International Stress Awareness Week: Organisations increasing support for stress and burnout

DeltaNet International has revealed that there has been a significant jump in users taking courses in managing stress since the start of the pandemic. Following almost two years of a global pandemic, DeltaNet has analysed its learners to understand how organisations have prioritised stress management in the workplace.

Recent reports by Randstad UK highlighted that 69% of employees feel confident about moving to a new role in the next few months, with staff burnout being one of the predominant factors. According to DeltaNet’s analysis, it found a 33.4% increase in its ‘Managing Your Personal Stress‘ training course in 2021 compared to 2020, and a 40.4% increase in its ‘Managing Stress in Your Team‘ training course in 2021 compared to 2020.

“It’s great to see that organisations are increasingly supporting their employees with stress management training; however, support does not just stop there. Understanding and knowing how to spot the signs of stress is just the first step. Providing additional support with one-on-one discussions, encouraging staff to take a walk every day and teaching employees to take up mindfulness activities such as Yoga is important,” highlights Darren Hockley, Managing Director at DeltaNet International.

“Unhealthy stress leads to employee burnout, which is bad news. Organisations need to understand the reasons why employees feel stressed. Is it due to the workload? Is it due to the team being understaffed? Is it due to time management or deadline issues? Or is it simply due to the ongoing effects of the pandemic and personal worries?

“Business leaders must make it their priority to support their staff through these issues. Employees who don’t receive any support will soon feel that their organisation and line managers don’t care enough about them. Remember to treat employees as people – they are not just another number. Everyone has feelings, and the minute staff feel they are being overlooked or unsupported, especially with stress and mental health, is the quicker they will look for that support elsewhere.”

*Data analysed is for the Stress Management courses between Jan – Dec 2020 and Jan – October 2021.

10 Healthy Eating Tips to Improve Wellbeing

Having a healthy, balanced diet plays a really important role in your overall health and wellbeing. In fact, you may have noticed for yourself that eating certain types of food helps to lift your mood, increase your energy levels, and makes you feel more positive and motivated.

Conversely, other types of food can have quite the opposite effect, leaving us feeling lethargic, miserable, or else suffering from indigestion, bloating, and constipation – ouch!

As well as these more immediate effects, the food we put into our bodies plays a big part in our long-term health too. For example, our brains need lots of nutrients to stay healthy and keep our bodies working well – in fact, the brain uses up more than 20% of our total caloric needs!

Eating a well-balanced diet with plenty of vitamins and minerals also reduces the risk of physical health problems, such as heart disease, certain types of cancer, and diabetes – and it means we’re healthy and well-prepared to fend off other infectious diseases such as cold and flu when necessary.

Eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, fish, olive oil, and wholegrains is also a great way to safeguard our emotional wellbeing (it’s so important, in fact, that it has inspired an entire field of medicine called nutritional psychiatry). There’s plenty of research out there which suggests that eating these types of foods reduces our risk of depression and depressive symptoms (e.g., anxiety).

It’s perhaps safe to say, then, that what we eat really, really matters when it comes to wellbeing and that when it comes to what we put in our mouth, quality over quantity is the name of the game.

Some health benefits of eating well:

  • Improved physical and mental wellbeing
  • More energy and better mood
  • Thinking patterns are clearer
  • Enough energy to stay awake/active throughout the day
  • Provides nutrients for growth and cell repair
  • Helps to maintain a healthy weight
  • Reduces risk of certain diseases
  • Improved immune system
  • Improved gut health
  • Reduced risk of mental health disorders
  • Better memory and focus
  • Strong bones and teeth
  • Better sleep

How can food affect the body?

Food affects our bodies enormously and in multiple ways – it’s not just fuel that keeps us chugging along like an old car in need of petrol. What we ingest feeds our bodies the materials and ‘information’ it needs to function; food delivers messages to our brains and guts, influencing hormones, performance, and what our bodies need to do or not do. If we don’t eat the things our bodies require, our metabolic processes deteriorate, and our health suffers as a consequence.

Put simply, nourishment is absolutely key to wellbeing. To understand this is more detail, consider the following examples:

Gut health

Starting at the *ahem* bottom, our gut is a good indicator of our general health and keeping our guts in ship shape condition is linked to less sick days, lower risk of allergies and autoimmune conditions, as well as reduced risk of mental health issues.

Indeed, scientists have long since referred to the gut-brain connection as the ‘microbiome-gut-brain axis’, a chemical pathway that uses neurotransmitters to send direct messages between the central nervous system and the gut. That’s why so many digestive problems such as irritable bowel (IBS), Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis can be exacerbated by mental health issues such as stress and anxiety (although we are not suggesting this is the only reason one may suffer from digestive health issues).

