Literature - BioPsych Academy

Five bad habits to break before returning to work in 2022

Not separating work and leisure Without a daily commute, many workers just sit down at their desk first thing in the morning and don’t stop working until the evening, with very little physical movement throughout the day, Ferguson says. “If people did decide to take a...

CATALYST // THE WEBINAR SERIES

Dr Jemma King - Founder BioPsychAnaltyics, Research Fellow University Queensland and Lecturer Sydney University MBA. Dr King is a specialist in the field of Human Behaviour, Stress and Emotional Intelligence. She shared her top 4 practical, science based hacks, that...

Understanding stress: How it affects sleep performance and cognitive functioning

This week we’re sharing some groundbreaking WHOOP research about the importance of stress, rest, and recovery — and how they are key ingredients to improving performance and giving you a competitive advantage. One of the best ways you can improve your performance is...

Performing Under Pressure for Leaders

Increased resilience and adaptive leadership skills were vital – yet the most important challenge leaders face now is how to constantly perform under more pressure in a world redefined by an unstable ‘new normal’.

CAAL Podcast Series Episode #4: VUCA Environments and Psychological Safety – Dr Jemma King

VUCA Environments and Psychological Safety - Dr. Jemma King How does our emotional intelligence help us navigate through group life to become a formidable fighting force? Here, Dr Jemma King and LTCOL Sam Padman discuss how emotional intelligent leaders use their...

An Interview with Jemma King: Behavioural Psychology BY SAMUEL COX FEBRUARY 28, 2020

I began my work in 2015 and it was developed with, and in response to the needs of, soldiers. I spent two years doing research with one of the Army Training Centres and then created a training package called the Pre-emptive Training and Education Continuum (PRETEC) which combined the stories of experienced soldiers with scientific theory and empirical, validated research.

I use a multi-dimensional biopsychosocial approach to being ‘better’. My premise is that in order to be an effective leader, or soldier, you need to first be able to manage yourself. If you can’t manage self, you can’t manage others; and if you can’t manage others, you can’t manage a team through conflict. If you can’t do that, then you certainly can’t manage an organisation.

I’m interested in developing pre-emptive strategies before someone is placed under immense stress, rather than going back after soldiers have been under prolonged duress and already had a mental health disruption.

Dr. Jemma King Talks Managing Sleep & Stress to Optimize Performance at Work

Dr. Jemma King recently joined our podcast to discuss ground-breaking research she worked on in conjunction with WHOOP. The study investigated the relationship between sleep and executive function in the workplace. Among other things, findings indicated that when a person accumulated sleep debt it led to a decrease in mental control the next day, while increased slow wave (deep) sleep had an opposite positive affect.

Jemma also took part in an AMA with our members to dive deeper into the study, as well as answer other questions about stress in the workplace. Here are some of the highlights.

Emotional intelligence and its effects on biomarkers of workplace stress

Workplace stress is an insidious, pervasive, and increasing problem that contributes to psychological, psychosocial, and physiological declines to workers’ health. This thesis focuses on the effect of emotional intelligence (EI) as a moderator of workplace stress, measured using biomarkers. EI is beneficial to workers because individuals with higher EI have stronger coping abilities, engender more trust, and perform cognitive tasks with less effort, resulting in greater life satisfaction and wellbeing. For these reasons, I argue that EI reduces workplace stress.