MANUAL HANDLING NZ - September catch up
Tokyo bound - Weightlifters Cam McTaggart and Kanah Andrews-Nahu with coach Richie Patterson
Hi team, welcome to my quarterly catch-up (Well let’s call it an annual check-up) - because 2021 has disappeared pretty fast.
Well, what’s been happening?
As many of you will know (and if you don’t) my background lies with Olympic Weightlifting, and 2021 has been a big year with the successful execution (well in my opinion) of the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Tokyo 2020 saw two of my athletes qualify for the Olympics - Cameron McTaggart and Kanah Andrews-Nahu, I have been coaching these athletes from day 1 (Both of them starting at 12 years old) and to witness them standing in front of the Olympic rings at the sports highest level was an absolute privilege.
Whilst standing on the side of the platform yelling my coaching cues, my heart rate hit 160 BPM - a high-stress environment , so that ties in nicely with my topic today (Take a breath)
While we are on the subject of taking a breath - it's a great reminder to sometimes “slow down”, and in today's fast-paced world, taking a moment to breathe can be that little bit of time to acknowledge the environment around us, and how we are enacting within and reacting to that environment.
Earlier this year I had an opportunity to work with a business talking with their employees on managing stressful situations, and upon reflection, standing in front of the Olympic Rings on 3 occasions - it doesn’t get more high stress than that.
I drew on my experiences to learn and develop techniques to help control the anxiety levels and deliver under pressure on the world stage, as part of my training to the Olympics I engaged with specialists that each touched on skillsets needed to achieve at these peak events.
Breathing experts
Mental performance coaches
Sport-specific mentors
Now while this is very sport specific, the cross-over to the work environment or everyday life and developing techniques was similar in dealing with pressure and stress.
Ultimately it came down to controlling the controllables.
Internal (self) talk, and the language I use to myself
Controlling the things that I could (Nutrition, hydration, sleep, recovery)
Practice, practice, and more practice
And a lot of breathing
When looking at how stressful situations may impact the body, we often talk about the fight or flight response.
An event, situation, or environment that triggers a response in the brain to begin a sequence of events physically to get out of the perceived danger. (Let’s get a little science(y)
The response of the brain from stress (Hypothalamus/Amygdala) can have the following effects
Increased heart rate
Shortened breathing
Increased body temperature
Decreased brain activity in the frontal lobe (conscious decision)
In a work environment, this is when we need to acknowledge these changes and act accordingly.
The challenge being seen vs unseen stress in our workforce.
Seen elements are stresses that can be measured, that can be observed at work and are acute instances of stress, for example:
Being behind on schedule
Confrontation
Unseen elements are elements that are potentially brought into the workplace, these could include:
A distressing call (from a family member)
Financial stress at home
Legal Stress
Relationship/family stress
What can we do in a moment of “stress”
Take 10 seconds of controlled deep breathing , maybe longer if need be, I know my son gets the red card at school for 5 minutes timeout when he gets a bit stressed.
Change your temperature (Put a dampened/cool towel around the back of the neck) Ie. You are “Hot under the collar”
Take a minute outside (Again, a temperature change)
Have a quick stretch (reduce muscle tension)
The body reacts to “stress” in many different ways, but don’t get me started on the impact on muscle tension :) Tight shoulders holding high stress = a neck strain just waiting patiently.
Hopefully this has prompted thought about if or what training you have provided to your teams around “stress” and the tools for them to address, cope, and combat. I know we are venturing a little away from “Manual Handling” , but with a muscle - if you stress it too much you get a sprain or strain, with the brain - you stress it too much, then we are talking mental health.
Lastly, as we head out of the recent restrictions from Covid-19, a massive thank you to those of you manning our essential services, your work to keep NZ moving doesn’t go unnoticed and we appreciate it.
On the restrictions, a number of the businesses I have scheduled work with have had to reschedule their deliveries laster in the year, SO my schedule for the remainder of 2021 is booked - If you are looking to engage your teams with some training - get in touch as the start of 2022 is filling up quickly.
Many have downloaded my workplace posters, these are available free by clicking the link :
If I can be of any assistance in activating your Health & Wellbeing initiatives , feel free to get in touch.
Richie Patterson
Director - Manual Handling NZ