The gut’s primary function, of course, is to absorb nutrients from the food we eat and get rid of any waste product that’s left over. When healthy, our gut works harmoniously with our bodies to extract vitamins, proteins, fats, and calories, extracting and feeding our bodies everything it needs to function properly.

However, if we’re not eating enough gut-healthy foods (think yogurt, almonds, olive oil, and even sourdough bread) our guts can slow down, suffer bacterial imbalances, and become inflamed and malfunction. Sadly, as many as 40% of the UK population suffer from at least one symptom of bad gut-health at any one time, and this can greatly impact a person’s quality of life.

Brain health and cognitive ability

According to Age UK, evidence is now accumulating that supports a link between diet and brain processes such as our thinking, or cognitive, skills. Nutrients such as omega-3 fatty acids, flavonoids, vitamins B, D and E, and choline, are now linked significantly to improved cognitive function in older people and this is shown to lower the risk of dementia (since these elements affect the way our brain cells communicate).

Eating foods that contain plenty of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants is the best thing for everybody regardless of age, however, since these are the components we need to nourish our brains and protect it from oxidative stress (the waste or ‘free radicals’ produced when our bodies use oxygen – overproduction of this waste can damage cells and lead to chronic damage and disease).

Eating a diet high in refined sugar and processed foods does little to protect our brain from free-radicals, instead promoting inflammation and oxidative stress.

Mental health

Just like our other organs, the brain requires certain amounts of complex carbohydrates, essential fatty acids, amino acids, vitamins, minerals and water to remain healthy. As above, ingesting proper nourishment is important for cognitive functioning, e.g., memory, but recent studies suggest it’s equally important in terms of our mental health too.

You may have noticed from news reports on the subject that mind-body approaches to managing mental health have increased in popularly recently. Things like mindfulness, sleep, acupuncture, etc., have gained more attention in the psychological field – and for good reason.

There is also a growing body of evidence which suggests the importance of nutrition in preventing and managing mental health disorders including depression, anxiety, ADHD, schizophrenia and (as aforementioned) dementia. The evidence seems to point to a direct association between what people eat and how they feel.

For example, scientists have confirmed that people with diets high in vegetables, fruits, unprocessed grains, and fish and seafood (with low amounts of lean meat and dairy and no processed food and refined sugars) have a 25-35% less chance of suffering from depression than people who consume lots of meat (particularly red meat) and processed food.

It’s a complicated medical field, but the thinking is that the neurotransmitter, Serotonin – which helps to regulate things such as sleep, appetite, moods, and pain – is largely (about 95% of it) produced in our gastrointestinal tract. Meaning that, as well as digesting food, our gut also helps guide our emotions. Eating inflammatory foods such as refined sugars, e.g., is likely to disturb our mood and mental wellbeing.

Heart health

Cardiovascular disease (or CVD) describes a range of diseases affecting the heart and blood vessels, including high blood pressure, stroke, atherosclerosis, peripheral artery disease, and vein diseases.

It’s pretty commonly known that eating healthily reduces our risk of high cholesterol and heart disease, but did you now that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in Western countries, accounting for more than 30% of all global deaths each year?

Whilst smoking greatly increases our risk of dying from heart disease, a diet high in refined sugar, unhealthy fats, and processed food also puts us at high risk. In fact, a large body of scientists believe that nutrition might be the most preventive factor of CVD and could even reverse heart disease. This is for two reasons: 1) a healthier diet high in fruits, vegetables, wholegrains, and healthy fats increases our synthesis of anti-inflammatory cytokines (immunoregulatory molecules) and 2) there is a significant link between excess weight and CVD death, particularly where fat is stored around the waist/tummy.

Liver health

After food is absorbed by our gastrointestinal tract into the blood stream it’s then carried to our liver to either be stored or changed in such a way that our bodies can make good use of it.

The liver is also where our bodies detoxify substances which may harm us, e.g., alcohol, drugs, and other waste products. However, a liver in bad health (e.g., fatty liver or cirrhosis) may not be able to carry out this job, and therefore harmful poisons get behind and our bodies can become starved of nutrients. This can lead to symptoms including loss of appetite, nausea, low energy levels, fluid retention in the legs or accumulation of fluid in the abdomen (ascites).

Poor nutrition is frequently associated with disorders of the liver, so keeping our livers healthy and functioning well means eating a balanced diet low in fat, sugar and salt, and high in fiber, vegetables and fruit. Your diet should also contain enough protein and a wide range of vitamins and minerals.

