• Judith Hackitt CBE, Chair, Health and Safety Executive.
• John Armitt, Chairman, Olympic Delivery Authority.
• Paul Farmer, Chief Executive, MIND.
• Naveed Quamar, Health and Safety Director, First Group.
• Colonel Michael D Edmondson, Deputy Secretary of Public Services, Department of Public Safety Services and Superintendent, Louisiana State Police.

To view the full conference programme click here.

Members of our team will be exhibiting at stand B185, read our full press release here.

The workshop comprises of 4 modules:
– The Stress Response
– Stress Specific Nutrition
– Physical Stress Solution (stretching session)
– Mental Stress Solution (Thai Boxing based exercise workout)

The full workshop consists of all 4 modules and will help you to fully understand, recognise, monitor and have the knowledge to effectively tackle modern day stress.

The Stress Response
This module focuses on the key factors of what stress is, how it affects us and why it affects us the way it does. We also explain the acute and chronic effects stress can have both personally and professionally.
Within this module we take time for some self analysis, this helps as the more you learn more about your own personal stress response the better you can deal with it and by learning that not everyone deals with stress in the same way will increase your ability to manage others.
The session also covers both positive and negative stress solutions building the understanding of the condition. A workbook is supplied and works as a key point of reference material after the workshop.

Stress Specific Nutrition
This module looks at how our daily diet affects our ability to deal with stress, understanding of the key nutritional facts and applying this to our new knowledge of stress. The session also breaks down key specific nutrition that can be increased to help us combat our stress. A workbook covering the key knowledge learnt in this module accompanies this session.
Lunch is supplied and has been designed and prepared by a chef with stress management in mind, 3 choices of main and 3 desserts are available. With lunch any specific dietary requirements can be catered for.

Physical Stress Solution
Physical stressors are an often over-looked area of stress management. In this session we discuss the various causes of physical stressors and explain their effects. We focus a large portion of this session on muscular imbalances and run through many stretches that are key to re-balancing our joints and our body. A workbook accompanies this module to help you remember and continue to practice the specific stretches that will benefit you.

Mental Stress Solution
This final session focuses on exercise being a key solution to stress. In the ‘Stress Response’ module you would have learnt why exercise is key to beating stress, now you get to experience this first hand. This Thai Boxing pad-work based fitness class allows people of all ages to enjoy the benefits of Thai Boxing but without the fear of contact and sparring. Men and women from 13-71 have enjoyed this class and have all worked together in mixed classes. The key to this workout is that it is enjoyable; we pride ourselves on making these classes fun, challenging and suitable for everyone. Once you have experienced this type of class and have found out first hand that fitness and exercise can be fun and need not be a chore, you can select one of the local clubs we have found near to your place of work to continue combating your corporate stress with exercise.

Making a difference

The workshop is designed to make lifestyle changes for each individual and not only be a fun team-building day out. The full workshop covers the 5 stages of making a permanent lifestyle change:
1. Pre-contemplation (By highlighting the personal and professional conditions stress can cause, you will learn that stress is an issue.)
2. Contemplation (By explaining the potential chronic/long term effects stress can have will help you and your colleagues to feel this is an issue worth addressing, both personally and professionally.)
3. Preparation (Our list of local sport and exercise clubs will help you to find an activity you will enjoy and benefit from.)
4. Action (By experiencing our fun Thai Boxing based fitness class will give you the belief that exercise can be enjoyable and encourage you to go to a local club yourself.)
5. Maintenance (When you find an activity that you enjoy, this stage will take care of itself.)

The key is to not think of an exercise class purely for the results you wish to gain but to pick an exercise class which you will enjoy and have fun at, then your desired results will come.

For more information about these workshops, please contact us on infor@combatcorporatestress.com or our call our office on 0330 440 1830 and speak with Phill or Nicky.

The weather has turned colder and this is the time of the year where many people start picking up colds, flus and any other bugs floating around, add to this the ecconomic down-turn and the current added pressures with-in the workplace (every company is looking to get more completed with less resourses) causing stress levels to be very high.

One of the hormones that are released in your body during stressful situations is Cortisol.
A side-effect of Cortisol is that it supresses your body’s immune system by inhibitting the production of an enzyme in your body called Interleukin-2 (a key Enzyme in maintaining a strong immune system).

By eating Vitamin C; up to an extra 1000mg daily, in at least four portions of up to 250mg each, you can help combat the effects of a supressed immune system and combat corporate stress effectively with nutrition. It is important to know that your body can not absorb any more than 250mg of Vitamin C in any one go so it is important to spread the consumption of your Vitamin C across the day. Being a water soluable vitamin, Vitamin C needs to be consumed daily to avoid a deficiency.

In the current climate with great job insecurity your company’s presenteeism levels will increase if stress is not dealt with effectively, this will reduce the productivity of each affected member of staff. It will also spread the infection quickly around the office, leading to further presenteeism and staff absenteeism problems. By improving the knowledge base of your management team and staff you can combat stress more effectively and increase staff health and productivity.

To find out more about improving your management team’s knowledge of stress and stress management skills using nutrition, exercise and stretching from a skilled team of Nutritional Advisor’s, Sports Therapist’s, Personal Trainer’s and former World Champion’s call Ireland Training on 0330 440 1830, e-mail info@combatcorporatestress.com or use our contact form.

Professor Small says “We’re not just doing two or three tasks at the same time, we’re scanning the environment for new information”.

This is a very interesting theory as I often encourage clients (www.combatcorporatestress.com) to leave their phones at home whilst the go out for a meal, enjoy the freedom we used to enjoy before the ability to check the latest news, check the sports results, look at your e-mails or facebook whilst your partner goes to the toilet. Learn and remember how nice it is to just sit and wait for them to come back.

This report highlights very well the potential financial, productivity and morale cost of not dealing effectively with stress with in your workplace.

Our Combat Corporate Stress workshops can help your company to actively manage the workplace to control potential causes of work-related stress as the law requires you to. The guidance notes explains that employers can implement a number of measures to prevent work-related stress including “- Provide information, training and instruction to managers to raise awareness of how to manage work-related stress.”

Download the report here.

In the report are some extreme examples of people not switching off (for instance on their honeymoon), this report nicely highlights the need for a balance with in your life. Read the full report here

Try leaving your phone at home the next time you take your partner out for a meal, it can be liberating and the world doesn’t fall apart in the 2 hours you weren’t around.

Unfortunatley so many people feel they “don’t have the time” for a proper stress-relieving workout, until now!

The 100 rep challenges are perfect for the busy people of the world. A good challenging 100 rep challenge can take about 20 minutes, a time frame which most of us could find in a day for the benefits of increased health, less stress and a better way of life.

The basic principle is that each and every day you do a workout that consists of 100 reps, a great initial template that works so well is 3 exercises you do 1 rep of each exercise, then 2 of each exercise, 3, 4 etc so on and so forth until you get to 10 and then you count back down. The exercises you pick can vary from novice level, to breathing exercises, to stretches or rehabilitation to brutal world level athlete workouts, the choice is yours, there is an appropriate workout for every one.

Find out more at the web site www.100repchallenge.com and join the mailing list to receive free workouts for you, your friends, family and work colleagues.

Feel the benefits and mange stress better with this great training tool.

You can edit these figures and use your company’s speific data for a more accurate estimation of figures for your business. The spreadsheet breaks down the cost of stress in to absenteeism, presenteeism and staff turnover costs aswell as giving a total value.

click here to download the spreadsheet