You can't stop the waves... but you can learn to surf
In This Issue: Spring into Wellbeing Medicine or Recovery? News Round-Up De-stress with Yoga Wellbeing Coaching 5 Quick Ways to De-stress (without alcohol) Food for Mood Food and Mood Recipe
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Spring into Wellbeing With Spring finally in the air, now would be a good time to start improving your wellbeing by getting physically active. Most of us could do with shedding a few pounds and toning ourselves up before we have to get into beachwear in the Summer holidays. And getting active is also good for general wellbeing. Being physically active is known to improve both physical and mental wellbeing. It improves muscle tone, expands lung capacity, can help you to improve your diet, lifts your mood, and improves your ability to cope with stress. For people affected by common mental health problems, exercise offers therapeutic benefits similar to those provided by antidepressants like Prozac. Exercise helps to re-balance levels of a protein called sFRP3 (Secreted frizzled-related protein 3) which is thought to prolong depression by preventing the growth of new nerve cells and new neural connections.
parking in the suburbs and walking or jogging the rest of the way to work. You could even opt to leave the car at home and cycle to work (there are government subsidies available if you choose to do this).
The usual excuses that we make for not getting active are that we cannot afford it or that we do not have the time. But getting active does not need to be expensive, nor does it have to involve big changes to your daily routine.
Concern about cost and time is often an expression of a deeper reason why so many people are not physically active - we lack motivation. This is especially the case for people who are stressed, as stress saps your desire to be active. Finding an exercise buddy (someone who will take up exercise with you) can help, as you will be less likely to let them down. Alternatively, you could join a local walking, running or cycling club, as this will help you organise your physical activity.
Although many private gyms will try to get you to sign up for an expensive, long-term membership, unless you are fully committed to changing your lifestyle, you are better off looking for free or low cost activities. Walking is free, running is low cost (you will need to obtain some decent running shoes if you are going to avoid blisters) and cycling can be reasonably cheap, and all have the additional benefits of getting you out into the daylight and fresh air. Keep fit, Pilates, tai chi and yoga classes usually cost £5 to £1 0 per class, and do not require any specialised clothing or equipment. Running, cycling and walking can be built into your daily routine. For example, if you travel to work on the bus or train, you could get off a stop earlier and walk or jog the rest of the way to work. If you drive, you could save money and get fit by
In Wales, the government has adopted The Walking and Cycling Action Plan 2009 - 201 3 to promote a range of outdoor activities as part of a drive to improve public health. This includes funding charities like Sustrans and Let's Walk Cymru to develop a network of cycle and walking networks across Wales.
However you decide to motivate yourself, isn’t now a good time?
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Medicine or Recovery ? deal that medicine can offer. The best that NICE (National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence) could come up with was the idea of “watchful waiting” – encouraging doctors to keep an eye on people in the hope that circumstances will improve, but also to spot early symptoms of common mental health problems like anxiety disorders and depression. If someone does develop a common mental illness, there are things a doctor can do: prescribe antidepressants, offer a sick certificate, and put them on the (often long) waiting list for a talking therapy. But these approaches are primarily aimed at helping people to overcome their symptoms (doctors are not in the business of helping us to live our lives better). This focus on symptoms rather than overall wellbeing results in more than half of the people “successfully treated” having a further episode within a year. To counter this, tens of thousands of people are being kept on antidepressants long after they feel better, because their lifestyles and social/economic circumstances make another episode likely.
When people visit their GP with stress-related health problems, they tend not to talk about symptoms. Rather, they say things like:
This leaves thousands in limbo, unable to get on with their lives and increasingly trapped within the mental health system. These patients are stigmatised as “mentally ill” and risk the discrimination that often comes with it. And instead of being helped to achieve their ambitions in life, the system traps them in pseudo communities of “service users” and "user groups" united only by symptoms and a shared experience of being social outcasts. All too often the model creates “I used to be…" people – those with a past but no present or future.