Teeth and bones

Too many of us don’t ingest enough calcium, magnesium, and potassium – and this is bad news for teeth and bones all round (since they require these nutrients to grow healthy and strong). The easiest way to eat more calcium is eat and drink dairy products, e.g., yogurt and milk, or eat dark, leafy green vegetables (which are also full of folate, iron, fiber, and antioxidants – win!).

Our skeletal system and teeth are living tissues, they have blood vessels and cells that are constantly growing and repairing themselves, even if it doesn’t seem like it. Now we’ve probably all heard before that calcium is good for our teeth (and our bones), but did you know that calcium also helps regulate heart rhythm, aids with blood clotting, and keeps muscles contracting correctly? If our bodies aren’t getting enough calcium for these functions, then, it simply borrows it from our teeth and bones.

Over time, this type of deficiency will lead to weakened bones, possibly osteoporosis, tooth decay, and gum disease.

Type 2 diabetes

After we eat, our bodies change most of our food into glucose for energy. It’s the job of the hormone, insulin (produced in the pancreas), to allow this glucose to enter our cells and get to work.

If a person has type 2 diabetes, however, the pancreas doesn’t make enough insulin, or the body no longer makes or uses the hormone insulin correctly (insulin resistance) causing glucose to build up in our blood rather than moving into our cells to power their growth and repair.

Too much glucose in our blood can lead to serious issues, damaging our blood vessels, nerves, heart, eyes, and kidneys and resulting in shortness of breath, pain in the abdomen, vomiting, dehydration, and even coma and death.

It’s perhaps well known that a diet high in fat, calories, and cholesterol increases our risk of developing type 2 diabetes (in both children and adults) since this type of diet can lead to obesity, which is the single most overarching risk factor for type 2 diabetes.

10 tips to help you eat healthily:

1. Get more fruit and vegetables

Dried, tinned, fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables all count towards your 5 a day, as do beans and pulses, which are a good source of fibre.

150ml of fruit juice, vegetable juice or smoothies also count, although should be consumed within moderation due to the sugars released inside which can damage teeth.

Sadly, chips don’t count! Potatoes are a starchy food and do not count towards your 5 a day.

2. Ensure you’re eating enough protein

Proteins contain amino acids which are ‘the building blocks of life’, essential for vital bodily processes including regulating our thoughts and feelings and the synthesis of our hormones and neurotransmitters.

Foods containing protein include lean meat, fish, eggs, cheese, peas, beans, lentils, soya products, nuts and seeds.

3. Eat good fats and less trans fats

For a long time, obesity and other health problems were blamed on eating too much fat (fat contains about twice as many calories as carbohydrate or protein per gram), however, fatty acids like omega-3 and omega-6 are essential for proper brain functioning and health professionals recommend eating at least one portion of oily fish per week (140g) as well as ingesting healthy fats such as olive oil or nuts.

Unhealthy fats such as trans fats and partially hydrogenated oils can raise ‘bad’ cholesterol and lower ‘good’ cholesterol so should be kept to a minimum or avoided where possible.

4. Eat less red and processed meat

There is evidence that eating red and processed meat increases the risk of bowel cancer and has also been shown to increase the risk of stroke, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.

Red meat refers mainly to beef, veal, pork and lamb which the UK government’s scientific advisory committee recommends ingesting in amounts of no more than 70g per day.

Processed meat refers to meat that has been processed to improve its flavour (think ham or sausages) or preserved (e.g. canned meat or cured meat).

5. Eat more fish

Eating a portion of oily fish each week can help lower our risk of developing heart disease. Fish is also a great source of protein and contains many vitamins and minerals, e.g. iron, zinc, iodine, magnesium, and potassium

Oily fish examples:

  • salmon
  • trout
  • herring
  • sardines
  • pilchards
  • Mackerel

Non-oily fish examples:

  • haddock
  • plaice
  • cod
  • tuna
  • skate
  • hake

6. Reduce sugary foods and drinks

Regularly consuming foods and drinks high in sugar increases your risk of obesity and tooth decay. Sadly, many pre-packaged and processed foods and drinks contain a lot of sugar to make them taste appealing, and this is what we need to cut down on (rather than sugars found in fruit, e.g.).

To reduce your sugar intake, ensure to check the amounts inside or cut down on foods such as sugary fizzy drinks, sugary breakfast cereals, cakes, biscuits, pastries, sweets, alcohol, and chocolate.

