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Paint January RED – One step at a time

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January. It’s a month full of dark mornings, bitterly cold weather, and the joy and warmth of Christmas feels long gone. It can be a particularly difficult month for many of us.

Research shows that exercise can have a positive impact on your mental health and RED January encourages participants to get active every day in January, in order to boost their mental wellbeing.

Last year, in a bid to combat my own struggles with the gloomiest month of the year, I took up the challenge of RED January (Run Every Day January), an initiative that’s run in partnership with the mental health charity Mind. Personally, January often brings out the worst in my anxiety and I really wanted to focus on taking part in something that actively challenges it.

Research shows that exercise can have a positive impact on your mental health and RED January encourages participants to get active every day in January, in order to boost their mental wellbeing.

Although it’s called Run Every Day January, it’s not just about running. The team behind RED January suggest a whole host of other activities including swimming, yoga, cycling, and walking to get you exercising every day. The possibilities are endless and it’s up to you how you want to complete your RED January.

I decided to take on the challenge of running every day. At the beginning of the month I was a little nervous – my anxiety often stops me doing things and going places, but I was determined not to let it hold me back.

Each day it got easier – not just physically – and I soon found I wanted to get out and go for my daily run. Some days it was only half a mile, but it was enough to get the endorphins going and to give my mood a much needed boost. By the end of the month I’d managed to clock up a total of 115 miles!

Once January was over, not only did I experience an amazing sense of physical achievement, but I had started to feel detachment from my anxiety. It was still there in the background, but the running had given me an outlet for all the extra adrenaline. Although I haven’t been able to sustain running every day, I now make sure that exercise plays a regular role in my life, as I find my anxiety is easier to manage when I make exercise a priority.

To find out more information about RED January, or to take part, click here.

Gifting friendship to the elderly this Christmas

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If you’re anything like me, you’re already imagining spending the festive season surrounded by your family and friends, enjoying all kinds of splendid treats.

Half a million older people here in the UK face the prospect of spending Christmas Day alone.

And even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, you may take the opportunity to eat, drink and be merry with your nearest and dearest at some point over the next few weeks.

Sadly, this isn’t the case for nearly half a million older people here in the UK who face the prospect of spending Christmas Day alone, according to research by charity Contact the Elderly. This is in spite of the fact that the research also shows a third of the survey respondents plan to visit their older relatives over Christmas.

Many of those older people have been widowed, and can find themselves isolated or vulnerable. Christmas can be a really difficult time for them – highlighting their own loneliness amid the seasonal bustle going on around them.

Contact the Elderly have been working tirelessly for over 50 years in an effort to combat social isolation and loneliness among older people. They have a network of volunteers across the UK who support the elderly in their local communities, providing everything from cake and cuppa, to support and friendship.

This year, Contact the Elderly have joined forces with charity Community Christmas whose mission is to ensure ‘No older person should be alone on Christmas Day unless they want to be.’ Together they aim to provide real help to lift those older people out of isolation, and strengthen communities to support each other throughout the year, as well as at Christmas.

Community Christmas has an easy to use search facility on their website to help with finding all of the Christmas Day events in any given local area. The listings are updated weekly and have plenty of information around time, location and directions. Many events are free or suggest a small donation and list transport availability as well as whether volunteers are needed.

Help isn’t just for Christmas either – Contact the Elderly organise their Sunday afternoon tea parties throughout the year. If you’d like to find out more about events in your local area or how you can help either of these worthwhile charities, visit the Community Christmas and Contact the Elderly websites.

Exercise: a miracle cure?

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We all know exercise is good for you, right? But do you know just how good?

It’s amazing what a little bit of exercise can do for your health. According to the NHS “it can reduce your risk of major illnesses, such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and cancer by up to 50%.”

