Did you realize that travel can actually save your life? Research has been conducted on people that don't take vacations and people that do. And the studies show that individuals that don't travel and don’t take time to themselves actually have a higher mortality rate. Wow, right? Not only that but taking time for yourself and getting away enhances all of the core eight dimensions of wellness. All eight. The spiritual, the connection of the healing within the body, the environmental wellness of tranquil environment, connecting with nature and harmony. Social connectedness brings physical wellness and helps your heart. One study showed that women who take vacation twice a year have an eight times less likely chance of having a heart attack than women that did not vacation. Taking this a step further, let’s consider this concept of psychological detachment. In order for our bodies to fully recover and our minds, us as women, need time away from everything to completely detach ourselves so that we can self-reflect on our lives. We can take care of ourselves and love ourselves and have this personal reflection. But we have to also address what we do while on these getaways. Because the most vital element in taking these mental and physical breaks is allowing ourselves to completely get away. Yet studies are showing that 27% of people on vacation are still checking their emails. Our bodies and our minds occasionally just need a complete break from stress. That includes the responsibility of being a parent, working and even household chores. Not only do we need this detachment, but there's a three step combination to really renew our mind and our body. First we need psychological detachment from everything. Then we need to engage in relaxation techniques. This could be done with yoga, mindfulness activities, journaling, reading, etc. And that third step is that we engage in a mastery skill. For example, going on a hike or a zip line, building a puzzle, or just doing something different. Our body needs this, our mind needs this and we need it for our lives. This also applies to the emotional healing from grief as well. Studies also show that traveling can really help us with that recovery as well. Consider the longer term benefits as well. Not only will you enjoy overall wellness from having traveled, but research goes on to show that months after returning from a trip, people are more productive at work, their relationships are enhanced, their marriage is enhanced, they’re more engaged as a parent and are less likely to suffer from depression. Once we are able to enjoy the benefits of wellness that comes from traveling, we can see that it's not just a luxury. It is a necessity that we need in order to live vibrantly and holistically. If financial limitations are preventing traditional travel, consider alternatives that can accomplish the same goals. It might be that you can take a day trip. Spend the weekend at a friend's house. Block out and plan for an hour at the gym every day. Take a walk. Spend some time at a neighborhood park or your own backyard. There is even a study on how just going out for the evening with girlfriends is helpful for our health, and longevity. And we all kind of just know that intuitively but now we know from research that it's been proven to make a difference. It truly comes down to finding consistent ways to take time for yourself to decompress, detach and then re-engage with renewed energy and spirit!

I have learned that many people are not consciously aware that there are actually multiple dimensions to our wellness. Specifically, there are eight core dimensions. Physical is one. If our physicality is unwell, it affects us in multiple ways beyond our physicality. When we get sick or hurt, we sometimes end up angry or sad or unable to focus. We have an emotional component. When we are going through grief or stress or a disagreement, our emotional state will immediately cause us to be unbalanced in our overall wellness. We have occupational wellness. We could be absolutely fine physically and emotionally but when work stress hits, it can impact us physically and emotionally. The next dimension is financial. Everything could be going perfectly in our life and a financial setback or stress can throw our whole world off track. Many marriages can be detrimentally affected by financial stresses. Next we have the intellectual dimension. Intellectual wellness means striving toward creativity in life, growing intellectually, and having good overall mental health. We can nurture this with continued learning, reading books, creating art, practicing problem solving, improving verbal skills, keeping abreast of social and political issues, and even learning to cook new recipes! Our spiritual wellness includes whether or not we feel a sense of purpose, some sort of meaning to our life. Feeling good about our ethics and morals. This may include religious activities or some other type of belief system that gives us a sense of wellbeing. Social wellness is next. How are the relationships we have and our interactions with others supporting us? Building nurturing relationships that are healthy and having genuine connections are a huge component of our overall well being. Lastly is our environmental wellness. Is the environment in which we live allowing us to relax and feel positive? Is our work environment positive and comfortable? Are we able to implement regular time outdoors in nature? If any one of these dimensions are impacted, our entire wellbeing becomes unbalanced. Consider your own core dimensions. Consider what areas you can consciously work to improve in all eight dimensions to ensure that you achieve complete wellness.

I'm sure we all remember that day that the Pandemic was announced and how it changed our lives in so many dramatic ways. COVID has had dramatic effects on all of our dimensions of wellness. Every aspect of our lives have been changed by COVID and post COVID specifically, and most importantly, mental health and occupational health.One positive outcome is that it has become more acceptable to speak about mental health issues and there is more support than ever before, which was much overdue and very needed.The research that I found on post COVID and the effects that it has had on mental health is severe. According to the world health organization, major depressive disorders and anxiety disorders have increased by more than 25% post COVID. This is around the entire world impacting mostly low and middle income countries and individuals dramatic effect. I've seen so many effects of post COVID, but the main ones that the research shows the most dramatic effects have been of course, stress, pervasive anxiety. There's now this fear of the next pandemic. So there's this pervasive, overwhelming anxiety, depression, and suicidal rates are higher. The biggest concerning symptom that I see in work health and emotional is this disabling loneliness and the disabling loneliness has dramatically impacted depression, suicide rates, anxiety, panic, and alcohol and drug abuse. According to the research, loneliness was already an epidemic before COVID. So after COVID, we're seeing an extreme, even more disabling loneliness, and I can relate a story. I live by myself. So during COVID, during those first initial months of complete shutdown, the only interaction I had with individuals was walking on my trail outside with other individuals with mask on, there was no physical, there was nothing. My very best days were when I at least saw someone on a trail with a mask on. And I can just imagine what young children, elderly individuals or other people experienced during that time. And families that were together all the time with virtual schooling and the chaos and emotion of their situations had their own issues as well. As far as occupational health, there has been extreme job burnout, chronic stress syndrome, exhaustion and anxiety and fatigue. A person that's extremely exhausted, fatigued and burned out is going to have a significant decline in their work performance. Even the way that people feel connected to the workplace and their behaviors of affiliation to the workplace have been altered. As we know, there was an increase in alcohol and drug abuse during massive unemployment and mandatory work from home orders. And we saw that all in the workplace. But most importantly, again, this extreme isolation and loneliness has really led to an epidemic of loneliness and isolation. Its vital for companies to face the reality of this climate and to really make a true pivot and create an environment that supports their employees' mental health with compassion for what we have all gone through. Consider offering work from home solutions. Consider hybrid opportunities. And look at implementing a workplace wellness program. The SIOP organization (Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology) has done research to evaluate what the top trends for 2022 are for the workplace. They're finally going to address the mental health needs of employees. Again, this has been something that has been long overdue and the pandemic exacerbated the need to focus on mental health for our employees and organizations play a huge role in safeguarding, our employees, mental health.