Health & Wellbeing Hub

Check out these sections for advice from professionals, including blogs, videos, podcasts and more.

Physical Wellbeing and Nutrition

Exercising and moving your body on a regular basis is one of the most important things you can do for your all-round general wellbeing. Keeping active can improve your mental health, help manage fitness, reduce the risk of long-term health issues, and strengthen bones and muscles.

Nutrition is a key part of our health and development. Better nutrition is related to improved infant, child and maternal health, stronger immune systems, safer pregnancy and childbirth, lower risk of non-communicable diseases (such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease), and helping to ensuring a longer life.

Picking up healthy eating habits puts people at lower risk of serious health problems such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. For those with chronic diseases, healthy eating can be a positive way of managing these conditions and preventing further complications.

Mental Health

Our mental health is linked to our psychological and social well-being. This can affect how we think, feel, and act, as well as determining how we handle stress, relate to others, and make decisions. Mental health is something that can affect us at any stages in life.

Having access to information and support through can have many positive benefits for Usdaw member’s wellbeing. Topics covered include: Tackling anxiety, loneliness and stress.

Without receiving the right support, mental health conditions can affect a person's confidence and identity, as well as their capacity to work productively, and the ease with which to retain or gain work. According to the World Health Organisation (2023) 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety alone.

Financial Wellbeing

It’s important for us all to feel secure and in control of our finances, whether that’s in present times or preparing yourself for what the future holds. Financial wellbeing can mean different things for different people during various stages in their lives. Such as knowing that you can pay the bills today, can deal with the unexpected costs, or just knowing that you are on track for a healthy financial future. Even those considered to be particularly financially strong can experience stress, but for different reasons than others.

All Upcoming Financial Health Webinars for Usdaw members

2025

From our partner Quilter

Free Webinar: Pre-retirement planning, to help you understand how to secure the income you need for a comfortable retirement.

From our partner Quilter

Free Webinar: for anybody who is considering voluntary redundancy

From our partner Quilter

Free Webinar: Personal financial planning, to help you to understand 'The mortgage market right now'.

From our partner MyGymDiscounts

Whether you prefer working out alone or as part of a team, exercise can boost motivation and performance. To help get you started, MyGym Discounts have put together some essential workout tips:

From our partner MyGymDiscounts

Winter can be a challenging time for many. But there’s one simple thing you can do to help fight those winter blues: exercise. Not only does it improve your physical health, but it can also lift your spirits and boost your energy. Here's how:

From our partner MyGymDiscounts

In this blog post, we'll explore the numerous ways in which regular physical activity can benefit your musculoskeletal system and help keep you moving pain-free.

From our partner MyGymDiscounts

Back problems are a prevalent issue that affects millions of people worldwide. Take a look at some stretching tips on how to avoid back pain:

From our partner MyGymDiscounts

Mental health is a significant concern for many people in the UK, with one in four people experiencing a mental health problem each year. Research has found that what we eat can have a significant impact on our mental health:

From our partner MyGymDiscounts

Many fitness enthusiasts are seeking ways to exercise sustainably without having to abandon the gym. Here are some practical tips to help you reduce your environmental footprint while staying fit indoors.

From our partner MyGymDiscounts

Experience the benefits of outdoor exercise with Our Parks! Offering free, highquality fitness classes in your local park, these sessions are perfect for all ages and abilities. Read below to find out more:

From our partner MyGymDiscounts

National Workout Week is a great opportunity to remind ourselves of how regular physical activity improve our physical and mental health

From our partner MyGymDiscounts

From our partner MyActiveDiscounts

We've all heard the phrase 'new year, new you’. And the unfortunate reality of it is that many of us don't end up seeing out our new year's goals. Research has found only 7% of people actually complete them.

From our partner National Trust

Going for a walk is a simple step towards improving overall health. Whether you explore quiet forests, wander along rugged coastal headlands or stroll around your favourite park, there’s increasing evidence that walking in nature is an important approach to improved mental health and general wellbeing.

From our partner MyGymDiscounts

Creating healthy habits may feel like a big task. However, with a clear plan in place and your goals in mind, it isn't as daunting as it seems. Take a look at this infographic and blog piece from our partner My Gym Discounts on some tips

From our partner MyGymDiscounts

Christmas is rapidly approaching, and a lot of people are anticipating ruining their diets over the festive period. In fact, research shows that with the extra calories consumed across all the celebrations during Christmas, we can gain on average around 1kg!

