Let’s Talk About Men’s Health – Gavin’s Story
Talking about Men’s Health is something we think needs to be encouraged and done more often.
Four of our Body Mechanics clients have shared their stories about what causes them stress, how they manage that stress and their overall health and wellbeing and in this blog we will hear Gavin's story.
It’s interesting to discover what health and wellbeing means to different people and its context in their everyday life.
Gavin Williams
Key Facts
- An Irishman living in England since 1997. I moved over here for work and then somehow never left.
- IT consultant, working with large enterprises on their transformations to new technologies.
- I am privileged to be married to a Yorkshirewoman and have two fantastic children, a girl and a boy aged 11/9.
- We have 2 rabbits and I feed the local cats.
"Animo Sana in Corpore Sano, a healthy mind in a healthy body"
Biggest stressor?
In general, work is my biggest stressor. There is always more to do than time to do it, and we obviously are both in a competitive situation as well as ensuring that we deliver to the right quality in areas which are often new.
However, this stress is x2 when at the same time there is any level of stress at home, e.g. perhaps the children are sick and need care or any other items.
How do you manage that stress and your health and wellbeing?
The biggest relief I use to manage stress is to find some physical way of releasing it. While others may purge and exhale the stress through mindfulness, I tend to use exercise.
I am a keen cyclist and typically will get up 05:30 each morning to hit the bike and wake myself up as well as flush the system.
I am also a black-belt in 2 styles of Karate, and find the energy and physical nature of that to be very releasing.
Finally, cuddling with the children and reading books together during “Bookie and Cookie” time is the icing on the cake!
While others may purge and exhale the stress through mindfulness, I tend to use exercise.
What do you gain from your exercise?
I have had several back issues in my life, related initially to poor core stability during exercise and also through a fundamentally sedentary lifestyle and weight drifting upwards.
What this exercise does is it not only keeps the weight at the right ratio, but the movements in Karate strengthen the core and the bicycle allows multiple gentle mobilisation of lower back. Thanks to this, (and regular ministrations from Nikki Roy), my back issues have not been a problem now for a number of years. Touch Wood!!
There is always more to do than time to do it
My health and wellbeing aims...
Overall my aim for health and wellbeing is to be able to enjoy life. It’s very important for me to be able to be a physical role model for my children who will in turn grow up into a life much more sedentary than the previous generation.
I want to get stronger and faster on the bike, and am faster than I was 18 years ago.
I am absolutely a firm believe in ASICS (not the shoe brand but still!). Animo Sana in Corpore Sano, a healthy mind in a healthy body. Achieving this life balance gives me the ability to manage work stress, achieve my health goals, and in being more relaxed, be a more fun and participative husband and father to my family!
We’d also like to hear from you, our male readers, about how you manage your own health and wellbeing. We’ve put together a short survey for you to answer by clicking on the image below.
Please only provide information you are comfortable sharing. Your data is submitted anonymously and is not shared outside of The Body Mechanics Team. We value your privacy. Thank you for your participation. We value your insights.