Emotional wellness is an integral part of our overall well-being and affects our day-to-day functioning and behaviour. If left unchecked, overwhelming emotional problems can unsettle our lives and the lives of those around us. The extended pandemic has thrown a sharp focus on our emotional wellness and has left numerous employees across sectors wondering how to achieve emotional wellness for themselves and their loved ones or someone they know, so they can cope with situations better.

Based on the Workshop conducted by CecureUs in collaboration with Dr. Bhavna, we discuss the different ways of assessment of the level of emotional wellness of employees, understanding the severity of our problems, taking corrective measures, and building a lifestyle to help employees feel better now and going forward in the new post-covid normalcy that will hopefully soon follow.

Part #1 of this blog looks at multiple ways to effectively assess the emotional wellness of employees and identify what problems may be ailing them. The assessment can then help us recognize the kind of help they may need or the changes to make in their day-to-day lives to feel better and maintain healthy emotional wellness.

We begin by asking – What is Emotional wellness?

Emotional wellness can be defined as the state of well-being that allows an individual to:

• Fulfil their potential
• Be able to cope with problems and situations better even in times of adversities, like Covid-19
• Be able to do productive work while having a sense of purpose
• Be able to make a contribution to society

While these definitions give any employee keen to make an assessment or an overall understanding of how emotional wellness feels, they may not help us gauge our problems or emotional well-being completely.

To do that, we discuss three assessments that can help evaluate the emotional wellness of ourselves or those around us.

Assessment of the level of Emotional Wellness:

Self-assessment based on some specific parameters:

Our emotional states depend on our problems and manifest in different ways. Emotional wellness is also unique from person to person. Some of us may feel frustrated more often, and some may feel extremely tired and spent emotionally and physically. Many of us may also question our physical and emotional capabilities because of our problems, and some may be experiencing body aches and pains more than the usual threshold. Headaches, disturbed sleep patterns for long periods, negative thoughts, and prolonged low levels of concentration and motivation are a few more parameters that can help us understand the impact of our problems on emotional wellness. These parameters are easy to comprehend through simple self-assessment tests.

If an employee has been experiencing any or more of the above for prolonged periods, it clarifies that their emotional wellness is not currently up to the mark and needs all the attention it can get.

Identifying our potential:

Potential versus achievement can reveal to an employee the information about their emotional states. One of the best ways to identify our potential and emotional wellness is by performing a SWOT analysis. SWOT is nothing but an S – Strength, W – Weakness, O – Opportunity, and T – Threat analysis.

Strengths and weaknesses are generally temperamental or based on character and feelings. Opportunities and threats are circumstantial.

If an employee has identified their potential and sees that their performance falls short of their current potential, it could be a red flag.

This is another assessment that can help an employee identify any problem with their emotional wellness.

Types of responses to critical incidents:

Any incident draws out a response from us, however minute. (An apt example of a critical incident is Covid-19). Our bodies and minds are no different. Based on what’s happening around us, or even within us, or the problems we face, our emotional wellness changes, and there are several ways our body responds to critical incidents, be it at home or at work. These physical and emotional responses may sometimes be unbeknownst to us, working as symptoms of deeper emotional problems that we need to be aware of.

Below are the different types of responses to critical incidents that help in assessing our emotional wellness:

 – Somatic Responses:

1. Somatic responses mean bodily responses, which are mentioned below.

• Insomnia – Is a sleep disorder that affects the ability of an individual to have a good long sleep.

Insomnia can be classified into 3 types:

Initial Insomnia (An individual finds it difficult to fall asleep. Sleep always seems farther away than desired), Middle Insomnia (An individual finds it difficult to remain asleep and wakes up several times in between, effectively breaking the sleep cycle), and Terminal Insomnia (An individual wakes up much earlier than desired and cannot fall asleep again).

• Emotional Eating – Overeating or giving up on food due to appetite loss.
• Aches and pains – You May feel aches and pains in different parts of the body without much reason for the aches.
• Heavy head, headaches – Pain in the front part of the brain (frontal cortex), migraine.
• Palpitations – Irregular beating of the heart. Most commonly feels like the heart skipped a beat or beats too fast.
• Fatigue and tiredness – Feeling emotionally and physically drained, tired, and low on energy.

