mental health Archives - Business Health Matters

Boosting Workplace Productivity Through Nutrition: Fuelling Your Body for Success

Posted on May 30, 2023August 24, 2023 by Rachel Abbotts

Introduction

Are you tired of feeling sluggish and unproductive at work? Do you find yourself reaching for a third cup of coffee just to get through the morning? Maybe it’s time to take a closer look at what you’re putting into your body. Nutrition plays a crucial role in our energy levels, focus, and overall health. So, let’s explore some simple ways to boost workplace productivity through nutrition. From healthy snacks to mindful meal planning, we’ve got you covered.

Start Your Day with a Balanced Breakfast

We’ve all heard it before: breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But it’s true! Skipping breakfast can lead to low blood sugar, which can contribute to a lack of focus and energy, which leads to snacking. To ensure you’re fuelling your body properly, try incorporating complex carbohydrates like whole grain bread, oatmeal, quinoa, or protein-rich foods like eggs, nuts, or yoghurt. This will keep your blood sugar stable and your energy levels consistent throughout the morning.

Also, try substituting a big glass of water for coffee when you wake up. Yes, coffee has that magic caffeine we all crave, but after sleeping for hours, your body needs water more than a caffeine boost.

Fuel Up with Healthy Snacks

Ever find yourself reaching for a bag of crisps or chocolate bars when the mid-afternoon slump hits? Snacking on unhealthy foods can leave you feeling more tired than before. So, opt for snacks that provide sustained energy and help keep your focus sharp. Think nuts, seeds, dried fruits and veggies. They are packed with antioxidants, fibre and healthy fats. All of these will help stabilise your blood sugar levels and give you the boost you need to finish the day strong.

Remember – when you get a hunger pang, it’s often a sign that your body is dehydrated and wants water. So, think water, not Walkers!

Stay Hydrated

As mentioned a few times, water is the key to healthy living. Your brain is about 80% water, so it’s no surprise your thinking gets a bit foggy when you’re dehydrated.

Dehydration can cause fatigue, headaches, and brain fog. So, ensure you drink enough water throughout the day to stay hydrated and focused. Aim for a minimum of two litres of water per day. And don’t cheat by including cups of tea or soft drinks in that number!

Mindful Meal Planning

Planning ahead can save you time, money, and stress. By taking a little time each week to plan your meals, you can ensure you’re getting the nutrients you need to feel your best.

Deciding what to have for lunch while you’re standing in Tesco’s staring at the sausage rolls can be stressful and anxiety-inducing. However, meal prepping is one of the best ways to make sure you eat well during the workday. It takes all the decision-making away from you. Plus, let’s face it, getting healthy food while you’re out and about is almost impossible. But, in only half an hour on a Sunday evening, you could prep all your lunches for the week.

Cut Back on Sugar and Processed Foods

Sugar and processed foods can wreak havoc on our energy levels, mood, and overall health. They cause your blood sugar to spike and then plummet, making you sleepy. So you have some more to wake you up again. And so on.

Breaking the sugar cycle is hard, but focus on whole foods like fruits, veggies, lean proteins, and healthy fats. You’ll find those peaks and troughs start to smooth out fairly quickly.

In Short

By making a few simple tweaks to your diet, you can fuel your body for success and boost your productivity at work. Try incorporating balanced breakfasts, healthy snacks, and mindful meal planning and prepping into your routine. Finally, cut back on sugar and processed foods. Your body will thank you!

For more information about boosting workplace nutrition in your workplace, simply get in touch to find out more about our unique Workplace Wellbeing Programme.

Four Ways To Build Mental Resilience In Your Team

Posted on May 18, 2022August 19, 2022 by Rachel Abbotts

How do you feel when things go wrong at work?

How do your employees react when a stressful situation arises?

Throughout our lives, we all face periods of high stress. In a work setting, this could be internal conflict, the loss of a major client or an extremely busy period. How do your employees react in these situations? Over three quarters (79%) of workers in the UK state they have experienced burnout, with increased work pressures and mental health challenges being the main causes for stress and fatigue.

Businesses are constantly looking for ways to support colleagues through stressful periods so that they can bounce back from challenges and remain in work.

Resilience is often defined as adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or even significant sources of stress (American Psychological Association, 2014). This varies from person to person and it’s essential to remember we all have our own response to stressful situations. Other contributing factors can often affect our levels of mental resilience and it’s really important to be empathetic as a leader and consider the external influences when supporting your employees.

