Tag: mental health

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Family & Work

Nature Walks for Your Wellbeing

Riverside walk autumn

This year’s pandemic has affected all of terms in mental health, whether we have suffered isolation during lockdown or anxiety in the face of uncertain futures. At Obelisk Support, we take mental wellbeing seriously and have been supporting our legal consultants and staff throughout the pandemic with wellbeing resources and inspiration. Today’s ideas for nature walks and activities, from quiet city streets to awe-inspiring ancient paths, will bring you a breath of fresh air and help you improve your mental wellbeing.

Footways London

Did you know that it takes 12 minutes to walk from Liverpool Street Station to Brick Lane? 18 minutes to walk from Victoria Station to Big Ben? Since the start of the pandemic, Londoners have been looking at ways to travel and commute around the city safely. Heavy-traffic streets are not the most relaxing places and choosing pleasant routes require a fair bit of local knowledge. This is why an initiative like Footways hits the right spot for urban walkers as it features a network of quiet and interesting streets for walking in central London. The best part? It connects major places (British Museum, Covent Garden, Southbank Centre) via accessible streets. This map could come in very handy when you have visitors in town or for your own urban adventures.

Lost Paths: Don’t Lose Your Way

In February 2020 when lockdown was looming on the horizon, The Ramblers, the walking charity, launched a nationwide initiative to search and map an estimated 10,000 miles of historic paths, which people have used for centuries, that were missing from modern maps and were at risk of being lost forever. Why did it matter? If not claimed by 2026, the Government cut-off date, it would no longer be possible to add them to the maps and the public’s right to access them would not be protected in the future. Lucky for us, Don’t Lose Your Way was a success and within six weeks, thousands of people joined the search and mapped 100% of the UK. You can join the movement to help preserve these paths in the future or if you have a favourite path to share, send your stories to The Ramblers.

Forest Bathing

Shinrin-yoku (forest bathing) was developed in the 1980s in Japan. Although people had been taking walks in the country’s forests for centuries, new studies showed that such activity could reduce blood pressure, lower cortisol levels and improve concentration and memory. A chemical released by trees and plants, called phytoncides, was found to boost the immune system. Forest bathing has become a wonderful way to boost your mental health for free – all you need is a forest. Wondering where to find good forest bathing spots near you?

Outdoor Gyms

Are you considering incorporating a workout into your walking routine? Outdoor gyms are open fitness facilities that you can use without booking – just turn up and use them at your leisure. To find an outdoor gym near you (and plan a nice walk to get to it), check out The Great Outdoor Gym Activate app or Fresh Air Fitness’ online site locator.

Scavenger Hunts & Beyond for Children

Wellbeing is not defined quite the same when you are 6 years old as when you are, say, quite a bit older. The Woodland Trust is a treasure trove of ideas to take the children outside and have them enjoy a wild romp, from nature scavenger hunts to making a fairy door (which could very well be used as temporary prop on a walk) or building a den.

Look for Ancient Trees

You do not need to live in Fangorm Forest on Middle-Earth to channel your inner Ent. The oldest and most important trees of the UK have a venerable online following on the website of The Woodland Trust which maps our ancient tree heritage. You can search the map for ancient trees near you. Alternatively if you know of an ancient tree that is not on the map, you are invited to contact The Woodland Trust and add your tree to the map.

Another way to walk to an ancient tree is to find Britain’s Tree of the Year. Each year, The Woodland Trust crowns Britain’s Tree of the Year after publishing a shortlist. This was the 2019 shortlist – are any of these trees near you?

Walk & Swim

Combining two outdoor activities known to improve people’s mental health and wellbeing, you can also go on a walks to find a wild swimming spot. The Kenwood Ladies Pond Association published a handy book called Wild Swimming Walks which includes 28 car-free days out across southern and eastern England to walk, swim and have cake. Elsewhere in the country, you may want to contact your local wild swimming groups (many are active on Facebook) or check the wild swimming map on the website of the Outdoor Swimming Society. What’s not to love?

Enjoy your time outside as the days grow shorter and colder and remember the saying, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing”. You will never regret a day outside and as lockdown has shown all too well, staying inside is not good for anybody’s mental health.

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Family & Work Making Work, Work Trending

Managing the mental load of Christmas

Book the Christmas night out. Arrange the venue. Sort the menu. Organise the free drinks and the bar. Set the dress code. Book taxis. Send invites. Chase numbers. Chase numbers some more. Marshall people. Organise the Secret Santa. Buy extra presents for the Secret Santa when someone doesn’t bring a gift. Agonise over sending cards to the office. Buy cards. Find something to wear. Attend night out.

Book the food delivery slot. Book tickets to see Father Christmas. Book tickets to the panto/ballet/Christmas play. Buy festive jumpers. Plan the menu. Buy the Christmas tree. Get the Christmas tree home. Buy Christmas cards. Write Christmas cards. Organise a family photo. Oversee the making and extremely slow writing of child’s class Christmas cards. Find £1 coins. Send £1 coins to school. Plan advent calendar. Make mince pies. Make more mince pies. Buy mince pies. Locate Christmas decorations. Decorate tree. Decorate house. Buy presents. Buy presents for your family-in-law. Wrap presents. Entertain children. Find ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. Be Santa. Get up early. Cook the Christmas dinner. Decorate table. Serve Christmas dinner. Be nice to extended family. Collapse in exhaustion.

Exaggerated perhaps, and possibly only for those with school-age children, but pretty overwhelming. And if any of it sounds familiar, it is likely that you shoulder the mental load – that is the task of orchestration and project management – of Christmas. At work, or at home.

Now of course not everyone celebrates Christmas but the point remains. To facilitate ‘a nice time’, be that Christmas or any other occasion, the burden usually falls on one person. Despite the situation improving in recent years in terms of gender balance, research still shows that the mental load falls disproportionality on women.

you should have asked cartoon

There is a reason that cartoons like this one, and the excerpt from the book below, get thousands of likes within minutes. They’re funny. But they’re also pretty real.

christmas to do list

In 2017, a report commissioned by a US nonprofit care organisation Bright Horizons, but which is still no doubt applicable to the UK, found that mothers are “responsible not just for their half of household duties and childcare, but also for organising, reminding and planning virtually all family matters”. The more the woman earnt, the worse it was. Even just looking at holidays and family gatherings, the study found that primary breadwinning women are 30% more likely to organise them.

The reports might show improvement, and the United Nations has done its bit by launching the Unstereotype Alliance to eradicate all harmful gender-based stereotypes from advertising, but none of that is any good if you’re in the thick of it.

So, some suggestions on managing the mental load this Christmas:

Start talking now

Have a conversation now with all the relevant people in your household/wider family with whom you usually celebrate as to what they would like the next six weeks to look like.

