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BBP33 How Does Stress Affect Your Health?

Lessons for Leaders

Release Date: 04/05/2019

Celebrating 100 Episodes show art Celebrating 100 Episodes

Lessons for Leaders

Welcome to Lessons for Leaders.  Can you believe it’s episode 100? The goal has always been to share lessons, learnings, tips and advice and even when things got tough with it, I’ve enjoyed it more and I’m proud to be able to say I got to 100. Many of my regular listeners will know that my girls are the reason I do what I do and my eldest girl is about to make me a Granny next month so it seems like a good time to pause the episodes for a while. This last one is a very special episode, with my other amazing girl joining me at the mic to ask some of the questions you, my listeners...

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How to Persuade Leaders to Invest in Wellbeing show art How to Persuade Leaders to Invest in Wellbeing

Lessons for Leaders

This week I'm sharing top tips and conversations that I have frequently with people in organisations to help them know how to persuade leaders to invest in wellbeing. We're covering: What to do to persuade your leaders The 3 R’s that I like to go with organisations I work with. Why we need to look at revenue in different ways and I dive into specifics here to give you a head start. How to highlight the risks to an organisation Why it’s important to include reputation in this persuasive detail too. It’s easy to say wellbeing can help to reverse employee burnout and reduce stress,...

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Why a Good Leader Will Give Teams Autonomy show art Why a Good Leader Will Give Teams Autonomy

Lessons for Leaders

This week I'm joined by Gemma Woodward who is People & Culture Manager for Netsells in York.  We are talking about leadership and autonomy.  Listen in for: What are the benefits of allowing autonomy. How leaders can encourage autonomy in their teams. Where leaders get it wrong with a top down leadership and how it can affect their people and the organisation what's one key thing that people should remember about autonomy   Key comments and take-aways A top down leadership can create a fear of coming forward and fear of making mistake, their ideas and decisions might...

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Why Leaders Need to Get Back to the Floor  show art Why Leaders Need to Get Back to the Floor

Lessons for Leaders

What on earth is back to the floor? I start with that and why I'm covering the subject (it was inspired by my wonderful friend and leader Tina.  So I'm also covering today: Why is it important to know first hand what’s happening on your shop floor Some real life examples and stories of how back to floor worked, and how it didn’t One really, really important question to ask yourself   I share stories from my experience in corporate and Tina's feedback too to give real life examples - some are funny, some are lovely, one is a little shocking! Here's one of the key things .......

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Why it's Worth Investing in Stress Awareness show art Why it's Worth Investing in Stress Awareness

Lessons for Leaders

This week on the podcast I'm talking about Why it's Worth Investing in Stress Awareness. I wonder if you've ever had a time when you've ever felt stressed and known what would help ... but not bothered to do it???? This is just one of the reason why I'm sharing information that can help you make a decision on whether it's worth investing in stress awareness.   I cover:   What is causing Stress in the workplace? How Will Stress Awareness Help Your Organisation? How Does Stress Impact Productivity? Is it Worth Investing in Stress Awareness? Ways I can support you or help for you to do...

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Lockdown Lessons for Leaders show art Lockdown Lessons for Leaders

Lessons for Leaders

Two years since the UK locked down from the Covid 19 virus.  In fact pretty much the world locked down.   It changed so many things About how we live How we work Connections & communication Wellbeing – what were thankful for – fear / perspective Resilience   Have you looked back at those pictures from cities that were empty and streets that were bare?  I know I have.  There were bits that I loved, bits I didn’t love. There was a significant difference in how people viewed the lockdown.  Some loved it.  Some hated it.  For some it was...

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Supporting Female Leaders show art Supporting Female Leaders

Lessons for Leaders

In honour of International Women's Day, I’m here to give ideas of ways that you can support women in leadership roles.  There can be a number of reasons why there are less women than men in leadership roles.   Data from the House of Commons found that companies led by women outperform those led by men - but despite this, we're very far from achieving gender parity in the workplace I share information about  Break the Bias Unconscious biases, opinions, beliefs are formed early in our childhood.  We learn these from family, friends, people of authority that are social...

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Why Empathy is Crucial for Great Leaders show art Why Empathy is Crucial for Great Leaders

Lessons for Leaders

This week I'm talking to you about why empathy is crucial for great leaders.   I cover : What is empathy Why does it matter in leadership Whether empathy can be learned  How it can improve performance, create connections and What you can do to be more empathic.   Why empathy is crucial for great leaders and what is empathy anyway? Empathy is the ability to experience and relate to the thoughts, emotions, or experience of others.  So it's about truly feeling what the other person is feeling. You know I often talk about how we don't 'do' emotions.  But empathy is about...