“My partner walked out on me, and I’ve been really down ever since” “I was made redundant after 30 years with the same company and I feel useless” “I’m struggling to care for an elderly relative and I’m at the end of my tether” “Since I became ill, I’ve lost contact with my friends and I no longer enjoy life” “My flat is cold, noisy and damp, and it is making me ill” “My workload is so heavy I’m exhausted all the time” “My pay has been cut and I’m getting further and further into debt”
The traditional mental health system has had its day (although it will require drive and persistence to finally bury it). Many people who have been involved in both sides (professionals and patients) have arrived at the conclusion that monolithic, one-size-fits-all services don't work because we need to focus on the whole person. As psychologist, government advisor, NHS manager and patient, Rachel Perkins points out: “everyone is different; there is no formula”.
As Dr Chris Manning, Mental Health Lead at the College of Medicine says: “People have problems before they have diagnoses”. You would be forgiven for thinking that helping people deal with these kinds of problem would be central to mental health care. But there isn’t a great
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community engagement must have the greatest role, with medical services "on tap rather than on top". Rachel Perkins points out that “many people have found that some of the most important relationships that help them in their journey of recovery are people who have walked a similar path and faced similar challenges”. One solution developed by Rachel Perkins and others is the "Recovery College" in which people who have recovered from mental illness can coach, mentor, and tutor those who are working toward recovery. However, keeping this approach within the NHS continues to risk the stigma and discrimination that is an integral part of receiving mental health services. Life Surfing also takes a coaching, mentoring and tutoring role using training workshops, groups and one-to-one coaching to help people. However, we are independent of the NHS. We work in partnership with clients to help them understand health and wellbeing, and to map out and acheive the life they would choose to lead. Our approach gives clients:
In future, we will have to measure success not by whether we have (temporarily) alleviated someone's symptoms, but by whether we have improved their personal wellbeing. This means helping everyone to achieve: • Career wellbeing (meaningful and gainful employment) • Social wellbeing (stable, loving, intimate relationships and wide social networks) • Physical wellbeing (a degree of health that allows for full participation in all aspects of work, rest and play) • Financial wellbeing (sufficient disposable income to meet personal needs and to provide a reasonable quality of life) • Community wellbeing (active and positive participation in neighbourhood and interest-based communal activities)
Hope - our coach/mentor/tutors act as role models, and can work with anyone to show them that a better future is possible Control - we work in patnership with our clients, helping them map out their own goals and acheive their dreams Opportunity - we help our clients to unlock the door to the future they would choose
At the heart of the new approach to personal wellbeing is the understanding that people have to do things for themselves. What we provide is not a cure or a therapy (although it can have therapeutic effects). We don't do things to or for people, but help them achieve things for themselves. Nor are we like the NHS, trying to do everything in-house. we work with partners, and signpost on to other agencies when these are better able to provide the help and support our clients need.
This approach is much broader and sometimes more chaotic than a simple medical service. It is also an approach in which medicine is not the major player. For better or worse, in our society, most of the 5 key elements of personal wellbeing (above) are underpinned by employment - and not just any employment but employment that is meaningful for each individual. In practice, this means that services that can move people into sustained employment, loving relationships, wide social networks and
You can find out more about Life Surfing's services on page 1 3. You can find out more on our website: www.life-surfing.com Or you can phone us on:
0300 321 451 4
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News Round-up Businesses Wake Up to Workers' Lack of Sleep Managers at a growing number of businesses, among them Procter & Gamble and Goldman Sachs Group, are tackling the impact of poor sleep investing in programs from sleep-hygiene courses to melatonin-regulating lighting to help employees improve their slumber.
Massive Search for ‘Depression Gene’ Comes Up Empty
Companies had been slow to grasp the effects of sleep deprivation on productivity, but it is now a hot topic even in high-pressure industries, such as finance, where working all night is often viewed as crucial to getting ahead. Yet perceptions linger that sleep is for wimps and loafers, and neither Goldman nor Shaw have detailed the changes they expect from addressing employees' sleep habits.