Sure, there may be some traditions that you all agree on keeping, but don’t adhere to the well, we always do that. If it is time to find a new tradition, move on.

Set boundaries early

If there is any year to abandon wasteful presents that no-one enjoys receiving or buying and the pressure to reciprocate, this is surely it.

Agree now what gifting/cards and so on that your team at work / family as a whole will participate in, communicate said decision clearly, and then divide up the tasks. At home, every adult in the family buys (and wraps) their own presents – no excuses. You are all busy.

If you have a significant other, you can also take that moment to make it clear what, if anything, you are buying, and reciprocally. I don’t mean tell them precisely (although that might be better) but more a general agreement on budget / type of expectations. Emma Thompson might have realised her husband was a slimy *** in Love Actually but women everywhere also felt her pain in hoping for one thing and receiving something totally …. other.

Divide and conquer

One of the most telling things about the cartoon above is the line “you should have asked”. That’s the mental load right there – the person bearing it doesn’t want to have to ask. They want each person to be clear about what they need to deliver, and to do that without letting the side down, and without imposing on the other party.

If you’ve agreed to organise the Secret Santa for the team, that means actually doing it. Not just picking the names or sending the first email. It means checking that everyone has a name, sorting the drop off location, deciding when the presents will be handed out, making sure you have a couple of neutral back up options, and then actually checking every one has a present.

If you’ve agreed to sort the Christmas jumpers for school, that means doing it all, including working out what size you need, what the theme is, what else they will wear with it, and when you need to do it by.

Likewise, if you’re in charge of laundry, it doesn’t mean putting a load on and shrinking it all in the dryer. It means making sure no-one runs out of clean clothes, that specific kit is clean on the days that it is needed, and that nothing changes size.

Credit for what already happens

Chances are, your colleagues/ partner / support network already does a fair amount and that there is plenty of teamwork already happening. Acknowledge this, give credit where it is due and work out how to move to the next stage.

Trust people

If you don’t want to shoulder the mental load, you need to let go. Remember that “done” is better than “perfect” and by perfect I mean your idea of perfect. Accepting that another person will have a different perspective and will achieve things differently is part of managing the mental load.

If you’ve discussed generally what is important to the outcome, what values need to be taken into account, and the budget, let others get on with achieving their parts of the task in their own way.

Just as it would be infuriating to be micromanaged in a more professional context, remember that the objective is to have to do and remember less, not treat others like they did it wrong just because it wasn’t how you’d have done it.

On this note, best wishes for the festive season and remember to spread some good cheer!

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Making Work, Work

A Lawyer’s Guide to Managing Distractions

Productivity tips

We are delighted to have Grace Marshall, Head Coach and Chief Encourager at Grace-Marshall.com and a Productivity Ninja with Think Productive, and the author of “How to be Really Productive: Achieving clarity and getting results in a world where work never ends” as a guest blogger on The Attic.

As a lawyer, delivering a professional service, it’s important to be responsive – to clients, to colleagues. But when each distraction can take up 15-23 minutes (depending on which study you look at) to recover, dealing with each individual query on an ad hoc basis can be costly.

Here are five strategies to help.

#1 Question Time vs Quiet Time

There’s a likely chance that while part of your work involves being responsive to other people’s needs, another part of it requires you to have your brain to yourself. When we’re always available to everyone we’re never fully available to anyone – and we can end up doing everything badly. 

Carving out some quiet time might involve some tactical hiding: working offline, working from home, or hiding in a meeting room from time to time; deploying a ‘do not disturb’ signal in an open office; creating ‘meeting free’ zones in the day or week; or just letting your colleagues know when you need to get your head down and focus. It’s amazing how much work you can get done in even relatively small windows of uninterrupted time. It’s also amazing how many questions get resolved when you’re not there ready to respond instantly. 

On the other hand, making yourself fully available at certain times for questions can be a good way of meeting the needs of others in a focused and dedicated way. Have a dedicated ‘question time’ or ‘clinic time’ or use team huddles or 1-1s to tackle questions, and encourage your team to batch up their questions, rather than rely on just-in-time responsiveness. Of course if it’s a genuine emergency, you can be fully responsive, but these tend to be far rarer than we think. 

#2 Turn off notifications

Most of the technology you install on your computer or your phone has notifications turned on by default, tempting us into a habit of instant response and instant gratification.  

Think about it, what do you genuinely need to be instantly notified about? What can wait until you’re ready to deal with it? Try turning off notifications by default, then only turning them back on when you actually want that level of notification.  

If you’re nervous about this, then experiment with it on a trial basis – a couple of weeks, days or even hours. It’s human to feel a certain level of FOMO initially, but more often than not, we find the world carries on just fine without us – and in the meantime we can make so much more progress on all fronts when we can give each task, problem or person our full attention.  

#3 Managing your own distractions

Sometimes our biggest distractions come from inside our own heads, when our brains come alive with ideas, thoughts, and reminders that have nothing to do with the task at hand. 

Having a good “Second Brain” system can help to take the mental load off your own brain by keeping track of everything you need to get done in work and in life, and reducing the number of times your brain reminds you of something else you need to do when you’re in the middle of trying to focus. 

Keeping a tangent log can also help if you’re prone to “shiny object syndrome” – coming up with brilliant ideas just when you’re trying to focus on something else. Use a notebook, post-it notes, or record a voice memo to capture that thought whenever you’re tempted to go off on a tangent. That way your brain can trust that it’s safe and captured, and you can come back to it and decide what really needs to be done about it. 

#3 Set clear expectations

We often think that serving means letting someone else take the lead, and responding or reacting as appropriate. Whether that’s providing good client service, serving our team or our boss. We ask them what they want and we endeavour to give it to them. But that places a huge amount of responsibility on the person we’re serving – to know what’s possible, what’s appropriate, and what’s going to achieve the best results all round. 

Sometimes we serve best when we take the lead. When we define what we have to offer and how we work best. When we do the hard work of working out the best way of meeting our clients’ needs. When we set clear expectations up front, and guide them through the experience, for example: 

  • Let’s check in on Friday and see if you have any questions (rather than call me if you have any questions)

  • Feel free to email me at any point. I’ll always aim to get back to you within XX days/hours. If you need me to see anything sooner than that, please do give me a call or send me a text.

  • My working days are: Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, so if you need anything from me by the end of the week, let me know ideally on Tuesday so I can carve out some time for you.

  • I’m going to be out of the office next week. Is there anything you need from me this week before I go?

#4 Aim for progress, not perfection

The biggest obstacle I hear when suggesting these strategies is “but I’m not sure that would work round here”. Culture is indeed powerful, but it’s also just a collection of individual habits. Being willing to challenge the status quo and to test assumptions is the first step to innovating in the way that you work.  

