Women's Health Week is brought to you by Jean Hailes for Women's Health.
Jean Hailes represents all women, girls and gender-diverse people.
Thursday
Mind matters
Mental wellbeing in the age of COVID-19.
What today is all about...
Today we’re focusing on mental wellbeing in the age of COVID-19, with thanks to our mental health day partner, Liptember.
If the past 18 months have left you feeling ‘blah’, this webpage is for you. In today's article, we unpack how you can find your new mental health ‘normal’ in a pandemic world. Today we are also featuring four Jean Hailes podcasts in our Women's Health Week series. We discuss the importance of recognising the grief many of us have felt for all those missed special moments and important events during the pandemic; and then we serve up the goods from work-life wellbeing expert Dr Sarah Cotton on how to set better boundaries between our work and personal lives.
Up next in our podcast series, we chat to Danica Leys, CEO of the NSW Country Women's Association, who champions the health needs of women in rural, regional and remote Australia. Then we uncover the link between food and mood, and top it all off with our nourishing 'Bounty bowl' recipe.
Article: The feeling of blah
Finding your new 'normal' in a pandemic world
You’ve binge-watched your way through your entire Netflix shortlist, you’ve been living in your PJs around the clock and haven’t left the house in days; you’re not sleeping well, are hardly exercising and Friday-night-pizza has become most-nights pizza.
Before COVID, this state of mental wellbeing may have raised red flags of concern among your friends and family. But as we navigate the pandemic with its lockdowns, worry for family and friends, home learning as well as a lack of separation between work and home, have the ‘goal posts’ for mental wellbeing shifted? Is there a new 'normal' when it comes to mental health?
Podcast: 'Mental health in the age of COVID-19'
Join the Jean Hailes podcast for Women's Health Week, and listen to Monash University's Professor Jane Fisher AO as she calls for the recognition of grief for all those important moments and events we have missed during COVID-19.
Listening time: 15 mins
Podcast: 'The blurring of work-life boundaries'
Next up in the 'Jean Hailes podcast – Women’s Health Week series', we speak to psychologist Dr Sarah Cotton who delves into the sometimes stressful blurring of boundaries between work and our personal lives during lockdowns and what we can do about it.
Listening time: 14 mins
Five tips on surviving lockdown from the experts
Workplace wellbeing psychologists from Transitioning Well have provided some handy survival tips for lockdown life.
Podcast: 'Sconversations'
Settle in with a cup of tea and a 'sconversation' with Danica Leys, CEO of the NSW Country Women's Association, as she champions the health needs of women in rural, regional and remote Australia.
Listening time: 10 mins
Helpful resources and reading
Health topic: anxiety
Discover strategies to help you understand and deal with feelings of nervousness, worry, unease, panic and a fear of what might, or might not, unfold.
Article: ‘COVID-19 & family violence’
We asked some experts for strategies and advice for families at risk of domestic violence during COVID-19.
Article: ‘The high cost of alcohol to your health’
Many of us are drinking more during the pandemic without realising its toll on our health. Is there a 'safe' level for drinking?
Article: The link between food and mood
Joining the dots between what we eat & mental wellbeing
If you served up last night’s dinner to a hunter-gatherer ancestor, would they recognise it as food? If they did the same to you, would you be willing to take a bite?
It’s safe to say that our diets have changed considerably over the course of history, with much of what we eat now coming from a factory rather than a farm. And while it’s plain to see the impact it’s having on our physical health – fuelling rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease – what effect is it having on our mental health? Is there a link between food and mood?
Today's recipe
Bounty bowl
Following the principles of the Mediterranean diet, this recipe from Jean Hailes naturopath Sandra Villella nourishes the gut and mind, and lets you swap ingredients depending on your preferences – and what's in your pantry!
Podcast: 'Mood and food'
Listen in to our fourth and final podcast of the day as Jean Hailes naturopath Sandra Villella talks about the link between mood and food.
Listening time: 16 mins
Mindful matters
Article: ‘We need to talk about loneliness’
We spoke to some experts about ways you can tackle loneliness.
Article: keep calm, keep cooking, and carry on
Tips and recipes for #IsoBaking your way through the pandemic, with health and balance in mind.
Fact sheets: ‘Staying well as you age’
This fact sheet provides mental wellbeing tips for women 65+ years. It has been translated into 10 different languages.
More resources & health topics to explore
A health boost for your inbox
Subscribe to Jean Hailes for a monthly 'women's health wrap-up' of fresh articles, health tips, important research, healthy recipes and more.
A special thank you
Thank you to today's guests for providing their time and expertise.
- Professor Jane Fisher AO
- Dr Sarah Cotton - Transitioning Well
- Arabella Gibson - Gidget Foundation Australia
- Danica Leys - CWA of NSW
- Dr Hajara Aslam & Samantha Dawson - Food and Mood Centre
- Sandra Villella