Reduce your Stress Burden

Pay attention when people talk about the sudden onset of bizarre and unusual ailments. This is especially true at this time of year. The answer can be found in a little word with big implications: stress. Our bodies endure stress, which can be simply defined as anything that causes a reaction. There are three main areas in which we experience stress: physical, emotional and chemical. Stress involving any of these areas can affect us profoundly. Here are some of the common signs of stress, along with ways to reduce your stress burden.

Stress Signal S

Unusual fatigue: Stress weighs on you physically, emotionally and mentally. It wears you down and drains you. Can’t get out of bed in the morning? Stress may be what’s keeping you there.

Sleeplessness: You may feel like sleeping for a day or two, but stress tends to keep you up at night.

Ways To Reduce Stress

Work it off: Find the time to exercise. Whether it’s a quick trip to the gym, a peaceful run or a brisk walk with family or friends, exercise puts the focus somewhere else for a while. Biochemically, exercise has a big anti-stress benefit. It helps reduce levels of the stress hormone (cortisol) and increases your “feel-good” hormones, endorphins.

This tofu snack is served with a savoury umami-flavoured caramel sauce. You can also serve this with steamed rice and pak choi as a light meal.

Method

1. Drain the tofu and sandwich it between several sheets of kitchen paper. Press down to drain any excess liquid, then pat dry with more kitchen paper. Cut the tofu into 12 cubes.

2. To make the savoury salted caramel sauce, put the sugar and water in a heavy-based pan over a low heat. Tilt the pan so the water covers and dampens the sugar.

3. Watch carefully as the sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally, then turn up the heat and cook until it starts to turn a golden amber caramel. As soon as this happens, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, star anise and hot sauce. Set aside.

4. Heat the oil in a frying pan set over a medium-high heat. Add the tofu and cook, turning occasionally, for 4-5 minutes until golden and crispy all over.

5. Reduce the heat to medium and add the sauce. Cook, basting the tofu occasionally with the sauce, for 2-3 minutes, until the sauce reduces slightly and glazes the tofu.

6. Serve the glazed tofu (we left the star anise for decoration only) sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds and spring onions.

Impulsivity: If you find your eating habits changing suddenly, you may be turning to comfort foods to deal with stress. The same is true with impulse buying, particularly when it involves items you don’t really need.

Anger/impatience: Stress can make you short-tempered and easily roused to anger, even if your demeanour is normally calm, quiet and reserved. Lack of concentration/forgetfulness: Stress usually occupies our mental time, so much so that we can have trouble remembering things or make more mistakes. Never forget your keys in the morning? When you’re stressed, you just might.

Physical ailments: Back pain, neck pain and pain in general that doesn’t have a clear cause (e.g., an injury) is often related to stress. The same is true for colds and flu; stress can lower your immune system, increasing your risk of developing illness.

Get away from it: This can be challenging, but doing what you can to distract yourself can go a long way toward reducing stress. Schedule a holiday, visit old friends, take a long walk; whatever it takes to remove yourself from your stress environment.

Smile about it: It’s much harder for stress to exist in a fun, laughter-filled environment, so put yourself in a position to smile when you’re under stress. After all, laughter truly is the best natural medicine. Talk about it: When you’re stressed, your mind can be a continual stream of negative, overwhelming, stressed-out thoughts. Don’t keep it all to yourself; sometimes the best way to reduce your stress is to vent about it and get a neutral perspective, rather than staying in a bottled-up, stressed-out state.

Ross McDonald & Rebecca Vickery Registered Chiropractors

Local Medical Centres

Ladywell Medical Centre West:

Tel: 0131 334 3602

Ladywell Road Mon - Friday 8am-6pm

Closed every Monday - Friday between 1-2pm for staff training

*Mar : Wed 15th from 1pm for staff training

*Apr : Closed all day Good Friday 7th

Closed all day Easter Monday 10th

For further information please refer to our website www.ladywellwest.co.uk

Ladywell Medical Centre East:

Tel: 0131 334 5000

26 Featherhall Avenue Mon - Friday 8am-6pm Closed every Monday - Friday between 1-2pm for staff training

*Mar : Wed 15th from 1pm for staff training

*Apr : Closed all day Good Friday 7th

Closed all day Easter Monday 10th

For further information please refer to our website www.ladywelleast.co.uk

Parkgrove Medical Centre:

Tel: 0131 312 6600

22B Parkgrove Terrace Mon - Friday 8am - 6pm

Closed every Monday - Friday between 12-1pm for staff training

*Apr : Closed all day Good Friday 7th

Closed all day Easter Monday 10th

New registrations welcome

For further information please refer to our website www.parkgrovemedicalpractice.scot.nhs.uk