7. Drink less alcohol

Drinking above the recommended amounts of alcohol can lead to serious issues such as liver damage, brain damage, stomach damage, heart disease and high blood pressure.

Men should drink no more than 14 units of per week, spread evenly over several days and with at least two alcohol-free days a week.

Women should drink no more than 14 units of alcohol per week, spread evenly over several days and with at least two alcohol-free days a week.

8. Drink more water

You need to drink plenty of fluids to stop you getting dehydrated. The government recommends drinking 6 to 8 glasses every day.

All non-alcoholic drinks count, but water, skimmed milk and low sugar drinks, including tea and coffee, are better for health than fizzy drinks.

9. Eat high fibre, complex carbohydrates

Whole plant foods such as vegetables, fruit, nuts, whole grains, and legumes provide complex carbohydrates. They’re also rich in protein, vitamins, minerals, and fibre, which is great news for our brain and other organs!

The fibre present in vegetables, fruits, and whole grains slows the intestinal absorption of sugar, which lessens the insulin surge and a lowers our risk of developing diabetes and inflammation.

Natural plant fibre also helps us feel full faster and satisfied for longer, which prevents us from overeating.

10. The Mediterranean diet

The Mediterranean diet is one of the planet’s healthiest lifestyles. Research has shown that it can help reduce cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases, including dementia.

Key ingredients of Mediterranean cuisine include:

  • Plant-sourced oils such as olive, avocado, sunflower, or canola oil.
  • Fresh fruits and vegetables
  • Nuts and seeds
  • Legumes
  • Fibre-rich whole grains
  • Seafood
  • Lean meats
  • Modest amounts of dairy products (aged cheeses, yogurt, and low-fat milk).

Studies show that even modest adherence to a Mediterranean diet is associated with improvements in executive function and memory, and a lower rate of cognitive decline, as well as the improvements noted in cerebrovascular risk factors, diabetes, and stroke.

How exercise contributes to a healthy lifestyle

According to the NHS, adults should do one type of physical activity every day. Adults should aim to do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity a week. Adults should also spread exercise evenly over 4-5 days a week or every day, reduce time spent sitting or lying down, and break up long periods of not moving with some activity.

Spending prolonged periods sitting down during the day isn’t good for your health, yet, with many of us having desk-based roles, 7-8 hours a day disappear sitting just at work. Unfortunately, with the average person spending 12 hours a day sitting down, physical inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality. So, exercising moderately to vigorously during the week is critical to combat ‘sitting disease’.

Exercise can be a love-hate relationship for many people. Even though it can be hard to motivate yourself to go for a walk or run (especially when it’s cold and raining), regular physical activity does reduce your risk of various health conditions such as obesity, heart disease, depression, and dementia.

Since the start of the pandemic, lots of people have been working remotely, reducing their chances of exercising on the commute to work, e.g., walking, cycling. So, it’s necessary to consider how much exercise you actually do during the day.

A great way to monitor your activity is by using a wearable fitness tracker. Wearable fitness trackers not only count your steps but can measure heart rate and track if you’re doing a vigorous workout such as running.

Benefits of exercising

One of the advantages of exercising is that it boosts our ability to fight infections. Through working out, we encourage blood to circulate our body, which improves oxygen intake.

Being regularly physically active can help your general physical health. It:

  • Supports stronger bones, muscles and joints
  • Manages weight better
  • Lowers blood cholesterol levels
  • Lowers blood pressure
  • Reduces risk of a heart attack
  • Lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes and some cancers
  • Feels better, with more energy and healthier sleep

Exercise can help improve mental health:

  • It increases hormones linked to happiness, such as endorphins and serotonin.
  • Even low-intensity exercise can significantly reduce the symptoms of depression by boosting the production of a hormone called norepinephrine.

Types of exercise

Taking part in daily exercise is vital for a healthy lifestyle and choosing a physical activity that raises your heart rate is ideal. However, it’s important to remember that whichever type of exercise you do is good for you. It doesn’t matter if you can’t run, but if you prefer to do Yoga or Pilates because you enjoy it, then do it. The important thing is you do what works for you. Exercise is not a one size fits all. Small amounts of exercise each day, even if that’s a leisurely walk, can be a great place to start to improve your physical and mental health.