An enormous study designed to uncover the genes involved in depression has left an international team of scientists somewhat empty-handed. The research involved the DNA analysis of 34,549 volunteers as 86 scientists tried to pinpoint the genetic influences tied to depression. Genetic research had promised to pave the way for a new generation of antidepressants. But critics argue that this evidence for a lack of a genetic cause suggests that most depression is probably caused by social, economic and lifestyle factors.
Bereavement to become a mental illness The next edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM5) published in May 201 3 will remove the exclusion of grief from the diagnosis of depression. This means that anyone still grieving two weeks after a death will qualify for a diagnosis.
How work is driving us to drink and depression
Although psychiatrists claim that the change will allow them to provide treatment to people who don't currently qualify, critics argue that this is about paving the way for the pharmaceutical companies to benefit from millions more prescriptions for drugs like Prozac.
More than a third of adults say their job is the most stressful part of their lives. Almost 60 per cent hit the bottle after work to cope and 1 4 per cent drink during the day, according to research by the mental health charity Mind.
“The elimination of the bereavement exclusion shows that psychiatry has no idea how to define what’s normal, what’s abnormal, and how to differentiate between them…One of the essential ways that we show our humanity is to grieve after the death of an intimate. Amazingly, psychiatry now sees this as a mental disorder.”—Allan V. Horowitz, author of The Loss of Sadness
Workers rarely feel they can talk to their bosses and so ten per cent turn to sleeping tablets, 1 5 per cent take antidepressants and 28 per cent smoke. Almost 20 per cent have thrown a sickie over stress – and almost ten per cent have resigned because of it.
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News Round-up Memory strategy could help lift depression Research funded by the Medical Research Council and carried out at the University of Cambridge, suggests that a common method for improving memory could help people affected by depression. People with depression can find it difficult to call up positive, self-affirming memories, but the research found that the so-called ‘method-of-loci’ technique – which involves associating vivid memories with particular places or objects – could help.
Small Shifts in Wellbeing Have a Big Impact on Performance Small shifts in an employee's wellbeing can make a big impact on performance according to research published in the Gallup Business Journal. What may appear to be a minor decrease on a wellbeing index -- 5 points on 1 00-point scale -- can have an massive effect on people's health and work productivity. Indeed, Gallup's analysis shows that poor wellbeing accounts for 600 unhealthy days per 1 ,000 employees per month.
People affected by depression often have a strong tendency to recall negative thoughts and memories. So developing methods that help retrieve positive memories will address this symptom. Additionally, there are emotional benefits from recalling vivid and detailed positive memories.
The reseach builds on previous work which estimated that stress costs the equivalent of £1 ,030 per employee per year in the UK workforce, and highlights the lost productivity from failing to tackle employee stress - both in and outside work.
Self-help books 'treat depression' A decade after psychologist Dr Neil Frude developed the Welsh Prescription Books scheme, a new study has confirmed the value of self-help books for people with common mental health problems like depression.
One in Three Smokers is Mentally Ill More than a third of smokers in England are mentally ill according to new research by the Royal College of Physicians. The report - Smoking and Mental Health found that smoking is the main reason why people with mental illness have significantly lower (by 1 0 years) life expectancy than the wider population.
Patients offered books, plus sessions guiding them in how to use them, had lower levels of depression a year later than those offered usual GP care. The effect was seen in addition to the benefits of other treatments such as antidepressants.
The report notes that a decade after the ban on smoking in public places just 20% of the UK population smoke, but 40% of people with mental illness continue to do so. The authors point out that people with mental illness are just as likely to want to give up, but tend to be more addicted and are less likely to be provided with adequate support to help them quit.
Researchers suggest that guided use of self-help books could offer an affordable alternative to talking therapies. In Scotland, a telephone support service has now been set up to help support those using the books, which can be freely copied and disseminated.
