Mental health is talked about so much more these days and that can only be a good thing, but what is mental health? According to MentalHealth.gov, it is a mixture of psychological, emotional and social well-being. If any one of these, or all, are off balance, it can have a massive impact on our happiness, enthusiasm, decision-making, stress-coping mechanisms and the ability to see the whole picture in a situation.
So, how can we look after our mental health at work and at home? Studies have shown that physical health is a good place to start. It has a massive impact on our mental health. Here are some quick tips to help improve our physical health, (therefore, your mental health)…..
- Have a good sleep routine. Try to go to bed and wake up around the same time on working days. Every day can be spent juggling work, kids, the house, bills, school, travel, and food. It’s a lot and your brain and body deserve a good rest on a night! Try turning your mobile off, or leaving it outside of the bedroom. If you have important people in your life that may need you in the night, put your phone on DND or silent, but set them up as an emergency bypass contact with an iPhone or an android
- Move more. Even 20 minutes of strenuous or weight-bearing exercise a day amongst a busy schedule can make improvements to your body and release feel-good endorphins in your brain.
- Drinking. It can be so easy to have a little drink of alcohol every night, but it leads to temperature change, interrupted sleep, weight gain, cost, brain fog and dehydration. Drinking water is so important, the NHS recommends drinking 6-8 glasses of water per day. Also, aim to have the last caffeinated drink around 2pm to again help with the sleep routine, (you really need that rest).
- Screen breaks and posture. Sitting for hours without a break can be so easy, but this is no good. Physically, long periods of time sitting at a desk can lead to sore eyes and an aching body from slouching.
Mentally, it can lead to a lack of concentration and poor decision making and it is so easy to get stuck in the middle of a problem and not be able to see it from the outside with a clear mind.
Move away from your desk, have a really good stretch, look out of the window, go outside for some fresh air, and talk to a colleague – they might need a break too. If there’s no time for a proper break, try to address how you’re seated. Which part of the back has contact with the chair? Working from the top, if the first bit of contact you feel is the middle of the back, try to pull your chair closer to the desk and sit up straighter. Is your mouse close enough? If you are reaching far for your mouse, you may start with pains in the back of the shoulder of the side you use. Try to stay symmetrical. Are the feet flat on the floor, or on a footrest?
Try a seated cat-cow. During the cow, (chest open), take a really big deep breath in. During the cat, (chest concave), expel all that air, until there is nothing left. If you want to make this a deeper stretch, link the hands behind the head with the elbows as open as possible during the cow, then during the cat (when you’re curving forward), leaving the hands linked behind the head, close the elbows towards each other as far as you can.
WFH. It’s been a very strange couple of years and although some people will love working at home when everyone has left the house in the morning, others may find it lonely and isolating. It can create a lack of confidence, motivation and make you feel separated from colleagues. It’s also very easy to keep on pushing through and not take any breaks when at home, so take the above paragraph, ‘screen breaks and posture’ into consideration. Now that it’s accepted to be around other colleagues, maybe hybrid working could be the answer. A good mixture of the office and home can be refreshing, plus, there’s free heating and power!
Depression. If you feel you are depressed, it has been suggested to you by a friend or diagnosed by a doctor, you are far from alone, so should never feel that way. Depression is openly talked about these days, and the embarrassing stigma and the battle with one’s pride is rapidly diminishing, which is brilliant. It is an invisible illness, which is why it is also easily masked, but it is real and affects a massive portion of the human race.
Two things to take from this. 1. Keep talking to people, don’t hide it, it’s real and it’s with you. 2. Be kind to yourself, take things one step at a time. For example…If your current challenge is leaving the house, start slowly. Put your shoes on and stand at the front door for a week. The next week, try going to the gate, the next week a bit further etc., but don’t be disappointed if one day you revert to standing at the front door. The process is a wavy path, not one with a steady and perfect incline.
Anxiety and/or stress are so common these days and can have a massive impact on people’s lives, in and out of work. If the mind is brimming with ‘to-do’s’, write a list. If it’s a mixture of work and personal, just initially write it all down. Get those thoughts out of the mind and onto paper. Once written, separate it into a work list and a personal list. In work, if there are many little tasks and one big task/project, start with the little tasks. Once they are out of the way, it should be easier to focus on the big task.