With moderate exercise, most people need between 150 and 300 minutes of it per week. This includes:

  • Brisk walking until you can’t talk without being out of breath
  • Cycling at a leisurely pace
  • Dancing until you sweat
  • Hiking
  • Swimming at a leisurely pace

With vigorous exercise, you should generally aim for between 75 and 150 minutes of it per week. This includes:

  • Running
  • Martial arts
  • Aerobics
  • Skipping with a rope
  • Swimming at a fast pace

When it comes to reaching your weekly targets for fitness, remember that the more vigorous the activity you do, the less time you will need to spend doing it each week. If you try fast-paced sports with friends such as football or netball, you will notice your speed slowly start to improve as your fitness gets better. However, doing a mix of both moderate and vigorous activities during the week is an easier way to ensure you hit your exercise targets, meaning you’re less likely to burn out.

Start exercising

Before you start thinking about what exercise routine you’d like to do during the week, ensure you check any health conditions you have with your doctor to ensure you don’t take part in anything you shouldn’t be doing, e.g., further damaging your back.

Make a list of activities you’d like to participate in and figure out if they are moderate or vigorous activities, so you can get a rough understanding of how long you’d need to spend doing each activity each week to hit your weekly target. If you’re considering doing brisk walking, as it’s a moderate activity, you will need to do a minimum of 150 mins a week. So, if you spread this out across five days, that’s simply 30 mins a day. The next step is then to find a time that works for you to fit in your exercise. 30 mins of brisk walking a day could be done before work, during your lunch break, or even after your evening dinner.

Time poor

One of the biggest challenges many people face is finding the time and effort to fit exercise into their daily routine. However, when you know the benefits of exercising, treating it as a priority becomes invaluable. If you’re able to, perhaps try a vigorous activity as you only need to do a minimum of 75 mins to hit your weekly target. Doing two x 40 mins vigorous workout such as running, or aerobics is all you need.

Who says exercising is expensive?

Not everyone can afford to pay for a gym membership, especially when you struggle to find the time during the week to go. Throughout the lockdown, people across the country found innovative ways to exercise at home. You can go for a walk, run, watch a YouTube video or join online classes for aerobics, Zumba or yoga.

Exercise with a friend

When people quit exercising, lacking the motivation to do it or finding the activity boring tend to be the reason. Well, try exercising with a friend or family member, or doing a group sport such as football where your presence is required. Working out with somebody else makes the activity more enjoyable, and you can also encourage each other to do it.

If you’re interested in improving your healthy lifestyle through exercise, then look at our latest course as well as the rest of our wellbeing collection to improve how you and your employees feel.

Can Wellbeing Boost Business Performance?

Business culture is changing.

Workplace culture has always been thought of as the true reflection of a business and its people. Historically it has been left to its own devices, to develop organically.

The world is becoming more conscious. Employees want to know more about the company they work for and are demanding more from their working environment, and consumers now care more about the morals and actions of the companies they buy from. It is too risky to long term success to leave business culture to shape itself.

What shapes business culture today?

Business culture is intangible. Its very existence derives from the culmination of traits of the people the business employs. It has historically been placed into the following three categories – Beliefs and Behaviours, Satisfaction and Engagement.

However today, there are only two components that shape how a business’s culture develops.

  1. Beliefs and Behaviours – how a company handles external transactions.
  2. Wellbeing – how a business engages with their employees, aims to satisfy their requirements, and how they look after them.

What does a culture of wellbeing actually look like?

Contrary to popular belief, a culture of wellbeing is not just employee perk packages, away days, and 6 monthly pay reviews. While these things certainly contribute to increased wellbeing, a business needs to invest in their wellbeing infrastructure.

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The term ‘wellbeing infrastructure’ refers to a business investing in long term structures that create a humanistic environment. For example, a manufacturing company investing in the health and safety of their employees. Meaning they feel less at risk, less stressed about coming to work, and therefore feel happier and in theory are more productive.

Another example may be a call centre implementing a walking meetings policy. Where employees have the option to take their meetings as a walking-meeting outside the office to increase physical activity levels and combat the affects of their sedentary working environment. A wellbeing infrastructure is seen and experienced by all employees daily. Impacting their health, happiness, and productivity. Organisations that only invest in perks, such as money off vouchers, tickets to events and so on, can feel as though the company’s wellbeing policy doesn’t extend past the writing on their contract. This can leave employees feeling disengaged and can cause the companies culture to suffer.

A culture of wellbeing – does it really matter?

Having high-levels of staff wellbeing means that employees are happier, that they have a better work-life balance, and they are generally healthier. It would be nice to believe that every business would invest in the wellbeing of their workforce because of these reasons! However, the vast majority are more concerned with the financial implications of investing in wellbeing measures, e.g.,does it create a return on investment?

