A positive outlook on life can help to keep your heart healthy with ‘optimistic’ people up to 50 per cent less likely to suffer a coronary or a stroke claim scientists.

Researchers have found that positive psychological wellbeing can help the heart and psychological assets such as optimism and positive emotion can protect people against cardiovascular disease, the Daily Mail reported.

“The absence of the negative is not the same thing as the presence of the positive. We found that factors such as optimism, life satisfaction, and happiness are associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease regardless of such factors as a person’s age, socio-economic status, smoking status or body weight”, said Julia Boehm, lead author of the research. “For example, the most optimistic individuals had an approximately 50 per cent reduced risk of experiencing an initial cardiovascular event compared to their less optimistic peers.”

Findings also showed that individuals with a sense of wellbeing engaged in healthier behaviour such as exercising, eating a balanced diet and getting sufficient sleep. Greater wellbeing was also related to better biological function such as lower blood pressure, healthier blood fat profiles and normal body weight.

If you are feeling stressed or anxious and would like to talk to someone in confidence, call our Support Line on 0808 802 03 04.

You may also find the following factsheets useful:

• Managing your health through physical activity
• Diet and energy levels
• How to sleep well

The President of the National Union of Students (NUS) says lecturers should have a teaching qualification to “try and improve the quality of teaching that students receive” now that tuition fees have risen.

“I think it is undeniable, with the increase of perceived payment of fees, that people have much higher expectations. Not just students but parents, who will probably be much more active in criticising what they perceive to be the deal,” explained Liam Burns ahead of the NUS annual conference. “From our point of view, fees or no fees, we should always expect lecturers should try and improve the quality of teaching that students receive. I don’t think we make arguments on value for money. It is false – we are not working in a real market here.”

The comments follow the 2010/11 NUS/HSBC Student Experience Full Report, where 69 per cent of students who responded to the survey agreed that higher education teaching staff should hold a teaching qualification. The same report also found that, if given a fantasy pot of money, students would invest the most money into teaching (18 per cent).

Lord Browne’s review of university funding in 2010 proposed that lecturers with “teaching responsibilities” should gain formal qualifications, but this has not been enforced, the Guardian reports.

“The Browne review said that it should be compulsory for teachers to have a teaching qualification. Personally, as a student, I don’t think it is that controversial for my teachers to be qualified to teach. The institutions themselves absolutely balked at the idea. They said they cannot have one size fits all; it is about academic autonomy, not telling us how to teach. I just find that absolutely astonishing in the context of students perceiving themselves to be paying £27,000,” added Liam Burns.

Not everyone agrees with the NUS President. Comments on the Guardian article include:

“So a university Professor, who has spent his entire life studying his / her subject, acquiring BAs, Mas, MSCs, PhDs etc has to go and get qualified by getting a PGCE? That’s like an astronaut going back to get O Level maths.”

For all the latest FE and HE news, information and comment, follow us on Twitter @RecourseCharity.

The pressures of education are “damaging lecturer and teacher health”, a survey by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) has revealed.

A quarter of staff questioned by the union said their current job had led them to taking time off sick from work, whilst 40 per cent reported that they had visited their doctor as a direct result of increased workload, long working hours or inspections. The proportion of staff taking sick leave is the highest amongst those working in further education at 33 per cent, ATL reports.

“The demands and pressures on those working in schools and colleges is escalating,” Dr Mary Bousted, General Secretary of the ATL commented. “It is not surprising that so many teachers and lecturers are considering leaving the profession. They are having to cope with endless Government initiatives, Ofsted inspections, pressure from parents, schools and colleges to get pupils through tests. The 35 hour week simply does not exist for teachers.”

When asked specifically what it was in their job that was causing problems, the most common answer from education staff was workload, chosen by 84 per cent, followed by long hours (69 per cent), pressure of inspections (47 per cent) and meeting targets (43 per cent).

The survey, which questioned 1,300 ATL members also revealed that 60 per cent of teachers, tutors and lecturers had thought about changing jobs, whilst 58 per cent admitted they had considered leaving the profession altogether. 73 per cent of those surveyed said their job was having a negative effect on their health and wellbeing and 62 per cent said school life affects their relationships with family and friends.

