Currently browsing posts in ‘Wellbeing’

Lighting is a topic I like to write about reasonably regularly. It’s one of the areas I’ve noticed that seems to be cropping up more and more in terms of health issues, and so I think it’s worth dwelling more on why this is, and what we can do about it given that most of ...

Here in Christchurch, we’ve had low cloud and rain for most of December, only interspersed with one or two days of beautiful sunshine to remind us that it is summer! So, to cheer myself up earlier this week I took myself out into town to take note of the exciting new buildings and streetscapes popping ...

Taking time out is so good for the brain. I’ve just returned from a wonderful trip away to England and France, and just to be able enjoy ‘being’ rather than constantly ‘doing’ was such a treat! It reminded me not only of the importance of taking a holiday when we can, but just how and ...

Something that is often written and talked about these days is the fact that here in New Zealand, we have an aging workforce. This is due to the baby boomers all reaching what has traditionally been ‘retirement’ age in better shape. We have better healthcare and medical treatments available and quite simply, there are more ...

I am a fan of organisations incorporating the Mental Health Foundation’s Ways of Wellbeing into their everyday business practices and so was interested to come across a great ‘good news’ story by Bruce McCombie in an HR magazine called ‘Personnel Today’. Bruce works with an organisation in the UK called Pilotlight which matches skills of ...

Recent research by Prof Kim Burton, an independent occupational health researcher in the UK, has shown that despite businesses reducing serious workplace injuries over the last century, that there are still a significant number of common health problems such as depression, back pain, musculoskeletal pain, and anxiety, which affect people at work. These conditions may ...

Here in Christchurch we can all get a bit cynical about the word ‘resilience’ as it has been used so much in the aftermath of the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. However, we are all still much in need of resilience to cope with the challenges of a rebuilt city with a change in how the ...

I’ve recently been on a great 3-day bike trip along the Round the Mountain trail. Starting at Kingston at the north end of Lake Wakitipu , it ends at Walter Peak, where you catch the historic SS Earnslaw steamship back to Queenstown. The scenery is stunning and the cycling of an easy to intermediate range, ...

The end of the year is always a time that induces stress for most of us. Having come from the Northern Hemisphere, where Christmas is a very welcome break in the middle of a bleak winter, I have to admit that Christmas itself has always felt like a very inconvenient hiccup that interrupts planning of ...

I’ve just completed a Low Vision Rehabilitation post grad paper run through the Otago Occupational Therapy School, and it’s a been a real eye opener, if you’ll excuse the pun! Firstly, visual impairment is the fasting growing health issue in the world today – far higher than dementia. (Economic Impact and Cost of Low Vision ...