If you’re finding your fragmented attention frustrating, the chances are your colleagues are experiencing the same challenges too. Start the conversation by suggesting the changes as an experiment, then aim for progress, rather than perfection. You may not eliminate all distractions, but even if you reduce them by 1 per day, that’s over an hour saved over the course of a week. And there may still be fire-fighting involved, but if you’re not fire-fighting all the time, you’ll be better equipped and prepared to deal with the genuine emergencies when they arrive. 

#5 Recharge your capacity

As a lawyer you bill for your time, but what you really get paid for is your expertise, your judgement, your capacity to think well. Sometimes we see productivity as simply trying to squeeze in as much as possible – be more efficient with admin, take on more clients, squeeze more meetings into the day, bill more hours.  

However, just because you can physically fit it into the diary doesn’t mean you have the mental capacity. In fact, our ability to make good judgement decisions is like a muscle that gets tired. Be aware of decision fatigue and make sure you take regular, quality breaks to restore your capacity. Don’t pursue efficiency at the cost of a deficiency in the quality of your work and more importantly your quality of life – at work and outside of work.  

 

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Family & Work

Lawyers need to read these practical tips for sleep

We know from our interview with neuroscientist Geoff Bird that sleep is one of the keys to high performance. He discusses the effect on work and personal life that are guaranteed to disturb those lawyers who pride themselves on working into the small hours. Talks on sleep, however, are a sign that the legal sector, notorious for long and unsocial hours, is facing up to questions of mental wellbeing.

In 2013 The Sleep Council surveyed over 5000 adults in the UK and found that 70% sleep for less than seven hours a night with more than a quarter experiencing poor quality sleep on a regular basis. By 2017, The Sleep Council found that those figures had increased further, with more than a third now reporting poor quality sleep on a regular basis.

So, whether you are sleeping poorly on a regular or occasional basis, we could all stand to increase the amount and quality of sleep to increase performance. 

Here are some practical tips:

Treat the issue not the symptoms

The first thing to look at, says Dr Lindsay Browning, sleep expert at Trouble Sleeping, is whether your issues stem from a medical problem. This may be undiagnosed, so it is important to consider whether lack of sleep is the problem or the symptom.

There is diagnostic criteria for insomnia (such as regularly over a period of several months being awake for more than 30 minutes, taking longer than 30 minutes to fall asleep or being awake more than 30 minutes before you would usually get up). While the NHS says that better sleeping habits will improve most cases, it is still worth considering whether insomnia is being caused by a medical issue such as depression, sleep apnoea (where you stop breathing which wakes you up), a bad back or perhaps stress or trauma. 

It may also be worth considering requesting a blood test, as insomnia can be a symptom of magnesium deficiency.

Can you help your natural cycles?

To sleep, we need to be relaxed and calm. The hormones serotonin, oxytocin and melatonin are essential to our daily cycle, or circadian rhythm (our internal process that regulates our sleep-wake cycle that repeats roughly every 24 hours).

We sleep in cycles and wake between them and have to learn to link the cycles. Most people will be unaware of the waking between the cycles as we only remember them once we’ve been awake for two minutes or more.

Melatonin (the hormone that regulates the sleep-wake cycle) is like a starter pistol, Dr Browning says. A surge of melatonin will tell your body that it is ready to go to sleep. Our bodies are designed such that the surge will come around 8/10 hours after we’ve received the max dose of sunshine. Most people produce all the melatonin they need, so unless you are jetlagged taking additional melatonin will not help.

Our best sleeping conditions are when it is dark and not too hot. 16-18C is ideal. Body temperature peaks in the evening and drops as we sleep. Professor Geoff Bird told us that most people’s bedrooms are too light and too warm for good sleep.

Try the following and see whether it helps:

  • Get outside at lunchtime. If we are in an office all day we need to stop our bodies from getting out of sync. 
  • If you can’t get outside, try a SAD (seasonal affective disorder) lightbox – but only use it between 11am-1pm. 
  • Make your bedroom darker and colder.
  • Encourage your body temperature to rise and then drop with a warm bath.
  • Dr Browning suggests ensuring you are not hungry before bed, recommending oat biscuits, porridge or warm milk. Milk and milk products have the added benefit that they contain the sleep-inducing amino acid tryptophan.

Is something or someone else keeping you awake? 

For some, sleep is elusive. For others, part of the issue is either things keeping us awake, or waking us up during the night. Is there anything you can do to reduce the impact of the following?

Screens

Smartphones, TV, computer games; they are all designed to be addictive and absorbing, excellent at keeping the mind awake, reducing the amount of time we sleep or preventing us from dropping off at all.

Ariana Huffington, co-founder of the Huffington Post and author of the book The Sleep Revolution: transforming your life one night at a time suggests no electronic devices starting 30 minutes before bedtime and even advocates relocating your charging station to another room.

“I started setting ground rules, such as turning off my devices,” says Huffington on how she turned around her sleep habits.

Caring responsibilities – children & elderly relatives

Is there anything you can do about children that are waking you up at night? Young babies and children, of course, do just wake up but things to consider if you have school-aged children include:

  • The amount of sleep a school-aged child needs peaks at 9/10 years old. 6-13-year-olds need 9-11 hours, 3-5-year-olds need 10-13. Teenagers are of course a different matter entirely.
  • Based on the amount of sleep they need, consider current bedtimes and rising times. Do you need to update them?
  • Look at bed habits e.g. stopping TV before sleeping, milk, routines, etc.

As we get older, we need less sleep and it is normal to wake up between cycles as the gaps get longer. We may need to accept that elderly relatives will sleep more during the day, less at night and think about ensuring we have respite time away to catch up on sleep if at all possible.

Hormone cycles and the menopause

The rising and falling levels of the hormones that regulate the menstrual cycle (estrogen and progesterone) can affect the ability to fall and stay asleep, and, annoyingly influence the quality of sleep. 

Rising estrogen levels in days 1-14 can give you an energy boost but also mean worse sleep, then rising progesterone after ovulation in days 14 onwards can make you very tired. A few days before your period starts, around days 26ish of a 28-day-cycle, estrogen and progesterone levels drop rapidly and many women report trouble sleeping. 

By tracking your cycle, you should be able to predict when you need to do less and spend more time resting, which can help combat these issues.

The menopause brings hot flushes which disturb the sleep. If you are used to sleeping well the sudden problems with sleeping can be concerning. The more you worry and try to sleep, the more anxiety hormones rises which leads to more difficulty falling asleep. “Sleep is the only thing you can’t succeed at by trying harder,” says Dr Browning, which can make it very frustrating.

