Farmers and farm workers will often feel tension in their muscles, whether it’s from physical exertion, stress, or even changes in the weather — and treatment of tension can start simple at home.
Tag Archives mental health
Simple ways to relieve tension
Fit to Farm: Expectations of stress tee up the body’s tension response — which then sometimes sticks around longer than we need
Toolkits help bridge gap in farmer mental health
Ag Safety: In ag emergency preparedness, mental health outcomes often are overlooked
Efforts to rebuild and repair farms tend to take centre stage following a crisis, but the mental health aspects of such events often inadvertently wind up on the back burner, hence a new resource kit for farmer use.
AgTalk farmer mental health support platform sees partnership renewed
Do More Ag’s anonymous chat platform has seen more than 10,000 interactions since its launch in 2023
AgTalk, an anonymous online space for those in the agricultural sector to find mental health support, has seen its funding partnership renewed, the Do More Agriculture Foundation announced on Tuesday.
Try these techniques to help manage stress symptoms
Fit to Farm: It can be as simple as connecting your awareness in the moment to the literal ground underfoot
Think of your nervous system as a complex biological electrical circuit — one that benefits from being grounded.
Help yourself break a headache
Fit to Farm: Certain motions work to help regulate or relieve underlying tension
Most headaches are brief and resolve on their own with rest, a change of environment, good nutrition, and proper hydration.
Jaw clenching and tooth grinding
Fit to Farm: Regular, intentional tongue movement can reduce tension in your jaw, neck and shoulders
Stress management, dental care and other health factors remain important in addressing jaw clenching and grinding, but intentional tongue exercises may help you deal with the painful symptoms in the meantime.
On-farm communication improves when we start with connection
Seeds of Encouragement: Where you stand with your offspring comes from their relationships to you
Elaine writes: In so many of the families we coach, we see communication breakdowns leading to escalation of conflicts. In some cases, using strategies that provide family members with the tools they need to have better communication can help — but in many cases a relationship between family members has broken down to the point […] Read more
New initiative to promote farmer mental health launched
Collaborative solutions wanted
The Canadian government is looking for new ways to help the mental health of farmers across the country — and has launched the Producer Mental Wellbeing Initiative (PMWI) to find "collaborative solutions that employ novel strategies" to do just that.
Launching National Farmer Crisis Line
Crisis line is available at 1-866-FARMS01 (1-866-327-6701)
As farming gleans stress from a variety of sources, the Canadian Centre for Agricultural Wellbeing announced on Feb. 4 that it has set up the National Farmer Wellness Network. The crisis line is available free of charge and was designed specifically for the mental health challenges faced by Canadian farmers, their families as well as […] Read more
Non-surgical options to manage pain
Fit to Farm: Don’t just ignore pain or the clues to its causes
As an athletic therapist, I often work with individuals faced with managing painful conditions in the short and long term. Many conditions or injuries do require surgery to repair underlying issues. That said, many pain-related symptoms do not require surgical intervention to alleviate. Pain and other uncomfortable sensations occur for many reasons, often entirely unrelated […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
