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The following resources have been prepared by the array of health professionals who make up SMG Health. Browse the latest articles, download resources, watch videos or listen to podcasts here.
Staying connected with our wellbeing allows us to make better-informed decisions about our health. Sometimes, small yet instrumental changes are needed to tweak our everyday habits which assist in long term behavior change.
Below you can find further information on a variety of general health and wellbeing topics.
Gym memberships can be expensive and when life gets in the way, or our motivation dips, it can be too easy to skip class. Enter the DIY, budget-friendly home gym that you can create with minimal fuss but plenty of rewards – here, physical health experts show us how to create a budget-friendly alternative to the gym in our own home.
As time has gone on, society’s understanding of mental health issues has improved significantly. Staying mentally healthy at home and at work is just as important as the food you eat or the exercise you do.
Below you can find further information on some of the most common mental health topics.
When someone close to you talks about suicide, it can be deeply troubling and difficult to know how to respond.
Good nutrition is the foundation of a healthy lifestyle. The food and drinks we consume provide us with the necessary nutrients to provide our body with energy and maintain our wellbeing.
Below you can find further information on good nutrition from the array of health professionals who make up SMG Health.
Along with a healthy diet, exercise and lifestyle choices, sleep is a very important piece of the wellness puzzle. What we eat can have both positive and negative effects on our sleep quality and quantity.
Instilling healthy habits into children at a young age helps set them up for a bright, happy, healthy future.
Furthermore, children aged 5-12 years old are recommended to do 60 minutes of moderate to intense physical activity per day.
Below you can find further information on how to help with healthy eating habits and physical activity for children.
I give my husband a hard time about his smartphone use around our toddler. Don’t get me wrong; he’s a great dad – one of the best. But that shiny, electronic little sucker has a knack for hogging his attention at the expense.
Getting active throughout the day is a core component of a healthy lifestyle, whether that be time at the gym, or simply taking the stairs at the train station.
Furthermore, getting a good night of sleep can be an understated source of good performance for your day-to-day activities.
Below you can find further information on some of the most popular physical health topics.
Whether you travel for work, have a busy schedule with your family, or have frequent disruptions to your daily routine, life can feel frenzied.
Our sleep habits and hygiene pay a crucial role in our physical and mental wellbeing. Learning and improving our sleep cycles, and the understanding the importance of good sleep hygiene can assist in improving our mood, memory, judgement, and productivity.
Below you can find further information on a variety of sleep and fatigue management resources.
If you have trouble sleeping, you’re not alone. On an average night, 33 to 45 percent of the population have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep. Even people who usually sleep well may have trouble when they’re under extra stress or away from home.
Our lifestyles are busier than ever before and, as an ageing population, it has never been more important to invest in our physical and mental health so that we can enjoy a healthy, happy life. Checking in with how you’re fuelling your body, booking in for key physical health check ups, making time and space in your life for you, and moving your body in enjoyable ways are all great ways we can give ourselves the best chance at health.
Below you can find some helpful resources and guidance on how to support your mind and body through life’s challenges.
Our lifestyles are busier than ever before and, as an ageing population, it has never been more important to invest in our physical and mental health so that we can enjoy a healthy, happy life. Checking in with how you’re fuelling your body, booking in for key physical health check ups, making time and space in your life for you, and moving your body in enjoyable ways are all great ways we can give ourselves the best chance at good health.
For optimal health and performance throughout life, it’s critical for men to prioritise health and nutrition needs.
Below you can find further information on men's health and self-care.
Health remains one of few areas in life where men have the odds stacked against them, but what exactly are the biggest issues facing Men's Health in Australia?
Argh!!! Unproductivity has got to be one of my pet work peeves.
Whether unexpected meetings, constant interruptions or plain old writer’s block derailed me from finishing an article, there’s nothing worse than ending a workday without much to show for it.
Sure, unproductive days occur in most work settings, but they should remain the exception, not the norm – right!?
So, I’ve gone on the hunt for some reliable productivity hacks to help keep my workdays (and hopefully yours) productive so we can all get more done in less time …
1. Put your smartphone away … far away
Many of us need our smartphones to do our jobs, but how many of us need them ALL THE TIME? Ding – there’s an unimportant Facebook notification. Ding – a non-urgent email. Ding – a Whatsapp message about the weekend.
Unsurprisingly, these distractions take up your productive time.
In fact, it turns out that workers are 26 per cent more productive without their smartphones, based on an experiment by the Universities of Würzburg and Nottingham Trent in 2016.
Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions and asked to complete a concentration test.
Their phones were either removed from the room, locked in a nearby container, placed in view close by, or left as is (in the participants’ pockets or bags).
Interestingly, “the further away the smartphone, the better the results in a concentration test”, stated a report about the experiment.
If banishing your smartphone from the room while you get a task done seems a little drastic, or just isn’t viable, at least try to be more conscious of your phone and any urge you may have to unnecessarily check it.
2. Work in “sprints”
A few years ago, I discovered the work of energy management expert Tony Schwartz, who wrote of the body’s natural cyclical progression from high to low energy throughout the day.
It reminded me of how I studied for my school exams. I’d do a block of work, take a short break, then hit the books again. It was an effective tactic, but one that I haven’t applied as routinely in my working life. And I’m not alone.
In their New York Times bestseller, The power of full engagement: Managing energy, not time, is the key to performance, health and happiness, Schwartz and Dr Jim Loehr wrote “we wear our willingness to put in long hours as a badge of honour” while “the need for recovery is often viewed as evidence of weakness”.
But for optimal productivity, the go-go-go mindset is a no-no.
“Sustained high performance is best served by assuming the mentality of a sprinter not a marathoner,” they wrote.
“Performance is optimised by scheduling work into 90- to 120-minute periods of intensive effort followed by shorter periods of recovery and renewal.”
3. Don’t multitask
Multitasking “undermines productivity”, according to Schwartz and Catherine McCarthy in their Harvard Business Review article ‘Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time’.
“A temporary shift in attention from one task to another ... increases the amount of time necessary to finish the primary task by as much as 25 per cent,” they wrote.
Since turning off my email alerts, I’ve noticed a marked improvement in my ability to concentrate on the task at hand. Now I check my emails when I say it’s time.
4. Get the (right) tunes going
I work in an open-plan office where the radio is a permanent fixture. Sometimes, the music is a maddening distraction; other times it’s the complete opposite.
It turns out that listening to music while working can be considered a form of problematic multitasking, according to Dr Anneli Haake, who researches music in relation to the workplace.
But she writes in a blog post on her website, Music at Work, that music can also enhance concentration.
The big question is what kinds of music boost productivity?
“It is tempting to try and simplify arguments and nail down quick explanations, such as ‘instrumental/classical music is better for concentration than vocal/pop music’,” wrote Dr Haake.
But she added: “We need to resist such quick analyses, and instead look also at the whole context in which the listening takes place.” This, she said, might include:
So, my challenge is to find some tunes that speak to me, and given my open-plan office set-up, earphones might be the answer.
