis pain attack. The last time I had a severe pain attack was last November. So, I do not get a bad one like this every month.
I suspect the cause is my stress. Recently, I was extremely busy at work. I am also preparing for PMP (Project management professional exam) exam. As I tried to maintain a healthy lifestyle with adequate exercise, I thought I would not get endometriosis pain again. Although, I was aware that I was under a lot of stress. Despite exercise and meditation, I experienced some difficulty falling asleep the last few weeks.
The only thing I can do now is to ease the pain. I can take pain killers such as Naproxen Sodium or Ibuprofen since they suppress inflammation. I try not to use them as much as I can. The best treatment is to relax as much as possible.
It will not be a good idea to continue stressing myself since this pain can last two weeks. Besides, it is not productive. So, I decided to take it easy and take a break from studying. I requested to take two days off this week. Then, I spent my free time enjoying things I read and played the piano. I even managed to watch a movie. I drink herbal tea made from turmeric. Turmeric is a natural anti-inflammatory agent for pain relief since it helps fight inflammatory effects (Maroon, J. & Maroon, A, 2015).
Many females have endometriosis. My doctor once told me that females in modern eras suffer because few females have children at a younger age. Despite research efforts, the cause is yet unknown. What I understand is there is no cure for this problem. Although, there are many ways to manage inflammation to mitigate the pain. Today, I decided to share how I deal with endometriosis pain.
Background
I have suffered from endometriosis since my teenage years. It was not uncommon for me to have bad menstrual cramps. When I was 19 years old, I could not get out of bed due to massive pain. After I went to the emergency room, I was diagnosed with ovarian endometriosis. So, I had an operation to remove cysts at Montreal Jewish Hospital year.
None of my doctors could tell me the root cause of endometriosis is. I read books and journals about them without any luck – all I found out was no one yet identified the causes due to its complexity. There are multiple stages in endometriosis – mine is in stage 3. Inflammation can, therefore, impact some of my pelvic organs. I have tried many medical treatments to get rid of endometriosis. I have had surgeries to remove cysts. I took pills to prevent growing more cysts.
Every month, I fear getting an endometriosis pain attack. In many months the pain is so mild that I do not mind it at all. Sometimes, I do not even feel it. Since I do not get it every month, I never knew when I would be getting it next. It seemed a very random event at first. Over the years, I started to notice patterns that triggered the pain.
The Pattern of The Occurrence of Endometriosis
After my first operation, I became more conscious of endometriosis. I noticed a pattern of triggers of the pain. In my case, I manage the pain with certain foods or by reducing stress.
Some foods such as pork, mushrooms, and onion can trigger endometriosis pain if I eat them during my period. Since I did not care for pork, I stopped eating pork altogether. I could not stop eating mushrooms or onions, so I tried not overeating them. I do not eat them at all during my period. I noticed that my endometriosis pains resemble irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) now.
My stress level has a strong correlation with my endometriosis pain. A high level of stress can make inflammation worse. Researchers found that stress makes inflammation severe due to cortisol, a stress hormone (Rosenkranz et al., 2016). Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that stress is somewhat correlated to inflammation, thus, endometriosis.
Fifteen years ago, I stopped medical treatments. There are not many things doctors can do. So, I decided to treat my endometriosis differently. The critical thing is actively managing my stress. Yoga or Aerobics exercise can reduce inflammation. So, I try to manage my stress level by exercising, managing my time better, and breathing exercises. I even started logging my stress level so that I could monitor my stress. I noticed that actively reducing stress dropped the frequency of getting severe endometriosis attacks.
I also recognize the limitation to an alternative method. Stress management is to ease the pain or to reduce the frequency of endometriosis. Also, it is impossible to eliminate all my stress. A herbal option has limitations due to its minimal potency. I avoided severe endometriosis pain until 2015, when my husband became ill. The last severe endometriosis attack was in November 2020, when I was leading a big project at work. I got the pain again. Sometimes the pain is so intense that I need to take ibuprofen.
I noticed that my stress level increased last few weeks. My resting heart rate seems higher. Despite exercise and breathing exercises, I experience difficulties falling asleep some days. During the past five days, I thought about the possible causes. All I can do is find out the way to eliminate the root causes. I need to rearrange my other schedule items since it is impossible to delegate my work projects to others due to a lack of resources. We are getting another headcount for our department, so this busy schedule will not be permanent.
There is no point rushing and stressing out myself. I can relieve my stress level, so I do not repeat this cycle next month. During the past five days, I adjusted my studying schedule. I took two days off from my work this week. With the extra time, I did something I enjoyed doing. It has been almost a week, and my pain is mostly manageable.
Unfortunately, we cannot do anything to cure endometriosis; however, its symptoms are manageable. I am considering getting medical advice since I started to have symptoms of having bowel endometriosis. If I have bowel endometriosis, I must change my diet altogether to avoid IBS-like symptoms. I decided to share my experience with endometriosis – hoping it can help other females who suffer.
References
Maroon, J. C., Bost, J. W., & Maroon, A. (2010). Natural anti-inflammatory agents for pain relief. Surgical Neurology International, 1. https://doi.org/10.4103/2152-7806.73804
Rosenkranz, M. A., Lutz, A., Perlman, D. M., Bachhuber, D. R. W., Schuyler, B. S., MacCoon, D. G., & Davidson, R. J. (2016). Reduced stress and inflammatory responsiveness in experienced meditators compared to a matched healthy control group. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 68, 117–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2016.02.013
To improve my physical and mental condition, I decided to work on changing my lifestyle. I started with dancing Zumba on my switch, and I gradually made changes. My goal is to lose weight without losing my muscle mass. I implemented formal strength training offered by Les Mills into my exercise program in June. I have been exercising mindful eating for the last few months. Since the rate of losing weight was so slow, I decided to switch back to the calorie restriction. I started with creating 500 calories deficit per week.
My Exercise Program
MON
TUE
WED
THUR
FRI
SAT
SUN
Morning
Rest
BODYPUMP
Any cardio
BODYPUMP
Any cardio
BODYPUMP
BODYFLOW
Evening
HIIT
HIIT
HIIT
My Exercise Program (Les Mills On-Demand)
HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) – 17minutes training – generates 40-45 minutes of activity minutes
The biggest change I did this time was creating 400-500 calories deficits per day to lose weight. I lost a total weight of 4.4lb. (2.8lb, 1.4lb, 0.2, 0.2lb) over the four weeks. I also lost 0.6lb of muscles mass (-0.6, -0.2, 0, +0.2). I lost 2.8lb; however, I also lost 0.6lb of muscle mass. So, I changed my tactic immediately as I am eating too little for the activities level. In the 2nd week, I ate 1,300 calories per day, resulting in muscle loss of 0.2lb. So, I adjusted my calories intake to 1,400 – 1,500 per day, which stopped my muscle loss. I could not measure the muscle mass of the 4th week due to a technical issue with my phone app.
