How to Deal with Workplace Aches and Pains

 

Written by Jenny Catton

 

Is your job quite literally a pain in the neck? Do you finish the working day aching or feeling tense? Well, when it comes to the workplace, there are plenty of things that can cause aches and pains. Here are some of the most common ailments:

 

Headaches

Dehydration, poor lighting, tiredness, and bad posture can all cause headaches. You may be able to deal with an occasional headache by taking painkillers but if you are suffering from headaches on a daily basis, it’s important to identify the cause. Taking too many painkillers on a regular or long-term basis can be very harmful.

 

Repetitive strain injury

Repetitive strain injury (RSI) is a term used to describe pain caused by repetitive actions – i.e. repeating the same action over a long period of time. It can cause pain in the muscles, nerves and tendons and most commonly affects parts of the upper body such as elbows, wrists, neck and shoulders.

 

According to the NHS (www.nhs.uk), one worker in 50 in the UK has reported an RSI condition.

 

RSI can affect both office workers using computer equipment and manual workers where physical jobs call for repetitive actions over long periods.

                                                                                          

Backache

Back pain can be caused by many different factors including lifting heavy or bulky items, performing repetitive actions that put a strain on your back, long-distance driving or poor posture when sitting. Even with good posture, osteopaths advise that sitting for long periods of time can cause problems as the human body isn’t designed to sit in one position for several hours each day.

 

Stress-related symptoms

If you are suffering from stress, it can cause all kinds of unpleasant symptoms from stomach ache and an inability to concentrate to headaches and muscle tension. As stress often builds up over time, it can sometimes be difficult to recognise that physical ailments are actually caused by stress and anxiety. And when you start to feel ill, it can become more difficult to tackle the causes of stress.

 

What’s the solution?

So what can you do about these workplace hazards when they start causing you aches and pains?

 

The first step is to see what changes you can make by yourself. For example, simply taking a screen break every half hour and drinking plenty of water could combat headaches whilst repositioning your chair could solve backache.

 

But if you work in an environment where it isn’t possible to make changes yourself, or if you are suffering from more severe problems, you should talk to your manager. Every company should have a health and safety policy in place to ensure that the wellness of staff is upheld. Your firm may be willing to invest in modified equipment or office furniture to make you more comfortable.

 

If stress is the cause of your problems, again you should talk to your manager or HR department. They may be able to find ways to help you deal with the stress you are facing and help you feel healthy again.

 

For more information about health and safety at work, visit the Health and Safety Executive website: www.hse.gov.uk

Categories: catton, headaches, jenny, long periods, nbsp, pains nbsp, repetitive, repetitive actions, repetitive strain, strain injury, Stress, written

H₂O – Are You Getting Enough?

 

Written by Jenny Catton

 

If you find yourself suffering from headaches or lethargy at work, drinking more water could be all you need to feel better. In fact, health experts have linked dehydration to a wide range of ailments from headaches and irritability to a weakened immune system and overeating. But when you’re busy at work, it’s easy to forget to keep topped up.

 

Here are some easy ways to increase your water intake at work:

 

• Keep a bottle of water on your desk and top up your glass throughout the day. If you start the day with a 2-litre bottle and aim to drink it by the end of the day, you’ll know that you’ve drunk at least the recommended amount.


• Consider installing a water cooler into the office. If it results in a healthier workforce, it will pay for itself.


• If you’re heading into a long meeting, take a large glass of water with you, it will help you stay alert and ward off tension headaches.


• If you get bored of drinking plain water, add a slice of fresh lime or lemon for a zesty and refreshing taste.


• Rather than waiting for others to make cups of tea or coffee, schedule water breaks into your day. This will give you the opportunity to take a screen break, have a stretch and rehydrate yourself all in one go.

 

For more advice and to measure how much water you should be drinking each day, visit: www.well-being-at-work.co.uk

Categories: catton, Drinking, headaches, jenny, nbsp, Water, work, written

Head, Heart, Stomach and More: How Stress Affects Your Body

 

Stress doesn’t just have an impact on your emotional health; it also has a damaging effect on your physical wellbeing. According to wellness expert Allen Elkin, author of Stress Management For Dummies (2nd Edition) ‘Researchers estimate that 75 to 90% of all visits to primary care physicians are for complaints and conditions that are, in some way, stress-related. Every week, 112 million people take some form of medication for stress-related symptoms.’ But how exactly does stress affect your wellness?

