12 - 2022 - Dr Libby

Adopt these 7 habits to age well

January 16, 2023December 20, 2022 by Dr Libby Weaver

Ageing is a natural part of life that we don’t need to fear; we will all go through it. Your changing skin, hair colour or body in no way detract from who you are and the goodness in your heart. The passing years also bring wisdom and that has a radiance all of its own.

Yet, ageing isn’t just about what happens on the outside, it’s also about our structure, mobility and internal health. Due to the incredible advances of Western medicine, we are going to continue to live longer and longer. We are so fortunate to live in a time where there is such extraordinary emergency medicine available to us. Yet, in reality, are we living too short and dying too long? This is an important question to ponder; for what I care about is the quality of your life.

Today, as well as in the later part of your life, you want to be able to bend over and do up your own shoelaces. Imagine what life would be like if you had to rely on someone else to do this? How would your once-independent self feel? You don’t want this to happen because your tummy has grown too large for you to be able to reach your feet, and so in later years you sit back and wish you had made lifestyle changes earlier. You don’t want to not be able to reach your feet because you have led a sedentary lifestyle and in later years your spine is relatively inflexible and you can’t bend to reach your feet. You don’t want that to occur.

With this in mind, here are several habits that you can adopt to prevent degenerative diseases, maintain your own independence and live an energised, healthy and full life right through to your twilight years.

1. Eat whole real foods (including plenty of vegetables)

Three biochemical processes through which we age are oxidation, inflammation and glycation and great nutrition goes a long way to providing our body with the substances it needs to ensure these processes happen slowly rather than rapidly.

The substances that give vegetables their colours act as antioxidants in the human body. Antioxidants help to combat oxidative stress by pairing up with the free radicals which, when in excess, cause damage to our cells. Scientists are also starting to understand that antioxidants potentially play a role is slowing telomere shortening. But eating whole real foods isn’t just about what you get, it’s about what you miss out on too. Reducing your intake of processed foods, or what I like to call high human intervention foods, means you’re less likely to overconsume sugar, trans fats, additives and preservatives all of which take a toll on our health through diminishing our digestive power via detrimental effects on the gut microbiome and giving our liver more to detoxify. No amount of exercise can combat the effects of a lousy way of eating. Changing your diet is a powerful way to promote anti-ageing processes and increase your quality of life into your elderly years.

2. Reduce sugar

Not that long ago in human evolution, ultra-processed, high-sugar foods didn’t exist. Then, in the not-too-distant past, they were eaten only on special occasions, like birthday parties, but now they have become part of every day for too many people. I cannot say this enough: it is what you do every day that impacts on your health, not what you do sometimes. The ageing process will potentially be slowed if you consume less refined sugars since refined sugars can drive inflammation and glycation, two of the primary drivers of ageing. Plus, excess sugar consumption puts us at risk of very concerning metabolic changes, like insulin resistance, leptin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

3. Build muscle and maintain mobility

From the age of 30 onwards, if we don’t actively build muscle we gradually lose it. Embrace resistance training. This doesn’t have to mean going to gym unless that spins your tyres. In a yoga practice, you resist your own body weight. Pilates, too, is excellent resistance training, as is gardening, farm work, carrying groceries and children. Don’t avoid movement. Take the stairs regularly, for example. Build muscle.

A concept I also encourage you to explore is “functional movement”. It is based on real-world situational biomechanics, which is not my area of expertise. I have, however, worked alongside pioneers in this field who possess the health, youthfulness, vitality and physique that are testaments to these practices. We need to make sure that for our whole life, not just when we are young, our body is able to perform all the movements that are necessary for daily life and an active lifestyle. Every movement our body performs can be broken down into a series of one of seven movement patterns. These are often referred to as the Seven Primal Movement Patterns, and they are the squat, lunge, push, pull, bend, twist, gait. We all need a general functionality in each one of these patterns for normal daily activities, such as loading groceries, lifting boxes, or running to catch the bus.

4. Make water your main drink

Water is the basis of all life, and that includes your body. The muscles that move your body are 75 per cent water. Your blood, responsible for transporting nutrients throughout your body, is 82 per cent water. Your lungs, that take oxygen from the air, are 90 per cent water, while your brain is 76 per cent water. Even your bones are 25 per cent water!

Most people are aware of the critical importance of great hydration for their health, and of course for their skin, in particular. Yet, so many people tell me that they know they would be better off drinking more water. Unintentional chronic dehydration can contribute to pain and inflammation, not to mention fatigue, which can have an enormous impact on whether we feel youthful or not.