Analysis
If my primary goal were to lose weight, I would have been happy about the result. In reality, I was shocked by the loss of muscle mass from the first week. I have been working hard to gain muscle by doing strength exercises and yoga three times per week.
My immediate reaction was to investigate how much I must eat not to lose my muscle mass. With my level of activities, getting 1,200 -1,300 calories per day was too little. At least I know that 1,400 calories are my current floor for my calorie intake.
I felt a little lightheaded in the first week because I was not eating enough food. Since I was so hungry at night, and I had difficulties falling asleep at night. As a result, my sleep quality dropped. Increasing the calories intakes by 100 calories did not stop muscle loss or sleep quality problems. Rising to 1,400 calories stopped the issues. At least I know that 1,400 calories are my current floor for my calorie intake. The minimum calories intake changes with the muscle mass; therefore, regular monitoring is essential.
Technical Problems
During the 2nd day of the 4th week, my 4-year-old smartphone stopped uploading my digital weight. The only measurement I can take is weight. Therefore, I expect some challenges in controlling and monitoring. I ordered a new phone, and I should have a new smartphone by September 12th. Since I can no longer watch my muscle mass, I must maintain 1,400 – 1,500 Calories per day with the same exercise routine.
Expectation Gaps
I lost weight; however, I was not happy with the result because I lost muscle mass. I conclude what I want is not to lose weight. To discover the output I want, I decided to organize my thoughts.
What I want to Happen:
I want to lose FAT %. My aim is 25% for the moment. I want to fit into my clothing.
I want to increase my muscle mass to increase my metabolisms and muscle strengths. (Strong).
I want to lose weight.
I want to improve my cardio endurance.
I want to increase flexibility.
I want to decrease my stress.
GAP Analysis
With the five items I listed, I care a lot about retaining or increasing my muscle mass. There are multiple reasons why I want to maintain my muscles. Exercise promotes muscle gains, which helps to prevent diabetes and to improve metabolism (McPherron, Guo, Bond, Gavrilova, 2013). I enjoy many outdoor activities, and retaining my muscles is the key to sustain these activities I enjoy. Moderate exercise can prevent Aging. Naturally, we tend to lose muscle mass as we age. We can prevent muscle loss by doing adequate exercises. I wanted the first two items the most. Mathematically if I increase my muscle mass, I should lose my fat percentage. Thus, I think these goals can coexist easily.
The amount of calorie input is a key to recent unnecessary loss in muscles. In the results from this round, I noticed that eating less than 1,200 calories made my weight decrease. I also lost fat mass. After two weeks, I had to make immediate changes since I did not want to lose any more muscle. I increased to 1,400 – 1,500 calories which seems to prevent me from losing muscle mass; however, the rate of weight loss will slow.
Conclusions
I learned an important lesson. Do not rush my weight loss because I can lose muscle mass. Furthermore, I felt lightheaded, and I had no energy with only 1,200 calories. My muscle loss stopped at 1,400 calories. I seem to have enough energy and a clearer head. Therefore, my current minimum calories intake is 1,400 calories.
Due to technical issues, I do not have the tools to monitor my muscle mass until the 2nd week of September. Thus, I decided to maintain my current programs.
Daily Calories Intake: 1,400 Calories
Exercise: Strength Exercise (3 times) and a short HIIT, 2 Cardio, 1 Body Flow
My Exercise Programs
MON
TUE
WED
THUR
FRI
SAT
SUN
Morning
Rest
BODYPUMP
Any cardio
BODYPUMP
Any cardio
BODYPUMP
BODYFLOW
Evening
HIIT
HIIT
HIIT
My Exercise Program (Les Mills On-Demand)
When you know there are some expectation gaps, it will be good to organize your thoughts. For this round, I realize that I want to gain muscle and lose fat. Those measurements will be my primary monitoring inputs. I continue monitoring my total weight. Regular monitoring activities are crucial so that you can create timely corrective actions. The important thing is that I am improving little by little.
Reference
McPherron, A. C., Guo, T., Bond, N. D., & Gavrilova, O. (2013). Increasing muscle mass to improve metabolism. Adipocyte, 2(2), 92–98. https://doi.org/10.4161/adip.22500
For the last few weeks, I changed my workout time to the early morning, 5:30 AM. On day one of the new exercise programs, I felt all workout routines feel much more challenging than when I do them at lunchtime or early evening.
Since I did not have a good sleep that day, I thought I was just tired. The following day, I did a cardio, BODYATTACK. I felt so pitiful that it was near impossible to bring my heart rate above 140 in the early morning than later in the day. I had 8.5 hours of sleep with a sleep score of 90 the day. So, it was nothing to do with the duration or quality of the sleep. I was curious about this phenomenon, so I continued the morning exercises every single day of the rest of the week and monitored my heart rates. I made changes to the intended exercise, but I wanted to check them all. So, I tried30 minutes BODYCOMBAT (Kickboxing), BODYATTACK (Bootcamp), BODYPUMP (Strength exercise), and GRIT (HIIT).
When I wake up, my heart rate is about 65. Usually, I move around the house for 15-20 minutes before exercising. The interesting part of this morning exercise was that I still felt as if I exercised at 90% of my max heart rate at the actual heart rate is just 135-140. GRIT was the worst one, and I had to give up at 17 minutes. Consequently, my calories output was lower by 100 calories for morning cardio exercises.
After one week of the observation, I made the following hypotheses.
The morning exercise feel harder because
My starting heart rate is lower in the morning. I suspect that that is something to do with my heart rate being so low in the early morning. My resting heart rate is 63-65, and it can be a lot of stress to push it up to almost double.
Since I am on intermittent fasting, my body does not have energy in the morning. I exercised at lunch during the fasting before. I have no problem reaching 90% of my max heart. Thus, the 2nd hypothesis is incorrect.
My muscles are not ready for a workout. I felt this when I was doing BODYPUMP (Strength Exercise) and GRIT (HIIT). I had difficulties keep my squats low.
I suspect that that is something to do with lower heart rates and stiffer muscles. Since my starting heart rate is so low, it can be a lot of stress to push it up to almost double in a short time. Interesting, right? I put my researcher’s hat on, and I investigated some.
If the primary objective is to have the best performance, the morning is not the right time to exercise.
As I suspected, the primary reason is the lower max heart rates in the morning. Thomas Reilly and his colleagues at the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences at Liverpool John Moore University (as cited in the New York Times, Dec 9, 2009) found that our maximum heart rate is lower in the morning. However, the perception of how hard they were working was the same for morning and evening. Our body has a circadian rhythm that controls the hormones in our body to have a regular sleep-wake schedule. Our blood pressure, metabolism, energy level, and heart rates are lower in the early morning.