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Easy Ways to Say No show art Easy Ways to Say No

Lessons for Leaders

Do you find it difficult to say no to people?  Perhaps it means you end up being busy, stressed, over-committed?  Often when we struggle to say no to people it can leave us feeling used, put up-on, juggling too many things.  Are you the one who ends up working late because you’ve said yes to others, yet you’re the one with more to do?   This episode is for you where I talk about   Say no and establish healthy boundaries How to handle the fear, stress, worry and guilt The surprising reason that saying no is good for you Key phrases that you can begin to use to get...

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De-stigmatizing Mental Health show art De-stigmatizing Mental Health

Lessons for Leaders

This week I'm sharing tips and information about De-stigmatizing Mental Health.  I share key points on:   Why mental health is stigmatized How stigma brings shame and what that looks like How it will impact on your organisation Good news on the wider impact of investing in destigmatizing Key things that you can do and examples too   When we prevent people talking openly and transparently we also prevent those who need it from having support.    Stigma brings shame.  Listen in for information about how people respond then feel ashamed and what the impact will be...

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Stress comes in all shapes and sizes. Stress can be defined as any type of change that causes physical, emotional or psychological strain.  The term ‘stress’ refers to the response you have when facing circumstances that force you to act, change, or adjust in some way to maintain your footing, or to keep things balanced.  
 
In small doses, these factors increase your strength and stamina, speed your reaction time, and enhance your focus. This is where some people will say stress is good for you!  So, does stress affect your health?
 
Stress is a huge contributor to people needing time off work. Surveys suggest that over 10 million people in the UK are taking time off due to stress and stress related illness.  Mental health issues, including stress and anxiety are the reason for one in five visits to a GP.
 

What’s Going On?

When you are stressed your adrenal glands are forced to produce more cortisol and adrenaline (the main stress hormones). These hormones prepare the body for emergency action.
 
  • Heart pounding or beating faster
  • Breathing quickens or become more shallow
  • Muscles tighten
  • Arms or legs shake
  • Blood pressure rises
  • Your senses become sharper
All of these are automatic reactions coming from an area of the brain called the amygdala. That’s like your internal fire alarm. This stress response has existed in humans since we were cavemen. Life was much simpler then and life and death situations really meant life and death! Now, they don’t.  However, your brain has not figured that out!
 
Here’s the thing. When your internal fire alarm is going off, it also switches off your thinking brain. So you can’t think clearly or logically!!!
  

Is Stress Affecting Your Health?

Stress that continues over long periods of time can contribute to serious health problems.  Stress can affect you in many ways.
 
  • Weakened Immune System and catching colds more easily
  • Sleep Issues
  • Low Energy, feeling tired all the time
  • Feeling Overwhelmed
  • Memory Problems / Poor Time Management
  • Anger Issues
  • Being Negative
  • Aches and pains for seemingly no particular reason – tight shoulders, clenched jaw, stiff back
  • Spots! Cortisol clogs your pores
  • Thinning hair 
Often we only notice the emotional effects of stress, however there are many physical impacts too.  So it’s important we do something about our responses or even our lifestyles to counter-balance this.
  

Causes of Stress

The hormone responses are there for times when you are being chased by a tiger or a bear, not for any of these listed blow!  There are many events in life that can cause stress.
 
  • Wrong or Difficult Job
  • Redundancy or Unemployment Worries
  • Long Hours
  • Conflict with Colleagues
  • School or College Pressure
  • Friendship Difficulties
  • Test Anxieties
  • Financial Worries
  • Negative Relationships
  • Loneliness
  • Parenting Challenges
  • Unhealthy habits
The people that I see regularly, come to me for coaching and other help because they still don’t want to go to their GP and they don’t want to take time off or alert their employer that they are feeling under pressure.  
 
If you think stress is wrecking your body, then make it a point to get things under control. Remove yourself from toxic situations and plan some stress-reducing activities.  
 
Often when I go into the workplace to provide short training sessions there's quite a misconception about what stress is and whether the staff are affected.  Do please make sure you improve your understanding!  Investing in stress management and wellbeing is now widely recognised as being beneficial to your entire workforce and your business. In fact, employers have a legal responsibility to protect employees from stress in the workplace.  You can see more about the training HERE.
 
Get in touch to talk about how I can help you and your workforce to get stress under control.