The Secret to Health – Work Hard, Relax Hard

In the current scenario as far as lifestyle is concerned, most people tend to work really hard. Issues related to the workplace, relationships, health, finances and more are always pending that need to be taken care of. In such a situation we tend to remain in a continuous state of stress; something that hinders peak performance and adds to physicals ailments too.

There may be many well-wishers that always tell you to ‘relax’ and ‘take it easy’ and in all probability your answer to such suggestions would be ‘but how’. People who are tense and have heavy workloads (including tasks to be completed at home) feel that there is practically no time to sit and relax for a moment and that there is always something or the other to do. There is no doubt about the fact that some adjustments need to be made when one is trying to balance a stressful work scenario with familial commitments but one always has to make time for oneself too. If you continue to concentrate only on work and doing house chores and do not relax at all, there are likely to be long term consequences that you may only realize later.

On the other hand there are a few people who only know how to relax too well. Such people know can sit back and enjoy life along the way and make sure that they spend ample time with themselves, reading, entertaining themselves, listening to music, taking a walk and going to the massage parlor for some indulgence. The fact of the matter is that if you ask them, they may also be too bored of the relaxed lifestyle that they have.

With this perspective in place, one tends to wonder what the right thing to do is. And the answer lies in doing both – working hard and then relaxing hard. True relaxation can come only when one works hard enough to be able to enjoy and appreciate the fruits of the relaxation that one indulges in. It is something like eating sweets. When you have your third candy, it does not taste as sweet. But if you have been eating something salty or bitter, the first candy that you pop in feels like heaven. The intensity of the saltiness or bitterness dictates the level of satiation and delight or pleasure that you feel on eating the sweet candy. Similarly, when you continue to relax, the benefits, pleasure and positive aspects of relaxation do not come alive easily. One tends to take the freedom from work as granted. But when one has been slogging for an entire five-day week, indulgence during the weekend feels much more gratifying.

There is also a feeling that one has earned the relaxation and there is no guilt associated with the act of indulgence that one chooses. If you have been working hard and delivering the goods at work and have been doing the household chores during the week, a short trip to a resort close by does not make you feel that you are wasting time. The profoundness of the time-off that you take will also be evident to you over time.

Relaxing allows you to recharge your batteries. It allows you to concentrate better, can help you in avoiding bad moods and irritability, enables you to think of innovative solution to issues and increases enthusiasm levels.

It is also important to note that only in a state of a balance between work and relaxation does one achieve optimum health. Too much work can cause stress to go beyond tolerance levels and too much relaxation can lead to lethargy and laziness. Both these situations are likely to result in health ailments; some of which become apparent only over a longer period of time.

Vishal P. Rao