May 2025

Clinic News

Exercise: The New Prescription

These days doctors often ‘prescribe’ exercise as a way to maintain good health and with good reason. Being active not only makes us feel better, it can also help ease various symptoms and cut risk of disease.

Studies have shown that people in their late 70s who undertake at least 20 minutes of exercise per day need fewer prescriptions and are  less likely to be admitted to hospital than those who don’t. Exercise has been shown to be as effective at lowering blood pressure as certain medication, as well as being shown to improve heart and gut health, memory and balance. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends exercise 3 times per week between 45min to an hour, for 3 months for those with mild or moderate depression. The physical activity also stimulates our brains and helps prevent anxiety and stress, as well as increasing the lifespan and improving the quality of life.

1. For Living Longer – Jogging

A US study showed that adults over 65 who ran or jogged for at least 30 minutes 3 times per week were as healthy as young adults in their 20s.This might not sound important, but your walking style is a key indicator of mortality, so the longer you can stay spritely on your feet, the longer and healthier your life should be. Meanwhile, another study found that light jogging (between 70-120 minutes per week) was linked to the lowest mortality rate compared to sedentary people and heavy runners – so little and often is key here.

2. For Improving Memory – Dancing

A study from 2017 found that all exercise can help reverse the signs of ageing in the brain, but dancing more than any other sport.The study, which focused on adults in their late 60s who took part in a weekly dance class, found that all participants showed an increase in the hippocampus region of the brain, which can be affected by diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia, as well as more general age-related decline.

3. For Back Pain – Active Therapies

Many GP appointments are connected to muscle and nerve problems- and these are often based in the back. If you suffer with back pain, you will know that it can affect your movement and sleep and leave you feeling quite low. Luckily, help is at hand in the form of gentle stretching.  Also, research shows that active therapies, such as chiropractic treatment, are a great option for managing back pain and to create optimal alignment, balance and symmetry.

4. For Depression and Anxiety – Walking

Science agrees – walking outdoors (especially in groups) has been linked to a reduction in stress and a boost in mood, particularly for those who have just been through a negative life event such as serious illness or loss of a loved one. Brisk walks have also been shown to help women deal with the anxiety and stress that’s sometimes associated with menopause. Movement helps your brain to release endorphins, feel-good hormones that can reduce the perception of pain as well as depression or stress.

5. For Bone and Muscle Health – Weight Training

Experts are increasingly suggesting a bit of strength training goes a long way when it comes to better bone and muscle health. As we get older, we start to lose muscle mass, which can leave us prone to falls, as well as making it easier to gain weight. So think of strength training as insurance for your later life. While this could mean leading to lift lightweights at the gym, it can also mean strength exercises using your own body weight – such as sit-ups or squats. It’s really never too late to start. A study of 90-year-olds found that 12 weeks of strength training improved their muscle tone, ability to balance, general power and walking speed.

Don’t forget 150 minutes (just over 21 mins daily) is the minimum moderate exercise the NHS recommends for adults to stay healthy! And the best part is, it’s freely available to most of us, small things make a big difference. Movement is the new medicine!

Eating to beat stress

Chronic stress can have a negative effect on our physical health as well as our mental wellbeing. It can play a role in our susceptibility to illness and disease, but also in day-to-day functional problems such as pain and stiffness.

There are many steps we can take to improve our ability to cope with stress; nutrition is one of them. Find out what and how to eat to better manage stress…

Balancing your blood sugar

To cope well with stress, we need our food to provide us with balanced, sustained energy. Foods that quickly break down into glucose and are quickly absorbed – such as sugary foods and fast-releasing carbohydrates – may give us a burst of energy, but can cause our blood sugar to peak and then dip. This can actually increase our body’s stress response and stress hormone levels, as well as making us feel irritated and out of control.

Here are the three fundamental steps to balancing your blood sugar:

1. Eat primarily whole foods: vegetables, animal foods (eggs, fish, unprocessed meat, unsweetened dairy foods), nuts and seeds, beans and lentils, and some fruit. Avoid sugary snacks, refined carbohydrates and other processed foods such as breakfast cereals
2. Making sure every meal includes a good serving of protein, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates. The primary protein foods are the animal foods mentioned above, and nuts and seeds, and beans and lentils. Healthy fats are found in nuts and seeds, oily fish, avocadoes, and coconut. Complex carbs are found in vegetables, whole fruit (i.e. not fruit juices), whole grains, beans and lentils
3. Eat regularly. Skipping meals or leaving too long between meals can cause your blood sugar level to drop too low, which can also trigger a stress response

Getting enough food

As well as eating regularly, getting enough food is important when you’re dealing with stress. Going on a weight loss diet – whether it’s low-calorie, low-carb or low-fat – during a stressful time can be particularly bad for your stress levels. Instead, now is the time to focus on balancing your blood sugar as outlined above, by eating regular meals, getting enough protein, healthy fats and non-starchy vegetables and cutting the refined carbohydrates and junk foods. You should find it easier to manage your weight – or lose weight – by eating in this way anyway.