But it’s not just your physical health that benefits from getting your body moving. Exercise is also great for your mental wellbeing too. A short burst of 10 minutes brisk walking increases your mental alertness, energy and positive mood, while regular physical activity can increase your self-esteem, and reduce stress and anxiety. The NHS goes even further, saying, “Exercise is the miracle cure we’ve always had.”

Get up!
With many of us working longer hours and taking fewer breaks, we’re not always as active as we could be. A lot of us spend the majority of our day sitting down; either at a desk, on transport, or in our leisure time. Research suggests that many adults spend more than seven hours a day sitting down, and it’s this lack of physical activity that can have an impact on our mental health. The Royal College of Psychiatrists state, “The mind can’t function unless your body is working properly.”

Get out and about
But don’t worry, there’s plenty we can do to get our recommended daily dose of exercise and help look after our mental health. You could take up a new sport or hobby, cycle to work instead of taking the train, or even just get off the bus a stop early and walk the rest of the way. Check out the BBC’s Get Inspired website for more ideas and practical guides on what you can do.

Get moving
The NHS recommends that adults aged 19 – 64 get at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week, or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity. It might sound like a lot, but you only need to do a small amount each day to reach that goal. And you don’t have to run a marathon to hit your target either – 30 minutes brisk walking, five days a week counts as your 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity.

It’s important to make sure we look after our mental health, and exercise can help do just that. So, whether it’s a taking up a new sport, restarting an old hobby, or just taking a brisk walk to the shops, a little exercise can go a long way.

Stress – take a workload off your mind

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“One in six of us will experience a mental health problem in any given week.”

This is just one of the worrying statistics from the Mental Health Foundation’s (MHF) survey, which highlights that pressure in our jobs is perhaps the biggest challenge to our mental health. Work commitments can often mean we’re working longer hours and taking fewer breaks – all of which can have a negative effect on our work-life balance.

Whether it’s a tight deadline or an increased workload, we all get stressed sometimes, but, it’s important to realise this and do something positive about it.

Fortunately, help is at hand. Most employers have flexible working and working hours policies that you can discuss with your line manager. In the UK we work the longest full-time hours in the EU, so adjusting your working hours and trying to ‘work smarter’ can help your work-life balance, and ultimately reduce stress.

As well as looking at your work pattern, there are a number of other steps you can take to help reduce stress. Professor Cary Cooper, an occupational health expert at the University of Lancaster, shared some top stress-busting tips with the NHS:

Be active

Exercise won’t make your stress disappear, but it will reduce some of the emotional intensity that you’re feeling, clearing your thoughts and letting you deal with your problems more calmly.

Take proper breaks at work

Make sure you take a lunch break and get out of the workplace if you can.

Connect with people

A good support network of colleagues, friends and family can ease your work troubles and help you see things in a different way. Spending time with friends can help us relax and talking things through with them might help find solutions to your problems. We often have a good laugh with them too, which is an excellent stress reliever.

Have some ‘me time’

We all need to take some time for socialising, relaxation or exercise.  Setting aside a couple of nights a week for some quality ‘me time’ away from work also means you’re less likely to be tempted to work overtime.

Challenge yourself

Try learning a new language or taking up a sport. Challenging yourself to learn something new helps to build confidence, and can help you deal with stress.

Avoid unhealthy habits

Don’t rely on alcohol, smoking or caffeine as your way of coping. Over the long term, these crutches won’t solve your problems, but will likely create new ones.

You can find a full list of Professor Cooper’s recommendations on the NHS website, as well as a host of other handy hints and tips to beat stress.

Mindfulness, peace amongst the noise of mental health

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Mental health issues can affect us all in some way or another – whether personally or because someone close to us has suffered.  Unfortunately it still seems to be a taboo subject and is often not talked about openly, even though mental health awareness has been a subject rarely out of the news in recent times. This can lead to many of us suffering in silence, afraid to ask for help and often not knowing where to turn in times of need.

