What are dietary supplements?

Natural health products such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes and plant extracts all fall under the umbrella term of dietary supplements. They are also known as complementary medicines. Global supplement use is growing at a fast rate and expected to reach a value of almost US$300 billion by 2027.

Many dietary supplements are beneficial if used safely, says Geraldine Moses, Adjunct Associate Professor of the School of Pharmacy at the University of Queensland. Women who are pregnant or planning to be are prescribed folic acid and iodine, and deficiencies in certain minerals, such as iron, are corrected with supplements.

What is the evidence?

Some of us take a multivitamin as a kind of health insurance, in case our diet is lacking. Yet the highest-quality evidence, randomised controlled trials, has found no evidence that multivitamins improve your health.

The trials that have been done of vitamins have not shown benefit in people who are not deficient. We are just seeing it time and time again, Professor Rachel Neale of the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute.

One reason dietary supplements are so popular is the perception that they are harmless, says Professor Moses. But like any other drug, there are potential dangers from taking vitamins and minerals. Unlike other drugs, however, we rarely hear of their potential harms.

Text Neck danger

Bending your neck forward and down for long periods looking at your mobile phone is causing a wave of neck, shoulder and back problems known as Text Neck. Minimise injury by raising the height of your phone or tablet and take a break or change position every 15 minutes.

Here are five common anxiety symptoms which you might not realise are anxiety:

1. Pain

A sudden pain in your hip. A stomach ache. Chest pain with accompanying sweating so severe you think it must surely be a heart attack. Anxiety can create sensations of pain that have no physical cause.

Chest pain is one of the most common types of pain created by anxiety. Research in 2018 published in BMC Medicine found that Emergency Department providers believe approximately 30 per cent of patients seeking emergency care for chest pain are actually experiencing anxiety.

This kind of chest pain is caused by a stress response. Your heart starts to beat faster to prepare for fight or flight, which causes rapid breathing. This can lead to hypoventilation, which can cause shortness of breath as well as a contraction of blood vessels, which may result in chest pain.

Other times, you might notice random pain anywhere in your body that can stay for weeks, and then disappear. Similarly, you might experience muscle aches, spasms, and twitching.

These pains could be caused by rapid breathing, or by holding your muscles tensely for long period of time, or by hypervigilance.

Abraham explains: “Someone without anxiety may have a knee pain so mild that they don’t even notice it, but a person with anxiety feels that knee pain severely because their mind has been altered, making it hypersensitive to the way the body feels.”

2. Numbness and tingling

You notice pins and needles in your feet or hands. You Google it, and become convinced you have a neurological disease. Or it’s a sign of a heart attack. But could it be… anxiety?

Anxiety Centre says numbness and tingling are common signs of anxiety. It can also feel like part of your skin or body has lost all feeling, or you might even feel a crawly sensation. You might notice it in your arms, hands, fingers, toes, legs, feet, head, face, or it might shift around all over your body.

It can even strike when you are not noticing any other mental anxiety symptoms, for example when you are relaxing watching TV.

The numbness and tingling are caused by your fight or flight response: your body moves blood away from your extremities such as hands, feet and skin, and redirects it to your heart and muscles.

3. Yawning

Frequent and excessive yawning doesn’t necessarily mean you need more sleep. It could mean you are experiencing anxiety.

The need to yawn often – even in important meetings – can sometimes be accompanied by a feeling that you can’t breathe deeply enough, or becoming very aware of your breathing.

It’s caused by shortness of breath, which in turn is caused by a change in heart rate.

4. Digestive issues

Indigestion, the need to burp all the time, or just a plain old stomach-ache are common physical symptoms of anxiety. In fact, around one third of anxious people experience anxiety-related diarrhoea.

It’s caused by the fight or flight response, which changes your hormones and digestive enzymes. It can be exacerbated by lack of sleep – another common anxiety symptom.

Plus, emerging research is revealing the powerful link between the brain and the gut, where gastrointestinal issues are triggered or exacerbated by anxiety and stress, and on the flip side, your gut health can impact your mental health.

5. Hair loss

You brush your hair and a lot comes out. Are you ageing rapidly, or could it be anxiety?

Hair loss is a common symptom of anxiety in both men and women.

You might notice it just in one part of your head, or all over.

