Author: Ivana Hricová

The new episode of our podcast On the Wave of Code was prepared in cooperation with the online platform Ksebe.sk. With Dominika Neprašová, an experienced psychologist and coach, we talk about what burnout is, how to prevent it and what to do when you feel it coming on. We wish you a pleasant listening or reading.

Burnout. A state where our intrinsic motivation goes out and the daily responsibilities that once fulfilled us and made us happy suddenly become a burden. Burnout has become one of the most frequently bandied about terms today. It is a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion that arises mainly as a result of prolonged stress, overwork or lack of support in work and personal life.

This phenomenon, which affects people in different professions and life stages, can have serious consequences for health, performance and quality of life. In this talk, we will discuss not only the causes of burnout, but also its symptoms, prevention and ways to get out of this challenging situation. It is time to open a discussion on this increasingly common problem that deserves attention and a solution.

Modern life places many demands on us. We are often expected to be available virtually all the time. Perhaps this is why burnout syndrome is a topic that is being talked about more and more. Dominika, is burnout a modern phenomenon or have we just learned to talk about it more openly?

I think burnout is really coming up a lot now. We can associate it with phenomena, but I think it has always been there. The fact that it is being talked about more now does not mean that burnout was not there before. The topic of mental health is coming to the fore.

To begin with, I would like to explain what burnout actually means. It is a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion that most often arises as a result of long-term or chronic stress. It often occurs in people who, for example, have high levels of responsibility, a lot of contact with people or work under pressure.

But burnout can also occur in other areas, such as work. It can be interpersonal relationships, family relationships, parenting, personal life or hobbies.

Is this condition more a question of our psyche or is it caused by the environment in which we live and work?

Definitely both factors. With our psyche, burnout is related to the beliefs or cognitive conclusions we have about ourselves. What I need to do, what I need to become, what will happen if I don’t do it, how others will view me, how I will view myself.

But environment and other influences also play a big role. For example, social networks, comparisons, pressure to perform, perfectionism at work. The term toxic productivity is common. For example, FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is also related to burnout, that is, the fear of not going somewhere, not participating in something, missing out. And if we have pressure to always be present sometimes, we can burn out from that too.

If we were to compare burnout to the state of a mobile phone, what would it look like? Maybe like a situation where we only have 10% of the battery left and everything is in power saving mode?

That’s a very nice metaphor, I like to use it. The metaphor of a dying flame is also ideal. Burning out comes in stages, we’ll get to that later. But the important thing is that it doesn’t come from one day to the next, but step by step – just like a flashlight in a cell phone dies. At the beginning it is charged to 100% and then it gradually goes down.

Sometimes we don’t recognise burnout because it can look like normal fatigue. In reality, however, there are signs that warn us that we are dangerously close to that threshold. What are the most common signs that tell us burnout is approaching?

I would divide these symptoms into four basic categories. The first category is emotional or feeling symptoms – feelings of exhaustion, frustration, loss of motivation, decreased empathy, outbursts of anger, cynicism, which can culminate in anxiety or depressive states.

Then there are the physical symptoms – fatigue, sleep disturbances, inability to fall asleep, headaches. A lot of clients mention, for example, weakened immunity or digestive problems, this is very common at the moment.

Next, cognitive symptoms, such as impairment of our cognitive, recognition functions. Memory or attention is a little bit impaired because we have so much on our minds that we can’t focus 100%.

The fourth category is social symptoms, which include isolation from other people, withdrawal from social activities, deterioration of interpersonal relationships. We don’t have the capacity for other people, so we withdraw into our bubble.

Why does burnout syndrome arise? And how can we distinguish it from other diagnoses such as depression, work frustration, or some kind of post-traumatic stress disorder?

Burnout syndrome is very closely related to anxiety and depression. These are real psychological disorders that are registered in the so-called Diagnostic Manual or International Classification of Diseases. They are treated with medication, in collaboration between a psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist. Burnout is more of a therapeutic issue. When it is caught early, anxiety and depression may not occur at all.

Burnout syndrome is most often related to chronic stress. Long-term stress kicks in, energy reserves are depleted, the immune system weakens. This is the most common basis. Burnout syndrome also occurs in the sense that we have no control over our life, our work, we feel helpless, frustrated, everything slips through our fingers because there is so much going on.

And then it’s the lack of social support. When we isolate ourselves, we don’t have the mirror of other people to tell us to slow down. Or we have a lack of space for ourselves. We are social creatures, we need to be with other people, but we also need to recharge ourselves. With Netflix, with a show, on a walk, doing crossword puzzles. That is, really being with ourselves.

And the very last thing burnout syndrome can be is even some excessive or unrealistic expectation. Something that is objectively higher that simply cannot be met. It may be an expectation of ourselves, of other people, or of general situations that we should work out. The whole package can lead to a burnout outbreak.

Are there also any groups of people or professions that are more prone to burnout?

As I mentioned at the beginning, it is a job in difficult conditions. That is, for example, long working hours, high work pressure, perhaps low financial evaluation. Lack of control over the work, but also, for example, conflicts in the workplace. Then there are professions where we care for other people – doctors, nurses, psychologists. Burnout is a very common theme here too.

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However, caring for children or relatives, financial problems, debt, uncertainty of financial income and financial stress can also lead to burnout. Or then personality factors – perfectionism, pressure to perform. People who may have lower self-esteem cannot cope with stress. Or people who can’t set boundaries and can’t say no. These are all people who then struggle with burnout.

Why do we burn out and slide into it and not, for example, our colleague who has the same tasks at work?

