Top tips for a healthy life

Whilst I write this article the weather is just turning chilly, the trees are looking beautiful in their Autumnal splendour and the darker nights are drawing in. I love this time of year but for some people Winter can be a difficult time so with that in mind, I thought I would offer up my top tips for a healthy life. N.B These tips can be applied at any time of the year!

Top tips for a healthy life – Good nutrition
Sometimes when we are deficient in certain vitamins and minerals it can have an impact on our moods and how we feel. A mineral that is often deficient and that can be used to very good effect in treating symptoms of stress and low mood is Magnesium. This mineral is required by around 800 enzyme processes in the body. Whilst I am not a nutritionist I have trained in nutrition and use my Kinesiology testing to advise clients on basic nutrition that will complement the hands-on work we do.

Top tips for a healthy life – Gentle exercise
Gentle appropriate exercise stimulates the body on many levels releasing endorphins, getting the blood pumping around the body and getting the lymphatic system working at its best. These things all help you to feel good. Find something that you enjoy and that is appropriate for your fitness levels. I love walking, swimming and also rebound exercise on my mini trampoline! Rebounders are super effective at getting the lymphatic system moving, and in building cardiovascular and muscular strength fast. You don’t need to do over do it either apparently 10 mins on the rebounder is equivalent to 30 mins jogging!

Top tips for a healthy – Drink more water
We need water to help all of our organs function properly, protecting our joints, carrying oxygen from cell to cell, maintaining body temperature and a whole host of other vital functions. I am not going to labour this point as I already wrote an article on this last month! However, what I will say is that in practice I have seen clients in chronic pain begin to drink more water and their pain levels significantly diminish.

Top tips for a healthy life – Minimise stress
Minimising stress in whatever way works for you is essential in our busy modern day lives. I recommend flower essences such as The Bach flower remedies. The favourite is of course Rescue Remedy or 5 Flower Remedy which can be taken whenever you feel stressed or anxious. In practice, I will often recommend specific remedies for an individual which correspond more closely with the symptoms they are experiencing.

Top tips for a healthy life – Spend time with loved ones (pets count!)
When we spend quality time with people we care about and that includes our pets we release a whole host of feel-good hormones and neuropeptides. In his excellent book, The Endorphin Effect which I highly recommend William Bloom talks at length about how these hormones impact positively on our health. Oxytocin (known as the bonding hormone) is another hormone that we experience when we are spending quality time with those we love.

Top tips for a healthy life – Spend time in nature
Nature is balancing for our nervous systems, there is plenty of research to back this up. So get out into nature and explore, we are ideally situated next to the beautiful Malvern hills to do this so enjoy!

Top tips for a healthy life – Laugh
When you laugh or are in a happy state your body produces all sorts of hormones and neuropeptides to make you feel good. Nitric oxide is one of these, it’s a neuropeptide that is released whenever we are feeling good. Oxytocin is another hormone as I mentioned previously.

Top tips for a healthy life – Change your posture
If you are feeling in a bad mood or in a low space you can influence these feelings to change by changing your body posture! There’s a scientific explanation for this but I won’t go into that here as I would rather tell you how to do this so you can get some immediate benefit. So, when you are feeling in a difficult space emotionally or mentally just gently pay attention to your posture. Next remember a time when you felt in a good space and notice how your body posture will change. Notice then how your mood changes and that good feeling grows. It is scientifically proven that once you change your physiology i.e. body posture your psychology has no choice but to follow suit. If you would like more information on this drop me an email and I can recommend some videos and books.

Top tips for a healthy life – Have some treatment with me!
I offer treatments tailored to the needs of the individual and we will take a detailed consultation before we decide on the best course of action. As you all know I work with the therapies of Kinesiology and The Bowen Technique. Bowen is very gentle and relaxing and has a big impact on the nervous system balancing and restoring a sense of well-being. We have lots of different procedures in this therapy that can address all sorts of issues from top to toe. People generally report strong feelings of relaxation after having this treatment and it is very common that issues aside from what we are treating start to disappear too!