Other practical tips to try

  • Get rid of your fitbit and stop analysing data
  • Swap your Smartphone for an alarm clock, preferably one where you can switch off the lighted time, so you can’t lie there and watch the minutes tick past
  • See if you can change how you feel about sleep

Scientifically Dr Browning says how we feel when we wake up is only related to where in the sleep cycle we woke. After around 20 minutes, no matter how we felt when we woke, we should feel ok. However, if you tell yourself you had a bad (or good) night’s sleep, this can affect how your mind thinks you slept.

  • Drink water

Contrary to some advice, being well hydrated actually helps us sleep, says Dr Browning. Some people recommend not drinking after 3pm but Dr Browning says that “typically the need to [pass urine] won’t wake you up but when you wake up the body automatically scans the body and you realise you need the loo. It is actually usually something else that wakes you up”.

  • Reduce caffeine/alcohol in the afternoon and evening.

Caffeine has a six-hour half-life (which means half of the caffeine you consumed will still be in your body six hours later). Caffeine stops the body from being able to tell how tired it is. Alcohol is a sedative so sleep comes but is disrupted.

  • Lavender in the bath, or sprayed on your pillow
  • Meditate or journal to reduce stress/ worries which wake up the brain when you lie down to try and sleep.
  • Read or listen to calming music or whale/ocean sounds
  • Try the Sleep with Me podcast for bedtime stories for adults
  • Use the Twilight App for any essential bedtime phone use
  • Change the bed and have clean sheets and ironed pillow-cases.

Lastly, if you really cannot sleep, get up and do something useful. Do not spend hours actively trying to sleep as this is counter-productive and you will end up associating your bed with a place of stress and anxiety, perpetuating the cycle.

Do you have any other tips to share?

Note: Dr Lindsay Browning is a chartered psychologist and neuroscientist with a doctorate from the University of Oxford where she investigated the relationship between worry and insomnia. She is an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society, a member of the British Sleep Society and a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

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Making Work, Work

Practically mindful: Tips to improve the performance of legal teams

We are delighted to have Audrey Tang,  Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol), and the author of “The Leader’s Guide to Mindfulness“ as a guest blogger on The Attic. 

While it can take time for laws to change, negotiations in everyday legal practice can move swiftly and sometimes unpredictably.  For lawyers, it is not just about what is reasonably foreseeable but responding in a volatile environment under pressure.  The practice of mindfulness can help build resilience to unpredictability supporting any management and navigation through it as well as broaden thinking in order to innovate for success.

Do this: Think of your professional abilities on a scale.  Outline them in no particular order.

Those who are experienced or natural in their professional role may have a longer scale than those who are just starting or learning.  But whether you are already practised, or just starting out – you have the capacity to develop more.

The difference between taking a mindful approach to leadership to any other skills textbook is not in making the scale longer, but by adding depth. 

How will I benefit from mindfulness?

By incorporating mindful practice enhancing your self-awareness, you will refine the leadership skills you already have, as well as develop further your emotional agility to adapt as needed – either using what you’ve got, or through innovation.  Most importantly, mindful practice will also support and assist your longevity in role and promote your growth. (Tang, 2018)

Mindfulness underpins the successful practice of professional skills, and enhances the emotional agility to interchange between them for best effect.  As the needs of those around you change so too must your disposition and approach.  This is true whether your desire is to remain at the forefront of your organisational field, the “right person for the job” or simply “the winning side”.  

While you may have many skills at your disposal, under stress can you pick which is right?  …and for how long can you sustain that effectively?  Every day comes with pressure. Significant decisions have to be made – which have far reaching – and sometimes life changing – consequences; the threat of competition is always lurking; alliances may need to be formed which may or may not serve you long term; Further, if you are also an emotional agile leader, you will often have a team who – with open lines of communication – will seek your advice as they need to; and of course, you will also have a fulfilling life outside the workplace which needs maintenance and attention.

This is emotionally draining, and while popular articles cite the Hygge of the Danes, or the slower pace of other countries, the “pause button” is much harder to find within the driven executive culture of the UK and US.  

What mindfulness offers is the ability to take control of your behavioural and emotional state.  This in turn enables a better performance of all your other skills essential to your role.  The world will not wait for you – unless you make it.

15 Mindfulness Tips

While most professional training involves how one can develop more skills, increasing the breadth of ability, mindfulness works on giving depth to everything you already do. As such, here are 15 mindfulness tips for success in the driven legal world.

For clearer awareness and focus (especially on a documents you have worked on for some time):

#1 Energising palette/mind cleanse 

Similar to the wine connoisseur who takes a water biscuit between tastings, refresh your energy before picking up where you left off, rather than heading directly from one task to another. Try some star jumps, or splashing water on your face, maybe even deep breathing (point 2). This allows you to enter the next task with more energy and engagement than if you were still focused on the last.

#2 Deep breathing

Mentally scrolling through possible outcomes to explore can bring feelings of stress.  Simply breathe in through the nose for 4 counts, hold for 2 and breathe out through the mouth for 6. This calms you physically enabling your mind to ‘breathe’ again as well. 

#3 Paired Muscle Relaxation

Tensing and relaxing pairs of muscles helps you recognise when certain emotions are at the fore.  (I have a tendency to grind my teeth, so recognising how my jaw feels when it is tense and relaxed, often cues me into recognising my stress better. )  Once you are able to recognise that you are experiencing stress you can take steps to manage it in order to progress your work with a more conducive mindset.

For creativity:

#4 Look through the eyes of…

This is a common technique used in coaching and therapy to enable greater understanding of how a situation may be perceived by someone else.  But why not also use it to enhance creativity too?  By thinking of a task through the eyes of the client, a service user, perhaps even your family or a specific friend if so relevant…you may tap into a point of view you had not considered that enhances what you are trying to do.

#5 Observe with all your senses

All too often we observe only with our eyes.  By thinking about how you feel, what you smell, or what something sounds like, you may again access another level of awareness which can contribute to your design or ideas.  Try to observe with all your senses and gather yet more information which can be utilised.  Is there a preferred time of day when brainstorming is more productive? What language do those you might be trying to influence use eg the difference between “I hear you” and “I see what you’re saying” can give an insight to the type of stimuli they respond well to. Alternatively, a metaphor of smell or taste could be more effective than one of sight.

For Team Cohesion:

#6 Plan

You are extremely busy yourself, yet you want to help.  Why not pre-prepare a template for the questions you are commonly asked?  This enables the person asking to utilise your guidance while still doing the task themselves, and saves you some time too. Similarly, if you know you are a “Yes” person, have some planned statements so you do not spread yourself too thinly – even a simple “I’ll give you an answer at 5pm” can give you time to think about whether you really can help.

