Build lasting habits to improve our emotional health

Surely throughout your working life you have faced some situation that has affected your emotional well-being. Multiple investigations indicate that we live in a society in which we spend a large part of our day working and in which, approximately, 40% of people’s emotional problems have their origin in the workplace. The concept of sustainability taken to mental health and psychological well-being refers to those measures that must be taken so that the organization and the workers enjoy the best possible quality of life by changing their work habits and patterns.

That is why, in this article, five points will be offered to promote emotional well-being on a personal level and five points that every company must follow so that this well-being becomes a lasting habit for its employees.

Throughout our working lives we face many stressful situations that affect both our physical and mental health. The work environment and climate are very important pillars for the emotional well-being of people. When these are not pleasant, have a disqualifying or aggressive nuance, emotional problems can occur that harm our well-being in the rest of the areas of our lives.

The emotional well-being It is defined as a general state in which people realize that we have the right skills to face the pressures of daily life and overcome problems or obstacles that appear.

To achieve this state and have a mental functioning that will allow us to adapt adequately to the demands of the environment that surrounds us, it is necessary achieve balance in all aspects of our lives: physical, mental, emotional, social, family and work. If we manage to feel good regarding ourselves, we will be able to extrapolate this feeling to other areas such as work.

To achieve this balance and improve emotional well-being in a lasting way, psychologists recommend the following points.

1. Follow healthy habits: sleep enough hours to feel that we are rested, wear a balanced diet and do physical exercise, are the three starting keys that must be followed to feel good. When we feel good, we are able to give much more of ourselves, achieving a very positive impact on our mental health, preventing the onset of depression, anxiety, emotional loss of control and making us capable of coping with day-to-day situations.
2. Listen to our own body: understand that our well-being comes first and that self-care is a priority to be healthy and feel capable. It is not a selfish or irresponsible act, but rather it is a long-term investment and one that little by little we are going to see reflected in all our vital projects. It is important to pay attention to the signals of the body (tiredness, contractures, pain) and identify what the limits are to be able to act before our psychological well-being is affected.
3. Have good interpersonal relationships: it is important that our life and leisure go beyond work so as not to be overwhelmed by our working day. Make plans with friends or family outside this environment, and continue enjoying our hobbies and activities that give us pleasurethey will get our minds to recharge the batteries and be ready to face all the new challenges that the job entails.
4. Work skills that are necessary for the job. Get improvement in qualities like assertiveness, empathy, positivism, tolerance for frustrationIt will be essential to know how to work as a team and adapt to work requirements and demands, adopting a collaborative, positive and proactive attitude. Also, working in a improvement in time management It will help us to be able to organize ourselves better to avoid the burden and stress generated by leaving everything to the last minute.
5. Perform individual therapy. Going to the psychologist is a essential act if we want to take care of our mental health and achieve full emotional well-being. Communicating and talking regarding problems helps to find solutions and unload negative emotions that if we leave inside of us, they will end up overflowing. Going to therapy will help us prevent this from happening, and will offer us the strategies and tools needed to deal with problems. Likewise, it will help us to have a correct emotional management.

Once the points that improve personal well-being have been worked on, it is important that in the organizational sphere Measures are adopted that promote the development of healthy skills and habits among its employees. so that the well-being that we have obtained is not diminished. If a company wants to have good workers, its priority must be to encourage the creation and internalization of good habits and promote the quality of the state of mind of its staff.

For this, from the Psychology of work and organizations, the following points are recommended:

1. Implement measures that protect the well-being of its employees: regarding the organization of tasks, reordering loads or rhythms; offering flexibility in the location of work and the time allocated to perform it, as well as in the pace of work; With respect to relationships: Carrying out a zero tolerance policy regarding harassment; bullying or discrimination in the workplace, as well as committing to assertive communication and positive relationships; respect to people: facilitating autonomy in their work and personal development and, lastly, fostering leadership that favors a positive climate of commitment and good work.
2. Encourage the movement of workers: allow the realization ofactive breaks” in which to walk a little and stretch to achieve an increase in productivity and creativity and avoid monotony.
3. Offer time off to the employee: To prevent the worker from ending up generating a feeling of weariness towards work, it is important to provide him with time to dedicate to activities that stimulate his mind and that allow him to act and change things before work overwhelms him.
4. Promote a pleasant environment: maintain an orderly work space, have all the necessary and essential material at hand, create a healthy environment, with good temperature and good lighting, add decorative elements inside the office that motivate and encourage positive emotions, such as paintings, plants or create spaces destined only for disconnection.
5. Promote mental health care: Offer therapy and mindfulness methods to cope with and mitigate the effects of stress and anxiety. From the company it is important that promote programs aimed at managing stress and anxiety, whether they are individual therapies with accredited psychologists or relaxation therapies, mindfulness and full attention exercises. A safe space must be offered in which the worker understands that he does not have to feel bad if he sees that he cannot handle everything and that sometimes an external point of view is necessary and it is not wrong to ask for help.

Lastly, remember that una good emotional health, will help increase our perception of ourselves and our confidence in our abilities. Also, a “healthy company” it will be one that cares for the health and well-being of its workers, their families and the social environment, promoting the creation of lasting habits that generate positive performance that benefits both the organization and the person.

Authorship: Content written by the Clinical Content Team of TherapyChat led by Isabel Aranda health psychologist and Chief Content Officer.