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How can I help?By optimising health for the long term - Cardiovascular | Brain | Metabolic | Gut | Immune | Hormone
I want to help you live well for longer, which means focusing on developing a targeted health-promoting lifestyle. Below, you'll find some common challenges to long-term health that I've helped others with. We'll start by assessing where you are now and where you want to be...
Assess - where are you now, and your risk factors
Our healthspan represents the years we spend in good health over our lifetime. On average (according to the UK Office for National Statistics), we'll spend our final 15-20 years with some form of disability due to illness. Which sounds wholly unappealing to me – and fortunately, it is NOT inevitable!
The primary reasons for the 15-20 years of disability are largely preventable chronic disorders. Preventable through our lifestyle. So if you want to tip your odds in favour of spending your final years in good health, start now!
We'll start by exploring your current health status and where you would like to be in the future, including personal risk factors. This isn't for medical purposes, such as when a doctor is diagnosing. We want to combine it with your healthspan goals and choose where to invest your time and energy for optimal health outcomes.
We can use lifestyle, blood tests, family history, and any relevant medical history. Naturally, you're completely in charge of what you choose to share and deciding on any further tests, such as blood tests, HRV, VO2Max, DEXA, and DNA.
Heart and Cardiovascular Health
There's plenty we can do to improve or protect our cardiovascular health that's entirely within our control. And yet, cardiovascular health issues still vie for the top spot in the 'why we die' stakes, and it's also a primary driver for dementias, its main competitor in a race nobody wants to win.
Let's manage risk factors like blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels, blood sugar, and body weight to get this issue off the table!
Primary prevention - staying healthy
Understanding the right practices, habits, and checks to maintain cardiovascular health is the easiest option.
Just like it's easier to save for retirement if you start early, the same is true for health. That said, given that yesterday has gone, the best time to start is today, regardless of your age or circumstance.
Primary prevention - Increased risk factors?
Perhaps you have a family history that includes heart-related health issues, or you've had blood tests that show increased risk factors for cardiovascular diseases.
You may have elevated blood pressure, higher-than-ideal cholesterol, or insulin resistance (often indicated by higher-than-ideal blood sugar levels). There are almost always ways to improve these risk factors, either before or in addition to medication.
Secondary prevention - had a heart attack or known issue?
If you've already been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease or had a heart attack then you'll be in the care of a cardio team and prescribed appropriate medications. Hopefully, you'll also have been referred for cardio rehabilitation.
Once this is done, maintain the good habits you've developed, and let's broaden the scope to keep you healthy.
Metabolic Health
We eat to provide our bodies with energy and the building blocks to grow and repair. Everything, from hunger to digestion, cholesterol levels, blood sugar, and much more, are part of this complex and fundamental process of life.
Taking care of your metabolic health is crucial to staying healthy for longer. Wherever you are today, there are things you can do to improve or maintain your metabolic health.
Blood Sugar Optimisation
How well does your body manage carbohydrates? If you have type 2 diabetes, let's optimise it and even reverse it!
Weight Management
What's the ideal weight for you? BMI isn't always the best measure - once you know, let's get there!
Gut issues around food or stress
Perhaps you've been putting up with gut discomfort or diet issues for a while. You will, I hope, have spoken with your doctor to ensure there isn't a medical reason for it (if not, please do that). And, now you'd like help to find a way to enjoy your food!
Health through Lifestages
As we age, our body changes. Most women will go through a process of radically altering oestrogen levels through peri-menopause and on to post-menopause, and the hormone levels in men change too, even if not quite so dramatically.
Some areas of health may become more of a priority, such as maintaining bone health through menopause to prevent osteoporosis, improving muscle strength for all of us, and promoting metabolic health as our bodies tend to slow down or become less efficient.
Peri-Menopause to Post-Menopause
For many women, starting typically around age 45 comes peri-menopause and, with it, a vast range of possible symptoms as oestrogen levels fluctuate. Some women are lucky and experience very few; for others, it's a different story, with symptoms including night sweats, brain fog, digestive changes, skin changes, and many more.
Mens Health and Testosterone
Bone and Muscle Health
By default, our bones and muscles deteriorate with age. At its worst, leading to bone osteoporosis and sarcopenia in muscles. Loss of muscle strength can increase the risk of falls, and weaker bones are more susceptible to fractures.
But it's not inevitable, and we can intervene!
Brain Health
Sometimes, we use the phrase 'it's all in your head' to dismiss or diminish some aspect of our behaviour. Yet, this organ sits at the centre of operations, and it might be more accurate to say that nothing happens in your life without it being all in your head.
Fortunately, the things we do to look after our brain, being proactive to reduce the risk of diseases like dementia, are also great for most other aspects of our health.
Memory
We often have a better memory than we realise, quickly picking on the typically rare moments of forgetfulness.
Though there are changes that come with ageing, like most aspects of life, there are things you can do to improve it.
Brain Fog
The frustrating experience of brain fog may be associated with hormonal imbalances, metabolic disturbances, nutrient deficiencies, stress, or immune system issues.
Assuming it's been investigated by your doctor, let's do what we can to help your body to restore normal functioning.
Dementias
This group of diseases, Alzheimer's, of which is the most common, creates profound changes in life experience.
Whether you have a family history or not, taking steps to lower your risk is possible and worthwhile.
Chronic Disorders
This is a broad category that, in addition to those listed above, includes disorders like chronic pain, fibromyalgia, IBS, fatigue, restless leg syndrome, long-COVID, and others where the nervous, immune, or energy systems aren't working as we would like. In my experience, there is rarely one thing to 'fix'; instead, it is usually multiple lifestyle factors that, when combined, make the difference.
There are no known cures for these disorders (otherwise, your doctor would have already helped you with that). Still, we can often reduce the symptoms and, in some cases, put these chronic and frequently debilitating disorders into remission.
Fibromyalgia
Usually, it is a combination of chronic pain and fatigue, but also sometimes brain fog, RLS, IBS, rashes, and others.
Let's find the combination of mental and physical approaches that gives you your life back!
Fatigue
Like running on a faulty battery that takes ages to recharge.
Let's do our best to optimise your lifestyle to give your body the best chance to restore your energy.
Chronic Pain
Being in constant pain is wearing! Sometimes it's because of a known injury or degeneration, and sometimes there is no clear explanation.
We'll find what works for you to give you your life back.
Cancer
Perhaps the most challenging area for prevention is cancer. Some cancers appear to be more preventable through lifestyle than others. DNA and family history can give us some input for risk, but we don't currently have the kind of markers through blood tests that we have with something like cardiovascular disease.
Helping our bodies run efficiently and supporting the natural immune processes that remove pre-cancerous cells appears to be a good strategy. Similarly, should you find yourself in treatment or post-treatment, your lifestyle can significantly impact recovery.
Immune Health
This is one of the more complex set of processes in the body.
Perhaps a way to think about the strategy here is to provide the resources it needs and get out of its way to let it do its job.
Recovery Support
Anyone who's been through cancer treatment knows about the toll it extracts.
Let's help you combine the mental and physical resources to cover the costs.