The need for workplace peace of mind is more prominent now than it ever has been. There is a real emphasis on positive mental health in the workplace, due to the stresses we are put under there.
Since 2016, in the US alone, 1 in 5 workers report mental illness – that’s 447 million people or 18.7% of the US population. Right now, this is among the biggest concerns within the United States and it’s not hard to see why. We spend over ⅓ of our lives in the workplace. 90,000 hours within the average lifetime which is too long to spend anxious, stressed and even depressed.
But for those that are stuck in working environments that create negativity and stressful conditions, it’s imperative to find alternative external solutions to help you maintain a mindfully positive mindset throughout the other two-thirds of your life.
Finding Alternative Ways to Promote Your Positive Mental Wellbeing
People are no longer putting up with negative working environments. However, leaving them can take longer than you might anticipate. To not let this affect you takes considerable effort to be consciously aware of your own mindfulness. Therefore, it’s no surprise that up to 40% of US adults are meditating at least once a week.
This is a naturally fantastic solution to creating healthier mental wellbeing; however, you should not forget the physical wellbeing on your own body, too, and how this impacts your own mental health. That’s why exercise is equally as important to creating positive mental health as improving your mind is. It’s no surprise that recommendations for improving your own mental wellbeing always include physical exercise.
Therefore, it should come as no surprise then that by 2016, it was recorded that the number of people practicing yoga rose from 20.4 million to 36 million. This number is of course expected to continue to rise over time.
It has been proven that physical exercise improves stress levels, decreasing the risk of depression by 26%, obviously important to the 447 million people suffering from work-related ill-mental health right now.
Beyond mental and physical practices, though, what more can be done to improve our mental state-of-mind and positively impact our handling of negative working environments.
It Starts with Organic Food Improving Your Wellbeing
Going organic may feel like a cliche lifestyle, but living an organic life goes far beyond just being proud of yourself for not contributing to impacting the environment (although, that is a bonus, too). Going organic has benefits that contribute to both physical and mental health. But these benefits aren’t as obvious as you might think.
The most obvious benefit of going organic is food – naturally, organic food is redundant of pesticides and insecticides. Whether you like to hear this or not, these are poisons that can have a detrimental impact on your health. Insecticides and pesticides contribute to all sorts of physical conditions; nausea, skin irritation, headaches, and even seizures.
Longer-term exposure to these toxins can increase the risk of types of cancer, depression, asthma, and ADHD. It’s quite clear the importance that organic food can have on your diet and health.
The benefits of which are more nutrients from more effective growing methods, which is always positive. More nutrients improve your general physical and mental performance as the brain receives the nutrients it needs to perform more effectively. A brain restricted of nutrients from organic food is one not performing to the best of its ability.
These nutrients also help the recovery of muscular damage and growth and development of the body as the muscles require B12 vitamins, amino acids and high protein, which are more impactful from organic farming methods.
Organic Textiles Also Improve Your Wellbeing
Of course, organic food consumption’s positive impact is fairly obvious and straightforward. However, something many do not consider is the impact that organic textiles have on physical and mental wellbeing and just how important they can be your psyche.
Many forget that non-organic textiles have been farmed using pesticides and insecticides because we are so used to the feeling of GMO material without realizing it’s the subtle impact on our wellbeing.
Whilst materials are ‘washed’ to remove these toxins, there is always some residue left within the fabric itself. This can cause secondary impacts on our own skin and can cause energy fatigue.
Therefore, wearing or sleeping in cotton that has come into contact with toxins throughout the production process brings your skin, the largest organ on your body into cotton with these toxins.
Consider how this impacts your overall performance; you’re fatigued, depressed, anxious and generally down as a result of these chemicals. How would you perform in a working environment that is already toxic in itself?
This is why it’s imperative that you make the switch where possible to organic textiles, if only for your own wellbeing.
The Importance of Organic Textiles and Sleep on Your Working Life
Sleep matters, whether we like to admit it or not as we spend a third of our lives sleeping, but also spend nearly a half of our lifetime laying around in bed. So when you consider this time spend rustling about in GMO textiles, you start to see how this can impact your daily life, in and outside of work.
Sleeping in materials like organic cotton bedding naturally help your rest and recovery by not inflicting damage on your skin, nor do they provide longer-term mental health issues due to the lack of GMO within the material. This compliments rest for a better quality sleep. Which results in a better daily performance for yourself; both from a physical and mental health perspective.
Organic textiles don’t just benefit yourself, either. Think of the farms and farmers who produce them. By moving to organic contact, you remove the risk GMO cotton farmers face every day due to their being no toxic chemicals being used in the production of organic cotton.
That, in itself, can have a positive impact on your conscious and mindset. Another secondary impact on perhaps a more subconscious level, but a positive impact nonetheless.
Taking this into your working day is key; organic materials, organic food, yoga, meditation, and mindfulness are active techniques you can and should be undertaking to grow positivity around you, especially when times are tough at work.