- 30 Days of Healthy Living, Lifestyle Medicine, Living Lifestyle Medicine, Patient Stories, Relationships & Connectedness
10th January – Belonging to your Community
Be part of your community I have spent today working at our local covid vaccination clinic; we have been vaccinating our over-80-year-old population, and health and care staff. Other members of the team went out to local care homes to provide vaccinations for the care home residents. I feel incredibly privileged to be part of such a great team of dedicated professionals. It is also lovely to be part of the local community, it is one of the best bits of being a GP. Whilst I was there today to give vaccines, I had the opportunity to meet so many different patients and hear their stories, and I was awed…
- 30 Days of Healthy Living, Lifestyle Medicine, Living Lifestyle Medicine, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Physical Activity, Research Evidence, Stress Reduction
9th January – Get outside in nature
🌱Spending time in nature has been shown to be an effective way to improve feelings of wellbeing. There is evidence that spending time in nature increases serotonin levels – which is commonly referred to as the “happy hormone”. 👩💻An article from 2019 suggested that if we spend more than 2hours a week out in nature, wellbeing scores are significantly improved. Interestingly, it doesn’t matter whether people get their 2hours a week all in one go, or in multiple smaller doses of being outside, the benefits are still just as good. Logically, it is possible that the benefits might be even better if you can combine your healthy habits; time outside…
8th January – Reduce alcohol (know your limits!)
Advice to reduce alcohol might seem like an odd thing to post on a Friday night, but shortly after I walked through the door after a very long day at work, my lovely well-meaning husband handed me a gin “because it’s Friday night!” But when I’ve stopped to think about it, “because it’s Friday” is not really a good reason to have a drink! It’s so easy to think that having a drink is a good way to reward ourselves with a glass of wine or a gin after a hard day. It’s something we see all the time on social media and memes all the time – “it’s wine…
