April is Stress Awareness Month and this years theme is ‘Regaining Connectivity, Certainty and Control.’
The importance of this campaign is for us to understand what causes our stress and how we can reduce it for ourselves and others. As your local Health and Wellbeing Charity, we are here to support you in helping you discover those ways through exercise.
You might be saying to yourself “I don’t enjoy the gym,” “I don’t want to do a class” or “I haven’t got the time to go and exercise.” Our facilities and services are so much more, yes we are here to keep you fit and healthy but we are also here to provide the social element, the support element which you will receive from our specialist health and fitness advisors to find things you enjoy and most importantly it is that “me time” for you that we all defiantly need to be planning in to our week.
When we reopen on the 12th April, your local Everybody Leisure facility is the ‘third place’ where you can escape home and work pressures and current restrictions, remain fit and healthy in both mind and body and socialise in a safe covid-secure environment. You are our absolute priority.
The Stress Management Society in collaboration with Huawei, have recently conducted a study on stress with 2000 British adults.
“The research identified that 65% of people in the UK have felt more stressed since the COVID-19 restrictions began in March 2020. The three key causes for concern are feelings of disconnection, uncertainty, and a worrying loss of control.”
In a time when we have been unable to meet with our friends and family, maybe you have been working from home and we have all been unable to socialise at our local leisure facilities, restaurants, cinema’s and more.
We are feeling disconnected, we are feeling uncertain about what is to come, and it does result in us worrying because it is all out of our control.
However, things are getting better, restrictions are easing and they will get better and if you are feeling stressed then let’s look at some ways to help you reduce this stress and look at what you can control.
The Stress Management Society share “Stress is a significant factor in mental health problems including anxiety and depression. It is also linked to physical health problems like heart disease, problems with our immune system, insomnia and digestive problems.”
Master Fitness Lead Victoria talks through this years theme for Stress Awareness Month ‘Regaining Connectivity, Certainty and Control’ and how exercise can help manage stress levels.
Master Aquatic Lead Dan shares the benefits of getting back into the pool when we reopen on the 12th April. One of the big benefits of swimming is it is a great stress relief, lowers anxiety and depression. Check out his video below
Not only this, if you are struggling for time which a lot of us do, we are so proud to offer you our Everybody @ Home service, a website for all of your home workouts, keeping our members active at home until our classes can return indoors. It is also a great edition to your membership for those times when you are busy and a workout at home fits in much better for you than travelling to a leisure centre.
Everybody @ Home provides live classes which you can take part in from the comfort of your own home, you can see how many people are taking part at home with you, chat to the instructor and other members in the chat box if you want to, all helping you to feel connected.
The Everybody MemberZone Facebook Group is a private Facebook Group where members and staff can support each other outside of visiting our facilities or taking part in online classes. The members in the group really have created a supportive environment something we are really proud of.
Getting outdoors might be your thing to keep active and it has been really popular during lockdown, lots of people taking up walking, cycling and running. If that’s what you enjoy then factoring that into your week might help with reducing those stress levels.
We will be launching outdoor fitness classes soon, tennis launched on the 29th March and more, so if getting outdoors and getting fresh air is what you enjoy, then defiantly check out some of those activities.
Creating a plan for yourself will help you gain certainty, control and feel connected. If you plan to exercise, whatever it is you enjoy, even on those days you feel stressed, then you have got control over doing that exercise, certainty that you can do that and feel connected because there are others doing it to.
Most importantly, don’t forget to talk, don’t forget to look after yourself and remember how exercise makes you feel afterwards 😊.
Everybody Member Lisa shares “The classes are essential for my mental health, it’s too easy not to have a routine in lockdown even though I am working full time at home, and have done throughout all the lockdowns, exercise is my time. No work, no children, just me. The fact I can do the classes in my own time (usually working when they are live) means I can fit in a class most days.”