E – Easy tips – Recover our wellbeing

Recover outlines seven conversations you can have with your teams. Each topic is evidence based, so simply having these discussions will improve the wellbeing of the team. It can be helpful to think about wellbeing like an engine that keeps us running day to day. It helps us get from A to B when it’s working properly. It’s efficient, reliable. It feels comfortable. However, like our wellbeing engines are not perfect, they need ongoing maintenance. Every now and then, something unpredictable can happen and they can falter. So, without extending the analogy too far, it can be helpful to have a toolbox to help us keep the engine running smoothly and to fix things if they go wrong. You will already have plenty of tools in that box that you use to look after your own wellbeing. The things that work for you might also work for your colleagues, and they are probably doing things that you are no idea you would find really helpful, too. Here are three other tools you might find really helpful in getting your wellbeing ticking over nicely. The first is to slow your breathing. Slow, deep breathing techniques can reduce anxiety by lowering your heart rate, blood pressure and cortisol. And you know, if you are ever anxious or stressed, taking three really deep, slow breaths is the quickest way to move from a state of fight or flight to a calmer state rest and repose. From the sympathetic to the parasympathetic nervous system if you want to get technical. The second S is sensations. You are not your emotions. Don’t say I am stressed, say I am feeling stressed and you feel these emotions as physical sensations. We can carry stress in our full head or jaw our shoulders. By changing these physical sensations you can change the emotions. Firstly, take a deep breath and exhale. And massaged your forehead above your eyebrows, allow the eyebrows to rise, tense up and drop, allow your jaw to wiggle drop. Put your tongue to the top of your mouth. And finally, raise your shoulders up high and allow them to drop down. Breathe in. And out again. How do you feel now? Better, perhaps? The third S is self-care practise. This covers a range of healthy self-care habits which help you to improve your wellbeing. Here are some that you might like to consider. Sleep plays an important role in regulating our stress levels. A regular bedtime routine will help you wind down. Ask each other ‘What do you do to get a good night’s sleep?’ Movement manages stress, reducing cortisol levels and releasing happy endorphins. It doesn’t have to be rigorous exercise. Just a 10 minute walk every day has been shown to significantly improve wellbeing or mindfulness practises by grounding you in the here and now, take you away from anxiety for the future or worry about the past. And there are lots of great apps to help you with this. Remember, you don’t need to do all of these. Just a few will make a big difference for you. What is key is that they require regular practise to get the most out of them.