He and his colleagues also mentioned that our bodies are not as well prepared to exercise in the morning because our muscles tend to be less flexible. The athlete’s best performance is set in the late afternoon or the early evening (as cited in the New York Times, Dec 9, 2009).
Is morning exercise being all that bad? Despite my findings, there are some benefits to exercising in the morning.
Dietary Choices for the day
The people who work out in the morning tend to make healthier food choices for the day. After observing 2,680 young adults for 15-week cardio exercise in the morning, the young adults who work out in the morning tend to pursue healthier dietary preferences and habits (Joo, Willamson, Vazquez, Fernandez, and Bray, 2018). The study did not particularly seek to find the best time to exercise; however, the morning exercise motivated them to make healthier eating throughout the day. Since I started the training in the morning, I feel it has gotten easier to regulate my foods intake for the day.
More energy and higher productivity
I felt dreadful during my morning workout; however, I felt more energy when I did the morning exercises. My heart rate is higher after the training. My body is warmer. I even felt more alert and focused on my work. I usually do 1 hour of continuing education in the morning. I noticed my focus was higher after the morning exercise. The best part was I felt so good the whole day because I did a workout in the morning. So, I was more productive.
The choice is all about what you want to accomplish and your preference.
I prefer to work out in the morning because I must go to bed early at night. I have never liked to wake up early; however, I hated the morning traffic even more than waking early in the morning. For the last year, I have been working remotely. My work would like me to go to the office three times a week soon. So, I decided to adjust my schedule. Furthermore, I enjoyed the higher productivity due to the morning workout.
Discussion
The following week, I found out few things to minimize the loss. For example, a light intensity cardio before the strength exercise can help with the workout. BODYPUMP also has a warmup. After a short, low-intensity cardio session, my body is more prepared to do more strenuous strength training.
The Starting Exercise Program
MON
TUE
WED
THUR
FRI
SAT
SUN
Morning
Rest
BODYPUMP
Any cardio
BODYPUMP
Any cardio
BODYPUMP
BODYFLOW
Evening
HIIT
HIIT
HIIT
For one week, I did GRIT, BODYPUMP, BODYCOMBAT, BODYATTACK, and BODYSTEP all six mornings to satisfy my curiosity. After some investigation, I modified it a little bit. I kept a short GRIT (HIIT) exercise either on my lunch (when I was working remotely) or in the early evening (if I go into the office as I plan). The addition of HIIT exercises changed made a significant difference to my body weight. I started to lose weight again without losing my muscle mass.
I added a 5–10-minute low-intensity cardio before BODYPUMP so that my strength training has the intended effectiveness. This change is helping my strength workout.
Despite the lower-calorie output, I still prefer some cardio in the morning because of the productivity gain. So, I added another Cardio session on one of the weekends to accommodate the loss of 100 calories.
A New Modified Exercise Program
MON
TUE
WED
THUR
FRI
SAT
SUN
Morning
Rest
BODYPUMP*
Cardio
BODYPUMP*
Cardio
BODYPUMP*
BODYFLOW
Evening
GRIT – Short
GRIT – Short
GRIT – Short
Cardio
*A 5–10-minute light cardio before BODYPUMP
** GRIT – only short version (15-18 minutes)
What’s next
Initially, I thought of doing GRIT even on a Cardio day instead; however, I decided to add another cardio day on the weekend. I am finding out too much GRIT can cause mitochondria dysfunctions due to the stress caused by its strenuousness. You can reduce the damage by taking mitochondrial regulators and protector nutrients such as 5 grams of Leucine, 5 grams of creatine monohydrate, and 2.5 grams of betaine (Blechman, April 12, 2021). He is citing a lot of journals, so that I will check them out. For now, I am going to keep my new modified exercise program without taking these mitochondrial regulators and protector nutrients.
References
Blechman, S. (April 12, 2021). New Study Says High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) Can Cause Mitochondrial Dysfunction.https://advancedmolecularlabs.com/blogs/news/new-study-says-high-intensity-interval-training-hiit-can-cause-mitochondrial-dysfunction
Joo, J., Williamson, S. A., Vazquez, A. I., Fernandez, J. R., & Bray, M. S. (2019). The influence of 15-week exercise training on dietary patterns among young adults. International Journal of Obesity, 43(9), 1681–1690. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-018-0299-3
To improve my physical and mental condition, I decided to work on changing my lifestyle. I started with dancing Zumba on my switch, and I gradually made changes. My goal is to lose weight without losing my muscle mass. I implemented formal strength training offered by Les Mills into my exercise program last month. I have been exercising mindful eating for two months without any strict calorie or food restriction. With approximately 400- 460 minutes of activities per week, I gained 0.4 lb. of muscles till lost only 0.2 lb. Mindful eating is necessary; however, I still need to change how I eat to lose weight.
Procedures
I follow the following exercise program during the last 4 weeks.
MON
TUE
WED
THUR
FRI
SAT
SUN
Class
Rest
BODYPUMP
Any cardio
BODYPUMP
Any cardio
BODYPUMP
BODYFLOW
My workout schedule for the last 4 Weeks
I rotated BODYATTACK, BODYCOMBAT, or BODYSTEP for my carid days, approximately 300-330 calories per 30 minutes per session. Additionally, I walked on Saturday and Sunday, which add up to about 2 hours of activities minutes. Therefore, my average activity minutes were 400- 460 minutes per week. I achieved over 8,000 steps goals for all days except for June 29th, when I felt ill. Therefore, I had more than sufficient activity minutes for losing weight. My muscle mass had increased by 0.4 lb.
The Possible for Not Losing Weight
Why am I not losing weight? I was frustrated; however, I thought that the best way to find out the causes is to review my notes. Since I am not losing weight as fast as I would like, I must make some changes. From my notes, I came up with the following reasons why I am not losing weight.
Not Enough Cardio Exercise
I may need to increase Cardio Exercise as I do only twice per week of moderately-intensity cardio exercises. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, we must target 150 minutes to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activities per week (p. 21). I did only two sessions of cardio per week which might not be adequate for losing fat. I have many activities minutes; however, approximately 250 minutes of those activities are generated from walking or doing house chores.
Not Enough Calorie Deficit
I suspected that this is the leading cause of my struggles since I exercised mindful eating. I decided how much I should be eating by listening to the needs of my body. I ate more than 1,600 calories on some days because I was starving after a long walk or workout. To lose weight, we must create a calorie deficit. To lose one pound, I need to make a deficit of 3,500 calories. I was not losing weight because I was not producing enough calorie deficit. Therefore, I need to create a calorie deficit by either doing more exercise or eating less.
