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A wide range of information and self-care techniques to help you be proactive in managing your mental health and stress in the workplace, including how to say ‘no’, managing digital pressures, good time management and many more.

 

Although all these tips may be familiar, it is always worth revisiting them. When we start becoming stressed, anxious or depressed we often neglect to do the things we know are good for us. Attending to this is especially important during times of high pressure.

 

1.   Maintain a healthy lifestyle

 

How well are you looking after your mental (and physical) wellbeing?

Thinking about these questions honestly will help you think about whether you are doing enough for your mental (and physical) wellbeing:

  • Am I finding it hard to let go of work and relax?
  • Am I regularly working longer hours than usual/than I am comfortable doing?
  • Do I sleep well?
  • Do I spend enough time with my friends and family or doing the activities I enjoy?
  • Am I finding myself becoming pre-occupied with work, and is it having an impact on my personal and professional relationships?
  • Am I becoming withdrawn, and avoiding interactions with others that I would usually enjoy?
  • Am I eating healthily?
  • Am I exercising regularly in a way that is appropriate for me?
  • Am I taking breaks?
  • Am I spending time outside and close to nature?

Are your answers suggesting that you are finding it hard to look after yourself? It is useful to recognise what’s stopping you do this. What inner messages are you giving yourself? Do you need to give yourself permission to take breaks? What’s stopping you asking for help, delegating tasks or saying no?

 

Rest, relax and disconnect from work

  • Taking regular breaks (during the day, in the evening, at weekends and annual leave) is essential for maintaining our mental wellbeing. It also makes us work more effectively.1 Working flat out when we are tired can be counter-productive. Breaks are not a luxury.
  • Make sure you maintain proper boundaries between your work and home life so you can switch off in the evenings, at weekends and when you are on annual leave.
  • Notice when you start neglecting to do this and take steps to address it. Feeling you are too busy to take a break, is probably a sure sign that you need one.
  • Challenge presenteeism (where you continue to work when you are not well, physically or mentally) and leaveism (where you continue to work beyond your contracted hours or on holiday) in yourself and others. If this is part of the culture, work with others to change it. It is not helpful for you or anyone else and paradoxically ends up costing more than taking time off work when you are unwell.2
  • Remember that in legal services an organisation is nothing without its employees, although you might have a perception that wellbeing and mental health is not a priority for management you will find allies that will listen to your concerns and ideas.

   

Sleep

Often sleep is a casualty when we are stressed, anxious or depressed. Lack of sleep can actually increase anxiety and so it becomes a vicious circle.2 If you are having trouble sleeping:

  • Us humans are designed to be awake during the day and asleep at night, so respect your Circadian rhythms.3 Disrupted sleep patterns can severely impact on our physical and mental health. For example, novel solutions to complex problems are enhanced three-fold after a good night’s sleep.4 If your work involves long-haul flights and jet lag, you need to pay particular attention to how you reset your ‘body clock’. We are not designed to disrupt the natural rhythms of night and day, which if ignored can have a profound effect on how we feel and function.3
  • Try to increase exposure to natural sunlight or bright lights during the day.
  • Reduce bright lights and blue light exposure (from electronic devices and screens) in the evening, especially in the hour before you plan to go to sleep.
  • Avoid looking at screens in bed, even mobile phones, as this will wake your brain up and make it harder to switch off. Put your devices into sleep mode and/or in another room so you are not disturbed by alerts and try to resist checking your work emails!
  • There is evidence that having a 30-minute walk within two hours of waking up, having a hot bath just before bed or doing some gentle breathing or yoga before bed can all help.
  • Avoid checking the time if you wake up in the night.

 

Exercise

The benefits of regular exercise for both our physical and mental health are well documented. It can be an effective way to help manage depression and stress. But it is important to find a kind of exercise that suits you. Not everybody has the same level of fitness or mobility. Sometimes we have negative associations with certain kinds of exercise dating from school days.

If you can find times in your working day to move away from your desk or ideally get outside for a quick walk, if you are able, it will pay dividends and leave you feeling refreshed for the rest of the day. Sitting hunched over a computer is bad for us – our necks, shoulders, back, hips, eyes and brains – so it is useful to have a break at least once an hour and do a few stretches, even if you can’t leave your desk. It is easy forget to do this when working from home.