The short answer is yes. It does indeed create a return on investment. In fact, there are numerous benefits to the business of having healthy and happy employees …

Attracting the right talent to an organisation

A business is only as good as its employees. The CIPD state that company culture is one of the top considerations for candidates when looking for a new job. If an organisation’swellbeing infrastructure is robust enough and deeply engrained , it is more likely to attract a higher calibre of candidate. After all, high-quality candidates will have more market-value and this includes the ability to choose an employer that benefits them as much as they benefit the business.

Less turnover

An engaged and supported employee who is enjoying their work is much less likely to look for another job. Lower labour turnover means less client disruption, less internal disruption, and no negative press associated with high numbers of staff leaving the business; it also means lower recruitment and training costs. All these factors can be shown as a financial return on investment and can save business expenditure.

Increased productivity

Increased wellbeing at work does more than just make your employees happy. By promoting healthy lifestyles as part of a company’s wellbeing infrastructure it makes them more productive, too. Businesses that promote health and wellbeing regularly have been proven to out perform those that don’t (6Q), which in turn increases profitability and is proven indicator that the return on investment for wellbeing infrastructure can be very profitable.

How do you improve wellbeing, and business culture in your workplace?

We know that a good business culture that embraces wellbeing can be profitable, but how can business leaders instigate change and improve wellbeing within the workforce? The nature of wellbeing is that the needs and circumstances of everyone in the business is different, so it is not good enough to let wellbeing develop organically. It has to be managed.

Step 1 – Invest in your businesses knowledge infrastructure

In order to achieve good wellbeing the workforce needs to be given knowledge about their part to play in creating this positive business culture. Our Wellbeing eLearning Collection covers all the areas that a business needs to positively change organisational culture. It provides understanding on how employees can live a healthier lifestyle, how to support mental health, how to recognise signs of alcohol or drug addiction, and how to prevent illness spreading within an organisation, plus much more.

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A business cannot create an atmosphere of understanding and support around wellbeing without the whole workforce being educated on best practice. You can see a full list of our Wellbeing courses here.

Step 2 – Communicate with employees about business performance

Transparency is key to trust in any relationship, and the working relationship between employer and employee is no different. Ensure all employees are kept up to date with performance. Let them know when the business is doing well, or when it’s not doing so well.

This helps employees feel ‘seen’. It makes them feel like they are part of the business and allows them to see the fruits of their labour. They are more likely to be motivated to stay and work harder to help the business in tough times should there a history of transparency.

Step 3 – Listen to your employees

Sometimes people just need to be heard, and this is the case in the workplace too. It is so important to give employees a route to communicate easily with their employer. Not only does it make them feel valid and boosts mental wellbeing, it can also help uncover better ways of working, further improving business performance.

Step 4 – Invest in business infrastructure

Providing a safe, secure and well-equipped workspace makes employees feel valued, secure and safe while at work. If they have the equipment, or the working environment that empowers them to do their job to the best of their ability then they will feel happy at work, and be more productive.

Step 5 – Go beyond your workforce

At first this may seem counter intuitive, but as an employer it is important to understand that your employees care about more than just work. Employees value seeing their employer lead by example and engage with the local community and doing charitable work. This helps to develop business culture, and makes employees feel like part of something bigger.

DeltaNet wellbeing eLearning collection

Here are DeltaNet we have been hard at work developing our Wellbeing Collection. Designed to provide businesses with an all-in-one eLearning package to help drive positive physical and mental wellbeing changes in their business. We have worked alongside subject matter experts in mental health and wellbeing to ensure that the contents of the courses provide expert information.

To discover more about the Wellbeing Collection or to book free course demos click here.

DeltaNet International Launches new Mental Health and Wellbeing eLearning Collection

DeltaNet International, a global eLearning provider of compliance and performance management training solutions, has today announced the availability of its Mental Health and Wellbeing collection of eLearning courses. The collection is designed to help organisations support their workforce with mental health awareness training and is the latest addition to the Performance suite, with a comprehensive collection of 19 courses.

Taking a holistic approach to its wellbeing offering, DeltaNet International tackles the most common issues facing workers’ mental and physical wellbeing. Created with the support of industry experts, the Mental Health and Wellbeing collection is a complete suite featuring all the engaging wellbeing courses in one set, with regular updates and automatic access to new courses as they are released. Organisations that look to get up to speed with just a few courses, will also have the option to ‘pick and mix’ between the courses offered. The new list of courses include:

Healthy Lifestyle
Leading a healthy lifestyle is crucial to maximising an individual’s wellbeing. DeltaNet’s selection of Healthy Lifestyle courses are broken down into four simple categories to help the learner understand how to make healthier choices.

