January 10th, 2019
Know When It’s Time To Go
I have a friend who was experiencing burnout at work, and although his initial response was to try to overcome the issues associated with burnout – and there are many strategies – it gradually got to the point where the best advice I could give him was to look for another job. He had all the symptoms: anxiety, depression, feelings of helplessness and an inability to sleep. He had a crushing workload and an unsympathetic boss who gave him unclear and undefined tasks to perform – basically he was responsible for whatever came up, whenever he found out about it, which was usually too late.
January 2nd, 2019
Back to Work: Is it Time for a Work-Life Balance Check?
The holidays are over; time to get back to work. Don’t groan! Work is a good thing. It gives us purpose, establishes a routine, presents an opportunity to meet and interact with people and, of course, generates a paycheck. Work is good. On the other hand, it is sometimes easy to feel overwhelmed by work. Some people are so overloaded with time and scheduling conflicts that they have trouble coping. It might be time for a work-life balance check!
December 20th, 2018
Drink to Your Health: Leave Out the Alcohol
The holidays can be a difficult time for people who, for whatever reason, do not drink alcohol. Holiday parties, festive dinners and lunches, office celebrations – they all involve booze, including yummy specialty cocktails like rum and eggnog and peppermint mimosas. What’s a non-drinker to do?
December 17th, 2018
Too harried to be merry? How to beat holiday stress
Have you started Christmas shopping yet? Have you made a list, put up the decorations, driven to the mall, tried to park at the mall, ordered a turkey, mailed out Christmas cards…? Are you having fun yet? If the answer is “not really,” don’t feel guilty. You are experiencing something many people feel leading up to the Christmas season, including myself: holiday stress!
December 10th, 2018
Too Much Holiday Happiness Can Harm Your Health
Ah, the holidays. Turkey, stuffing, gravy, plum pudding, shortbread cookies, pie … and that’s just the main feast. I also love the parties with yummy hors-d’oeuvres and cocktails, the office Christmas pot-luck and those endless lunches catching up with old friends during the holidays. But when it’s all over, my bathroom scale sometimes makes me do a double take, and my favourite clothes magically seem to have shrunk down a size.
November 19th, 2018
Dude Diligence… What does the Movember ‘stache mean to you?
Why is it that everywhere I look this month, I think of my father? He passed away several years ago, and I think of him often, but these days, his presence seems to be everywhere. Then it hit me: it’s the ‘stache! My father was bald – he had been since his twenties – and, I guess as a way of making up for it, he always had a moustache. This being Movember, so does every other man on the street! The ‘staches are everywhere! Movember is a mash-up of “mustache” and “November.” The goal is to raise awareness about men’s health, particularly prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention. Movember is actually a charity that aims to help improve the quality of life of men suffering from these diseases and to promote prevention and healthy living. It’s something I wish my father had access to when he was younger; maybe it could have prevented his prostate cancer.
September 17th, 2018
Asbestos and Occupational Health
When discussing workplace injuries, the issues that come to mind might be an accident or a fall, but workers may not think about the ones that could affect their health in more invisible ways. In Canada, the number one cause of occupational death is exposure to asbestos.
July 27th, 2018
The Benefits of Being Grateful and How it Can Help You #FeelGood7/24
July 24 is a day when you should pause and think about what you are doing to stay healthy, prevent illness, or cope with a condition. This year the focus is on feeling good 7/24 – seven days a week, 24 hours a day, so this week we will review some evidenced based things that you can do to feel good every day – Today’s Topic – The Benefits of Being Grateful.