The Halloween Curse....CANDY!!

My original plan was to address holiday eating; for me Halloween is the worst because the candy sits out and I can graze every time I pass by.  We waited to buy our Halloween candy until the night of October 29th and I still found a way to graze when the bowl was out.  We put the bowl away when Kat's parents came by and guess what, I forgot about it and didn't graze. 

As I said, that was my intended subject, but while at work today, I began to reflect on why our society, and health care in particular, has such a high rate of sick calls and chronic illnesses.  I look at myself and my colleges and wonder, how do we learn how to take better care of ourselves.  I think about the fact that in our country, we work and work without taking time out for relaxation.  It is hard to take a vacation when most of it is eaten up by FMLA.  So how do people who are already spent and have a negative deficit in their energy and ability to give get ahead?

I got to thinking about other countries and how they have a cultural value of providing time off for their employees.  Now, nursing is the same everywhere, 24 hour care 365 days a year.  A cursory search did not reveal much data in regards to chronic illness and the health care provider.  There are some studies that look at women and chronic illness which is quite interesting.  I am going to spend more time in the future sleuthing this out, but at this time, it appears that the correlations between illness and health in women and health care workers is an under served area. 

My hypothesis (for those who are research inclined) is that traits and values that lead people to a career in the health care field are the same traits and values that prevent us from taking care of ourselves and giving everything we have and then some in our relationships whether personal or professional; that we put ourselves into a deficit that is almost impossible to get out of physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  I want to be clear that I am using a generalization of "we" and acknowledge that there are health care workers who do not have this issue or have already learned how to prevent this issue.  I also want to acknowledge that these concerns are not just limited to health care or women.  I was in an in service a couple of weeks ago where we were taught that teachers and those in the military have higher rates of chronic illness and incidents of bullying just like health care providers.  So again, this points to a cultural issue with in our country. 

I am curious, what do people feel is the one thing that would make a difference for you.  Is there something that your employer could have available to you to help rejuvenate you rather than run you into the ground and continue to ask more.

To my health care friends, what is that one thing that would rejuvenate you when working on the units.  What would make the difference between walking away at the end of your shift spent with nothing more to give and walking away with enough to care for yourself.

I am realizing that this is becoming a consistent stream of thought for me.  How can we provide rejuvenation, not just rest, but how can employers put back into your bank so your health is not effected and in the long run, the employer would save money.