We all know about the importance of a good work/life balance, but how about your work/health balance? It is often the case that people allow their professional life to really disrupt their health, both physical and mental, and that is a situation that we should each desperately try to avoid. You need to think about what your work is doing to affect your health so that you can ensure you are going to move against it, and start championing your health once again. Let’s look at how you might be able to do that.
Working Less
One of the most common ways that work affects your health is when you overwork. By working too much, you are ensuring that you are going to be affected negatively, and so the best thing you can do is to make a point of reducing your hours. Of course, you need to find a balance here, and you can’t just stop working. But you should make sure that you are not working yourself to the point of actual exhaustion and causing yourself damage all the time. That is not the way to look after yourself. Work less where necessary, and see what a difference it makes.
Avoiding Injury
Another common problem is that being at work can often be dangerous. If you work in the kind of environment which generally has a lot of danger around, then this might be something that you consider as being part of the territory. But no matter what your job is, you have the right to be safe, or kept as safe as possible, at all times. If you feel that your employer is not keeping up their side of the bargain here, and you suffer an injury, then you are well within your rights to contact personal injury lawyers and see what can be done. Avoiding injury in the first place, however, is, of course, the best.
Taking Breaks
You have a certain legal minimum break time which you need to take, as that is really important for your mental and physical health. If you fail to take breaks regularly, then it is going to mean that you are struggling to look after yourself properly. Be sure to take breaks religiously, and don’t allow your employer to steal that time away from you. It really is a lot more important than many people seem to realize.
Holiday
Finally, remember that you are also owed a certain amount of holiday, and you need to make sure that you are taking it all as best as you can. Your holiday dates are an opportunity to really relax and unwind, and to de-stress from the experience of working. If you fail to take a holiday, then you will struggle much more psychologically and physically, and you will find that you are going to end up really resenting the work that you do. That is not a situation that anyone should be in, so it’s really important to make sure you overcome it.
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Since I work from home for my husband and take care of/homeschool our three kids, it can be a struggle. I find myself with really bad neck pain and stress. I definitely need to find that balance because I know this is not healthy for me, and I need to be for my family! Thank you for sharing this. 🙂
My work vs/health balance is not good. I really need to work on it. Thanks for the article.
My work/life balance was way out of wack. I finally cut back on my hours at work. Thank you so much for sharing this
These days my work/health balance is great – I retired 20 years early!.. But when I was working, I travelled a ton, ate too many meals as room service or airport fare and had no time to exercise. I don’t miss working one bit!