Wellbeing

HEALTH & WELLBEING

The 10 minute kitchen workout

I created this workout to help patients fit in their strength training around their busy lives, and the feedback has been great. Working from home is here to stay for a bit longer, and for many it may become an established way of working. I know how hard it can be to motivate yourself to move when you are at home, with no allocated time slot, no personal trainer and no idea where to start. So, here is the solution. You have 10 minutes, right? I have come up with a simple movement routine that you can do in your kitchen, takes only 10 minutes, no gym kit or change of clothes needed, and you can modify to your own fitness levels. You can even do it between work emails, taking calls, running the bath or whilst watching a film. Osteopathic care is focused on creating an environment that supports total health for our patients, and our approach reaches far beyond fixing a bad back. “The benefits of regularly using weights and raising your heart rate are significant and must become a regular practice, especially as we get older”. The benefits include: • Reducing pain levels • Improved mobility and strength, and less chance of injury • Slowing the aging process at a cellular level • Increasing the growth of brain cells • Prevention of Diabetes Type 2 • Losing the dangerous, internal visceral fat • Increasing mitochondria which improves your metabolism and energy • Reduces inflammation • Improves respiration, circulation and heart health Life is now full of conveniences; from the chair we sit in and the car we drive, to online shopping and ready meals. We barely need to even move our arm to brush our teeth. It’s all designed to make life easier, to prop us up, make us more comfortable, provide us with time saving hacks and make us more efficient. Efficient at working at speed and from the luxury of a fully adjustable ‘orthopaedic’ chair, yes, but at what cost to our health? All these conveniences are turning our bodies to mush. A chair is simply an orthotic, a brace or support to hold our ever-weakening bodies upright in the ‘perfect posture’. The risks of a sedentary lifestyle are so well documented now. This movement-medicine will wake up your sleepy backside, open your creaky hips, stretch out your exhausted shoulders and lift your ten ton head. All you need to do is pop on your trainers, or better still do it in bare feet. You can even adapt it for the office, just use your chair for balance and a box of files to deadlift. There really is no excuse! The 10 minute kitchen workout is available to download as an exercise sheet or watch as a video on our website. Or you can email us for a copy. Make yourself accountable to a partner, friend, or me! Take a picture, tag us and post it to Instagram @stockbridgeosteopathy or Facebook @stockbridgeosteopathicpractice. I’d love to see how you are getting on! Have fun, enjoy the process of creating good movement habits, and feeling the health benefits along the way. Emma Wightman - www.the-sop.com E-mail: emma@the-sop.com

Keeping well this winter

As the colder weather starts to set in, there are lots of things you can do to keep healthy and well this winter.

Keeping your body healthy in winter As people age their immune system becomes weaker and we can lose muscle mass and so here are some tips to help boost our immune systems and stay healthy • Keep Active – try to move around once an hour, even if it’s only for a short walk to and from the kitchen to put the kettle on • Eat well and regularly – make sure you have plenty of food at home or have arranged meal deliveries • Keep hydrated – there is still the risk of dehydration even in the colder months • Get your free flu jab • Keep warm – layering is the best way to keep warm and set your heating timer to ensure your home is warm when it is coldest Keeping your mind healthy and your spirits up in winter Winter can be a difficult time but there are lots of ways to keep our minds active and our spirits up • Keep to a routine – Routine is a great way to give us some certainty in uncertain times and helps us plan for the week ahead • Keep connected – Keep up the connection with family and friends.

Arrange regular visits (if possible due to Covid-19 restrictions) or arrange regular phone and video calls. Age Concern Hampshire can also help to put you in touch with a befriender. • Stay active – exercise is well known to give our mental health a boost and so a small amount of exercise is good for our bodies and our minds. This may be a short walk around the garden or even some armchair exercises. • Get Help – if you are finding things particularly tough, are feeling lonely or isolated or need help, reach out to family, friends or your

GP for support. • Do something you enjoy – find time for hobbies you enjoy or perhaps try a new hobby. • There are lots of resources available to keep our minds active, from crosswords, quizzes and games to online exhibitions and events.

Try something new!

Alternatively, contact your local Village Agent, Denise on: 07969 376023. Village Agents are volunteers who can help you find information and local services that will enable you to stay living safely and independently.

Fully participate & enjoy all the festive season has to offer this year

What would YOU miss most during the Holiday Season if a Hearing Loss Developed? A Survey by Action on Hearing Loss identified some unsurprising but impactful results. People imagined missing out on a number of key elements of the festive season that other take for granted such as; • The sound of Christmas Carols • The Classic Christmas Songs on the radio • The Soundtrack to much loved festive Films

But what they thought they would miss the most was not being able to fully participate in conversations with family and friends As Christmas is the season of goodwill and merriment, all should be allowed to partake equally in the festive fun so Sam Longman resident Audiologist at the Alresford Hearing Studio has compiled these top tips for those with hearing loss, to help make the most of the time spent with loved ones this festive season

Some Top Tips for the Party Season • Check that your hearing equipment is still right for you. Visit a skilled and experienced audiologist before the festive season for a free, comprehensive consultation .They can optimize your current hearing aids to suit noisy environments such as parties or restaurants and can recommend the equipment that handle these environments best. • Check whether your hearing aids have directional microphones (two microphones instead of one), that are designed to reduce sounds from the side and the rear and focus on sounds in front of you. They will focus your hearing aids wherever your nose is pointing. So if you are facing into a noisy restaurant, the directional microphones will be focusing on the greatest amount of background noise. That is not good, when your hearing aids have directional microphones, the best spot to sit in is the one that will put room noise behind you. If you don’t have directional microphones, it may be time to consider an upgrade • Once you are confident in your equipment make sure you use it often, this allows your brain to adjust to different sounds over time o Using it only when you are faced with noisy situations tends to overwhelm the brain so you need to ‘train’ it to deal

with these situations. As you use them more your brain will start to distinguish between important and non-important sounds and adapts to the environment and makes it easier for you to follow the conversation. So start wearing your hearing aids every day in the weeks leading up to the Big Day! When Out Socialising o If you have a choice between a long table or a booth, choose a booth this will allow you to be closer to the speaker at all times o Don’t sit near the kitchen, at the bar or near the entrance to the restaurant. The ambient noise from these locations may be distracting o If you are dining with a larger group, avoid sitting at the ends of the table. It is very difficult to hear from one end to the other so try to sit in the middle. Be realistic even people without hearing loss may struggle at this time of year o Look above you - are you sitting directly under the air conditioning, fan or music speaker? sometimes the restaurant will agree to turn down the volume of the music if you explain that it is too loud for you to communicate with your dinner guests o Look at the person who is talking. When you are in a challenging environment such as a restaurant, you are going to need to use some visual cues o Enjoy yourself but don’t drink too much - drinking alcohol increases blood flow to the inner ear, which can cause tinnitus – a ringing, buzzing or swooshing sound in the ears. This condition should resolve itself in a few hours, but can still really compromise enjoyment

• The Alresford Hearing Studio can also service and fine tune all makes and models of hearing equipment. They are able to provide the optimum solution for you to enjoy the festive season. They can also check for wax build up in the Ear Canal and if necessary remove it using state of the art micro suction techniques.

Come and see us today to ensure you get the most from the 2020 festive season. Call us on 01962 790749 to make an appointment with our friendly team