Mags GarganMags Gargan attends a seminar offering expert advice on how to improve health and well-being
Chairs, friends, gratitude and early nutrition are the secret elements to ageing well, according a free public meeting to discuss diet and exercise at the Royal Irish College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) in Dublin.
To celebrate the feast of St Luke (October 18), the patron saint of doctors, the RCPI held a series of seminars last week under the title St Luke’s Symposium. The aim of the symposium is to celebrate the achievements of the members of the college, to share knowledge and engage with the wider public.
Most of the public lectures focussed on teaching people how to take responsibility for their own health, and to improve it by making better lifestyle choices.
‘Why your chair is killing you and your friends are making you fat’ was the intriguing title of the talk by Prof. Mike Trenell, the Director of Movelab at Newcastle University, which specialises in physical activity and exercise research. He was not suggesting that we have murderous furniture or overfeeding friends, but that we must fundamentally change our behaviour in order to live a healthier life.
“Today is a great time to be alive. We are living longer than we ever have because of the improvement in early life nutrition and hygiene, and more recently there has been declining mortality because of better medicine. So we are able to keep people alive longer but those years are not necessarily quality years,” Prof. Trenell said.
Quoting from medical research from the 1950s he said the best thing we can do to improve our lives is to get rid of chairs. “In 1953 a study that compared the health of bus drivers against bus conductors showed that drivers were twice as likely to have a heart attack as the conductor. This was not about going to the gym, this is just what you did in everyday life,” he said.
Study
Prof. Trenell explained that our bodies are designed to move and are like a car engine, so if you don’t use it, it stops working. “If you leave your car in the driveway for too long, it is no surprise if the engine doesn’t work as well as you like. The body is exactly the same.”
He also quoted from a study of a quarter of a million people in relation to watching television. It showed that almost half of those sitting over three hours a day watching TV had Type 2 Diabetes or a cardio vascular disease. This is exasperated by the fact that the worse your disease is, the less active you are and the more you sit. Also because behaviour is clustered, many people drink alcohol or eat junk food while watching TV. The quality of your sleep is affected and being tired means you are less likely to exercise.
“It all inter-relates,” said Prof. Trenell, “so the important question to ask yourself is ‘How can I change my behaviour to live better?’
“We don’t think about our behaviour and we set norms around our behaviour. We all know we should exercise more and eat better, but the difficulty is how to put it into action,” Prof. Trenell said.
“There are about 350 calories in a muffin. It takes two minutes to buy and consume it, but about 40 minutes to exercise it off. We don’t think about numbers, it is about immediacy. See muffin, eat muffin.”
Behaviour
The main difficulty in trying to change unhealthy lifestyles is the fact that we don’t think individually, but collectively. “Behaviour is difficult to change and it is up to you to challenge it. If you are going to the pub on a Friday night with the lads, will you drink 20 pints and eat a curry or have a salad and a white wine spritzer? These are behavioural things. We don’t change behaviour because of how we fit in,” he said.
“There are so many ways that you can start to challenge your lifestyle. There are opportunities for you to change every second of every day and it is up to you to think and make conscious decisions. It’s time for you to stand up for living well, but I’d also like you to think about how to stop your friends from getting fat and to keep them healthy.”
Dr Mark Rowe, author of Prescription for Happiness, also emphasised the importance of friends in his talk about the power of gratitude and wellbeing at the St Luke’s Symposium.
“The mirror neuron is a part of the brain that encourages us to copy, mimic and imitate those we spend most time with.
“In the past it kept us safe from danger and threat. (If one person rang from a bear, we all ran.) Nowadays we adopt the habits and mannerisms of those we spend most time with. What you choose to surround yourself with really does matter. That is why you need to have people in your space to support and encourage you. Our friends really matter,” he said.
“Research shows that building rich relationships is critical to our survival and is a leading indicator of our well-being. Loneliness is the most terrible poverty and despite the fact we live in a more connected society than ever, more and more people are suffering from loneliness. We need to invest in our friendships and relationships.”
Dr Rowe has been a GP for over 20 years and says he had grown up with the idea of ‘a pill for every ill’ and the increased medicalisation of reality.
“But here’s what I also know, there are many people in this world searching for meaning. There is so much negative emotion and negative noise in this era that I call ‘Obsessive Hyper-Connectivity’.”
He spoke about the power of gratitude, and the importance of valuing and appreciating what you have.
“Expressing gratitude is good for your health. It is all about choosing. Making a conscious choice to focus on what is present and working in your life rather than what is absent and less effective,” Dr Rowe said.
Gratitude
“Research shows that people who express gratitude sleep better. Instead of counting sheep count your blessings instead,” he suggested. Or at the end of the day think ‘What went well today’ and come up with three things. “It is a wonderful way to nurture self-esteem, inner happiness and contentment.
“Expressing gratitude can also lower your systolic blood pressure and may even help you to slim down because it will make you more likely to stick with an exercise programme.”
Going back to basics Dr Mary Flynn, Chief Specialist Public Health Nutrition at the Food Safety Authority of Ireland spoke about how good nutrition in early life can provide life-long protection.
She said that as 50% of pregnancies are unplanned, many women don’t know they are pregnant until well into their first trimester. Therefore “all women of child-bearing age are vital for our future”, and should be taking folic acid, vitamin D and iron, because nutrition in pregnancy and the first year in life is critical for health in later years.
“The first year is the most rapid period of growth and it is a critical window for developing babies to reach full potential,” she said.
Dr Flynn said it is best to feed babies up to six months just milk and human milk is best. While breastfeeding can be difficult and it is seen as unusual in this country, it protects babies against infection and disease and also helps mothers in terms of weight loss and well-being.
She advised that at six months babies can start weaning, certainly not before four months. Babies like bland food – no added salt, fats or sugar.
“Some six-month-old Dubliners are eating dinners like grown men,” she warned and 15% of commercial food is not suitable. “Parents have to be judicious. It is down to every single one of us,” she said.
Guidelines on Physical Activity
The National Guidelines on Physical Activity for Ireland (DoH, 2009) adopted the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) global recommendations on physical activity for health. These guidelines say:
Children and young people (aged 2 –18): All children and young people should be active, at a moderate to vigorous level, for at least 60 minutes every day.
Adults (aged 18–64): At least 30 minutes a day of moderate activity on five days a week.
Older people (aged 65 +): At least 30 minutes a day of moderate intensity activity on five days a week. Focus on aerobic activity, muscle-strengthening and balance.