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De-stress with Yoga that yoga has no harmful effects. And several good quality clinical trials show that yoga has benefits for people with a range of common mental health problems including stress, anxiety disorders and depression. The meditation practice taught as part of most yoga classes is essentially the same practice used by psychologists in the delivery of Mindful Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (MCBT) and Mindful Stress Reduction (MSR). Both of these are now recognised NHS therapies available (on a waiting list) from your GP. The aim is to move your mind away from any unpleasant memories from the past and worries about the future, and to help you focus on being present. The guided relaxation and breath control techniques taught in many yoga classes have also been shown to provide relief from stress and anxiety, with regular practice helping people build their resilience to stressful life events. Evidence suggests that relaxation is not simply the absence of stress, but is a state of being that must be actively switched on. People who practice yoga regularly are able to switch on this "relaxation response" much more readily than those who don't.
Queen Victoria did it. Gwyneth Paltrow, Jenny McCarthy and Robert Downey Jr. do it. Today more than 30 million people worldwide do yoga. And scientists and doctors are becoming increasingly interested in the potential health benefits. Originally derived from the Hindu religion of India, yoga is usually practiced as a secular activity in the UK. Although there are a variety of yoga schools, most offer “Hatha Yoga” – a combination of gentle physical stretches (Asana), breath control exercises (Pranayama) and mindful meditation (Dhyana).
Don't be put off by the thought that yoga classes will be full of lithe, attractive twenty-somethings dressed in lycra. Most classes are attended by a range of people from their early twenties through to their 70s, 80s and even 90s; people of a range of fitness and abilities.
A growing body of evidence shows that regular yoga practice can improve general health and wellbeing, as well as improving the health of people with a range of illnesses and health problems including: • • • • •
Perhaps most importantly in the current climate, yoga classes are relatively cheap (£5 to £1 0 per class), and don’t require any particular kit (many classes will provide you with a mat while you decide if yoga is for you).
Arthritis Asthma Back problems Heart disease Multiple sclerosis
Currently, the evidence for the health benefits of yoga falls short of the clinical trial standards that would be required to provide it free to the end user as an NHS treatment. However, several systematic reviews show
You can find some Cardiff-based classes advertised in The Wave. You can also find local yoga classes via your local council or your local leisure centre. Alternatively, a Google search is likely to turn up several local classes.
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Wellbeing Coaching We are all of us on personal journeys. Sometimes our lives flow. Everything goes well and seems effortless. Then there are the times when everything we touch seems to fall apart. These low times are actually the times when we learn the most, and, eventually, grow as individuals – look at your own life and you will find that it was these low times that caused you to change and grow into the person you are today. Unfortunately, a thirty-year process of “medicalization” has encouraged us to think of the bad times and our responses to them as illnesses or mental health problems. And if the bad parts of our lives are illnesses, then we have to find “cures”: • • • •
You’re in debt – take Prozac! Your parent just died – take Prozac! Your partner dumped you – take Prozac! You’ve been made redundant – take Prozac!
In all of these situations, first and foremost, you need to – take ACTION!
is more focused on helping people take action to overcome stress-related problems, improve their lives and build their personal wellbeing.
But sometimes taking action seems too daunting: Faced with the need to change, most of us experience anxiety, confusion and a profound fear of failure. This is where wellbeing coaching can pay dividends. Wellbeing coaching is a professional process designed to deepen learning, break down barriers, improve performance, and enhance your quality of life in all areas. It has similarities to sports coaching (where working with a coach is the difference between being a winner and being an also-ran) and executive coaching (which is used by big corporations to get the best performance from their executive managers). However, wellbeing coaching
Wellbeing Coaching is not therapy (it is closer to mentoring and befriending – see the figure above), although some therapists may also coach their clients. Nor does wellbeing coaching clash with therapy and medical treatment – many people are able to be coached and treated at the same time. If you are ready to Take Action would like to find out more about Wellbeing Coaching, please visit our website – www.life-surfing.com, or phone us on 0300 321 451 4.