A tutor at Doncaster College commented: “The policies across college are in place but there is no appreciation regarding stress from direct management”.

Recent data released by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) also revealed that lecturers are more likely to work overtime than staff in any other profession. 55.6 per cent of education professionals work unpaid overtime, putting in an average of 9.6 hours extra per week.

From the calls and emails we receive, we know that workload and long working hours are a major cause of concern for tutors and lecturers. In our 2011 forum on the subject, one lecturer told us: “a ‘healthy’ work-life balance is very difficult to achieve. When I should have time or energy for exercise, I have too many demands from the job to fit this in effectively. Taking time out for illness is problematic as the burden falls on colleagues. As such, there are times when I am in college, when I shouldn’t be. I only take a couple of days sick leave on average per year so constant tiredness results”.

If you are struggling to cope with workload, long working hours or meeting targets and would like to talk to someone in complete confidence, call our Support Line on 0808 802 03 04, or email an advisor here.

by Victoria Bamber

Students have been given the opportunity to report on the 2012 Paralympic Games, as part of a competition run by NASUWT.

Held jointly with the Paralympic Post, a newspaper distributed in the UK and Germany during the games, ten British students aged 16-19 will be given professional media training ready to interview athletes, politicians and celebrities during the 12 day event running from 29 August to 9 September, Politics.co.uk reports.

“The Paralympic Post offers talented students a great opportunity to visit the Paralympics, broaden their horizon and gain experience as a journalist,” Chris Keates, NASUWT General Secretary commented.

The students will be selected by a jury consisting of NASUWT Officers including the NASUWT President John Rimmer, Paula Roe, NASUWT Senior Vice President, Brian Cookson, NASUWT National Treasurer, Pete Henshaw, Editor of SecEd magazine and Doug Wills, Managing Editor of the London Evening Standard.

When interviewed by the Paralympic Post Vancouver 2010, Lord Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the London 2012 Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) commented: “I am pleased that the international Paralympic Post created by secondary school students will also be produced at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.”

Ann Cutcliffe OBE, Vice-Chair and Board Member of the British Paralympic Association said: “We are hoping that all students participating in the competition will challenge their views on disabled sports.”

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by Victoria Bamber

A college is claiming that students’ A Level results have improved following the introduction of wellbeing lessons.

Wellington College has seen students achieving an A and B grade rise from 69 per cent in 2005 to 93 per cent achieving an A*, A or B grade in 2011.

The wellbeing lessons, run by the MindUp programme, are designed to give students the skills to cope with life’s challenges and teach skills such as emotional resilience, self-efficacy and positive thinking,  The Telegraph reports.

“Practising ‘mindfulness’, which is a fundamental element of the MindUP programme, helps pupils to connect with their emotions”, said Ian Morris, one of the wellbeing tutors. “By paying attention to the present moment in a non-judgmental way, we can take stock of our thoughts and beliefs and assess whether they are helpful.”

The MindUP programme, launched by Goldie Hawn’s educational charity, the Hawn Foundation is now being used in a total of seven UK schools. This includes four in London and the others in Sussex, Wales and Kent with these schools working towards what Hawn terms “the optimistic classroom”.

A recent report in the Daily Mail explained how student attainment can also be raised using exercise. Pooled research from scientists in the Netherlands showed that academic achievement is directly linked to exercise and outdoor games in children and teenagers age six to 18.

“According to the best evidence synthesis, we found strong evidence of a significant positive relationship between physical activity and academic performance,” Dr Amika Singh, from Vrije University Medical Centre in Amsterdam, wrote in the journal Archives of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. ”The findings of one high quality intervention study and one high quality observational study suggest that being more physically active is positively related to improved academic performance in children.”

Recourse also developed our own ‘five-a-day’ to reduce stress and improve wellbeing:

For related stories on wellbeing click on the links below:

• Lecturers more likely to work overtime than staff in any other profession
• Money and work worries ruin our sleep
• 50 things that make people happy

By Lucy Rowe