Farmer Wellbeing

Overview

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Understanding mental health

The term ‘mental health’ is commonly used to describe someone with a mental illness. However, mental health should be viewed similarly to physical health – something we all have and something that can fluctuate over time. Our ability to cope with the normal stressors of life, complete our daily work and have healthy relationships can depend on how we are tracking with both our mental and physical health.

The World Health Organisation defines mental health as:

“a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community. It is an integral component of health and well-being that underpins our individual and collective abilities to make decisions, build relationships and shape the world we live in”.

The mental health continuum is a great way to visualise how you are tracking and can be a helpful tool for opening up a conversation with someone else too.

Figure 1. The mental health continuum

Learn More

1. A great place to read more about mental health and the mental health continuum is on the Beyond Blue website: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/mental-health/what-is-mental-health
2. A more detailed explanation of the mental health continuum can be found at https://delphis.org.uk/mental-health/continuum-mental-health/

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What is wellbeing?

The term wellbeing refers to your overall quality of life and includes physical, emotional, and social aspects.

It refers to a state of optimal health, contentment, and fulfillment and is a delicate balance between the resources you have to support your wellbeing, and the challenges you face that can potentially steer you off track. Taking care of your physical health with a well-balanced diet, regular physical activity, and adequate sleep helps reduce your risk of illness and injury and keeps your body functioning at its best.

Emotional health is equally important and helps you to maintain relationships on- and off-farm, cope with life’s challenges, and experience a sense of inner calm and happiness. When your mind is healthy, you can think more clearly, make good decisions, and manage stress effectively—all of which are required for working effectively in your dairy farming business.

Maintaining meaningful social connection is important for overall wellbeing. Strong social networks provide emotional support, a sense of belonging, and opportunities for personal growth. Finding your own balance of time spent with others and time spent alone to recharge is important. Social connection helps to counteract the times you may be working alone or isolated by distance or connectivity, similarly however, some quiet time to regroup can also be helpful if you are working with others.

You cannot always control the challenges you face in your dairy farm and rural life; and it is often during the tougher times that you learn and grow as a person. Maintaining your physical, emotional and social resources is important to balance the impact of these challenges. It’s easy to forget this when you are feeling pressured, but they are often what help you get through the challenging times.

Learn More Watch the short animation “What is wellbeing?” developed by the National Centre for Farmer Health to compliment the above information https://youtu.be/ksaLaY9TgyM

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Understanding stress

There are many aspects of the daily functioning of a farm that can be a source of stress and often many of these are out of your control. It’s important to remember that stress is not always a bad thing.

A little stress can keep you on your toes, keep motivation levels high, and help you get things done. However, persistent high-level stress reduces productivity, impairs decision making and is probably doing you damage.

Figure 2. The effects of stress on performance

Extreme events like bushfires, droughts and floods can be particularly stressful (particularly as the causes are often outside of our control). Everyone reacts differently to potentially stressful situations. This can depend on your personality, the extent of your support network or other things that are going on in your life.

Prolonged and unhealthy levels of stress can have a range of negative outcomes. Stress can affect many areas of the body including the nervous system, memory, the ability to fight off infection, cardiovascular health, pain and gut problems.

Below are some examples of stressors that you may be familiar with in your farming operation:

• The weather
• Increased input costs
• Farm finances
• Machinery breakdowns
• Family and relationship pressures
• Workforce shortages
• Managing livestock
• Fluctuating markets
• Government regulations and paperwork
• Long working hours

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Signs of Stress

When your body faces prolonged periods of heightened stress it can lead to a range of physical, emotional and behavioural symptoms. Over time, this chronic stress can weaken your immune system, making you more susceptible to illnesses.

Stress can also be a contributing factor to you or someone you are working with getting injured on farm, and often results from poor decision making and lack of concentration. Learning to recognise your stress triggers is an important step in developing your coping skills.

Be aware of some of the common signs of elevated stress to watch out for in yourself and others.

These are the things that we often forget when life gets stressful, but they are also some of the simplest and most effective strategies to help us get through tough times.

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When Stress Becomes Distress

Distress occurs when you experience high levels of stress for a long period of time. Distress can threaten both your physical and mental health. Experiencing ongoing distress for months or years leaves your body all geared up with no place to go and may lead to the development of common mental illness such as depression or anxiety, or may exacerbate existing conditions.

Members of rural farming communities are often very willing to volunteer and help others. As a farmer, you are resourceful and accustomed to solving problems on your own daily, but you may not feel comfortable reaching out to someone else for support or to share your problems.

However, it’s important to talk to family, trusted friends/advisors or a health professional about issues that are upsetting, stressful or difficult. Sharing your problems might also help someone else that may be feeling low to know that they are not alone.

There is not always a one-size-fits-all solution for finding the right support, but it is important to keep trying different things until you find what works for you.

Learn more

1. Watch the the animated video ‘What does distress look like’ to understand what distress can look like in yourself or those around you. https://www.youtu.be/6tjij3eDJ8s
2. Visit the Health Direct website to learn more about the signs of common mental illness. https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/nine-signs-of-mental-illness-infographic
3. The Health Direct website also has a great symptoms checker to help you identify the cause of your symptoms, if you need to seek help and what help is available to you. Visit:  https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/symptom-checker

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Common mental illnesses

Anxiety

We all worry about things from time to time, but when this worry becomes constant and starts to impact our daily activities it can be identified as anxiety and can include both intrusive thoughts and physical symptoms.