We need to start by growing up in a family, in an environment that influences us. The upbringing style, beliefs and values of our family shape us as a person. From this, personal beliefs such as “I have to do everything perfectly, I have to be everywhere, I need things to run as I have planned” are formed. These are all personal beliefs that we may have, but our colleague has the complete opposite.

Then it’s just the kind of profession that our colleague can do something completely different from us. For example, you are an HR manager, so you have much more contact with people than someone who repairs computers. It’s just as important a profession, but the level of contact with people is completely different. At the same time, it’s the ability to relax, to take care of yourself. Some people have it very well developed, some people hardly at all. And then really it’s setting boundaries. I’m going to repeat myself, but those boundaries and the ability to say “no” are a running theme with the topic of making excuses.

What are the stages of burnout syndrome? How does it all start?

There are four basic stages. The first stage is the enthusiasm stage, when we have high expectations, we are very motivated, we are very enthusiastic about the work ahead of us, we are excited, we are full of energy. Then gradually, quite visibly, comes the stagnation stage, when the motivation drops a little bit, we are a little bit more exhausted, because it is really exhausting, sometimes even impossible, to be fully engaged all the time.

The third stage of burnout is the frustration stage, where there is increased irritability in people, a sense of ineffectiveness, a lack of acknowledgement that maybe what I’m doing doesn’t actually make sense, there is questioning. And then the last phase follows – apathy. That is to say, really a complete emotional and physical exhaustion and a decline in performance and overall interest in what we actually used to enjoy, find fulfilling.

Which area will burnout hit us first? Is it relationships, physical health, or is it overall enjoyment of life?

This is a rather difficult question to answer, but a very important one. It is very subjective, everybody has it differently. But it depends on how one has arranged one’s life, or particular areas of life. Because it is true that if we have a restlessness or something not quite comfortable and well arranged in one area of life, for example in work, social relationships, family and time for ourselves we can somehow manage.

But if it kicks in fully and two areas of life are disordered, that is, for example, work and family, the pressure builds up, heightened emotions build up, and many times we go over the edge. When it’s that one area of life that is affected, burnout comes more slowly. When it’s really two or more, somebody’s whole house of cards really comes crashing down, that’s where burnout is absolutely present.

What do you think about the claim that people who are more passionate about their work and love it more have a higher risk of burnout?

I think that’s debatable, because if a person loves their job, why would they burn out? If a person is doing something, they shouldn’t mind doing it first and last for that job, but there’s a big but there in my opinion.

Even though we love something, we still need to set some boundaries there, set some priorities, some goals, what to say yes to and what to say no to. And again, it comes down to those personal beliefs. So it’s not about whether or not I love a job and then I burn out, but it’s about the person in question, the bearer of those beliefs.

If we could see burnout, what would it look like in everyday life? For example, would it be a slowly dying flame?

The flame is a very nice metaphor. Also the mobile we mentioned earlier. It’s really something that’s gradually fading away from some great whole. In humans, it can also be, for example, the moon when it’s full and it gradually recedes from it, forming a C shape. That, too, is actually waning. Overall, the metaphor of having enough or too much of something and then gradually losing it is a metaphor of burnout.

Is there any way to intervene in time? For example, if I notice a drop in performance in a colleague, or a friend, an acquaintance, how can I help them?

It is very important that we notice this in ourselves. We have to take care of it, because it is about our mental and physical health. But self-reflection, at the great pace that leads to burnout, is sometimes not even in place. That’s why it’s very beneficial when we’re around people, when we don’t hold back and when they give us that mirror. When they say “I see changes in your behavior” or “you’re somehow often sick”, “what’s going on with you that this immunity is limping?”, “I feel like you’re always grumpy, angry, are you okay?”, “are you okay?” or “do you have a lot on your mind?”

These are all things that our friends or family can share with us. And then I think the easiest thing to do is to advise them to go to a professional. To a psychologist who can talk to them about it. Or to ask them what would help them, what they need, if we can lend a helping hand somehow. But that’s what you can also find out in that therapy room. So a psychologist and the topic of burnout is a pretty good functional combination.

We often neglect prevention, because until something actually happens, we do not pay any attention to it. Let’s look at simple steps we can take for ourselves every day.

Two things come to mind. The first one is – and this is how we work with our clients as well – I ask them the question, what is the smallest change you can make in what is currently going on in your life? Because even if the change is tiny, maybe minute, it can change the whole system, and that’s very important.

At the same time, the best prevention is – and more experts probably agree on this – learning to manage stress effectively.

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What does this mean in reality? Firstly, to seek that support, that is, when I feel I am stressed, to share it with others – with family, with friends or a psychologist, to talk about my feelings. Maybe to have those other people validate it or just to get it out of ourselves.

At the same time, take care of yourself – eat healthy, drink, get enough sleep, move physically. These are all things that can reduce stress. In a work environment, it’s regular rest or, if possible, delegating tasks to colleagues, family members. We are not alone in this system, there are other people who help us.

And it’s also very important to set realistic goals in your work life as well as in your personal life. Not to take on too many tasks, not to have such inflated expectations of yourself. We simply have only one capacity and let’s give ourselves such goals and tasks that we can realistically handle. There is no art to always outdoing ourselves, the art is to manage it so that we are at ease.

How to find work-life balance, which we discussed inprevious podcast?

In my opinion, it’s actually happening in exactly the same way as I mentioned in the podcase. I won’t go into detail, but what’s important for us is priorities. Going step by step from goals, to rest, to dividing up time for both us and other people. These are all things that contribute to work-life balance.

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Do you have any favourite tips that you recommend to your clients for recovery? Either after work or after a harder day, period?

