Wellness for the HR Professional: Sleep Hygiene

  Sleep plays an important role in our physical and mental health. However, it can be tempting to stay up late to catch up on our favorite shows or wrap up a work project to meet a deadline. Sleep hygiene is essentially good sleep habits that promote consistent, uninterrupted sleep. Here are 6 simple steps for better sleep hygiene. Go to bed at the same time most nights of the week. Get up at the same time each morning. Make your bedroom dark and cool. Eliminate screen time 30 minutes before bedtime. Use white or brown noise or a fan to help you fall and stay asleep. Limit alcohol. It may help you fall asleep but may wake you up early.   See other articles in the Wellness for HR Professional SERIES: Wellness for the HR Professional: Emotional Health Wellness [...]

Wellness for the HR Professional: Emotional Health

This has been a tough year for HR professionals. You may have had to give bad news about wages or loss, or you may be struggling to hire reliable workers. You have certainly been dealing with a lot of stress! Stress takes energy, and when we are out of energy, we suffer. Stress is the reaction to a threat (real or imagined) to your well-being, which results in a series of physical and emotional responses. Everyone experiences different symptoms of stress. Some of us get depressed, others get angry, anxious, or feel hopeless or lonely. Try implementing some of the strategies below to help you manage your stress and take care of your mental and emotional health. Have an action plan. When we are faced with stress, our human instinct is to react by either fighting or running away (The [...]

Wellness for the HR Professional: Nutrition

  Most of us feel like we are in survival mode as we return to the workplace. We have also gained the “COVID-19 pounds”. Take the following steps to healthfully go back to work. Be kind to yourself and slowly integrate health behaviors (back) into your life. These 2 major steps are meant to help you thrive during this time and not add more stress. Eat mindfully. This means to increase your awareness of what influences your food choices. Consider the following: Why am I eating? Am I hungry or am I stressed? Is this physical hunger or an emotional response? Enjoy your food. Use all your senses to enjoy your food. This means you eat slowly, take small bites and chew thoroughly. No distractions. Take time to enjoy your food. Stop working for a period, turn off the screen [...]

Wellness for the HR Professional: Exercise  

  The thought of adding exercise to your days may seem daunting and add even more stress and anxiety to already stressful days. However, incorporating exercise into your daily routine is a great way to stay healthy during a pandemic as well reduce your risk for chronic disease. An increasing amount of research shows inactivity has serious consequences when it comes to our health. Moving more during your day may help reduce health risk, increase productivity, and support a healthy weight. Exercise also reduces stress hormones and increases levels of feel-good endorphins. These endorphins circulate in the body and provide an immediate lift in mood, focus, attention, and reaction time that lasts two or more hours. Although considered short-terms effects, these changes can help prevent problems that contribute to cognitive impairment in the future. How will you move? Below are [...]