From our partner MyGymDiscounts

The never ending ‘to-do’ list, last minute Christmas shopping, kids off school, plus all the money being spent! Sometimes Christmas can be more manic than magical.

From our partner MyGymDiscounts

November 1st marks Stress Awareness Day, a day dedicated to acknowledging the prevalence of stress in our lives and finding ways to manage and mitigate its impact. In the hustle and bustle of our daily routines, stress often takes a toll on our mental and physical well-being.

From our partner Vision Express

Bad eyesight could be holding your child back from performing well at school. Read our article for signs your child might need an eye exam.

From our partner Vision Express

With digital devices playing a bigger part in children’s education, it’s important you protect their eyes from digital devices.

From our partner Vision Express

Once women reach their 40s, menopause and hormonal changes can affect their health in several ways. During the menopause, your body produces less reproductive hormones like oestrogen. This can affect your mental, physical and eye health. There are many physical and mental symptoms of menopause. A common condition experienced by women experiencing menopause is dry eyes. This isn’t a serious eye condition, however, can cause discomfort, irritation and inflammation.

From our partner Health Assured

Changing how we view ourselves and our bodies isn’t easy. With unrealistic beauty standards and a constant bombardment of other people’s definitions of the ‘perfect’ body to content with, finding the motivation to make those positive changes can be difficult.

From our partner Health Assured

The lead-up to results day at college or university can kindle mixed emotions. You’ll likely have been anticipating this day for a long time, and this in itself can be a lot to manage. It’s important to remember that the results you receive on this day don’t define your future. Not receiving the results you’d hoped for can be upsetting and disheartening. You might be confused, disappointed and uncertain about the next steps. It can be a rollercoaster of emotions; there’s no right or wrong way to respond.

From our partner Health Assured

Sometimes referred to as “baby blues”, or more commonly, post-natal depression, post-partum depression affects roughly 20% of people who have recently given birth. New mothers may experience things like extreme changes in mood or sudden crying episodes that seemingly come out of nowhere. While both of the terms post-natal and post-partum are used to describe this mental health issue, post-partum tends to refer to the mental health and wellbeing of the mother, instead of the child.

From our partner Go Ape

We all seek out adventure in one form or another, whether it's wandering off the beaten path on a camping trip, seeking profound spiritual insight through a long-distance hike, experiencing an adrenaline rush from skydiving—or any other activity that reignites our sense of wanderlust and wonder. Is adventure on the horizon for you in 2023? f so, look no further.

From our partner Go Ape

We all know that getting a bit more active would be really good for us. Undoubtedly you have been told about the advantages of exercise for your mental health, been tempted to lose a bit of weight or deep down you’d really like to feel a bit fitter. But then the gym seems somewhat intimidating, expensive and if you are really honest, a bit boring!

From our partner Go Ape

“It’s funny, I’ve been reading all about adventures for 15 years, but it took me that long to learn that there are so many ways to live adventurously.” At Go Ape we're proud to create the best adventures where you can be home in time for tea. We've been doing it for over twenty years; been there, swung that, and got the t-shirt. But, this week we got to catch up with the chap who literally wrote the book on Microadventures.

From our partner Go Ape

Forestry England know a little something about the benefits of being outdoors in nature. They have cared for of the nation’s forests for over 100 years and regularly conduct research into the physical, mental and social benefits of spending time outdoors. Enough from us, let’s pass it over to Ellen Devine, Forestry England Wellbeing Project Manager, to tell us how stepping out into a forest can help you this year.

From our partner Yorktest

Food reactions can vary tremendously. A true food allergy known as an IgE reaction is often immediate and, in many cases, requires immediate medical attention.

From our partner Yorktest

Tiredness happens to everyone – whether it’s an expected feeling after strenuous activities or at the end of a long day at work. The other most common reason is, of course, lack of sleep, which can often be remedied by an early night.

