Headaches Treatment & Prevention – Part 2

This week it has been widely reported in the press that Hector Sants is taking time off to recover from stress and exhaustion.   While it is fantastic that he is getting the time and space he needs to recover his health, it reminded me of the importance of looking after ourselves.  So today I wanted to share my top tips for building your resilience. I say building resilience, as the key to good stress management is to build the emotional and mental strength to know that you are OK, even if you don’t feel fully in control of your situation.  While I encourage everyone to manage their time effectively, take control of what you are able to, there are times when we simply have to accept there are things we can’t control.  I was reminded of this myself this week when my landlady told me she would like me to move out by the end of the year, so her spare room is available for her cousin in case he needs it.   This came as a big shock given that I only re-located to London in August.  So while yes it was a shock, it is annoying to have to move again so quickly, I am very aware that I have the resilience to cope with moving again. So what helps build resilience?

1. As I already said taking control of what you can control and accepting what you can’t control.
2. Building a supportive network of friends to who are able to listen when you need support is essential, the old adage a problem shared is a problem halved is true.
3. Be active, whether it’s simply going for a walk in the park or going to the gym.  Physical activity helps us feel mentally stronger and helps clams us emotionally so we are able to see the root cause of our problems so we are able to find effective solutions.  I find going for a walk in a park, clears my mind and gets my creative juices flowing so I can calmly deal with my problems.
4. My next tip may seem rather strange but volunteer or do some kind of community work.  Being around people who have more challenges helps us put our problems in perspective.  For example talking to someone who is dealing with the challenges of cancer really put my needing to move again into perspective.
5. When we feel really in a rush and under pressure it is very tempting to reach for alcohol, coffee or chocolate, but in the long term these don't offer real solutions.
6. In the spirit of keep it simple, stupid, always remember that deep breaths helps the body to relax and help you to let go of whatever mental angst is going on.  When you get busy or anxious it is common to breath very rapidly from the top of your chest.  Putting your hand on your belly, and try breathing in for a count of three and then breath out for a count of three - with the aim of seeing your hand move as you breath deeply enough.
7. Remember Reiki is great if you feel all over the pace  and jaded, while massage helps release all those tight achy shoulders.

Fatigue and depleted energy could be addressed with weekly Swedish or Thai massages according to researchers at Teeside and Leeds Universities . One in 5 people experience excessive tiredness at any given time, while one in 10 people have chronic fatigue (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2018). They invited 20 participants with fatigue and/or depleted energy to receive trestments with a massage therapist.  The participants all agreed to commit to a six-week study and complete diaries describing how they felt after their treatments.  The participants were split into two groups and half of them received three 45-minute sweedish massage treatments and then three Thai massages in weeks 4 ot 6.  The treatment order was reversed for the other ten participants. The results showed that both Swedish and Thai massage relieved symptoms of fatigue or depleted energy by

• reducing stress
• promoting relaxation
• relieving pain
• improving energy

So, you go to the gym regularly, follow all the latest exercises trends, but are still not getting the results you wanted.  It’s frustrating isn't it.  You want that sculptured body, but it seems elusive.  Well helps may be coming.  Until now scientists haven't been fully able to understand how muscle responds to exercise especially in the early stages of an exercises program - when we are tempted to give up because we aren't yet seeing the results. Scientists at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne have established a new technique for studying muscle growth in humans.  The technique, termed Dynamic Proteome Profiling, provides comprehensive coverage of the early changes that occur within human muscle in response to exercise training. This was the first data on the rate at which new muscle proteins are made when volunteers performed strength training exercises. Muscle is composed of thousands of different proteins and each protein makes a specific contribution to muscle function, for example, some proteins are responsible for movement while others are required to provide energy.  The proteins in muscle have a tough time and often become damaged, but in healthy cells a sophisticated recycling system keeps protein quality high by continually breaking down and remaking each protein. When muscle fibres grow in response to weight training the amount of specific proteins is increased, and therefore muscle becomes larger and stronger. Because of Dynamic Proteome Profiling, scientists are now able to identify exactly which proteins are most responsive to exercise and whether that response is due to more of the protein being made or less of the protein being degraded/ broken down by the cell’s recycling machinery. This profiling will allow a finer level of detail of muscle response to exercises which could lead to better training methods, nutritional strategies or medicines that can be used to promote muscle growth, and hopefully less frustration on getting the results from hours spent in the gym! References https://www.gmjournal.co.uk/scientists-identify-muscle-proteins-most-responsive-to-exercise-1