The Importance of Relaxing After Work
Image Source: Clem Onojeghuo | Unsplash
The pandemic has brought many challenges and accelerated different innovations across all industries. While certain digital transformations have made things easier, by no means did the work decrease. In fact, employees are continuously expected to keep up with the increasing demand and workload from their stakeholders while maintaining efficiency.
Aside from that, the ability to work from home has brought in new challenges for employees as there is little to no separation between work and personal life. On top of social isolation, employees have tried to adjust to the challenges of working remotely. Difficulties in dealing with tech issues as well as external distractions like household chores and other personal engagements are just some of the things that contribute to the growing stress that workers deal with today. The combination of work and personal difficulties would lead to the inevitable employee burnout despite working from the supposed comforts of one’s home.
Organizations around the world have acknowledged the issue of deteriorating mental health amidst working in solitude during the pandemic and have taken initiatives to mitigate their employees’ wellbeing. At the same time, employees are also practicing ways to maintain their mental health, such as reaching out to their peers more to reduce social isolation. One of the most important ways that can help with this is through relaxation.
Benefits to relaxing
People relax for obvious reasons, such as taking a breather after work or getting a well-earned vacation to spend time with their loved ones. However, due to the current demands at work on top of the restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people seldom feel guilty and are unable to relax even on the weekends. As such, it’s even more important to understand that relaxing after work is just as important as performing well while at work.
- Manage stress levels
One of the biggest problems that employees are facing today is the high-stress levels from the multiple responsibilities they need to juggle. While stress can be good as a motivator to do well, bad stress can be detrimental to one’s health as it also has a bidirectional relationship with depression. Relaxing can help one decompress from a hard day at work and disrupt the otherwise continuous flow of stress.
- Reduce the possibility of illness
People are more conscious of their health and are taking preventive measures so as not to get sick. However, the stress from different responsibilities that need to be attended to has made people more susceptible to illnesses as it can affect the immune system. Stress can cause inflammation, which may lead to serious conditions, such as asthma and heart-related sickness. To avoid this, relaxing can help alleviate stress and keep illnesses at bay.
- Refresh mental capacity
Juggling work and other responsibilities requires a lot of mental effort, which lessens over time. Stress can further diminish one’s thinking capacity, resulting in poor decision-making and forgetfulness. This can negatively impact a person’s work in general. Relaxing after a day’s work can restore one’s mind properly to be ready for the next day.
Employees get overwhelmed with what needs to be done at work by constantly trying to catch up with the demands of their stakeholders. However, tiring yourself out due to work stress in exchange for health will not do you any favors in the long run. It is important to learn how to put boundaries and disengage from work at the end of the day for the sake of one’s physical and mental wellbeing. By relaxing after a long and hard day at work, one can handle their stress better, avoid any possible illnesses, and have a clearer mind.