From our partner Yorktest

A stress test, also called a Cortisol stress test, shows you whether your stress hormone levels are within normal range, or if they are too high or too low. Cortisol is important for your body to function normally and having too much or too little cortisol in your body can be harmful to your health. You can identify whether your stress hormone levels could be impacting your life, your immunity, and your health with a simple stress test.

From our partner MyActiveDiscounts

From a young age we are educated on the purpose and importance of exercise on our physical health. We are taught that it keeps our weight under control, improves our cardiovascular fitness, build lean muscle mass and can do incredible things to assist in preventing long term health problems such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia and certain types of cancer.

From our partner Vision Express

When it comes to looking after your eyes, a few simple changes to your lifestyle and diet can make some big changes. By changing your diet and exercising more, you can improve your eye health and minimise your risk of developing common eye conditions. Keep your eyes in tip top condition by incorporating these below steps into your daily life. Find out more about eye tests

From our partner MyGymDiscounts

Working out isn’t just about getting in shape. In fact, regular exercise can help improve your overall mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Women who work out on a regular basis often see great benefits such as improved sleep quality, clearer skin, and experience more positive moods.

From our partner Tax Refund Co.

These four facts about your tax code might help!

From our partner MyActiveDiscounts

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women, according to the CDC (center for disease control and prevention). In fact, it accounts for one third of all deaths worldwide. Diet plays a huge role in your heart health and can significantly reduce your risk of heart disease. Certain foods can help to control blood pressure, cholesterol levels and inflammation, all of which are risk factors for developing heart disease.

From our partner LifeSearch

Welcome to the 2022 Health, Wealth & Happiness Report, a retrospective on national behaviours and attitudes through 2021 and a look to the future. A future set to be defined by yet more shocks and struggle.

From our partner Envigour Pilates

Breathing is the first act of life, and the last. So it’s extremely important for our wellbeing we learn to breathe properly.

Find out more

From our partner LifeSearch

Tom and Angus sit down with a leader from inside LifeSearch, Melvyn Nwajei leads a team of telephone interviewers but also after George Floyd's murder was one of the founding members of LifeSearch's Fairness and Diversity Squad.

Listen

From our partner Dell

Helping small businesses recharge and burn brighter

Find out more

From our partner TWD

You’re Self-Employed, or at least you think you are! But for tens of thousands of individuals who either work as self-employed, or who own a business but use self-employed individuals within their business, there’s a ticking time-bomb just waiting to go off!

From our partner LifeSearch

Mental Health is critical to all people everywhere, we know that in order for LifeSearch to look after it's people properly it must also look after their mental health.

From our partner MyActiveDiscounts

Mental Health Awareness Week is 10th – 16th May 2021. Around 1 in 4 people experience a mental health problem of some kind each year in England. However, 78% of adults in the UK have said their mental health has worsened over the past year, due to the pandemic.

From our partner Envigour Pilates

This couldn’t be a more perfect time to reflect on our wellbeing after the last year of mental, emotional, and physical stress.

From our partner MyGymDiscounts

If you have been feeling more stressed than usual lately due to the change in our working and home life circumstances, then don’t worry because you are not alone.

From our partner Envigour Pilates

Do you ever wake up feeling overwhelmed by the long list of things you need to accomplish each day? Or perhaps go to bed each night feeling stressed and exhausted by all that is on your plate?

From our partner Parliament Hill

In this post, we share our latest infographic outlining ways to protect your mental health during the COVID-19 Pandemic

From our partner LifeSearch

Body weight is one of those things that many of us don’t like speaking about. What we see in the media today and in our social feeds - this perception of what the ‘perfect body’ is - can have a huge impact on our body image and the way we feel about our weight.

From our partner LifeSearch

We’d all love to live a long and healthy life, and while we understand the health benefits of not smoking, exercising and maintaining a good weight, many don’t know about the savings you can make when it comes to products like life insurance, critical illness insurance and income protection.

From our partner MyGymDiscounts

We all have days when we wake up and think ‘today is the day’. During lockdown, many of us have plunged ourselves full steam ahead into a fitness regime, which – let’s be honest – we’ve not all stuck to. Don’t put yourself down by thinking you have failed, see it as a learning curve and as a way to improve next time.

From our partner Envigour Pilates

Everyone is spending the majority of their time sat indoors recently due to the current climate. Also, many of us have been spending a lot of time working from home in an environment we may not be used to working in.

