How’s Sandra’s Mental Fitness?

Listen to Sandra and consider which of her habits you can relate to.

Okay, I hope you’d agree – Sandra’s not getting on very well.  I hope too that you’re thinking, “well, I’m not that bad!”

Be honest though, what of any of her habits, could you relate to – worrying? Staying up late? Snacking?

For top tips on diet and sleep take a look at a book or listen to a podcast by Dr Rangan Chatterjee  Amongst his many ideas for good sleep is to get outside for 20 minutes of natural light every morning (regardless of the weather!)  He says,

“It’s critical for well-being in the day but also good for quality sleep at night.”

If you couple it with a walk round the block, especially right now – it acts as a great marker for the start of your working day.  This ties in directly with the 5 ways of well-being that increase our mental fitness.  They are:

Connect: Who and how do you CONNECT with people? Your family, friends or colleagues, for example.

Learn: What are you LEARNing?  Either at work or simply for fun.

Active: What are you doing to keep physically ACTIVE?  This is doing something that increases your heart rate and not necessarily something that means leaving the house or even changing clothes.  Dr Rangan Chatterjee challenges us to introduce ‘movement snacks’ into our working lives such as doing a 2 minute work-out before lunch.

Notice: What do you do to be ‘in the moment’, ‘in the zone’ to NOTICE only what’s in the present?  For some people this is meditating or yoga, for others it can be doing a jigsaw puzzle or running.  Whatever it is for you, make sure it doesn’t include your phone, your computer or your tablet.

Give: What do you do to GIVE?  This can be small, like smiling and saying hello to a passerby or big, like running a marathon for your favourite charity.

Take a few minutes to think about what you’re doing in each of these 5 areas – firstly for yourself, ask:

• Is there any area where I’d like to do more?
• What have I stopped doing that I used to enjoy?
• What could I do that I’ve always wanted to do?

… and then, with your colleagues, brainstorm ideas:

• What can you do together to engage in the 5 ways of well-being?

With this in mind, at Headtorch we’re having our very own Desert Lockdown Discs this week.  We’ll be connecting, learning and giving to each other.  Who knows maybe the musical choices will allow us to still our minds – although I’m not holding my breath – or even get us dancing!

Finding time to tap into the 5 ways of well-being is more crucial now than ever for our own well-being.

Don’t be a Sandra.

Do what you can to support your own mental fitness.

Headtorch is  delivering Mental Fitness – Looking After Yourself, part of our Headtorch@Home series, live interactive online sessions – we’d love to hear from you.

Posted by: Headtorch
Date: 29th April 2020
Category: Uncategorised