Applications for mindfulness

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Posted on 31st May 2013 by admin in follow health |follow health news |Uncategorized

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There’s been quite a lot of talk lately about mindfulness meditation – and rightly so, if its positive potential health outcomes are anything to go by.

Research from studies so far carried out suggests that mindfulness meditation can bring benefits that include the following:

  • stress reduction
  • reduced risk of depression
  • positive physical changes to the brain

So it’s no surprise that mindfulness meditation is making waves in the wellbeing and health pages, and the NHS Choices has a good introduction to mindfulness here.

One of the elements of mindfulness is a kind of state that involves observing one’s own thoughts without following them or acting on  them. This is normally described by using a physical analogy.

In his clear, concise (and actually quite inspiring) book on the subject entitled Quiet the Mind, author Matthew Johnstone likens the process of observing your thoughts and letting them go to being a deep sea diver, watching bubbles of exhaled air float up to the surface. The NHS choices page has an equally calm way of visualising this way of observing our thoughts but not being distracted by them:

 Stand back and watch them floating past, like leaves on a stream

Other suggestions for how we could use this type of meditation are now being discussed. There’s a recent article on the Huffington Post  - well worth a read – on the subject of how mindfulness could be applied in relationship contexts. The article was written by psychology expert Lisa Firestone (click the link for more of her articles).

And it makes perfect sense, really. The author has a realistic view of relationship dynamics and doesn’t overthink or overcomplicate things – and has a sharply perceptive take on the kind of things that happen during relationship rows. And by applying mindfulness, she argues that we can approach things differently. Not by bottling things up or repressing them – but by observing ourselves and then acting in a more controlled and rational way.

There are also other suggestion for ways we could use mindfulness, such as one book available on Amazon (which I haven’t read but does look interesting) on mindful parenting. In much the same way that if we observe ourselves during a relationship upset, it could be useful to also identify and change our responses to triggers within family life such as temper tantrums and other behaviours.

Mindfulness is also getting quite a lot of attention for a couple of very important reasons. The first of these is that it doesn’t require any greatly specialised skill. It’s not like learning a language or how to drive a car. Sure, it definitely helps to get advice on it from reputable sources, but it’s not something that requires those who wish to try it out paying any money beyond buying a good physical or e-reader guide to it. Or, indeed, borrowing a book from the library. The second thing is that mindfulness meditation doesn’t come with any philosophical system attached to it, beyond the belief that taking time out to relax and meditate can lower stress and boost our mood.

And in this busy world where we’re rushing around and juggling work life with family commitments, commuting and so on, a bit of time out has to be a good thing.

Tropical beach scene on a sunny day in Oahu, Hawaii

Allergies in childhood

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Posted on 26th May 2013 by admin in diet and fitness |follow health

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Becoming a parent is undoubtedly one of the most wonderful things in life, and watching your child grow and develop as they get older is a fulfilling and fascinating time. And then of course one day your children are fully grown themselves, and you wonder where the time went.

Along the way, though, it’s not all plain sailing – and kids are bound to get colds as well as other ailments along the way. Looking after your child’s health will of course be at the top of your agenda as a parent – and rightly so. And if your child has allergies then obviously you’ll want to do all you can to ensure that you can manage your child’s allergy as effectively as possible.

Common allergies and intolerances that can affect children include

  • asthma
  • eczema
  • food intolerance
  • milk intolerance

On Wednesday may 29th, the private medical insurance provider AXA PPP healthcare will be holding a live chat on the subject of childhood allergies with their Health At Hand nurse who’ll be around to answer questions on the subject of childhood allergies.

Food allergies only affect a small percentage of the population as a whole – with somewhere between one and two out of every hundred people suffering from what the NHS refers to as a ‘genuine’ food allergy. However among children under three, the proportion of allergy sufferers is higher at 8 percent.

Common foods that people can have allergies to include milk, eggs, fish and nuts. Intolerance is distinguished from allergy by being slower in terms of the reaction taking place, and also usually in terms of the amount of problem food consumed for a reaction to take place.

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Diabetes case study

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Posted on 21st May 2013 by admin in follow health |follow health news

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Diabetes is a condition that – for a combination of possible reasons – continues to be diagnosed in greater numbers as time goes on. According to the charity Diabetes UK medics agree that “the UK is facing a huge increase in the number of people with diabetes”.

To give an idea of the extent of the diabetes problem, the charity highlights the fact that the number of cases of diabetes has actually more than doubled since 1996, with projections (should things continue in the same direction) of 5 million cases in the UK by 2025.  And when you consider that while the UK population has of course increased since 1996, it’s nowhere near doubled since then. All of which can only mean that diabetes is – as the charity itself points out – one of the biggest health challenges faced by the country.

It’s worth finding out about all the risk factors for diabetes and also getting tested if you happen to be in one of the at-risk groups. Finding out about diabetes is useful also in that it can clear up any misconceptions – such as the belief that eating sugar causes diabetes – actually what happens is that eating to much sugar can contribute to overweight which in turn can increase the risk of diabetes.

This video shows the human story side to the condition from the viewpoint of a mother whose daughter is in her early 20s. It’s always interesting to watch stuff like this where the angle is more about how people are affected in day to day life rather than dry medical talk.

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Moving overseas and mental health

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Posted on 3rd April 2013 by admin in follow health

How many people leave the UK each year to go and live abroad?

The answer to that question is not something that’s immediately clear. According to one news article on the subject, around 350,000 emigrants left the UK in the year up to June 2012. Now, that is a lot of people – in act it’s more than the population of the city of Aberdeen. However, other reports put the figure lower, at around 140,000.

One further report in the Telegraph has this to say:

“Office for National Statistics figures obtained by [the MP] Mr de Bois show that in the ten years to 2011, a total of 3,599,000 people permanently left the UK.”

So it looks like the higher figure may well be the one to go with. In terms of the scale of emigrations, what this means is that, far from being a rare and isolated life choice, it’s something that – despite being a big life decision – is still a popular and not uncommon move, for a variety of reasons.

Living abroad brings challenges with it, and obviously when we go abroad we make sure we get all the necessary injections and whatnot, we often pay less attention to mental health. If you’re moving abroad on an international assignment, the firm you work for may provide an employee assistance programme, and these often provide counselling services for those who feel they need the extra support. There are also companies that provide expat counselling. It’s really not uncommon for people to feel isolated and sometimes a bit helpless at times when having made the move and become an expatriate. We’re only human, after all.

 

Living and Working Alone

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Posted on 14th February 2013 by admin in follow health

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Many thousands of people in the UK like to live alone and many don’t feel the need to surround themselves with masses of people in order to feel comfortable.  Of course living alone has its perks, walking around in your underwear for one, but new research has suggested that isolation and feeling lonely may put you at risk of declining functionally or could even lead to a premature death.

As ridiculous as this may sound, living (or working), alone carries a certain amount of danger.  If a workmate or family member weren’t around, then of course they wouldn’t be able to help should a medical or unsafe situation arise. And obviously this could have serious consequences depending on what the medical condition or injury situation was.

A group of scientists once famously put themselves to the task of working out the extent to which this proposition is true. They did this in a test which looked at a group of patients who were all diagnosed with a condition called atherothrombosis.

Patients with this condition were more likely to die within four years living alone than those who had people residing with them, and this was by a margin of around 5 per cent.  On a larger scale it has also been indicated in health studies that people with heart ailments who have people around them benefit from the company.

And in the case of self employed people, there is the fact that if the sole trader is off work due to illness, then there are no other staff to cover, by nature of that particular business format.  Many companies provide health cover for staff and it’s worth checking this out if you’re running a sole trader type business.  Group health insurance companies who provide business cover also have policies for those who are self-employed.  This means that getting back to work after an illness can be a quicker process as with health cover you’re able to avoid waiting lists for treatment.

 

 

 

Spring blues – reverse seasonal affective disorder.

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Posted on 1st February 2013 by admin in follow health

It’s entirely understandable that many of us get a little bit down when the clocks fall back by an hour in the Autumn and we’re plunged into darkness.

For one thing, the fact that there’s less light and the temperature is starting to drop means less time enjoying the outdoors, and more time leaving work in the evening in heavy clothing, with sleet or rain falling relentlessly from the sky.

But in some cases it’s more than a case of simply being a little fed up with the weather – and that’s where seasonal affective disorder comes in. It’s a condition that affects people’s mood to the extent that they become depressed – and even actually produce less of the hormone serotonin.

It’s thought that light may play a part in this, but nobody knows for sure what causes SAD. Interestingly, while the most commonly reported form of the disorder occurs during the darker months of winter, there is also a ‘reverse’ form of it that occurs in springtime.

The lesser known reverse SAD is described from a first hand viewpoint in this interesting BBC article.

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Overcoming dental phobia

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Posted on 25th January 2013 by admin in dental health |Dental Insurance |follow health

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There must very be few among us who enjoy a trip to the dentist. Maybe those lucky types who are well into adulthood and still filling-free, whose only trips to the dentist involve a quick check up followed by an all-clear. Lucky them! I don’t know how typical my dental story is but it’s been filled with incident – front teeth lost in a sports injury aged 10, when they were still very new and had a serrated edge, porcelain caps put in, and then all the various fillings over the years – and even an extraction or two.

Luckily I don’t have an ounce of dental phobia myself – even despite one extraction that was, shall we say, slightly traumatic and ended up with me suffering from mild shock for the rest of the day. But I can totally see why for some people the dentist is a challenge. The smells, noises and sometimes uncomfortable injections aren’t things we’d choose to experience unless it was doing us some good. But difficult dental experiences can make the dental surgery a place some people really don’t like to go.

There’s some great advice on the internet about overcoming dental anxiety – from NHS Choices to Web MD, you can find out all about how to ease your fear and get the treatment you need. A lot of it seems to be down to trust and familiarity. Something simple like choosing a practitioner you trust and can communicate with makes all the difference.And of course there are also practices that specialise in treating people who have anxiety, ensuring that the patient feels as comfortable as possible.

Of course despite my lack of dental anxiety one thing that does cause me a bit of consternation is the cost of treatment. A check up can quickly lead to hundreds of pounds of treatment – meaning that the extra money you had set aside for, say, buying a tablet computer now has to go on your mouth so you’re able to eat things that are less soft than porridge. This is an area that’s easily fixed though – if you take out a cover plan from a dental insurance provider, then you’ve got the reassurance that you’re covered for fillings and suchlike.

Have you experienced dental phobia and been able to overcome it? If so, why not tell us your story in the comments – we’d love to hear from you.

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A healthy lunch: why the prandial hour is crucial

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Posted on 23rd January 2013 by admin in diet and fitness |follow health

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Many of us think about healthy eating when we’re buying our lunch or making it at home. But, then there are also many of us who never really give it much thought. Then in addition there are likely to be more than a few of us who sometimes make sure lunch is as nutritious as possible, then some other times we’ll just grab a hot pie and a can of fizz.

Lunch is important for the following reasons:

  • it’s one of our square meals
  • it needs to contain energy to see us through until our evening meal, which could be a good few hours away
  • a good lunch can leave us feeling refreshed and energised, and ready to tackle the rest of the day

Instead of always defining healthy eating as ‘what’s good for us’, sometimes it’s good to take a step back, and view it more as a case of how our diet is balanced.

Take, for instance, a lunch of tuna and wholegrain rice salad. Sure, there’s an awful lot in there that’s god for us – the tuna is packed with protein, and the brown rice has complex carbohydrates for energy plus b- vitamins. Plus the goodness in the salad – vitamins plus fibre in the tomatoes. It really is all good. But one of the best features of a meal like this is that it doesn’t contain any of the things that we need to keep to a minimum – it has (or should have!) no

  • refined sugar
  • saturated fat
  • added salt
  • additives

So, beyond eating a balanced diet that includes as wide a range of fruit and vegetables as possible, maybe it’s a good idea to focus on avoiding the baddies – too much salt, refined/ added sugar, and saturated fats.

So, for lunch that can mean plenty of tasty meals that don’t sacrifice nutritional value for convenience.

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Sedentary workers at risk of weight gain, says study

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Posted on 8th January 2013 by admin in follow health |follow health news |healthy living

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Many of us work in an office environment. And those of us who do will know just what it’s like to spend the majority of the working day sitting in the same position, and looking at the same two screens all that time. In fact, if you’re an office worker you have probably given ‘deskercise’ a  go at some point, even if it’s just stretching exercises. And of course there’s the lunchtime stroll as well, a bit of valuable activity in the day.

If you’re watching your weight, the workplace can provide its challenges – for instance if your workplace doesn’t have a canteen then you either have to bring in your own healthy lunch or find something nearby the office – which can be more difficult than it seems sometimes – especially when there’s an array of less healthy types of food so readily available and giving off an inviting aroma as you walk past!

So it comes as really no surprise that recent research findings by the Co-op tell a story of the office being a place where weight gain is becoming a bit of a challenge. In fact, over half – 60% to be exact – of the British office workers surveyed felt that they could do with losing some weight. The Co-op’s Diet and Health manager, believes that boredom, plus the temptation towards unhealthy snacks meant people were less likely to be able to stuck to a healthy diet during working hours.

Some workplaces have a health and wellbeing policy which could include the promotion of healthy eating among staff as well as other health benefits like free or reduced price gym access, or a group health insurance scheme.

Interestingly, an incredible 74% of workers admitted to consuming “far more” than they would at home.

Do you eat more at work than elsewhere? let us know in the comments.

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New Year health resolutions: a new you in 2013?

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Posted on 1st January 2013 by admin in follow health

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Another year over, and a new one just begun…

What are your New Year health resolutions for 2013?

For many of us, January is naturally quite a healthy month anyway. After the rich foods of December, it’s nice to sit down to some healthy food.

Take, for instance, a stir fry. A wholewheat noodle stir fry with chili, garlic, kale and mackarel. Delicious, warming, full of lovely flavours – in no way a disappointment when you’re hungry after a hard day’s work. And yet what a contrast it makes from the richer foods of December.

Also given the amount of chocolate and alcoholic drinks that seem to be present at every party during the festive season – and many festive dining tables too, it’s something of a relief in January that plainer fare’s on offer. Luckily a lot of the food retailers realise this and have special offers on healthier stuff during January. It’s as if it’s everyone’s back to healthy ways month where we all do the healthy thing. Maybe not an actual detox but certainly jettison some of the less nutritious foods.

However, it’s often been said that New Year’s day isn’t the best day to start with resolutions as the will can be weak, especially if there are parties still going on. One way to help make sure that health is a year long thing, and to keep motivation levels up, is to set some objectives for the year ahead, things like the following:

Weight loss – you may have a few extra pounds that have built up. making a plan to lose them could include eating a more healthy diet and becoming more active

A fitness objective – maybe you want to run a 5k or even a 20k race. These take time to prepare for so you can build up your training gradually in time for the big day.

Or maybe you just want to make sure you’re getting the recommended amount of moderate exercise each week. Sometimes it can be fun to keep a record of progress with your objectives too. There are fewer things more motivating than looking back and seeing how well you’ve been doing with your health objectives. This also makes it far less likely to lose interest in them.

What are your resolutions for the year?

 

 

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