– Cognitive Responses:

1. Difficulty in paying attention, poor concentration, and loss of focus
2. Indecisiveness
3. Increase in forgetfulness
4. Procrastination
5. The ruminative pattern of thinking – Thinking of something particular for a prolonged period

– Affective Responses:

1. Internalizing stress to our problems manifests as follows – feeling low, disinterest in activities, negative thought processes, social isolation, feeling hopeless and helpless, being prone to anxiety and phobias, and OCD.
2. Externalizing stress manifests as anger, short-temper, Irritability, and displaced anger (Showing anger meant for someone or some other situation on someone else)

– Behavioural Responses:

1. Demotivated and discouraged
2. Procrastinating
3. Less productive
4. Avoiding situations and absenteeism
5. Presenteeism – Being present physically but mentally and emotionally absent.
6. Overindulgence in social media
7. Increased consumption of caffeinated drinks like Tea and Coffee
8. Increased consumption of Alcohol
9. Smoking
10. Use of drugs (illegal substances or self/unauthorized prescriptions of pharmaceutical drugs

The responses help in the assessment of emotional wellness in a more detailed and descriptive manner. If an employee notices some or many of these responses or reactions in themselves or someone near and dear to them, chances are the employee/ dear one’s emotional wellness is not healthy.

Assessing and identifying form the first few steps to emotional wellness. However, acknowledging that one’s emotional well-being is not healthy is of prime importance. Once this is achieved, emotional recovery can be facilitated much more effectively. The resultant healing would help us deal with the current situation and equip us to be better prepared for any situation that life may throw at us without overturning our emotional and mental well-being.

To know more about our Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH), Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (D,E&I) and Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) solutions do  write to us at connect@cecureus.com or call us at +91-7200500221.

In the past decade, our lifestyles have altered drastically to suit the demands of our fast-paced personal and professional lives, compromising our overall wellness. To balance out the time and energy we have left by the end of the day, at the same time, to cater to the unending needs of our family, we have all compromised on nutrition and resorted to ready-to-eat packaged foods, restaurant take-out, and fast foods, most of which are unhealthy. And it has become regular and part of our weekly plans. This shows that we are slowly inclining toward an unhealthy lifestyle, putting our immune system at risk beyond imagination and lowering immunity in kids and adults.

In recent years we see many of our acquaintances and friends in their early thirties with compromised wellness and immunity, succumbing to diverse health issues, ranging from diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol problems, and liver and kidney issues to life-threatening disorders and malignant tumours. The current covid-19 pandemic has opened us to an entirely new healthy lifestyle of improving our immune system, immunity, and overall wellness by focussing on diet and fitness, which we were aware of, yet oblivious to during the pre-covid era.

In the wellness workshop conducted by CecureUs with expert certified nutritionist Pavan T.S, she explains the mechanism of our body’s immune system and how we can adapt to a healthy lifestyle to keep our immune system in shape and the diet to stay fit and boost our immunity to conquer the virus.

Understanding Our Immune System:

Our diet habits, lifestyle, wellness, and immune system are interlinked. To understand nutrition and strengthen our immunity and overall wellness, we have to know the crux of our immune system, which is of two types:

The Innate Immune System: This is the immune system we are born with. It is the body’s first line of defence, natural immunity, and it shows a rapid action to the pathogen exposure.

The adaptive Immune System: This is the immune system that evolves when we are exposed to a wide range of pathogens over time. This immunity takes time to develop and acts as a backup force to support the innate immune system.

Why does Covid call for a super-strong immune system?

The current pandemic is taking a toll on us by defeating the body’s immunity and our overall wellness. It happens due to an ineffective immune system, which is unhealthy and incompetent to handle the new pathogen. This calls for a shift in our lifestyle and diet to keep the immune system ready for the battle.

Apart from following the advised safety precautions, we should follow a few steps to strengthen our immunity and our body’s defence mechanism to stay healthy.

1. Focus on the intake of healthy foods that boost immunity by strengthening our immune systems. This includes a well-balanced diet with carbohydrates, healthy fats, proteins (daily consumption in grams should be equivalent to body weight in kilograms), Vitamins, and minerals.
2. Cut down on unhealthy sugar and simple carbs, and consume more proteins and complex carbohydrates for physical wellness.
3. 2.5 to 3 litres of water/fluid intake per day to boost hydration and immunity.
4. Follow a stress-free lifestyle with Yoga and Meditation. Practice physical exercise like running, jogging, Zumba, or dancing for at least half an hour every day to keep the immune system healthy to cater to physical wellness.
5. Uninterrupted sleep for at least 6 hours every day for rejuvenation and emotional wellness.

