Wellness in the Workplace

Key Learnings from this Article:

• Holistic Wellness: Health is a comprehensive concept that includes physical, mental, and social well-being, and it goes beyond just the absence of illness.
• Lifestyle Impact: Lifestyle choices, such as consuming fast food and leading a sedentary life, can significantly affect one's health and overall well-being.
• Workplace Happiness: Workplace satisfaction is not solely dependent on monetary compensation. A positive workplace culture, social interactions, and feeling valued as an employee are crucial factors that contribute to job satisfaction and overall well-being.

Health, Wellbeing and Wellness

In an article titled “Health and Wellness” by Debbie L. Stoewen, Health is referred to as the holism of physical, mental, and social well-being – and not just the absence of illness - while wellness aims to make a conscious effort to enhance well-being. The above definition of “health” is according to the World Health Organization. The multidisciplinary science of wellness aims to maximize the benefits that augments the tri-factors – physique, mind and social relationships – to better serve the physiological systems that are the foundation of life. Wellness in the office can be a valuable factor since we spend a third of a day in a workspace that translates “well-being at the office” to a standout factor for our overall housekeeping matters and personal upkeep.

The Fast Food Menace

Health and well-being can be a battleground, as a quote attributed to Heather Morgan articulates as follows - “Every time you eat or drink, you are either feeding disease or fighting it”. Constant snacking and slacking are both bad for your health. A culture of Uber and PickMe deliveries has elevated fast foods into an “order and consume culture”, where the item is delivered to the doorstep. Another factor that augments an unhealthy lifestyle is depriving ourselves of a healthy walk to the boutique to pick up a lunch packet.

We should not aim our anatomies to be food dumps but hold them as special places that can be identified as bedrocks for a healthy and contributory life. Fast food can be a factor in our overall wellbeing, since they are made rapidly by flipping patties, mixing roti scraps and tempering fried rice. Such fast foods are imbued in oils and are rich in cholesterols and carbs. Saturated fats are?encountered in animal-based foods and in tandem with trans fats, are responsible for accelerated weight gain, an apple shaped belly or a muffin top, and a heightened disease risk. Being constantly nourished by fast food and snacking while at work can be the beginning of an unhealthy life.

Sedentary behavior and Ergonomics

Sedentary behavior that promotes an inactive lifestyle, such as being seated in front of the computer screen for long periods of time, can be a determinant of physical ailments. Especially heart disease and weight gain can be hurtful to your overall physical health. In fact, it is a monumental statistic that earmarks “sedentary behavior’ – i.e. approximately 31% of the global population aged ≥15 years are involved with insufficient physical activity, contributing to 3.2 million deaths each year. Elevated plasma triglycerides, high LDL cholesterol and reduced insulin sensitivity can result from a sedentary lifestyle. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Ergonomics is explained as “an applied science concerned with designing and arranging things people use so that the people and things interact most efficiently and safely”. For example, better positional health comes from using a sound ergonomic work position in your daily office chores. Postural breaks, such as when an employee breaks one’s sitting routine (after every 30-40 minutes) by standing up and walking for 2-3 minutes, can be beneficial to one’s overall physical health. Stretching can also be a valuable addition to your workplace routines.

Stress, Fatigue, and Cooling Systems

The human mind too is an important factor during a routine day. While office work keeps the mind ticking, there is also a short-term need to ensure that stress that the mind is subjected to, is managed with tact and economy. Workplace stress can lead to mental health issues such as depression and anxiety but it is also a breeding ground of heart and circulation system diseases, examples being hypertension, abnormal heartbeats, heart attacks and strokes. The tributaries of the heart when fed with cholesterol can result in a ticking time bomb. One of the essential elements to work, is to have a good cooling down system, to work stress, as well as on-the-job fatigue. To keep cool is a science that is merited with our diverse coping styles. Take a deep breath, listen to some of your favorite tracks, fill a crossword puzzle, engage in a conversation and meditate for a jiffy, to ensure that your systems are rejuvenated with rest and recuperation.

Personalities and Personality Tests

How do the social dimensions contribute to the character of a stressful job? People are identified as extroverts, introverts and ambiverts, the first being the most socially skilled and inclined, the second the workers who prosper in solitude and adore “me-time”, and the last of which having elements of both extroverts and introverts. While personality tests such as Myers Briggs divides our personalities into 16 subtypes based on introversion-extraversion (I or E), sensing-intuition (S or N), thinking-feeling (T or F) and judging-perceiving (J or P), when the personality type is a quadruple of 4 letters. This personality test conjured in the 1940s by the daughter-mother team of Isabel Briggs Myers and her mother Katharine Cook Briggs, remains a popular favorite for its ease and simplicity. While channeling your personality can be stereotyping your subtype, one should never let go of the sacred attribute that mankind is a diverse spectrum and human types are made from a combination of genes and acquired – and nurtured - mannerisms. In all, personality types help to channel frustrations away from work life, by embracing the joys of your personalities, leveraging custom designed coping mechanisms that are tailor-made for a breather, or even an intermission.

Social Media Influences

Wellness is a combination of many other smaller factors. One of the less glamorous factors for non-wellbeing is our habit of comparing our lives with others, solely from the cosmetic social media posts that are put up on a daily basis. While competition is a factor in personal growth, comparing apples and oranges can be a futile exercise. We should detract from hurtful elements of social media to ensure that we are not in a race or a game, every passing second. The take-home message is that a culture of comparing with others renders unnecessary sentiments of inferiority and sets ambitious targets that are only trials at best. Still Facebook can influence our positive demeanors by clicked likes, comments, a stroll down memory lane, shared and recycled posts, selfies, milestones and simple greetings, and that is the other side of the “facebook” coin.

Happiness at the Workplace

Man is a social vessel and self-isolation to a workspace can be obscuring your worth. Mixing and mingling with colleagues help out in a work day, and in the long run, inside a company that identifies employees as valuable contributors to a unique ecosystem. A company that values its employees can be the fertilizer for a long and fruitful tenure. The groundwork to flourishing is that your stability and security are factored in to your future happiness. The mindset of any employee should delve into the notion that the paycheck is only as important as the happiness it doesn’t deliver – i.e. there are many factors and facets to happiness. ?

Learning Highlights

Yes, wages are valuable catalysts of happiness but are not the sole determinants of flourishing in a role. Vocation stands apart from the job description. Most of us are keystone species in an ecosystem – an ecosystem championing values, identities, inclusivity and most of all, the unique character of its specialists. ?