Being an entrepreneur can have significant effect on your health. It involves being extremely self-motivated, the ability to wear multiple hats throughout each day, a huge amount of risk and a lot of stress. Although the payoffs of entrepreneurship can be huge, the price can often be damage to the well-being of the entrepreneurs behind successful businesses. Below is a list of four of the most common ways entrepreneurs forget to take care of themselves and simple solutions for each one.
Sitting for extended periods of time
According to The Huffington Post sitting is the new smoking. Although some entrepreneurs work outside in their respective fields, due to technological advancements, a growing number of entrepreneurs can work almost completely online. Since entrepreneurs typically work much longer hours than the average employee, 60 hours per week or more. All that time on the computer can mean a lot of time sitting stagnantly. Web MD cites sitting too much as a growing cause of mental illness and heart disease.
To offset this, entrepreneurs should set regular schedules for themselves which include reminders to stand, stretch, walk and do physical activity to break up the work day. Furniture manufacturers have started releasing desks that allow standing. One manufacturer even offers a desk that has bicycle pedals underneath to help keep entrepreneurs in shape while staying on top of their email.
Water quality
According to the US Geological Survey your body is over 60 percent water and your brain and heart are over 73 percent water. It stands to reason then that water is one of the most important aspects of our life. Since the majority of Americans eat food and drink water that makes their body acidic, overall health in the country is on a decline as we all know. Thankfully, there is an easy fix for this.
The answer is drinking water that makes your body more alkaline (raises your pH). Many doctors know that alkaline water helps to stop disease, increase brain function, give you more energy, slow down your aging process and much more. Your average tap water or bottled water is not going to help you though unfortunately. You need to drink an Alkaline Water that gives the most health benefits such as Amphora Water or Essentia Water. This will dramatically increase your overall health and even make you smarter. Every entrepreneur wants to be more intelligent. There are some of the best water softeners available in market today, thry this https://watersoftenershub.com/best-water-softeners/
Air quality
Air quality is one of the most overlooked threats to all people, but especially entrepreneurs who typically spend more time inside than a regular 40 hour per week employee, whether in a home office or at their place of work. Indoor air quality is considered by the Environmental Protection Agency to be one of the top pollution threats to Americans. Indoor air may contain thousands of chemicals and impurities and also may be many times more polluted than the air outside. Some of the side effects of poor air are reduced concentration and memory, two things busy entrepreneurs cannot risk compromising. Allergies, asthma and other respiratory, cardiovascular and nerve issues can be aggravated as well.
According to Robert Meirovich, CEO of Airbiotics, a manufacturer of probiotic air purifying devices and cleaners, “Entrepreneurs need to be aware of the variety of health risks there are from spending too much time inside their home or offices, and that technology exists to fix the problem.” Improvements in air purification technology have given entrepreneurs the ability to offset some of the damage from spending too much time inside without having to cut down on their productivity by going outside more. The other solution, to take frequent breaks throughout the day and spend time outdoors, is not always practical for those who live in the cold or have busy workloads. Either way, entrepreneurs who spend long hours at home, in a car, on in their office need to be mindful of the risks to their health around them and do their best to stay ahead of it.
Eating habits
A busy lifestyle and big workload is a virtually guaranteed recipe for making bad diet choices. People who get busy or have a lot of responsibilities may skip breakfast, eat only once per day, or eat nutrient deprived fast food for one or more meals per day.
Since the body turns food into energy, and entrepreneurs need lots of it, it is very important to make good dietary choices to keep productivity as high as possible. Meal planning is one way to avoid making bad diet choices. Setting aside one or two nights per week to prepare and package reheatable, healthy meals and snacks for the days ahead will save precious time and improve health and energy. Entrepreneurs should consume food that is high in protein, vitamins and healthy fats and avoid foods high in chemicals and carbs since these will likely cause a crash in energy. For entrepreneurs that do not know how to cook, there are several companies that ship premade meals directly to home or office like My Fit Foods and Factor 75. Think of the body being a vehicle and the food being the fuel, if poor quality fuel is put in, bad performance is sure to follow.
Entrepreneurs have enough risk to deal with; credit risk, cash flow risk, market risk. Make sure not to let good health be one of the things risked when so much can be done in the modern world to prevent it. We know that grinding long hours is important to making it big, but living long enough to see your success is by far more important.
This article was originally published in Entrepreneur.com
