Contents

What is Physical Wellbeing?

Why is Physical Wellbeing Important?

How Can we Improve Our Physical Wellbeing?

How do You Promote Physical Wellbeing at Work?

How Can We Look After Our Physical Wellbeing While Working From Home?

4 Steps to Improve Physical Wellbeing (Video)

Are There Companies That Offer Training On Physical Wellbeing?

What is Physical Wellbeing?

Physical wellbeing is the ability to maintain a healthy and balanced life without physical limitation, physical stress, and excessive fatigue.

Our physical wellbeing refers to the physical state of our body, whether that’s maintaining a healthy weight, good posture, well-functioning organs, or the ability to carry out normal daily tasks without exhaustion or discomfort.

Physical wellbeing can also refer to the absence of disease or infection but these are not the only things to consider.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines physical wellbeing as being a key factor when it comes to our overall health.

Why is Physical Wellbeing Important?

When it comes to our wellbeing, the physical aspect can play a huge part in our mental and social wellbeing.

When we take care of our physical wellbeing, it helps to align our wellbeing overall.

Having positive physical wellbeing can reduce our chances of disease and infection. The NHS shows that many health conditions can e reduce by having positive physical wellbeing.

For example, those that exercise have a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, colon cancer, coronary heart disease, stroke, early death, and more!

Those that exercise regularly can reduce their chances of early death by 30%!

Physical wellbeing isn’t just about exercising and doing things that impact your body positively. It’s also about avoiding things that impact your body negatively.

Those that smoke regularly are damaging their physical wellbeing and can increase their chances of health risks in lots of areas.

Approximately 90% of all lung cancer deaths are those that smoke.

According to the CDC, smoking is the leading cause of preventable death. Diabetes isn’t too far behind and is said to be the fastest-growing health crisis of our time.

Both smoking-related diseases and diabetes are conditions that in most cases can be prevented by looking after our physical wellbeing.

How Can We Improve Our Physical Wellbeing?

Diet

One of the easiest ways to improve our physical wellbeing is by maintaining a healthy and balanced diet. If we don’t overeat and eat the right foods it gives us less chance of many of the health concerns that exist today.

There can be lots of conflict when it comes to diet, whether that’s having a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle, or following diets like the paleo diet. I’ll leave you to work out what’s best for you but a key message I want you to take, is don’t eat crap.

In most cases, we all know the foods that are not good for us. Sweets, chocolate, sugary drinks, the list goes on, and to maintain good physical wellbeing we need to limit the consumption of this as best as possible.

Exercise

The benefits of exercise are countless and when it comes to our physical state and wellbeing, exercise can help us massively.

Exercise has been shown to have many physical benefits, including improving;

• Muscular and cardiorespiratory fitness
• Bone health and function
• Help to maintain a healthy body weight
• Mental health and mood
• The body’s ability to manage blood sugar and insulin
• Sleep
• Chances of living longer
• Core strength & balance

The list of benefits to exercising safely and effectively are endless.

If you’re someone who struggles with exercise, why not try joining an exercise class, or starting a couch to 5k running programme.

The couch to 5k programme is designed for people who don’t exercise and are literally starting from a “couch potato” status

There are lots or programmes online but here’s one we found for ease of access.

Hydration

Staying hydrated is so important when is comes to maintaining a positive physical wellbeing. The human body is approximately 60% water (depending on where you get your sources)

If you’re not staying hydrated, how do you expect your body to function efficiently and carry out the physical tasks that it needs to.

The human brain is approximately 73% water. If you’re not staying hydrated, how can you expect to think clearly, make good decisions and have an optimal functioning brain?

The WHO recommend drinking approximately 2 litres of pure water a day. If you’re exercising, then your water intake should be even higher.

How Do You Promote Physical Wellbeing At Work?

It can often be difficult to promote physical wellbeing within a work environment. You don’t want to isolate individuals or make anyone feel uncomfortable, but it’s something that needs to be taken seriously.

A happy and healthy workforce is often a productive workforce and improving employee physical health can have a positive impact on the business.

To promote physical wellbeing, education is key. Educating employees and individuals on the benefits of taking care of their physical health will help them to get off to a good start.

You can offer Lunch & Learns around different physical wellbeing topics or wellbeing webinars. These are fantastic ways to educate employees.

Other ways to promote physical wellbeing are to set challenges. Fitness challenges or health related challenges are a great way to get people motivated to take their physical health seriously.

Challenges may include a daily step challenge or a weekly exercise challenge. Asking employees to get involved is a great way to increase uptake and another way to focus on improving staff wellbeing

How Can We Look After Our Physical Wellbeing While Working From Home?

Working from home has thrown many of us out of our normal routines.

Whether we were getting in our exercise by commuting to work or the train station, or stopping off at the gym on the way to or from work, working from home has certainly had an impact on many of our routines.

Looking after our physical health at home can be challenging, especially with the fridge within walking distance, and even more so if you’re working from a small apartment.