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5 Quick Ways to De-stress (without alcohol) Faced with the everyday pressures of work, family responsibilities, household chores, caring for relatives and friends, etc, most of us experience stress. In order to cope with this, many of us reach for quick fixes like a glass of wine, beer or lager, a cigarette, chocolate or a cup of coffee. These all provide relief in the short-term, but they damage our health in the end. And they are habitforming, so when we experience major stresses like bereavement, debt, redundancy or relationship breakdown, they can add illness to our problems.
3. Use aromatherapy oils
Here are 5 healthy de-stress techiques that you could try. if they suit you, make them a habit by building them into your daily routine: 1 . Eat some citrus fruit Citrus fruits are an important source of vitamin C. The smell of citrus is also thought to help release relaxation hormones. So taking 5 minutes to really focus on eating an orange or a tangerine will help you de-stress - and it counts as 1 of your 5-a-day.
2. Try progressive muscle relaxation Find a quiet corner where you can lie down or sit comfortably, and where you will not be disturbed. Allow your mind to empty, and, starting at the top of your head, focus your attention on tensing ad relaxing each of the muscles in your body down to your feet. 5 minutes of this type of relaxation can be the equivalent of an hour's sleep.
Certain aromatherapy oils such as lavander and ylang ylang are thought to induce a feeling of relaxation. Using an aromatherapy burner, or massaging some aromatherapy oil into your hands can provide rapid relief from stress.
4. Count backward from 1 00 Find a quiet corner where you will be comfortable and won't be disturbed. Close your eyes, and focus all of your attention on counting slowly - down. If your mind wanders, just bring it back to counting. This will move your mind off your worries and stresses.
5. Try deep breathing Find a comfortable place to sit, where you won't be disturbed. Place one hand on your belly, the other on the centre of your chest. Now close your eyes, and as you breath in, imagine that your top hand moves out and up, and your bottom hand moves out. Allow the hands to come back with the out breath. Keep this going.
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Food for Mood
The Health Benefits of Peppers
Vitamin B6 for wellbeing
Did you know that peppers are fruits? (This is “knowledge”; “wisdom” is not putting them in a fruit salad!). They are also a very versatile, readily available and healthy food. You can add them to a salad, use them as a pizza topping, use them in a soup, or simply cut them into strips as a chewy snack.
Health problems can be caused or worsened by deficiencies in important vitamins and minerals. Vitamin B6 is particularly important in relation to common mental health problems like stress, anxiety and depression. Vitamin B6 is an essential component in your body’s manufacture of the feelgood substance Serotonin and the sleep hormone Melatonin – chemicals that are often depleted in people with common mental health problems.
Peppers contain a range of healthy vitamins and minerals that are thought to help counteract stress and overcome depression and anxiety, including: • • • • •
Foods that contain vitamin B6 include: • • • • • •
Avocados Bananas Cabbage Cauliflower Chickpeas Walnuts
Although it might be tempting to buy expensive vitamin B6 supplements, there is no need to do so. As long as you eat a balanced and varied diet, with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, your body will get all of the vitamins and minerals you need. If you do decide to use a vitamin supplement, you should check the dose, as B vitamins can be toxic if you take too much. The daily recommended dose for adults for vitamin B6 is just 1 0mg, and much of this will come from the food you eat.
Antioxidants Vitamin A Vitamin B6 Vitamin C Beta-carotene
Peppers also contain health-promoting chemicals called phytochemicals – nearly a million of these chemicals have been discovered, and they vary across the different types and colours of pepper. In addition to the common green, yellow and red peppers that you can find on most supermarket shelves, there are varieties of pepper that are orange, purple, brown and black. And while you don’t need to eat any particular pepper to maintain your health, as a general rule, a diet high in fruit and vegetables of a variety of colours is thought to be healthier than a less varied diet. At 50p – 80p each, peppers are a reasonably cheap and health addition to your 5-a-day.
