COVID-19 – Supporting our staff

According to the latest news from the UN trade agency, apart from the tragic human consequences of the COVID-19 epidemic, the virus is likely to cost the global economy $1 trillion during 2020, with Europe almost certainly going into recession over the coming months.

However, the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has stressed that ‘the world is not at the mercy of the virus’ and that this could be ‘the first pandemic in history that could be controlled.’

So, as a business leader, the key is knowing what to do in such a situation, and essentially what it comes down to is supporting yourself, and supporting your staff. We wanted to offer some tips on what we plan to do over the coming months. Many of these things are perhaps quite basic but they can have a positive influence on your environment, and in the interest of spreading support in a time of crisis, we wanted to share them with you.

COVID-19: What’s happened so far?

• The virus has spread to more than 115 countries, with more than 114,000 people infected.
• There have been more than 4,000 deaths.
• Many large-scale sport and cultural events have been cancelled.
• In Italy, the entire country has gone into lockdown with schools and universities shut, and all citizens asked to remain at home.
• Many industries have suffered great economic turbulence, in the areas of airways, transport and travel.
• Many employers around the globe have asked all their staff to work from home, while others have quarantined those who have recently travelled to countries with a high rate of contagion.

What can you do day to day?

These are things that we’re currently doing in an effort to remain healthy, and we encourage all our staff to do the same:

Managing-stress: Just looking at the list above gives you plentiful reasons to feel stressed, so keeping your own stress levels under control forms the basis of your own wellbeing and that of your colleagues. It also has a huge impact on your physical wellbeing and your ability to fight disease.

What’s the science behind this? Essentially, our emotions affect our hormones. Keeping your body well oxygenated and hydrated and ensuring your bodily fluids have a low pH makes it less likely that you will develop cancer cells. It also provides a greater challenge for viruses and other parasites. Interestingly, oxygenation doesn’t just come from exposure to fresh air, but it’s also affected by the foods that we eat. Ensuring that your body fluids have the right pH is extremely important because every infection is in fact a condition of mild acidosis.

Techniques: There are hundreds, so you need to find one that works for you: yoga, meditation, going to the gym or for a run? However, my one tip, particularly right now, is to switch off the news right after dinner, to put your laptop away, and to have at least an hour to spend on your own with a good book, or with your family or friends, unencumbered by the outside world.

Easy hacks to help you fight disease: I already mentioned the need to stay hydrated, oxygenated and to ensure that your bodily fluids maintain the right pH in order to better fight infection. Below are some easy ways to do this, which have been backed up by research:

• Supplements: Vit C, apple cider vinegar, lemon, pickles, salt, magnesium
• Nutrient-dense foods: contain vitamins, minerals, complex carbohydrates, lean protein, and healthy fats. Examples of nutrient-dense foods include fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat or fat-free milk products, seafood, lean meats, eggs, peas, beans, and nuts
• Getting enough sleep: It’s a well known fact that the better rested you are, the stronger your immune system, so switch off your technology in the evenings, and ensure that you get at least eight hours of uninterrupted sleep.
• Eating more raw foods and drinking more green juices and smoothies: leafy greens, wheatgrass, vegetables, sprouts, nuts and seeds increase the amount of vitamins, minerals and chlorophyll in our body, and therefore increase its alkalinity. Unhealthy cells and viruses prefer an acidic diet high in animal products and refined foods.
• Wearing gloves when travelling on public transport: While there is no official guidance yet on how COVID-19 spreads, we do know that similar viruses are caught from either breathing in droplets from an infected person’s coughs or sneezes, or touching surfaces with them on. This is why, even more than face masks, its worth considering wearing a pair of gloves.
• Regular handwashing: According to official advice from a range of health organizations, regular handwashing for at least twenty seconds at a time, is an effective measure for preventing the spread of disease.
• Starting your day with a tall glass of lemon water and staying well hydrated: It’s now more important than ever to drink two litres of water per day, in order to keep your body hydrated and better prepared to fight disease. If you add a slice of lemon to all of your drinks, you’re automatically drenching your body in alkalinity, which is again a great way of maintaining your pH balance. The easiest hack for this is to keep a litre bottle of water on your desk – so that you can keep tabs on how much you’ve drunk.

Conclusion: It’s definitely worth taking a holistic approach to boosting your immune system, as well as the following the preventative advice issued by major health organisations, to give you the best chance of building up immunity not just against COVID-19, but all viruses in general.

If you feel that you need to shut down your office, and encourage all of your employees to work from home, you might also find one of our other articles useful: https://10clouds.com/blog/will-coronavirus-destroy-the-way-you-work/

Photo by Devin Avery on Unsplash