Eating Not Enough or Too Much Protein at Once
Since I was still gaining muscles, I assumed that I ate enough calories and protein. So, there is a cap on how much our body can synthesize protein at once! According to the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition (as cited in Venuto, 2013), you will need to eat 0.4 to 0.5 grams of high-quality protein per kilogram of lean body mass weight. For example, someone with 70kg of Lean body mass weight should eat somewhere between 28 and 35 grams of high-quality protein both pre-and post-exercise. Although, our protein synthesis cap out to about 25 to 30 grams for women (p. 179). Any excess protein above protein synthesis turns into fat. I ate approximately 70 % of my daily protein at supper. According to Layman (as cited in Venuto, 2013), the average American consumes over 65% of daily protein at dinner (p. 179). I ate enough protein because I considered total protein intake per day. However, I did not consider the timing of protein intake. So, some of my protein converted into fat since I was overeating at once. I should break up my protein intake multiple times per day.
Not Sleeping EnoughFor Two Weeks
In the 2nd week of the last challenge, I messed up my sleeping schedule for three weeks. I had days I could not sleep at all. I tended to eat more even with my mindful eating practice when I did not sleep 6 hours. Insufficient sleep prevents you not only healthy but also me you unproductive. Furthermore, poor sleep leads to weight gain and obesity (Markawld et al., 2013). I also see the tendency to eat more dense calories foods when I do not have enough sleep. Sometimes, I was scared to get on the weight machine in the morning. The number is a good way to monitor, but it can be cruel. When I gained weight for 1.2 lb, I had to think about how much cumulative weight I lost. I managed to fix my sleeping schedule last week, and now I am sleeping on the correct sleeping schedule. I wrote a blog, “Am I sleeping Enough?,” about how I tackled this program. Please check it out!
Things Need to be Changed
After making the list of possible causes for my struggle, I made few hypotheses on possible strategies to overcome struggle. My main reason for not losing weight was that I overate. Therefore, to lose weight, I must create a calories deficit by eating fewer calories or exercising more. According to Harvard Health Publishing (July 11, 2020), you should make 500 to 1,000 calories less than the total weight-maintenance calories to lose 1 to 2 pounds per week. Although, it is not recommended to eat less than 1,200 calories per day for a female and 1,500 calories per day for a male (para. 3). You can calculate your maintenance calories by the following formula.
If you do little or no exercise: Calories = BMR x 1.2
If you do light exercise (1-3 days per week) = BMR x 1.375
If you do moderate exercise (3-5 days per week) = BMR x 1.55
You can calculate your BMR by the following formula.
BMR (Base Metabolism Rate) = BMR = 88.362 + (13.397 x weight in kg) + (4.799 x height in cm) – (5.677 x age in years) Women: BMR = 447.593 + (9.247 x weight in kg) + (3.098 x height in cm) – (4.330 x age in years)
I want 500 calories deficit per week. Since my Maintenance Calorie is 1,337.3 kcal/ I want 500 calories deficit per week. Since my Maintenance Calorie is 1,337.3 kcal/ day, I could reduce only 100 calories just from eating without going below 1,200 calories. Thus, I must create a deficit of 400 calories from exercising or being active. I added 20-minute High-Intensity Interval Training on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday to increase energy output. Les Mills has a GRIT program. I am considering doing 20-minute short GRIT for now.
Modified Exercise Program
MON
TUE
WED
THUR
FRI
SAT
SUN
Morning
Rest
BODYPUMP
Any cardio
BODYPUMP
Any cardio
BODYPUMP
BODYFLOW
Evening
HIIT
HIIT
HIIT
Modified Exercise Program next 4 weeks
Conclusion
I did not lose as much weight as I would like at the last challenge. The main reason was I did not make enough calorie deficit. It was a disappointing result, but weight loss is a long journey. I am not going to give up on my journey. For the next challenge, I will create a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day by eating 100 calories less from my body maintenance calories and creating 400 calorie deficits from exercising. I would increase my cardio exercise to lose more fat.
Harvard Health Publishing. (Jul 11, 2020). Calorie Counting Made Easy. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/calorie-counting-made-easy
Michalowska, J. (Jul 08, 2021). Maintenance Calorie Calculator. https://www.omnicalculator.com/health/maintenance-calorie
Markwald, R. R., Melanson, E. L., Smith, M. R., Higgins, J., Perreault, L., Eckel, R. H., & Wright, K. P. (2013). Impact of insufficient sleep on total daily energy expenditure, food intake, and weight gain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110(14), 5695–5700. JSTOR.
Over the last few weeks, my sleep patterns have grown sloppier. My sleep quality is still high; however, I have not slept an adequate number of hours. In the last two weeks, I had two days in which I slept less than 7 hours. One day, I could not sleep because I was too excited to sleep.
Sleep is an essential function of our body. Lack of sleep causes both short-term and long-term consequences. According to Harvard Medical school (n.d.), lack of sleep affects our judgment, mood, ability to learn or retain information, resulting in an accident. In the long term, inadequate sleep can cause weight problems and many other health risks such as high blood pressure, impaired control of blood glucose, and inflammation (para. 2 – 4). Researchers are discovering that REM sleep has a critical role in the body and cognitive functions. Insufficient REM sleep also increased the risk of death. The study found that for every 5% reduction of REM sleep, there is a corresponding 13% to 17% increase in death rates among middle-aged men (NHLBI, n.d.). Short REM sleeps also impacts our memory because it has a critical role in memory and homeostasis (Watson & Busaki, 2015, p. 68). So, sleep has a vital function in our lives in many ways.
If I maintain my sleep habit, I will continue to have weight problems and increased health risks. As I recognize the importance of having adequate sleep duration and quality, I decided to implement changes to improve my sleeping to have 8 hours of high-quality sleep.
Causes of Problem
The cause of my sleeping problem is that I go to bed at an inconsistent time. I am too excited to sleep most days because I read books, play the piano, learn, or write near bedtime. I don’t feel like sleeping. So, I end up going to bed later than I should. An irregular sleep schedule decreases the quality and duration of sleep. According to Kang and Chen (2009), irregular sleep can affect sleep duration and sleep quality. In the study, there were 160 students divided into three groups by frequency of irregular bedtime and had their sleep time, and quality of sleep monitored. The group with higher inconsistent bedtime schedule frequency had a shorter average sleep duration with lower sleep quality compared to the low-frequency group. Homeostasis and circadian rhythm affect the quality of our sleep. Circadian rhythm is like our biological clock. An irregular schedule confuses our bodies. So, even a day of altered sleep schedule results in a significant decrease in sleep quality. Two hours of alteration of sleep schedule decreases cognitive and psychological function even with the same sleep duration (p.2). My sleep schedule has been irregular, so my circadian rhythm is messed up. My sleep duration has been shorter than when I followed a strict sleep schedule, and I have days with poor sleep quality. So, I must set a regular sleep schedule to improve my sleep quality.
Solutions
From my research, I learned to set a body clock to tackle my sleep problems. The primary correction I need to make is to have a rigid sleeping schedule. As I identified earlier, I am more likely to engage in too much mental or physical activities too close to my bedtime. I may need to stop doing all such activities for 60 minutes before going to bed. I may need to shift my workout time or learn in the morning.