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Food for Mood Recipe Pork and Rice Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients 8 large peppers (various colours), tops removed and seeded 1 tablespoon olive oil 225g lean minced pork 2 onions, chopped 4 tablespoons dry white wine 300g tomato puree 1 1 5g feta cheese 80g cooked white rice 75g raisins 70g pine nuts 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley salt and pepper to taste
Preparation
1 . Preheat oven to 1 80 C/Gas Mark 4. 2. Place peppers in a bowl with enough warm water to cover; soak for 5 minutes. 3. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Place pork and onions in the frying pan, season with salt and pepper. Cook until pork is evenly brown. Drain off excess fat and mix in wine and tomato puree. Cook for1 0 minutes. 4. Pour frying pan mixture to a large bowl and stir in the feta cheese, cooked rice, raisins, pine nuts and parsley. 5. Stuff peppers with the mixture and arrange in a baking dish. 6. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes . Remove foil and continue baking 1 0 minutes, until stuffing is lightly browned. May be served hot or cold.
Serves 6-8
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Life Surfing Services Wellbeing Coaching Life Surfing provides one-to-one wellbeing coaching for anyone who is experiencing life stress, and common problems with personal wellbeing. Our coaching service is not a therapy or an alternative to treatment, but it is an effective approach that will help you overcome problems and get your life back on track. Coaching packages include face-to-face, Skype, telephone and e-mail coaching sessions tailored to suit your needs. Life
Surfing Workshops We offer two types of workshops - those aimed at individuals who want to learn how they can overcome and recover from common stress-related problems; and those aimed at managers, service providers, relatives and friends who want to learn how to help other people manage and overcome common stress related problems. Our bite-sized 2-hour workshops are particularly popular as they take less time out of a working day, or can be slotted into a wider training day. However, our 1 -day workshops provide a greater depth of knowledge and more opportunity to practice new skills.
Mentoring Groups Life Surfing groups offer a combination of coaching, mentoring and training to anyone who wants to overcome common stress-related problems including anxiety and depression. Our group facilitators are skilled coaches/trainers who have personal experience of overcoming common mental health problems. As such, they can provide the knowledge, skills and encouragement to help you overcome your problems and develop long-term wellbeing. Life Surfing Publications Life Surfing has published a range of publications relating to the understanding and management of common stress-related problems. Our publications come in a range of formats - books, booklets, CDs, DVDs and mp3 downloads - all of which are available via the Life Surfing website. You can also buy paperback and Kindle versions of our books on Amazon.
For more information about Life Surfing services, please visit our website:
www.life-surfing.com
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About Life Surfing Life Surfing is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company that was established to provide a coaching, mentoring and training approach for people experiencing common life problems that can cause stress, anxiety and depression. Our mission is to help people learn to cope with life without the need to call on over-stretched NHS services that are better deployed to help people with severe mental illness. Over the years we have found that there is a huge amount that people can do to develop their personal resources and to foster their own wellbeing. In most cases, the real need is for encouragement, support, knowledge and skills. This is what Life Surfing offers. We have developed a range of services - oneto-one coaching, training workshops, mentoring groups and a range of publications to give you the knowledge, skills and motivation needed to address life’s issues and overcome stress-related problems in a healthy way, and to promote your long-term personal wellbeing. For further information, please visit the Life Surfing website: www.life-surfing.com Or you can contact us on: 0300 321 451 4/07922 537 646 info@life-surfing.com Please note that our new postal address is: Life Surfing Box 1 24, R&R Consulting Centre 41 St. Isan Road Heath Cardiff CF1 4 4LW
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Editorial The Wave is published by Life Surfing CIC, a community interest company limited by guarantee(07399335), registered office 1 0 Shaftesbury Close, Thornhill, Cardiff CF1 4 9EJ 1 ,000 print copies of The Wave are distributed every quarter in outlets across the Cardiff area, and each online edition is read by more than 750 readers. To order The Wave, please contact us. If you have a wellbeing-related news item, story or feature that you would like to appear in The Wave, please e-mail details to info@life-surfing.com If you would like to take advantage of our competitive advertising rates, please contact us on 0300 321 451 4 to discuss your requirements.
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"You can't stop the waves... ... but you can learn to surf"
The Wave is published by Life Surfing CIC, Community Interest Company Limited by Guarantee (07399335) Registered in England and Wales