Month: July 2020

Mindfulness Contributes to Mental Fitness

Business & Career

When the nature of work changes it’s important for companies and organizations to reassess what is working and what might need strengthening.

For many workers, the makeup of work changed dramatically with COVID-19 and will likely continue with or without coronavirus. In the current reality, 46% of organizations have implemented work-from-home policies with 68% of them planning more flexible work arrangements even after they fully reopen.

Working from home offers many benefits for employees, but it is different, presenting distinct challenges. For example, many remote workers report a blurring of the line between work and personal time as an added mental weight, which can cause stress, anxiety and contribute to feelings of isolation or depression.

Mindfulness can be an effective countermove to this uncomfortable sense of mind muddling. “Mindfulness helps us acknowledge that we are not our thoughts and emotions,” says Alan Chu, Chair of Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology at UW-Green Bay. “This perspective helps us be self-compassionate and not overthink stress and anxiety in order to prevent downward spiral.”

In rigorous studies, mindfulness has revealed true benefits:

  • Stronger focus
  • Staying calmer under stress
  • Better memory
  • Increased generosity

All four of these benefits are valuable in today’s needed-it-yesterday work culture. When you begin a mindfulness practice, you find out in a hurry how much your mind tends to wander. But by learning how to bring your mind back to breath you build your powers of concentration, clarity and calmness.

A researcher shared this example from a professional setting. When a high-level executive initiated a morning mindfulness session for their leadership team, they found the team got along better, sharing ideas and information more openly and less defensively, which resulted in better decision making for the company.

These kinds of results have inspired companies to offer mindfulness sessions, along with wellness and financial health sessions, as part of their benefits packages. Google and General Mills have been offering mindfulness sessions to their employees for over a decade. On Intel’s employee self-evaluations their program has clearly delivered positive signs of improved mental fitness, and Aetna reduced medical claims, saving millions of dollars.

Although it’s advisable to consult with a mindfulness teacher, mindfulness sessions are relatively easy to implement,  UW-Madison’s Center for Healthy Minds (www.centerhealthyminds.org) has a section for workplace well-being under their “Join the Movement” navigation with helpful case studies and articles, along with workplace-appropriate guided practices. Even mindfulness sessions as short as 5 or 10 minutes can make a dramatic difference with regular practice.

You could allow your employees time or space for mindfulness practice, or perhaps at your next meeting – in-person or virtual – you could begin with a short breathing exercise and kickoff the business at hand with the bright peal of meditation bells or tingsha. The result might just be a more profitable discussion.

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Professor Chu will be UW-Green Bay’s Continuing Professional Education’s Expert Spotlight on October 8 and will talk about “Keeping Remote Workers Mentally Fit.” Learn more and register for his valuable presentation. Dr. Chu also blogs on mindfulness and other topics.

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RESOURCES:
Inside UW-Green Bay News, July 15, 2020, “Professor Chu gives input on improving employee well-being during a pandemic.”
Virtual Vocations, July 14, 2020, “Relaxing When You Work from Home: A Guide to Mental Health.”
Forbes (Finance Council), July 2, 2019, “Mindfulness Programs are the Next Big Thing in Business Leadership.”
Harvard Business Review, September 28, 2017, “Here’s What Mindfulness Is (and Isn’t) Good for.”

That’s the Spirit!

Local Facilities Make Sure Social Distancing Doesn’t Mean Total Isolation

Nursing homes have been hard hit with the impact of coronavirus. In Wisconsin, visitors are restricted from visiting residents except for situations of compassionate care. Families and residents miss their regular interactions, and it can be a struggle especially for resident to maintain good spirits.

In response, facilities in Wisconsin and elsewhere have turned up the creativity, working diligently to keep surprise, joy and connection in the daily lives of their residents and staff.

Many have come up with activities and events that residents and staff enjoy so much they’ve appealed to administrators to keep them going even when operations go back to a version of normal.

Connection
  • Many facilities have purchased tablets and smartphones to make it possible for family to Facetime or Skype residents. “For a lot of people, this is all new to them,” said one activities director. “To see their loved one on an iPad or a cellphone…the smiles are unbelievable.”
  • In Minnesota, where the restrictions have expanded to include one designated “essential caregiver,” some facilities have created three-sided Plexiglass booths to allow a resident and essential caregiver to visit without a mask, which can be problematic if there’s a hearing or mental impairment. “Connections are important for everybody, any age, any ability or disability,” said a community relations manager.
Surprise
  • A facility in Washington County has developed “hallway cart events.” Residents sit in their doorways while staff members push a cart down the hallway. Each day, the cart has something different, such as root beer floats or ice cream. Residents can enjoy a treat and talk to their neighbors, while observing social distancing.
  • Facility staff will try to get a laugh from residents by dressing up as clowns or wearing an inflatable sumo wrestler outfit.
  • Other activities developed by staff include wandering the hallways playing their guitars, helping conduct hallway bingo and leading card-writing campaigns to loved ones and staff members
Joy
  • A favorite at one facility is “noodle ball.” The seniors sit in a circle, six feet apart, while batting a ball around with pool noodles.
  • Making paper airplanes and flying them down each hallway (so everybody could see them) was popular.
  • Most essential is making it possible for residents to see visitors through windows, along with animal visitors.

Although the focus might be on residents, staff are not excluded from uplifting activities. It’s a time of extraordinary stress for them, too. Facilities are providing daily snacks or weekly catered lunches. One facility set up a “decompression room,” filled with aromatherapy, meditation tapes, puzzles and access to a counselor.

One activities director commented that it’s a great time to try new things to see which are most embraced for boosting spirits. Even after the long haul of COVID-19, there’s no reason special activities and mood-lifting strategies can’t continue.

It’s all about momentum say social workers and psychologists when it comes to raising spirits. Facilities want to come up with activities they can stick with.

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If learning about the distinct needs of the elderly and specializing in geriatrics inspires you, check out our new certificate program in Geriatric Healthcare. You can help redefine healthy aging.

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RESOURCES:
“Long-Term Care Employees Get Creative to Offer Outdoor Visits,” INFORUM, Andee Erickson, July 13, 2020.
“Creative Activities Helping Seniors at Area Nursing Homes Cope with Pandemic,” Observer-Reporter, Jon Andreassi, April 23, 2020.
“COVID-19 Survey: Nursing Homes’ Top Strategies for ‘Keeping Spirits Up,’ McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, James M. Berklan, April 2, 2020.