Workplace Wellbeing Blog & News
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Welcome to Kate Cook's workplace wellbeing blog. Explore practical insights on workplace wellbeing, nutrition, resilience and employee health from a nutrition expert and corporate speaker with 25+ years experience.
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- Feeling Good at Work
- Nutrition at Work
- Corporate Culture
- Workplace Mental Health
- Stress Management
- Resilience at Work
- Food Tips & Hacks
- Speaking Insights
- Women’s Health at Work
- Construction Health & Safety
- Wellness Program
Kate Cook’s Wellness Guide – Chapter 4: Daily habits – smoking and drinking
If we had just the occasional drink and cigarette a month our bodies would probably cope. However, twenty a day and a bottle of wine each night will do us in eventually. What if each day we were to do small, positive things to enhance our health instead?
The Soil Is Us
If we were to look at a little pinch of healthy soil under the microscope, we might be surprised to see that instead of a pinch of inert dirt, we would be looking at a teaming universe of life and activity almost beyond our comprehension. A galaxy of millions of microorganisms, all contributing to an ecological web of life.
Resilience Ahead!
Over the last year we have concentrated all our attention towards ill health, but of course the other side of the coin is good health, and strong resilience. As with any illness, we need to keep well (!) and fostering resilience is both a mental and physical game. Mental because our reaction to stressors in the form of chronic stress (long term and relentless) due to production of stress hormones can seriously deplete the immune system (both cellular and humoral immunity, two arms of the immune system). Acute stress (like exams) only suppresses one part of the immune system, the cellular part, as a contrast. Of course, your individual circumstance, like your age can really determine if your immunity/resilience will be Ox like or not!
No Gas in the Tank?…Duh…It’s just Biochemistry
We think of ourselves as rational human machines – in fact our bodies are highly adaptable, but they can only take so much. Taking back control of vital energy in your industry starts with yourself through making some simple tweaks to your understanding of what nourishes you.
Kate Cook’s Wellness Guide – Chapter 3: Control your blood pressure
So you’re 120 over 80. Or maybe you’re 140 over 90. Be honest, do you really know what that means? You’ve had your blood pressure checked. The doctor ‘hmm’s and says, ‘That’s fine.’ You take a deep breath and ask, ‘What is it?’ Slowly your doctor raises her head and looks you straight in the eye. Smiling nervously, you’re just about to tell her that it really doesn’t matter, feeling you’ve crossed the line, when she smiles and says, 120 over 80. Sighing you say great, OK, thank you, and leave as quickly as possible.
The Three Critical C’s of Self Care for School Leaders – putting your own Oxygen Mask on First to Help the others.
In these extraordinary times, leaders of schools have had to become adaptable, flexible and nimble, getting systems to fit in with the ever-shifting sands of Government regulation and restriction.
What the best schools teach us?
Where does wellbeing education actually start? I think that it has got to start with leadership in schools; leaders putting on, and prioritizing “the oxygen mask” of health to help the rest.
The Resilience Factor
With some companies tentatively returning staff to the workplace, what is the mood of your business? Despite the threat that people feel from job insecurity, recent research, news and commentary suggest a radical realignment in the job market which spells bad news for retention and people risk in general.
Social Health? Training your staff for supreme resilience, joy and effectiveness.
Almost a year and a half after our whole world was blown apart by COVID 19 – Workers were sent home to work in isolation at home, the office became a thing of the past – little did we know that we would still be at home with just a distant memory of what the workplace means, and where the workplace is.
Kate Cook’s Wellness Guide – Chapter 2: Could you have diabetes?
Diabetes is increasing on a global scale. Even more concerning is the fact that you could be a sufferer without knowing it. Currently (November 2016) almost 3.6 million people in the UK have been diagnosed with diabetes, with an estimated further million undiagnosed. By 2025 it is estimated that over 4 million people in the UK will be diagnosed diabetic. The majority of these cases (roughly 90 per cent) are Type 2 diabetes.
Kate Cook’s Wellness Guide – Chapter 1: A weighty issue (or, a weighty question)
Does being overweight really matter? Suppose that you realise that you are overweight. Perhaps you have not got back into shape after having children or maybe you have always been a little plumper than you would like. Is it really a problem? Clearly there’s still a lot of research to be done, but it is certain that being overweight isn’t fun and it isn’t clever – and it can be about a lot more than the way you look.
