We took on the government’s wellness challenge …
How did we do?
Why?
Whilst we don’t pretend to have all the answers to mental health, it’s certainly our bread and butter.
But wellness is a different kettle of fish. There’s a huge amount of links between the two but in truth, we don’t know specifically what it is or what it means to have ‘wellness’.
So, we thought we’d take some guidance from the government and live by a set of rules for a week in order to see what all the fuss was about and see if we can formulate an opinion of our own.
The Rules
150 minutes of cardio exercise
2 x strength based exercise sessions
5 fruit and veg per day
Balanced diet
Two litres of water per day
7–9 hours of sleep per night
No electronic devices 30 minutes before bed
No more than 14 units of alcohol per week
Do something you enjoy
Do something new
Easy right?
We’ll see..
How The Week Went
It’s safe to say that some of the HQ team found the lifestyle much more fitting than others…
That said, nobody struggled with the ‘balanced diet’ element of the competition and the reason is likely because it doesn’t impact your lifestyle, it simply changes what you are eating.
There was the odd occasion of late night trips to the shop to buy an apple and fill the quota, but other than that it was plain sailing.
Understandably, ‘doing something that you enjoy’ was also an easy thing to tick off the list. The important part of this challenge was simply to recognise this as time to do something for yourself and taking time in your week to just do something for fun and with no other purpose. Whether that meant meeting with friends or even a trip to the cinema, this section was in good hands.
The one that every person struggled with to some extent was the night time routines. 7–9 hours of sleep isn’t something fixed in a week and not going on mobile devices 30 minutes before bed left a few just lying bored with nothing to do before bed. Safe to say, this one has been an eye opener.
The exercise element was the make or break for many people. Most of the team that took part smashed it. Not only in completing the challenge but finding different ways than just ‘going to the gym’.
Dance classes, boxing sessions, spin classes etc.
However, for the younger members in the team. They real dilemma came after putting off exercise for most of the week and then choosing between going to the pub or going to the gym.
No prizes for guessing which of those options a 23 year old chose…
Did we feel like we’d achieved ‘wellness’?
Well, obviously we weren’t completely expecting to achieve ‘wellness’ with a week of trying.
And as you can guess, a lot of us failed at the rules.
But that’s the key part. They shouldn’t be rules; they should be guidelines. Something to aim for rather than something to feel bad for not achieving.
These recommendations are good things to do but the reason this was so difficult in the first place as you need to figure out what works for you to work on that state of ‘balance’ or ‘wellness’.