Mental stress can disrupt our sleeping schedule. Mental stress can be caused by high fatigue, disturbed mood, and reduced quality of life, which could be ameliorated with mindful activities such as meditation (Black, O’Reilly, Olmstead, Breen, & Irwin, 2015). I do a 2- minute breathing exercise; however, it may be time to extend to 5 minutes – eventually 20 minutes per session.
I also need to use glasses that block blue light while I am using a computer. I engage in activities that use a computer for over 10 hours, which is most likely one of the causes of mental fatigue. Fortunately, I already have a pair of glasses I purchased a few years ago, so I need to start using them again.
Finally, I am considering wearing a black eye mask. My husband sometimes goes to bed later than I would like to. I wake with the light. My eye mask should block out any light that makes me wake.
Preparation
I put to sleep an absolute priority than anything else. First, I need to tweak my schedule. I want to maintain a healthy lifestyle, so I prioritize exercising and eating highly. I blocked off these activities from my schedule completely. I will be home by 5:30, so I have only 90 minutes before 8 pm. If I schedule blogging and practicing piano, I will use up the remaining 90 minutes. I could utilize my morning for learning and reading or my continuing education curriculum, which allows me to stop reading or writing by 8:00. The new schedule will allow me to have a strict sleeping time. My weekend will be busy, but I would rather be healthy and productive than sick or tired.
Focuses
Stop any high energetic activities by 8 pm.
Stop drinking or eating by 7:30 pm.
Sleep duration: 9:00 pm. to 5:30 am.
In addition, I am considering the following changes to improve my sleep quality. For example, I increase pre-bedtime meditation time to 5 minutes which I will save on my Kindle Fire. I also prepared a black eye mask for sleeping, which should help me with light problems. I also purchased a good-quality pillow. Better mattresses and pillows impact sleep quality significantly (Jacobson, Boolani, Dunklee, Shepardson & Achara, 20210). Finally, I will keep the pair of eyeglasses to block blue light in my office.
Monitoring
I use my Fitbit to monitor my sleep duration and quality because it logs when I went to bed and got out of bed. I can set the alarm. This time, I decided to introduce consequences for not following my new sleeping schedule to be painful for me. I will give three audible credits to my husband from my book allowance every three times I did not go to bed on time. I love reading books, so this will be a significant punishment for me. Every week, I will check my progress and make corrections so it works better for me.
Discussion
I am desperate to correct my sleep situation because it will impact my cognitive skills and my health. Unfortunately, it will take some time to fix. I should accept that it was my fault for not working on it fast enough, and I will never repeat the same mistake.
References
Black, D. S., O’Reilly, G. A., Olmstead, R., Breen, E. C., & Irwin, M. R. (2015). Mindfulness Meditation and Improvement in Sleep Quality and Daytime Impairment Among Older Adults With Sleep Disturbances: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Internal Medicine, 175(4), 494. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.8081
Jacobson, B. H., Boolani, A., Dunklee, G., Shepardson, A., & Acharya, H. (2010). Effect of prescribed sleep surfaces on back pain and sleep quality in patients diagnosed with low back and shoulder pain. Applied Ergonomics, 42(1), 91–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2010.05.004
Kang, J.-H., & Chen, S.-C. (2009). Effects of an irregular bedtime schedule on sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, and fatigue among university students in Taiwan. BMC Public Health, 9, 248. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-9-248
Back in February 2020, we were hearing about the outbreak happening in China. Since no one, even U.S. officials, seems to worry about the outbreak, I had never thought that we would be closing the whole town. In June, our president announced that all of the U.S. must work from home. By June, there were hardly any commuters near our office, so that I saw deer sleeping in our office courtyard. I was happy to convert to a remote environment because I never liked losing my time commuting. I still went to my office a few times per week because not all jobs can be completed remotely.
I can maintain a work and personal life balance better now; however, it was not always like this. I felt exhausted more from working from the office. When I completed the project at the beginning of October, I started feeling ill. I did not realize what was happening to my body. I began to have stomach and sleeping problems soon after I completed the project. I started having so many issues that I spent most of my thanksgiving day’s holiday in bed. After the last thanksgiving days, I was wondering why I was so exhausted.
I realized that I was not the only one feeling some remote fatigue. Stratton (as cited in Younghans, September 02, 2020) explained that many remote workers have experienced fatigue and burned out because many of us rely solely on technology to stay in touch with others (para. 3). Some of our customers, vendor, or auditors mentioned that they also observed their remote employees burning out. Some found remote work too challenging. Some auditors reported working harder in the remote environment because they lost traveling time to their clients. In virtual environments, auditors had no breaks between different projects. Some felt stressed from needing to relearn how to work virtually. Many reported that it was challenging to train subordinates.
Any change is stressful, but we must adapt to changes. Besides, I also saw significant benefits in working remotely. So, I thought the best way to deal with this problem was to do a root-cause analysis to identify the potential causes of my exhaustion. Then, I would come up with corrective action and preventative action.
Issues
(1) As a remote worker, I felt my working environment invaded my personal life because I did not draw a clear line between work and personal life. Your home office (personal space) is also an office space when you are working remotely. – caused by mobile phone or emails after working hours. – no change of physical environment.
(2) I felt like people expected me to work more hours since I was not at the office. I sometimes worked on the weekends because I was leading a big project. – stress created by me. Does my manager expect me to work long hours?
(3) Some people demand phone calls or video conferences on short notice, which can interrupt my work. – caused by mobile phone or emails
(4) It can be challenging to manage people virtually. People miss their emails, task requirements, or phone calls. Some tasks are interdependent to my tasks or part of the project activities, which affected my work. – ineffective virtual communication
(5) Since the pandemic started, I had an unhealthy lifestyle. – lack of exercise, sleep, and too much stress.
Since I have the list of the problems, I should be able to develop the solutions. Some are preventative, and some are permanent solutions.
Solutions
I put away all my office equipment after working. I also turned off my mobile and P.C. after working hours.
I became selective about taking on projects. Now I accept projects which only I can do. I handle projects which increase benefit to the company. I delegated some work that others could perform.
I had requested my boss give feedback on my performance and clarify the job assignments and expectations, which helped because my boss thought I was working too much. No one expected me to work harder. I was stressing out myself from self-created pressure.
To avoid sudden interruption of work, I blocked out 3 hours of my morning completely. I turn off my Email and Mobile phone. During these three hours, I complete essential tasks. Since all critical tasks are completed, I did not get stressed out even when I get a sudden phone call or video conference during the rest of the day.
I made a commitment to exercise, sleep, and eat well. I take a frequent break.
The 4th problem was a little tricky because it involves other people who were working remotely. Initially, I was dealing with them by communicating or following up with them more than others. When my boss decided to implement a 15-minute morning meeting, it seemed to work out because I use the meeting to remind others of the tasks a few days before the due date.
