Reason for low performance. How to increase your productivity and maintain a good mood

Chapter 5. Brain Performance Akbaraly, T. N., et al. 2007. Plasma selenium over time and cognitive decline in the elderly. Epidemiology 18(1): 52-58. Ball, K., et al. 2002. Effects of cognitive training interventions with older adults. A randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Medical Association 288(18): 2271-81. Caprio, T. V., and Williams, T. F. 2007. Comprehensive geriatric assessment. Practice of Geriatrics, 4th ed., chapter 4. Chung, C. S., and L. R.

Efficiency, work, fatigue and rest Work is the implementation by a cell, organ, organ system or organism of their inherent functions. Homo sapiens, as a rule, performs socially useful work. Scientific and technological progress has changed the nature of work

Decreased performance is a state of a person in which the efforts spent on performing any action do not produce the desired result. At the same time, he experiences a feeling of extreme fatigue and even weakness. If a person has really made a huge effort in this or that matter, a decline in activity for some time - normal process, since the body needs to recover both mentally and physically.

Decreased ability active actions and ability to endure moderate loads is considered a pathology and can be correlated with a number of diseases, negative processes in the body and factors.

1. Physiological factors systemic:
   • Lack of oxygen that cells receive due to the thickness and viscosity of the blood and problems with capillaries;
   • Infectious diseases;
   • Weakening of immunity and susceptibility to diseases;
   • Somatic diseases;
   • Psycho-emotional overload of the body, as a result of which they develop various disorders and problems with the nervous system;
   • A large number of free radicals in muscle tissue.
2. External factors that provoke a decrease in performance:
   • Lack of sleep and overwork;
   • Alcohol intake and intoxication various substances;
   • Improper and unbalanced nutrition;
   • Lack of vitamins.

Normal course physical labor and any other types of work, including mechanical and mental, consists of several stages:

1. Adaptation. This state is associated with the beginning of work and lasts about half an hour. Moreover, physical and mental activity constantly increases during this time.
2. Compensation. This a long period time during which an excellent level of performance is observed. With the help of willpower, this period can last several hours, usually 2-3.
3. Compensation of an unstable nature. This is a stage of varying duration. It all depends on the type of activity and level of workload. Moreover, performance either increases or decreases.
4. Decreased performance. Very strong decline endurance levels and fatigue. The person feels tired, and activities become not as productive as in the previous stages.

These stages are described quite approximately and in each individual case may have different durations and are characterized by different levels of performance. It all depends on the influence of internal and external factors. Also great value play The biological clock which are of an individual nature. So, for some it is easier and more convenient to work early in the morning, while others at this time do everything through force, and their peak activity occurs in the evening hours. Seasonal changes also have an impact.

If we take into account the age range, the lowest performance is observed in early years and age after 50-55 years. The maximum level of mental and physical activity occurs at the age of 15-45 years. But there are also exceptions. People creative professions They are often also active at 70 years old, and sometimes even more than at 35. They exhibit increased endurance and a desire to work.

There is also an abnormal decrease in the level of performance. This occurs due to the confluence of a number of external and internal factors. Moreover, even at the most productive time of day and season, with maximum effort, the result is minimal. If this condition lasts long enough, then under no circumstances should you let it take its course.

It is necessary, if possible, to identify the causes of decreased performance and, if necessary, contact qualified specialist. After all chronic manifestation This condition may indicate that you have some serious illness or health problem.

Depression, some mental and somatic diseases, cancer and many other problems and disorders.

But, as a rule, even with a decrease in performance and feeling unwell, a person does not stop his activities and still goes about his usual duties. This leads to mental, physical and emotional overload of the body. Even with in the right way life, balanced diet, no overloads and bad habits, correct mode There are periods of the day when there is a decline in activity.

What can we say if all these conditions are not met?

IN constant need To work and earn money, a person has to exhaust all his resources in order to manage to complete all assigned tasks.

But everyone’s safety margin is different, and sometimes the amount of working capacity ends, turning work activity to real hell. IN in this case urgent need to begin recovery own strength, both physical and moral.

Reasons for decreased performance

1. Chronic diseases, the symptoms of which include suppression of the activity of the central nervous system. This manifests itself in drowsiness, increased laziness, clumsy behavior and absent-mindedness. A condition that is often called a period when everything falls out of hand. Along with this, chronic fatigue develops - where you get up, you fall asleep there, which, undoubtedly, is big problem for a person dependent on work activity.

