Small Business Owner Productivity is an Ounce of Prevention
A sharp mind and strong healthy body is paramount to being an effective manager and decision maker
The sole purpose of this article is to open up a conversation with you doctor or health professional. Everyone is different and heath professionals can only make recommendations after a physical examination.
As we have touched upon in many of the previous columns, it is clear that our busy and challenging lives as small business owners present some challenges personally as we strive to be at the top of our game day in and day out. A sharp mind and strong healthy body is paramount to being an effective manager and prudent decision maker. Professional business owners who many times take “multitasking” to a new level are often subject to a totally unique work place hazard, burn out.
A principal business owner’s contribution, one that is critical to success and not easily duplicated, may become compromised and ineffective by “burn out”, causing our families, our employees and our clients to suffer the consequences. Most importantly our bottom line suffers. If taken to extremes, “burn out” can cause irreparable harm to our personal and professional lives and may reach what we euphemistically refer to as a “crash and burn” scenario.
How do we get the competitive edge in our industry? Why is it that we notice those competitors or mentors whose productivity appears driven by “effortless power”?
The ability to appear clear minded, healthy, invigorated and engaged with one’s surroundings day in and day out seems unachievable. However, attaining what is often referred to as “Work –Life Balance” is possible and absolutely necessary for busy professionals managing complicated lives. Personalization, planning and prevention are the 3 “P’s” of success and below are some useful tips to consider.
We hear endlessly that nutrition and exercise are the cornerstones of health, vigor and chronic disease prevention. Let’s now take it a step further and say that any other method of attaining vigor and productivity, be it pills, fad diets, spa treatments or motivational tapes are useless unless placed on a foundation of a proper and structured Physical Activity and Nutrition (PAN) plan.
Meta-Analyses of multiple PAN interventional studies conducted at major academic medical centers in Europe and the U.S. demonstrated two interesting and telling findings.
First, independent of the type of diet used (i.e. The Mediterranean Diet, The Atkins Diet, The South Beach Diet, High Carb, and Low Carb), only individual diets that were low in Total Calories (1800 -2200 Kcal/day or less) were associated with longer life expectancy, improved health and quality of life.
Secondly, the overall arching indicator of success on any diet plan was “adherence” past the end of the study period. These seem like obvious and logical conclusions, but ones that are ignored by most. The message as communicated by Preventive Medicine and Wellness specialist is; “Eat Only What You Need, and Need only What You Eat!” Practically speaking, the significance of this message lay in the recognition that an essential-nutrient, calorie-restricted, plant-based diet sustained man for millions of year while leading life as a hunter, gatherer and nomad.
The transition of Homo Sapiens over many millennia into communal, sedentary consumers of animal-based and artificial industrialized foods has assisted anthropologist and scientist to clearly trace the origins of most chronic diseases, behavioral and societal maladies. Today we have coined this societal phenomenon as “Food Insecurities”, the politically correct manner to describe quality-calorie-starvation in the form of malnutrition, undernutrition, and over-nutrition.
Business professionals will reap the rewards of spending as much time and energy planning what they eat and not only where they eat, be it in the office, at home, on the road and in business meetings.
Demonstrating to clients and potential associates that quality PAN is a cornerstone of your good business practices establishes from the commencement a culture of vigor and productivity for all to follow.
It has been reported previously that many companies out west have opted for the “walking meeting” were colleagues and clients agree to meet while participating in a nature hike void of cell phones. Allowing for the full attention of all, the walking meeting feeds the brain with increased oxygen and circulation afforded by increasing the cardiac output to equal the mental activity performed. More importantly it supports a corporate culture where one’s health and vitality are placed as a prerequisite for performance.
Oxygen benefits and therapy
Other potential enhancers of vigor and health, albeit some more costly and inconvenient than others, are worth mentioning and have gained recent popularity. For years the military, especially the Navy has understood the accelerating power of ‘Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy” or “HBOT” for use with deep sea divers experiencing nitrogen toxicity or the “bends”. Perhaps you have heard of the iron lung of the 1950’s and 1960’s to treat everything from polio to TB, or the use of certain celebrities of HBOT as the cure all.
Pure 100 % oxygen when administered at 2 atmospheres below sea level (60-70 feet) in specialized chambers has been proven extensively to induce a level of oxygen saturation at the cellular level of all tissues in the body that induces significant metabolic changes including increasing the number and efficiency of mitochondria, the energy producing organelles in all human cells responsible to almost all cellular functions of regeneration of diseased and damaged tissues. Additionally, there is “neo-vascularization” or the inducement of new capillaries to areas of the tissues with previously limited oxygenation and waste removal.
A myriad of chemical growth and immune factors that promote health are released and a thorough summary is far beyond the scope of this piece. However HBOT, once only used for the bends, serious burns, and post radiation tissue necrosis, is fast becoming a mainstay of treatment for post stroke/cardiac failure care, orthopedic injuries, PTSD, Autism, ADHD and many debilitating chronic diseases such as Lyme disease. While commercial insurance at the moment only reimburse a limited group of established conditions, retail “HBOT” centers are popping up and advertise the fountain of youth.
Beware that the average protocol for effective HBOT cellular changed requires minimum 40 treatments and may be cost prohibitive. Centers offering Oxygen therapy at a discount with shorter treatment periods or lower pressure or concentrations are ineffective and of little value. The only exception to this is the innovative use of “EWO” or Exercise with Oxygen that is becoming popular and when done properly can enhance VO2 (Maximal Oxygen Consumption) with significant improvements in cardio-aerobic fitness and increased calorie burn which translates into aggressive weight loss. Using EWO with trained exercise professionals is an absolute necessity to avoid harm.
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