Personally, I like to relax a lot, so I have a lot of those types. And in my type of profession I try very hard to do that, because the burnout is often there. For example, I really like to do different sports activities, sauna, or just sit down with a cup of tea and stare at the wall, but even that is quite so draining. That you just don’t think about anything, don’t do anything, just sit down and chill for a while. Or I really like to do crosswords.

I think everyone knows what rest means to them. The important thing is that we do things that we otherwise consider unproductive. That is to say, doing things that are unproductive or things that are meaningless is also productive.

When a person gets burnt out, the road back can be very difficult indeed. Is it then possible to find joy and balance in work, or is it better to look for a completely new type of activity?

I’m the kind of person who sees hope everywhere. It’s possible, because it’s not about the activity itself, it’s about the setting. It’s about how the person thinks about it all. For example, in sessions with a psychologist, a person can name why they burned out, what made them burn out, what influenced it, how they think about themselves and how they want others to think about them. And when he goes through all this and realizes some of his stuff and his themes in it, I don’t see why he can’t do the profession he was doing before.

Is there anything that can reliably wake up a person with burnout? For example, maybe the thought of missing all the new episodes of his favourite series?

I completely understand the vision in that question. It is very important that a person who feels burnt out or burned out needs to take a proper rest in the first place. That’s really the alpha and the omega. And get yourself together.

And when that happens, I gradually return to those ruminations of watching all those episodes of my favorite show or getting back to that normal functioning. It should be a step-by-step process, starting with that physical recharge first. Because you can imagine that a lot of times people end up in bed. That they have to go on sick leave because of physical collapse. So the fact that we miss a show, again, is that we would be chasing somewhere. We need to slow down, that’s the primary thing.

What are the paths to healing after burnout? Is it something that a person can manage on their own? Or is it better to seek the help of a professional? How long does burnout syndrome take to heal? How long does such a path of recovery take?

Those ways are different. Whether in cooperation with an expert, a person can also set something up on his own, because the change actually happens to him anyway. As far as sessions with a psychologist are concerned, there are different types of therapy that a client can attend. This way he can better find out why he is burnt out and what to do about it.

Then there are changes overall in his lifestyle. That is, sleep, diet, drinking, physical activity, rest – that’s actually what he has a direct influence on. The psychologist can’t help him with that, he can only support him in that. Then there are work shifts, which are very important if we are talking about burnout in the workplace – adjusting the pace of work, reducing the workload, introducing breaks and time-out periods when we can fully rest.

Further, it is the reality in our goals and expectations. And maybe, if it’s a good work environment, getting or soliciting support and help from others. From supervisors, like our boss or boss’s boss, open communication with the supervisor. Telling him how I feel, what my needs are, demands, that I feel I’m going to burn out and what can be done about it. It’s important to have open conversations in that workplace as well, because nobody wants to have dozens of burnt out employees.

Once we recover from burnout, is it likely that the condition can return? How can this be avoided?

Yes, it can happen, and it does happen. It can happen repeatedly, it is a natural thing. There it is just about that change of mindset. Our mindset has to change so that we don’t get into that state of burnout. But I really think that those work habits or work changes, assertiveness, taking care of our physical and mental health more thoroughly are really overall fine preventative techniques and ways to work with this.

If we could have a detox week away from work, what would it look like? Or alternatively, would we be fine with some sort of detox weekend?

Ja si myslím že aj víkend je fajn čas na zrelaxovanie a reset. Je to dostačujúce, keď vieme, ako ho správne využiť. Lebo veľa ľudí má víkend a zahádže sa rôznymi sociálnymi aktivitami, rôznym programom a upratovaním a tak ďalej. Všetko chce dobehnúť cez víkend, ale treba myslieť aj na to, že „len tak sa vyspím, len tak si oddýchnem, len tak budem tou sobotou, nedeľou plávať“. A vtedy je to ten oddych, ktorý to má byť. Ak by sme mali ten detox týždeň, tak by som povedala, že by sme mali oddychovať a robiť veci, ktoré chceme, nie ktoré musíme. Čiže možno urobiť zmenu v rutine a povinnostiach a naozaj ten jeden detox týždeň si viesť sami podľa seba.

Dominika, what advice would you give to those who feel that their torch is slowly but surely running out?

I guess I’d just close with one important sentence, I know it’s making the rounds on social media right now, that “if you can’t handle it, slow down.” Don’t. There’s no shame in slowing down. Slowing down is sometimes extremely important.

We all know that movement is literally vital for our bodies, but most of us don’t have the time or energy. Physiotherapist Braňo Mišovič fromFitclinicwho is the guest on the next episode of our podcast Na vlne kódu, believes that the body and the mind are one. Listen to the inspiring interview that movement is not only about a healthy body, but also about a balanced mind, resistance to stress and a better mood.

The link between physical and mental health is not esoteric, but a very practical reality. When our bodies feel well, we can handle pressure, challenges, and even harder days much more easily. When we are in psychological well-being, we also perceive physical pain in a completely different way.

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Today, it’s probably no surprise that when we take care of ourselves physically, we feel better mentally. But why is that? What happens in the body when we go for a run, do some exercise or take some steps? Is it just our mood that improves or how does it all work?

It is not for nothing that it is said that movement is the engine and originator of psychological well-being. The underlying principle is the release of certain hormones – specifically endorphins and dopamine, which are key hormones that are linked to feeling good. When we move, these hormones are produced at an increased rate and create good feelings in our bodies. Endorphins induce a feeling of euphoria, reducing the perception of pain – and that’s actually what makes us feel good. This effect is often referred to as “runner’s euphoria”; runners know it. Of course, other physical activities also create and release large amounts of endorphins and make us feel very cool indeed.

