Your Body Is Your Best Business Guide
Have you noticed that when you’re angry, time speeds up? Your heart races, your breathing becomes shallow and rapid, you move faster and more aggressively. You’re reacting before you’ve even had a moment to think.
But when you’re exhausted or sad? Time slows. Everything feels heavier.
Science shows how we feel changes how we experience time.
Our perception of time shifts depending on our emotional and physical state. For example, heightened arousal (like anger or anxiety) speeds up our internal clock, while low-energy states (like sadness or fatigue) slow it down.
The concept of time (ticking hours and minutes) was invented by humans. Nature doesn’t care about calendars. It shifts and cycles as needed. Time helps us organise life. It’s useful for booking meetings, planning holidays and knowing what day it is.
Our obsession with time is killing our instincts. We’re so worried about maximising every minute that we block out bodily sensations, cramming in email after email before having lunch at 3pm. We like to think we’re rational robots who can push through. But how attuned you are to your body directly impacts how effective you are at work. Your productivity, decision-making and cooperation levels shift depending on your emotional and physical state.
Having strong interoception (awareness of your body’s internal state) improves your emotional regulation. Your emotional management is directly linked to your level of anxiety, stress and rational decision-making, all of which impact your productivity. Trusting your body is linked to higher work performance by fostering resilience, adaptability, and quick, intuitive thinking.
When you ignore your thirst, hunger, or the need to move, you’re dulling mental clarity and the instincts your body uses to guide you.
How We Got Here
Western society has been stuck in the “ignore your body, keep working” mode since the Industrial Revolution, when workers were treated like robots, not humans. That’s how you end up writing half-baked emails at 10pm, only to re-read them the next day and wonder, “What even is this? It’s how we miss vital signals in conversations or rush into decisions that look great on paper but feel off in our gut.
Thankfully, many of us find ourselves in roles where there’s enough flexibility and freedom in our work that we can start tuning into our bodies’ needs. Yet so many of us are still stuck in hustle mode, operating like machines, ignoring the messages our body sends.
In the boardroom, you can’t raise your hand and say, “My gut says this is a bad decision.” So what do you do? You follow the feeling. You chase the evidence to back it up and build a case around what your body already sensed.
Studies have found that listening to your gut is one of the most vital skills for CEOs. Because the body can sense what the mind can’t yet see. There is constant gut-brain communication via the vagus nerve, supporting its nickname as the “second brain” due to the enteric nervous system’s independence and influence on brain functions.
Your gut isn’t just digesting lunch, it’s having a constant conversation with your brain. Scientists call this the gut-brain axis. Your gut is wired into your nervous system, firing messages up to your brain through the vagus nerve (think of it like your body’s internal Slack channel).
When your gut’s in a good place (balanced microbiome, happy digestion), it sends calming signals that help regulate stress, mood and decision-making. When your gut health is struggling (hello bloating, stress-eating or skipping meals), it can trigger brain fog, anxiety, fatigue and those impulsive choices you regret five minutes later.
Research even shows your gut health impacts how clear, focused and intuitive you feel at work. Slow breathing, staying hydrated, or taking care of your gut with food and probiotics are not just wellness actions. They’re how you keep your mind sharp.
Every time we ignore our bladder asking for a loo break or our dry throat reminding us to drink because we have a deadline, we become more disconnected from our body. And with a dulled awareness of your physical needs, you’ll continue working in a drained state. Until one day your body says, “Enough!” and you find yourself sick or completely burnt out.
The more you tune into what your body needs, the faster you’ll notice subtle hints about what to do right now. Also, because training yourself to be mindful of bodily sensations reduces anxiety, this leads to a reduction in conflict, promotes inclusive environments with less distress and richer interactions, enhancing team productivity.
Of course, there are times when we have to push through, and we can’t honour our body’s requests. You can’t go for a 5K jog when you’re on a four-hour flight. But you can get up and stretch your legs, wiggle in your seat, and scrunch your toes and fists.
Noticing what your body is telling you is the first step to running in an optimal state. From there, you get to choose what’s possible and how to nurture yourself. The more in tune you are with your body, the more energy, clarity and confidence you bring to your work.