I was busy moping about the new environment; however, these corrective actions permanently resolved the problem. In addition, changing my lifestyle prevents the recurrence of undesirable events such as becoming ill.
I prefer remote work because I have started to see significant benefits from a remote work environment. Although, it took me several months to figure out how to work remotely without getting remote work fatigue. I found myself to be more productive when I am working from a home office. I got a much better review than in previous years because I could complete multiple additional projects. Additionally, I started to use the extra time for exercising, family time, and skill improvements.
I suspect more companies will offer remote work after this pandemic. Just like I did, I noticed more people started seeing more benefits in remote work environments. According to PwC (January 12, 2021), the shift in positive attitude toward remote work increased to 83% from 73% in June 2020. 55% of employees prefer to work remotely at least three days per week. 87% of executives expect to make changes to their real estate strategy, and there will be more satellite offices. Some companies are started to invest in remote work (para. 4-9). According to Zurich North America Insurance poll conducted in May 2021 (as cited in Murray, June 2021), 53% of CEO views 2-3 days of remote work per week the best (p. 41). I was not surprised at these findings. There are some benefits for both employers and employees in remote environments. Eliminating commuting time is one of the benefits people will point out. Employers can change their real estate strategy by having employees working from home. Employers can save salary by hiring people from areas where the cost of living is much cheaper.
The main benefit I earned from this experience was that I am confident in working remotely. As a result, I am seriously considering finding permanent remote work.
References
Murray, Alan. (Jun, 2021). The CEO Outlook: Upbeat in the C-Suite. Fortune. 183(3), 4.
Younghans, Johanna. (September 02, 2020). 6 Ways to Relieve Your Work from Home Fatigue.https://healthblog.uofmhealth.org/health-management/6-ways-to-relieve-your-work-from-home-fatigue
To improve my physical and mental condition, I decided to work on changing my lifestyle. I started with dancing Zumba on my switch, and I gradually made changes. Since the last challenge, I began working on mindful eating. I wanted to be more contemplative with who I am, and I wanted to trust my eating. I also decided to work on increasing my muscle mass while reducing my body fat. So, I started to look for exercise programs from home that include muscle training and cardio exercise. After some research, I decided to try LES MILLS on Demand.
I must understand how much exercise I should be doing. When I tried the first 45 minutes BODYATTACK, I barely made it to the 30-minute mark. At this point, I was not sure about my physical capability. This round, I wanted to try few different types of LES MILLS exercise classes. Then, I would customize workout programs in the future.
Procedures:
(1) Experiment with a 45-minute class and stop when I could not do any exercise. After the first week, I changed to a 30-minute class.
(2) Try a class per day until I needed a rest day.
(3) Change the time of exercise to find the best time for exercising.
I used this trial period to evaluate my physical strength, flexibility, and endurance. My main goal is to figure out my workout program. I started with BODYATTACK, BODYCOMBAT, and BODYFLOW since I did not have any equipment yet.
I monitored my total body weight and muscle mass to see the progress.
I will briefly introduce BODYATTACK, BODYCOMBAT, and BODYFLOW.
BODYATTACK reminds me of a Bootcamp class I used to take. It consists of athletic movements such as running, squats, lunges, agility, push-up, core exercise, and plyometrics. It is a high-energy exercise. My Fitbit calculated I spent about 305-310 calories for 30 minutes of this exercise. The class is intense, but you can always pick a more accessible option. For example, I can choose to do squads instead of burpees.
BODYCOMBAT is like kickboxing. It used to be called BODYATTCK. When I did my first instructor certification course with LES MILLS 15 years ago, I lost 8 pounds just practicing videos every day. Muay Thai exercises were always the hardest one for me, so I was happy to do some Muay Thai exercises. Their high knee exercises give me good muscle pain. My Fitbit calculated I spent about 325-330 calories for a 30 minute-class.
BODYFLOW contains Yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates, and meditation. I usually do their 20-25 minutes body flow class before work. I am not very flexible, so I try to imitate the instructors’ poses as much as I can. BODYFLOW is not a high-energy class; however, my body feels good from stretching.
I told my husband about getting Les Mills on-demand subscription. He knew that I had instructor certifications from LES MILLS 15 years ago. So, we agreed that we would purchase equipment for BODYPUMP and BODYSTEP. Since we received the equipment kit in the 4th week, I only tried BODYPUMP twice last week.
Finding
To find out how many days I can exercise per week, I did a workout every day. As a result, I started to have pain in the arch of the foot. So, I had to take two days of rest and light exercise the following days. After three days of rest and a light workout, the pain was gone. So, I need to be more mindful of how much I exercise. I found out I could do six days of workout; however, one day must be BODYFLOW. I added a 17 minutes BODYFLOW class in the morning in addition to a 30-minute exercise, which seems to work for me. I felt much better when I stretch in the morning.
A 30-minute of exercise per day is adequate for me for now. If I do more than a 30-minute of training, I get tired. I struggled with how to fit the exercise routine into my schedule. The first week, I was so tired from the exercise that I slept in on both weekends. Then, I was not as productive on weekends either. Furthermore, I forgot to practice the piano for two days.
Benefits
It is convenient since I can exercise in my house. It is not my first time trying LES MILLS’s program. I used to go to their BODYATTACK, RPM, and BODYSTEP classes at a gym a long time ago. I loved their program, but the program was available only at GoodLife Fitness, where I lived. Since I was always traveling, it was challenging to attend some classes, such as BODYPUMP classes. I loved their BODYATTACK and RPA programs so much that I earned instruction certificates. I did not have time to teach the classes, but I could get instructor videos for the programs. When I realized that I can now do this program on demand, I was excited. It came with a 30-day trial period, but I have already known that I would enjoy their program. Now I can do their exercise program any time I want to.
Accessing a variety of exercises prevents us from becoming obese. Among nearly 1.7 million US adults, people regardless of their sexes who engaged both 150 minutes or more per week of aerobic physical activity and twice or more per week of muscle-strengthening exercise with different classes had the lowest incidence of obesity (Bennie et al., 2020, p. 332). When people engage in various activities, they tend to accumulate more minutes of total exercise time. It is recommended that you will need between 150 and 250 minutes per week of exercise to prevent weight gain, and you will need between 225 and 420 minutes per week of exercise to lose weight. Bennie et al. explain that Americans who exercise with two or more activities tend to do more than 150 minutes of exercise (p. 341). I had more than 400 minutes of training from all four weeks.
The class choreography is easy to understand. Instructors perform all routines as mirror images to the students so that attendants can follow the instruction easier. For example, an instructor performs left side steps and tells students to do a right sidestep.
Every class seems to contain squats. In addition to regular exercise, squats promote our body to lose body fat and gain lean body mass. For example, after observing 94 athletic adolescent boys, they found the group who did 100 reps per day of squats 45 sessions over eight weeks increased lean body mass by 2.7%and decreased body fat by 4.2% (Takai et al., 2013, p. 61).
