Wellness Wednesdays

This week my colleague Eilleen Cunningham has written a piece on regrets and a fabulous book by Matt Haig called  The Midnight Library . No regrets? I have always recognised that regretting things in life that w e do (or don’t do) is wasted energy. However, knowing it (logically) and actually stopping it are two different things. As humans we have this wonderful ability to be conscious, not only of the present moment but also to be able to reflect on past memories and actions. Wondering how our lives might be different ‘if only…’ may be a source of relief, amusement or frustration. Even the smallest decision we made years ago may have created our life as we know it today. For example, I can still remember the split-second decision to buy a local paper from a street vendor twenty-five years ago in which I found a tiny advert for a job which then led to another job then another, meeting people who are still my good friends now and influencing my house moves. As well as being able to ...

This week Trish Morgan, Lecturer in Adult Nursin g, talks about the healing power of movement. ‘Movement is healing – a medicine not just for the body but also for the mind and soul’. Author unknown As the pandemic continues to impact on the way we live, it is crucial we look after ourselves both mentally and physically. With many of us working/studying from home, moving our bodies is more important than ever. Exercise can help keep the body strong and it also releases endorphins which benefits our mental health. Although working/studying from home has many benefits, it can also mean people are less likely to move from their desks as often. Office working/attending campus regularly incorporated mobility through going to meetings, walking to lectures, speaking to colleagues/peers or heading out for lunch. Employees/students working from home can spend hours in the same position, as they don’t have as many natural interruptions to their day. Spending a large amount of time sitting down c...

Burnout   Last week I listened to a really insightful podcast – Brene Brown interviewing twins Emily and Amelia Nagoski about their bestselling book  'Burnout: The Secret to Solving the Stress Cycle' . So what is burnout? Google tells me that it is a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when we feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained and unable to meet constant demands. If you have experienced this, you will know that it is debilitating and can impact on your ability to function at your normal level. Energy levels drop and even the simplest of tasks can be overwhelming and exhausting.      Emily & Amelia believe that burnout occurs when we do not complete ‘stress cycles’. When we experience a stressor in life, dealing with that stressor (completing the task/eliminating the cause of stress) does not eliminate the impact of the stress within our body. To complete the cycle, the stress needs to be ...

You may be feeling a bit flat this week with the announcement of the new COVID lockdown restrictions. I must admit I was feeling a bit uninspired to write this today, but my Social Policy colleague Eileen Cunningham inspired me this morning with starting up her daily gratitude posts on Facebook. This is something that she did during lockdown earlier in the year; she shared daily thoughts of gratitude about aspects of her life, often simple things like a walk or a meal or a positive experience in work. This really helped her to feel positive during a testing time. The power of gratitude is well documented and research evidence suggests that it has a positive impact on mental health.      So what is gratitude? It can be lots of things – an emotion, an attitude, a moral virtue, a habit, a personality trait or a coping response. From a psychological perspective, gratitude involves having a distinctive view of the world; i t’s about focusing on and appreciating what we have ra...

This week I am sharing a brilliant book called  The Compassionate Mind Workbook . A step-by-step guide to developing your compassionate self.  This is book is written by our very own Dr Elaine Beaumont, a Lecturer in Counselling and Psychotherapy at Salford.        The workbook is a step-by-step guide to Compassion Focused Therapy, in which the chapters build your understanding of yourself, the skills that give rise to a compassionate mind, and ways to work with whatever difficulties you're struggling with in life. The exercises (e.g. using imagery to cultivate compassion, creating a calm and peaceful place in the mind, compassionate letter writing, compassionate thinking, mindfulness, creating a compassionate team that can help the individual face fears and distress), prompts, audios and case stories in this book provide an understandable and practical way to develop compassion. This is potentially important because there is increasing evidence t...

Light boxes Do you ever notice a dip in your mood as you enter the Autumn months? It’s common to be affected by changing seasons or to have times when you feel more or less comfortable. You might find you have less or more energy when it’s colder or warmer, or you might notice changes in your sleeping or eating patterns. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a type of depression related to the change in seasons. People with SAD might experience some of the signs and symptoms below - it's different for different people, and can vary season to season, so this list is not exhaustive: lack of energy finding it hard to concentrate not wanting to see people sleep problems, such as sleeping more or less than usual, difficulty waking up, or difficulty falling or staying asleep feeling sad, low, tearful, guilty or hopeless changes in your appetite, for example feeling more hungry or wanting more snacks It is thought that SAD is caused by a lack of natural sunlight in the winter months. Light...

"The Work"     When I first began my wellness journey about six years ago, mindfulness taught me that through meditation, I could separate my thoughts from reality. I discovered that I could notice thoughts as they entered my mind, observe them and let them go. This was completely revolutionary to me - how could my thoughts not be ‘me’? I create them, surely! Mindfulness is about recognising that yes, we create our thoughts, but our mind does this on autopilot as we go about our daily lives. If you are experiencing a negative situation, you might find that your mind throws up similar situations from your past in attempt to ‘solve the problem’. This can make you feel worse, and so the mind throws up more negative thoughts and so on. Mindfulness is about recognising unhelpful thoughts and letting them go before they become consuming.  Practicing mindfulness meditation is not surprisingly, great for your mental health (apps  Calm  &  Headspace  are a ...