Stress Awareness Day 2015

National Stress Awareness Day is November 5, 2015 and to mark the event we've compiled some top tips for you to share with colleagues.

The tips are all simple lifestyle choices that help everyone take daily action to reduce stress and improve energy levels and resilience.

Our Resilience Workshop has been hailed as, 'The best training course I've ever attended'. If you think your team would benefit from support with boosting their personal effectiveness please contact us at info@the-tonic.com

9 Top Tips to Help Manage Pressure and Build Resilience

1. Stress is not the enemy

Managing stress does not necessarily mean eliminating stress from your life.  The key to successful stress management is to know how far you are able to move out of your comfort zone, and how often you are willing to do this.  Provided you anticipate and manage periods of high demand, and balance these with appropriate periods of review and recovery, you'll be in control of your commitments and your attitude, and well positioned to communicate any concerns you may have if you feel you're moving away from your zone of best performance. 

2. Managing stress levels with healthy eating

Each day, aim to consume more foods that calm you than those which can aggravate stress. Oily fish, chicken, turkey, whole-grains, berries and nuts, will all help keep you calm.  Caffeine, sugar, chocolate, pastries, refined carbohydrates, high fat foods and alcohol can all contribute to increased stress levels. 

3. How to get a great night of rest and recovery

To be at your most resilient, you need to rest and recover well at night, but in very busy periods people can find it difficult to relax unwind and sleep well.  Spend a little time researching your guaranteed pre-sleep routine for the period leading up to bedtime to ensure that you are able to fall asleep promptly when you’d like to, and achieve optimum quality and quantity of sleep.  A warm drink and a few pages of a novel may be all you need to ensure good sleep.  Don’t be tempted to work right up to the moment when you drop off.

4. Move more, stress less

Movement helps rid the body of stress hormones quickly so, even during your busiest periods, make sure you move regularly.  Don't view moving away from the desk as lost working time but instead associate it with an opportunity to stay calm, change your perspective, think creatively, and come up with some solutions that might be hard to access while sitting in front of your computer. 

5. Balance your life and set some boundaries

Stress can be caused by too much work (or too much of anything in life) leaving you feeling that the balance isn't where you'd like it to be. You'll find it harder to maintain balance in your routine if you're not clear what good balance looks like so be diligent in planning and making time for the things you enjoy and that nourish your overall success or there are plenty of other less enjoyable jobs waiting to steal that time. 

6. Give yourself a break - regularly

Your mind and body need regular moments of distraction.  Compile a list of small actions that you can do every day that you enjoy, that help you feel totally in the moment and that make you happy. Then find an effective way to remember to put these actions into place. A few moments of reflection / distraction every 90 minutes can boost motivation and focus, and lead to your entire day being more productive. 

7. Drink water, stay calm

Dehydration makes us irritable which leads to stress all round.  Drink your 2-litres every day without fail.

8. Breathe, relax, refocus

It sounds obvious but we think better and feel calmer when there's plenty of oxygen flowing to our brain. Regular breaks to breathe deeply and reassess your priorities for the day will help you minimise stress from morning to night. 

9. Be a stress-reducing role model

Where you can, aim to reduce stress for others.  Simple actions can make a huge difference so look to see where you can support your colleagues and they will look out for opportunities to return the favour.  Consider how you might avoid adding any stress to colleagues today – this is easily achieved by thinking about how you communicate.  Aim to be focused with your emails, conversations and meetings so that you always help others to move projects steadily forward.  Communicate messages that save colleagues time, rather than costing them time.

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33 Ideas to Improve Heart Health & Reduce Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is always a hot topic of discussion in our work so we've come up with a host of simple suggestions on how you can help colleagues improve the health of their heart, as well as step up their general health, wellbeing and performance.

