Are you struggling to recover after long or stressful days at work? We have talked about the importance of recovery for well-being before – and how it is especially important for leaders to recover. When you have limited time to recover after work, you probably want to do it in the most efficient and effective way possible. New research shows how to select recovery activities that align with your goals. In fact, there are seven different features of recovery activities that can promote well-being in different ways. Learn more about these activities and how you can use this information to recover better after work!
Recovering through Physical Activity is Complex
Let’s get started with a part of the research that you might find surprising. When it comes to recovery, physical activity may not be as helpful as it seems. While important for many other areas of your health, the researchers found that physically demanding exercise led to decreased relaxation and did not improve detachment from work. In fact, such activities made employees feel less relaxed, and more exhausted.
Yet, physical activity does help employees to feel like they are mastering something they care about. This can add to their energy at work the next morning. So, you should be careful when you’re deciding when and how to engage in physical activity after work. If you’re looking to detach from work in the evening, or relax right after work, this may not be the best avenue for doing so.
One caveat – you can go outside to maximize your recovery through physical exercise. Outdoor activities were found to help people detach and relax. If you’re into physical activity, and want to recover from work at the same time, go outdoors to do it!
Social Activities Help Employees to Recover
Interestingly, engaging in social activities – like interacting or talking to friends or family – is one of the best things you can do to recover. Not only do social activities help you to relax, they also help you to disconnect from work. Across all forms of recovery activities, social activities were most helpful for decreasing exhaustion after work and the next morning. This is even more true for extraverted people who like to socialize with others in general.
So, if you’re having a particularly rough or stressful day at work, and you need to detach, try not to isolate yourself. Call a friend or family member. Or make time to have a meal with someone you love. We are social beings. Making time to socialize is one of the best things you can do for yourself after work! Finally, engaging in spiritual activities was also found to increase relaxation and decrease exhaustion. If you’re part of a faith community or engage in non-denominational spiritual practices with a friend, that will only help to boost the effects.
Mentally Challenging and Creative Activities Boost Vigor
Finally, if you want to detach or relax, engaging in mentally tough activities may not be the right avenue. For example, you might avoid activities that require you to think hard or concentrate, like playing a game or doing a crossword puzzle. Similarly, engaging in highly creative tasks does not boost detachment or relaxation. In other words, similar to physical activity, the effort you exert to complete the activity may counter the stress it washes away. In fact, for mentally tough activities in particular, employees reported feeling less relaxed and more exhausted afterward.
But, there are some positive benefits of these activities. They give you a motivating sense of improving at something you care about. This gives you more energy entering work the next day. So, while these activities expend resources in the moment, you do gain some energy back in the long-term. The bottom line: you should use these activities sparingly when you want to recuperate lost resources in real time.
Overall, you can use these strategies strategically to recover the way that you want to. If you’re extremely exhausted and need a boost of energy at night, get outside or socialize with others (or both). If you are feeling slightly used up, but could wait for the effects to hit in the morning, exercise or do something mentally or creatively stimulating. Finally, the research shows that engaging with screens (e.g., watching a movie or tv show) can be relaxing. It can decrease exhaustion as well. While this is a much more passive activity, and other research shows it may be comparatively less effective, sometimes it’s ok to just “veg out”. We hope that these tips help you, and your team, to recover better from work!
