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For the week-hearted...

Bharat Savur

One day, people wake up to find that they've changed into bugs ... So wrote Franz Kafka. His offbeat humour found its takers. Behaviour analysts opine that the Kafkaesque effect hits most humans.

One day, we wake up, walk into our kitchen, cubicle, factory or shop and ...rrr! it drills its beady eyes into our being. What the hell are we doing, we agonise. Is this all we are worth? Seething, screaming frustration; the clawing urge to tea r off the crisply-ironed suit or apron and toss it into a corner; the following overwhelming sense of despair.

Residues of life's subtle forces that carry both the risks and knockout punch of chemical pollutants. To name a few: the fear of being unable to keep pace with the electronic era; the repetitive robotic rubout where work becomes a mechanical, me aningless mockery; the responsibilities-without-recognition rage that barely conceals the being-taken-for-granted helplessness; the stranglehold of deadlines hissing out a merciless `or else' and tying us into knots.

Forces that have us spending so much of our free time ``trying to unwind'', says psychologist Barbara Wilkes, that there is no opportunity to really live.

Recognising this shortfall, offices such as MTV and Clea Public Relations have infused unwinding factors into the grind of the workplace. Channeled music; an audio-visual mini-disco lined with TVs, VCDs, DVDs; guitars and drums to strum and thrum ` live'; a basketball net suspended from the ceiling; a microwave to pop corn; a conference table that converts into a snooker table; Friday dressing on Mondays... open spaces sans hierarchical cubicles. An attitude and office ``structured around the concept of personal freedom'', defines Clea's Managing Director Vinod Nair. ``A moving away from the Dilbert world.''

Likewise, a dotcom company has installed a full-fledged gym to ``add brawn to brainwork''. As one employee puts it, ``Getting physical distracts my mind from the fact that I'm on call all the time. I get to breathe.'' And breathe deeply.

But, for those of us Dilberts who don't have official access to unwinding facilities, stress-expert Dr. Donald A. Tubesing advocates the first step: ``Don't spend $10 worth of energy on a 10-cent problem. Also don't underspend 10-cents of adren aline on a $-10 problem.'' Meaning: don't try to resolve every problem -- particularly the insignificant and the ones that `may occur'. Simultaneously, don't postpone major decisions.

Next, a piece of practical `pie' from psychiatrist Dr. Ronald Pies, author of Inside Psychotherapy: The Patient's Handbook, that ought to bring cheer to many a dismal Dilbert: ``It's important to have some degree of weekend fun during the week.'' For, according to the doctor, far too many of us compartmentalise our lives -- work to exhaustion on weekdays and fling ourselves into frantic fantasy on weekends. Result, the anti climax of Sunday-night blues levers the lethargy of ``Mo nday-night blahs''. So, ``don't make such sharp divisions,'' he advises. ``If you've had a lousy Monday, go out for dinner, exercise on Tuesday. Why wait for Saturday? If you integrate small pleasures through the week, you'll be less likely to save it all up for weekend binges. Your weekday leisure pursuits should have as much meaning as your weekend fun.''

The weekday-fun-activity principle has positive pay-offs. Just the thought that she's got a workout-with-music to attend between noon and 1 p.m. three times a week, says Varsha, gives a lift to her workday. ``In that one hour,'' she explains, ``it's like I borrow a different pair of eyes to look at the world. It's like moving in a completely different environment, a beautiful one, opening my eyes and saying `I'm part of this too' and feeling beautiful myself. And I carry this magic to of fice where, even if I work late, I feel as if one activity just flows into another effortlessly.''

Of course, there are always little bugs in our blood, which Richard Curtis, author of Taking Off, describes as ``the desire for change that occurs regularly''. Writes Curtis, ``Even if you are generally satisfied with your life and work, you m ay still feel the need for something more, you may feel closed in.'' A break between chores affirms your freedom -- that you can transcend the mundane world, leave it behind. And return to its sameness with a fresh perspective.

Equally important, the brain needs about 30 times more

blood than other body-organs. Sitting in one place with rounded shoulders, head down, bends the spine slightly and presses the two arteries through its column to the brain. The resulting weaker blood supply also means less oxygen to the brain, contributi ng to the ``I'm all wound up!'' feeling. While pushing

back your chair and standing ramrod straight relieves, a workout goes the whole oxygenating hog into fast-forward mind-unwinding!

Finally, there's no fear of the bug trespassing into your exercising programme. A 30-minute workout pumps up all your natural pest-controlling adrenaline juices. Purged of tensions, distanced from all those subtle forces, completely unwou nd, you

are: de-bugged!

The writer is co-author of the book, Fitness for Life.