You may have heard sitting is bad for your health, but does that mean we should stand all day instead?

If you’re an average office worker, then you’re probably spending over six hours a day sitting at work. Studies tell us that prolonged sitting may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke, even if you’re a keen exerciser. Sitting without breaks can also lead to a sore and stiff neck, shoulders and back.

But standing all day can be hard on your body too, and a combination of sitting and standing seems to bring the most benefits. In 2015, the British Journal of Sports Medicine published a review of the scientific evidence on how to best address sedentary behaviour in the office. They recommended ‘accumulating at least two hours per day of standing and light activity (such as light walking) during working hours.’

The sit-stand desk

One popular solution to the increasing sedentary nature of our jobs is the sit-stand desk, which allows you to move between sitting and standing while at work. But how do you use these to ensure you get the recommended two hours of standing or light activity?

The answer, according to Alan Hedge, Cornell University ergonomist, is the Sit-Stand-Stretch or 20-8-2 regimen. The involves, for every 30 minutes of your workday:

• 20 minutes of sitting (in good posture)
• 8 minutes of standing, and
• 2 minutes standing and moving.

For an average workday of seven and half hours, standing for two hours and moving for 30 minutes.

Tomato time

Even if you don’t have access to a standing desk you can still take regular breaks from sitting. One way to do this is to work in 25-minute bursts, after which you stand up and take a five-minute break. This is also known as the Pomodoro Technique, so named because the bursts of time can be measured using little tomato-shaped kitchen timers – Pomodoro is Italian for tomato.

Use your five-minute break to move your body – perhaps walking to the kitchen to refill your water glass or grab a tea or coffee, or doing some simple neck, shoulder and back stretches.

If you don’t have a tomato timer, there are plenty of apps online that can keep track of your sessions.

Sleep is often considered an optional extra for busy people, trying to cram as much as possible into their day. Yet if you are one of the many people who toss and turn at night, the relief of sleep eluding you, then you will know the agony of insomnia.

While a number of factors can trigger difficulty sleeping, research tells us that if you have depression you are more likely to experience sleep problems. These include problems falling asleep (sleep onset insomnia), difficult staying asleep (sleep maintenance insomnia), or early morning wakening.

It works the other way, too. If you have troubling sleeping, then you have a ten-fold risk of developing depression compared to those who fall asleep easily.

Sleep is a problem for many

The rates of depression are increasing worldwide and so too are sleep problems. A 2019 report commissioned by the Sleep Health Foundation revealed the extent of sleep problems in Australians. It found almost 60 per cent of people regularly experience at least one sleep symptom (like trouble falling or staying asleep). This is concerning, given that sleep problems are also linked to depression.

“It’s troubling to see just how common it is for people to struggle with their sleep when it’s such a vital aspect of good health and happiness,” said Professor Robert Adams, lead author of the report and spokesperson for the Sleep Health Foundation.

“Failing to get the quality of quantity of sleep you need affects your mood, safety and health, not to mention your relationships with family and friends,” he explains. It’s very important to get it right.”

Backed by research

American studies have confirmed the strong link between sleep and depression. A Michigan study followed 1,000 adults over a three-year period. It found those people with insomnia were four times more likely to develop major depression over the three years, compared to those who slept well. In another study that looked at 300 pairs of twins it found that sleep problems in childhood significantly increased the chance of developing depression later in life.

Get the help you need

It is crucial to seek help early for sleep problems. This can reduce the risk of developing depression. And for those people who already have depression it will improve the effectiveness of treatment for your depression.

Talk to your GP if you are experiencing any difficulty falling or staying asleep. You may need to look at your nightly routine and other things during the day that may help or hinder your sleep. Your doctor can also make an assessment of your mental health and recommend treatment if necessary. Sleep psychologists treat insomnia with a form of talking therapy known as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). This is an extremely effective treatment for sleep problems.

Food poisoning affects at least 600 million people every year and can range from mild to fatal. It can have very serious health consequences for anyone considered at risk, such as pregnant women, the elderly and anyone with a compromised immune system.

Some foods are definitely higher risk, with meat and chicken at the top of this list. It’s important to cook mince, sausages, stuffed meats and chicken right through to the centre. You should not be able to see any pink meat and the juices should be clear. Steak, chops and whole cuts of red meat are a little different – you can cook these to your preference as food poisoning bacteria are mostly on the surface. Just make sure you don’t put cooked meat back on a plate that held raw meat.

Dairy products, eggs and egg products are also considered high-risk foods, as are hams and salamis, and seafood. Make sure these are eaten or refrigerated as soon as possible after cooking.

What we often overlook is the risk in foods such as cooked rice and pasta, prepared salads like coleslaw, fruit salads and ready-to-eat foods like sandwiches, rolls and pizza. These foods are often left out of the fridge when it's full, but they may harbour heat-resistant toxins that can cause food poisoning. These foods should not be kept out of the fridge for any longer than two hours. And remember, if in doubt, throw it out - you don't want to risk food poisoning.

Our feet and legs do a great job of carrying us through life and they deserve the best of care.

If you have a job that requires you to be on your feet for long periods you've probably experienced more than your fair share of pain in your feet and ankles. It's important that any pain is resolved to prevent it from developing into a long-term condition.

Here's what you can do to protect your precious feet. 

