Wellbeing

joe — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 10:49:08 +0000

A path to Wellbeing

November 2^nd 2011 was National Stress Awareness Day in the UK. Wellbeing and Resilience at Work was the theme chosen by the organisers, the International Stress Management Association (ISMA^UK), for this year’s event. Wellbeing; now there’s an interesting word. Do we need it? And if we do, how do we get it?

At its simplest, wellbeing is the state of being or doing well in life. That makes wellbeing pretty challenging. We live with constant change; our thoughts, feelings and actions change hour by hour and this affects how we see ourselves; the events and experiences of our lives, past and present, influence our sense of wellbeing; and our genes and the personality we were born are also in the mix.

So how do you need to look after yourself mentally, physically and emotionally, so that you can increase your sense of wellbeing? Much of this is common knowledge but is less commonly practiced. Exercise and good general fitness has a big bearing on our mental health. There is wisdom in the old saying that links a healthy mind to a healthy body. The human body evolved to be active. Not alone does exercise help to burn off hormones related to feeling stressed, but it also releases feel-good body chemicals. Eating healthily is an obvious way to improve our sense of wellbeing. A varied diet of fresh, unprocessed food gives us the best chance of extracting the many vitamins and minerals that are essential to the body’s healthy functioning. And don’t forget brain food, a good reason to take a fish oil supplement. Weight matters as well; and so does our relationship with alcohol and coffee. In all of this, some is good and more is not necessarily better. Smoking and recreational drugs are not helpful. In a time of recession, we never hear of the national sleep debt, but insufficient time sleeping makes its own contribution to lessening a feeling of well-being. On the other hand, creating time for you is helpful in feeling good. Use that time to appreciate yourself, to experience being alive now and become aware in this very second of what you can see, hear, smell, taste and touch. A colleague of mine calls it retiring to the monastery of your mind.

In reality, it is only in this present moment that you and I can be fully alive and take pleasure in being alive. Wellbeing happens now. Our past cannot be retrieved and the future, even the immediate future is not ours yet.

Stress

joe — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 17:52:23 +0000

I find it odd sometimes to call myself a stress manager, when I find myself in two minds as to whether there is such a thing as stress or not. Of course, our bodies have a stress response which activates various systems to enable us to fight or fly when we are threatened. This acute stress response describes what happens in our bodies when we perceive ourselves to be in at risk or in danger. This is temporary stress and it causes changes in the body that prepare it for "fight of flight. This type of stress is actually good for the body provided it is triggered by a situation in which we are in real danger.

When it comes to what we typically call stress, I prefer to talk about pressure and our ability to cope with pressure. People perform at their best when their ability to cope and the pressure they are under are a good match. So some stress can help us get the best out of ourselves. A deadline can spur us on; we can be inspired by a challenge or motivated by a target. When there is little pressure, someone with lots of ability gets bored. They suffer rust-out. Burn-out is the other extreme, where the pressure and the demands have become all too much.

Burnout is what gives rise to what is called chronic stress. Chronic stress, stress that is never resolved, can damage the body and lead to chronic illness resulting from inflammation, suppressed immune function, and cognitive difficulties.

Being of a worrying disposition myself, I have had to become pretty nimble in dealing with pressure and anxiety in my own life. I now regard dealing with stress as fairly easy to manage and I help others to do the same. That should give me plenty to write about during the coming weeks.

Beechmount blogs

Wellbeing

Stress