“Movement is the engine and originator of psychological well-being.”

Is there any other way to support such a good mood? By eating, sleeping or something normal that we can fit into our daily routine, even if we don’t exercise?

Basically, yes. There are various other methods that can help us. For example, hardening, cold water, the Wim Hof method, a good diet. When we eat something we like, we also feel happy. And endorphins are not only released when we move. It’s with anything that makes us feel good. So basically, what makes us feel good is also healthy for our bodies.

Is there evidence that the body and the mind are much more connected than we once thought, or is this still in the realm of hypothesis?

It is also confirmed by scientific studies that a real healthy, strong physical body simply makes us feel good. We have self-confidence and when we have self-confidence, we also have a certain peace within ourselves. And when we have peace within ourselves, we also have a certain humility. So it’s such a nice little train that builds on itself. I don’t want to make it sound like only a strong person is the right person. Because I know that a lot of people, when we talk about this topic, they think of this kind of swell guy from the gym who has more muscle than brains.

Physical well-being in a healthy and strong body is not at all related to muscle size. Even if we look at calisthenic athletes, they are very strong, but they are not extremely muscular. But they will confirm that when I am physically strong and resilient, or I am in good shape, I also have a certain amount of confidence and belief in my abilities. And the psyche works for me, not against me. I’m coping better stress at work, in the family, because I have the comfort of that health in me. When a person is ill, weak, not feeling comfortable in his body, he may be wise in his own way, educated in his own way, but it will reflect on that psyche in the form of discomfort.

I also have patients who are medically disadvantaged and have to work very hard on their fitness. Since I am with them often, I see the physical amplification in them significantly in how their mood improves. Conversely, when there is a period when they go down physically, it automatically affects the psyche a lot. I experience the same thing with professional athletes and with ordinary people in practice. When we make them physically healthy people, they literally shine – in their personal and professional lives. So it’s absolutely connected.

Movement is not only about a healthy body, but also about mental resilience. What physical activities reduce stress the most? Is it better to sweat during an intense HIIT workout, or to indulge in a longer walk in the woods?

It is individual. But something completely different in the body is created by high-intensity interval training – the HIIT or tabata, which is also interval training, just with a different interval setting. HIIT created in me in a very short time a feeling of well-being, happiness, because I get sweaty, I breathe, I get pleasantly tired. In a very short period of time a large amount, even a rush of endorphins is created. So when I need to save time and I want to take the stress out of myself, I go to something like this.

But the question is whether it is healthy for the posture, for physical health, bones, muscles and joints. Because HIIT is an exercise that targets something precisely. If I take exercise really just to improve my psyche, HITT is a very good system in a short time. While I would induce a similar amount of endorphins when walking, for example, I would have to dedicate a lot more time to it. In order to accumulate as many endorphins while walking as I do in 30 minutes with HITT, I would need to walk three to four times longer – so at least 2 – 2.5 hours. And not a slow, shuffling walk, but a bit more brisk.

Ideal is Nordic walking, where I also engage my upper limbs, because people don’t normally engage their upper limbs when walking. And yet engaging the arms to move the legs is an absolute natural thing to do – that’s when I can even get close to HIIT. So if I were to answer your question strictly, HITT will provide a great supply of good hormones in a short period of time. Walking a bit slower and I have to dedicate more time to it.

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Which kind of movement do you consider the most underrated? Or on the other hand, what is overrated and doesn’t make as much sense?

Now I’ve picked up HIIT a little bit and I’ve sort of put walking on the back burner. But when you put the question like that, I’ll answer it quite accurately. Walking is the most underrated and yet it has huge health benefits. It just needs to be dedicated to for longer periods of time. The most overrated, in turn, is HIIT exercise, because it has the benefit of quickly draining you. I’ve knocked stress off of myself, but the effect on the physique as a whole is debatable.

“Walking is the most underrated movement, yet it brings huge health benefits.”

Let’s go back to walking and to steps. Those 10,000 steps we should take every day, are they for the whole day?

10,000 steps means to tense the muscles of your body 10,000 times in some way, i.e. to activate them. It’s a number that is calculated maybe in a very general way – for somebody it’s more, for somebody it’s less. One larger study found that 10,000 steps is ideal for maintaining cardiovascular health. Careful, cardiovascular, meaning the blood vessels of the heart. That doesn’t mean that if I walk, I’ll have a healthy posture or anything like that.

In the field of cardiovascular health, the 10,000 steps are ideal for all the biomechanisms that need to work in the human body. But they need to be done purposefully. If I look at my watch in the evening and there are 20,000 steps, it doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Is it really 20,000 steps that I’ve done cyclically and purposefully? That I walked for two hours straight and did 20,000 steps? Or is it just 20,000 random movements, because the watch is based on the principle of gyroscopes and counts any shaking as movement?

So for me, those 10,000 steps have to be the 10,000 strict steps. I set aside time to walk, start watching the counter, and walk. Otherwise, it’s just random hand-generated movements and random steps. We need a cycle. Then the body will work in certain intentions, because I won’t do 10,000 steps in 35 minutes, I’ll do them in maybe an hour – an hour and ten minutes, and the body after 30 – 35 minutes will trigger completely different biomechanisms. Exactly the ones that we want. The ones where it starts to burn continuously, where the fluids in the body start to flow steadily, etc. These are not randomly generated movements. I’m going, I’m just going. Foot in front of foot, hand in front of hand. So that’s the way to see it. 10,000 purposeful steps. All the others are random.