  • Sleep
  • Food
  • Drink
  • Exercise

Mental Health

Mental Health issues are common in the workplace, so recognising the signs of mental health is the first step in getting support. DeltaNet’s selection of Mental Health courses highlights the importance of creating a workplace culture that promotes mental health and how to recognise the common signs that an individual or a colleague may need support with.

  • Supporting Mental Health at Work
  • Recognising Anxiety and Depression
  • What is Mental Health?
  • Spotting Mental Health Red Flags
  • Supporting your Colleagues’ Mental Health

General Wellbeing

The General Wellbeing courses introduce learners to the main concepts of online wellbeing and how they can better manage their online activity to reduce its impact on their wellbeing. The course on Resilience is ideal for learners to understand how to maintain emotional wellbeing and workplace performance. Drug and Alcohol addiction is also a complex issue, the courses on Drug and Alcohol Awareness support individuals in identifying and tackling the behaviour.

  • Drug and Alcohol Awareness
  • Online Wellbeing
  • Resilience

These courses will add onto the following pre-existing courses that have been updated to reflect changes in society:

  • Preventing the Spread of Infection
  • Managing Your Personal Stress
  • Managing Stress in Your Team
  • Managing Personal Stress Challenge
  • Managing Stress in Your Team Challenge
  • Identifying Stress in Your Team
  • Remote Working

“Physical and mental health issues are critical in the workplace. If business leaders don’t take these issues seriously, then it will not just impact productivity, but also the workforce in its entirety,” says Darren Hockley, Managing Director at DeltaNet International. “We are excited to launch our Mental Health and Wellbeing collection as part of our Performance eLearning courses to better support organisations to benefit from a happier, more productive workforce. Addressing mental health issues is necessary, and employees recognise and appreciate the organisations that offer them that support.”

For more information on DeltaNet’s Mental Health and Wellbeing collection, please visit: https://www.delta-net.com/performance-management/wellbeing. For more information on DeltaNet’s performance eLearning suite, please visit: https://www.delta-net.com/performance-management.

How does Sleep Contribute to a Healthy Lifestyle?

How does Sleep Contribute to a Healthy Lifestyle?

Related Courses

Everyone who has ever missed out on a proper night’s sleep can tell you: the amount of rest a person gets has a huge effect on their vigilance, concentration, and productivity. That’s why encouraging and educating employees about the benefits of good quality sleep is beneficial to the business as well as supporting employees’ wellbeing.
Lack of sleep – or lack of quality sleep – also has long-term effects if the issue becomes chronic, impacting motivation, mood, and engagement, and negatively influencing mental health.
One reason for this is because, when we don’t get enough sleep, we produce lots of cortisol – the body’s main stress hormone. We know that in little doses cortisol can be useful (think of it like a natural alarm system). However, too much cortisol can leave us feeling under constant duress, leading to a number of health problems including:

  • Anxiety and depression
  • Headaches
  • Heart disease
  • Memory and concentration problems
  • Digestive issues
  • Sleep disorders
  • Weight gain
  • Diabetes
  • Early death (in extreme cases)

Circadian rhythms and our sleep
Circadian rhythms are 24-hour cycles that make-up part of our body’s internal clock. They run ‘in the background’ so to speak, carrying out various physical and mental functions, one of which is our sleep/wake cycle.
Our Circadian rhythms work by ensuring that our body’s vital processes occur at optimum times during the day, e.g., we are awake in the daylight (when, historically, it would be safest) and asleep at night, as we can’t see very well in the dark.
Our sleep/wake Circadian rhythm is generated by light (which sends signals to our brain to stay alert) and by darkness (which initiates the production of melatonin, the hormone that promotes sleep). In this way, the rhythm creates a stable cycle of restorative rest that enables us to stay focused and motivated.
Why do we need sleep?
We spend about one-third of our life sleeping – and for good cause! Many critical biological processes occur during sleeping hours, including:

  • Our brains store new information and memories and get rid of toxic build-up
  • Our nerve cells communicate and reshuffle, helping to support a healthy brain function
  • Our bodies repair cells, restore depleted energy stores, and release vital hormones and proteins