Symptoms of anxiety can be triggered suddenly – often as a result of a previous experience – or creep up over time. This can present in different ways. You may start to feel restless and agitated, tense or wound up and may become fearful. You may begin to worry and overthink things and begin to imagine the worst, even though it hasn’t happened. You may also develop a fear of being criticised or embarrassed.

Some thoughts might include feeling like you are a failure, or becoming worried on a hot windy day that a bushfire might be coming even though it is not an extreme fire danger rating.  Your heart may race, your chest may tighten, and your breathing may become fast and shallow. This can feel quite overwhelming. You might also experience headaches or hot and cold flushes, and may find it difficult to sleep.

Depression

Feeling sad or low can be a part of normal life from time to time, but this can progress into depression if symptoms build up and continue for an extended period of time.

Depression presents in various ways and can impact our thoughts, emotions, behaviours, and physical well-being. Some symptoms of depression include persistent feelings of sadness, emptiness, or hopelessness. We may struggle with a lack of interest or pleasure in activities we once enjoyed, withdrawing from social interactions and isolating ourselves. Energy levels may plummet, leading to fatigue, difficulty concentrating, and disrupted sleep patterns—either excessive sleep or an inability to sleep.

Depression can make us think badly about ourselves leading to negative thoughts and self-criticism, often accompanied by feelings of worthlessness or guilt. Appetite changes, weight fluctuations, and physical aches or pains may also be present. Some individuals may also experience thoughts of self-harm and/or suicide.

It is important to understand that depression affects people differently, and not everyone will display the same symptoms.

Recognising a change in your own or others’ normal behaviour is key and can assist with seeking help early and prevent things getting worse

Learn more

1. Watch the following video describing the signs of ‘Anxiety and Depression’ to help you identify the signs to look out for when someone is mentally unwell. https://youtu.be/zErt0QHQcxI
2. Visit the Better Health Chanel to learn more about the treatment options available to you https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/anxiety-treatment-options or https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/depression-treatment-and-management

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Managing mental health following a natural disaster

In the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster, it is normal for many people to experience intense stress reactions. These reactions are not necessarily pathological. Research on disaster survivors has consistently demonstrated that most people recover without professional intervention within a number of months and maintain a healthy level of functioning over time.

Typical responses to trauma experienced during and following disasters include:

• Emotional responses such as shock, fear, anger, helplessness, irritability, depression, sadness, shame, guilt, lower life satisfaction.
• Biological responses such as fatigue, exhaustion, headaches, general aches and pains.
• Psychological responses such as tension, inability to make decisions, emotional distress, states of high arousal, reliving the events in flashbacks or nightmares, irritability.
• Behavioural responses such as avoidance of reminders or triggers, increased time spent at work, use of alcohol and drugs.
• Social responses such as intolerance of others, social withdrawal, breakdown of relationships, social networks and sense of community.

While most people eventually recover over time, a sizeable proportion will experience mental health problems in the months or even years after the initial event. The impact of multiple disasters in close succession can be cumulative in its effect on an individual.

Common mental health disorders following a natural disaster include:

• Depression –sad or depressed mood, loss of interest in normal activities, poor motivation and lack of energy, disturbed sleep, poor appetite and in more severe cases, suicidal thoughts.
• Anxiety –fear that something bad will happen, and worry about safety, health and money: physical symptoms can include being tense, on edge, a racing heart, and social withdrawal.
• Substance use disorders – excessive use of alcohol or other drugs, which interferes with the person’s social relationships and ability to carry out normal roles.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder –memories haunt the person (high arousal, being on edge, disturbed sleep, irritability) and efforts to avoid triggers, and numbing of emotional responsiveness.

Individuals experiencing any of these mental health conditions in the months and years following the natural disaster will benefit from effective treatments which are readily accessible through mental health professionals. Farmers are especially encouraged to seek help if they find themselves struggling in any of these ways.

Learn more

1.        Further information and a great handbook for communities recovering from natural disasters can be found at https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/handbook-community-recovery

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Maintaining a healthy balance

Evidence has shown that while as farmers you often work long hours, you can also derive greater satisfaction and meaning from your work due to a wide range of different and challenging tasks and increased autonomy and decision making in your daily work. The complexity and diversity of tasks is ongoing, and the learning required gives you a sense of accomplishment and fulfilment in your work, which helps to compensate for long hours and hard work.

That strong sense of pride, growing food for the nation and a sense of place and stewardship of the land is also a really strong part of the farming identity. Living rurally also means being surrounded by animals and nature, which is known to support wellbeing.

The opportunity to connect with animals, either in a work environment or a recreational setting, has many therapeutic benefits, including those that come with the human-animal bond and the caring for another living creature.

Learn more

1. Visit the National Centre for Farmer Health website for a comprehensive list of support services available and resources to help you support your wellbeing.

• • https://www.farmerhealth.org.au/support
  • https://www.farmerhealth.org.au/farmer-wellbeing-toolkit

References used

1. Yerkes RM, Dodson JD (1908). The relation of strength of stimulus to rapidity of habit-formation. Journal of Comparative Neurology and Psychology. 18: 459–482
2. Karasek, R., Baker, D., Marxer, F., Ahlbom, A., & Theorell, T. (1981). Job decision latitude, job demands, and cardiovascular disease: a prospective study of Swedish men. American Journal of Public Health, 71(7), 694-705
3. https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/depression/self-care/
4. Australian Disaster Resilience Community Recovery Handbook (AIDR 2018) p8-76 https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/handbook-community-recovery/