After the stress of a typical work week, you decide to treat yourself to some rest. A bit of extra spending money could mean that it’s time for a treat. You think about how you’ve been taking care of everyone else lately, and maybe you should be treating yourself for once. So you decide to go to a spa.
But what you probably didn’t know is that while you were treating yourself, you were actually making an investment in your productivity later on. Ironically, those Spa Days associated with relaxation could end up boosting your productivity level!
Increasing the Good Hormones in your Body
Going for a spa day can actually increase the level of good hormones in the body, namely endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine. These hormones control our happiness and motivation. Collectively, they combat depression, anxiety, and stress. The other way people harness these good hormones is through exercise. But if you’re really planning to treat yourself to a day full of relaxation while keeping all the good hormones at healthy levels, a massage is the way to go.
Apparently, massaging your tissues will reduce the production of the hormone responsible for making us feel stressed — cortisol. The techniques practiced by masseuses help to keep you less stressed throughout your day off, making you feel more relaxed before you go back to work.
Relaxed Employees Tend to Be More Productive
If you’re a relaxed employee in the workplace, your stress level will be much easier for your boss to manage. A less stressful workplace helps to increase the problem-solving ability of employees, as well as their productivity and creativity.
Also, considering how spa days can help improve the overall well-being of employees, it can lead to fewer sick days. You can avoid deductions in your pay, and your boss won’t have to worry about the hours you’re unable to put in. That is, when you treat yourself to a facial, you will be more relaxed, experience better skincare, and more productive; compared to another employee who is undergoing extensive stress.
You probably won’t need to take as many mental health days off either. Your mind is going to be in a more relaxed state when you get back to your desk. This could mean that you’ll be able to think more clearly while working.
On the other hand, not choosing activities where you can relax can actually damage your productivity. It leads to an increase in the cortisol released in your body, contributing to high levels of stress. As an employee, you could feel paralyzed from all the anxiety and be unfit for work. Increased levels of cortisol can also affect the memory of employees, making them forgetful. This will result in an overall decrease in the productivity of the employee.
Aside from the mental impact of not having days when you can just relax, it can also hurt your body. Chronic stress tends to weaken your body’s immune system, and can even make you a candidate for heart disease. Nowadays, it’s not uncommon for doctors to declare someone’s death or illness to have been caused by stress. Stress is a silent killer. So whenever you are given the opportunity to relax, you should make the most out of it.
Reward Yourself
You can condition yourself to work as hard as you can when you’re at work by rewarding yourself with a day of complete relaxation at the spa. This can be another source of motivation for you to get up on a workday. It will give you something to look forward to. Eventually, this relationship of constantly rewarding yourself for a hard day’s work can lead to you providing the same intensity of hard work every day. Similar to Pavlov’s classical conditioning, every time you treat yourself for hard work is a way of reinforcing a work ethic that is encouraged by a reward.
Going for a spa day can be your kind of self-care. It will help improve your overall physical and mental health, and it can make you feel rewarded for working hard. It is a luxury that should become a necessity if one would like to better navigate an incessantly stressful world. Frequent spa days can help improve job satisfaction and, in turn, the overall productivity of employees. Relaxing can clear your mind and keep it ready for another week of hard work. It will help you will feel less anxious when faced with situations that put you under pressure. These spa days can become a sort of safety net that will keep hard-working employees from spiraling when days get tough.