March

Mothering Sunday

March 19th

British Summer Time Begins

Clocks forward 1hr Sun 26th

APRIL

Good Friday Holiday

April 7th

Easter Monday Holiday

April 10th

School Easter Holidays

Local Schools

Mon 3rd – Fri 14thApril (incl)

Return to school Monday 17th

Edinburgh Academy

Mon 3rd – Mon 17th April (incl)

Return to school Tuesday 18th

Erskine Stewart’s Melville

Mon 3rd – Mon 17th April (incl)

Return to school Tuesday 18th

St George’s Mon 3rd – Fri 14thApril (incl)

Return to school Monday 17th

Edinburgh Science Festival 1st –16thApril

0131 334 5046

0783 461 8625 thomas@keylandscapes.org

Key Landscapes provide all hard landscaping work; including fencing driveways patios walling and artificial grass.

We also offer advice on products, landscape design and have an extensive portfolio of work.

All work is guaranteed and we are fully insured.

Barclay Medical Practice East Craigs: 10 Bughtlin Market Mon - Friday 8am - 6pm Closed*: Apr : Closed all day Good Friday 7th Closed all day Easter Monday 10th

Tel: 0131 339 6670

Dates for your

* Dates correct at time of printing

Please remember to ensure that you have organised your repeat prescriptions to cover holiday periods.

Many serious health conditions can go unnoticed for months – and even years – but health screenings can help us to identify any underlying issues, so we can significantly reduce our risk and improve the prognosis of any illness. After all, prevention is better than cure.

Cervical screening

Cervical screenings, also known as ‘smear tests’ are offered to all women and people with a cervix aged between 25 and 64. It’s designed to check the health of cells in the cervix, to prevent cervical cancer from developing in the future. It’s offered every three years for those aged 25 to 49, and every five years between the ages of 50 and 64.

Breast screening

If you’re registered as a woman at a GP surgery and aged between 50 and 71, you’ll be offered an NHS breast screening (mammogram) every three years. A mammogram checks your breasts for signs of cancer, and save around 1,300 lives each year in the UK.

Bowel cancer screening

The NHS’s bowel cancer screening (which is a home test) is offered to everyone aged between 60 and 74. If you fall within this demographic, you’ll receive a screening every two years. However, the programme is currently in the process of expanding to make it available to people aged over 50.

Diabetic eye screening

From the age of 12, all people with diabetes are offered an annual diabetic eye test to check for early signs of diabetic retinopathy – which can lead to sight loss if left untreated.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) screening AAA screenings are offered to men during the year they turn 65 to detect abdominal aortic aneurysms. This is a bulge or swelling in the aorta, the main blood vessel that runs from your heart down through your stomach, which if left untreated could burst causing dangerous bleeding inside the stomach.

Pregnancy screenings

The first screening is for sickle cell and thalassaemia, offered before 10 weeks, followed by blood tests for HIV, hepatitis B and syphilis. Mothers will be offered screenings for Down’s syndrome, Edwards’ syndrome and Patau’s syndrome between 11 to 14 weeks, before a final check of the babies’ development between 18 to 21 weeks. As with any screening, you can choose which tests, if any, are right for you.

Newborn screenings

Newborn babies’ tests start with a physical examination straight after birth that covers the eyes, heart, hips and testes (if the baby’s a boy), closely followed by a hearing test.

When a baby is about five days old, they’ll be offered a blood spot test to check for nine rare but serious health conditions.

Private screenings

While the tests outlined above are looking for specific conditions, many private screenings are often more of a preventative nature. A health adviser will review your weight, fitness, mobility, blood pressure and even mental health.

If anything comes up as a result of the test, the service will often work with you to ‘coach’ you for a time through a combination of online tools and follow-up calls.

All types of Fencing Work undertaken

Wooden Decking

Cleaned and re-stained

All paintwork

Fences, sheds, wooden gates, garden furniture

Garden sheds to specification supplied and assembled

Power Washing

Pointing Work

Paths, patios, walls

For a no obligation quote please call George Currie on 07956 352 338 or 0131 337 2697

EH Dental Care

Our very popular hygienist service is now extended - appointments now available on Wednesdays and Fridays

Hygienist service available to non-members of the practice (minimum appointment time 30 minutes)

Expert Hearing Care at Home

Introductory Rates

Almond & Western Voluntary Sector Forum

The Almond and Western Voluntary Sector Forum produce a monthly Voluntary Sector activity Programme leaflet for West West Edinburgh.

This project is funded by the Western Edinburgh Neighbourhood Network. Copies of the leaflet are available in local Community Centres, libraries and various other venues in the area.

Any West Edinburgh Voluntary Organisation wishing to have information included in the May edition should contact tommy.awvsf@gmail.com by 20th April.

