#EventWell17 is the event industry’s first official national wellbeing week launching on the 18th of September and running until Friday the 22nd September 2017. It’s vitally important that the events industry as a whole comes together with a proactive approach towards workplace wellbeing that equips the industry with the knowledge and skills to stay healthy and happy.
To show our support, over the next ten weeks we will be running a series of blogs about mental and physical health to inspire and encourage you to join the initiative.
Blog 6 by Sadie Frost, the co-author of the book Nourish:
What I find interesting is there are so many different ways to get healthy. It can be anything from diet, exercise keeping our cortisol and stress levels at bay and having peace of mind.
We live in a crazy world and it’s important to protect ourselves, value our health and give ourselves the best quality of life. Our lifestyles are so fast thus meaning: we do not take care of ourselves as much as we should and we are not aware about the damage we are actually doing. We rush around. We rush when we exercise, rush our time with our friends and family, we rush around on our smart phones with our faces literally glued to the screen – never being present and not enjoying each moment. We even rush meditating and planning sleep!
I for one am incredibly guilty of this: after a few months of intense work and taking on far too much my body went into panic, which triggered my adrenals meaning my central nervous system has gone into auto drive. What I have learnt is that the nervous system has many divisions. The sympathetic nervous system prepares the body for intense physical activity and this is often referred to as the fight or flight response. The parasympathetic is almost the opposite of this and relaxes the body and slows down high-energy functions. It is important to stay balanced and not to be constantly in flux. There are some simple things you can do to try and change these things.
Herbal tea – now I love my builder’s tea but herbals really make a difference. I never thought so – but they do! There are many studies to prove it such as evidence has proven chamomile to lower stress levels, improve sleep, protect the skin and soothe menstrual symptoms. Green tea can improve brain function; increase fat burning and the antioxidants may help lowers with risks with cancer. Lemon balm supports the liver function, helps regulate blood sugar levels, and it’s a powerful antioxidant and encourages restful sleep. Sage works wonders with hormone balance.
In fact, my favourite is sage at the moment because it really balances my hormones. This is something I have had to conquer all my life, when they are unbalanced they can make you feel quite mad.
Exercise is so important but sometimes maybe it’s more conducive to be gentle and more restorative so you can really calm things down. Then in this state, you can heal and repair yourself, meaning lots of problems are addressed. When the body is not in a balanced state we can get inflamed which causes many things including rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and autoimmune disease. Forrest Yoga is my new pastime. It is super relaxing, meaning you can connect with your breath and really calm your sympathetic nervous system down.
Walking in the park amongst trees and nature is a very healing grounding experience. I try and do this a few times a week. I go to my local heath or woods and just walk on my own.
Try not to be in any toxic relationships with people, otherwise we are constantly repeating patterns and increasing stress and producing cortisol. At some point, we need to let go of them including all our resentments as in the end it only really hurts us.
It’s important to truly work on our relationships, put the phone away, be mindful and give your friend some quality time instead of moaning to them about how busy you are -we are all busy!! Going on about it is very counterproductive.
Hormones are very important whatever stage of your life, as I said I have felt quite mental recently so I had my thyroid test done—something I strongly advise as it can really guide you with what’s going on, as well as breast and gynie check-ups plus the usual smear test. Visit your GP or naturopath regularly and one word from someone who really tries to be healthy you must keep on be top of all of this and hopefully you can be and feel like superwoman!
Naturopaths I recommend:
Rosemary Ferguson- http://www.rosemaryferguson.co.uk/
Jo Gamble- https://embracingnutrition.co.uk/
Detox retreat- https://www.amchara.com/
Sadie Frost is the co-author of Nourish, along with Amber Rose and Holly Davidson, published by Kyle Books (priced at £18.99). Photography by David Loftus.