Find out more

From our partner My Active Discounts

The Employee Wellbeing Research report 2019 confirmed that the concept of employee health and wellbeing has finally landed within the corporate consciousness, with an impressive 68.4% of companies now having a wellbeing strategy in place.

From our partner LifeSearch

It's easy for Stress Awareness Month – which has run every April since 1992 – to get lost in the shuffle. But stress and its mental and physical impacts are hugely important to the wellbeing of families, not to mention the economy.

From our partner LifeSearch

Headlines regularly tell us that the UK workforce is overworked and stressed out.

From our partner LifeSearch

Unless you’ve been living on the moon, you can name a recent superhero film and you probably know about Love Island.

From our partner Envigour Pilates

Pilates is more than just a workout. Any person who’s been doing it for at least a couple of months knows that Pilates doesn’t only sculpt your body but it also clears your mind and gives you energy and inner serenity.

From our partner LifeSearch

Inter-generational study uncovers our 20s as the most worrying period of our lives

From our partner MyGymDiscounts

Some of us took our fitness to the next level during lockdown while some of us have seen personal fitness sink to the bottom of our priority list for understandable reasons.

From our partner My Active Discounts

It has been extra difficult to maintain a positive mindset at work recently. Extra pressure, potential job instability, furloughed colleagues, new environment - maybe even a new job entirely!

From our partner MyGymDiscounts

The high levels of stress which come with work can interfere with your productivity and performance. It can also affect your physical and emotional health.

From our partner LifeSearch

You may feel like securing life insurance products after having cancer is next to impossible, but cancer survivors are covered much better now than they used to be

From our partner LifeSearch

As of August 2018, one in four people have a mental health condition. That’s 450 million people. If you’re not great with numbers, that’s a lot. That’s a 25% chance* of suffering from a mental illness within your lifetime.

From our partner LifeSearch

Prepare to feng shui your finances and declutter your diaries with our pick of organisation apps.

From our partner NCT

The spread of COVID-19 means we’re all going through an unprecedented and worrying time. Here are some ways to reduce anxiety and think more positively.

From our partner MyGymDiscounts

When working from home, snacking is incredibly tempting and many of us try to avoid it. However, there is nothing wrong with snacking if it’s done correctly alongside exercise and it’s much easier to control if you understand the rights and wrongs.

From our partner LifeSearch

As the sky turns blue and the sun does that thing it does sometimes, Brits can end their hibernation and head for the great outdoors...

From our partner MyGymDiscounts

In these ever-changing times - with most of us working from home or soon to be homeworkers - it’s essential to keep moving for our physical and mental wellbeing.

From our partner MyGymDiscounts

The ongoing pandemic has most (if not all) of us at home in self-isolation. With all that idle time, it's easy to get tempted into grabbing another bag of crisps or chocolates from the pantry. However, it goes without saying that staying healthy is of the utmost importance nowadays.

From our partner MyGymDiscounts

In these times of concern around the coronavirus, it’s more important than ever to be aware of the many benefits of moderate intensity activity for your immune system.

From our partner Incorpore

Exercise is a form of physical stress on our bodies, but can physical stress actually relieve mental stress?

From our partner Go Ape

We have all heard the old adage that getting a bit more active would be really good for us... But then the gym seems somewhat intimidating, expensive and if you are really honest, a bit boring!

From our partner It's Your Holiday

Stress affects us all at some point. From feeling overwhelmed with family life, to workplace pressures, stress can cause physical and mental symptoms. If stress becomes too much, there are actions you can take to reduce negative stress.

From our partner LifeSearch

There's a long-held perception that insurers won’t offer cover if you have past or present medical issues. The waters are particularly muddy around mental health.

From our partner Enertor

Most people understand that regular exercise can benefit the body and soul but so many of us are reluctant to attempt more exercise, worrying that this will exacerbate foot or leg pain.

From our partner LifeSearch

Spare a thought for the Cold War kids... It's easy for millennials to compare their bad with baby boomers' good and conclude that the latter had an easier ride.

From our partner Westfield Health

Why the UK need to transform their lifestyles in 2020

From our partner LifeSearch

Financial Health and Your Health Combined