{"id":105326,"date":"2020-01-20T16:00:22","date_gmt":"2020-01-20T16:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusme.com\/?p=105326"},"modified":"2025-02-08T06:45:22","modified_gmt":"2025-02-08T06:45:22","slug":"reinventing-the-workplace-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusme.com\/blog\/reinventing-the-workplace-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Reinventing the Workplace – Creating an Environment for Optimal Health and Productivity – Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The modern workplace is evolving. It\u2019s an undeniable fact. In many companies, employees have gotten more freedom to organize their work in a way that suits them best. The only catch seems to be that you have to deliver. How you do it is completely up to you.<\/p>\n

All this is fine, of course, but in some ways it\u2019s still limited. It gives employees freedom without offering them guidance to go along with it. More specifically, while the way we organize our workday becomes more liberated, the rituals and environments in which we work tend to stay the same.<\/p>\n

Even more specifically, our workplaces aren\u2019t yet specifically engineered towards good health. There are some key flaws in the way our work environment is designed that limit us from aging gracefully and living out our retirement without much physical ailment.<\/p>\n

Most of us are supposed to work well past sixty years old, so it\u2019s not unreasonable to expect some maintenance along the way.<\/p>\n

Today, I\u2019d like to talk about a few key elements that the standard workplace is equipped with that are in dire need of change.<\/p>

Download this article as a PDF<\/a><\/h2>\n

Get a headstart – are you over-reliant on caffeine?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I\u2019m going to start by talking about coffee. It\u2019s what most of us use to kickstart our day and get going. It\u2019s the morning ritual that the vast majority of employees have in common.<\/p>\n

Nothing wrong with coffee in itself. There are numerous studies that document the vast amount of health benefits that coffee brings. Yet, there can be too much of a good thing.<\/p>\n

To delve a bit deeper into this, we have to explain how coffee works to keep us alert and focused.<\/p>\n

As you probably know, coffee contains a substance called caffeine, which is a potent stimulant. Caffeine works partially by blocking certain receptors in our brain, called adenosine receptors. Adenosine, in turn, is a substance that builds up during the day, over time, and is supposed to make us sleepy by the time night arrives. Caffeine is a substance that is very similar to adenosine, and because of that, it is able to fit the adenosine receptors, blocking adenosine from doing its job. This in turn keeps us awake and focused.<\/p>\n

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For many people, a cup of coffee is an essential piece of workplace equipment<\/em><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the catch: our brain adapts to this situation, and creates more adenosine receptors, which requires us to drink more coffee to get the same effect. Over time, where one cup of coffee used to suffice to keep us up and running the entire day, we keep needing more and more.<\/p>\n

This has another nasty side effect: it actually lowers our baseline of focus and wakefulness.<\/p>\n

Whereas before you starting drinking coffee, you were feeling rather normal and just needed coffee to get that extra boost, after chronic caffeine consumption, you start out below normal<\/strong> and you need coffee every morning to get to your baseline again. There is no more extra boost.<\/p>\n

Additionally, caffeine creates a feeling of energy by increasing levels of cortisol and other stress hormones in our body. When done chronically, every day, this isn\u2019t very conducive to good health and can actually wear us down, making us more stressed and fatigued in the long run.<\/p>\n

Obviously, not a great situation to be in. It\u2019s not great for health, and it\u2019s not great for productivity.<\/p>\n

Does this mean you have to stop drinking coffee forever?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Short answer: no, not at all. We\u2019re not that cruel. You see, the problem isn\u2019t necessarily the coffee in itself, merely our chronic reliance on it. As we\u2019ve said before, coffee has a myriad of health benefits, and when used responsibly, it can be a great tool to optimizing your workflow and helping you get things done.<\/p>\n

What you do need to realize is that you have to give your brain and your body some time off now and then, to allow it to reset itself and its sensitivity to caffeine. Alternatively, you can also switch with a few other energy boosting drinks. Here are a few suggestions to implement if you\u2019re a chronic caffeine junkie.<\/p>\n