Everything you eat affects how your body feels and functions. A poor day of eating can lead to fatigue, poor concentration, stress, irritability and poor productivity.
No workplace should be unsafe to work in.
Every single person can be healthier mentally.
It takes more than just running a few mental health workshops, or sticking up posters to help your staff, though. And when it comes to employee health and wellbeing, we want to be building people up and giving them strategies to thrive not just trying to prevent poor mental (and physical) health.
We also need to be looking at the whole person if we’re going to help someone become more mentally healthy. Why? Consider this:
- Depression increases the risk of developing a chronic health condition (ie: heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stroke). It is linked to a 67% increased risk of death from heart disease and 50% increased risk of death from cancer.
- Up to 50% of people with diabetes also have depression or anxiety. Depression and anxiety commonly occur in patients following a heart attack, stroke or cancer diagnosis.
So, what comes first? The chicken or the egg? Or in this case – depression or a chronic illness?Our point is – we need to address the health and needs of the WHOLE person. Poor physical health can lead to an increased risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes. Similarly, poor mental health can negatively impact on physical health, leading to an increased risk of health conditions.
Food / what we eat is another great example of why we must address physical and mental health together. The state of our mental health can have a big influence on what food we choose to eat, just as the food we eat can hugely influence our mental health:
- Higher intakes of junk and processed food (high sugar, fat, carbohydrates, artificial flavours, etc) increase your risk of poor mental health.
- Low levels of healthy food consumption (vegetables, fruit, legumes, fish, lean red meat) also increase your risk of poor mental health.
You can educate your staff around healthy food choices and lifestyle choices to make but you can’t put rules around what they do and don’t eat! This really highlights the importance of education and awareness. You can’t make a change if you don’t know you should, or if you’re not motivated enough to do so – that’s where we come in!
No matter what type of workforce you manage and what your mental health goals are, we have a program to help. From addressing lifestyle factors to boost mental health and resilience, to improved health and performance or addressing the role of our individual brain chemistry make-up – we’ve got you covered. Contact us today to find out more about what we can offer you and your staff.
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When the physical and psychosocial demands of a worker are greater than their ability to cope with them, they experience stress. While a certain level of stress can be healthy and productive, too much stress can cause a variety of physical, mental and behavioural responses - which increases the risk of poor health outcomes, musculoskeletal disorders and pain.
What could your workforce achieve with a Health by Design workplace health program?
The health and safety of your workforce is no longer simply about avoiding injuries and environmental hazards. Chronic disease and poor health is a huge risk that deserves investment.