Many in the legal professions are driven and competitive, which is what can often lead to work-related behaviour that creates wellbeing challenges. If exercise helps your mental health, consider trying to channel those instincts into developing a regime to ensure you provide time to do the exercise that is helpful to you; for example, to do 10,000 steps a day, or to go for a 30 minute walk at lunch.

 

Eat well

It can be tempting to use caffeine and alcohol, as well as sugary or ‘junk’ food, when we are stressed or depressed but caffeine will increase anxiety and alcohol is a depressant. Increasingly, the links between diet and mental health are gathering support from clinical research communities.5 Just like the heart, stomach and liver, the brain is an organ that is acutely sensitive to what we eat and drink, so it is extra important to eat well and reduce caffeine and alcohol, especially when we are becoming stressed.

 

Be kind to yourself

Self-compassion (and there is a strong evidence base for its effectiveness6) encourages us to treat ourselves with kindness and compassion and to be aware of when we are unduly self-critical, hard or punitive. It encourages us to notice when our bullying inner voice kicks in and, through compassionate self-talk, helps lower the stress arousal and changes in brain chemistry that self-criticism causes. This enables us to deal more effectively with distressing events and feelings.

 

Incorporate the 5 ways of wellbeing into your life

These are an NHS approved set of evidence-based activities which can help support your mental wellbeing.7

  1. Connect with other people; maintain contact with others; try to avoid isolating yourself.
  2. Be physically active; find an activity which suits you. We are all different.
  3. Learn new skills (and be creative); this helps keep you interested and engaged in life.
  4. Give to others; even little things count.
  5. Pay attention to the present moment (mindfulness); take notice, try and stay in the moment and really be aware of what is going on around you.

An important way of protecting your mental health both at work and at home is to make sure you look after yourself and establish a good work/life balance. This can feel very challenging at certain times in your life, especially when you are juggling different needs and demands.

 

2.    Establish healthy boundaries

Having firm, clear boundaries in place helps protect us and others. They help us establish where our responsibilities begin and end and give clarification about this with both ourselves and others.

Not having proper boundaries usually comes from the desire to be helpful, appreciated, indispensable etc or maybe because it has never occurred to someone they might need them. People who are not clear about their boundaries often find themselves feeling put upon which can lead them to becoming resentful and exhausted. This can lead to a vicious cycle.

When setting boundaries, it is important to believe in them yourself, be consistent and not give mixed messages. In this case, sometimes actions, such as always making sure you leave work on time, speak louder than words.

Create a structure to ensure setting boundaries is part of work planning and where other people are clear about what you can and cannot do, and when. If your boundaries are reasonable, clear and within your job description – as well as allowing for a little bit of flexibility in certain exceptional circumstances – then your manager and colleagues should have no difficulties accepting them.

Setting boundaries, like many other self-caring behaviours, including saying ‘no’, can be extra hard when we are struggling with our mental health or feeling overwhelmed or confused. If this is the case, you may find it useful to seek help from someone else, for example, your line manager, a counsellor, mentor or coach.

 

3.   Know when and how to say ‘no’

Part of establishing good boundaries is being able to say ‘no’. This comes easily to some people but for others it can feel very hard. There are various reasons for this, such as wanting people to like us, fear of how people will react especially if we think they may be angry, upset or disappointed or feeling guilty if we think we’ve let someone down.

However, not being able to say no can lead to:

  • People taking it for granted that you will always say ‘yes’ and stop appreciating you.
  • Neglecting our own needs which can lead to becoming over-burdened and resentful in the end.
  • Becoming over-committed and ending up letting people down anyway, which is more annoying than if you had said ‘no’ in the first place.
  • Passive aggression; saying ‘yes’ but then finding a way to sabotage the task or not doing it anyway.

Being able to say ‘no’ in a clear, pleasant and unambiguous way is a skill that is useful both at work and at home. It helps with boundary setting and protects you from becoming overcommitted, overwhelmed or ending up doing tasks you are not comfortable with, all of which can put a strain on your mental health.

Some tips to help you say ‘no’ well:

  • Be aware of what you want to do and what you have the capacity for.
  • Listen carefully to what is being asked of you and demonstrate that you understand this.
  • Say ‘no’ firmly and calmly.
  • Try using the word ‘no’ (or something similar such as ‘that’s not possible’) as one of the first words in your response; this leaves no room for misunderstanding or ambiguity.
  • Give a brief, clear reason for the refusal.
  • Express regret but avoid long excuses or justifications.
  • Be sincere and authentic.
  • There may be times when a ‘yes, but…’ answer expressing support but being clear about when and in what way you can deliver, feels more appropriate.
  • Try not to feel guilty, responsible for other people’s feelings or start to overcompensate.

