Pacing

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It is important to learn to monitor stress and energy levels, and then pace ourselves accordingly. Pacing is about awareness and vigilance-knowing when to extend ourselves and when to ease up. It is also about acting on the information supplied by our bodies. The graph below illustrates the relationship between stress and performance, and leads to the following important conclusions:

performance. Trying harder at this point is unproductive or even counterproductive. The only sensible option is to take a break.

The other key to pacing is taking periodic rest. Too many people go far too long without breaks. Just as we all have cycles of deep sleep and dream sleep throughout the night (at roughly 90- to 120-minute intervals), we also have cycles through the day (peaks of energy and concentration interspersed with troughs of low energy and inefficiency).

These cycles are called ultradian rhythms because they happen many times per day (as opposed to the 25-hour circadian rhythm). We need to watch for these troughs and take 20-minute breaks when they occur, as opposed to working through them and building up stress.

It is not always convenient for us to take breaks when nature tells us to, but we can all become better at this. A mid-morning break, lunch, a mid-afternoon break and supper divide the day into roughly two hour segments. These timeouts can include catnaps, meditation, daydreaming, a social interlude, a short walk, a refreshment break, a change to low-concentration tasks, or listening to music.

Like the catnap, it is simply a good investment of time that pays itself back quickly in increased productivity and reduced stress.

Work/leisure balance

Optimizing the balance between work and leisure is an important means to eliminating unwanted stress in our lives. Despite all our labour-saving devices, leisure is still an elusive commodity for most people. Statistics show that we are working an extra three hours per week compared with 20 years ago. That translates into an extra month of work each year. Add to that the phenomenon of the two career family (which makes family and leisure time even more scarce) and you start to get a picture of society on an accelerating treadmill.

Leisure time and levels of distress are inversely proportional-the less leisure, the more stress. It may be useful to divide your life (excluding sleep time) into four compartments (work, family, community and self) and then to assess what percentage of your time and energy in an average week goes into each part.

There is no normal range, but when work is over 60 per cent and/or when self is less than 10 per cent this indicates there may be a problem with stress. We all require time to meet our own needs (self-care, self-nurturing, etc) and when that is neglected, trouble usually follows. Self-directed activities can include exercise or recreation, relaxation, socializing, entertainment and hobbies.

The word leisure is derived from the Latin word licere, which means 'permission'. The main reason so many people do not have enough leisure is that they are not giving themselves permission to make the time to enjoy it. Leisure is one of the most pleasant stress relievers ever invented, and it is strange that people resist it so much.