Maintain your wellbeing during Covid-19 restrictions

We recognise that this is a challenging time and looking after your overall wellbeing should be a top priority.

When working or studying from home, the following tips will help you maintain your mental and physical health:

  • Try to maintain a healthy balance by allocating specific hours for work/study
  • Take regular breaks, incorporating movement or exercise wherever possible
  • If possible, you should have a dedicated workspace separate from where you relax
  • Try to establish routines as best as possible
  • Try to view this period as a new experience that can bring health benefits.

Wellbeing tips from the experts

Macquarie staff share their tips on how to maintain your wellbeing during COVID-19 restrictions.

View the full playlist

Stay Active – download the UniMoves app

Get active with Macquarie UniMoves, a pilot project designed to get you moving!

Download the app on the Google Play app or the Apple app to:

  • Track your activity levels
  • Challenge your friends or colleagues to see who moves more
  • Find out about the latest events on campus to get you moving
  • Access on campus challenges to win prizes
  • Track your workouts in the gym
  • Complete pre-programmed workouts or create your own

Check out these latest updates:

  • Access to daily workouts
  • Join the April challenge and win prizes
  • Create your own workouts
  • Access to daily recipes

Find out more about the app.

View a short video on how to use the Unimoves app.

Look after your Wellbeing - try out our new MQ Wellbeing app

MQ Wellbeing is the app that can help you achieve balance in your life. Keep track of your wellbeing with tools designed to monitor your habits, connect with the MQ community and reach your potential. MQ Wellbeing provides you with ongoing support, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and connects you with opportunities that support your success at Macquarie and beyond.

Please note: This app was developed for students first but has also been adapted for staff. Hence, there may be more references to student examples in some of the podcasts. However, the situations and examples can be applied generically.

Download on Android or iOS today.

Meditation apps

Check out these top 5 meditation apps available for download on Android and iOS

  • Headspace
  • Calm
  • Aura
  • Stop, Breath & Think
  • Insight Timer

From Beyond Blue:

From MindSpot:

From Benestar:

From Head to Health (Australian Department of Health):

Avoiding loneliness

Reassuring your kids

MQ Health's Healthy Weight Clinic's Accredited Practising Dietitian, Dr Juliana Chen, shares 5 'Rs' for maintaining healthy eating habits during the COVID-19 restrictions:

1. Regularity:

  • Stick to three regular meals a day at normal breakfast, lunch and dinner times.
  • Avoid skipping meals (especially breakfast) as this can often lead us to reach into the pantry in the afternoon for the biscuits, chips and chocolate, especially if we're feeling low in energy or bored.
  • Packing/preparing a lunch box the night before (for you and the kids) can also help to take the guesswork out of what to eat for lunch or snacks and lead to healthier choices.

2. Research:

  • What better time than now to research some tasty new healthy recipes to get the whole family involved and to build up a love for cooking! Home-cooked meals are often much healthier (and cheaper) than ordering takeaway.
  • Write out a shopping list with the ingredients that you need for these meals - and try to ensure that there is a good balance of vegetables and legumes, fruit, wholegrains, fish, poultry, eggs, lean meats and reduced fat dairy.

3. Reduce:

  • We all know that often when a food or beverage is in the pantry, fridge or freezer it is hard to say no to consuming it. Therefore try reducing the availability of discretionary foods such as biscuits, chips, chocolate, lollies, ice cream and alcohol.
  • Enjoy these treats just a few times a week and instead choose healthier snack options such as fruit, nuts, baby veggies with hummus, wholegrain crackers with ricotta or cottage cheese, or a homemade baked zucchini slice.
  • Drink water as your primary beverage.

4. Restart:

  • Instead of walking to the fridge or pantry when you're in need of a break from work, it's time to restart your physical activity habits. Go for walk outdoors with your kids or pets, enjoy some music or a phone call with a friend.

5. Reach out:

  • We know it is a hard time for all, not only with physical wellbeing but also emotional wellbeing. There is no shame in asking for help from family and friends!
  • Reach out also to our team of dietitians, exercise physiologists, and endocrinologists at the Healthy Weight Clinic if you are wanting more support with improving your lifestyle habits, weight loss or even to reduce risk of diabetes and hypertension.

To read the extended tips from Dr Juliana Chen, visit The Lighthouse.

Stay mentally well

  • Employee Assistance Program – Benestar offers up to 6 free sessions for staff and immediate family. A range of support services are available, including:
    • MyCoach gives you access to confidential coaching and support for all aspects of your life – physical, mental, social, health and nutrition, professional and financial.
    • MyCoach for People Leaders gives leaders access to confidential and proactive support to work through any workplace issue or challenge.
  • Benestar fact sheets and Coronavirus resources provided on BeneHub :
  • Mindspot – online assessment and treatment for anxiety and depression

Stay on track

During this time, it will be important to stay productive and keep your performance and personal development on track. For formal training needs at Macquarie there is a range of different online workshops and resources. LinkedIn learning and Coursera gives you a wide range of online videos and tutorials offered by credible industry experts.

Visit our staff wellbeing – what’s online? for more online services, events and activities.

If you have any suggestions, questions or tips to share please email abetteryouatmq@mq.edu.au

Staff Wellbeing Initiatives

Refresh Time

All staff will be encouraged to introduce dedicated meeting and phone call free time, each day, between midday and 1.30pm. This is designed to provide a break from meetings and to ensure staff have some time to step away from their desk, have a proper lunch break, spend some time with their family or take a walk.

Support for staff with family or carer responsibilities

Staff supporting their children with learning from home, parenting pre-school aged children and other carer responsibilities, are not required to take Family/Carer Responsibilities leave at these times and can work flexibly to balance their work and parenting responsibilities. However, if staff wish to do so, staff members with family or carer responsibility may access up to one day a week of Family/Carer Responsibilities leave. Staff can apply for this leave in a block of at least one hour and in increments of 15 minutes.

Macquarie Student Wellbeing service

Contact Student Wellbeing with enquiries about wellbeing, accessibility and counselling:

T: +61 2 9850 7497
T: 1800 CARE MQ (1800 227 367 outside business hours)
E: wellbeing@mq.edu.au

Request a call from a Student Wellbeing Advisor (click the black and white arrowhead icon at the top right).

Other telephone helplines

For urgent assistance, here are some numbers available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week that may be helpful:

  • call Kidshelpline (up to 25 years) on 1800 55 1800 for free, confidential telephone counselling
  • call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) for free, confidential telephone counselling about violence
  • call Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 for free, confidential telephone counselling
  • call Lifeline 13 11 14 for free, confidential telephone counselling