It has taken me quite some time to decide how to present this blog on engineers’ wellness. Should I take a more academic approach, given the serious statistics highlighting the concerning rise in mental health issues among young adults? Or should I adopt a more colloquial tone, considering that readers might not come to a blog post expecting an academic paper on wellness? Ultimately, I decided it might be more engaging to reflect on my personal journey of exploring engineers’ wellness and invite you to join me in this ongoing exploration.

My curiosity about engineers’ wellness began during my doctoral studies, where I had the opportunity to closely observe and interact with several engineers. Although I was aware that the engineers I met represented a small, possibly unrepresentative sample, I couldn’t help but notice certain common traits. Many of them seemed to struggle with questions about feelings. They often had difficulty discerning or describing their own feelings, and other people’s feelings seemed generally off their radar. At times, it almost felt as though feelings were not a significant part of their life experiences or vocabulary.

I also observed that back pain was prevalent among these engineers. Physical therapy and significant reduction of physical activity appeared to be their main strategies for managing the pain. While they often experienced a correlation between stress and back pain, they did not readily recognize this association, let alone consider other psychological factors that might be affecting their physical conditions.

These observations made me question whether they could be generalized to the broader engineering community. I became increasingly curious about the overall mental well-being of engineers and how they perceive and respond to mental health challenges and treatments, given their possibly low inclination to approach emotional and psychological issues. Questions such as “What factors or activities might enhance or impede engineers’ wellness?” often occupied my thoughts.

Despite the growing recognition of mental wellness issues in the field of engineering over the past decade, many questions remain unanswered. This is why I embarked on this blog journey—to share what I have discovered and to continue exploring these important topics. I hope you will join me on this journey.