Healthy snacking

Although regular snacking is not the best thing for everyone, it can be helpful if you’re coping with stress, again by helping to keep your blood sugar on an even keel. Your snacks need to be based on whole foods, and contain some protein and complex carbohydrates.

Examples include:

• Two or three oatcakes with one of the following: a tablespoon of hummus, guacamole, cottage cheese, half an avocado, a hard-boiled egg or a teaspoon or two of nut butter (e.g. almond butter).
• A pot of natural yoghurt (without added sugar) with some berries and/or a tablespoon of pumpkin seeds mixed in.
• A wedge of left-over home-made frittata/omelette.

However, you shouldn’t need to be snacking more than once between meals; constantly ‘grazing’ can have a negative effect on your weight and your digestion!

Magnesium-rich foods

The mineral magnesium plays a vital role in our psychological health, including our mood and how well we cope with stress. It’s thought that both physical and emotional stress can increase the body’s need for magnesium; and that having a low magnesium to calcium ratio can actually increase the release of stress hormones such as adrenaline.*

The best food sources of magnesium are green leafy vegetables such as kale, chard and spinach; seeds and nuts; and whole grains – especially buckwheat and rye.

B vitamin-rich foods

Like magnesium, B vitamins also play a vital role in our energy as well as our psychological function.

The various B vitamins are found in different foods, but the best all-round sources include eggs, oily fish, organ meats (especially liver), seeds and nuts, and beans and pulses. Luckily these are also foods that are great for our blood sugar balance!

Avoid overdoing stimulants

Many of us turn to stimulants such as tea and coffee when we’re feeling stressed. But stimulants of any kind also trigger the body’s stress response. Try to keep your coffee consumption in particular to a minimum. Tea can have a gentler stimulating effect so can be better tolerated, but keeping it to one cup a day can still be advisable. Try to introduce calming herbal teas such as chamomile and spearmint – especially later in the day.

Note that alcohol can also act as a stimulant as well as a relaxant. It also disrupts your blood sugar balance. Keep alcohol to a rare treat and stick to one drink only.

Why is posture so important?

Whether it’s being told to sit up straight or stop slouching, there’s many reasons why we were told to keep an eye on our posture growing up. However, as adults, we sometimes form bad habits and forget the importance of good posture.

Whether it’s physical or mental health, posture plays an important role in our overall health and has a variety of benefits.

Poor posture

Posture refers to the position of your body when you are standing or sitting and, more specifically, how your spine is aligned with your head, shoulders, and hips.

Poor posture occurs when the spine is not positioned in a neutral alignment. This could mean the curves in the spine are more emphasised than they should be. For example, by hunching over with your head forward. A common cause of this is ‘tech neck’, which results from us hunching over cell phones or computers.

Poor posture results in the joints, muscles and vertebrae being in stressful positions and, over a prolonged period, can have several negative impacts on your body.

Good posture

The back has three natural curves: at the neck, mid back, and lower back. Good posture maintains these curves by ensuring your head is above your shoulders and the top of the shoulders is over the hips.

It can sometimes feel uncomfortable or awkward to adjust your posture because bad posture doesn’t always cause pain or discomfort.

Here is a quick reminder for how to maintain posture when sitting or standing:

• Sitting: the feet should rest flat on the floor, with even weight on both hips and your back should be mostly straight. The shoulders should be back and relaxed, whilst the ears line up over the collarbones.
• Standing: the legs should have a slight bend in the knee so they are not hyperextended or locked, and weight should be evenly distributed. The shoulders should be down, and the spine and pelvis remains in a neutral position.

Physical benefits of good posture

There are many physical benefits associated with good posture, some of which are listed below.

• Reduced back pain

Standing or sitting with poor posture for prolonged periods of time places additional stress on your lower back, which can be a common cause of back pain.

• Less tension in the neck and shoulders

Particularly for ‘tech neck’ where the head is in a forward position, there can be additional strain on the upper back, shoulders, and neck. Good posture ensures the joints and ligaments are less stressed.

• Fewer headaches

Poor posture can be the reason for tension headaches because it increases muscle tension in the back of the neck.

• Lung capacity

Slouching compresses the lungs, so correcting your posture enables more space for your lungs to expand.

• Improved strength

Maintaining good posture means using your muscles and keeping them engaged, particularly the muscles in your core and upper back.

Mental benefits of good posture

• Increased energy levels

Good posture encourages the muscles to be used as they’re intended, rather than wasting energy. This means you will feel less fatigued.

• Increased confidence

Together with increased energy levels, good posture can make you look taller and more toned, which can boost your self-confidence.