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A staggering 9.9 million working days were lost due to stress, depression or anxiety in 2014/15. And while all professions are affected, the veterinary field is said to be particularly hard-hit by issues connected with mental health.
Many of us can probably relate to how even low levels of stress, anxiety or depression can affect our personal lives. And at work, feeling like this can make doing the job so much harder – affecting decision-making, encouraging us to over-react or withdraw with colleagues and clients, and may even lead to problems carrying out key parts of our job effectively.
Clearly in a profession that is both client-facing, and, most importantly, dealing with health, life and death, these are serious issues. So what can we do to minimise the impact that stress, anxiety and depression has on ourselves and the teams we work with before it becomes a problem?
It’s actually something that could be achieved in just ten minutes a day…
Have you heard of mindfulness? You might well have done, due to its huge surge in popularity in recent years. But while it feels like a therapy of the moment, mindfulness has its roots in ancient meditation practice, going back as far as 2,500 years.
In more recent times, over 2,000 scientific studies have shown that practicing mindfulness reduces levels of stress and anxiety – even making the headlines recently after being shown to be as effective as anti-depressants in tackling depression.
One such study[i] concluded that practicing mindfulness resulted in a significant increase in well-being, reduced blood pressure, increases in perceived job control and a reduction in sleeping problems.
Further studies have shown improvements as wide-ranging as cognitive function, weight loss and enhanced immunity, and the results are so compelling that the NHS now routinely recommends mindfulness for symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression.
These results have also led the corporate world to invest heavily in encouraging employees to be ‘more mindful’, with many of the biggest and most influential companies getting involved. Their motivation? Calm, content and focused staff = improved performance of the business.
So what is mindfulness?
In a nutshell, it’s the practice of learning to focus on the here and now. To pause that constant stream of thoughts, worries and plans that race through our heads every second of the day, and simply experience the moment. This allows us space to notice the subtleties that we otherwise consistently miss – like the smallest details around us, and how we’re actually feeling.
Allowing ourselves this short break from the hectic pace of daily life really helps to put things in perspective and empathise more with those around us. It refreshes the mind and allows creative thought to bubble up through that otherwise constant mental ‘to-do’ list. It’s similar to how we often have our best thoughts in the shower, or on a walk.
Learning to be mindful doesn’t require joining a class, or sitting cross-legged, humming on the floor. In fact one of the most popular ways to access guided meditation sessions is using an app – which is what I use. It only takes ten minutes each day, and the more days you do it for, the more natural it becomes to take a step back.
My personal experience of mindfulness has shown me how powerful it can be to treat a busy mind to a break each day. While I was sceptical to begin with, I really do feel calmer, more focused and seem better able to deal with stress than at any other time in my life.
Harvard Business Review[ii] says; “Mindfulness should no longer be considered a “nice-to-have” for executives. It’s a “must-have”: a way to keep our brains healthy, to support self-regulation and effective decision-making capabilities, and to protect ourselves from toxic stress.”
What could it do for your practice?
[i] "Clinical Trials application". Clinical Trials website. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
[ii] https://hbr.org/2015/01/mindfulness-...nge-your-brain
The app I use is here : https://www.headspace.com/
Attached Files
I went on a course last year and there is a great little book to get started
Introducing Mindfulness: A Practical Guide Paperback – 5 Jan 2012
by Tessa Watt (Author)