Impact of my Total & Muscle Weight
I started caring more about my muscle weight than my total weight. I continue with my mindful eating. I gained 0.6 lb. of the total weight and 0.2 lb. of muscle mass during the first week because I ate more. I think I was hungrier because my body was going through sudden trauma from all the training. During the second week, I was more careful with my eating. I lost 1.4 lbs. I also lost 0.2lbs of muscle. During the third week, I made sure I ate enough protein and carbohydrates, and I lost 0.2lbs of the total weight while gaining 0.2 lbs. of muscle mass. In the 4th week, I regained 0.2 lbs., but I also gained 0.2 lbs. of muscle mass. I lost 1.0 lb. of total weight, but I gained 0.4 lbs. of muscles.
Losing fat without losing protein is more challenging than I initially thought. I may need to investigate how to eat appropriately to retrain my muscles.
The Next Action
From my 1-month experience, my approximate time of exercise was 5-6 x of 30- minutes of class. I must rest my body at least once a week. I will start with six days of exercise, but I may reduce it to 5 days.
Since I want to gain more muscle, I am considering more BODYPUMP classes per week. I will rotate BODYATTACK, BODYCOMBAT, BODYSTEP, and ZUMBA on cardio days. In addition, I may continue 20 minutes of BODYFLOW before work because little stretches in the morning made me feel good.
I am considering implementing the following schedule for the next challenge.
MON
TUE
WED
THR
FRI
SAT
SUN
Class
Rest
BODYPUMP
Any cardio
BODYPUMP
Any cardio
BODYPUMP
BODYFLOW
Workout Schedule #5
References
Bennie, J. A., Cocker, K. D., Pavey, T., Stamatakis, E., Biddle, S. J. H., & Ding, D. (2020). Muscle Strengthening, Aerobic Exercise, and Obesity: A Pooled Analysis of 1.7 Million US Adults. Obesity, 28(2), 371–378. https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.22673
Takai, Y., Fukunaga, Y., Fujita, E., Mori, H., Yoshimoto, T., Yamamoto, M., &Kanehisa, H. (2013). Effects of Body Mass-Based Squat Training in Adolescent Boys. Journal of Sports Science & Medicine, 12(1), 60–65.
One day, I decided to do nothing because I felt my attrition rate increase, especially in tasks requiring creativity. It is because I have been extremely busy with year-end audits, taxes, and other year activities. Although, it was not as bad as the prior year since my husband took over many household chores. I also have been working on improving my lifestyle to be healthier by getting adequate sleep, meditation, proper diet, and exercise. Yet, I noticed that I tend to be less focused. It was high time to relax and refresh my brain.
I wanted to take a week off from work; however, it was impossible to take a whole week off. So, I took two days off—a day for only reading, playing the piano, writing, and thinking. I did the exercise for one of the two days. I made a strict rule not to think about work at all during these two days. I intentionally created two days without a to-do list or appointments, which was surprisingly challenging.
In total, I had two days of vacation. I decided to do whatever I wanted to do that day. One rule I strictly enforced was not to think about my work at all. On the first day, I mostly spend my time reading and playing the piano on these days. I did approximately 90 minutes of exercise during the day. I was physically tired, so I slept so well. I scored 91 on my sleep quality score according to my Fitbit. On the second day, I was doing the same activities as the first day, but I did not exercise. I had too much energy to sleep that night. I am usually busy on my vacation days doing something, and I never noticed this problem. I need to test it again. It will be better for me physically active on my vacation days. Although, I thought two days were too short to be effective.
Sometimes, people purposely take days off from daily routines to be more creatives and focused. Bill Gates takes one week off from his busy life twice a year so that he does nothing but reading articles and books, studying and thinking about the bigger picture (McKeown, 2021). I do not remember when I took a week off for vacation the last time because I spent all my vacation and holidays doing projects. So, I decided to take to see what would happen from the day off.
Surprisingly, many Americans forfeit their vacation times. According to the Washington Post (August 28, 2019), 55% of Americans did not even use their vacation time, leaving 768 million days of unused paid time off. The average number of American’s paid days off is 17.4 days in 2018; however, this number includes paid holidays (para. 9-11). When I came to the United States, I was surprised by this. I am from Canada, and I worked in Germany, where we must provide paid statutory holidays.
Many Americans indeed chose not to use up their paid day off. Perhaps, many of us feel guilty about taking a vacation. Many of us fear we may be seen as more of a liability for the company to take time off. The question we must look into is – are those beliefs are correct? When I thought about this question, I realized that I do not know. I have heard about the benefit of taking breaks from problems or taking a vacation to affect people positively. I assumed that taking breaks allows us to get recharged. Since I was interested, I researched the benefits. Surprisingly, there is ample research about the effects of taking breaks.
Some consulting firms are discovering whether employees taking vacations benefits a company. According to Rook from JP Griff Group (June 3, 2019), the 2017 project study they conducted revealed that the employees who forfeit their vacation were 4 % less likely to receive raises and 6 % less likely to receive bonuses (para. 10). They found out that people who continue to work without a break or vacation; are less focused and less engaged. They are more likely to make mistakes because they are fatigued. It gets much harder to generate new ideas with an overused brain.
Taking days off improves our productivity has been empirically observed and is a generally accepted scientific theory. Some researchers observed the benefits from it; then, they further investigated how the benefits are created. Being away from work allows our brain to generate more ideas and solutions to the problem, which psychologists call the incubation effect. According to Ritter & Dijksterhuis (2014), the effects of incubation are generally accepted; however, there are two opposing theories of how the benefits are created, the Unconscious work theory and the conscious work theory. The Unconscious work theory suggests that our unconscious activity of solving the problem contributes to the effect. The Conscious work theory argues that the effect is caused by actively relaxing the brain by being away from the problem (pp.4-5).
A few days of incubating problems allows us to solve the problems, especially problems that require remote association. Researchers theorized that sleep has an essential role in the incubation effect. Scientists have found that REM sleep enhances our creativity. According to Wagner et al. (as cited in Ritter and Dijkstehuis, 2014), students who slept more than seven hours at least twice were more creative and solved problems faster than people who did not. Sleep enhances cognitive flexibility and the ability to find remote associations.
Furthermore, sleep allows students to find solutions to abstract problems (p. 4). This theory interested me because I had found that I could solve problems during dreaming when I was in high school. It tends to happen when I have been thinking about the same problem for at least three days. It happens a lot with me with math problems. The last time it occurred to me was a few months ago when I was building a query. Unfortunately, I cannot control this ability. I always speculated that my brain removes the limit of my creativity during sleep, which allowed me to solve the problem. So, sleeping has a vital role in the incubation effect. Then we should not be spending our days off partying all night.