#7 Try something new 

Do you have the same conversation (or discussion) over and over again?  As soon as you recognise you are in a loop, stop, take a moment to breathe (which relaxes your body and mind enabling greater clarity of thought) and try to proceed in a completely different way.

#8 Identify your real agenda

As an extension from point 7.  Ask yourself – What is actually going on here?  What do I really want from this interaction? (You don’t need to admit it to anyone, but recognising it can help you take the most effective action – even if it involves changing tack).

For performance:

#9 Ask don’t assume 

People generally don’t hide important information deliberately, sometimes the task is so habitual to them they forget to mention it.  Have an agenda of questions which you may need answers to when learning something new.

#10 It’s not always enough to think you know it

If making a presentation, it’s not enough to know you have a dynamic script when read in your head.  Presenting is a performance skill. Sometimes rehearsing something OUT LOUD helps you recognise the gaps in your knowledge, argument or phrasing.

For you:

#11 Have photos of loved ones accessible

So often you will say “They are on my phone”.  Research has shown that looking at a photo of a loved one/happy memory can release a small hit of endorphins.  Yet, when they are on a phone you need to take the phone out, unlock it, look for it and sometimes worry about being caught!  If you can, keep the memory accessible.

#12 Personalise your “Mask”

You may wear a professional ‘cloak’ or ‘step into role’…  Even if it is not possible to personalise your outfit overtly, it is possible to wear something that reminds you of you on the inside!  It is as essential to ground yourself after a successful performance as it is to play the part professionally during.

#13 Recognise the good things – and offer thanks

You may be focused on a new achievement or target, but don’t forget to spend a moment to recognise how far you’ve come and what you have right now.  Spend a moment each day to think about the things you are grateful for – and sometimes, it might even be nice to voice them if they were offered by others.

#14 Feeling down – Play out your recent personal showreel

It is possible to make yourself feel better by thinking about past achievements.  However, as you play out your personal showreel also try to think about recent incidences (however small) of the things you are proud of.  Life moves forward, and making new memories is as important as cherishing old ones.

#15 Better yourself rather than beat others

Although much of your work may centre around winning, manage any personal competitive streak (which can negatively impact on your self-perception) by recognising when you are in the mindset of comparison and turn the focus to doing something to achieve a goal you want for yourself instead. For example, if a colleague wins a praise and you feel a sense of disappointment that you have no recognition (even if you weren’t aiming for it), identify what it is that would make you feel personal pride, and focus on that – maybe it’s spending a little more quality time with your children, or signing up for that long desired course.

Many of these exercises can be developed to raise awareness and focus further, through meditation and combining their practice with other techniques – many of which I discuss in my book “The Leader’s Guide to Mindfulness.”

While these ideas may seem obvious to some, these tips are often harder to implement than you may think – especially on a consistent basis.  Further, being mindful is as much about making what we are vaguely aware of explicit – and getting it to work for us.

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Making Work, Work

Why Lawyers Should Make a Gratitude List – And How to Do It

As the U.S. prepares to celebrate Thanksgiving this week, taking the day to stop and give thanks for the good things and people in their lives, we started thinking about how to be more thankful on a regular basis. All too often, gratitude falls by the wayside, as we inevitably focus more on the things we don’t yet have and the obstacles and challenges that inevitably come our way in life and work.

There is a lot to be said for making gratitude a regular part of our mental exercise. So much so, that the practice of writing a gratitude list or journal is becoming increasingly popular.

A gratitude list can be a very useful tool for professionals – it can help boost resilience in the face of adversity, reminding us that these things too shall pass and are part and parcel of the path to growth and happiness. It can also be a productive way of working out solutions to ongoing problems and dissatisfaction in our lives.

The most appealing thing about a gratitude list is that unlike some self-care trends, it focuses your attention outside of yourself. By thinking of the actions of others that you are grateful for, you become more aware of how your own actions can impact on others, and think about how to return the favour to those who have offered support, a kind word, a laugh or a happy distraction at stressful times.

Being able to feel and express gratitude are also good leadership skills. According to former lawyer and church pastor Carey Nieuhof, gratitude fuels a better attitude to work, making us want to maximise the opportunities we feel so fortunate to have been made available to us, instead of wasting time begrudging what we feel we are owed. Gratitude also makes us more naturally encouraging and attractive to be around, and helps us to see even more opportunities with an ‘abundance mentality’.

Where to Start

The first step to starting your gratitude list is let go of any guilt you might feel about not always acknowledging the good things in life the way you might have wanted. Everyday gratitude isn’t something that always comes naturally to many people, you are not unusual in this, and that is the reason why you are starting the list.

Next, buy a notepad, and choose it carefully – you want it to feel special and important. If you prefer digital alternatives, you can set up a personal Trello board, which enables you to make notes and add attachments to notes you have made that remind you to take action to thank a person or send a gift. Plus, if you use Trello for other projects it might be beneficial to have it in the same place to encourage you to update it.

Journey is another app useful for journaling and personal notes-to-self. With a focus on simplicity and seamlessness, it can be used across multiple devices so you can jot down your thoughts on whatever device is closest to hand and add relevant images, and automatically adds info on the weather and location at time of the input. You can also easily search back through posts using tags or calendar filters and share selected entries with other people, should you wish.

To embed the habit of noting the things you are grateful for, there are various suggestions on ways to encourage the behaviour. Some people create a ritual, setting aside a certain amount of time and always doing it in the same place and under the same conditions e.g. in bed with a warm drink. It’s not always practical in a busy working day to do this, and with little headspace it is often better to jot something down in an app immediately after it happened, giving you the opportunity to return to it later to add more details on reflection.

The SmartTribes Institute has a Gratitude Practice, which may be useful to help focus the mind:

  1. Close your eyes.
  2. Focus on one thing in your life you are grateful for at this moment
  3. Offer a silent thank you to that person/for that thing
  4. Relax into that feeling of gratitude
  5. Take a deep breath
  6. Go forward feeling more gratitude

What to Include in Your Gratitude List

If you are unsure how to structure your list, a quick Google will find plenty of templates available. Typically, entries are kept short with bullet points outlining what happened, who was involved and why you were thankful for it.

Another way to manage your list is to divide it into categories. You don’t have to fill in each category every time. Some example headings could include:

The Personal – Features and instances from your home and family life, social circle, and individual activities you are grateful you get to do.

The Professional –  Everything and anything to do with work – opportunities, colleagues, work location, even the good office chair…

The Bigger Picture – things that don’t fall into a particular category or aren’t linked to a particular instance or event, but impact your life all the same e.g. being grateful for peace, for stable climate, for rights and freedoms.

Keep it Going

Try to make an entry every day – weekly at the minimum. The more regularly you do it the habit forming it will be. Though your gratitude list will be a mainly personal endeavour, it may be beneficial to share some details of what you are doing with others, as they will be interested to hear how it is working for you and offer their feedback, which will reinforce your commitment to the task.

