Assignment cards
OCCUPATIONAL WORK CAPACITY CAPABILITIES 3/7Here you will find assignments in which you consider and assess the factors relative to your industry that affect your work capacity. You will be able to reflect on occupational safety, work ergonomics, work planning, working environment, and, for example, the rules of working life of your own field of study.
The objective is to learn what the challenges of your work capacity are, what things affect your work capacity, how you can influence it, and what things maintain your work capacity, as well as the work capacity of your entire work community.
You can influence your work capacity with your own actions, and with good planning and assessment of work.
Work breaks and coping with work
Alertness
Healthy lifestyles are connected to alertness, occupational safety and work capacity.
Nutrition
- A regular, suitable meal interval is the basis of everything.
- Regular and versatile meals ensure that the blood sugar level remains constant throughout the day, maintaining alertness and performance.
Sleep and rest
- Adequate and good quality sleep is important to the health; it helps you to cope at work and on spare time.
- The need for sleep is individual. The average need for sleep is normally between 7-9 hours/day.
- When sleeping, the body recovers from stress and the functional ability is restored, the physical fatigue disappears, and especially the brain function recovers.
Exercise and hobbies
- Adequate exercise and the physical condition it provides are reflected as less sickness absences, improved work capacity and higher quality life.
- In addition, physical condition helps to manage work-related stress and to relax, reduces insomnia and provides refreshing sleep, improves self-esteem and life management, and has a positive effect on work performance.
- In addition to exercise, other meaningful hobbies, such as music, are a good counterbalance for work and help to recover and relax.
Work breaks
You should take short work breaks whenever possible. The total stress remains at a level that is not harmful to health with sufficient work breaks. In the long term, sufficient work breaks are also justifiable in terms of performance. In addition, sufficient work breaks are refreshing and help to avoid damages and accidents at work. Taking breaks is also important in order to prevent muscle and joint problems.
Take breaks already before the symptoms of fatigue appear. The type of recovery that provides suitable variation and enables recovery depends on the type of work. You should move if you have spent a long time sitting down. It is worth doing something less physical during the breaks when work is physically heavy. Stretching services the muscles. It might be good to clear your mind from work-related issues for a moment during the breaks.
Work arrangements are good in terms of work breaks when:
- it is possible to interrupt work to take a break
- recovery breaks have been agreed on
- agreed breaks can be executed
- employees take the agreed breaks, and “accumulating” break times, e.g. to the end of the working day or to lunch break is avoided.
How do you use your time?
You should plan your time usage, as it helps to reduce stress. Proficient everyday life is of great importance to your well-being. Planning your time usage enables proficient everyday life and gives you the sense of control over it. However, you should not plan everything in advance. You should also to leave space for leisure and relaxation.
The balance between study, work and rest means a lot for well-being. Refreshing sleep, exercise, rest, eating, and a good day rhythm add to proficient everyday life. (Nyytin Elämäntaitokurssi®, Nyyti’s Lifestyle Course®)
Monitor your time usage for one day. You can draw a clock face and monitor your time usage with it. Take a photo of the clock face and attach it to the end of the assignment. Mark the things you do during the day in the clock face. You can distinguish different functions with a pencil crayon or different characters.
- Sleeping: night’s sleep and daytime naps
- Eating: meals and snacks eaten during the day
- School work: time spent at school, doing homework and commuting to school
- Work
- Leisure exercise
- Other hobbies
- Screen time: all the time spent watching TV and on the computer and mobile devices
- Housework: cleaning, shopping, laundry, etc.
