Tips to Help Your Dental Office Management and Team Combat the Winter Blues!
Have you, or your team members been feeling sluggish or irritable?
Are they struggling with concentrating on regular work tasks?
It’s very possible that Seasonal Affective Disorder is the culprit! This winter has been especially ruthless! Between the snow, bitter cold temperatures, and gray skies, it’s no wonder our productivity has gone down. Not only can SAD affect your mood, it can also cause more sick days, and really challenge your dental office management Michigan.
Studies show that approximately six percent of Americans suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) with an additional 14 percent of people with a milder form of SAD, generally called “the winter blues.”
What causes SAD?
Experts aren’t 100% sure, but they believe it may be caused by a lack of sunlight. A lack of light may affect the brain chemical serotonin that affects your mood. Anyone can get SAD, but it’s more common in women between the ages of 15 and 55, who live in geographical areas where winter days are short. Most suffer symptoms from October through the end of April.Symptoms of SAD
You feel sad, moody, anxious, or grumpy.You lose interest in your day-to-day activities, and hobbies.
You eat more, especially carbohydrates, like breads, pasta, and cookies.
You gain weight.
You feel more tired during the day and sleep more than usual.
How to keep staff morale up during the winter blues!
- Try light therapy using a fluorescent light box. You can find a portable light box for under $ 100.00. A person typically needs just 15 to 30 minutes a day for optimum results.
- Keep your team hydrated with water. This will combat fatigue, ease headaches, and can also help decrease food cravings.
- Encourage them to exercise. If you have room in your office, add a treadmill, exercise bike, or ping pong table. You could also arrange to have a staff break where everyone takes a turn playing an X-Box or Wii. Not only is the physical activity great, but there’s sure to be laughter involved too, which is always therapeutic!
- Hire a massage therapist to come to the office to give chair massages. Just a few minutes of a relaxation massage will improve your mood, reduce stress, and aid circulation.
- Add a white noise machine. The sound can promote relaxation and help with noise distractions.
- Try some aromatherapy by placing essential oils, or potpourri around the office. Citrus, Peppermint, Lavender, and Rosemary help reduce stress relief, anxiety, and fatigue.
At Strategic Practice Solutions, we offer some of the best tools for dental office management Michigan has to offer. We hope you may incorporate one or more of the above suggestions to help improve your team’s mood and productivity.
Please contact us if you need further help improving your team’s potential through leadership training, dental recall training, case management, and more. We'd also love to hear how you combat the "winter blues" below.
