It’s one of life’s little paradoxes…when we’re feeling overly stretched, that’s a very good time to stop and do some stretches.

A reminder of a couple of options for daily (Monday-Friday) group exercise sessions available to Puaka-James Hight staff and anyone else who’d like to join us:

Library Access & Collections (Room 519): 11.30am

E-Learning and LT&R teams (Room 522): 3pm

Visitors always welcome.

Please let us know of any other group exercise sessions happening in your area.

You may find this list of exercises useful.

Want to glide through the giddy end of year schedule feeling calm and in control instead of frazzled and frantic?   Remembering to breathe correctly could be a good start.

Current research confirms you can relax your brain through your breath.  The trick is to breathe through your nose, activating the parasympathetic nervous system – your “rest and digest” response.  This causes you to produce happy hormones which decrease your heart rate and blood pressure. (Mouth-breathing, conversely, produces stress hormones which have the opposite effect).

So: inhale deeply through your nose until your lungs are full, expanding the abdomen and ribcage. Exhale through the nose, aiming for a count longer than the inhale.  (Exhaling through the nose appears to be more beneficial overall than mouth exhalation).

Now astound your friends, confound your colleagues and cruise your way to Christmas!

…drink it!

Now the cosy heating’s on but we’re slowly dehydrating

Finding a solution needn’t be frustrating

Just keep a bottle on your desk of good old H2O

Remembering to drink it – it’s the smartest way to go.

Cheers!

Felicity

Using dual monitors at your workstation?  Position the most frequently viewed screen directly in front of you.  Ensure both screens are at the same height and degree of brightness.  (Your eyes should be approximately level with the top tool bar).  That way you’ll be double screening…not double screaming.