HEALTH & WELLBEING

MANAGING STRESS

By Amanda Whitlock, Total Wellbeing Matters

Everyone experiences stress at some times in their lives. Due to the pandemic our levels of stress are higher than ever before. But what is stress? Put simply, stress is our body’s reaction to feeling threatened or under pressure. Stress is normal and can actually be a motivating factor in helping us achieve things in our daily life. Stress becomes an issue when we feel overwhelmed, become anxious and feel unable to cope. When this happens, we can become unwell – both physically and mentally. When I realise that I am getting stressed, there are various things I do that help me regain control. 1. I practice gratitude – every night before I go to sleep, I write down three things that have gone well that day or have given me joy. These can range from a walk with my dog, a hug from my husband or a positive comment from a client. Some days it is easy to find three things. Other days it is much more difficult. These are the days when I can only see the difficult things that have happened – the friend that let me down, the work project that didn’t go as I had planned. On those days I have to dig deep to remember the smile at the shop, the flowers in the garden and the friends that I know are there for me every day. 2. I consciously remove those things from my day that I know make me stressed. For example, I always try to leave the house earlier than I need to as I don’t like being late. I also add things to my day that give me joy and make me feel relaxed – walking my dog is one of my greatest pleasures – his joy in the walk makes me feel joyful too. 3. I think about the language I use to myself and others. I believe that we all need to be kinder to ourselves and to those around us. Being kind does not mean that we always agree – it means treating everyone with respect and being non-judgemental. Being kind is a willingness to be compassionate. I try to talk to myself as I do to my best friend. 4. I try and eat well, limit my caffeine intake, and I rarely drink alcohol. Some people, especially during lockdown, use alcohol to relax. This can work in the short term but in truth that gin you have in the evening is a toxin and you are just adding more stress to your body. I also try and get some form of exercise each day. 5. Talking to my support network is a great stress reliever enabling me to come to solutions and resolve issues before they become insurmountable.

Managing stress is unique to each and everyone of us. The trick to learning to manage our stress is to understand what our stressors are and our reactions to them. We owe it to ourselves and to others to put in place active steps to reduce the effects of stress. This will be trial and error – what works for me may well cause you to recoil in horror! Just find things that help you relax, that make you feel strong and in control. Selfcare is not selfish or self-indulgent – it is essential. It is also important to remember that if you are constantly feeling overwhelmed, it could be beneficial to talk to a medical professional who can help.

Why Princes Street Dental Practice wants to make its patients smile!

Princes Street Dental Practice has been providing dental care in Yeovil since 1864 and remains independently owned by the dentists at the practice. It offers a range of dental care, from routine maintenance to innovative restorative care including advanced root fillings as well as cosmetic treatments such as tooth whitening and alignment of uneven teeth with clear aligners. There are also three dental hygienists within the practice.

Princes Street Dental Practice has built its reputation as a family friendly practice, and does everything it can to support and calm nervous patients.

MEET SOME OF THE TEAM

Mark Hampson qualified in 1985 and joined the practice in 1987. He is particularly interested in minimally invasive dentistry and prevention of dental disease.

Don Gibson qualified in 1981 and joined the practice in 1998. He is interested in general family dentistry.

George Dobrescu qualified in 2002 and joined the practice in 2021. He is interested in all aspects of general dentistry, good communication and a holistic approach to dentistry.

Dooha Elbouni qualified in 2017 and joined the practice in 2019. She is particularly interested in general restorative dentistry, as well as clear aligner treatment for teeth straightening.

DENPLAN

Many patients prefer to have their dental care provided by the practice through a fixed monthly payment scheme. At Princes Street Dental Practice, Denplan Care has been available for over 25 years. Denplan is a part of Simply Health and covers all routine care, (including root fillings) within the practice at a fixed monthly charge.

SOME OF THE SPECIALIST TREATMENTS AVAILABLE:

CEREC

When a tooth requires a porcelain crown, many practices take rubber moulds of teeth for a technician to produce a crown and this is usually fitted two weeks later. At Princes Street Dental Practice, the Cerec system is used to digitally scan a copy of the teeth, then computer design the crown, precision mill it and fit at the same appointment. This avoids the need for temporary crowns and a second visit to fit the crown.

ALIGNERS

Clear aligners are orthodontic devices that are a transparent, plastic form of dental braces used to adjust teeth. Miss Elbouni is particularly interested in this treatment for patients who wish for straighter teeth.

ROOT FILLINGS

The dental practice routinely provides root fillings on all teeth including molars. If a patient is a Denplan member there is no additional cost. Root fillings are fiddly and time consuming but should not be uncomfortable for a patient.

TOOTH WHITENING

Tooth whitening or bleaching is only allowed to be carried out by a dentist. A mould is taken of your teeth and bleaching trays, that fit your teeth only, are manufactured in the laboratory and then fitted and you are given a supply of bleach. The dentist gives you full instructions on what to do, and more bleach can be purchased. Just speak to your dentist if you are interested.

To find out more about these treatments or to get in touch, go to www.princesstreetdental.co.uk or call 01935 475962.

By James Cattigan, Sherborne Sports Centre Manager

Here we go again! Dark mornings, extra layers and the ground slowly shifting from green, grassy tracks to a trail of mud baths and slippery roads. Suddenly your usual routes seem a little less appealing, and the motivation to keep up with your summer self-care and exercise can start to waiver – time to rethink your fitness plan of action.

The change of daylight-saving hours can be a great time to readjust your fitness routine and gain a fresh perspective on why and how to stay committed to your workouts throughout the winter months.

