Webinar: Brain power in the workplace

The brain is our bodily 'command centre'. It plays a critical role in how we learn, plan and concentrate; how we process the world around us; how we make decisions and connections; how motivated and energised we feel each day. All these, in turn, make a huge difference to our performance, success, wellbeing and sense of identity at work.

The role that improved nutrition can play in this, how so-called 'brain power foods' that can help boost our mood, concentration, wellbeing and, ultimately, our performance at work was the subject of a highly informative WPA webinar held in June.

Clarissa opened the event by outlining how the brain is an amazing organ; our brains process roughly 6,000 thoughts a day and use up 20% of our daily calorific intake, she highlighted.

"The thing with brain health is that prevention is key; you should act before a crisis happens, or before you are starting to get symptoms, such as lowered mood, 'brain fog', forgetfulness, inability to concentrate and focus. Our brain is constantly developing and evolving, and it is really important as we age to support our brain health and cognitive function," she said.

Clarissa emphasised how stress, especially chronic long-term stress, can affect our brain function. "It has an increased risk for Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia or cognitive decline, it can impact decision making, it can affect mood and mental health."

Nearly two-thirds, 60%, of the brain is made up of fats, she pointed out, with the essential fatty acid Omega 3 especially important to brain health and function.

Clarissa then outlined various foods that contain high quantities of Omega 3 and therefore can help to enhance and sustain good brain health.

The first of these was what she termed 'SMASH' fish, with the acronym standing for salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, and herring, which she recommended it was good to eat two to three times a week. "So if you are making a fish pie, don't just use white fish; make fish stews; mackerel paté; even buy a can of mackerel, take it into work with some salad, chuck it in and you have that protein element, those good Omega 3 fats," Clarissa said. For vegetarians or vegans, algae supplements, walnuts, flax seeds, and chia seeds could all be alternatives.

The next 'brain power' food was berries, especially blueberries, blackberries, cranberries, raspberries, strawberries, mulberries and loganberries. "You name it, all the berries are wonderful for brain health," Clarissa said. For example, a 200g punnet of fresh blueberries can improve attention and short-term memory, and could be incorporated easily into breakfast, into a salad at lunch or as a smoothie-style snack. Frozen berries can be as good as fresh, as they also contain lots of nutrients.

The third brain power food was greens, or as Clarissa said: "Dark, leafy greens, like kale, spinach, rocket, these are really rich in nutrients that support brain health. Research has suggested that all of these dark, leafy green plant foods help slow cognitive decline, which is important as we age."

For these, she recommended working to incorporate one portion a day (ideally the size of a cereal bowl) into your daily diet. "If you find them a struggle to have raw in salads, blend them into smoothies. I always chuck spinach and frozen kale into my smoothies. You can add them to stews and pasta too. Or work them into dips," she added.

Spices such as turmeric can improve memory, are good for the immune system and can also act as an anti-inflammatory, Clarissa said, and often work well blended into tea or a latte, in dressings or sprinkled on a curry. Tea and coffee were also good brain foods generally, with Clarissa recommending drinking either two to three cups of coffee a day or seven to eight cups of green or black tea or, if you are sensitive to caffeine, going for decaf options.

As she cautioned: "Caffeine boosts the brain enzyme that has been shown to protect against dementia; it gives you that kick, motivation and focus. But there is of course a real limit with caffeine; you need to be mindful you are not having too much and that it can cause stress and mood dysregulation."

Finally, dark chocolate contained antioxidants and caffeine and so "has a double whammy" effect, Clarissa pointed out. "Studies have shown that flavonoids, which are a type of antioxidant found in dark chocolate, improve learning and memory, and highlight areas of brain associated with pleasure, and so can be a really good mood booster. But it must be 70%+ dark chocolate," she said.

More generally, reducing sugar in your diet could be good for your general wellbeing, as well as your brain health. "Diets high in refined sugars and added sugars are correlated with impaired brain function. High-sugar diets can also worsen mood disorders," Clarissa said, recommending that people try to keep below 30g of added sugar per day in their diet. However, the sugars found in whole fruits and milk do not count in this.