Having suffered from mental health issues myself, I understand the toll it takes both emotionally and physically,  and not only on me, but on my loved ones too. My mind is often full of negative thoughts, worries spin constantly round my brain and sleep will evade me for days. The noise in my head can become overwhelming and there are days where I struggle to look after myself.

A friend recently introduced me to a simple mindfulness programme to help me cope when my anxiety threatens to overwhelm me. After some scepticism (I’m awful at trying new things), it has helped me to take some control and in general I feel calmer and more like myself again. I am not alone in finding this approach helpful – a study conducted by the Mental Health Foundation found that subjects who undertook a course of mindfulness reported:

  • a 58% reduction in anxiety levels
  • a 57% reduction in depression
  • a 40% reduction in stress

Here are five tips to help you find some time for mindfulness in your life:

  1. Actively book some time in your calendar for yourself. You can practice mindfulness in as little as ten minutes and by scheduling this time in you are more likely to create a new habit you can keep.
  2. Find a quiet, cosy corner where you feel safe and relaxed – for me this is in my favourite armchair, surrounded by cushions.
  3. Find a programme that’s right for you. There are lots of great apps out there that make meditation and mindfulness easy, guiding you through your sessions so all you need to do is get comfy and press play. If you find sitting still hard, try a relaxing activity such as yoga which naturally encourages you to focus on your breathing, making mindfulness a more natural process. Or, take up a new hobby, such as knitting, sewing or baking – the repetitive actions act as a natural meditation.
  4. Don’t be hard on yourself.  It’s no reflection on you if you don’t feel the benefits straight away. For me, mindfulness certainly didn’t come naturally and having suffered from anxiety for years it took time to really feel the benefits.
  5. Be kind to yourself. Even if you decide the above activities aren’t for you, make time for yourself at least weekly. Do things that bring you joy, whether that’s exercising, spending time with your loved ones or something as simple as taking a hot bubble bath.

Part three: planning to make your dream retirement a reality?

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Have you really thought about what retirement looks like for you? Which aspects of your daily life do you currently take for granted that might have a significant impact on your wellbeing? And importantly, what plans do you need to put in place to make your dream retirement a reality . . ?

It’s worth remembering that you will still be the same you when you retire but with the added benefit of not having to go into work every day! You might be looking forward to the day when you hang up your work hat for good, but don’t under-estimate the positive effect that the old routine has had on you over the course of your working life.

Keeping in touch

You might be shocked to find that you miss aspects of your work routine! The security and familiarity of long-seated routines can be highly influential on mood and mental wellbeing. It’s worth considering how you are going to keep the variety of contact and experiences in your daily life to make sure you enjoy all the free time you suddenly have! Head over to Age UK for a wealth of information on hobbies, travel and activities local to you.

 

Missing your former colleagues? Some of our longest lasting friendships can be forged at work, so don’t be surprised if you feel lonely without daily contact with your work friends. Make time to keep in touch with your friends – you’ll benefit from a huge lift in mood even just going for a coffee and a chat.

 

Does retirement mean being at home with your partner all day, or on your own? People often describe having to get to know their partners all over again when they retire as they’ve never spent so much time together! It can be a challenging time for many in relationships, but incredibly isolating for those who suddenly find themselves at home on their own too. There is help out there for those who experience loneliness and isolation – take a look at the amazing community that Contact the Elderly has built around having a cuppa and a slice of cake!

Whatever retirement looks like for you personally, you can never save or plan for it too early. 4me has a wealth of interactive tools, short videos and a comprehensive library to help you with planning for the future. Find out more about how 4me can help you here.

Be kind to your mind

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Everyone experiences some level of mental anxiety or distress at points during their lifetime.

In fact, one in four people across the world will suffer with some form of mental illness in their life. It’s completely normal to feel a range of emotions from anger and fear to deep sadness, worry and being overwhelmed when something traumatic happens, or even just when times are difficult at work or home.