Anxiety Centre says its due to a body-wide hormonal response. For example, stress activates neuroendocrine-immune circuits, which pause hair growth.

So what can we do about it?

The answer is to develop healthy digital habits, says Doreen Dodgen-Magee, PsyD and author of Deviced!: Balancing Life and Technology in a Digital World.

1. First, measure.

Dodgem-Magee recommends first documenting how you are spending your time. Apps are designed to be addictive, and it can be extremely difficult to pull yourself away from a device and extremely easy to scroll absent-mindedly.

Track every 15 minutes for a few days. Note down what you are doing and what device you are doing it on. It seems like a lot of work, but it will save you hours in the long run.

2. Do what you need to do and get out.

It is tempting to reward yourself for completing a task by allowing yet more screen time. Make sure the breaks you take and rewards you give yourself are off-screen.

3. Take breaks.

A five-minute break every 25 minutes is a good guide, with at least two longer breaks every day. And as above, move away from that screen to take your break. Get up and move your body, even if it is just rolling your shoulders or walking around a bit.

4. Create screen free zones.

When working from home, Dodgen-Magee recommends having zones in your homes where tech is not allowed. This could be the bedroom or the bathroom, for example, or the kitchen. You can then carry this through to after work hours, to give yourself time away from screens in the evening.

Prevent and treat dry skin with the following tips:

1. Avoid very hot showers.

As tempting as it is to thaw out under hot running water if you are feeling cold. It is recommended to reduce the frequency and length of baths or showers and use lukewarm water. Overly hot water can strip away the protective surface oils that help your skin retain water.

2. Turn down the thermostat – or turn it off.

If you have heating or air conditioning in your home, don’t over-do it. Hot air tends to be drier than cooler air. However, air conditioners, cool or warm will dry the air out so try to limit your exposure.

3. Keep drinking water.

Your body loses water through your skin all year, not just in the hot summer months. Replenish it through the day.

4. Use soap substitutes.

Normal soap can irritate or damage your skin. Ask your pharmacist for advice on soap substitutes.

5. Quit.

If you smoke, consider quitting. Smoking will dry out your skin and vaping is likely to have the same effect.

6. Wear gloves.

Your hands are often the first place you notice dry skin. Put on gloves before you:

·       perform tasks that require you to get your hands wet

·       get chemicals, grease, and other substances on your hands

·       go outside on a cold day.

How to add moisture

Moisturisers work by providing a seal over your skin to keep water from escaping, and applying one regularly is an effective way of tackling dry skin.

Despite the hype around certain brands, you really can’t go very wrong with any moisturiser you choose, so pick one that feels good on your skin. For extremely dry skin you may need a thicker moisturiser – ask your pharmacist for a recommendation.

The best time to apply moisturiser is after showering when your skin is still damp. It is also advisable to apply lip balm multiple times throughout the day. If your hands are particularly dry, always apply hand cream after washing your hands.

What goes through your mind when you hear that it’s healthy to slow down? Do you think, “that’s fine for others, but I’m barely keeping up as it is”? Or “if I slow down I’ll realise how tired I am and won’t be able to keep going”? Or “slowing down is weak and lazy”?

If you are worried about losing productivity, consider this: slowing down makes you more productive.

“It sounds crazy, but slowing down can be the difference between success or failure, or between thriving and burning out,” writes The Mindful Entrepreneur, Andrew Thomas, in Inc. magazine.

Thomas suggests: “Schedule an hour every week to check in. Reflect on your intentions and observe the challenges or opportunities showing up in front of you.”

Slowing down also helps you make wiser decisions.

“If success requires making good decisions, and slowing down helps you make better decisions, then consider how you can invest more time in slowing down.” Says Thomas.

When you slow down, you free up your brain, listen to your gut and make better decisions.

So next time you find yourself feeling guilty for resting or taking things slowly, remind yourself of the many health benefits of slowing down. It’s good for you!

So too, can organisational performance. Workplace stress can lead to reduced productivity and job satisfaction and increased absenteeism, accidents and staff turnover.

You may start to feel excessively stressed if you:

• work long hours, work through breaks or take work home
• have low control over how you do your work
• don’t receive enough support from managers and/or co-workers
• are poorly managed, subject to bullying or discrimination, or have poor relationships with colleagues or bosses
• have job insecurity.

