This is something I get asked all the time.
Am I a personal trainer? Am I a business coach? Am I nutritionist? Hell, I often get asked if I’m a hairdresser, which I’ve never tried my hand at but I’m quietly sure I’d actually be pretty good at.
To be honest, whenever I get asked this question at networking events or in social situations it often has me contemplating the fact that I’ve been trying to figure out the answer to this question for many years.
Since my teens I’ve been interested in health and fitness. I was never particularly sporty, in fact in my high school sport consisted of netball and hockey, both of which I hated and usually resulted in bunking off to find something better to do.
Once I left school though I discovered health clubs and found there was a whole range of fitness activities besides traditional sports. It was around this time that my mum got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and I really began contemplating what it is to be healthy.
I’d always thought of my mum as a little pocket rocket (at dead on five feet tall) of awesomeness, so it seemed ridiculously unfair to my barrage of teenage hormones and attitude that she should suddenly get this really crappy card dealt to her.
Fast forward to today and I’m still exploring my deep interest in the intersection between health and quality of life.
Today, science has proven that 95% of health is determined not by whether you have a gene, but by the lifestyle and environmental factors that trigger these genes to be turned on or off and that is truly fascinating to me.
Our physical and mental health have such a direct correlation to our perception of life, and our perception of life has a profound effect on our physical and mental health.
Each one of us is unique, and so we react differently to our lifestyle and environments. The one size fits all approach just doesn’t work.
How much sleep we get affects our mood and our interactions with those around us.
How much downtime we get to relax, without using screens, food or alcohol to numb the days stress, directly affects our stress hormone response.
How much time we spend moving, especially during these extended periods of lockdown, where often we’re far more sedentary than usual, affect our metabolism, weight gain and cardiovascular health.
I could go on, but you get the idea, and not just the amounts of these things but the quality too is so important.
Surely we all want to be the best version of ourselves every day, I know I do! The questions we need to be asking are:
Can you really perform at your best if you’re feeling sluggish and overweight?
Are you bringing your A game if you’re sleep deprived and struggling to stay focused?
As a leader are you using your natural biological strengths and talents to their full extent each day to maximise your sense of wellbeing?
Are you inspiring and encouraging your team to be healthy at work in a way that works for each individual?
Is your workplace encouraging collaboration and a psychologically safe environment where all staff are seen, heard and feel valued?
If you answered no to any of those questions, let’s chat. I’d love to listen to your vision for creating a healthy workplace and what that would mean for both you and your business.
Call 0800 STRESS LESS for a no pressure chat, to explore how integrating good health at work will boost wellbeing, productivity and quality of life for each individual in a way that resonates with their unique biology.