Happy listing!

With the Christmas holidays just around the corner, now is a good time to start jotting down the things you have been thankful for. We’d love to hear what would be on your gratitude list for 2018 – let us know @ObeliskSupport.

 

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Protecting Your Mental Health When Working From Home

If you work from home permanently or on a frequent basis, you’ll recognise some of the negative feelings that can creep up on you: the sense of isolation and feeling detached from the office, insecurity about your position with a company or with clients from the lack of face to face contact, and a lack of boundaries between work and home life. Many of our legal consultants at Obelisk Support work from home and may be familiar with these thoughts. It is so important to break this cycle and step out of your bubble. With personal experience, here are my tips for protecting your mental health when working from home.

Create a Comfortable and Protected Workspace

A home office is a necessity. Even if you don’t have space for a room to yourself, making a dedicated and undisturbed work zone is so important – for example, my workspace is one half of the dining room table. I can close the doors for quiet time and for calls and interviews, and I have easy-to-move storage trays for paperwork when the entire table is needed for dinners, my daughter’s homework or various arts and craft projects. Plus if you have regular video calls you’re not scrambling to find a tidy, professional looking space to beam in from each time…

That aside, if you’re finding it hard to concentrate or get motivated, the advantage of working from home is that you can move around freely, without waiting for a meeting room or comfortable chair to become available! Sometimes your comfortable sofa is a better place to jot down ideas for a new project, or you can grab the opportunity for some fresh air outside while on a call.

Declutter Your Home Environment

Though I wouldn’t claim to be a naturally tidy person, since working from home I have become acutely aware of how clutter affects my mental health and concentration. This can be even more difficult to manage when you share your living space with others, particularly with children or if you live with someone who is a natural hoarder.

There are some great tips for sorting your home working space here, but if you find that clutter elsewhere in the home is affecting your mood or encroaching on your space, discuss having a good clear out of your whole living environment. Many people swear by Marie Kondo’s method, and though you might find some of the ideas extreme, it’s a good starting point for better ways to organise your living space.

Use Separate Devices for Work and Leisure Screen Time

Wherever possible, keep your work-related digital communications and documents on dedicated work devices, so they are not popping up in notifications or are sat staring at you on your desktop when you are using those devices during your leisure time. Tracking cookies could also affect your search or social media history with mixed use devices, resulting in ‘tainted’ results. It might seem like unnecessary hassle, but having a dedicated work mobile and personal mobile will help you maintain the boundaries between work and leisure, which so often get blurred when working from home. Plus, it is also easier to keep track of usage for tax purposes if you are self employed – which will also help keep the stress levels down!

Take at Least One Screen-Free Break Each Day

This is important in any work environment, but especially so at home where the temptation of TV and streaming services are at your fingertips. Step away from the computer and do something that requires a different type of concentration. A bit of light tidying in the home, a walk or a run, even simply going for a drive requires a change in thought process and engages different reactions allowing your other faculties to recharge. Anything that gets you up and stretching and out of the house is preferable.

Some fitness devices like FitBit activity trackers remind you to get up every hour and walk at least 250 steps, motivating you to be active during long periods of physical inactivity.

Connect Frequently With Your Communities

We are a social species, and even those of us who are comfortable in our own company need to connect with other people from time to time. Working from home can feel like you are isolated from the core workplace community. Try to ensure that your communication with colleagues/clients and associates is not always urgent and task-focused – sharing ideas, interesting relevant articles you’ve come across helps keeps sense of community and shared inspiration.

For a confidence boost, try getting involved with local community organisations that interest you, to maintain a sense of connection outside of the home. If you are finding that working at home is really taking its toll, talk to friends and family about your feelings. This may then give you the courage to share your feelings with work associates or other support networks who can offer practical help and understanding.

Use Shared Workspaces

A change is as good as a rest, so they say. If you are experiencing a creeping sense of cabin fever, it may be time to make regular use of shared workspaces in your local area for a change of environment. Workspaces are better than working from a coffee shop as they are set up with the facilities and quiet room you need to concentrate and be productive. Public libraries can also offer good working environments. Regarding coffee houses, I am also reluctant to spend much time working in them as it is important to not let places of leisure and relaxation become places of work. If you don’t have a suitable workspace nearby, perhaps enquire with people you know about any spare space they might know or be in possession of.

Remember the Benefits of Working from Home

It’s all too easy to fall out of love with working from home when we slip into bad habits, but try to remember the opportunities and freedoms it gives you. Here are just some of the advantages to remind you why you are one of lucky ones:

  • You’re in charge – you are free to use your home as you wish, there’s no need to ask for permission or to check schedules for meeting rooms
  • You have no commute – you can work that little bit longer and still be present for bedtimes and homework
  • You create a schedule to suit you – as you get into a rhythm you can choose the hours and day structure that suits your energy and peak productivity times.
  • You have access to enjoyable home projects – on your break, you can spend a little time on those other projects you can’t take into the office – that painting you want to finish, the DIY, gardening or craft project that’s been on the to do list for months, there is more you can achieve when work and home are in the same place. Just try to keep them separate and distinct.

Support Networks for Home Workers

If you feel you need additional support and someone to talk to while working from home, online support groups can be a lifeline. Here are just a few examples of organisations you can contact and connect with, digitally and in person:

  • Meetup.com is a place where you can find local and global support groups and events for people working from home.
  • Aoife Lee Parent Support (Ireland) runs corporate talks for working parents.
  • The Samaritans are not just there for people in deep crisis – they campaign for better mental health in society including in the workplace and are always available on 116 123 to listen when you need to talk it out, whatever the circumstance.
  • Facebook features an amazing number of professional-minded groups, some with regional features. Most are closed groups that require admin approval and feature moderated discussions.
  • LinkedIn is another great place to look for professional groups. Some require admin approval and proof on your LinkedIn profile that your area of expertise or professional history are relevant to the group.

However good these networks and groups are, remember to get out of your house and have a fulfilling social life. What’s the point of working otherwise?

 

 

 

 

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Making Work, Work

Lawyers – Your Mental Health and Wellbeing Matter!

Guest post by Elizabeth Rimmer, Chief Executive of LawCare

We all have mental health, just as we have physical health. Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social wellbeing, and affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. 

Mental health issues range from the worries we all experience as part of everyday life, to serious long-term conditions. It can be easy to dismiss mental health problems as something that happen to other people, but research shows that 1 in 4 of us will experience them each year. And yes, the legal community is no exception.

The World Health Organisation defines mental health as ‘a state of wellbeing in which the individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community’.

This definition places wellbeing at its heart.