By Karen Bruce

100 Years

Wembley Stadium in London opened (as the British Empire Exhibition Stadium, commonly known as the Empire Stadium). It was demolished in 2003. The new Wembley Stadium opened on the same site in March 2007.

90 Years

The first modern sighting of Scotland’s Loch Ness monster was reported in the Inverness Courier.

70 Years

New Zealand mountaineer

Edmund Hillary and Sherpa

Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey, London. This was also the first event where the British TV audience (20 million) was greater than the radio audience (12 million).

50 Years

1.6 million British workers took part in a oneday general strike to protest against the government’s pay restraint policy and price rises.

50 YEARS AGO (1973)

• The average price of a property in the second quarter of 1973 was £8,144 (c. £92,000 at today’s prices). This compares with an average UK price of £296,000 today.

• Chart-toppers in the music singles charts included “Can the Can” by Suzi Quatro and “Rubber Bullets” by 10cc.

• Sir Edward Heath was Prime Minister (Conservatives), staying in office until 1974.

40 Years

Around 70,000 anti-nuclear weapons protesters formed a fourteen-mile human chain in Berkshire, England. They linked the U.S. airbase at Greenham Common, the nuclear research centre in Aldermaston and an ordnance factory in Burghfield.

The first cordless telephone went on sale in Britain. British Telecom’s Hawk could be used up to 100 metres (330 feet) from its base station.

30 Years

The recession of the early 1990s was officially declared over in Britain as new figures that showed the first economic growth for more than two years.

25 Years

The world’s first solid-state portable digital audio player (MP3 player) went on sale in Japan. The MPMan F10 could hold 8 songs (32 Mb version) or 16 songs (64 Mb version). It was not a commercial success.

British woman Diane Blood, who won a two-year legal battle over her right to be inseminated with her dead husband’s sperm, announced that she was pregnant. The baby was born in December. A second was born in July 2002.

Corstorphine and Murrayfield Community Policing Officers

PC Sam Davison

PC Susan Fulton

Please contact us at: EdinburghCPTNorthWest@scotland.pnn.police.uk Or

Tel. 101

Officers attend or provide reports for both Corstorphine and Murrayfield Community Council meetings.

Police activity updates can also be seen on Twitter: Edinburgh Police North West @EdinPolNW

Please report crimes via 101 or 999 in an emergency.

The right fragrance can lift your mood, boost your confidence and (pardon the pun) really put a spring in your step. Now that we’re heading into spring, you might prefer a lighter, fresher fragrance than the one you wore over winter. It’s worth considering some of the newer fragrance houses. Shay & Blue, for example, offer a wide range of genderneutral, modern fragrances at affordable prices. Their Tallulahs Camellia is a particular highlight. It’s floral without being overly sweet, with notes of bluebell, gardenia, lily and white tea. £55 for 100ml is great value, and the subscriber offers are also worth checking out.

Perfumes can be expensive, but even the priciest ones usually work out at just a few pence per spray. Still, you’ll want to choose wisely. When you’re trying perfumes on in a shop, spray them onto cardboard tester strips first. Consider how each scent makes you feel. Keep hold of the strips and smell them again in an hour. Fragrance is made up of top, middle and base notes. The top notes are lighter and evaporate quite quickly, so the scent changes subtly over time. Which fragrance do you like best? Head back to the counter and spray it onto your skin. Again, check whether you still like it after an hour. If you do, you’re onto a winner.

On a tight budget? It’s worth checking discount stores like TK Maxx, www.perfumedirect.com and www.thefragranceshop.co.uk. We found Calvin Klein’s Euphoria reduced to £24.99 for 30ml (RRP £42) at Perfume Direct, and Gucci’s Guilty reduced from £57 to £34.20 for 50ml at The Fragrance Shop.

It’s also worth considering dupes. While they won’t smell exactly the same as the original, they’re often a pretty close match, at a fraction of the price. Lidl’s Suddenly Madame Glamour, for example, is very similar to Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle, but costs under £5. And many of Primark’s fragrances are remarkably similar to those of top brands.

If you have your heart set on a particular designer fragrance, you can save money by buying the eau de toilette version rather than the eau de parfum. However, as there’s a lower concentration of fragrance in an eau de toilette, it wears off much quicker, so you’ll need to spray it more often.

Easily bored? Consider buying a discovery set rather than one full-sized bottle. The Floral Street Discovery Set, for example, gets you eight miniatures for £16. You won’t get many sprays from each 1.5ml bottle, but if you don’t wear perfume every day, it’s a fun way to mix things up. Shay & Blue also offer discovery sets, and they’re often on offer.

No idea where to start? Some fragrance brands offer online quizzes or free virtual or in-person consultations. Search online or just ask in-store.

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