2. On the contrary, an overexcited nervous system, depression, regular stress, which exhaust you and distract the activity of neurons to heal existing damage in nerve fibers, while they should be responsible for your attentiveness, reaction and performance directly. The cause of overexcitation may be completely natural physiological characteristics, or reception medications, excessive consumption of coffee and tea.

3. Overwork. Usually, this state based on overwork, insufficient sleep and improper daily routine. Lack of vacation and the need to work on weekends accelerates the process of overwork. If you eliminate the factors that cause fatigue in time or can significantly reduce them, then overwork can be quickly eliminated.

4. Lack of sleep, sleep disturbances. This provokes disruptions in the functioning of the central nervous system, develops a state of irritability, depression, and worsens general health, reduces immunity.

5. Psychological factor. Sometimes work is just annoying. You don’t like what you do, you don’t receive satisfaction, either aesthetic or material, which creates a certain pressure on the psyche and reduces activity in the workplace. A situation arises where you have to do everything “under pressure”, as a result of which your performance decreases.

6. Incorrect work schedule. Incorrect selection important and unimportant matters leads to you spending more energy and time than is actually necessary. This contributes increased fatigue and overwork, and then decreased performance.

7. Large consumption of carbohydrates, in particular sweets and sugar.

How to improve performance

To improve performance, it is necessary to adhere to a whole set of measures. Eliminating just one of the reasons is not enough, since the reluctance or inability to work is usually caused by several factors at once, and not just one thing.

1. Treatment of existing diseases. If performance has sharply decreased and is accompanied by chronic fatigue, drowsiness, laziness, difficulty waking up and irritability, a tendency to depression and stress, then it is important to exclude a number of serious diseases that can develop in the endocrine and nervous system. It is worth noting that this condition is also typical for cancer. They may be accompanied periodic pain And general decline immunity. Special attention also pay attention to existing chronic diseases.

2. Active life position. It’s not enough to overcome yourself and get up for work in the morning. To cope with the laziness that hand goes Hand in hand with reduced performance, you must force yourself to get up - to do at least something, but not to lie down. This operates on the principle of feedback - the neurons of the brain give a signal to action, but the action also helps the neurons give the signals necessary for this!

3. If possible, change your type of activity, get another job or open your favorite business! Work activity should bring not only practical benefits, but also aesthetic pleasure, then fatigue can be overcome on a psychological level.

4. If your performance is reduced due to psychological factors, something prevents you from moving on, contact a psychologist, tell us about the problems that may hinder your active work and climbing the career ladder.

5. Play sports. Physical activity is an important component active life in all areas. Increased tone muscles, improved health, improved blood circulation and oxygen supply to the body help fight stress and cope with assigned tasks more effectively.

6. Know when to stop! Workaholism is a useful trait only at specific moments in your life. She's not suitable for regular use, as it leads to a gradual depletion of a person’s nervous and physical reserves of strength, contributing to a decrease in performance. Use the weekend for your development and relaxation, plan a vacation, make it varied.

7. Practice time management! Make the planning of your affairs and tasks as efficient as possible. Numerous online time management guides and advice from businessmen who have to spend their time as actively as possible will help you create the right plan. This will help you prioritize your work correctly.

8. Adjust your diet to include more fiber and complete failure from all types of fast food! Reduce your intake of carbohydrates - their excess suppresses the central nervous system and negatively affects attention and reaction.

Prevention of decline in performance

1. Hold healthy image life. No bad habits! Optimal water consumption. A diet worthy of a healthy and self-confident person - more seasonal vegetables and fruits, rich in fiber, macro and microelements. Indulge yourself with seafood and avoid very fatty, sweet foods and canned food. Monitor your cholesterol and blood sugar levels!

2. Lead active image life. IN healthy body Not only healthy mind, but also a high level of performance!

3. Go on vacation regularly. Use it not for lying on the couch, but for development, physical and moral - travel, go hiking, communicate, play team games active games, have fun, share the positive things yourself. From each vacation, take something new into your life that will motivate you for further work, which will be a symbolic confirmation that you are not working in vain.

4. Weekends should be for rest and relaxation, not for finishing work! If you don’t have time to do something on the weekend, it means you need to seriously reconsider your plans and priorities for completing certain tasks.