I’ll also bridge to the drinking regime, because it is very important during the day. How about drinking water?

In the drinking regime, the split occurs again. Again, there are many studies, so let us agree on this one. If our body is to have something to cleanse the intestinal apparatus and for what it has to go into the blood vessels, we cannot count tea, coffee, soup, juice in there, because there are so many supplements that the stomach has to deal with. Thus, what it has is no longer going into the intestinal circulation. That purifier, that something pure, that’s just water.

So, if I have to drink 2.5 litres of fluids a day, it means 2.5 litres of pure water. Tea, coffee, soup – that’s something else. We should not put these two things together. If I’ve had 3 dcl of soup, another soup in the evening, half a litre of tea, these are things that the body has to work with again and has to put in the work to process them. And on top of that, there’s the product that goes into the gut. I need the gut and the stomach to have to work as little as possible. That’s why I need to drink that amount of plain water, so that I’m always clearing those “pipes” as best I can.

The Wim Hof method, which we have already mentioned today, is also quite popular. Cold plunges, breathing exercises, body work, perhaps sometimes to extremes. In your opinion, can it also be useful as a prevention against burnout? Isn’t it already too much of a shock to the body?

Talking about cold in general, it has great benefits for the body. To put it in technical terms, even a computer needs cooling for the processor. Because when it overheats, it does not perform and can be destroyed. And it is the same with the human body. The human body has certain cooling processes, but it has to put some work into them. That is to say, when we cool the body, we relieve it from having to do a lot of work in warming up when it is cold outside. That is, we prepare and train it for something that it then has less work to do.

The Wim Hof method is primarily based on breathing. Fibrillated breathing, rapid intermittent breathing, etc. There are many techniques. I am absolutely not an expert on the Wim Hof method, but purely from my experience as a hardy swimmer, I know that the cold and the subsequent warming of the body after coming out of the cold water simply has to cause an influx of endorphins for one simple reason. The body needs to warm up and just like any other movement, the blood vessels will dilate. So they dilate really considerably. That vasomotion, that vasodilation, causes a lot of blood flow. And because it causes proper blood circulation and we breathe, we bring a much greater volume of oxygen into the body. This makes the body come alive.

And this is the principle. Oxygen is absolutely the most important commodity for the human body, in the sense of supplying oxygen to the tissues. And I’m going to feel significantly better. If I’m not breathing, I’m breathing shallowly, I get a headache. We say I don’t have enough oxygen, I’m out of breath. Well, then let’s do the cold plunge, because cold plunges are all about breathing. And the cold is just an aid to make the blood vessels constrict and then stretch. We use the cold to constrict the blood vessels because we can’t constrict them any other way. So water is just an aid.

For me, working out is excellent for stress relief because it actually creates a similar environment to when I run, walk or exercise. The blood vessels start to dilate and constrict, thus the body starts to get better blood flow and oxygenation. And when I give my body all this, what I don’t give it for hours and days, I automatically feel better.

“An excellent thing to relieve stress is cold plunge.”

Is it similar with the sauna, when I go from the sauna to the ice water?

Yes, the cold water is the most important part of the whole sauna experience. If people forget this, they don’t sauna as they should. There are the terms positive and negative thermotherapy. Negative thermotherapy is the cooling down, it’s actually the cold plunging. Positive thermotherapy is warming up. For example, a Finnish sauna is called a cardio sauna, there you don’t relax the muscles at all. My body can’t warm up that deeply there because the temperature is so high that the body expends enormous energy to cool itself. That’s what sweating is. That’s extreme sweating. That’s why I’m only in the Finnish sauna for a little while, 10 to 15 minutes. And that’s when my heart is practically working, because then I go into the cold water, the blood vessels contract again, they stretch, and therefore the heart is working. That vasomotion, vasodilatation – that means my blood vessels are dilating, contracting. That’s what the Finnish sauna is all about.

But when I go to an infrared sauna, where the temperature is much lower, more than half, in the range of 50, 55 to 60 degrees, the body has time to heat up more slowly. It doesn’t open up the self-cooling mechanism as profusely, so our muscles get warmed up to a much greater depth. That’s why we don’t use a Finnish sauna after sports, but an infrared sauna, because it actually relaxes our muscles to a greater depth. Or saunas with a lower temperature, where the body gradually absorbs the temperature and relaxes the muscles down to the deeper structures.

I don’t go to the cooling pool after these saunas. It’s enough if I go to the air, to the tepidarium. So yes, sauna has the same effects as cooling down, it’s just from the opposite end. After cooling off in the cold water, I go out in the air, so I usually start to warm up because I have to cover up. I should cover myself in something warm. And this one is just the opposite. I go from warming up to cooling down. So the principle is basically similar. Also, before a normal sauna, there were certain rituals when I’m supposed to warm up. Same as before cooling down. I should take a breath according to the Wim Hof method. If you look at some of our other polar bears in different shows, they’re jumping in that water because they’ve gotten used to it over the years. They’ve already practiced it. But when I start, I have to start with breathing. Even in that positive thermotherapy, that means sauna or cooling down. It’s all about breathing. That’s the first point.

But let’s go back to the movement itself. Is just 5-10 minutes of exercise a day enough to make us feel better, or do we need to work out for at least half an hour – an hour?

Sometimes even a little is better than nothing at all. Just do something. In fact, in 10 minutes, I could destroy you so badly, you wouldn’t know where north is. Really, there’s an exercise called the MREP type – do as many reps as you can in the time given and I’ll have you do three exercises in a cycle. You’ll do this one twice, this one twice, this one twice. If you do as many as you can in 10 minutes, you’ll reach your limit and you’ll be done. But then again, we’re back to that high-intensity interval training.

