Eating disorders and health

Eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and binge eating can affect people from all walks of life and despite the fact that the incidence of anorexia and bulimia is higher among the female population, people of either sex can be affected by eating disorders.

According to the mental health charity Mind, there are no easily identifiable or definable reasons as to why eating disorders develop, but the charity say that a common factor among many who have a disorder is low self-esteem. Mind point out that not only can people of any age or background and of either sex develop an eating disorder, there are as many as a million people in the UK who are affected, so it;s important to know that if you have an eating disorder, you're not alone.

Mind also have a useful page on how to get help for an eating disorder, which details the range of different treatments that are available plus the steps to go through if you're looking for support and advice. The first thing they advise is that you see your doctor who can then make sure that any weight loss or other symptoms aren't connected to any other underlying health problems.

The various forms of help available include talking therapies, where the patient receives counselling. Talking therapies are so-called because they focus on helping people discuss and address negative feelings. Often it's really just applied as a slightly more modern/ descriptive term for counselling. Having said this, counselling is just one type of talking treatment - the other types include pyschotherapy and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

This week AXA PPP healthcare are holding a live discussion on hidden eating disorders where their resident expert will be on hand to answer your questions. The live chat takes place between 11am and 1pm on Thursday 16th May. If your question relates to any aspect of eating disorders such as diagnosis or treatment, then head along to the live chat and you'll be able to ask the expert in person.

Healthy habits - spring into summer

The weather may not quite have made its mind up yet, but summer's on its way - at least as far as the calendar is concerned.

So what better time to think about getting into a new health regime than now, when even if the sun isn't exactly shining, at least it's light til later an hopefully a bit warmer than it was during the still quite chilly months of March and April.


There are lots of ways to look at maximising health and wellbeing at this time of year:

Diet. While pies and pastries and so on maybe bring a little bit of comfort during the colder months, it's always important to remember that these foods can be high in saturated fat. So when the the summar arrives it's often a good thing to jettison any of the unhealthies from the diet and get stuck into some good healthy summer foods. Salads with olive oil and tomato. Delicious seafood dishes on holiday. Lots of avocado, onion, beans, fruit, lean cold meats - summer really is a great time for eating. And if you have the space and weather for alfresco dining - even better.

Exercise. Summer may not mean you have to change  anything about your exercise regime - but if it's hot there's the option of going for a swim instead of running. Or if it's a rainy summer you can get to the gym and see what exercises and courses it offers to try out new physical activities.

Wellbeing. Summer often makes people feel generally brighter and happier. So why not capitalise on the happy summer feelings by taking up mindfulness meditiation, which is believed by experts to decrease stress and anxiety while possibly even having positive effects on the brains' "white matter" nerve fibres. other general wellbeing activities could include joining a club that takes part in outdoor activities such as rambling, or maybe taking up a new sport.

Healthy working and UK stress levels

There are more workplace health resources available these days than at any time in the past. From the Chartered Institute for Personnel & Development to the Health and Safety Executive, as well as the many providers of in-house training plus employee assistance programmes and so on, there's a wide range of products and services dedicated solely to workplace wellbeing and employee development.

And it all just goes to show how far the workplace has evolved - not to mention the pace with which it continues to evolve. If you look at episodes of, say, Life On Mars, you get a picture of how the workplace used to be - albeit in a somewhat caricature form - with all its pies, chips, lunchtime pints and almost opaque fugs of blue-grey cigarette smoke, it might as well be Mars (or another planet, at any rate) compared with today.

But we're not without our challenges right now - and as the recession showed, the prevailing economic situation can have an effect on the number of people suffering stress, and the levels to which they're experiencing it.

Luckily, it looks like we've (narrowly) avoided a triple-dip recession - but there are still concerns for wellbeing around stress levels, and longer working hours. Workplace health strategies are undoubtedly playing their part in making the situation better - but in terms of the road ahead, how much will still need to be done to fully address the issue of stress management?

New research suggests that stress could potentially lead to heart disease - which is genuinely concerning, especially in light of stress often being described as epidemic. However, the NHS and other health sites advise that the biggest dangers from stress come from dangerous coping mechanisms (smoking, drinking, overeating) that some people use to counteract it. But if a link is ever proven between stress and coronary heart disease, it will undoubtedly mean redoubled efforts to minimise it in the workplace to an even greater extent than now.

