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MEET HAFSA BURT
Hafsa Burt
We can all agree that there isn’t enough hours in the day. We are all living breathing high achieving individuals multi-tasking daily careers, family, charity obligations and ambitions. In between some of us squeeze in fitness, marathon training & races. Quite often in the high-tech industry and Architecture and engineering fields a day starts with coffee and ends with a sleeping aid or happy hour.
At hb+a Architects the culture of health goes beyond paper and talk to actual practice and advocacy. Good health is the best insurance, for the quality of work too. As much as we talk about healthy building practices, we’ve built an internal culture that promotes healthy living. Where most businesses opt for company wide happy hour encouraging folks to reach for a glass of wine or beer we have been more creative with our vices.
People in shape are better able to take tolerate a stressful life constantly on the flux. Fantastic management and operational practices help manage time, people and projects more efficiently, with realistic mental and physical breaks. Physical exercise has no comparison which is encouraged with our studio runs, engaging talks outside of work. The owner of the firms opts for boot camp 3-4 times a week and encourages walking and biking. She doesn’t smoke or drink alcohol, sodas, energy drinks or sugary processed juices and the fridge at the office doesn’t sport any of that either.
Besides, the obvious benefits of physical exercise we encourage healthy habits by advocacy and practice listed below:
- 2-3 litres of water a day. Keeps physical energy up, nerves down and moods in check.
- Deep-tissue massage sessions, 15 -20 minutes can be done quickly during the day.
- Acupuncture, is great way to lower stress, an hour works as a mini-vacation.
- Cupping, leaves week-long bruises, but is an great alternative to deep-tissue massages. . The suction provided by cupping can loosen muscles, encourage blood flow, and calm the nervous system. Cupping can help to relieve back and neck pains, stiff muscles, anxiety, fatigue etc.
- Chiropractic adjustments, keeps everything aligned. Again, health needs to be good to keep up with the stress.
- Chamomile tea, peppermint tea or any herbal, green, black tea is a great alternative to coffee and different types can be sipped all day. Tea helps to hydrate and has health benefits that coffee is lacking.
- Going on for weeks without a break, sometimes, it is just necessary to drop everything and head to the beach, near or far, no matter what the weather is, without the phone, iPod, laptop, kindle or any battery operated device. Connecting with nature is a great therapy, that helps to get a mental, technological break and reset the clock.
- Our office fridge is always full of healthy snacks, fruits, nuts, raw treats, green elixirs and water.
And yet some other tricks are:
- 5htp and GABA supplements, help keep the emotional balance.
- Good old hot baths with epsom salt.
- Cold water on my feet right before going to sleep for better circulation.
- Scents, I feel surrounding myself with good scents, helps me relax. But be careful here cause phthalates are usually added to products to make the smell last longer.
- a punching bag: for those late night calls from consultants two days before the deadline, requesting changes.
- lavender candles instead of my usual preference of french “rose” scented candles.
- Meditation, can’t sit still for that long.
- Reiki
- hydraulic massage
- Korean Bath Houses (or frequent a “banya”, russian bath house more)
- Recently have been hearing a lot of people talk about “power naps” and that sounds so divine.