People need days off because taking days off allows us to walk away from the problems at work. There will be no phones, tablets, or laptops. Stay away from the work because you want to be actively not thinking about the work. Another important part is we still need to get adequate sleep during days off. After struggling to solve a problem, try to walk away from it. Sometimes working away from the problems leads us to their solutions.
This little research made me view vacations differently. Perhaps, we need breaks to be more productive and creative. I thought people say it to sound and humanely compliant for a company. We, accountants, flags other accountants if they do not take breaks—accountants believe in taking vacations to prevent fraud. We gain benefits from taking days off. After my investigation, I realized that we should take days off to be more focused, creative, and productive. Getting adequate sleep is also important while doing so. Sometimes, walking away from problems leads you to the solutions. Although, this may not be economically feasible for some people. According to the Center for Economic and Research, The United States requires zero yearly time off, much lower than France, Austria, Spain, Germany, Canada, and Japan (as cited in Sampson, August 28, 2019, para. 3). In some cases, people do not get paid off at all. Although, many of us do have paid vacation. If you choose not to use up the paid days off, you may want to reconsider taking them. I will try to use up my vacation this year, and I will try to go somewhere next time and note any differences.
Ritter, S. M., &Dijksterhuis, A. (2014). Creativity—The unconscious foundations of the incubation period. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00215
Sampson, Hannah. (August 28, 2019). What Does America Have Against Vacation?https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2019/08/28/what-does-america-have-against-vacation/
For years, I kept myself as busy as possible. I always had long-term and short-term goals, which I used for generating my to-do list. I earned a graduate degree and professional designations while I was working full time. I even managed to eat, sleep, and exercise regularly. Then, my husband became ill, and I almost lost him. The sense of guilt haunts me for being idle. Since my husband could not do some of the house chores, I took over all of them.
Despite the additional work, I managed to do some exercises with my busy schedule until some events would push me to the edge. Then, I was too busy to do some tasks such as exercising, sleeping, cooking good meals, or spending my time with my family or friends – which I now think should have been higher on my priority list. I neglected my body, social life, and mental life. As a result, I gained weight, felt ill and unhappy. My condition was affecting my husband. When I am felt low and sick, it made my husband feel sad.
I think I exceeded my actual capacity. Since it seemed to be working, I thought I could maintain this schedule rather than prioritizing tasks or delegating work. How arrogant and wrong I was. I felt physically and mentally ill several months ago. Since then, I have been rethinking my lifestyle. If I did not feel sick physically several months ago, I probably would have continued to ignore this impending problem.
It puzzled me why I could not detect this problem earlier. Perhaps, I have never seen this situation as a bad thing. We grow up with the mind that working hard is good behavior. My culture, Japanese, views overworked people as respectable people. We have people dying from overworking, which we describe as “Karoshi.” According to Reuters (2015), 1,456 Japanese people were reported dead from overworking in 2015; however, the actual number was probably ten times higher (para. 3). My parents always worked long and hard hours. My mother often came back late during month-end. Sometimes, she even brought back work at home and worked past midnight. My sister and I helped with household chores, but my mother worked a lot. Everyone around me worked long hours. This “overworking” syndrome is manifested in many countries throughout Asia. We believe that a respectable person must work hard; Confucius heavily influences this belief. I left my country a long time ago, but I never got rid of this norm or expectation.
Working excessively hard is physically and mentally unhealthy because the endless work puts us under a constant sense of urgency. The endless work makes us feel a lack of control. This feeling puts us under a lot of stress. When we are under constant pressure, our body goes into a fight-or-flight condition. According to Mayo Clinic (March 19, 2019), Our bodies increase adrenaline and cortisol production to prepare us to fight off danger. Of course, this is a survival mechanism. However, the long-term activation of the stress mechanism forces us to overexpose ourselves to cortisol and other stress hormones, which can harm our health in the long run (para 5-7). In my situation, my constant stress caused me anxiety, sleep problems, and weight gain. Unless I start managing my stress, I will endanger myself with a massive health risk. I realized I have to work on the root cause of my problems, leading me to be constantly stressed, which was my over-scheduling problem.
Working hard does not necessarily make us happy. Japanese often suffer from having low life satisfaction. According to the “life satisfaction” index from the organization for economic cooperation and development (OECD), Japan ranked one of the lowest among the 33 other member countries in the organization. Only 30% of Japanese perceived themselves as healthy, which was much lower than the OECD average of 69% (para. 1 – 3). I was getting unhappy because I noticed I was not getting things done as effectively as I thought. Why Should I be able to accomplish more? I lacked energy due to health neglect.
Hard work is not necessarily productive, and I was starting to notice this problem. I tend to make more errors. It took me longer to complete a single task as I became unhealthier. According to Morikawa Masayuki, the vice president of the research institute of economy, trade, and industry (March 5, 2019), Japanese productivity is the lowest among G7 countries. Their productivity is two-thirds of the United States. He pointed out that the Japanese work too long hours (para. 1- 9).
I still think it is good to work; however, we must understand our limits. Otherwise, we will risk our physical and mental health. If we are not careful, we could be working hard on something but not being very productive.
Life is all about making choices. Since we have limited time, we must be selective with what we do. Greg Mckeown (2020), the author of the book, essentialism, says this, instead of doing gazillions of things, accomplish the genuinely vital things. We must exercise essentialism, which is not about getting more things done, but it is all about allocating your time and energy to work on what is considered essential (pp. 6). It is just like business owners or managers who allocate their available resources to generate more profits for their company.
We should also choose a single highlighted task for the day. The task we prioritize must also satisfy us by completing it. Knapp and Zeratsky (2018) called this the most important thing as one high-priority goal, improving your satisfaction and providing energy to complete the rest of the tasks. This single priority must be significant and represent what you want to do. We must focus on this task and eliminate any distractions. Finally, we must make time to recharge your brain. Make time to exercise, eat food, sleep, allocate time for reflection and social time so that you can renew your energy (p. 20).
I started to be more selective on my to-do list. Initially, I was worried that I was doing less, so I ended up with two lists, one for work and one for personal; however, I had too many total items to complete to maintain a balanced life. Now I have only one list with six things, one of which is my highlight. Surprisingly, I feel much better with only six list items. When I work on my highlight, I shut myself off from any distractions. I often have classical music on because background music usually helps me focus on my task. I keep my body’s batteries charged by exercising, sleeping, talking with others, and eating good food. Of course, I still make bad choices which I usually noted at the end of the day. I usually know when I make a mistake because I feel less happy at the end of the day. It is ok to make mistakes because I will start a new day tomorrow. As Scarlett from Gone with the wind famously says, “I’ll think of it all tomorrow. At Tara. I can stand it then. … After all. Tomorrow is another day” (Mitchell, p. 1024). I will learn from what did not go well, but I try not to cry over the spilled milk. Ever since I became selective about what I do, I feel like I have gained control over my life with much greater energy.
