Hello, I’m Dr Emma Short and I work as a consultant histopathologist in the NHS. I’m the type of doctor who diagnoses diseases by examining tiny pieces of tissue under the microscope. I also have a PhD in cancer genetics – I spent five years looking into the reasons why some people are genetically predisposed to developing multiple polyps in their bowel. Polyps are minute growths which usually just sit in the intestines and go unnoticed, but a small proportion of polyps develop into bowel cancer.
So why am I writing a book about lifestyle changes to improve health and wellbeing when I don’t have direct contact with patients? It is because my work led me to look at how people can improve their health to prevent disease.
A large part of my clinical work involves diagnosing cancer. Cancer cells look ugly under the microscope … instead of being neat, orderly and uniform, they are random in size and shape. They’re often crowded and jumbled and don’t respect each other’s boundaries. Cancer cells grow in an uncontrolled manner and they don’t stay where they’re supposed to be. They invade healthy tissue and try to enter blood vessels or lymphatic channels so they can spread to other parts of the body. During my PhD, I spent many hours at cancer-related conferences, and it was clear that vast amounts of research time and money are spent on the diagnosis of cancer and its treatment. This is vitally important, but significantly fewer resources are spent on health promotion and cancer prevention. Surely ‘prevention is better than cure’? Data shows that up to fifty per cent of cancers could be avoided. Cancer follows heart disease and stroke as the biggest killer in the developed world. When it comes to heart disease, we know that eighty per cent of premature heart disease, along with stroke and type 2 diabetes, can be prevented through changes in lifestyle.
I qualified as a personal trainer to get a better understanding of the impact that exercise and movement can have on our health. I also trained as a meditation teacher and completed diplomas in mindful nutrition and forest bathing, to appreciate the beneficial effects of a holistic approach to healthcare.
Lifestyle changes don’t need to be complicated, time-consuming or expensive. Significant improvements can be achieved through simple measures such as being physically active, minimising the time spent sitting down, eating a healthy and balanced diet, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, moderating alcohol intake and maintaining social relationships. This approach to healthcare, known as Lifestyle Medicine, is gaining popularity all over the world.
I feel so strongly about the positive effects of lifestyle changes that I compiled a textbook for healthcare professionals, which was published in 2021. It includes the latest scientific knowledge and is called A Prescription for Healthy Living: A Guide to Lifestyle Medicine (Elsevier, 2021). It aims to inspire and encourage doctors to empower their patients to make behavioural changes to improve their health.
But I really want to make this information available to everybody, not just the professionals. I want everyone to have the knowledge and skillset to take control of their lifestyle, so they feel healthier, happier and energised.
That is where this book comes in. It contains information, advice and tips to improve your wellbeing and it includes contributions from other doctors and healthcare professionals who are also passionate about a holistic approach to improving health.
Traditionally, there are six pillars of Lifestyle Medicine. These are physical activity, optimising nutrition, stress reduction, social connectivity, optimising sleep and reducing the use of harmful substances. I like to use the acronym ENERGISETM to explore how these areas can be incorporated into your everyday lives.
ENERGISETM stands for:
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Exercise and Movement
- Nutrition
- Environment
- Relationships and social connections
- Goal setting and habits
- Ideas, mindset and stress reduction
- Sleep
- Empower
This book has a chapter on each of these topics. Don’t feel you have to read the book from cover to cover, dip in and learn more about the areas which appeal to you. One of the great things about lifestyle interventions is that small changes can often have a huge impact. For example, studies have reported that if we sit for periods of less than thirty minutes at a time, we have a fifty-five per cent lower risk of death than those who sit for more than thirty minutes. This suggests we can improve our life span by just moving more regularly.
If we make a conscious effort to make one small change every day, we will soon feel a positive impact on our wellbeing. For example, if we want to focus on our nutrition, we could swap a biscuit for a banana, a can of coke for water or a piece of cake for yoghurt. Similarly, if we choose to improve how much we move, we could use the stairs rather than a lift, or we could decide not to park in the space nearest the shops in favour of one further away. These small changes will soon make a big difference to how you feel, which will strengthen your motivation and enthusiasm to make even more changes.
A fantastic aspect of adopting healthy behaviours is that one action often has a positive effect on multiple other areas. For example, going for a run with a friend gives you the benefit of exercise and also reduces your stress levels, helps your social connections, improves your sleep and gives you time in nature. If you cook a healthy meal for your family, you can share good nutrition, strengthen family ties and you’re not being sedentary while you’re standing chopping and dicing.
Another strategy I’d strongly recommend at the start of your wellness journey is to immediately see yourself as a healthy person. Our sense of identity describes how we view ourselves. This is the result of a complex interplay of factors including our life experiences, our achievements, the challenges we have faced, our values and our views of the world.
Importantly, how we see ourselves affects our behaviour. If we identify as being healthy, we are more likely to make healthy choices. Even if we don’t initially feel that we are healthy or fit, telling ourselves that we are makes changes easier and more sustainable.
Follow Dr Emma Short on Twitter: @dr_emmashort
Visit her website: www.energisehealth.org
How (Not) to Do It All – Energise Your Life is available now from your local bookshop.