KEYS TO WELLNESS– JUST FOR WOMEN

Wellness is the capacity to be and do what you want and be happy. What is on your wellness wishlist?  Today’s high-level women experience more stress than ever before.  They not only juggle clients, a staff, budgets, deadlines, making key decisions, and proving themselves among their male counterparts, they also have to manage a sometimes-hectic home life. Women need to find simple ways to achieve wellness by being a bit “selfish” with no regrets. If women trust the power of nurturing themselves, the rewards you get will empower you to do what comes natural – and care for your loved ones with more intensity than you ever thought you could muster.

 

Nutrition:   There is no shortage of information about what to eat. Low fat, low sugar, low carb…You can go crazy in the grocery store keeping up with the products touting they’re the next best thing you need to be healthy.  Instead, why not try to make one positive nutrition change:

• eat a power-breakfast daily like oatmeal with walnuts and fat free milk
• get your fruit fix by making a fruit and yogurt smoothie or adding fruit to lunch
• try something different like an unusual veggie (ackee, bora, calabaza) or cooking with beans.

 

Exercise:   If your ideas of exercise include time on the “dreadmill” and “personal draining”, you need to change up your exercise regime! The following exercise ideas involve some kind of commitment – and that’s what it takes to really nurture you toward wellness. Find something that sounds good and enjoy your new exercise endeavour!

• Try yoga – a moving meditation! Power yoga classes involve using your personal strengths to tone up.
• Dance your butt off, people are into dancing like never before. Try zumba, belly dancing, bollywood, ballroom or broadway jazz. Whatever your flavour, take a risk and shake it.
• Sign up for a walkathon, you don’t need to run a marathon to experience the exhilaration of getting a race number and crossing the finish line.

 

Stress Management:   Maintaining emotional health is so important for wellness. Most women tend to think they strive under stress, but they don’t realize the harm that comes with it when the walls close in. Women take on the burdens of others and then become overwhelmed themselves.  Stress triggers changes in our bodies and makes us more likely to get sick.  The key to healthy stress management is to let it all out every day.

• talk to someone, and let others know if you can’t take on the burdens of their stress (give yourself permission to be selfish and not listen once in awhile)
• find a quiet corner, relax and breathe to a slow count
• remind yourself that food didn’t cause your stressful situation and it won’t solve it either
• intimacy with your partner– what can I say, all those lovely endorphins will drown the stress out of your body and mind

 

Relationships:   Relationships are one of the core human needs. Take a minute and think about your relationships today:   How strong are your personal relationships?  How much effort do you put into them?

Are you getting out of them what you need or do you give too much with little in return?

Let go of what you don’t need and transfer the newly available attention to the relationships that really matter most. Those relationships allow the other keys to wellness fall into place. You can lean on people to support you in your nutrition and exercise efforts and when life’s stresses get to be too much, they can help you deal with it.

 

 

Healthy Women Are (a Little) Selfish

Everything is connected; nutrition, exercise, stress management and relationships all have a role in contributing to your wellness. Women cannot achieve wellness without the strong foundation of healthy stress management and the social support that comes with stable relationships. To attain wellness, being a little selfish is one of the most selfless things women can do.

 

By Denise Merkitch, M.Sc. ; Acknowledgement:  Rebecca Scritchfield, R.D.

 

Did you get a chance to look at the November clouds? They were just out of this world. The weather played a great part in the drifts, the shades of grey, the texture, the long clouds that stretched beyond the trees and over the mountains. Then the late sunrise that added a dash of orange or the lightening flash that exposed the gentle folds in the clouds belly.

It is the rhythms that count. The rhythms of  the clouds, the rhythms of the spirit, those that dance and course through life itself. The movement in gestation from conception to birth; the diastole and systole of the heart; the awareness of each successive breath; the ebb and flow of tides in response to the pull of the moon and the sun; the wheeling of the seasons from one equinox or one solstice to another.

These universal rhythms, not the eternally passing seconds registered on clocks and watches and not the days and months and years that the calendar imposes, define the time that is our true home and habitation, the time we dwell within, until our days are ended. The now of the rhythms we are aware. If we lose consciousness of them, we become alienated from ourselves. (Allen Lacy, The Inviting Garden: Gardening for the Senses, Mind, and Spirit, 1998)

We too have rhythms and ritual that guide us through the days.  Rituals that mark our rising and going to bed, cleaning and caring, cooking and eating, greeting and working, playing, fighting and celebrating.

Gaining consciousness of these rituals and awareness that they need to be changed or adapted to suit new occasions when the time arises , speak volumes to the  level of self care that we afford ourselves.

FATIGUE MANAGEMENT: A Health and Safety Issue

It’s time to pay attention to sleep. This is what is trending in the EAP world as an urgent issue to be addressed. So says Chestnut Global Partners (CGP) Trends Report 2015 (www.chestnutglobalpartners.org).  CGP, an international EAP Provider, in its analysis of what is occurring in the field of Employee Assistance has focused on how lack of sleep — both quality and quantity — is affecting all levels of today’s workforce.

“The trend suggests that the increased yearning for better quality sleep, particularly among people dealing with increased workloads, increased stress levels, and shift work, all of which undermine quality, restful sleep. While the importance of a good night’s sleep on one’s ability to function day-to-day has been known for years, recent research is now shedding light on the link between inadequate sleep and an increased risk for diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and depression.”

The Chestnut Global report highlights the fact that if sleep disorders are untreated organizations stand to pay a heavy price. From a safety standpoint they quote two pieces of research to emphasise their argument:

• those with moderate to severe sleep apnea are twice as likely to have a traffic accident, and
• an individual who is awake for longer than 17 hours is impaired at a similar level as an individual with a blood alcohol content of 0.05. (AM Williamson and Anne-Marie Feyer, Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, October 2000)

Fatigue as a concern in safety-sensitive industries such as manufacturing, mining, petrochemical, health care, transportation, and any industry requiring shift work has been around for decades. While many of these industries have addressed fatigue primarily from an organizational level by focusing on roster adjustments and napping policies, etc, the root cause of worker fatigue: the quantity and/or quality of sleep, must now be placed on top of the agenda.

Obtaining the proper quality and quantity of sleep becomes a personal choice. If you are obtaining enough quality sleep – even if working a demanding job – you will have sufficient energy and focus to be safe and productive. This is the principle of how the mind and body works. Yet, many people are not aware or take the time to seek possible help when experiencing energy depletion or sleepiness on the job. There is a need for organizational health and safety programs to offer services that target the underlying causes of fatigue, which range from undiagnosed medical conditions to unhealthy behavioural and lifestyle habits.

Keeping your eyes wide open depends on how long and how well you kept them closely shut the night before.