Foundations
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I believe there are four pillars that support our health and sense of well-being: nutrition, sleep, movement and stress management. Sometimes we have to focus on one in preference of the other, but they all require our attention on a daily basis to some extent. If your sleep is of poor quality and not restorative it will not matter that you have your diet optimised to the most minute micronutrient. If you are training for a competitive event, whether that be your first 5km or 10th Ironman, you need to sleep and nourish your body.
Changing habits places a tremendous cognitive load on your mental function. If the hill seems too big to climb, many people do not even start. I believe we can implement sustainable changes to daily habits if the focus is right for you. What can start out feeling like a lot of work can over time become a normal daily event that does not require a great deal of thinking and the task will seem effortless.
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I interpret nourish to include your nutrition – the food you eat daily. It is more than macros and micros. It is also about when, with whom and a lot of the time why. Certainly, there are broad guidelines, after all we all need a minimum level of protein. The challenge is how to find your individual principles that fit in with your life AND your goals at a particular point in time.
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Move every day. There is a saying in muscle research: use it or lose it. Maintaining functional mobility determines how well you age. Move in different ways and different intensities. This will challenge your musculature and learning new skills keeps your brain young. Exercise is increasingly recommended to combat depression. Endorphins are released when you exercise – directly improving your mood.
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Managing stress is becoming increasingly important in our lives. Many people try meditation, there are a multitude of methods and Apps to help you learn. But it is hard, and it can feel like you are failing at meditation. It can also take time and many busy people feel that they cannot sit still for 30 minutes a day. Other forms of stress management can include walking in nature (forest bathing), exercise and listening to music. I love teaching breathing practices as a way to calm the chatter in your mind. It does not have to take long and you can do it almost anywhere.
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Breathing and the Menstrual cycle
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April 2021
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The average breathing rate has a wide normal range of 10 – 20 breaths per minute. Decades of research indicates that better physical and mental health is associated with the lower end of the range. At rest, breathing slower is better. Sex differences are apparent in many aspects of biology. Female hormones, broadly estrogen and progesterone, have predictable variability within the menstrual cycle.
Research shows that breathing rates increase in the second half of the normal menstrual cycle (days 15 – 21). As the breathing rate increases, more carbon dioxide is exhaled, leading to a reduced concentration of carbon in the blood. Low levels of carbon dioxide lead to suboptimal oxygenation of tissues with symptoms of irritability, fatigue.
Increased breathing rates stimulates the part of the nervous system called ‘fight, flight and freeze’ and decrease the influence of the ‘rest and digest’ part of the autonomic nervous system. This has a negative impact on heart rate variability (HRV) and leads to a heightened state of vigilance with increasing levels of stress and anxiety experienced. Ovarian hormones, specifically progesterone, could partly drive this increased breath rate.
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Using Strength Training to reverse Osteopenia.
A success story
Over 16 months a 56y old female improved bone mineral density by over 10% through resistance training.
As a Clinical Nutritionist I see many different types of health related challenges. Most often it is sleep. Not this time. About 18 months ago a client came to see me, let’s call her Laura, and her first words to me were “I think I am (stuffed)”. Her words were stronger but I think you get the drift. On my recommendation to be proactive about her long-term health she had a Bone Mineral Density scan (BMD). Laura’s results were borderline for osteoporosis. At the age of 56, her results showed a T-score* of -2.3 for the lower spine and -2.4 and -2.5 for the left and right hips respectively. In other words, the strength of her bones were considered below optimal. This increases her risk of fracture in the event of trauma, typically a fall. Her alarm was not unfounded. A low bone mineral density (BMD) is associated with frailty and with it comes early mortality.
Breathing and Blood Pressure
Oct 2023
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High blood pressure is an under-appreciated risk for stroke and cardiovascular diseases. Slow and nasal breathing can lower your blood pressure.
Almost 1.3 billion people are diagnosed with high blood pressure. There are many more people (another 1.1 billion!) that are unaware that they have hypertension (high blood pressure). The WHO estimates that less than half of adults who have hypertension is actually diagnosed and treated. Australian data indicates that 1 in 3 people over 18 have high blood pressure and only 11% is controlled using medication. The prevalence increase after the age of 75 to 8 in 10 people.
What is blood pressure exactly? How do you know if it is high? Why should you care if your blood pressure is a little high?
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Optimal Protein intake for older adults
Highlights: Muscle mass loss occurs at a rate of 2% per year after the age of 30. Current recommended minimum protein intakes may not be enough to stave off sarcopenia. Quality of protein is important.
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Note: for ease of reading in this article muscle mass refers to skeletal muscle mass
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There are heated debates about the optimum protein intake for adults, not only in scientific research but also in the public sphere. The intake level needed to avoid risk of deficiency and disease is called the Recommended Dietary Intake (RDI)* (1) (2) – it is the amount of nutrient intake required to keeps you out of hospital. For adults the protein RDI is generally accepted as > 0.8 g/kg body weight with adjustments for age and gender see Table 1 (1). It opens the question about where the optimum intake level for protein is. Multiple studies have proposed that this level is too low for many population groups and adults may benefit from higher intakes as well as better quality protein (3).