Your motivation may have shifted from event training to maintenance mode or maybe you want to boost your mood to look out for your mental health throughout the darker days. For many, this can be a difficult time of year, with the change of seasons affecting mood and energy levels, so finding ways to combat this can be important.

Working out can release feel-good chemicals in the brain that can improve self-esteem, give space away from negative thoughts and, for some, if done regularly, aid symptoms of depression and SADS (Seasonal Affective Disorder). Regular exercise is also proven to strengthen the immune system, helping it to fight off infections, so at a time of year when we need it in full working order, what better incentive to stay active?

Whether it's to maintain your health during flu season, beat the winter blues or avoid winter weight gain, here at the sports centre, we are excited to be once again offering a range of facilities and classes to help with this.

We have the return of Indoor Cycling to keep you pedalling all year round – a high intensity workout on stationary bikes with upbeat background music that's lots of fun and suitable for all levels of fitness. AquaFit and SwimFit classes will keep you warmed up and building your cardio fitness in the pool, and our Senior Active and Move to Improve classes will support you to stay strong and mobile. Kate has also resumed her popular Vinyasa Flow yoga classes to leave you feeling strengthened, challenged, balanced, and restored so there's something on offer for everyone at all levels of fitness. Why not come along to try something new in our friendly and sociable setting?

Whatever works best for you, if you're joining us at the gym or continuing to embrace the great outdoors, remember to keep moving this winter!

Visit our website www.sherbornesports. co.uk, find us on Facebook and Instagram or give us a call on 01935 810548 for more information.

Appeal to provide SchoolBags for Afghan Refugees

The Somerset-based charity, School in a Bag (SIAB), has launched an appeal to fund SchoolBags for 3,000 Afghan refugee children who have arrived in the UK.

SIAB is working with its partner Afghanistan and Central Asia Association (ACAA) founded by Dr Nooralhaq Nasimi who himself arrived in the UK in 2001 by lorry, stowed in the back of a refrigerator container, having fled the atrocities taking place in his own country. Within two years of integrating his family into a new life in the UK, Dr Nasimi set up the ACAA to provide community-based, first-hand knowledge and information for families to help them overcome the challenges he faced during the resettlement process. Since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan this summer, the ACAA has become the first point of contact for the government, media and the 8,000 newlyarrived Afghan people, making them extremely busy with unprecedented levels of demand. For the last 20 days, 600 people, including unaccompanied minors, have met at their office everyday queuing from 5am to access clothes, translation services and immigration advice. The ACAA has listed enrolling the children into school as a priority, to get them in the education system as quickly as possible to provide them with routine and a safe, stable environment in which to learn.

Luke Simon, founder and CEO of SIAB, said: ‘We received a desperate email from Dr Nasimi explaining how overrun the ACAA had become with the influx of Afghan nationals and that they needed volunteers and funds. I explained that we were not in a position to fulfil their requests but could offer SchoolBags. My reply went on to say that if the need was for more than a few hundred, we would have to create an appeal. When the very prompt reply asked for 3,000 SchoolBags, we knew we had to spring in to action!’ He added: ‘This is a gigantic consignment for us so we have approached our suppliers to ask if they are able to help out. It is a crisis situation and we are striving to get SchoolBags to the refugee children as quickly as we can, to help ease the burden on the families and help make their integration into school as smooth as possible.’ All the money raised will go towards funding SchoolBags. Donors will be credited under the title ‘Afghan Refugee Appeal’ on the SIAB database, meaning that all the contributors will be granted recognition within the collective total of SchoolBags funded. To help us fund SchoolBags for the Afghan refugee children here in the UK, please donate at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/siabafghan-refugee-appeal.

Stress busting!

By Samantha Welch, Centre Manager

Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, more and more people have become mental health aware. Not only have more people recognised their own mental health but they have noticed how others are coping (or not) with their mental health. The enormous impact COVID-19 has had on our everyday lives has increased the prevalence of awareness of our health, both physical and psychological.

Many of us who thought we were immune to stress and worry found that we were thrown into this almost unreal situation where we had no control over what was happening, especially when the country went into lockdown, and everything stopped. We struggled to know what to do.

So, we took to the streets! Walking, jogging and cycling were the biggest forms of exercise in the periods of lockdown. I know that in my village I have never seen so many people walk, run or cycle past my house in all the years I have lived there. Everyone was active (all socially distancing you understand) in some form or another chatting (or shouting) across the roads/ fields to each other.

Nietzsche ‘All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.’

The government gave us the best promotion we could have asked for, in that exercise and physical activity is good for you. This is something we, at Oxley, have known for a long time and so this free publicity was music to our ears. Not only does exercise help your physical health it vastly improves your mental health too. It improves our mood – you feel more awake, calmer and more content after exercising.

It reduces stress – active people tend to have lower stress rates compared to those less active as it alleviates stress and can help us mange and make better decisions when we are under pressure.

It has a massive effect on our self-esteem – people who have improved self-esteem can cope better with stressful situations and improve relationships with others.

It is effective for both preventing and managing depression and anxiety, and its symptoms have been described as a ‘wonder drug’. Many doctors now will prescribe physical activity on its own or along with other treatments.

Buddha ‘To keep the body in good health is a duty … otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.’

And all of this is free and is so easy to do.

Managing stress, anxiety and depression can be an awkward thing to do if you do not recognise that you are suffering. The first step is to allow yourself to listen to your body and mind, and if you think you need to get help then do. There are so many professional bodies, forums, and helplines available, dedicated to helping those going through a tough time. You just need to give yourself a break, both mentally and physically, and allow your mind and body to heal.