Health & wellbeing
Advice, tips and tools to help you make the best choices about your health and wellbeing
Dr Rangan Chatterjee, an expert in lifestyle medicine, bases his practices on the 4 pillars of health: Food, Movement, Sleep and Relaxation.
He believes that if you are lacking in one or more of these areas this could be the root cause of your problems. Find out more about these practices.
Food
Only 30% of the UK population eats enough vegetables! Veg Power is a great website encouraging you to eat more vegetables.
Dr Rupy Aujla (a GP with a special interest in food and nutrition) talks passionately about the power of “food as medicine” and helping you improve your health using food. See Doctors Kitchen for more information. Even one home cooked meal per week can improve your health.
It’s easy to think that by eating less you should lose weight and feel better; this might be the case but it is more about eating differently. Try not to think about “good” or “bad” foods; rather about “nutritionally dense” or “nutritionally lacking” foods.
It’s often hard to know what’s healthy – the “food switch” app can help you and makes suggestions for healthier swaps – Food Switch
How much sugar is in foods we eat daily? PHC UK
Sleep
Professor Matthew Walker has written extensively about the importance of sleep in his book “Why We Sleep”.
If you have trouble sleeping you might find advice from Sleep Council helpful. In particular they offer a 30 day plan to help you improve your sleep
Keeping active
Our tips on how to improve how active you are
How much activity should we be doing?
National recommendations for activity:
Physical activity for adults and Older Adults
Physical activity for Disabled Adults
Physical Activity for Children and Young People (5 to 18 years)
What counts as moderate physical activity?
Any physical activity is better than none. It is never too late to get more active to improve your health. Activities could include:
- Walking
- Gardening
- Hiking
- Dancing
- Cycling
- Active Recreation
- Swimming
- Carrying groceries
- Yoga
Health improvement coaches
A dedicated Health Improvement Coach can assist you every step of the way in achieving and maintaining your goals. This will be achieved by providing practical advice and support to change behaviours and improve health and mental wellbeing. They can also help signpost to other services and activities. This free service offers one to one support for people aged 18 +.
Contact: 0300 003 4566
Better health
Healthy changes start with little changes. Whether you want to lose weight, get active or quit smoking, Better Health is here with lots of free tools and support. Access to a free 12-week weight-loss course via app.
Change 4 Life
Learn how to eat well, move more and live longer (and have fun along the way at the same time!). Find out how you can make positive changes to your life and the lives of your family and friends.
Website: www.nhs.uk/change4life
Healthy activities
Early childhood (under 5 years old)
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/physical-activity-guidelines-for-children.aspx
Young people (5 to 18 years old)
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/physical-activity-guidelines-for-young-people.aspx
Supporting women to become more active – This Girl Can
Older adults (65 and over)
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/physical-activity-guidelines-for-older-adults.aspx
Support for older adults: Age UK
Here are some handy tools to help you get moving:
- Get running in no time with the Couch to 5K app.
- Up your game with this 12 week fitness plan.
- Don’t have much time? Even 10 minutes of brisk walking can make a big difference to your health – get started with Active 10.
Any physical activity is better than none – when the kettle is next put onto boil, why not try this 5 minute kitchen workout
Do you think you might be at risk of diabetes? You may be eligible for the fantastic Diabetes Prevention Programme. Take the “know your risk” test and follow the steps
https://preventing-diabetes.co.uk/Know-your-risk-dtc/