Whilst a lot is still unknown about the full purpose of sleep, it’s widely accepted that sleep promotes our wellbeing in several ways:
Conserves our energy supply – we need sleep to conserve energy; our time spent asleep reduces the need for more calories, as we function at a reduced metabolic rate (in other words, we need to spend less time, energy, and resources ‘hunting’ for food).
Cellular restoration – We use our time spent asleep to restore our bodies; during this time, our cells grow and repair themselves, including muscle repair, tissue growth, hormone release, and protein synthesis (when our cells make proteins in order to function).
Emotional wellbeing – Sleep has a big impact on our emotional health. During sleep, the parts of our brains that regulate emotion are working extra hard, supporting healthy functioning in this area and promoting emotional stability. When we are sleep deprived, the emotional centre in our brain cannot adapt to and interpret new situations very well, meaning we are more likely to emotionally overreact, feel angry or inferior, or experience the fear response (fight or flight). All of this can leave us feeling emotionally drained.
Research shows that sleep and mental health are deeply intertwined. On the one hand, sleep disturbances can contribute to the onset and progression of mental health issues, but on the other hand, mental health issues can cause people to lose sleep.
Weight maintenance – Sleep impacts how much fat we store because it regulates our hunger hormones, helping us to control our appetites and feel full after eating. Lack of sleep removes this control, which may increase the risk of over-eating and gaining unhealthy weight. Research indicates that chronic sleep deprivation increases the risks of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and Type 2 diabetes.
Proper insulin function – Insulin helps our cells convert glucose (sugar) into energy. However, if we suffer from insulin resistance, our cells cannot respond properly to this hormone, increasing high blood-sugar and putting us at risk of Type 2 diabetes. It’s thought that sleep helps protect us against insulin resistance because it allows our cells to repair and regenerate. This means they are more likely to function normally and work with our insulin hormones to convert glucose to energy in a healthy way.
Immunity – During sleeping hours, our bodies make antibodies and release cytokines, both of which are essential for the regulation of our immune system. We need extra cytokines when we get poorly or if we are under a lot of stress, which is why lack of sleep often leads to increased or prolonged illnesses or high levels of stress. It’s also why we tend to require more sleep when we get ill.
Heart health – It’s thought that lack of sleep is associated with various risk factors that increase the risk of heart disease, including high-blood pressure, increased inflammation, elevated cortisol levels, obesity, and insulin resistance.
Sleep occurs in 4 stages:
Stage 1: You transition from being awake to a restful state (usually this takes 5-15 minutes).
Stage 2: Light sleep occurs during this stage; your brain activity, breathing, heart rate, and muscle movements slow down, and your body temperature drops (usually this takes 10-25 minutes).
Stage 3: The deep sleep state begins, and this is when you process and store the day’s events in your memory. Your heart rate and breathing are at their slowest during this time.
If you wake up tired despite having had eight hours’ sleep, a lack of deep sleep may be the cause.
Stage 4: Around 90 minutes after you fall asleep, you enter REM sleep. during this time, your eyes move quickly from side to side, your brain waves increase, and your heart rate and breathing both speed up.
Dreaming often occurs during REM sleep as this is when your brain processes information, making it important for both learning and memory.
How to get better sleep
It’s obvious that getting enough sleep is an essential component of our physical and mental wellbeing. However, despite all the information out there about the benefits of a good night’s sleep, many of us still find ourselves struggling to switch off and regularly deprived of good quality sleep.
This is bad news for our personal health and bad news for business since sleep-deprived employees find it difficult to maintain focus and vigilance, have slowed reaction-times, and are more likely to make errors and omissions.
In some professions, these ailments may mean missing an important phone call or deadline, or not listening properly during meetings. In other professions, such as construction, engineering, emergency services, or lorry drivers, slow reaction times can mean the difference between life and death.
Additionally, research from Rand Europe back in 2016 estimated that sleep-deprived workers cost the UK economy £40m a year, due to being less productive at work or absent for related sickness.
In order increase the chances of a good night’s sleep we should avoid:

  • Consuming alcohol, caffeine, or nicotine (especially in the evenings)
  • Working in bed
  • Using devices with screens before sleep because the blue light they emit stimulates the brain
  • Napping for too long or too late in the day
  • Eating too late

Instead, try implementing:

  • A consistent sleep schedule
  • A relaxing environment free of distractions
  • A pre-bed routine (wind down for at least 30 minutes)
  • An agreeable room temperature (not too hot or cold)
  • Pleasant aromas, such as lavender, to provide a soothing, fresh scent
  • An exercise routine – this can help promote solid sleep
  • A sleep diary – this can help identify factors impacting your sleep

Remember, a doctor is the best person to offer medical advice for those having serious difficulties sleeping.
Talk to your doctor if you find that your sleeping habits are worsening, if they persist over long periods of time, or if they’re affecting your health, safety, or wellbeing.

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