As this week is Emotional Health Week, we decided to take a look at the impact of emotional health in the workplace.
Emotional health includes how we think and how we feel. According to the Samaritans, this impacts our sense of overall well-being, as well as how we acknowledge our own emotions and those of others.
Stress, workload, and other external factors can affect our emotions. Feeling out of control of our emotions can impact us at any time, including when we’re at work.
Being aware of your emotions and how they might be impacting you at work and at home can help you to recognise that you need to make changes. Taking positive steps to manage your emotional health can boost your resilience to stress and promote self-esteem.
Having tools to help manage emotional stress can help you to cope better at work. This can help to improve your performance at work, from the way that you interact with colleagues and clients, for example, to the way that you manage your workload.
What can you do to boost your emotional health at work?
Practice recognising emotions – including negative ones
If you’re angry or stressed at work, it can seem easier to push the feelings away. However, taking a moment to acknowledge negative feelings and handle them in a positive way – such as by taking a walk, or by practicing mindfulness – is far more beneficial to your emotional health.
Get regular exercise
Exercise can help you to process and regulate your emotions, and gives you the opportunity to work through big feelings like overwhelm or stress. A regular gym session, a jog, or even a brisk walk on your lunch break can benefit your emotional as well as physical health.
Encourage activities with well-being benefits
Taking part in activities which promote mental and physical well-being can help you to improve and maintain your emotional health when you’re at work, especially if you build these into your daily/weekly routine. For example, you may consider trying meditation, yoga, mindfulness or massage.
For more tips on supporting your emotional health, check out this useful guide by the US Department of Health.
We recommend workplace massage, as it promotes both emotional and physical health. For example, massage can have a positive effect on mood and emotion by increasing the ‘happy hormones’ dopamine and serotonin.
Massage has also been proved to increase oxytocin which helps to reduce stress and helps us feel more connected with one another.*
These positive effects of massage on emotions, combined with specific massage techniques to re-vitalise and re-energise employees, guarantees a happier and healthier team.
And remember – leading by example is key!
Show your team how much you support their well-being by valuing your own emotional health, and by encouraging them to try out the ideas above.
To find out more about the benefits of Corporate Chair Massage and ‘At Your Desk’ Vitality Massage, click the links above or get in touch with us at info@essentialvitality.co.uk
* For further information, check out our blog post on how massage can help to reduce stress.