Saying ‘no’ can feel really hard at first but, like all new skills, gets easier with practice. Accept that people might start to see you in a different light – but that’s not necessarily a bad thing!

Conversely, there may be times when it is important to be able to say ‘yes’.

If you are set a new challenge or opportunity and a little voice inside you says you can’t do it, think about where this might be coming from and challenge its validity. Women especially, are inclined to deselect themselves from applying for certain jobs because they have assumed in advance they would not be able to do it or are not qualified enough.

If fear or lack of self-belief is holding you back, there may be times when saying ‘yes’ is important.

 

4.    Practise good time management

Do one thing at a time

When we have a lot on, it is easy to feel overwhelmed (or go into adrenaline-overdrive) and try to do everything at once. If you have an important piece of work to get done:

Do it first, when you are fresh

Our brains, as well as our bodies, get tired. If we spend time responding to non-urgent emails and tackling easy, possibly more appealing tasks, our brains are tired before we get down to the work which needs more concentration. Don’t check emails. Turn off alerts etc until you have made good headway.

Use the Franklin-Covey8 method of prioritising

This involves marking each task as one of the following:

a: Urgent and important

b: Important but not urgent

c: Urgent but not important

d: Neither urgent nor important

Try the Pomodoro technique9

This breaks tasks done into units of 25 minutes, separated by a short break.

Take breaks away from your computer/desk to refresh yourself

There is a lot of evidence that the more we struggle away at things, the less effective we become.10 Going for a short walk, doing some stretches or even a few moments day-dreaming can help us be more productive – then return to the task in hand.

Tackle the hardest task first

You will feel more fulfilled and readier to continue with other tasks. Also, our brains get tired so it’s best to do the more difficult things while you still have the most energy.

 

5.    Manage digital pressures

It is important to consider the impact a 24/7 connected culture can have on our mental health and the importance of having screen-free time at work and at home, especially when working from home.

  • Turn off pop-up notifications and alerts on your computer/phone and make use of the ‘do not disturb’ or ‘sleep’ functions on your phone while you are working on tasks that require concentration. You will be more productive and less distracted.
  • Resist using your phone (social media, checking the news etc) during breaks. A break away from all screens can allow your mind to recharge and you will be more focussed when you return.
  • Find ways to protect yourself from the build-up of emails and the need to react or respond instantly to any digital demand (email, text, WhatsApp etc).
  • When working with clients in different time zones, put in place boundaries around when you are and are not contactable. For example, do you really need to respond to emails or messages straight away?
  • Respect your need for sleep and home time, so arrange meetings that do not encroach too much on this. This is not being unreasonable or unhelpful, it is being sensible in terms of protecting your own wellbeing. You could try putting your work phone out of sight when at home and leaving it there. Remember, you will work much more effectively if you have adequate sleep and down time.

Cyber crime

  • Make sure you do everything you can to keep yourself safe from cybercrime such as scams, phishing, hacking, online fraud, online romance and identity theft. Cybercrime is really common. Most of us will have fallen for some kind of digital scam and this can have a profound impact on our mental health.
  • A victim of cybercrime might experience anger, shame, fear, anxiety and sadness, or events like nightmares and flashbacks. Even ‘minor’ scams or phishing emails can make you feel deeply ashamed (that you fell for it) and very insecure, anxious and fearful.
  • Report it and talk about it if you become a victim. This helps others. Remember there is no need to feel foolish or ashamed. It can happen to anybody. Cyber criminals can be very clever. Acknowledge the impact on you and get the help you need.

 

 

6. References and further information

 

1. The Importance of Taking Breaks.

2. Deloitte Mental Health Report 2022

3. Circadian Rhythm

4. Why is sleep important? Russell Foster

5. Nutrition and mental health: A review of current knowledge about the impact of diet on mental health

6. Why self-compassion boosts our mental wellbeing

7. NHS Five steps to mental wellbeing

8. FranklinCovey Habit of Personal Management

9. Pomodoro technique

10. Increasing Cybercrime Since the Pandemic: Concerns for Psychiatry,  Monteith et al 2021

 

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