I’ll tell you how I do it. The less time I have to train, the more intense my training is. If I have more time, I go more into endurance development. If I only have half an hour, I go almost to the edge – interval training. And if you take that person just a regular everyday, untrained person, in those 10 minutes they’ll do the exercises at a high intensity and really get a good workout.

Researchers have calculated that the equivalent of 8 hours of sedentary work is one hour of purposeful cyclical movement. One hour of walking. So, make your own judgement as to whether 10 minutes will be enough. Still better than nothing, that’s how I’ll sum it up.

“The equivalent of 8 hours of sedentary work is one hour of purposeful cyclical movement.”

Let’s go back to the office now. After every hour we should exercise. How can I exercise? Can I just walk to get a coffee, for example?

No, it’s not enough. I have to do targeted exercise. It’s not enough to go purposely for coffee, that’s an alibi approach. Because if you go for that coffee on purpose, are you really going to walk that beautiful walk? Left hand in front of the right foot, right hand in front of the left foot, right? Are you going to keep an eye on it ? You’re gonna turn on your heel and you’re gonna go.

Isn’t it more sensible to actually take those two or three minutes? I have them all to myself. I sit and breathe for a minute. Now, Ivka, if we close our eyes for a minute and we go to breathe together, in that minute you can feel that at least you are pleasantly dizzy, because you have oxygenated yourself. A little more than normal. And after that minute, we stand up and go stretch ten times right, ten times left. We’re gonna do ten lunges. Ten times we stand up from the chair, shake our head. There’s no substitute for walking for coffee. I’ll say again, it’s better than nothing, but let’s not look for escapes.

Which is better for our mood and for our head? Is it running or fast walking? For example, I’ve heard that running burns more carbs and walking burns more fat. Is that true? And what has any effect on our psyche at all?

It is said that we burn more fat when walking than when running, because if it is an ordinary untrained person, he will have a lower heart rate base when walking. And because he has a lower heart rate base, he doesn’t necessarily need to use fast sugars. That means when I take a doboche or a gel, that’s a fast sugar. The body is going perfectly fine, struggling to cover energy expenditure from what it burns from fat. Of course, something goes from the fast sugar as well, even though we have a lower heart rate base when we walk, but it has plenty of time to make the energy we need from that fat. Because it’s a little slower to make it from that and it takes longer for the body to do it.

But when running, a person who is untrained and goes out to start running has a much higher heart rate. So the body automatically needs a faster supply of fast energy. He doesn’t have time to process the fat. Because when he is running, his heart rate is 150 and I need to supply him with energy quickly. But in turn, as a well-trained endurance runner, when I run at a slow pace for me, for example 6 minutes 30 seconds per kilometer, I have a heart rate of 111. For you, that’s a borderline pace where you have a heart rate of 150. What do you think, am I burning sugar fast while doing that? I’m not.

So it’s individual. I’ll show you x number of people who have health problems and they’re 150 when they walk. Those go on fast sugar all the time. So you’ve got to adjust your walking speed as well to keep your heart rate at a level where you’re burning fat. For example, there are zones Z1 – Z6. We know that in the Z1 zone, for example, we’re only using 50% of our body’s potential. In the Z5 – Z6 zone, we use 100%. So by those zones, I know that when I’m in Z1 – Z2, I’m going quasi on fat. That I don’t need that fast sugar. But as my heart rate goes up into zone Z3, 4, 5, I need that energy more and especially fast.

Which types of exercises do you think are the best if you are mentally exhausted and no longer have the strength for big performances, but want to at least move your body a bit and turn off your head?

For me, these are such “lazy exercises” as walking, Nordic walking. There I clean my mind beautifully and the body does not work in high intensity. It goes along with the same intentions, in that cyclical way where it can tune in to everything and everything becomes in sync. Then stretching and breathing exercises, pilates. Just where I’m engaging the body in a kind of quasi isometrics, like those dynamic exercises.

I mean, yes, HIIT will get you pumped up in a short period of time, it will quickly knock everything out of your head. But sometimes it can also make the psyche worse, because it may not go the way I want it to. After just three minutes I feel tired, I’m not in the mood for that explosiveness. So I leave the training more disgusted than when I went there. After walking, I have nothing to be more disgusted about. When I walk, I don’t stress the body as much, but at the same time I do an incredible amount for it. There are a lot of studies on that.

Walking is often underestimated because it is not as intense as other forms of exercise. Yet regular walking improves cardiovascular, muscular, mood and reduces stress. Precisely because there’s that cycling. I might put on some music or a podcast to go along with it and my thoughts will drift somewhere else entirely. Whereas with that high-intensity cardio, maybe I really can’t, I don’t feel like it, I have to listen to the coach. I’ve dealt with that, I’ve been doing those HIITs for years. It’s a lot harder to motivate that person then. So for me walking, stretching, breathing exercises.

How does sitting for long periods of time affect our body and mind? Could it be the silent thief of energy?

It’s true. Sitting is an unnatural position for the body, prolonged sitting means prolonged inactivity. Even if I have those slots in there every hour, it’s a totally unacceptable position for the human body. It’s just not moving. So yes, sitting is a silent killer in every way, and it definitely needs to be compensated for as much as possible.

Lifestyle6 min.

Back pain from sitting at a computer: tips for correct posture and workout

Almost every person who has a sedentary job is familiar with back pain problems. Hours without movement, stiff muscles, incorrect sitting position or a poorly adjusted monitor. These are all […]

Why are we more tired after a day in a chair than if we had physically worked?

