The Performance Scientist

Is your business missing a trick? 🧐
As a Human Performance Scientist specialising in challenging outdoor environments… I love the fact challenging outdoor environments can contribute to workforce wellness.

The University of Exeter (U.K) released an excellent white paper entitled Health and the Natural Environment: A Review of Evidence, Policy, Practice and Future Opportunities. ☀️ 💦 🚶‍♂️ ⛰️ 🛥️ 🏜️

So what did it say? The below is a summary. And it makes me wonder why businesses are not utilising the concept of nature, outdoors and adventure as a solution for business continuity? It doesn’t mean Doris from accounts actually has to hike a mountain (!) It means transferring lessons from the wild into your workspace.

- Nature and health are fundamentally linked. Regular exposure to nature can improve mental health, reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and increase physical activity.

- Health inequalities can be reduced through equitable access to quality green and blue spaces.

- Nature-based solutions are underutilised in mainstream healthcare but show promising results (e.g. social prescribing).

- There’s strong support for scaling up green infrastructure to reduce long-term pressure on health services.

While there is a strong push for youth engagement with nature, outdoors and adventure through school curricula the same can not be said for adult places of work.

Is your business missing a trick? 😳

The Exeter white paper has direct and strategic implications for workforce wellness. How? By translating theory into sustainable workplace solutions.

Need an example? Footwear. If you have a protocol to change from heels/brogues to comfy trainers I hypothesise this will positively impact workforce activity e.g walking up the stairs rather than taking the elevator. It will also improve physiological gait which in turn reduces injury levels. There are dozens of tiny little things transferable from outdoors indoors that, accumulated, have big impact.

Lessons from the wild for agents of change. Be ahead of the curve.

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Sunday Philosophy
An ancient Chinese philosopher, once said: “It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop” This is a particularly useful observation if you are descending a closed mountain pass in the height of winter, take a wrong turn because deep snow covered up route markers, and end up in a forrest literally not able to see the wood for the trees.

Not that has ever happened to me of course 😬 but the photo shows a strategically placed toilet on the side of THAT mountain high up on the ascent (random!)

What can we take from the old saying which is useful to everyday performance?

Keep going. If you can do that you’ve already one step more forward than you would otherwise be.

The thing I love about the outdoors is it forces you to perform in a certain way. That wrong turn added about 4 hours to an already long, cold descent but stopping would have meant turning into an ice cube.

So we slowed down. Re-planned. Maybe said a few choice words (!) Had a snack. Wondered who owns the toilet. Rerouted. Then ploughed our way through thigh deep snow. But we didn’t stop.

Being able to get somewhere difficult or do something hard when everything goes according to plan is one thing. Being able to adapt to a mistake and carry on regardless is something else.

So keep going, even if it means more like tortoise than a hare.

The following is a nice analogy using an adventure race as an example - these lessons are transferable to every day life. A good way to link the two is to read the article then write a self-reflective piece using your own work life and challenges to integrate the approach. This is also gives you something to refer back to. High performing individuals like medical professionals self-reflect heavily as part of their daily worklife so it’s an academically tried and tested concept.

https://lnkd.in/e2QFPYKV

Operational Readinesszzzzzzz
Margaret Thatcher was famous for only sleeping 4 hours per night… but recently released government files highlighted a tendency of strategic cat naps in the car. A bit like Vendee Globe sailors who have to sleep intermittently across 24 hours given they are sailing around the world single-handed.

Are you the Prime Minister or an Extreme Sailor… No? Then why aren’t you getting your full (Gold Standard) 8 hours a night?

Sleep isn’t the downfall of the lazy - its a biological weapon of the elite. A lack of sleep has been blamed for up to 45% drop out rate amongst U.K army recruits… Train Hard, Fight Easy or Train Strategic, Fight Easy?

And every year, like clockwork, heart attacks increase by 24% on the Monday after Daylight Saving Time (+1 forward) according to a clever Michigan Hospital investigation. Lose an hour, lose your life. Pretty strong advertisement for a decent night’s sleep 😳

Some benefits of 8 hours sleep include
improved mood, enhanced cognitive function, a stronger immune system, and a reduced risk of chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes.

Here’s how to prepare your bedroom for a quality nights sleep:

https://lnkd.in/evDXH4iF

Hint: A snow hole is not conducive to a good nights sleep 🥶Stick to your bed!

😴