Staying well

Have you noticed that life moves faster these days?

After years of research, experts on stress and depression like Professor Mark Williams at Oxford University have concluded that our lives are indeed more full and demands are higher on all of us. It can sometimes feel that life is moving at an unrelenting pace. Consider how frequently you have a conversation and struggle to recall the details afterwards, or travel to court or chambers and barely remember a moment of your journey. Taking a moment to pause often seems like a luxury we cannot afford.

Compelling evidence has been building in the past forty years which unequivocally demonstrates the value in becoming more aware, moment to moment. When we are able to live more in the present we start to train our brains to reduce rumination and worrying about future states. This leads to increased positive mental states, self-regulated behaviour and boosts self-knowledge and awareness.

“By paying attention to our thoughts and feelings in this way, we can become more aware of them, less wrapped up in them, and more able to manage them”
Ed Halliwell (Mental Health Foundation report, 2010)

If ever there was a ‘silver bullet’ for great all round personal wellbeing, it is regular physical activity.

The physical benefits include:

• Reduction in risk of Type 2 diabetes
• 35% reduced risk of heart disease and stroke
• 50% reduced risk of some cancers
• 30% reduced risk of premature death
• 83% lower risk of osteoarthritis

Regular physical activity also has known mental health benefits. The risk of depression is lowered by 30%. Cognitive decline is also reduced by up to 30%. Physical activity has a powerful impact on the increased production of endorphins (those ‘feel good’ hormones) and a reduction in cortisol levels (the ‘stress’ hormone).

Studies demonstrate that physical activity also benefits concentration and focus; Dr John Ratey, a Harvard Professor of Psychiatry, recommends taking physical activity before an important public performance in order to sharpen focus.

Memory and mood are boosted by being more active, as is productivity. These are all hugely important skills for your successful career. Being able to regulate emotional responses, remember key case law and use your time efficiently both in and out of the courtroom gives you a huge advantage over the opposition.

It may be tempting to treat physical activity in the same way as our busy lives and work out intensely. However, on a stressed body and mind this can have a negative impact. If you are experiencing symptoms of extreme fatigue, a hard bout of physical activity will put the body under too much strain. At times like these, choose gentle stretching or walking instead and respect the repair and recovery that your body requires.

Consider your life as a barrister. You may have frequent long commutes to court and find that being able to get involved in social interaction with colleagues is difficult because you don’t live locally. Long working hours are inevitable in our profession, reducing time available with family and friends. Perhaps you live in the city for part of the week and return home at weekends. Variable working patterns and working long into the night preparing for court, make it hard to commit to social engagements.

Human beings are social creatures and we instinctively know that we need good quality relationships to lead a fulfilled life. Studies on the over 50’s from the University of Chicago demonstrated that loneliness can be twice as unhealthy for us as obesity. Younger people (18 -34 years) are experiencing loneliness more than ever and this is more likely to result in depression than in older subjects. The Mental Health Foundation found that 42% of us have felt depressed as a result of loneliness.

Research tells us that loneliness is harmful due to five main reasons:

1. We find it harder to regulate our behaviour when we are lonely, so we may drink more alcohol, take less exercise and eat unhealthily. These unhealthy lifestyle choices increase our risk of preventable conditions
2. Middle-aged people report more exposure to stress due to loneliness and therefore its damaging effects
3. We withdraw from people when we feel lonely and this reduces the opportunity for emotional support
4. Lonely people experience more trouble sleeping; Sleep deprivation comes with many ill-effects, not least an inability to focus and low energy
5. Cardiovascular and immune problems are increased in lonely people

Scientists know that oxytocin, the hormone responsible for affiliation protects us from cardiac ill-health. This hormone is released when we have a physical presence with people we care about, which means that we cannot solely rely on catching up with family and loved ones via social media and emails.

Being curious and continually learning throughout life have also been shown to drive personal wellbeing measures including life satisfaction scores, optimism and efficacy.

Learning has many benefits including raising self-esteem, confidence and building a sense of purpose. Professor Paul Dolan, a behavioural scientist at the London School of Economics has found that happiness is driven by having a sense of meaning or purpose in our lives, balanced with enjoyment of one off, hedonistic pursuits.

Curiosity is a phenomenon that we see in children but outside our job roles, we may find that as adults our lives have become more one dimensional. Positive psychology (the scientific study of what makes us flourish and thrive) demonstrates that being curious broadens our minds to more possibility in life. This has a direct correlation on our ability to cultivate more positive emotion.

Instinctively it feels good to give to others. We now know that reciprocity also drives long term self-reported wellbeing. Professor Sonia Lyubomirsky of the University of California demonstrated that carrying out one simple act of kindness per week over a six-week period increased wellbeing in participants when compared to a group that committed no acts of kindness.

Giving may look like a formal volunteering exercise or perhaps pro-bono legal opportunity or it could be subtler that this. Small actions can have just as deep an impact on wellbeing as the more obvious ones.