Clarissa concluded the first part of her presentation by looking at some general lifestyle tips for improving brain health. These included building in regular exercise, physical movement and thinking skills into your working day, as well as good-quality sleep (ideally seven to nine hours a night).

On exercise and movement, this need not mean going to the gym, Clarissa emphasised, but could be activities such as walking, swimming, yoga and gardening. Thinking skills could be anything from learning a new language or, say, a game like chess, or meditation or breathing exercises, she added.

During the question-and-answer session, Clarissa addressed how employers can help. What could employers do to improve nutrition in the workforce and workplaces, she was asked.

This is an area where Public Health England has recently done work, including developing a toolkit for employers with Business in the Community, and Clarissa highlighted some practical changes employers could make. "Having workplace wellbeing webinars and talks is a great way to get people involved, just a bit of an event, which is something I have seen increase significantly over the past couple of years," she said.

"Another great practical thing you can do is revamp your snack bar; I've gone into workplaces and done this with teams or looked at their canteen offering. There is so much you can do, and it doesn't all have to be healthy. For example, simply swapping all the milk chocolate bars for dark chocolate options or having a fruit bowl, which doesn't have to be expensive. It can be once a week, a bunch of fresh, seasonal or local fruit that can be delivered to the office," Clarissa said.

"It is about ensuring people can have different options to choose from rather than immediately going for the sweets and the chocolate, which are just short-term energy. Having nut dispensers can be really great idea, perhaps walnuts, as they are a good source of Omega 3," she added.

Education and health promotion was another important area for employers to focus on. "If you have in the kitchen area a poster that says, for example, 'have one portion of greens a day' or 'pick those berries' or 'dark chocolate can give you an energy boost', or whatever it is, just having those touchpoints and reminders can be really effective," Clarissa said.

Was there, Clarissa was asked, a link between nutrition and recovery from illness? "Yes; absolutely, I would definitely say so, although it depends on the illness," she replied. "If you are getting over the flu, for example, if you are able to support your body with a bunch of nutrients - zinc and vitamin C, vitamin D, for example, from nutrient-rich foods - you are giving your immune system the nutrients that it needs to recover.

"Nutrition has such an important role. The majority of my clients are coming to see me because they are either in the middle of an illness or they are recovering or trying to recover, and nutrition can completely change people's lives," Clarissa added.

Clarissa was next asked how could employers embed these techniques into their benefits and wellbeing programmes? "Building a wellbeing strategy is really important," Clarissa emphasised. "Rather than just ad hoc things, it is important to have a strategy that is really meaningful to your employees and your teams. So, asking them, 'what do you want to hear about from a nutrition perspective?'.

"Don't just give people something, ask them 'what are you really struggling with, or what are you finding really difficult?'. Are they, for example, able to have healthy lunches at work? If not, could you perhaps give an employee discount towards a healthy shop that's local or healthier takeaway options or whatever it might be?

"Or it might be it's more that people are struggling with sleep or stress. If so, you may want to look at building some meditation resources into your wellbeing plan, or nutrition workshops, or maybe even cooking workshops, things like that. The key is about building a wellbeing strategy rather than just throwing things in so that you're just ticking a box," Clarissa said.

Finally, with the event taking place the day before research was published suggesting the number of people in England suffering from 'long Covid' - or lingering side-effects from a Covid-19 infection - could now be as high as two million, Clarissa was asked how she felt employers could be best adapting their wellbeing benefits or programmes for workers suffering with long Covid?

Clarissa emphasised that health professionals are still working to fully understand long Covid. However, it stood to reason that improving your general health and wellbeing - including eating and living more healthily - was likely to be beneficial. "I think general nutrition is a really great starting point for helping with long Covid because you are going to become healthier in general," she said.

Nic Paton is one of the country's foremost journalists on workplace health, safety and wellbeing, and is editor of Occupational Health & Wellbeing magazine. He also regularly writes on the health and employee benefits and health insurance markets.