Something for the weekend...fit for the job

photo credit: MotiveWeight via photopin cc

                                            



I have on several occasions written about the psychological effects of being unemployed. Debt resulting from a lowered income has a big impact on your mental and physical health as also does pressure from the job centre and other relevant government programmes to make you look for jobs that are hard to find, while threatening you with benefit sanctions. Unemployment can only too easily result, scary as it is of living in the official definition of poverty with its resulting isolation, depression, anxiety and ill health. However,it is never more important to try to remain mentally and physically fit than when you are looking for a job, for one thing job seeking is stressful and hard work  and also if you get an interview, appearances count.

Good health shows that you care for yourself and this gives an employer the feeling that you will care about your work.

Get the day off to a good start and  be sure to have breakfast. It is not a myth that it sets you up for the day and a good breakfast can help to stop mid morning munchies when you reach for the biscuit tin

Try in spite of and to help your anxieties to get enough and regular sleep. Few things are as stressful as job hunting and money problems and sleep is very important for your health and blood pressure. Also, it is good to try to keep in the same time routine as you had when you were working. This will make it easier to adjust to getting up and going to work again if you get a job . Whatever they say about job hunting or self employment being opportunities to stay in your pyjamas all day it doesn't do much for your moral. Keep a routine, go to bed, get up...get dressed.

Take time to make dinner and eat properly. Its tempting when up to your eyes in job applications to rely on ready meals you can put in the microwave. Buy a chicken for Sunday dinner  or vegetarian alternative like a nut roast and you have a healthy meal for at least two days...cheaper and much better for you.Eat oily fish which is good for your heart, fresh oily fish such as salmon, trout, mackerel, sardines, pilchards, herring and kipper are still reasonably priced at my local supermarket and stay hydrated by drinking water, its good for your skin too and free !!! , also read up on the increasingly documented benefits of tea

Go for a walk...its free exercise and sitting in front of a computer all day and not having your usual activity at work can easily lead to an unhealthy weight gain,which in turn leads to other health risks like high blood pressure. Also weight gain will affect the clothes you can wear and the image you give at an interview. if you are lucky enough to be enjoying the sunshine then don't sit indoors..sun is vital for our levels of vitamin D, which is important for bone health. I have spent so long indoors with no money to go out and looking for a job or trying to make money that my own levels of vitamin D are seriously low and this may well be responsible for my tendency to falls and serious fractures when I do. low levels of vitamin D are now thought also to have an effect on other aspects of our health such as heart disease and risks of multiple sclerosis.

If you smoke and drink too much...then stop !! It isn't easy when you are stressed, but not only will it improvee your health but of course help you to save money.

Valerie