For most people, the evening is the only period they have to themselves. However, these days, it’s hard to make the most of your evenings and adopt a healthier lifestyle. It is mostly as a result of a busy work schedule, coupled with the crazy traffic in busy cities like Lagos.
This could affect your health and relaxation schedules over time, leaving you feeling fatigued and restless. To ensure you maximize your evening periods well, it’s important to quit certain after-work habits that could be detrimental to your health.
These are the unhealthy habits that could be affecting your health:
Having A Large Dinner
It’s advisable to eat in small portions at dinner time. Stuffing yourself with large meals like ‘swallows’ could disrupt your sleep and even lead to a pot belly (and you definitely don’t want to have to suck belle every time you dress up, do you?)
Unhealthy Screen Time
Most of us spend at least 85% of our work periods looking at a screen. Right after, we’re watching videos on YouTube, scrolling through our social media feed, doing some extra work or watching TV, all of which could be affecting your health. The best thing to do after leaving work is to ensure you try to avoid staring at a screen. Relax, give your eyes and brain some time to rest from all the stress and screen time.
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Bringing Work Home
This is another bad habit most young professionals are fond of. Bringing your work home to do after a long and stressful day at work could have lasting effects on your health if it becomes a regular habit. You should leave work-related things at work, where they belong. Doing extra work at home could take a toll on your physical and mental health.
Your after-work hours should be used to refresh and relax, so you can be in a better headspace for the next day.
Eating Junk
You might be tempted to ‘reward’ yourself with a box of pizza or a couple of burgers after work or just console yourself with some ‘comfort food’ after traffic. However, doing this often will eventually affect your health, making you add unhealthy calories.
Overthinking
Spending after-work hours overthinking certain events that took place during the day could have major effects on your mental health and consequently, your physical health. While overthinking could be difficult to quit, you can try distracting yourself by listening to music, exercising, reading or any other thing that could help destress and keep you at ease.
Drinking Coffee
There’s absolutely no reason to drink coffee before going to bed if we’re being real. Taking a cup or two before help will affect your sleep, as you’ll most likely spend your time up and restless. The caffeine in coffee could act as a diuretic, making you get up to pee more often during the night.
Avoiding Exercise
If you spend your day seated in your cubicle, slouched over your computer screen, you should make up for those periods by taking a walk or doing some quick exercises in the evenings. If your evening routine involves you sitting in the couch or lying in bed for a while, you are most likely ridding your body of the much-needed exercise it deserves. Doing some exercises helps you stay fit and burn those calories you might have added during the day.
Staying Up Late
You require at least 8 hours of sleep to help you feel rested and increase the quality of your life. Denying your body of the much-needed sleep could negatively affect your physical and mental health. A good night-sleep has a variety of benefits: it helps to maintain normal blood pressure, reduce stress, keep your heart healthy, boost your memory and it also ensures you wake up feeling rejuvenated. You should get some more often.
What’s your biggest after-work habit? Share with us in the comments section!
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