In January we teamed up with nilo.health to launch our #BeatTheBlues campaign, designed to help our Urban Sports Club community get through the most challenging months of the year. The campaign provided inspiration, information and tips to help employees get active and stay motivated through Blue Monday and beyond. The campaign also delved into the psychological impact of the winter months and the pandemic through the lens of mental health, and explored how lockdown, home office and zero Vitamin D impacted the workforce.
To #BeatTheBlues, employers can provide their team with a holistic sports offer that promotes the concept of self-care and encourages employees to meditate, relax, sweat, and try new things. We hope the mental health-boosting tools we highlighted in this campaign will come in useful throughout the year, not just on Blue Monday.
As part of the campaign we published 3 polls on LinkedIn to find out more about our community’s outlook on mental health and how they were impacted by the home office, the pandemic and lockdowns. Here’s what we learnt…
1. Over 50% of participants experience physical symptoms of stress
Physically experiencing stress sounds very extreme, so we were surprised to find out that over half of participants had physical symptoms as a direct result of the pandemic. When we asked participants if they experienced physical symptoms of stress, 54% said they experienced symptoms more than once a month and 25% said up to 6 times a year.
Common physical side-effects of stress include headaches, dizziness, muscle tension, stomach problems and chest pain. There are several ways to reduce these symptoms, including drinking lots of water, exercising regularly and cutting down on nicotine, sugar and alcohol.
2. People did not take sick days when struggling with mental health
We asked our community about the percentage of sick days taken during the pandemic due to depression, low mood or mental distress. 77% of voters said none of their sick days were assigned to mental health. This is surprising, seeing as nearly 80% experienced physical symptoms of stress during the pandemic.
This tells us that employees do not see poor mental health as a good enough reason to take a break from work, and this suggests there needs to be a wider conversation within companies to raise awareness of the importance of rest and relaxation during mentally challenging times.
3. For most participants, health is about physical and mental wellbeing
When we asked participants what health means to them, 86% said it embodies both physical and mental health. This suggests that mental health is becoming a much bigger part of the conversation and the pandemic highlighted the fact that mental resilience is just as crucial as physical strength.
It’s also becoming increasingly clear that the two aren’t separate entities. Studies show that poor mental health increases our likelihood of physical health problems such as stroke, heart disease, eating disorders and acne. The pandemic highlighted the importance of looking after one’s mental health, however our survey alongside forsa showed that low moods impact our motivation to exercise. As exercise is one of the key ways to improve both mental and physical health, it’s especially important our community is able to #BeatTheBlues and stay active, motivated and healthy.
But what makes a healthy company? If you want to get further insights on this and the topic of mental and physical health at the workplace, you can find more infos in our newest e-book.
Our #BeatTheBlues campaign was designed to boost employee motivation on Blue Monday, which is internationally recognised as the most depressing day of the year. The response from our vibrant, energising community was overwhelmingly positive, with people commenting on our social posts to say they’d found renewed inspiration and motivation at a time when their New Year’s resolutions were beginning to waiver. We hope that positive feeling continues throughout the year, and the good habits our community formed in January set the pace for the rest of 2022. Because there’s no better way to boost your physical and mental health than getting out of the house and getting active with a like-minded community.
If you’re interested in providing a holistic sports offer to your team, then check out Urban Sports Club’s corporate offer today.
