In Equilibrium 24
Dear subscribername, here is your latest copy of our newsletter
In Equilibrium 24
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THIS MONTH
1. In Equilibrium News: HSE Management Standards Launch 3rd November 2004
Its only a couple of weeks away now - the launch of the HSE Management Standards. Stress poses a significant risk to health and wellbeing, and now, for the first time, we will have some official guidance on how we should manage people in order to minimise that risk. The standards will have major implications for all organisations, particularly in terms of personnel development and risk assessment.
In Equilibrium are marking the launch in a number of ways:
- We are running seminars across the U.K. to highlight the practical implications for organisations and give some pointers as to how to meet the standards cost effectively.
- We have updated our stress policy guide. Much has changed in the last couple of years, and the guide now reflects these changes.
- We have also been adapting our stress risk assessment services. Previously if any organisation wanted to do a 'stress audit' it could be an expensive and time consuming business. Only a small minority of UK organisations conducted stress audits. In the future, all organisations will have to do something to assess stress risk at work. Thankfully there are now 'free to access tools' like 'Work Positive' available. In our view, the role of consultants should be to support in-house efforts and provide expertise when and where it is needed. We can offer a complete support service for work positive eg training, consultancy, focus group facilitation.
- Our work on I-stram, our stress risk management system is nearly complete. The system trains managers to manage and minimise risk on an ongoing basis. This is delivered through a blended learning process (seminars and online learning). I-stram member organisations can access the online learning, support, feedback for a year for their managers(this is a subscription service). We are really excited about this development as it will enable a cost-effective and efficient stress risk management 'system' for the first time.
If you have any questions about how we can help your organisation meet the HSE management standards please contact Alastair Taylor on 0131 476 5027 or click here to contact the In-Equilibrium team.
Alan Bradshaw
2. Stress Tip: Do Someone a Favour
Helping another person is likely to reduce your stress. You'll feel better about yourself, and it's difficult to think about your own problems when you're helping someone solve theirs.
Alan Bradshaw
"Those who believe they are exclusively in the right are generally those who achieve something"
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963 British Novelist)
4. Book Review: "Dr Gillian McKeith's Living Food for Health: 12 Natural Superfoods to Transform Your Health"
I have to confess I have not seen the programme "You are what you eat" yet, but I have heard alot of people talking about how disgusting some of the people's diets are. Gillian McKeith is the lady who gets her "patients" to keep a food diary and then displays, on the kitchen table, what they have eaten for the week. She is the direct, no nonsense, Scotswoman who has made it in America as a healthy living expert.
As it's the time of year when the nights are drawing in and it gets more and more tempting to sit on the sofa, watch tv and work your way through a chocolate bar or five, I thought why not go to the other extreme and find out about some of the foods you can add to your diet that actually give you the energy to be a bit more active throughout the colder months, improve your immune system, sort out your digestion etc.
This book does just that, in the introduction it talks about the 3 categories of people it is written for
- Category 1 - Most people - those who want to feel healthier, rejuvenated and revitalised.
- Category 2 - People who have specific diagnosed illnesses and want to be well again.
- Category 3 - People who want to perform at a much greater level.
Briefly, the living foods Dr McKeith recommends include live growing sprouts (you have to do the sprouting part yourself) supergrains in the form of millet or quinoa, seeds, sea vegetables (seaweeds), essential fatty acids, barley grass and other plants and herbs along with blue green algae. There is a bit of a drawn out process to make the sprouted foods (I have yet to try this, and judging by the feast v famine feeding approach my houseplants have to adapt to, I am not holding out too much hope for the sprouts!).
Dr McKeith encourages the eating of raw foods as much as possible - this makes sense to me. The days of cooking potatoes for 30 minutes in the pot are long gone. She talks about adding raw food to cooked meals in order to get the benefit of the heat if you live in a colder climate.
There has been some bad press about Dr McKeith's credentials. In particular, that her Phd came from a non-accredited correspondence school in America, and that she has an obsession with colonic irrigation! However, I like the way the book is laid out, the contents make sense and its not necessarily about drastically changing your diet - just making sure that you include more of the "superfoods" to improve your health.
Lets face it, if you, like me, have any couch potato tendencies during winter, adding some superfoods which are packed with powerful nutrients and enzymes to improve energy levels and all round health might help us to "step away from the sofa". You don't need a Phd for that to make sense!