However, it’s important to look after your physical wellbeing while working from home and these few tips will help you to work towards maintaining a positive physical wellbeing while working at home.

1. Have a good work station set up

Working from a laptop or a poor set up can impact our physical wellbeing massively. If you don’t have a good set up, you’re more likely to suffer with neck pain, back pain and many other physical discomforts.

Employers have an obligation to ensure they are looking after staff wellbeing and should provide training or assessments to reduce the chances of employees experiencing physical discomfort.

Whether that’s providing additional equipment, ergonomic chairs or monitors and laptop stands.

2. Get up and move!

The human body was built to move. It wasn’t built to sit at desks all day. Therefore, throughout our working day we must move.

Working from home means that the majority of our meetings are online and not face to face. Which means, where we would usually get up to walk to our next meeting, we’re losing the movement that would occur in that time.

Individuals should aim to get up every 45 – 60 mins to get blood flowing around the body. Studies have shown that prolonged sitting can impair the function of both the lower and upper limbs.

3. Incorporate a daily stretching routine

Stretching has shown to have many benefits, including:

• Decrease risk of injury
• Enabling muscles to work effectively
• Increase range of motion
• Reduce muscular tightness and discomfort
• Improve posture
• Decrease back pain
• And more!

There are lots of stretching routines available online and I’d recommend to start by looking at where your muscles are tightest and find stretches for those areas.

We have a few basic stretches on our YouTube channel so don’t hesitate to check that out.

4 Steps to Improve Physical Wellbeing (Video)

Are There Companies That Offer Training On Physical Wellbeing?

At Loving Life, we help companies educate employees and staff on the importance of their health and wellbeing.

Our “Improve Your Physical Health” webinar has been very popular and is a great way to educate employees and encourage them to look after their physical health.

The session involves information on how to reduce muscular related pain and discomfort, how to use tools and equipment to help look after our physical health, as well as simple and effective methods to get started looking after your physical health

A happy and healthy workforce is a productive workforce.

Author 

Tyler Lowe – Health & Wellbeing Speaker

BSc Sport & Exercise Rehabilitation

The post Physical Wellbeing & Why It’s Important appeared first on Loving Life.

Whilst eating a balanced diet and getting your five a day is essential for optimal health and fitness; exercise and physical activity are just as important.

It is easy to live a life with limited natural physical exercise in the modern world, when a sedentary desk job is common and commuting to work is typically by car or public transport. This makes us aware of the importance of consciously scheduling time for exercise, whether it’s a walk in the park or some weightlifting at the gym!

When is National Fitness Day?

National Fitness Day 2022 will be on 22 September as it was last year.

Thanks to the participation of the UK’s gyms, pools, leisure facilities and internet providers, over 22 million people of all ages, skills and backgrounds were motivated to get active on this day.

Why do we have National Fitness Day?

National Fitness Day is a terrific time to start or enhance your fitness journey. By establishing a workout programme, you will notice both physical and emotional benefits.

By engaging in just 150 minutes of moderate activity each week (for adults), you are already lowering your risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer!

Since the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the effect on mental health this has been recognised as an even more prominent concern than in previous years. Sport has long been regarded as one of the most effective approaches to counteract mental health deterioration.

People often find themselves not participating in sports and fitness for a variety of reasons, including lack of time, confidence or funds, as well as access to local facilities. Sometimes the scaremongering might make individuals feel bad for not following the advice.

Therefore, for one day, it is suggested that you set aside your guilt and excuses and have some fun being active.

4 ways companies can participate in National Fitness Day

The morale, health, and wellbeing of our workforces have never been more vital for all organisations.

The challenges faced by businesses over the last couple of years will have presented a wide range of different obstacles. There is no question that the uncertainty is here to stay for the time being; nevertheless, one thing is certain – fitness can unify us.

Individually, we know that there has been a shift in personal attitudes towards fitness throughout the global pandemic. It is now more critical than ever that employers encourage their staff to become more active.

Online sessions

With the ongoing restrictions, it’s critical that everyone feels secure when participating in exercise activities.

Online sessions will continue to promote client participation but from the comfort and safety of their own homes. With a motivational instructor leading the activity, all you need is a camera and household objects to get everyone engaged.

Loving Life offers webinars and workshops to companies seeking to improve the wellbeing of their workforce. On National Fitness Day, companies can select our tailored online energiser session or improve your physical wellbeing webinar so that their employees can get involved.

Organise an event/competition

Encourage participation with a National Fitness Day themed competition or event, such as a strength contest or a stamina-based run. This will motivate employees to compete against one another, generating interest and increasing engagement with a bit of friendly rivalry.

You might want to provide additional incentives, such as a free month’s gym membership as a reward to entice people to work out after the event.

Group Activities

Running a National Fitness Day group activity will encourage employees to be active together. This can be anything from a group swimming class, tennis lessons or even a yoga class. This is equally important for mental wellbeing. Being active together means sharing the experience with the ability to support and encourage each other.