So…

What Do We Mean by Wellbeing?

It means different things to different people but, it’s about how we feel, how we think, our relationships, and how we find meaning and purpose in our lives.

About 50% of our wellbeing is influenced by our genes, 10% is about our upbringing and external circumstances such as our health, work or financial situation, but crucially about 40% is influenced by our choices and attitudes – how we approach relationships, our values and our sense of purpose.

This means we can take positive steps to influence our wellbeing.  There has been considerable research into the science of wellbeing and this gives us an opportunity to use this evidence to make better choices to increase wellbeing in our personal lives, homes, schools, workplaces and communities.

How to Improve Your Wellbeing

There are five simple steps we can take to improve our wellbeing:

  • Connect –  with the people around us, our  family, friends, colleagues
  • Be active – finding time for exercise or enjoyable hobbies
  • Keep learning – new skills can boost confidence
  • Give to others – just a simple kind word to someone or volunteering your time  can improve your wellbeing
  • Be mindful – be more aware of the present moment, including your feelings and thoughts, your body and the world around you

In a professional context, wellbeing matters because it brings a number of benefits: greater self-esteem, optimism, resilience, vitality, self-determination, positive relationships with colleagues, better physical and mental health, greater motivation, greater creativity, and more productive work.

Wellbeing & Lawyers

It is known from research in the USA that lawyers have higher rates of anxiety, depression and stress compared to other professions. Why is this? It’s not that lawyers are genetically predisposed to poorer wellbeing than other people, there is something about the about the culture and practice of law that can have an impact. It is the culture of the well-known poor work/life balance, the long hours and presenteeism, the competitive environment, the fear of failure and the driven and perfectionist personalities that can be drawn to law. All of this contributes to an environment that can make some people more vulnerable to mental health concerns.

Lawyers are expected to cope with the demands of the job, and fear that not coping will be seen as a sign of weakness. They can find it difficult to acknowledge that they may need support and talk openly about mental health in the workplace.

At LawCare, the charity that supports and promotes mental health and wellbeing throughout the legal community in the UK, we know that talking is an important first step in changing the way we think and act about mental health. We want to get the legal community talking about mental health.

Since we were founded in 1997 we have helped thousands of people in the legal community manage the day to day pressures of working in the law. But we want to support lawyers to do more than just survive in the legal workplace we want them to thrive.

Wellbeing & Resilience

Resilience is an important factor in the workplace. Resilience is the ability to resist or bounce back from adversity, and in any workplace there will be people who thrive on challenges and difficulties, while others will find it hard to cope with unexpected change or problems. If someone finds it hard to forge ahead when things go wrong, the good news is that we can all learn how to develop our resilience.

Highly resilient people are flexible, adapt to new circumstances quickly, and thrive in times of constant change. Most importantly, they expect to bounce back, and feel confident that they will. That expectation is closely linked to a general sense of optimism, and finding the positive aspects in most situations is a skill that can be evolved. The right mental attitude to cope, and even flourish, when the going gets tough, can be developed.

10 Tips to Build Resilience:

  • Learn to see challenges, mistakes and failures as valuable learning experiences
  • Give yoursef a pat on the back when things go well. Be kind and forgive ourselves when things go wrong
  • Don’t give in to negative thoughts. Challenge them, and ask whether they are true or realistic
  • Use humour to defuse and downplay difficulties. We can laugh at ourselves and situations
  • Be flexible. Recognise that nothing stays the same, especially in the workplace
  • Take care of physical and mental health. Get enough sleep, exercise and eat well. When our physical self is in good shape, we are less fragile
  • Take time off work, use holiday entitlements and take breaks during the working day
  • Recognise that a bad situation is usually temporary
  • Build a support network. Make time for friends and family who offer encouragement and strength. Consult supportive work colleagues
  • Don’t extrapolate one bad situation into another unrelated situation. We can’t be good at everything; recognise areas of strength

Attitude and perspective are fundamental to building resilience. Paying attention to strengths and how to develop them, learning to accept that things won’t always go well, and focusing on what is working rather than what’s not, are all key.

How Things Can Change

We need to come together as a legal community to raise awareness and understanding of mental health, in order to create healthier and more supportive working environments for lawyers. Although attitudes are changing, the fact remains that many people feel unable to raise mental health problems at work, and we need to do something about this.

Organisations are only as strong as their people and a healthy and productive workforce where staff feel valued and supported, will be more committed to the organisation’s goals and perform better in their jobs. Mental health matters.  

About LawCare

LawCare is the charity that supports and promotes good mental health and wellbeing in the legal community throughout the UK and Ireland. Our support spans the entire legal life – from student to training, through to practice and retirement.

We understand life in the law. If people need someone to talk to, they can call us on our free, independent, and confidential helpline. Calls are answered by trained staff and volunteers, all of whom have experience of working in the legal sector.  We offer empathetic support for work, emotional, health and financial problems, and we signpost callers to specialist support where appropriate. Call us on 0800 279 6888 365 days a year, or visit our website www.lawcare.org.uk.

About Elizabeth Rimmer

Elizabeth Rimmer started her working life as a solicitor specialising in clinical negligence. She has been managing and developing charities in the mental health sector for over fifteen years, and joined LawCare as Chief Executive in 2014.

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Transforming Well-Being for Lawyers: Mental Health in the Legal Profession

Be honest … how comfortable do you feel about telling your colleagues about any personal challenges you may be experiencing?  And how much compassion do you show when colleagues are struggling with the same issues? Practical tools and strategies to help lawyers tackle these difficult questions were the focus of a fascinating seminar on mental health in the legal profession.

This was a very human event. As a young woman told her story – about her journey back from depression suffered while practising as a lawyer – the audience sat in silence. But the nods of recognition that could be seen around the room said it all.

This was not a dramatic scene from a movie, but a CPD event called ‘Transforming the Wellbeing of the Profession’ – a joint event from the Law Society and High-Flyers Coaching based in Chancery Lane.

Welcoming the audience, Joe Egan, Deputy VP of the Law Society, emphasized that events like this are vital so that the legal profession can explore how it can de-stigmatise stress, anxiety and mental health issues.

The speakers, all lawyers, gave their personal perspective in this complex area.

Paul Gilbert, chief executive of LBC Wise Counsel, talked about his survey and report on the well being of in-house lawyers. He described mental health as the greatest challenge facing in-house legal teams today.

Lauren Giblin, founder of Bespoke Coaching, was the young woman who spoke so movingly about her journey back from depression. Lauren told the audience she spent eight years as a banking lawyer, and how the perfectionist tendencies that contributed to her successful career as a lawyer also ultimately also contributed to her illness. What stood out most perhaps was an astounding statistic; Lauren said 50% of the women she met whilst being treated in hospital were lawyers.