 

1. Headaches: ‘A headache is just one of the many ways stress can interfere with your sex life,’ says Elkin. ‘Stress can affect sexual performance and rob you of your libido. When you are feeling stress, feeling sexy may not be at the top of your to-do list. Disturbed sexual performance may appear in the form of premature ejaculation, erectile dysfunction, and other forms of difficulty in reaching orgasm. The irony is sex can be a way of relieving stress. In fact, for some people, sexual activity increases when they feel stressed.’

 

2. Muscle Pain: ‘Your muscles are a prime target for stress,’ Elkin notes. ‘When you are under stress, your muscles contract and they become tense. This muscle tension can affect your nerves, blood vessels, organs, skin, and bones. Chronically tense muscles can result in a variety of conditions and disorders, including muscle spasms, cramping, facial or jaw pain, bruxism (grinding your teeth), tremors, and shakiness. Many forms of headache, chest pain, and back pain are among the more common conditions that result from stress-induced muscle tension.’

3. Heart Health: Elkin details, ‘Stress can play a role in circulatory diseases such as coronary heart disease, sudden cardiac death, and strokes. This fact is not surprising because stress can increase your blood pressure, constrict your blood vessels, raise your cholesterol level, trigger arrhythmias, and speed up the rate at which your blood clots. Stress is now considered a major risk factor in heart disease, right up there with smoking, being overweight, and not exercising. All of this becomes very important when you consider that heart disease kills more men over the age of 50 and more women over the age of 65 than any other disease.’

 

4. Tummy Troubles: Elkin points out, ‘Ever notice how your stress seems to finds its way to your stomach? Your gastrointestinal system can be a ready target for much of the stress in your life. Stress can affect the secretion of acid in your stomach and can speed up or slow down the process of peristalsis (the rhythmic contraction of the muscles in your intestines). Constipation, diarrhoea, gas, bloating, and weight loss all can be stress-related. Stress can contribute to gastroesophageal reflux disease and can also play a role in exacerbating irritable bowel syndrome and colitis.’

 

5. Immune System: Elkin warns, ‘Stress — particularly chronic stress — can compromise your immune system, rendering it less effective in resisting bacteria and viruses. Research has shown that stress may play a role in exacerbating a variety of immune system disorders such as HIV, AIDS, herpes, cancer metastasis, viral infection, rheumatoid arthritis, and certain allergies, as well as other auto-immune conditions. Some recent studies appear to confirm this.’

 

6. Colds: ‘Recent research conducted by Dr. Sheldon Cohen, a psychologist at Carnegie Mellon University, has concluded that stress really does lower your resistance to colds,’ Elkin comments. ‘Cohen and his associates found that the higher a person’s stress score, the more likely he was to come down with a cold when exposed to a cold virus. Chronic stress, lasting a month or more, was the most likely to result in catching a cold. Experiencing severe stress for more than a month but less than six months doubled a person’s risk of coming down with a cold, compared with those who were experiencing only shorter-term stress.’

Categories: headaches, heart health, muscle pain

Sex Headaches: Are You Dreading Your Next Orgasm?

Everyone’s heard of the “Sorry, I have a headache” gambit when you’re just not in the mood, but did you know that a special kind of headache could affect your wellness after you have sex? Any kind of sexual activity can negatively impact your wellbeing, but orgasms are especially well-known for causing sex headaches. These headaches can be a serious dampener on your sexual health; after all, would you want to get intimate if you knew a nasty headache was to follow? Let’s take a closer look at the causes of sex headaches, and what you can do to prevent and treat them.

 

Most sex headaches are nothing to worry about, but if you don’t understand the signs as they’re happening, you may be a bit concerned. Sometimes, sex headaches begin as a dull ache in your head and neck, often on both sides. You might also find that your neck and jaw muscles might tighten up. Then this pain builds over several minutes as your sexual excitement increases. However, the most common form of sex headache is a sudden, severe pain just before or during orgasm. Though this can hurt, sex headaches are usually no more than a general annoyance. However, some sex headaches can be a sign of something serious, such as problems with the blood vessels that feed your brain.