Do you have any thoughts/opinions on this or any other book review you have read in In Equilibrium? What do you think of Gillian McKeith's approach?
Please click here to email us your comments.
5. Al's Column: Have you been dealt 'a good hand' of happiness?
You might be surprised to know that, these days, psychologists study happiness and joyful things. It wasn't always the case - until recently we've been totally preoccupied with depression and miserable things. Don't get me wrong, it is very important to know why people become depressed and how to alleviate the symptoms. However, it's also important to know why some people are happy and joyful, and especially what might predict or cause happiness. One of the major figures in Happiness research, Martin Seligman, has even given us a formula for happiness: H = S + C + V where H is HAPPINESS, S is your SET RANGE (50% Genetic Inheritance, 50%environmental factors), C is your CIRCUMSTANCES, and V is Factors under your VOLUNTARY CONTROL.
There's good news and bad news. We all have a set range, which means that there is always a tendency for our level of happiness to stay within a 'set range', even after good or bad events. Humans adapt to good or bad events remarkably consistently. This is bad news if you win the lottery, good if prang your car. The only exception is for really bad/shocking/traumatic events.
The good news is that some things are under our voluntary control. We can become happier (or sadder) if we work at it. I'm going to look at what we can do to become happier in a later column.
In this column, I thought I would try to sum up the data related to the middle item, our CIRCUMSTANCES.
Wealth isn't a good predictor of happiness. However, poverty and living in a poor country is associated with being less happy (there are exceptions to this rule). Apart from that there is little relationship. So it's better to live in a wealthy country than a poor one. Materialistic people, for whom money itself is more important than other things, are generally less satisfied with life as a whole (there is a God). More good news - lottery winners are not happier than the rest of us (apart from the first few days and weeks).
Marriage generally strongly predicts happiness. However, those in 'unhappy' marriages have levels of happiness lower than those who are single or divorced. Unhappy marriages appear to undermine well-being.
The happiest people tend to have rich and fulfilling social lives. Regular meetings with friends is one of the most important predictors of long life and mental well-being. There are almost certainly links between social life, marriage and happiness. We just can't be sure what causes what.
Age has little relationship with happiness overall, although younger people are more likely to experience extremes of emotion e.g. ecstasy, despair.
Neither education, climate, race, nor gender, appear to have much of a link with happiness, except for SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder - depression-like symptoms associated with lack of sunlight in Northern winters) in the case of climate. So don't think that moving to a tropical island will make you happier, it won't. We adapt very quickly to changes in climate.
Religious people are generally happier. It used to be thought that this was simply down to more social support, but recent research suggests the reasons are more complex. They appear to link strong faith, which emphasises hope and optimism, with happiness.
It's worth reflecting on this data. It certainly made me think about the messages we are fed on a daily basis about money and materialism. What I take from this is that: people are more important than things; a social, purposeful and hopeful life is something worth striving for; and the odd obstacle and disappointment isn't worth worrying about in the overall scheme of things.
I never win on the lottery anyway!
Alan Bradshaw
6. Web Resources: Beauty Bible Online
http://www.beautybible.com/libwait.htm
This website claims to not take advertising and it has pages of information on all aspects of beauty including recommended products. Drinking enough water is the one thing that would reduce the amount of money us Brits spend on these products, but if you are not managing to do this, these tips and ideas make interesting reading.
If you know of any resources on the internet that you think may be of interest to our readers, please click here to email us.
7. Your Thoughts
We are keen to hear your thoughts and opinions....Perhaps you have a comment about our website, Al's column, the HSE management standards ...Maybe you don't agree with something you have read in this newsletter, or you find that a different approach works...
Please email us any comments to
8. Stress Technique: Dealing with change at a personal level
The pace at which an individual can manage change depends on various factors including:
- Safety: The need to feel secure before trying something new
- Specificity: The need to start small and be specific
- Age: You are less able to make changes and to adapt as you get older
- Time: Allows you to break old habits
- Attitude: Your belief that you can't change may turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy
Here are some tips for managing change in your worklife:
- Identify the things that are under your control and pick the ones you want to change
- Identify what your options are
- Create a support system for yourself
- Examine your attitude
- Remain flexible
- Give yourself a break
- Strive to achieve balance and perspective
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