Our blog
Read the advice from our experts who work with people who have ME/CFS, Fibromyalgia, Post-Viral Fatigue, Post Covid-19 Syndrome (long Covid) or persistent pain for tips on enabling recovery and supporting wellbeing
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Gathering together experts in fatigue management
When planning a conference, or in fact any of our training, I always consider how people with fatigue can access it. I hope that the fact that the conference is online will in itself make it more accessible. We have deliberately scheduled regular breaks throughout the day to rest, move and get some refreshments, and asked all our speakers to stick to their allotted time slot. However we are aware that some participants will not manage a full day therefore we are recording every session and will make these available to participants for 2 months afterwards. That hopefully means that they can be viewed at a pace that suits you.
What really is Burnout and why is it such a big issue in today’s society?
Burnout is a serious issue that can have a significant impact on your personal and professional life. By taking steps to manage stress and prioritise your well-being, you can prevent burnout and live a healthier, happier life.
Getting ready for our online Fatigue Conference
We have an exciting range of speakers who are preparing for our forthcoming fatigue conference. In this blog, one of our team, Katherine, shares some of her experience of living with fatigue and what she is looking forward to hearing more about in this regard from our speakers.
“Fibromyalgia: It's like having an orchestra of discomfort playing in various parts of your body.”
“Fibromyalgia: It's like having an orchestra of discomfort playing in various parts of your body.”
In our latest blog we share some of our clients’ experiences of living with this often misunderstood condition.
Long Covid - Sustaining work with ongoing symptoms
Navigating work alongside the complexity of Long Covid is an extra burden that needs care and specialist support. Vitality360’s Beverly Knops outlines our approach in this article written for the Society of Occupational Medicine.
She highlights the importance of a personalised and flexible approach, and of using work as part of the rehabilitative process. She also discusses setback planning and not “waiting until someone is 100%” before returning to work.
What might be going on for employees on National Sickie Day?
Known as National Sickie Day in the UK, the first Monday of every February is statistically the day when most workers are likely to call in sick, according to research first conducted by British law firm ELAS in 2011.
Experts attribute this to a combination of gloomy weather, post-holiday blues, and seasonal illnesses. What does one of our team think about this?
Reflections of a therapist providing Long Covid support
We asked one of our specialist clinicians to reflect on how far we have come in the 4 years since the start of the covid pandemic, the challenges we faced, but also the rehabilitation successes in difficult times.
What is Burnout?
At a recent team event our team discussed the complexities of burnout. What is it exactly? What can employers and individuals do about it? Read more about our clinical opinion in this blog.
Fatigue as a symptom of burnout
Recent studies demonstrate that workplace stress continues to rise and is at record levels, which means that employee burnout with symptoms of fatigue and pain is also on the increase. Here one of our team shares her experience and what signs to look out for.
Why employees want better work/life balance
Data reveals that a majority of employees are seeking out hybrid and remote working as employers are encouraged to offer ‘as much flexibility and choice as possible’. Here, one of our team writes about how working remotely and flexibly is bringing benefits to her in being able to sustain work.
A first hand account of being back at work with long-term ill health: its joys and challenges!
A combination of various factors such as persistent sleep disturbance, living under chronic and sustained stress and having chicken pox as an adult, all meant that one day when I was at work for Hilton Hotels I was suddenly utterly incapacitated by severe pain. On another occasion, I recall standing at the bottom of the stairs, unable to go up them as my whole body felt like lead.
Sustainable return to work: an integrated model. A personal example
Returning to work following a virus or a period of long term ill health can be a daunting prospect. In this article one of our team utilises a particular model and her personal experiences to explore how it’s possible to sustain working with the support and adjustments from an employer, with a long term condition such as fatigue.
How can we fully switch off from work this festive season?
Modern technology has allowed us to stay connected during the pandemic, but it also has a habit of setting up addictive patterns of ‘doing’ and achievement. So how can we switch off in a way that will be restorative for our bodies and minds, and help us to embrace the ongoing challenges of the pressures of the cost of living crisis, for example, with resource and resilience? In this blog we offer some tried and tested approaches and strategies - some simple steps for switching off from work!
What is stress? How do we cope with it?
Charlie Adler digs a bit deeper in this article about what stress is and how we can cope with it, and shares some tips as part of managing the stress of the festive season on top of everything else going on!
Tired and wired: Understanding the challenges of resting
“Tired and wired” - The role of rest in fatigue management
Rest - definitions and challenges when resting with fatiguing health conditions, including exploring what rest means to the individual and how that may have changed with illness. Ways of working with challenges to resting, such as managing a wound up nervous system, pain, as well as finding the time and appropriate techniques to be able to rest.
Interoception: the eighth sensory system
What is interoception and why is it called the 8th Sensory system? Taking a pause and tuning into our felt sensations in our bodies is one way to tap into this faculty.
Why is it called ‘sleep hygiene’?
Sleep hygiene is a bit of an odd word that conveys how we can manage conditions to support a good sleeping pattern- and apparently certain aromatherapy smells can enhance this process.
A third of workers consider work/life balance to be the most crucial consideration
Data reveals majority of employees are seeking out hybrid and remote working as employers are encouraged to offer ‘as much flexibility and choice as possible’. Here, one of our team writes about how working remotely and flexibly is bringing benefits to her in being able to sustain work.
Fatigue as a symptom of burnout
Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and often physical exhaustion brought on by prolonged or repeated stress. Though it’s most often caused by problems at work, it can also appear in other areas of life, such as parenting, caretaking, or romantic relationships. Here Katherine writes about her journey from a state of burnout…
Greeting the new year…
It’s that time of year again when I decide that the moment has come to create a list of intentions and resolutions. Once the initial momentum of a shiny, fresh new year has dissolved into the relentless greyness of January and February it can be only a matter of time before the resolutions are pretty much discarded amidst a haze of vague guilt.