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Cavity Dental Staff Blog

Mental Health Awareness Week 2021

10th May 2021

Here at Cavity, we will be using the Mental Health Foundations 2021 theme of Nature to focus on a range of blogs, activities and resources that can help raise awareness about how our connections with Nature can support and boost our Mental Health and those around us.

To kick the week off, we have decided to take inspiration from the award-winning Artist Paul Cummins and have began creating a Mural at CAVITY HQ!

A Blue Tulip will sit in the centre, where we will add in our Company Mission Statement. The roots of the Tulip is where we will cover our Company Values and our Company Culture will be represented by water droplets pouring from a beautifully bright yellow watering can. The whole Cavity team near and far are contributing their ideas to this Mural. Keep an eye on our Social Media platforms for updates.

On Wednesday we will be looking at exercise and nature and on Thursday we look at biophilic design so make sure you keep coming back this week and check out what's going on.

Exercise & Nature

The natural environment can have important ‘restorative’ qualities and in turn promote recovery from mental and physical stresses (NatureScot, 2020). Exercising in Nature has benefits such as being able to take in more fresh air. Fresh air has higher levels of oxygen than indoor air, so that is a good reason to choose “green exercise or activities”. Look into the benefits of increased oxygenation levels and see what benefits can come from this, there are many including increased energy and improvements in mental focus and concentration. Activities in nature can be anything from cycling to gardening; the key is that you are moving, but outdoors.

Our Area Manager Lisa, is a keen golfer and she discusses below the benefits to her:

So, in my spare time you will usually find me on the golf course. I started paying about 10 years ago with a friend of mine who was a dedicated road runner, she found herself unable to continue with this due to the damage she had caused to her knees over the years, so basically it’s all her fault! I love the competitiveness of the sport, as well as the challenge, I also simply love being out on the course, many of which offer stunning scenery and great environments for spotting birds and other wildlife.

For me, after a busy week the benefits are huge; I clear my mind, get loads of fresh air, clock up around 14000 steps, and get to enjoy the social aspect, especially the 19 hole (the bar) after. I am pretty sure playing regularly keeps me in a good place and recharges my batteries……….TRY IT 😊

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biophilia Design

Hi my name is Alex and I have been an area manager for cavity for 9 happy years. Let me tell you  about Biophilia! BUT before you turn away because you may not have heard of the word - most of us haven’t, we use it every day of our lives and I am going to tell you how.

Biophilia in layman’s terms means bringing the outside, in! Some of us may have enjoyed lockdown last year; sitting in the garden in the sunshine with a cuppa or something stronger! But how often did we say, lockdown during the winter months will be like hell on earth? Whilst we got excited about watching a film on a dark and dreary day, laying on the sofa with the kids, husband/wife or fur babies, it just didn’t quite hit the spot and left us quite frankly down and miserable. How many times did we ask ourselves when will the weather brighten up? What we were really asking is, when can I open up my windows and doors and let the outside and fresh air in?

From a young age, I have always had a passion for interiors. I would plump up the floral cushions around the house and beg my mum to buy yet another plant for our kitchen or another brightly coloured vase, picture, cushion or brightly coloured throw and busying myself arranging flowers and placing them around our house. I was establishing multi-sensory experiences, designing interiors (to the best of my ability at that age) that would resonate across ages and demographics. Those rooms and spaces connected us to nature and in fact is a proven way to inspire us, boost our productivity, and create greater wellbeing. Beyond these benefits, by reducing stress and enhancing creativity, we can also promote healing. In our increasingly busy lifestyles with parents who both had fantastic careers and us kids who enjoyed our lives with ample outdoor activities,  biophilia advocated a more humanistic approach to design. The result is biophilic interiors that celebrate how we live, work and learn with nature.

I sit here and look around me, the wallpaper in my living room is covered in beautiful hummingbirds and gold flowers, my rug is green and I have various flowers arranged on the coffee table, representing all that I love from the outside. I also have a bright blue painting in my kitchen, representing the sea, one of my favourite things in the world and I feel happy. Actually, what I am really doing  is designing our home with biophilia concepts beginning with human experience; bringing the outside in. I was considering the physical, mental, and emotional needs of my family and home through this and using human-centred approaches to address how we live today. Creating novel approaches to promoting health, safety and welfare,

How much does our mood change when the sun shines? How do we feel when we open our curtains in the morning and the sun is shining? Good right? Happy? When we see pretty flowers in the garden? Going shopping to buy cushions or a rug, lanterns that hang in your trees, 1,000,000 tea lights from Ikea? A twinge of excitement to open our doors to summer and let the outside in! And this is what we are creating for ourselves all year round, not only a sense of wellbeing and happiness but the ability to grow plants and decorate our homes with brightly coloured flowers, soft furnishings and pictures…

So, in a nut shell, biophilia is ‘to bring outside living to your home and workspace. Biophilia's core principle is to connect humans with nature, and as a result, improve well-being. The impact on our mental health is phenomenal!

Now you have read this, look around you or take a walk, note what makes you smile, lifts your mood and enjoy the moment; it is really incredible 😊

 

Cavity's Mission Statement:

Cavity exists to provide all-round excellence, utmost care, and support in everything we do for our clients, team members and the wider community.

We provide a company culture of personable, prompt, and reliable communicators, underpinned by an environment that promotes a high quality of work/life balance and wellbeing that encourages growth and development for all individuals and Cavity. 

Our continual commitment to professionalism and excellence to our clients, team members and the wider community means we constantly strive to ethically deliver the highest standards of customer care and ultimately provide satisfaction for all concerned, which in turn increases our strength as a company.