Here at Blythe Valley Park, we’ve been running our Wellness at Work campaign for over 2 and a half years – but the idea of wellness isn’t a new idea… The origins of ‘wellness’ date back to ancient times – texts from 3000 BC speak about ‘Ayurveda’ which is a holistic system of medicine designed to create harmony between the mind and body. Similar medical and wellness movements have been created throughout history to help humans achieve ‘wellness’, but sometimes our own wellness gets lost due to busy lifestyles and being engrossed with technology. Throughout history, other things such as industrialisation and rapid urbanisation have affected human health and the ability to focus on wellness – however, Cadbury tried to overcome these distractions, and over 100 years ago came up with their own ‘Suggested Rules for Health’, which they distributed to their employees at the time.
Some of their guidelines (which can be downloaded on this Bulletin post) are obviously not relevant to us nowadays, however they seemed to be ahead of their time when it came to advice about walking / exercise, diet and even horticultural therapy. Hopefully this article helps you to think about your own wellness and provides you with information and tips on how to feel more positive and ‘well’ in your everyday life – both at work and at home!
Excerpts from the guidelines, as shown below, really resonate with what we try to encourage and promote at Blythe Valley Park, and match the theme of what many businesses are encouraging their employees to do at work – in order to achieve a healthy work, life balance.
“Live in the open sunny air as much as possible” – Office design in recent years has adapted to work alongside our circadian rhythm to incorporate more light and nature into buildings. It may be more difficult for us nowadays to ‘live in the open sunny air’ as suggested by Cadbury because many of us work 9 to 5, but the workplace is adapting to suit this requirement – have a read of our ‘circadian rhythm’ article on Bulletin if you’d like to know about ways in which companies are changing their office design to help motivate and inspire staff.
“Take walking or other exercise in the open air for at least half an hour a daily” – Cadbury clearly knew the benefits of walking and exercise, and were ahead of their time in terms of recommending it as a health guideline to their employees. We agree, and all know that walking and exercise is great for the body and mind – which is why we’ve created our 30 minute and 1 hour walking routes around the BVP Country Park (these can be downloaded on Bulletin). As you may know, we also have BVP Pool Bikes that can be hired for free – just sign up here: http://blythevalleypark.co.uk/community/pool-bikes/
“Work in a garden enlarges the minds and strengthens […] bodies” – Many studies have shown that gardening is a great therapy for the mind as well as the body. At Blythe, we understand the importance of this, and we therefore are introducing ‘Community Gardens’ into our residential scheme on the Park. The Community Garden will include 6 raised planters in which residents can grow their own vegetables and garden with their family. We also have an article which you can download on Bulletin regarding the benefits of Horticultural Therapy, have a read!
“Anger and worry will wear you out much more rapidly than hard work. Cultivate a cheerful and thankful spirit” – We couldn’t have put it better ourselves – this message is still very pertinent in 2019. One of our articles on Bulletin focuses on Hygge, which is all about finding the joy in everyday things, and therefore helping us to feel more cheerful.
We like to try and help people to feel positive and happy in their working environment, hence why we set up our Wellness at Work campaign in 2017 at Blythe Valley Park . There are numerous wellness tips, blog posts and walking routes that can be downloaded on Bulletin to help achieve a work, life balance. We have plenty of wellness blogs and events heading your way over the coming months and in 2020 – keep an eye on our Bulletin, Twitter and Instagram for regular updates.
We also welcome any ideas that you may have about future wellness activities – please email emily.coombs@improperties.co.uk if you’d like to suggest something.
References:
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/nostalgia/gallery/bournville-amazing-images-archives-7979867
https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/industry-research/history-of-wellness/