We'll be sharing the advice over the coming weeks, starting today with a few of our recent blog posts which include 28 easy to implement healthy heart lifestyle changes:

5 instant fixes to ensure perfect blood pressure

9 top tips to help manage pressure

Walk or run your way to lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels

Alcohol, blood pressure and successful strategies for healthy drinking

Simple strategies for healthy blood pressure

Six top lifestyle changes for reducing stress in the workplace

If you're looking for ways to raise wellbeing awareness and help colleagues improve their health and energy, here are 5 great ideas you can put into action right away:

1) Set up blood pressure checks  
We can arrange blood pressure checks for staff and also provide everyone with a practical action plan to optimise fitness, diet, sleep and stress management 

2) Arrange a wellness workshop
Workshops are great for education, accountability and action.  We have a range of wellness workshops including, 'the best training I've ever attended'.

3) Organise a wellbeing event
A wellbeing day provides a great opportunity for staff to ask questions and discover key information that makes a huge difference to how they feel and how they perform. 'Feedback has been great and take up was high too'.

4) Read our 29 tips to keep staff healthy in 2014 

5) Sign up for our free Wellness Toolkit 
The Toolkit gives you access to an ongoing range of resources to keep your wellness programme fresh and exciting, and ensure staff are engaged in getting the most out of their health, energy and performance every day.  Read more and sign up for your toolkit here.

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9 Top Tips to Help Manage Pressure

A recent study claims that stress affects two thirds of employees and beyond this statistic, stress affects almost everyone at some point. 

National Stress Awareness Day is November 6, 2013 and to mark the event we've compiled some top tips for you to share it with staff.

The tips are all simple lifestyle choices that help employees take daily action to reduce stress and improve energy levels and resilience.

Our Resilience Workshop has been hailed as, 'The best training course I've ever attended'. If you think your staff would benefit from support with boosting their personal effectiveness please contact us at info@the-tonic.com

9 Top Tips to Help Manage Pressure

1. Stress is not the enemy

Managing stress does not necessarily mean eliminating stress from your life.  The key to successful stress management is to know how far you are able to move out of your comfort zone, and how often you are willing to do this.  Provided you anticipate and manage periods of high demand, and balance these with appropriate periods of review and recovery, you'll be in control of your commitments and your attitude, and well positioned to communicate any concerns you may have if you feel you're moving away from your zone of best performance. 

2. Managing stress levels with healthy eating

Each day, aim to consume more foods that calm you than those which can aggravate stress. Oily fish, chicken, turkey, whole-grains, berries and nuts, will all help keep you calm.  Caffeine, sugar, chocolate, pastries, refined carbohydrates, high fat foods and alcohol can all contribute to increased stress levels.

3. How to get a great night of rest and recovery

To be at your most resilient, you need to rest and recover well at night, but in very busy periods people can find it difficult to relax unwind and sleep well.  Spend a little time researching your guaranteed pre-sleep routine for the period leading up to bedtime to ensure that you are able to fall asleep promptly when you’d like to, and achieve optimum quality and quantity of sleep.  A warm drink and a few pages of a novel may be all you need to ensure good sleep.  Don’t be tempted to work right up to the moment when you drop off.

4. Move more, stress less

Movement helps rid the body of stress hormones quickly so, even during your busiest periods, make sure you move regularly.  Don't view moving away from the desk as lost working time but instead associate it with an opportunity to stay calm, change your perspective, think creatively, and come up with some solutions that might be hard to access while sitting in front of your computer. 

5. Balance your life and set some boundaries

Stress can be caused by too much work (or too much of anything in life) leaving you feeling that the balance isn't where you'd like it to be. You'll find it harder to maintain balance in your routine if you're not clear what good balance looks like so be diligent in planning and making time for the things you enjoy and that nourish your overall success or there are plenty of other less enjoyable jobs waiting to steal that time. 

6. Give yourself a break - regularly

Your mind and body need regular moments of distraction.  Compile a list of small actions that you can do every day that you enjoy, that help you feel totally in the moment and that make you happy. Then find an effective way to remember to put these actions into place. A few moments of reflection / distraction every 90 minutes can boost motivation and focus, and lead to your entire day being more productive. 