Zinc, Vitamin C, and Vitamin D:

Zinc, Vitamins C, and D primarily aid our immune system fight diseases. Without these micronutrients in adequate quantities, our system will become unhealthy and fumble.

Zinc can be taken as a supplement. It is found in poultry, baked beans, flax seeds, chia seeds, chickpeas, nuts like cashews, etc.

Vitamin C is a boon to the immune system. Found in citrus fruits, broccoli, strawberries, etc.., it boosts our body’s metabolism and contributes to gut wellness.

Vitamin D is obtained from natural sunlight. Foods like oily fish, egg yolks, and fortified cereals are good sources of Vitamin D. It is helpful to calm down the body’s inflammatory responses and increases the absorption of minerals like calcium in our bones.

Regularly consuming these micronutrients will give our immune system an upper hand over any pathogen invading the body.

Tips for Post-covid Recovery:

If you have tested positive for the covid–19 virus or are on the road to recovery, you may follow these tips to bring your immune system and overall immunity and wellness back on track.

1. Consume immunity-boosting healthy foods.
2. Maintain a calm state of mind for emotional wellness. Contact a counsellor if you feel anxious or disturbed.
3. Watch out for fluid intake, which should be more than the recommended level.
4. Sleep more to recover faster. Sleep brings our emotional wellness back.
5. Practice deep breathing without fail.
6. Include probiotics for improving gut wellness and digestion.

Balanced Diet and BMI:

After covid, there has been an increased awareness about obesity and the need to maintain a healthy weight. People are adapting to different styles of fad diets to lose out on those extra pounds. However, sustenance on those diet habits even after attaining the target BMI is unachievable for many. Our body requires a balanced diet with the right quantities of micro and macronutrients to stay healthy in the long run. Whatever diet plans we follow, we should incorporate a step-by-step strategy to adjust, watch out for a perfect balance to satiate our body’s nutrient and energy requirements, and not go overboard or put our body and wellness to a jolt.

Why Should we cut down on sugar and simple carbs?

Refined sugar and simple carbs found in processed foods, candies, cakes, sweets, etc.., cause an immediate spike in blood sugar levels. The phagocytes of the innate immune system get paralyzed by sugar, which weakens our immune system in the long run. We are all aware that the hormone insulin secreted by the pancreas checks our body’s glucose levels. But the primary function of insulin is to unlock our body cells and feed them with the required energy. The foods that we eat should release sustained energy and be healthy. When our sugar levels are spiked at all times, insulin fails to do its job of energizing our cells. Consuming sugars and unhealthy fat, in the long run, leads to insulin resistance. This is the main reason for sweet cravings and unusual hunger pangs.

Intermittent Fasting:

Intermittent fasting is one of the techniques that has gained popularity in recent times. It allows us to give our body time to cleanse itself and re-energize by fasting for 14 to 16 hours a day. There is an 8 to 10-hour window to eat, followed by a 14 to 16-hour window to fast. The fasting period allows consumption of water, black coffee, black tea, and other light drinks like tender coconut water. Studies have shown that intermittent fasting is healthy and helps with weight loss. It boosts our brain activity and controls diabetes and obesity by releasing energy from the accumulated fat in the body.

Stress VS Immunity:

Our daily stress has a direct impact on our immune system. Apart from interfering with sleep patterns, stress impacts overall wellness, leading to overweight issues, hormonal imbalance, and skin and hair problems.

Although stress is unavoidable, it is essential to keep it at bay by regularly practicing deep breathing techniques and yoga asanas. Having an understanding and supportive social circle of friends and relatives and consulting a psychological counsellor for help to deal with stress can be helpful too.

We can progress towards a more robust future by making simple changes in our diet and incorporating a healthy lifestyle. So, Eat Healthy, Stay Fit!

Do not miss out on our Cecureus Wellness Workshops that are being conducted every week to guide you with various coping strategies during the current pandemic.

