Your Health is Your Wealth

By Stephanie Parker, CPA, MSFP, and Tucker Newman

As business professionals, we are challenged daily with stress which takes a toll on the mind and body. Staying healthy to meet the many demands of our professional lives is a challenge for everyone. Taking care of yourself through a healthy lifestyle includes managing stress, eating foods dense in nutrients and vitamins, moving the body through some form of exercise, hydrating with pure water and visualizing dreams/goals by taking the time to have fun; all on a regular basis, not just during certain times of the year.

Busy professionals need knowledge and tools to create and maintain a healthy lifestyle, it is not easy to attain it without assistance. A properly nourished and regularly exercised body will provide the energy to survive every busy season. Once the mind and body start to feel well, positive energy prevails over negative energy. Positive energy, when maintained, will keep the mind sharp all day, well into the late evening hours during a busy day, week and tax season.

Powerful knowledge and tools will help the body change because the body is brilliant. When the body feels well and the mind is sharp and aware, all positive intentions will flourish.

Here are some tips to follow in the next few weeks.

Block Blue Light
Blue light is a frequency from most artificial lights and disrupts our circadian rhythms. Anything that disrupts our circadian rhythms makes our sleep quality worse and leaves us constantly tired, unable to think and more susceptible to illness. Using software like Iris or Flux for our computer screens can reduce the blue light and save our eyes. Also using blue light blocking glasses can be a huge help for not just our workday but getting our body to produce melatonin closer to bedtime.

Pomodoro Method
This is a productivity hack where a person works for 25 minutes and takes a five-minute break. It is one of the most powerful ways to boost productivity but also gives you a chance to MOVE YOUR BODY periodically throughout the day. This periodic movement is what creates health as opposed to just your typical one hour in the gym. We need to constantly pump our bodies so this hack not only boosts work productivity but helps improve your health too.

 Alternate Nostril Breathing
This is an exercise learned from world renowned health and wellness expert Paul Chek. It is a “zone exercise”, which is an exercise that builds our energy more than the energy it takes to perform it. All you do is breathe in one nostril then out the other. Breathe in through the nostril you just breathed out of and then out the other. Keep alternating for two to five minutes.

No Stimulants after 2:00 p.m.
Sleep is critical! Caffeine can keep us stimulated for hours after we drink it. This will eventually burn out our adrenal glands and leave us chronically tired all the time. The best way to maintain balance and health is to avoid any stimulants like caffeine, processed sugar or food additives after 2:00 p.m. so we can allow our cortisol levels to drop and melatonin levels to rise the nearer we get to bedtime.

Morning Tonic for Blood Sugar Stabilization
Drinking 16 oz of spring or purified water with a pinch of sea salt, squeeze of lemon and organic apple cider vinegar will do wonders for your health. Note that our blood sugar is closely tied with our emotions, think about being hangry when blood sugar is low. This drink primes your digestive system for the day and stabilizes your blood sugar. When our digestive systems are working properly, and our blood sugar is stable, we are very happy campers.

Stephanie Parker, CPA, MSFP, is a MassCPAs member and is the co-owner and certified transformation life coach at Soul Warrior Consulting, Inc. Contact her at sparker@soulwarriorconsulting.com. Tucker Newman is a certified personal trainer and holistic lifestyle coach at Soul Warrior Consulting, Inc. Contact him at tnewman@soulwarriorconsulting.com.