Choose footwear carefully

It's tempting to choose form over function when it comes to footwear but spending the day in shoes that are not right for your feet leads to trouble. Podiatrist Patrick Rafferty says many workers make the simple mistake of choosing shoes that look good but are inappropriate for their job. He has the following six shoe-buying tips:

1. Choose well-fastened, enclosed footwear.

2. Avoid slip-on shoes.

3. A wide heel with a firm back for ankle support is best.

4. Look for shoes with a cushioned inner-lining for comfort.

5. A non-slip sole with grip to protect from slips that can cause ankle sprains. An oil-resistant sole may be necessary for work environments like kitchens.

6. Sturdy steel-capped boots are required in some workplaces

Stretch it out

Muscles can become stiff and painful if you stand or walk all day. Stop every hour or so to stretch them out and relax and lengthen tight muscles. Calf raises will help pump back blood that has pooled in the foot from hours of standing into the rest of the body.

Massage Well

Simply massaging your ankles and feet during your lunch break and after work can go a long way to easing pain. Keep a tennis ball handy and roll your foot from heel to toe over it to relieve sore feet. The gentle massage on your feet and arches will stretch tight foot muscles and help your feet recover more quickly.

Leave it to the experts

If you have ongoing problems with your feet, make an appointment to see a podiatrist. A registered podiatrist can help you give your feet the love and care they deserve to keep them in good shape.

Stress can be both a good thing and a bad thing but what is it really doing to our physical health if we are stressed on a constant basis day after day?

Most of us know that certain lifestyle habits such as smoking or lack of exercise could jeopardise our health but what we do need to pay more attention to his stress. If switched on for too long stress can wreak havoc on our physical and mental wellbeing and by learning how chronic stress affects our mind and body our awareness will identify the importance of finding ways to reduce the stress load.

Hormone levels

Digestion 

Heart

Under stress your heart pumps faster. The stress hormones cause your blood vessels to constrict and divert oxygen away from the extremities and towards your muscles to help you move quickly. This raises your blood pressure. When your blood pressure rises so does your risk of stroke and heart attack.

Sleep

Diabetes.

Cancer

Brain.

If you are stressed about your stress levels then please visit your doctor.

Remember, Mayfair we care.

Don’t leave it until New Year’s Eve to make those resolutions to improve your life, health, work and general behaviours for next year. Give it some thought now and prepare to break all those bad habits that you’ve developed during the course of 2019.

We all promise to give up our bad habits and replace them with new and better behaviours. It might work for a week or two in January but slowly we slide back into old, familiar and far more comfortable ways. So, how can you make those changes lasting ones?

Planning

Planning is all important in life for the likes of family routine and socialising but it also works if you want to implement change. Pick your important goals and schedule time to achieve them whether that’s regular exercise or eating in a more healthy way. You will be surprised how much easier it will be to make healthy habits a part of your everyday life if you plan in advance and make time for them.

Don’t be too ambitious.

Long-term thinking.

Motivation.

Remember, Mayfair we care.

Do we actually know what high blood pressure is? Many of us are aware of the dangers of having high blood pressure but do we actually understand what it means?

Blood pressure is the pressure of blood in the arteries as it is being pumped around the body by the heart. When your blood pressure exceeds an upper limit for an extended time, you have high blood pressure also known as hypertension.

In adults high blood pressure is defined as systolic pressure and/or a diastolic pressure however to get a true picture it may be worth getting your blood pressure measured more than a single time because stress, particularly when you visit the doctor can cause it to rise.

The dangers of high BP

Because the heart, brain and kidneys can withstand increased blood pressure for long periods, people with high blood pressure may feel perfectly well for many years. However, this doesn’t mean that it isn’t doing damage. If it is not controlled, high blood pressure can overload the heart, accelerate the artery clogging process And this in turn can lead to heart attack, stroke, heart failure or kidney failure.

Checking your blood pressure

Medication.

If in doubt, visit your doctor.

Remember, Mayfair we care.

Do you have a healthy relationship with your mobile phone? Are you able to lead completely separate lives and not be inter dependent on one another?!

If you are, then you are one of the rare breed that is not totally reliant on their mobile phone, and will not suffer from Nomophobia when they are parted either by accident or design. However, if you are one of the majority who aren’t, then when you leave that phone at home by mistake you will probably spend the rest of your day fretting and fidgeting – does that describe you?

These days most of us carry our mobiles with us and rarely turn them off. Our phone is often the last thing we look at before we go to sleep and the first thing we check when we wake up. Incoming emails, texts and other notifications constantly disturb us and one study reported that the average user checked their phone at least 85 times a day. Is this describing you?

Our phones can be our main lifeline to family, friends, business colleagues and other networks. However the best human relationships are the face-to-face ones with another person and phones can never replace those meaningful connections.

How many of us have seen couples in a social surroundings, such as a restaurant or pub, sitting across the table from one another but with both of them being on their mobiles, more in touch with Facebook and football than with each other?

Even the very presence of phones seems to prevent deeper and more meaningful conversations. One study has found that people feel less connected to other people in a conversation when a mobile is present. In other words, when it is sitting on the table next to them. People feel that if this phone was to go off the conversation would be cut short and the phone call or message would be far more important.

Constantly checking your phone can easily become a habit, but it is one that you can break.

Do a phone fast:

·       Start with one or two days a week without using certain apps such as Facebook or other social media platforms.

·       Begin and end your day by not looking urgently at your phone. Read a book when you go to bed rather than scan the latest Facebook news.

·       When you’re out eating with friends, family or your partner make sure that everyone's mobiles are out of sight or even better, left at home.

·       Try taking a break from your phone for a certain length of time each day. It is a routine you will learn to enjoy!

Nomophobia Is a real condition we have written about elsewhere so try to bring yourself back into the more social world and experiment doing without your phone for periods of time during the day, week, month, it will be good for you in the long run!

Mayfair we care.