Image Source

1. (882) Pinterest
2. What is Intermittent Fasting and the What Are the Benefits? – Live a Life You Love (mariskarichters.com)
3. Freepik

What is Mental Health First Aid?

Mental Health First Aid is nothing but a concept similar to first aid but aimed at assisting people to maintain good mental health and a process to intervene. It is the first-hand assistance offered to any human experiencing new or worsening mental health problems or any individual in a mental health crisis.

Those trained in this field to offer assistance to people going through emotional distress are called mental health first aiders. The duty of mental health first aider is to identify the person at risk and refer them to a professional.

Why understanding what mental health is & mental health first aid is the need of the hour?

The concept of mental health and mental health first aid is still alien to our sub-continent, given the fact we have more than 1,39,000 people succumbing to suicide in 2019 alone, the highest in the last 10 years!

With technology engulfing our physical world, limiting human touch when virtual interaction took over as the new normal, it is high time that corporates educate their employees and human resource professionals on knowing more about what mental health is all about and how to identify people struggling with mental health challenges.

Through the certification course by the Mental Health First Aid India came an opportunity to equip me as mental health first aider. This helped me identify those struggling to maintain mental health and the process of intervening when anyone’s mental health and safety are compromised. This was beneficial in both walks of my life, both professional & personal.

Mental health first aid can be a boon to employees dealing with mental health issues like anxiety, fear, substance use, eating disorders, gambling and addiction problems, etc. Mental health first aiders are equipped with the knowledge to guide and provide assistance to individuals experiencing mental health crises like suicidal thoughts, maniac depression, psychosis, panic attacks, trauma and abuse, addiction-related issues, and other aggressive behaviours until the time they contact a counsellor.

Mental Health First Aid certification for Human Resource Professionals

We still see a stigma attached to any employee who visits a therapist/psychologist in our workplaces. Let us get some perspective on this. A psychologist is similar to your dentist or a personal trainer, who gives you the needed assistance. Obviously, the function varies and is centred around mental health, but the willingness to seek self-help and ensure safety and overall wellbeing is something no human should resist or stray away from.

Know the signs, know how to talk:

As a human resource professional for 7 years with a background in mental health and social work, psychology has always been my prime area of interest. Human interaction and mental health and wellness have been the centre of my work life. With the majority of an employee’s day spent at work, I feel that Human resource professionals should be primely equipped to identify warning signals of employee mental health problems to offer assistance before it is too late.

If you are a human resource professional, you must know the warning signs of mental health issues and crises to offer assistance to employees without delay. Some warning signs to watch out for may be,

• bizarre or unusual thinking
• hallucinations
• decreased social interactions
• dip in performance or sudden loss of focus
• emotional outbursts
• substance use
• guilt or worthless feeling

If any of your employees are experiencing any of the above symptoms, initiate a conversation. Instead of asking, “What is wrong with you?” ask, “How are you feeling?” Be transparent about your concerns about mental health. Let them know that you have approached them in their best interests. Respect the employee’s feelings and do not judge. Be empathetic while talking. Remember that dismissing their feelings or trivializing their emotions will worsen the situation. Know what to talk, how to talk.

The fact is mental health issues themselves are a broad spectrum. This makes mental health first aid training an absolute necessity for human resource professionals. The concept of this certification on mental health first aid for managers and human resource professionals is to read the signals of those employees identified to have mental health issues and empathize with them until a professional intervention is set in place.

Most multinational corporations have EAP – Employee Assistance Program. But the question is, do your employees feel confident to approach these platforms to open up about their mental health issues and seek assistance?

So, what if an employee or a friend of yours starts showing physical distress about a recent life incident. How would you approach them and explain that all humans have emotional vulnerability at some point in life?

Does talking about depression and suicide in humans still taboo for you?

These are the questions that need to be asked and barriers that will need to be removed to become a mental health first aider.

Never underestimate the power of a conversation.

About the Author:

Charles Vinoth F is an International HR Business Partner with Mphasis who comes with an experience of 7 yrs in the field of HR.

He holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work with HR specialization from Madras School of Social Work – Egmore, Chennai & A Bachelors Degree in Commerce from Loyola College – Chennai.

HR by profession and an Artist by passion who loves to pause, inspire, and share.

To know more about our Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH), Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (D,E&I) and Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) solutions do write to us at connect@cecureus.com or call us at +91-7200500221.