wellbeing — Office Worker Health — Office Worker Health

The big day is almost here. Ireland's Workplace Wellbeing Day takes place this Friday, April 13th 2018. The great news is that you can still register totally free of charge. Check out my article here to find out all the details including how to register.

I've been receiving so much feedback and questions on Wellbeing Day this year. It's wonderful to see such an interest in this from Irish businesses. I don't think there can be any doubt that employers are switching on to the fact that supporting the health and wellness of their employees is beneficial for everyone involved.

Wellness, Built In

In 2001 three groups of the so-called ‘Satanic Mills’ described in Blake’s poem Jerusalem were designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. I’m no poet and I don’t claim to understand it fully, but the meaning of the poem is patently multi-layered, and becomes more opaque the deeper one delves. On a literal level though we can understand, at least intuitively, the scorn which Blake heaped upon these dismal places due in part to the dreadful working conditions. To Blake, these buildings represented the mechanisation of human beings and a cold, unfeeling disregard for our nature, and stood in stark contrast to ‘England’s green and pleasant land’. He saw this, roughly speaking, as a kind of tyranny and since he was a fairly radical Christian, he associated tyranny with the figure of Satan. Some alternative symbolism could be used here depending on your own worldview, but the essential point remains.

How Ergonomics Can Help You Thrive at Work

Think about how you feel during your workdays. Maybe you have pain in your neck or back and feel stiff and sore when you stand up from your desk. Perhaps fatigue and irritability set in as you try to focus on projects or meeting discussions.

While there are many factors that influence how we feel during the day, the configuration of your work area – the place where you spend most of your time working, has a major effect on our overall health and well-being.

Take a close look at your work area; the place where you spend the most time working. Now think about how you sit while working. Do your shoulders hunch forward? Is your keyboard so far from you that your arms are extended while typing? Is your chair so low that your low back is rounded over, or so high that your feet are not flat on the floor? Does the lighting seem either too bright or too dim? Do you use a sit-stand desk, but still feel fatigue, aches and stiffness during and after your work days?

How My MS Diagnosis Has Helped Me Be Happier and Healthier

I was diagnosed with MS in 2003 and wow what a shock it was at the time. I was enjoying a successful career in Finance and living a full life outside of work.

After receiving my diagnosis, I remember sitting in a park crying my eyes out at the thought of what might happen and then I said to myself “I will not be a victim”. What I meant by this was, I would do everything I could, to stay well.

Common Office Health Problems and What HR Can Do to Help

For office workers, the danger isn’t lifting heavy objects or working hard in the sun all day, it’s conditions like carpal tunnel and computer vision syndrome. While workers are far less likely to throw a back out or herniate a disk at their desks, they’re still vulnerable to a wide array of health issues and injury risks.

We know that sitting at a desk and staring at a computer screen all day can take its toll, but what can Human Resources do about it? Let’s look at how HR and the management team can take better care of their workers in the office.

My Health Goals for 2018 (and how to stick to them)

It’s around this time every January that many New Year resolutions have begun to falter or have been totally ditched already. The second Friday in January is now known as “Quitters Friday” and Monday just passed has been dubbed “Blue Monday” as it’s apparently the most depressing day of the year. What a load of horsesh1t. They are just days of the week like any other day. I choose not to read into the nonsense that the tabloid media feel the need to perpetuate at this time of year.

7 Great Desk Yoga Poses

When you spend most of your day at a desk, it can be difficult to get physical activity and deal with stress — but office yoga can help. Check out these great yoga poses that you can do even at your work desk, calming your mind and alleviating stress in the process.

Stretching, Yoga, Workplace Wellness, Stress Management, Office WellbeingBrian13 September 2017yoga, yoga stretches, wellbeing, office habits, health tipsComment

New Year New Me

As the year draws to a close, once the merriment and revelry has died down, our thoughts and attention will turn to New Year resolutions. How many of us will have a health and fitness related resolution this time? How many of us will stick to it? I'm a big believer in making your exercises goals public and holding yourself accountable to them. It’s worked for me in the past and it has too for other guest posters on Office Worker Health. This week my colleague Mark Hillen is going public with his exercise goals for the New Year. Can you do the same?

New Year Resolution, Health AccountabilityBrian16 December 2015health, wellbeing, fitness goals, work life balanceComment

Rio de Janeiro Life

It’s been four weeks since we arrived in Rio de Janeiro at the commencement of my parental leave. Upon our arrival I committed to staying as fit as possible while here and not falling into the same unhealthy traps as I had on previous visits to Brazil. So how has it been going? Well not too bad actually. Take a look at these before and after photos for starters: