My 7 top things to help you improve your health

1. Eat more plants

If you only changed one thing about the way you eat, I would say aiming to eat as

many plants as possible and eating as many varieties as possible each week (can you

make 30?) would be at the top of my list. We are still learning about the gut

microbiome but what does seem to be clear, is that people who eat the most varied

array of plants, have the most diverse species of bacteria living in their guts and

more species that are associated with being healthier. Having more unfavourable

bacteria as part of your microbiome may play a role in many chronic diseases,

allergy, and cancer. Whereas, having a varied, ‘plant-slant’ diet supports more

favourable bacteria within the microbiome in a way that evidence suggests that just

popping a probiotic pill can’t.

2. Make like Elsa and just let it go

I’m talking to the highly strung type As amongst us here. We all underestimate how

impactful stress can be on our health. A certain amount is normal and even

advantageous over short periods, but chronic stress can make you very ill and

because it’s not necessarily something we can measure, it tends to go unchecked. If

you can hold one sentiment dear, then it would be to question how important

whatever you are stressing about really is (to do that you need to know what really is

fundamentally important to you). If it isn’t a threat to that, and often it isn’t, then

try to just let it go. It’s just not worth it, the world will keep spinning and whatever it

is can wait or will pass.

3. Learn to meditate

If you read the paragraph above and thought; ‘yeah right’ with an eye roll, then try

this….. Some people are great at meditating, find keeping their mind focused on the

moment easy, body scanning is a breeze. But for others, the minute they are

encouraged not to think, it’s like a whirlwind of consciousness takes off in their

brains. If that’s you, think about trying a mantra meditation. There are different

types; transcendental and vedic meditations both use mantras, but there is no

reason why you can’t use your own phrase/word. And there is some evidence

behind it; transcendental meditation has been shown to lower anxiety, perceived

stress, help trauma victims with PTSD, reduce use of addictive substances, blood

pressure, and mortality from cardiovascular disease. If I had a pill that even had a

suggestion of doing all of that, I’m sure I’d have a queue around the corner and

beyond.

4. Make exercise a must

If you’re a cardio bunny, please add a couple of sessions of weight training. If you

love to lift, please balance it out with some cardio. And if you’re a total overachiever

and already doing both, please don’t ignore your core and your balance; can you add

in some pilates or balance training?

If exercise hasn’t been your thing and you are reading the above and feeling

intimidated, please know you don’t have to be a gym lover to be healthy; you just

need to commit to moving more and build from there. There really aren’t enough

hours in the day for many of us, particularly if you work and have children or other

time-consuming responsibilities. Can you wake up just 20 minutes earlier and do a

15-minute balcony/garden/living room exercise session? Good habits take ages to

make, so don’t think too far ahead, just commit for 2 weeks and see how you feel.

Before long, you’ll be yearning for the endorphin rush you get and it becomes so

much easier.

5. Cherish and nurture your relationships

Loneliness is a killer. And often it creeps up on us unawares; when we were busy

trying to pay for things we probably don’t need, climb the greasiest of career poles,

tick things off our never-ending to do list; until before you know it, your relationships

feel hollow or have fallen away completely. I like to imagine one of my greatest

fears: my funeral with nobody there or my children doing a speech but only being

able to talk about me in terms of my career achievements because I never gave them

the time to get to know me as a person. It brings me out in a cold sweat every time;

enough to take a pause on that job, brush off the unease when I say no to more

things that I technically could do, send that text, spend the money to go on that

holiday and make that phone call.

6. Prioritise your sleep

I won’t go into this in great detail because I feel that this is on everyone’s radar now

and I hope everyone knows how important it really is. But I came across some

evidence the other day that I thought was interesting that I wanted to share. It

suggested that blue light filtering glasses may not have the beneficial effects that we

may have hoped for, as rather than our sleep being disturbed by the brain

stimulating effects of the blue light emitted from our devices, it actually may be that

whatever you are reading/scrolling/watching in itself takes the brain out of it’s wind

down state. So, try not to cheat with those blue light filtering glasses, you may just

have to put that phone/laptop away.

7. Don’t miss your health checks

It feels really refreshing to be practicing in medicine at the moment. It certainly feels

like we are becoming open to delving deeper in our understanding of the underlying

causes of disease, with the openness to question current doctrine and join more

dots together than we ever have before. We have so much more in our toolbox to

help screen for and prevent disease now, but our ability to do so does depend on

you coming in for your regular health checks and doing so before you become unwell

so that we can try to stop you getting there for as long as possible. Having a GP that

can provide individualized and holistic care for you, that you can develop a

relationship with and can see your problems in the context of your life, is invaluable

and it helps saves lives. And I know that I’m horribly biased on that but don’t just

take it from me, the evidence says the same.