Signs of work-related stress

According to Beyond Blue, prolonged or excessive stress contributes to the development of anxiety and depression, or may cause an existing condition to worsen.

Would you know if you were stressed? Look out for the following signs:

• physical signs such as chest pain, fatigue, high blood pressure, headaches, nausea, muscle pains, appetite changes, sleeping problems, and slow reactions
• non-physical signs, such as difficulty making decisions, forgetfulness, irritability, excessive worrying, feelings of worthlessness, anxiety, defensiveness, anger, mood swings, and social withdrawal.

What you can do

Identifying what is contributing to your stress can help you find the right strategies to manage it.

Talk over your concerns with your employer or human resources manager and think about the changes you need to make. Some you will be able to manage yourself; others will need cooperation from workmates or your boss. Other things that may be helpful:

• Learn to identify your triggers. Once you know what these are, you can aim to avoid them or calm yourself down beforehand. These might include late nights, deadlines, seeing particular people, or hunger.
• Establish routines. Predictable rhythms and routines can be calming and reassuring. These can include regular times for exercise and relaxation. Exercise can reduce the level of your stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol, as well as stimulate endorphins, which are natural mood elevators.
• Spend time with friends and family. Don’t take out your stress on loved ones, instead, tell them about your work problems and ask for their support.
• Seek help from a psychologist or counsellor.

Infuse your life with play

“The opposite of play is not work, it’s depression,” says Dr Brown. “Think about life without play – no humour, no flirtation, no movies, no games, no fantasy. The thing that’s so unique about our species is that we’re really designed to play through our whole lifetime.”

At the end of his popular TED Talk, Dr Brown says, “So I would encourage you all to engage not in the work-play differential – where you set aside time to play – but where your life becomes infused minute by minute, hour by hour, with body, object, social, fantasy, transformational kinds of play. And I think you’ll have a better and more empowered life.”

How to play as an adult

As adults, we tend to avoid risk of failure. We don’t want to try something new in case we’re bad at it. Play removes that pressure. It doesn’t matter if you’re not “good at it” – it’s the doing of it that matters.

Here’s how to start”

1. Think back to the play you enjoyed most as a child, and then find similar activities. If you enjoyed climbing trees, you could try rock climbing. If you loved play dough, you could find a pottery class, or, as a cheaper option, start making bread at home.

2. Make time to be spontaneous. You might need to schedule blocks of time where you allow yourself to play. Make an appointment in your calendar to act as a reminder.

3. Don’t post about it. When you share your play on social media, you’re giving it a result. Try doing it just for you.

The link between muscles and fat

Resistance training increases the size and tone of your muscles. This doesn’t just look good, it also helps you control your weight in the long term. That’s because muscle size is important in determining your resting metabolic rate (RMR), which is how many calories your body needs to function at rest. Studies show that weight training is more effective than aerobic exercise at increasing RMR.

Other studies have found weight workouts increased energy expenditure and fat burning for at least 24 hours afterwards. Even people who occasionally lift weights are far less likely to become obese that those who don’t.

In a process called mechanical loading, muscles get stressed through lifting, pushing, or pulling. In response to this, cells in the muscles release a substance that sends instructions to fat cells, prompting them to start the fat-burning process, explained study co-author Dr John McCarthy, associate professor of physiology at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine.

“We think this adds a new dimension to the understanding of how skeletal muscle communicates with other tissues,” said Dr McCarthy. The results remind us, he said, that muscle mass is vitally important for metabolic health.

Resistance training for beginners

1. Warm up first. Do some light aerobic exercise such as walking, cycling or rowing for about five minutes.
2. Use proper technique to avoid injuries. You can learn this from a registered exercise professional. Many gyms offer experienced personal trainers, or your could see a physiotherapist or exercise physiologist.
3. Start slowly. New to weights? Then you may be able to lift only a few kilograms. As your body gets more used to the exercises you can start to progress. Once you can easily do 12 repetitions with a particular weight, gradually increase the weight.
4. Use your breath. Breathe out when you are lifting or pushing; breathe in as you slowly release the load or weight. Never hold your breath while straining.
5. Be sensible. Don’t be so eager to see results that you risk injury by exercising too long or choosing too heavy a weight.
6. Rest. Rest muscles for at least 48 hours between strength training sessions. If you have been sick, don’t return to training until one or two days after you have recovered.