Nutrition and work performance – Nutrition is important when you consider your performance at work, you probably think of things such as meeting deadlines, doing quality work, interacting with coworkers and management in an effective and friendly way, etc. Work performance may also call to mind how inadequate sleep makes you drowsy, interfering with the quality or the amount of the work you are capable of doing.
Other inhibitors of a stellar work performance could be things like that nagging headache that’s triggered by the fluorescent lighting or the noise from the break room that you can’t seem to tune out. Possibly the last thing that comes to mind is how what you are eating is affecting your work. But it’s true, there is a direct correlation between the foods you eat and how you are doing at work. By paying attention to your diet and selecting healthier choices, you may soon notice quite an improvement at work. You could even discover that some of those annoyances that you attributed to the office environment are actually lessened or alleviated entirely by a positive change to diet.
Better Mood
What we eat affects our mood. If you consume a lot of caffeine to make it through the day, this could lead to episodes of feeling jittery and amped up, unable to sit still and focus. Caffeine can also cause anxiety. If you’re feeling anxious and stressed, you are not focused on the task at hand. Other common office snacks are heavily processed and can cause you to feel sluggish, leading to irritability. The mood swings caused by unhealthy foods can be eliminated. By choosing healthier foods, you can keep yourself in a good, and steady, mood throughout the day.
Higher Energy
Your eating habits will definitely have an impact on your work performance. Avoid highly processed foods or those that are high in carbohydrates and sugar. These foods can cause a temporary energy surge but are then followed by the inevitable crash afterward that has you struggling to keep your eyes open. A nutrition of whole foods keeps your sugar and hormones steady, providing consistent energy throughout the day without ups and downs requiring caffeine to navigate through. When you’re energized, awake, and alert, you are much more likely to have a productive day.
Better Health
Nutrition and Productivity – Eating the proper foods is essential for great health. A healthy diet or nutrition keeps your body functioning properly. This prevents complications to health that may require medications with harmful or distracting side effects. Other common complaints of a poor diet are digestive issues such as IBS, frequent migraines, or even a disease such as diabetes. All of these conditions require doctor visits and testing that may lead to missed work. When the symptoms of said health conditions are acting up it may lead to your decreased productivity, or even absence from work entirely. Another factor to consider when choosing a healthy diet is if your work involves any kind of physical activity, keeping yourself at a healthy weight can be important to make sure tasks are not too difficult for you to perform.
Increased Focus
Another way that proper nutrition can affect your performance at work is by keeping you focused. A healthy diet can keep your mind sharp letting you be more attentive and able to concentrate much better. Being more engaged in your work helps you to be more creative and intuitive in finding solutions. Remaining focused also helps you to complete work in a timely and accurate manner. It is proven that employees that are able to be focused on their jobs achieve higher accuracy and have a much better overall performance.
As you can see, your diet affects much more than your waistline. Pay attention to the foods that you eat and commit to making some changes. Keep a healthy snack with you to resist the temptation of visiting the vending machine. Pack your lunch instead of opting for fast food. If you are mindful of your diet, you’ll be sure to notice some quite interesting positive effects on both your health and your work performance.