5. Always write down your plans, tasks, keep a notebook with annual, monthly and daily plans- this will help you avoid getting confused a huge number life tasks and necessities, and therefore preserve peace of mind and save a lot of physical strength. This will help improve your performance status high level and make your work activities as efficient as possible!

6. Don’t put everything on your shoulders - each person should have his own responsibilities for which he must be responsible!

Decreased performance is a condition that has many of the most various reasons. If you have such a symptom, you can think of it as quite serious illness, and about chronic fatigue syndrome, so in this case everything is strictly individual.

Why is this happening

The primary causes are chronic diseases, which are based on damage to the central nervous system. Symptoms such as drowsiness, laziness, clumsiness, and absent-mindedness are present here. At the same time, it seems that everything is literally falling out of hand.

At the same time, chronic fatigue begins to slowly develop. This has a negative impact on performance

The second reason for decreased performance is stressful conditions, depression and other phenomena that suppress the functioning of the central nervous system. In addition to depression, overexcitation also affects performance, for example, powerful emotions. This may also include taking certain medications, as well as excessive consumption of coffee or tea.

Third, no less common reason- overwork. Most often, factors such as overwork, lack of sleep and wrong mode day. And the lack of vacation and the need to work even on weekends only aggravates the process. Therefore, it is important to promptly identify and be sure to eliminate all these factors. IN otherwise overwork can further develop into chronic fatigue syndrome.

The fifth is the psychological factor. It happens that work is very annoying, while a person does not receive satisfaction from his work, and also does not receive financial satisfaction from it. In this case, the work is done haphazardly, which greatly affects performance.

The fifth common reason is incorrect work schedule. This should also include incorrectly set priorities when choosing primary and secondary tasks.

And finally, the cause of decreased performance may be the consumption of large quantity sugar and carbohydrates.

How to fix

To improve your performance, you need to follow some important rules. The first thing you need to do is visit a doctor and find out if there are any serious health problems, and these could be disorders of the endocrine, nervous and other systems. This condition is often present oncological diseases, so visiting an oncologist should also be mandatory. It is also necessary to try to transfer all existing chronic diseases into remission.

It is important not to lie down in the morning and wake up at the same time every day. This helps activate neurons that are responsible for performance. In this case, you can easily get rid of laziness. The most important thing is to force yourself to get out of bed.

If necessary, you can act more radically and change your unloved job or quit from a job where you have unloved bosses. As a rule, this saves from decreased performance in most cases. After all, work should bring not only money, but also pleasure and self-satisfaction.

If a decrease in desire to engage in a particular activity is associated with psychological factor, then you should definitely contact a psychologist who will advise what to do in a given situation. As a rule, such sessions almost always help to restore the joy of life.

Be sure to play sports and preferably fresh air. This is one of the best ways in order to overcome depression. Also know when to work in moderation and try not to stay at the enterprise after the end of the working day.

And, of course, don’t forget about time management, which can be incredibly useful, because not everyone can manage their time wisely.

Concerning preventive measures, it is recommended to conduct here healthy image life, regularly visit other countries on vacation, and on weekends you need to relax, and not finish the work that is left over from the working week.

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Decreased performance is often associated with stress and overload, but this is not always the reason. A temporary decrease in performance may be a consequence of illness, the result of a change in sleep and nutrition patterns. Loss of interest in the topic, appearance of distractions, age-related or hormonal changes also affect labor productivity. It is a mistake to consider the situation when, after increased, intense activity, a person returns to a normal pace of work as a decrease in performance. In essence, it is worth talking about a real decrease in efficiency only when the result of work clearly does not correspond to the effort expended and subsequent fatigue.

When is decreased performance normal?

A living person, unlike a machine, is not able to work stably 24 hours a day and needs breaks to recuperate. A slight decrease in concentration can be noted within 4-5 hours after the start labor activity. This is one of the reasons for the appearance lunch break in most workplaces. Having rested for about 40 minutes, a person is able to work efficiently and effectively for another 3-4 hours, after which a gradual decline will begin again. mental performance. With a shift length of 12 hours, there are two breaks, but the last third of the working day will still be less productive, since fatigue accumulates and an hour's rest is not enough for full recovery.