 

Generally speaking, a sex headache will last for a few minutes, but some can linger for a few hours. For most people, sex headaches will occur in clusters over a period of a few months, and then they’ll disappear for a year or more. While we’ve already established that sex headaches aren’t usually a cause for concern, if you do experience a headache during sexual activity, you should consult your doctor as soon as possible. This is especially true in the case of headaches that begin abruptly, or if it’s your first headache of this type. No matter the kind of sexual activity – be it masturbation, anal sex, oral sex or intercourse – you should speak to your doctor.

 

If your sex headache comes on abruptly, it may be associated with:

• Intracranial aneurysm: This is a widening or bubble in the wall of an artery inside your head.


• Arteriovenous malformation: This is an abnormal connection between the arteries and veins in your brain that bleeds into the spinal fluid-filled space in and around the brain


• Dissection: This is a case of bleeding into the wall of an artery leading to your brain.


• Stroke


• Coronary artery disease


• Use of some medications: This includes birth control pills


• Inflammation from certain infections

 

As well as these underlying medical conditions, there are some nasty side effects that can come along with sex headaches. Accompanying symptoms of sex headaches include loss of consciousness, vomiting, stiff neck, other neurological symptoms and severe pain lasting more than 24 hours. If these occur alongside your sex headache, this means that it is more likely to be due to an underlying cause. You’re also more likely to get a sex headache if you’re a man or your generally prone to having migraine headaches. However, sex headaches can affect anyone. If you want to prevent sex headaches, stopping sexual activity before you reach orgasm can help, as can taking a more passive role during sex. For those who have a history of sex headaches and there’s no underlying cause, your doctor may recommend that you take preventive medications regularly. These may include daily medications, such as beta blockers, or occasional medications like indomethacin (Indocin) or one of the triptans.

Categories: Brain, headache, headaches, Medications, orgasm, severe pain, sex headache, sex headaches, sexual, sexual activity, Underlying Conditions

How Food Affects Your Wellness: The Basis of Naturopathy

No matter how much faith you place in Western medicine, sometimes it just fails to get the job done. After a while of syrups and pills, you may find yourself turning to alternative or complementary wellness, and this is where naturopathy comes in. This is a completely natural and holistic approach to your health and wellbeing, without the dangerous side effects of constant drug use.

 

Naturopathy has been around for hundreds of years and was first introduced here in Europe in the 19^th century. It works on the basic thinking that your body has everything it needs to heal itself, such as your immune system and disease-fighting fluids. According to naturopathy, the foods you eat pollute an otherwise healthy and safe environment – your body – and this is when your wellness starts going haywire. However, naturopathy tackles this discord with a combination of herbal medicine, homeopathy, nutrition, hydrotherapy, exercise therapy, physical therapy, lifestyle and counselling.

 

There are several diseases and ailments that naturopathy can deal with, including headaches, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, weight problems, arthritis and menstrual disorders. Let’s look at how it works in just three of these conditions:

 

1. Cholesterol – An increase in cholesterol is recognised by naturopathy as the culprit behind cardiovascular diseases, and so practitioners target this by offering a programme of dietary modification. This means you are advised on what foods to eat and avoid.

 

2. Abdominal diseases – Again, this is where a natural nutritional programme can lead to a solution, under the beliefs of naturopathy. Whether you suffer from constipation, obesity, piles, hernia, appendicitis or ulcers, practitioners believe that these disorders are linked to your body’s intake of fat and fibre content, and so will aim to treat all abdominal diseases in this way.

 

3. Headaches – Everyone gets the odd headache now and again, but the reasons behind them (and their severity) have a wide range. It could be something as simple as bad food and drink habits, anaemia or a lack of sleep, or there may be a bigger underlying problem involved, such as a tumour. However, naturopathy will often turn to digestive disturbances as a major cause of headaches, and so will concentrate on bowel elimination, stomach wash and hot compresses on your neck and feet. According to naturopathy, you’ll automatically find relief if you rest in a quiet and dark room, and fast with only fruit juices for two to three days.

Categories: abdominal diseases, diseases, Food, headaches, holistic, naturopathy, nbsp