No one can be mentally tough all of the time, however as employers, you can provide the setting, policies and support to your team members so that they can develop their own mental resilience. The time spent fostering a more mentally-resilient team now pays off tenfold in the future, so we’re sharing four ways you can start to nurture employee resilience:

Identify triggers – Each employee will have their own ‘triggers’ in the workplace. Ensuring that mistakes are not punished or discussed in a group setting can help stop the development of a trigger. For existing triggers, it’s a good idea to identify these and talk to employees about them, to create a plan of how to respond when triggers occur. Reframing triggering situations into challenges often helps employees see them as opportunities for growth, removing some elements of fear and the risk of a fight or flight response. Our partners at Lancashire Mind offer a wealth of training to help get started with this: https://www.businesshealthmatters.org.uk/projects/wellbeing-packages/
Support systems – Each organisation is unique, however ensuring that there are supportive pathways in place for employees is essential in every business, especially in times of adversity. This can be ensuring that there is some form of HR support, internal or external, and a clear channel for colleagues to speak to HR staff. Introducing a ‘buddy’ scheme in the workplace can also provide a safe space for conversation and allow others to offer resolutions that an employee may not have thought of. A problem shared is a problem halved!
Set SMART targets – By agreeing on clear, tangible and achievable targets, employees know what is expected of them in work and can break down their targets into smaller steps, which helps alleviate the risk of feeling overwhelmed. Regularly checking in with employees on their targets, at a rate that works for them, helps employees develop resilience as the smaller bumps along the way are worked through together, with your support.
Physical health – encouraging employees to take care of themselves outside of the working environment is key to building healthier and more resilient teams. Introducing wellbeing breaks and outdoor activities (such as a lunchtime walking group or team activity) allows employees to take a break and come back with a focused, renewed energy to tackle their work. To help with this, why not encourage one of your employees to become a Workplace Health Champion for your business? Our free, ESF-funded training means you’ll have someone in the team who drive internal initiatives, encourage your staff to get active and help promote a healthier working environment.

If you’d like help getting started with your team’s wellbeing and learn more on how to build their mental resilience, we’d love to help.

Get in touch!

How to Champion Mental Health in the Workplace

Posted on January 17, 2022August 19, 2022 by Rachel Abbotts

Business Health Matters and Lancashire Mind are encouraging businesses across the county to champion mental health within the workplace and assess current working practices to make 2022 the ‘Year of Employee Wellbeing’.

With 1 in 6 workers experiencing stress, anxiety or depression, supporting mental health and wellbeing in the workplace has never been so important and good practice doesn’t have to cost the earth.

Embrace open dialogues surrounding mental health in the workplace

Creating a workplace culture where staff of all levels of seniority feel they can speak openly and ask for support is vital, not only in promoting positive health and wellbeing but also for general productivity, staff retention, team connectivity and overall business success.

Great business leaders understand that good mental health and wellbeing within the workplace starts at the top, and this means that management teams and business leaders also need to prioritise their own mental health.

Sharing challenges transparently often helps to connect teams and remind colleagues that we are all human and can only do our best.

How do you connect your team virtually?

Feeling connected in a virtual world can be challenging, especially with diminished levels of human interaction.

Pick up the phone instead of sending emails, take virtual tea breaks with colleagues and put five minutes aside to ask how someone is feeling.

How well do you know your team?

Are you aware of which colleagues need more support?

Do you know which team members live by themselves or reside in busy households and may struggle to find quiet spaces?

Prioritise check-ins, 1-2-1s and team brews, and don’t be afraid to ask someone how they are feeling.

Set healthy boundaries

When the lines between work and home blur, it can be difficult to distinguish positive workplace boundaries.

Do staff send emails out of hours, regularly work at weekends and reply on annual leave?

If so, then you may need to assess your overall wellbeing approach and remind staff that downtime is important.

Management teams should also look out for each other and ensure that they prioritise their own mental health and wellbeing, creating a culture where all staff feel valued, supported and able to share challenges.

Encourage daily activity

Regular physical activity is associated with lower rates of depression and anxiety across all age groups, and is a key part of keeping a healthy, productive workforce.

Why not introduce virtual-walk-meetings, or allow flexible working to encourage employees to exercise during their breaks?

Walks in the fresh air or taking time to stretch in between meetings can help boost energy levels and overall wellbeing.

If the past two years have taught us anything it is that we never know what is around the corner and that mental health is no longer the taboo subject it once was.

Championing mental health and wellbeing at work could be our chance to create a happier, more productive and engaged workforce, and surely that is a winning formula for all.

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