A few weeks ago I spoke about my plans to tackle Ireland's highest mountain, Carrauntoohil. I'm delighted to report that the climb was a success. My good friend and I managed to reach the summit despite the testing conditions and the mental obstacles that we placed before ourselves. The visibility was so bad as we made our way towards the famous "devil's ladder" section that we couldn't see the mountain we intended to climb!
Read MoreKeeping a healthy lifestyle seems to become progressively harder as time goes on. This seems to become even more so, once you get stuck in that 40+ hour work week as we all do. When it gets more difficult to find time to work out you need to be able to prioritize the best bang for your buck activities.
Did you know that cycling as little as 15 minutes a day can have a profound impact on your overall health? Cycling to work is a great way to fit some exercise into your work day if you have that option. The benefits aren't limited to road cycling though, you can take a spin class, ride your bike on a trainer or even just go to your local gym!
Read MoreWorking in an office can be hard work and can be hard on your body. Sitting in front of computer screens for the majority of a 40-hour workweek can cause health problems of many varieties if these problems aren’t in some way mitigated. The good news is there are plenty of things that employees can do for themselves in their offices to head off some of the common health risks, some off their own initiative and some at the suggestion or urging of management. Health insurance benefits on the other hand can be a catch-all for employee health risks at the office, giving employees a way to handle issues as they arise.
Read MoreThe big day is almost here. Ireland's Workplace Wellbeing Day takes place this Friday, April 13th 2018. The great news is that you can still register totally free of charge. Check out my article here to find out all the details including how to register.
I've been receiving so much feedback and questions on Wellbeing Day this year. It's wonderful to see such an interest in this from Irish businesses. I don't think there can be any doubt that employers are switching on to the fact that supporting the health and wellness of their employees is beneficial for everyone involved.
Read MoreEmployee wellness is evolving within a rapidly changing work environment. Companies are now understanding that to be effective, wellness needs to be used as a business strategy, which means moving past the traditional concept of health and wellness in the workplace as a mainly physical approach and focusing, instead, on the concept of developing the whole person. Using corporate wellness as a business strategy not only creates a competitive advantage for your business, but also implements evidence-based corporate wellness programming alongside workforce professional and personal development. At its core, this business strategy looks at what people factors are statistically connected to better business results, rather than focusing solely on the traditional management of risk factors (Body Mass Index, Blood Pressure, Nutrition, Physical Activity) and claims of health care reductions.
Read MoreYour body has an innate desire to be well and to function optimally. If you don’t believe me, think about when you accidently scratch yourself or get a cut – your body naturally and automatically starts the healing process.
Your body works 24/7 to always optimize your health. By incorporating simple, easy routines into our daily life you can boost your immune system, which in turn will prevent you from getting common illnesses like a cold or the flu this season.
In this post you will learn 5 easy techniques and strategies you can start applying today to boost your immune system and keep your body healthy, happy and strong.
Read MoreIn 2001 three groups of the so-called ‘Satanic Mills’ described in Blake’s poem Jerusalem were designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. I’m no poet and I don’t claim to understand it fully, but the meaning of the poem is patently multi-layered, and becomes more opaque the deeper one delves. On a literal level though we can understand, at least intuitively, the scorn which Blake heaped upon these dismal places due in part to the dreadful working conditions. To Blake, these buildings represented the mechanisation of human beings and a cold, unfeeling disregard for our nature, and stood in stark contrast to ‘England’s green and pleasant land’. He saw this, roughly speaking, as a kind of tyranny and since he was a fairly radical Christian, he associated tyranny with the figure of Satan. Some alternative symbolism could be used here depending on your own worldview, but the essential point remains.
Read MoreMeetings are the backbone of the working day for many professions. I can summarise the majority of the meetings I’ve attended as follows:
What do all the above meetings have in common?
I was sitting on my backside for all of them. That is something I believe is worth changing.
Read MoreFriday April 13th 2018 is Ireland's fourth National Workplace Wellbeing Day and is now firmly established as the biggest celebration of workplace wellbeing in the Irish Calendar. I’ve written previously about workplace wellness promotion and about how both employers and employees can play their part in supporting a positive work environment so I’m delighted to help spread the word about this event as ultimately this day represents everything that Office Worker Health is about:
Think about how you feel during your workdays. Maybe you have pain in your neck or back and feel stiff and sore when you stand up from your desk. Perhaps fatigue and irritability set in as you try to focus on projects or meeting discussions.
While there are many factors that influence how we feel during the day, the configuration of your work area – the place where you spend most of your time working, has a major effect on our overall health and well-being.
Take a close look at your work area; the place where you spend the most time working. Now think about how you sit while working. Do your shoulders hunch forward? Is your keyboard so far from you that your arms are extended while typing? Is your chair so low that your low back is rounded over, or so high that your feet are not flat on the floor? Does the lighting seem either too bright or too dim? Do you use a sit-stand desk, but still feel fatigue, aches and stiffness during and after your work days?
Read More