The daily decline in physical performance follows approximately the same pattern, but the accumulation physical fatigue depends more on the person's athletic form. Some people slow down after an hour or an hour and a half, while others work steadily throughout the entire shift. In physical work, familiarity of actions and the ability to calculate one’s strength are also important. Small physical labor machine tools require at the same time attentiveness, concentration, precision and endurance, and heavy lifting requires strong muscles and tendons, a sense of balance. And, of course, a decrease in performance at the end of the shift is a natural result that should not worry: it is enough to eat, relax the body and get enough sleep so that fatigue is replaced by vigor and readiness to work again.

During illness, both physical and mental performance is temporarily reduced, so working on sick leave is not only harmful to health, but also less effective. Of course, the most important tasks can be completed with an effort of will, but this can result in complications and more long period recovery. Be concerned about a temporary decrease in performance if you have inflammatory process not in the body. It’s just that the body spends all available resources to fight the infection.

Menstruation can also lead to a temporary decrease in performance, since pain due to contraction of the uterine muscles, blood loss, fluctuations hormonal levels seriously strain the body. With rare exceptions, women themselves notice a periodic decrease in labor efficiency, noting that their income is stable. high results V critical days spend more energy.

Dangerous decrease in performance

A state of temporary decrease in performance should be alarming if rest does not help restore strength and concentration. For example, if fatigue strikes in the first half of the day and does not go away after the lunch break. It's even more dangerous if night rest and a full eight-hour sleep do not return the usual productivity. There may be several reasons for this condition:

• heavy chronic illness;
• depression;
• emotional burnout and loss of interest in work;
• abrupt change lifestyle, diet;
• unsatisfactory relationships with the team;
• taking some medicines.

Another reason for long-term decline in performance is age. According to World Organization Health care, a person aged 60 years or older is now considered elderly. Once this figure is reached, performance may decrease due to inevitable age-related changes. However, even in such a situation, mental and physical fitness can be partially restored and maintained at a fairly high level for many years.

What to do if performance decreases?

The first thing you need to do when you notice a long-term decrease in efficiency or excessive fatigue is to analyze your condition. A long-term decline in performance related to a specific area of ​​activity indicates the need for change. If it is painfully difficult to do your usual job, you can think about retraining. If going to the gym doesn't bring you the joy it used to, you can try swimming, dancing, or team sports. If communicating with your family has become tiresome, you need to find an opportunity to relax - invite a nanny, go on vacation alone, so that you have the opportunity to analyze what exactly is the difficulty. If it becomes clear that excessive energy consumption is caused by toxic relationships in a team, it is worth thinking about new job in your field.

Having found out that external reasons nothing to do with it, don’t be afraid. Necessary:

1. Contact a therapist with a complaint of fatigue.
2. Visit an endocrinologist and get tested for thyroid hormones.
3. Pass general tests urine and blood.
4. Visit a neurologist.
5. Visit a psychiatrist.

Through joint efforts, specialists will find out what caused the decrease in working capacity and prescribe the most suitable treatment. A decrease in performance, the causes of which are not related to health, means that you need to start working on increasing your own productivity, both mental and physical.

How to restore functionality?

A long-term decline in performance harms not only your career, but also your health. Apathy and inability to solve problems at the same pace create stress, nervous tension negatively affects sleep, the functioning of the heart and blood vessels, appetite, and immunity. Even if there were no health problems initially, they can begin due to constant overwork. In addition, willpower also has limits, and if you constantly work, overcoming yourself, depression may develop.

Walking in the fresh air, reading art books (not articles and notes), regular physical exercise, listening to foreign speech or learning languages, writing by hand, drawing, modeling from clay will help create the conditions for the body to restore its ability to work. Before taking on development, it would be correct to adjust your sleep schedule, balance your diet and give up all unnecessary stress that does not bring any benefit. It is necessary to carefully plan the day, if possible, delegate some of the tasks so as not to overwork, and be sure to spend a little time alone with yourself. This approach helps both to restore performance after overwork and to increase productivity that has decreased for unknown reasons.

It is also worth choosing a product that will support cardiovascular system during the recovery period. Effective drug when performance decreases, it should help cope with stress, including through the correction of intracellular metabolic processes. For example, Mildronate optimizes cellular metabolism under stress, protecting membranes from damage by products of incomplete metabolism. Its use allows you to painlessly join the training process, overcome the effects of stress and overload, and also increase the effectiveness of sports and intellectual training.

Your performance will increase gradually, so you shouldn’t expect good results from yourself right away. Only systematic, unhurried, but constant development will bring truly noticeable results.