The secret to her recovery was learning self- awareness and the power of choice. Lauren told the audience she believes these techniques can help anyone address the often-negative internal commentary that causes pressures to build up and overwhelm you. Being conscious of the pressure that lawyers can be under and the impact this pressure can have on your wellbeing allows us to separate out our feelings of being trapped inside the work, and then look more objectively at our lives as a whole.

Elizabeth Rimmer, chief executive at LawCare, spoke passionately about why well-being matters in the legal community. Elizabeth, who started her career as a lawyer at Leigh Day & Co, emphasized the need for lawyers to find a way of talking about their concerns. This level of honesty and vulnerability is not common or easy in the legal profession, but this is where Lawcare can help. Elizabeth said many lawyers are worried about appearing weak if they admit to personal problems. To give people the courage and the confidence to open up and speak about their feelings or their illness, Elizabeth said the legal sector must challenge the stigma around mental health. That’s why events like this – hosted by the Law Society – are vitally important so the issues are aired and lawyers and law firms begin to engage and change. Closing her talk, Elizabeth said in the workplace there is a role and a need for everyone to be supportive of colleagues and to take the issue of health and well-being seriously.

The final speaker was Chetna Bhatt, founder of High-Flyers Coaching. Chetna is currently on sabbatical from her in-house post, helping professionals work in a more balanced, productive and successful way.

She shared her personal story and how she had overcome personal difficulties. Like Lauren, she urged people to take back self-control – in a way that liberates you rather than bottles up problems for later.

She highlighted how important it is to be true and authentic to yourself, and to take responsibility for the changes that need to be made. She took the audience through a range of group exercises, designed to promote self-reflection and to create small changes in our lives that were both achievable and easy to build upon.

The very powerful message from this event was clear; people should not stay silent about the work pressures they are under. People should be encouraged and allowed to talk about stress at work, or to reach out and offer to help colleagues around them. There is help and support at all levels – for both individuals and firms. Starting a conversation about ourselves – like Lauren’s story – or offering help to others on the team are human steps we can all take.

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Why Lawyers Should Take a Proper Healthy Lunch Break

Does it come as any surprise that lawyers are skipping on a healthy lunch? Or that when it comes to business food orders, almost half in the legal industry are placed after 8pm?

According to research on our lunch habits by flexible office and workspace platform Workthere,  the average lawyer take less than half an hour for lunch. Meanwhile, online food delivery company Deliveroo found that the legal industry is one of the worst culprits for late in the day orders, with a huge 81% of orders placed at dinner time and an average order time of 8:44pm.

It’s no secret that taking a break has never been part of the everyday vocabulary of lawyers, but there are many reasons why we need to start placing higher importance on taking a proper, quality lunch break and stepping away from our desk during the working day. A healthy lunch needs to be so much more than grabbing a quick bite to eat, particularly if you are likely to be working into the evening.

Reasons to Take a Healthy Lunch Break

#1 Productivity

It is completely counter-productive to believe that working through lunch will help us get more work done. Presenteeism only makes us poorer workers. Yes, you will clock that extra hour at your desk, but forgoing a proper break will affect your productivity for the rest of the hours that you work. Our brains are simply not designed to focus on the same thing for hours on end, so stepping away from the desk is vital to refocus and work more effectively. Sticking to a scheduled lunch break will also help you to better plan your day and improve overall time management.

#2 Socialising

Taking an hour for lunch with colleagues helps you to bond outside of the immediate pressures of work tasks, helping to create better communication and improve the team dynamic. It also helps you to feel more supported and included in the office, making you happier in your job.

#3 Physical Health

Our sedentary lifestyles are creating a health crisis. Sitting all day, every day not only makes us lethargic and more likely to gain unhealthy levels of fat, but can also lead to more serious long term physical health problems. Your lunch break is an opportunity to stretch your legs, go for a walk or run or make use of the gym.

If you work remotely, lunch is a great opportunity to step away from your desk and be active outside. Take a brisk 20-minute walk, eat a healthy lunch and get back to work refreshed. You also need to give your eyes a rest from the screen and small print to reduce the risk of straining them.

#4 Mental Health

The importance of taking proper time for lunch is as important for mental health as it is physical. Rushing through a quick lunch while clock watching creates more stress, as well as being bad for digestive health. To combat stress and help our minds function effectively, we must step away from our environment of work altogether. Take the time to go outside and turn attention to anything other than work. Just the simple act of enjoying your food without distraction will help boost your mood and help to avoid burnout.

Tips For a Healthy Lunch at Work

Trying to fit a convenient meal into our working day can be a challenge and it often leaves us stuck in a bit of a food rut. When you simply can’t get away from the office, there are plenty of ways to ensure that what you eat will sustain your energy and provide enough variety to boost your mood.

#1 Try New Foods

Deliveroo’s study found 42% of those surveyed were eating repetitive meals for lunch as a habit, while over a third said they eat the same thing because it’s fairly healthy and they are trying to stay trim. Variety is the spice of life, so to avoid falling into bad habits with our lunch breaks it is very important to have a meal you genuinely look forward to during the working day!

#2 Use Food Delivery Services

These days, we have many more options to order healthy lunch food thanks to online delivery services and snack box subscriptions to keep you going through day. As well as being able to order from your favourite organic restaurant, there are also diet plan services such as Detox Kitchen if you’re being particularly disciplined about your health. Delivery services also have options for business and group orders to save money and encourage the culture of a shared lunch break.

#3 Meal Prep for the Week

When bringing food from home, it helps to plan ahead for the week to avoid falling back into bad habits. Preparing and storing food for the week also saves you time day to day, leading to better organisation all round. Invest in compartmented lunch boxes to keep foodstuffs in optimum condition.

#4 Eat Foods Good for Concentration and Energy

Some examples of good ‘brain food’ include:

  • Oily fish or salmon
  • Green vegetables e.g. spinach, broccoli
  • Olive oil
  • Blueberries
  • Seeds and nuts
  • Legumes, including beans and pulses
  • Beetroot
  • Avocado
  • Egg yolks
  • …and don’t forget to hydrate!

The Deliveroo survey interestingly found professionals overwhelmingly prefer Japanese and Italian food at work over all others. Both types of cuisine are packed full of nutritious and healthy ingredients like the ones above, which can keep your body fuelled through a busy workday. Here are some easy to make recipe ideas to give you some inspiration:

Matcha-Poached Salmon Noodle Bowls

Avocado and Tuna Salad

Lemony Chickpea Bruschetta

Yellow Squash Linguine with Shrimp and Asparagus

What do you do for lunch? Are you guilty of any bad habits and how have you tried to change them? We’d love to hear your tips for a fulfilling healthy lunch break!