Organise a trip to your local leisure facility

Companies might arrange for their staff to visit their local sports centre together, improving their physical health and team morale.

Gym operators and physical activity providers throughout the UK play a prominent role on the day. They deliver free trial sessions and gym passes to the public. Sports sessions, swimming, ‘plank-offs’, yoga and pilates courses, treadmill challenges, high-street HIIT (high-intensity interval training) classes, dance-offs, mass walks, and many more activities will be available to your staff so start your planning now!

The post National Fitness Day appeared first on Loving Life.

Academics have labelled the Blue Monday notion “pseudoscience” in recent years.

Whether it’s superstitious nonsense or not, there’s no doubting that many people are tired and depressed in the first month of the year.

What is Blue Monday?

Blue Monday is commonly regarded as the year’s most depressing day. This might be due to a combination of bad weather, long nights, and the lingering aftermath of the festive glut.

Dr. Cliff Arnall came up with the concept of Blue Monday in 2005, and it was released as part of a Sky Travel news release.

Due to the overall awful weather, long evenings, post- Christmas debt, and unfulfilled New Year’s resolutions, the life coach and psychologist devised a formula to identify the ‘saddest’ day of the year.

Despite being devised as a marketing strategy to entice people to book vacations, the word has already entered general use.

When is Blue Monday 2022?

The third Monday in January is Blue Monday, the supposed gloomiest day of the year. Next Blue Monday falls on the 17^th January 2022.

Why is Blue Monday the saddest day of the year?

According to Sky Travel’s press release, Blue Monday was determined by “considering a variety of parameters”. This included average temperature, days since the last payday, days until the next bank holiday, average daylight hours, and the number of nights in during the month.

It doesn’t take much thought to figure out what the underlying goal of Sky Travel’s press release was: to sell more vacations.

Regardless of whether it’s all nonsense or not, Blue Monday raises awareness about mental and physical wellbeing and gets people talking about depression, even if only briefly.

That can only be a good thing at a time when reaching out is more crucial than ever.

How can companies support their employees on Blue Monday?

Focusing on employee wellbeing as an employer will be critical, especially coming up to Blue Monday.

Not only will ensuring your employees’ health and wellbeing benefit them, but it will also benefit your company in terms of reducing absenteeism, maintaining employee engagement, and retaining people.

A company’s culture and how it works may have a substantial good or bad influence on an employee’s health and wellbeing. Consider the difference between an organisation that communicates freely and regularly, involves, and engages its people against one that has closed, inconsistent communications and has bad employee relations.

These are all aspects that lead to productive and satisfied employees. While the workplace cannot prevent all incidences of mental illness, it may help to foster an atmosphere that fosters and promotes excellent mental wellbeing.

Companies could invest in wellbeing workshops that can provide an atmosphere that promotes employee growth, empowerment, and benefits.

5 tips to get you through Blue Monday

Go workout

Exercise can benefit us in a variety of ways, whether we go for a walk or join a local gym. You will feel much better in terms of your mental health in addition to having a healthier body.

One thing to keep in mind is that you don’t have to attend a class to get more exercise. This Blue Monday, don’t overwork yourself. Set attainable workout objectives that you can achieve.

Take some time out for yourself

Don’t underestimate the value of looking within and spending some time for yourself this Blue Monday.

Taking time for yourself may help you relax and unwind. Whether you want to try meditation, relax in the bath, or get a massage. Even if money is tight until January’s payday, spending time for yourself is far from selfish and will help you be the greatest version of yourself.

Planning something new might be energising for some people. There’s no harm in making plans for the future, making action plans, and making sure the year ahead has enough ‘you time.’

Loving Life occasionally delivers free and motivational webinars, for our next one, click here.

Identify your concerns and seek help

While it isn’t always a simple process, we must be able to identify what is bothering us and work toward a solution. One way to accomplish this is to write down the problem and a possible solution or to seek expert assistance.

There are a variety of organisations that may help, such as charities like the Samaritans. It goes without saying that if you believe you or someone else is in danger, you should contact your doctor (if you have a known illness), 111, or 999 in an emergency.

Eat healthily

The food we consume has an impact not only on our physical health but also on our mental health.

Studies have revealed that eating processed or unhealthy foods has a negative impact on our moods.

This is why we should attempt to eat as healthily as possible. Try to consume plenty of fruits and vegetables, and try to prepare our meals ourselves. Simple meals made with fresh ingredients are frequently just what our bodies want, especially during stressful times.

Read a book

Only an excellent book can transfer you to another world and make you feel better as a result. Re-read a favourite book or borrow something from the library.

You may form a Blue Monday Book Club with your pals and decide to read and discuss a book together. However, if you don’t enjoy reading, there are a variety of audio novels available.

Check out YouTube book reviews with TY & FFLY here!

Although television is frequently the most convenient alternative for many, it is very stimulating and may not always be the ideal option for relaxing.

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