Long-term impact

Though it’s normal to experience these emotions sometimes, it might indicate a more serious mental illness if the feelings don’t go away or get worse over time. Unfortunately, though efforts are being made to break down the stigma attached to being mentally ill, many people still find it difficult to seek the professional help they need, and the indications are that without proper treatment it might have a significant impact on long-term health.

There are over 200 types of mental illness, with a broad variety of symptoms.

Recognising the signs

There are over 200 types of mental illness, with a broad variety of symptoms but in general changes in behaviour, thinking and mood can be early signs of mental illness. It’s vital that we try to recognise these indicators in ourselves and in the people around us, and seek medical help as soon as possible to help minimise any lasting effects on our health.

Even if you are not suffering with a mental illness, it’s still important to be kind to your mind and put in place some simple measures to help look after your own mental wellbeing.

  • Do the things that make you happy. Sounds simple enough, but sometimes just freeing up the time in your daily routine to read, listen to music, chat with your family and friends or indulge in a relaxing bath is enough to help ease away the pressures of the day.
  • Exercise your body to help your mind. All sorts of good chemicals such as endorphins are released in your brain when you exercise helping with general feelings of happiness and wellbeing. In addition, it can help to promote positive self-esteem and see off those feelings of low confidence and poor self-worth.
  • Therapeutic hobbies. Creative hobbies have long been known to help promote calm and stem anxious thoughts through repetitive activity. Try taking up colouring, knitting or drawing to really discover the benefits of gentle activities to help relax and calm your mind.
  • Eat yourself to mental wellness. Good nutrition is essential in providing your mind and body with all of the elements it needs to function properly. Making sure you eat a diet that’s balanced will help to maintain balance in your mood and general sense of wellbeing.

Cut down on the stress of your daily commute

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Whether you take the train, tube or bus, or drive into work every day, the chances are that you experience some level of stress during your journey.

Your drive in might be relatively easy unless you reach that particular pinch point roundabout a few minutes later than usual, and your train journey might be reasonable until an unforeseen delay due to a signal failure.

A commute longer than 20 minutes increases your susceptibility to chronic stress.

In fact, even though the uncontrollable events that sometimes hinder our daily commutes can have a negative effect on our mood, the impact of ever longer journeys on our general mental and physical health is much more sinister.

Getting to work

According to statistics from the Royal Society of Public Health, just last year there were a staggering 24 million regular commuters in England and Wales travelling to and from work for just under an hour, on average, per day. This rose to almost an hour and quarter for those commuting into big cities such as London and Manchester. It seems like a long time to be suffering the associated stresses of uncomfortable temperatures, overcrowding, journey delays and lack of control (as a passenger), doesn’t it? But consider too, that a commute longer than 20 minutes (however you choose to travel) increases your susceptibility to chronic stress, and over 35 minutes makes you more cynical, it’s clear to see the negative impact a lengthy commute can have on your mental wellbeing.

Unfortunately it doesn’t just stop there. A longer commute time sees an increased likelihood of snacking (particularly on unhealthy ‘fast’ food) and less time for exercise which means physical health can also be negatively affected.

So what can you do to minimise the strain and pain of an extended commute into work?

  • Take advantage of flexible working if your company supports it. Employers are increasingly open to flexible working patterns and working from home is more common than ever before.
  • Try parking a little further away from the office, or get off the bus/tube one stop before your destination and walk. Even walking for 10-15 minutes will help to raise your heart rate and gives you some vital time to prepare yourself calmly for the day ahead.
  • Why not cycle to work? Cycling will help to keep you fit and healthy, sees you doing your bit for the environment by reducing carbon emissions and won’t cost in fuel (apart from your own!) If your company operates a cycle-to-work scheme, you can ‘hire’ a bike through the scheme and pay for it through Salary Exchange (as long as your company offers it).

Our Why BWell 2017 research shows that 35% of the 18-29 age group and 29% of the 30-49s surveyed agree or strongly agree that their commute has a negative impact on their mood. Find out more about wellbeing in the UK workplace in the full research HERE.