7. Drink water, stay calm

Dehydration makes us irritable which leads to stress all round.  Drink your 2-litres every day without fail.

8. Breath, relax, refocus

It sounds obvious but we think better and feel calmer when there's plenty of oxygen flowing to our brain. Regular breaks to breath deeply and reassess your priorities for the day will help you minimise stress from morning to night. 

9. Be a stress-reducing role model

Where you can, aim to reduce stress for others.  Simple actions can make a huge difference so look to see where you can support your colleagues and they will look out for opportunities to return the favour.  Consider how you might avoid adding any stress to colleagues today – this is easily achieved by thinking about how you communicate.  Aim to be focused with your emails, conversations and meetings so that you always help others to move projects steadily forward.  Communicate messages that save colleagues time, rather than costing them time.

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More Energy, Less Stress: Get fit and eat well

This afternoon, I was delivering a presentation on stress management, improving sleep routines and finding the ideal life balance.

It reminded me of some research that we conducted a while ago, the results of which we summarised in a press release which you can read in full below.  

What's interesting to note that for the majority of new audiences that we work with the priority areas for change remain consistent. 

As a side note, if you're looking to tackle stress in your organisation, there are a couple of forthcoming events that might help with communicating positive messages.  National Work Life Week takes place September 23-27^th 2013, and National Stress Awareness Day is 6^th November 2013.

Anyway, here's the press release with details of the research:

DESPERATELY SEEKING ENERGY

Exercising more and eating better are the two most urgent wellbeing objectives employees need help with

A recent survey* shows that nearly two thirds of staff say their top wellbeing objectives are to make simple changes to their exercise routine and their diet.

Wellbeing consultancy the Tonic has been touring the UK with their More Energy, Less Stress wellness programmes, outlining the key strategies to optimum health and wellbeing, and motivating participants to commit to some positive healthy living behaviour changes. 

When asked what their priorities for change were, an overwhelming 39% expressed the desire to take more exercise while 22% said they'd most like to eat more healthily as their top priority.

These preferences illustrate quite clearly that when it comes to energising and engaging staff and helping them tackle stress, simple wellbeing initiatives that get people active and eating better will pay dividends.

The evidence is clear, comments Tonic Director Jeff Archer, 'Properly researched and targeted wellness programmes help staff take appropriate action, quickly and effectively, to enable them to experience the benefits of a healthier lifestyle immediately. As soon as they begin to feel better, particularly in relation to their energy levels, their confidence and their personal effectiveness, the pay off for each individual and for the business as a whole is immense'.

To test the effectiveness of their initiatives, Tonic staff followed up on participants' commitments one month later and found that respondents had made remarkable progress in this short space of time, underlining the notion that the right wellbeing messages delivered in creative ways that engage a corporate audience can lead to dramatic results.

Sample feedback from those who took part in initiatives:

‘Overall I have to say my energy levels are higher and more consistent, I’m feeling more positive and I’m sleeping better!  So, thank you very much for your insights.’ 

‘I feel fitter and more energised.’

‘I have joined the gym so my exercise has increased 1000%, I have lost half a stone since we had the meeting.’

‘I've lost 3 kg. I am playing tennis and going to gym 4 times a week. I eat more fruit and drink more water.’

‘My wellbeing and energy levels have improved so remarkably I feel alive again. Before this I was always tired and by end of day it was terrible, I could not spend quality time with my family and I was so irritable by then. Walking is enjoyable and I'm doing 5 km twice a week. I am losing some weight and feel great.’

Other popular objectives chosen by participants in the programmes illustrate where further wellbeing interventions can be targeted:

• Improve work-life balance
  
• Improve my sleeping routine
  
• Lose weight
  
• Drink more water
  
• Reduce caffeine intake
  
• Make more time for myself
  
• Reduce alcohol intake
  
• Improve stress management
  
• Stop smoking / reduce smoking
  
• Make more time for my family
  
  *Survey sample size 444 people. 
  

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