- By Greg
- In Rail, Community, Health & Safety, Social Value
AW RAIL – MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK 2024
“Movement: Moving more for our mental health” is the theme of Mental Health Awareness Week 2024.
We all know that working in the rail industry can often be stressful, unsocial hours, the inclement British weather, tight deadlines all eat into our mental health whether we realise it or not. It’s not just those out on the ground, many of the rail teams are sitting for long periods during the day: working at desks, driving, sitting down to browse the internet or scroll through social media, watching our favourite television show or reading a book.
Research shows that it’s unhealthy to be sitting or not moving for long. If you are sitting for large periods of time throughout the day, set a timer to take regular breaks to stand up, walk around and stretch your body.
Regular physical activity is known to improve mental health, quality of life, and wellbeing. Our bodies and our minds are connected, so looking after ourselves physically also helps us prevent problems with our mental health. Exercise releases “feel good” hormones, that reduce feelings of stress and anger. It also helps us feel better about our bodies. It can improve our sleep too. If it involves other people, like being part of a team, a class or group we see regularly, that can also boost our mental health.
Despite these benefits, so many of us struggle to move enough. We know there are many different reasons for this, so this Mental Health Awareness Week 2024 we want to help people to find moments for movement in their daily routines.
Simple things like safely taking a break from your daily work routine or tasks, often those on the railway get to work in some remote locations, so a simple ten-minute walk away from work enjoying your surroundings can help.
We have several Mental Health Awareness Mentors here at AW Rail, so if you feel that you could do with a chat reach out to one of the team in confidence. Everyone from our MD down is here to help.
If you would rather not talk to someone at your workplace then reach out to the many Mental Health charities and resources that can offer advice, guidance, and help.
As we get older, we sometimes forget that movement can be fun! Instead of thinking of exercise as a chore, embrace your inner child and find the joy in movement. Fun and laughter alongside movement will increase your motivation and the psychological benefits.
It can feel nerve-wracking to think about moving more if you’re worried you can’t keep up with other people. Remember, you don’t have to be super sporty to get the mental health benefits that come with more movement.
Focus on you and don’t worry about what other people are doing. For your own wellbeing, be kind to yourself and don’t feel pressured to keep up with someone else.
AW Rail Services have been delivering rail projects for several years right across the Rail & Construction sector.
Our extensive rail experience of over 120 years, combining decades of hands-on knowledge, providing building enhancements and maintenance solutions, improving infrastructure for passengers and operators, delivering major projects, and fulfilling long-term maintenance contracts really sets us apart.
Our services are varied from structural maintenance on tunnels, bridges, foot crossings, signal gantries, to station refurbishment, platform enhancements, civils works on and around the track, the mechanism management of lineside vegetation and further afield, painting of all types of structures and lastly but perhaps most importantly the provision of rail labour, not only supporting the projects we carry out for our projects but for the provision of labour to other clients.