Precisely because nothing happens in the body. We don’t have it sufficiently oxygenated, we have clogged, clogged blood vessels. You’re not doing anything, you’re not putting out energy. Most people who are sitting are probably working mentally. When I’m working mentally, I have to engage my brain and my brain threads. And the brain is a machine that needs a lot of sugar. So I automatically reach for something. So I’m messing up my health by not moving, plus the intake of nutritious foods that aren’t appropriate.

There is a so-called tree theory. For a tree to be healthy and resilient, it needs to grow upwards and have no obstacles. Because when it has them, it weakens it, the trunk is crooked, leaning. It is the same with the human body. It needs to stretch and move as much as possible so that the biomechanisms that need to be triggered in it are also triggered. This is myofascial movement, movement between fascia, musculature, then other structure. Everything is driven by movement.

So I must feel tired when I sit for a long time because I have an unnatural position, my muscles are in unnatural positions and tensions, or the opposite of tensions. A lot of my muscles are then weakened, other muscles are in turn shortened, so I have huge disproportions in my body. Nothing works as it should. So the fatigue just has to set in. Fluids don’t flow in the body the way they should. We’re not getting enough blood flow. We’re not vascularized enough in the acral areas. The body goes like half throttle on supplying the body with beneficial substances.

We are talking about movement. Is it just about blood circulation or is there something deeper going on there, chemically, hormonally, or mentally? How do the processes in our body actually work?

everything is connected. Let’s try to imagine it as a kind of mechanism on old trains, a “backstage” mechanism. When a wheel moves, the driven wheel through that scenery moves another wheel. That is, I’m setting the whole scenery mechanism in motion.

When I’m not moving, none of those mechanisms work. Thus, the physical tied to the mental doesn’t work for me either. The bad mood, the feeling of emptiness, of not being satisfied will come to everyone at some point. I know a lot of people who work in the IT sector, which is probably where they sit the most, and there are those who will say they are absolutely fine with it. But when I ask why you came for a massage – well if it suits you, your back doesn´t hurt or anything. And they’re already chatting. I say, so basically it doesn’t suit you.

The fact that it suits him for the psychological side, well, fine. He’ll be fine with it for a while. And there are even some people that it doesn’t do anything to their psyche. They’re perfectly OK with sitting. But they have a completely broken body. And then that starts to make them angry and suddenly their mood is spoiled again. That their body is not working, which is where the soul and the brain reside.

Either way, it’s loading up.

Ivka, it’s always related. Absolutely all mechanisms. When I don’t move, my vascular supply doesn’t work. When there’s no vascular supply, the muscles don’t have elasticity. The fibers aren’t sufficiently vascularized, nourished. When they don’t have enough blood supply and I stand up, it hinders my movement. I’m hunched over, I can’t bend over. I have pain behind my knees. I can’t do this movement, that movement. I go to play catch a little bit with the kids and I can’t do it anymore. So it then follows all the processes in the human body – from the mental to the dissatisfaction of not being able to do something.

We already know why we move. Now let’s figure out how to do it. Let’s give some simple tips on what we can do every day, even when we have a busy calendar. Can we try some breathing exercises?

100% yes. Breathing exercises are a very popular exercise that many physiotherapists include, as it is quasi-physically demanding unless the body is used to the movement. It has a beneficial effect on the whole body just by getting it properly blooded and oxygenated. In this way I will finally bring oxygen to the most remote areas of the body, it will finally start to live and function there. And most importantly, through breathing exercises, one will slowly work up to the essentially physical exercise as well.

I would definitely put breathing exercises on the very first step when I want to start doing something for my body. To try, those tutorials are relatively many. The simplest one is to try to breathe in as long as possible, breathe out as long as possible. There are a lot of apps where I can set a time and meditate in peace. Work with the breath. Learning to breathe into the shoulders. Learning to breathe into the diaphragm. For diaphragmatic breathing, it’s better to have someone teach you, because you can hardly test yourself if you’re really breathing into your diaphragm. But in any case, breathing is such a first step.

“Breathing exercises have a beneficial effect on the whole organism just by making it properly supplied with blood and oxygen.”

What simple physical exercise can anyone really do? Whether at work or at home, without having to spread out a mattress between chairs?

Every healthy person should be able to do one key, one squat, do a deep squat, hold it.

What if someone has problems with their knees, spine, etc.?

Then I just go into as deep a squat as my knees will allow. Quite normally I engage common sense. I don’t have to give up the squat. Because that squat, that movement in my knees, gives me health in those knees. Because when my knees don’t move, it creates changes in the cartilage that then cause problems. I still have to work with that knee to get the articular surfaces in there to ride out the way they’re supposed to be. So that various osteophytes and stiffening of the knee don’t develop there. And especially when I move, my knee also naturally lubricates with synovial fluid, which seeps in when the knee moves.

And this applies to every joint. When I’m not moving, I’m just not. And at home, I can do whatever my body allows me to do. I can move my arms, my legs, I can stretch them, bend them. I can squat, I can bend over, I can lie on my back. I can move my limbs calmly and chaotically. Just to do something.

And if you want specific exercises, different types of squatting exercises, exercises where I’m extending my limbs in a seated position, forefoot straddling and straddling in a seated position, straddling in a standing position, forefoot straddling in a standing position, straddling in a seated position, straddling in a supine position, lifting both lower limbs in a supine position, we have abdominal exercises. There is a huge amount of exercises. When someone asks me which three exercises I would single out, it’s the squat, the kneeling squat and the sit-lie. Or rather, not the sit-lie, but the shortcut. I mean, some sort of core exercise. Just the simplest.

Don’t complicate things unnecessarily.