It can be easy to feel as though emails need to be responded to immediately, even if they are not urgent. Many people feel under pressure in current times to be infinitely contactable. Whether it be by email, phone call, social media etc. We are constantly attached to devices. Gone are the days when once home from work, the only way someone could make contact was via the house phone. The mind was freer and people didn’t have to be so highly available. Trial some device-free time every day to give the mind a true break.
If you are struggling with workload/stress/anxiety etc., try speaking to your line manager or appointed well-being person. They can only help if they know.
This is a good time to bring in Mindfulness. What does it really mean though? It is to be mindful of the present, living in the moment. So much time can be spent ruminating about the past or worrying about the future, that the present is not appreciated. A journey to work can be spent thinking of other things and all of a sudden you’re at the destination. Or when cooking a meal, the mind is focused on other events and the meal has been cooked on auto-pilot. Here are some activities to try practising mindfulness……
- Cook a meal and don’t have a device nearby as a distraction. Take notice of the colours, smells, the sounds e.g. bubbling, sizzling, popping etc., the taste, the textures if you are handling the food.
- Go for a walk. Again, try to use a lot of the senses. Look at the sky, trees, and wildlife. Be aware of the smells, cut grass, fumes, and rain on the tarmac. What can you feel? The sun on your face, a cold wind? What can you hear? Cars, birds, dogs, people, trains, crunching grass if it’s cold, crispy leaves. Another benefit to walking outside is the absorption of Vitamin D, (if the sun can get through the clouds), known as the sunshine vitamin/happy vitamin. A lack of vitamin D can lead to fatigue, aching, depression, hair loss, loss of appetite and insomnia. Vitamin D3 can be found in tuna, mushrooms, salmon, beef liver, eggs, some fortified cereals and certain kinds of milk. It can also be bought as a supplement. If you experience SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder, spending time outside may lessen the symptoms. It is known as ‘winter depression’ as the symptoms are greater in the winter months. For more information on this, see the NHS SAD link at the end of the blog.
- Is there an activity that you haven’t done for years? Maybe colouring in, a crossword, a jigsaw, something you can really focus on.
With any of the above it is human nature for the mind to start to wonder and go back to the past or forward to the future, if you catch yourself doing that, that’s ok, just re-focus.
Another great way to combat anxiety and stress is to practice Restorative Yoga or Yoga Nidra. Neither of these yoga forms requires any kind of flexibility, fitness or stamina. Restorative yoga is based around floor poses that are held for some time, the positions are somewhat comforting, but also very good for the parasympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system is driven by the stress hormone, cortisol. Cortisol is released from the adrenal glands at the top of the kidneys. Due to today’s lifestyle, the sympathetic nervous system is usually the dominant one. It can be very difficult to focus on the parasympathetic nervous system, but these forms of yoga do. Yoga Nidra takes you to a place, somewhere in between being awake and asleep and can be deeply beneficial. It can take a while to stop many thoughts from intruding on the practice, but it gets easier with time. It’s definitely worth a go.
A good one to try before bed is the ‘Legs-up-the-Wall Pose’. Either on the floor or bed, lay on the back and put the legs straight up the wall. Hold this pose still, even when the feet start to get pins and needles. This improves blood circulation, especially in the head, it relaxes the neck muscles, and is good for digestion, insomnia, relaxation and lowering the heart rate. A good night’s sleep is definitely underrated and will help with everything we’ve covered in this blog.
Important note: If you don’t make time for your wellness, you will be forced to make time for your illness. Read that again.
Takeaway blog notes –
- Communicate with your colleagues
- Take regular mini-breaks, where possible
- Stay hydrated
- Get outside
- Up your vitamin D levels, especially in the winter
- Try hybrid working
Helpful links –
https://www.mentalhealthatwork.org.uk/toolkit/
https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20220208174033/https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-d/
https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/seasonal-affective-disorder-sad/overview/