Chapter 4 Living a healthy lifestyle

Introduction

  Whereas the primary level interventions outlined in Chapter 3 directly addressed the working environment itself, secondary level interventions focus on teaching the individual a range of strategies to help them cope more effectively in a working environment that is by its nature inherently stressful. The remainder of Part II (Chapters 4 to ) provides an outline of the most effective secondary level interventions that can be used to combat stress. These include ‘living a healthy lifestyle’ (the present chapter), ‘developing effective time management skills’ (Chapter 5), ‘developing assertiveness skills’ (Chapter 6), ‘developing effective interpersonal skills’ (Chapter 7), ‘developing relaxation skills’ (Chapter 8) and ‘changing the way you relate to your work’ (Chapter 9). The rest of this chapter focuses on the first of these, namely the importance of living a healthy lifestyle.

Living a healthy lifestyle

  Living a healthy lifestyle means getting regular exercise, eating a healthy diet, restricting the use of medication and other drugs, such as alcohol and caffeine, stopping smoking, and getting enough rest and sleep. Recommendations are made in all these areas based upon the latest evidence of what constitutes a healthy lifestyle.

Regular exercise

  Exercise not only keeps one physically fit, helps control weight, lowers blood pressure and is good for your heart but also is a great ‘stress buster’. For those who have not done much exercise for a while, the starting point for becoming more active may simply mean walking to the shops rather than using the car, doing some gardening or household tasks that you may have been putting off for a while, or playing a gentle game of football with your children in the local park. It is very easy to talk yourself out of doing exercise by making excuses such as you are simply ‘too busy’, ‘do not have the right equipment’, ‘can’t afford it’, or it’s ‘too hot’, ‘too cold’ or ‘it’s raining’. Begin by being honest with yourself and acknowledge the excuses that you are making not to exercise. There are many activities that you can do which need not take much time, do not cost anything and do not require specialist equipment. Even if there are genuine obstacles, try to be creative in thinking of ways to free up some time to do exercise. You may be more likely to enjoy and sustain an exercise programme if you do it socially or competitively with friends. If you are not sure about what activities are available, try to find out through your local leisure centre, gym, library, newspaper or on the internet.

Any kind of exercise can carry with it certain dangers if you try to do too much too soon. So, it is important if you have not been doing much exercise for a while, that you build up gradually. A graded exercise programme should be followed, not doing too much too soon. If you have any physical health problems that you think could restrict the kind or level of activity that you can do, it is recommended that you seek the advice of your doctor before starting a planned programme of activity. Do not push yourself too much too soon. Set yourself targets that are achievable and build up gradually. For example, a target for someone who has done very little exercise for a long time may be simply to have a brisk short walk. Also you do not have to do all the exercise in one go. You could for example do 10 minutes of exercise in the morning and repeat it again in the afternoon. Also, take notice of what your body is telling you. You do want your heart rate and breathing to be faster than when you are inactive, but you do not want to reach the point where you are feeling so breathless that you are unable to talk, or are feeling physically unwell.