For what? Everybody says that sit-ups are not a thing anymore. Yes, they do what’s called shortening, where I go for that upper abdominal muscle and I just do that chest lift. When I want to strengthen that lower part, I put my hands under my butt while lying on my back and lift my extended lower limbs, or legs off the ground in a perpendicular direction. So I can really do any exercises that are very simple.

How do we set up our daily routine so that we don’t feel like a jigsaw puzzle? To keep our mental and physical in balance?

It is necessary to set aside time during the day just for yourself. This time, these 10, 15, 20 minutes, is just for me. And this is the balance to what I have behind me after a full day of work.

I have a workout habits at work. In the morning before work, I have a warm-up. In the evening, I do a little stretching, which prepares me for a restful night’s sleep. And if I have a consistent system of doing 5 Tibetans in the morning, doing something else during the day, then after work I take 10, 20, 30 minutes and go walk, go work out, go on the treadmill, go bike, I’ve practically done the best I can and I can’t feel like I’m a jigsaw puzzle afterwards. Because I’ve got a system in place. If a breathing exercise makes me feel better for the evening, some mantra I’m reading while I do it, complete relaxation, some yoga exercise, I do that. If I’m a more dynamic type of person than that and a routine of those 100 push-ups and 200 abdominal exercises does me good in the evening, I do that and I look forward to it. I’m perfectly happy to have a 10 o’clock time and go work out. And then I’m even more happy because I kept it. So I really have to set aside time. There’s probably no other way to do it, Ivka, there just isn’t.

I understand, basically everyone has to find their own thing.

Exactly, your system. But it should be sustainable in the long term. That is, not to set unrealistic goals. If I can’t do more than 10 reps of that exercise, I’m not going to give myself an unrealistic goal like I’m not going to go to sleep until I’ve done 10 reps of the whole thing. I’m fine going with what I’ve got. I’m packing some motivation and strength and gradually increasing that.

Definitely need to start. That’s where it all starts. An awful lot has already been said, there is an incredible amount of motivation and guidance on the internet, and I guess I’m just repeating some of it now too. But you need to have, or you need to try to build that routine within yourself. It’s hard, it takes time.

“You need to set aside that time during the day for yourself and only yourself. Sometimes even ten minutes is enough.”

If you had to pick some kind of exercise to relieve pain, what would it be? My neck hurts at work, what should I choose?

I really like pilates, so I would probably go in that direction. I would definitely go to a Pilates class, possibly a physiotherapist who does Pilates and there is a wide variety of exercises I can learn. He can be a huge help to me with a lot of postural problems. Stiff neck, lower back, weakened abdomen, etc.

What if my hand hurts, for example, because of working with a mouse?

The hand mostly hurts people who work a lot on the computer or even seamstresses. Mostly it is carpal tunnelwhich arises precisely from the inactivity of the variety of movement of the palm and finger parts. So I try to stretch my forearm, stretch my fingers in all possible directions, use simple strengthening exercises, for example, squishing a rubber ball or a strengthening ring, opening my fingers to the absolute largest possible opening, spreading my fingers, clenching my fists and especially stretching my forearm.

It is there that the movement binds, it stiffens there, so expressly stretching the whole forearm is paramount. I push my fingers backwards, also the whole palm part, then in the opposite direction, that is to the bottom, I move left, right with the whole wrist, circular movements in the wrist. This I would say is general yet very effective for everyone.

Podcasts22 min.

31. 10. 2024

Podcast #1: Work-life balance and healthy work-life boundaries

Listen to the first episode of the Na Vlne Kodu podcast, where topics like burnout syndrome, work-life balance and the art of saying no are discussed.

What would you recommend to everyone who wants to start moving a little bit? Maybe even ten minutes in the morning is enough? Or some stretching in the evening with Netflix, or did we mention like those Tibetans, yoga?

100% yes. Whatever movement they are going to do, let them do it in the sense of some cyclical movement. So feel free to start with five Tibetans, feel free to start with a 10-minute warm-up in the morning, add to that some other exercise for 10 minutes in the evening.

I don’t see the problem in how much time to devote to it, but mainly to get started. Stretching, those Tibetans, is totally awesome for the morning, but cool for the evening too. After a full, sedentary day, too. Stretching rather than that intense exercise. If we’re talking about people who sit a lot. And who are just starting out. In the evening, I’d also opt for stretching exercises.

If you came to me as a client and asked me what to do in the morning, I’d tell you to do this stretching exercise in the morning, you’re going to do lunges. You lean your butt against the wall and you slowly lean forward, you rub your palms up your thighs to where your back lets go. You repeat ten times. If you don’t have a problem with that, keep going. You’re back against the wall, arms outstretched, you rest your palms facing forward against the wall and do half-arches. You stretch your arms above your head, doing circles. There’s a lot of exercises. I’m moving my shoulders, my shins, my whole body. Those are the deep squats. I can grab the table, the door, the radiator, if I can’t get into that deep squat. Or I just go within where my knees will let me so I don’t fall. But I’m trying to get all my joints moving.

How to stand properly at the sliding table?

We are not standing on one leg. I always stand nicely on both legs and with my tummy tucked in. The moment I retract my belly, my pelvis sits up slightly. So from antiversion to retroversion, that’s where we should have it.

If you had to give one main message to everyone who wants to improve their life through healthier movement, what would it be?

Move. To find the time, the space, the routine to just do a few of those simple exercises every day. And let’s say what they can start doing today is during their busy day, try to take those two, three minutes every hour to exercise. And to not pay attention to the fact that somebody’s giving me some weird look. After all, it’s my health, not his.