Cancer care and the the things that make a difference

Very often when you're ill, it's the wee small things that can make a big difference. Think about the comforting soup a loved one brought last time you had flu, or a favourite film that cheered you up when you were under the weather. This interesting clip shows that the same is equally true for people who are undergoing treatment for cancer - that the little things can have the biggest significance.

Mental health - removing stigma

Think, for a second, about just how far we've come in terms of how mental health is regarded.

Once upon a time, in the not too distant past, it was more or less something that just wasn't openly discussed. And common mental health problems such as anxiety, stress and depression - while they were just as widespread then as they are now - were something that few people would have spoken to their doctor about.

These days it's all changed dramatically. And well-known people from all sorts of glamorous occupations have talked candidly about their experiences. From the high-level government director of communications to the world-famous chat show host, nobody is immune from mental health problems, and the fact that people in jobs as high profile as these have shared so openly has really made a difference.

In the Guardian's health professionals network pages there is an article highlighting how much this is the case. It says:

According to independent evaluation of the campaign's first four years, people with mental health problems are experiencing less stigma and discrimination, are feeling more empowered and are enjoying more social contact

 However, according to the article, it seems that attitudes among mental health professionals may not be changing in line with the prevailing trend. The article does point out though that the recent Time To Change mental health campaign was aimed at the public rather than health professionals. There may, though, be other more complex factors which are discussed in some detail within the article itself. So click the link above and check it out.

No smoking day - Wednesday 13th March

It's that time of year when although the clocks haven't yet sprung forward for spring and summer, it is getting appreciably lighter by the day, and the almost oppressive darkness of winter is thankfully behind us for another year.

So what better time to think about various health and wellbeing matters such as getting more exercise, eating the right healthy foods and aiming to get to the right weight - and also giving up smoking (for those among us who smoke)?

Today is No Smoking Day, and given that it falls on a working day, we thought we'd look today at how smoking has changed during the working day - as well as health in general - since the first no smoking day 30 years ago.

Back in the olden days, people had far more opportunities to smoke during the average 24 hour period. It didn't matter if you were on a bus or train, in a cafe or restaurant or at work - there would have been someplace to smoke, and in a lot of cases it didn't even have to be a smoking area as many places allowed smoking no matter where you were sitting.

Attitudes to health (and mental health) have changed greatly over the years and the workplace has seen many changes too - with continued focus on health and safety legislation as well as far greater use of workplace wellbeing policies and health insurance for business from corporate to small and medium business types - often offered as a staff benefit.

It's interesting just how far we've come over the past three decades - and of course the number of smokers is down from what it was all that time ago. Although it is difficult to predict how that one is going to change over time - we're now down to only a fifth of the population smoking, but it would be likely that among them are the most addicted, the least likely to give up - so decline rates may slow.

The health of the nation

There are so many health stories in the media that it would simply be impossible to keep up with them on a a daily basis. Even using news aggregators and bookmarking all your favourite newspaper sites' health news pages, there's a mountain of health stories being published every single day.

One upshot of this is that many of us need to quickly select the stories that interest us and disregard the other 3 or 4 thousand articles available that day.

Sometimes this is actually easier than it seems - for instance there may be 150 articles about a new medical breakthrough, but little would be gained from reading every story on it. Usually, in fact, you can get the gist from scanning one broadsheet article, or a more detailed insight by reading and absorbing the same article in full.

But for the less health-centred reader - the general reader - what happens is that the headlines quite naturally grab the attention, and as such give the impression that things are a certain way. For instance, often you'd be forgiven for thinking that the UK isn't in a great state, healthwise - what with all the column inches on obesity and other health challenges.

It is of course true that the UK like many western nations has its problems with the prevalence of obesity. But on the whole it should also be remembered (and celebrated) that we've come a long way over the years in terms of life expectancy, infant mortality, and so on.

My suggestion would be that we have a yearly health of the nation survey based around 15 - 20 key measurement points, so that we get a more 360 degree view of the nation's health rather than being overly focussed on the negatives.