5. Become breath aware

More rapid breathing leads to more free radical production, which requires more antioxidants to be consumed in order to avoid excessive damage. When we are stressed, we tend to take short, sharp, shallow breaths that move the chest. Begin to notice your breath – does it stay up in your chest, or does it move your belly? Diaphragmatic breathing (long, slow breaths that move the belly in and out) slows down our rate of breathing and is one of the fastest ways we can lower stress hormone production.

6. Address niggling symptoms

If you’re experiencing digestive complaints or bloating, PMS or menopausal symptoms, recurring headaches or general fatigue, this is your body trying to communicate to you that something isn’t right. These symptoms may be common, but they’re not normal –they’re a sign that something within the body needs to be addressed. Investigate them, bring curiosity to each symptom and begin to take notice of what might be driving these. For some of you, seeking professional advice may be of benefit. Others may know deep down what needs to change and are just avoiding it. The reality is, if you don’t address these symptoms now, they’re likely to get louder and more challenging as time goes on. Prioritise your own health and take action today.

7. Embrace the changes

In today’s society we place so much emphasis on youth being attractive, yet there is nothing more attractive than someone who is comfortable in their own skin, regardless of their age. True beauty radiates from the inside out.

Also consider how you see yourself and the way you speak to yourself within this context of diminishing your quality of life. Are your judgements of your appearance or on aspects of your personality harsh? And are you harsh on others as a result? What do you say about yourself, to yourself? Is it kind, thoughtful, supportive and encouraging most of the time? Or the opposite? When you sit back and reflect at the end of your life (if you get the opportunity to do so) will you feel good about the way you spoke to yourself? Imagine all of the energy you waste putting yourself down that could be put to better use.

5 healthful resolutions to embrace this year

December 20, 2022 by Dr Libby Weaver

New Year resolutions are not my jam. That said, I’m all for whatever works for people. I’ve found that for the majority of people, they start off with the best of intentions only to find that their resolutions fizzle out a few weeks or months into the year.

So, for me personally (and what I encourage people to do), if I want to make a change, I start it then and there. If you feel called to make a change, why wait? If it’s a big change that might be a little difficult to adjust to all at once, break it down into smaller steps you take and incorporate those. That way, over a period of time, you gradually work towards where you want to be. Small incremental changes tend to be much more sustainable and they become part of our daily routines, rather than yet another task that requires great effort.

Consider too, how specific your resolutions are and how achievable they are when you reflect upon your current lifestyle. You may benefit from changes that don’t require you to find a whole lot more time in your schedule. With this in mind, here are some healthful resolutions to consider embracing this year that won’t have you trying to squeeze something more into an already full schedule.

1. Be kinder to yourself

I’ve not seen long term change ever stem from a mindset of deprivation, but rather from kindness and a deep, inner knowing that you are worth taking care of. And I love the ripple effect this creates in the world – not only do we tend to approach the world around us with less judgement when we are gentler on ourselves but we also teach the next generation to treat themselves with more compassion and care.

2. Stop dieting and start nourishing

Dieting puts us into a mindset of deprivation and as I’ve already said, this rarely leads to long-term change. When nourishment becomes your focus, you naturally start thinking about “what I can have” instead of “what I can’t have”. Nourishment too, can be applied to many things beyond just food. Nourishing your body may look like eating mostly whole real foods, ensuring you get adequate rest, and incorporating more movement into your routine. Nourishing your soul may look like enjoying a beer alongside a take away dinner with a friend or going to see a band and dancing into the wee hours of the morning.

3. Manage your energy not your time.

I truly believe one of the reasons people consume more caffeine is because they’re often working against their own natural patterns. For example, many people find that their creative energy is highest in the morning, so that’s a great time do creative tasks such as writing. By comparison, you may decide to block out afternoons for phone calls and emails or admin-related tasks. You don’t necessarily need your creative energy to be high for admin tasks, so that may be the best time to get them done. Start to keep a diary of when your energy is high, low and whether or not it’s your creative or productive time. Not only will you be making the best use of your time you’ll feel much more energised when you’re working.

4. Find a way to move your body that you love.

Paddle boarding, yoga, walking, aerobics, swimming whatever it is that you love doing – you’re more likely to commit to a style of movement you enjoy. Regular movement is not only good for your mood, it also decreases your risk of osteoporosis, bowel cancer and improves glucose metabolism keeping your energy levels even. Do you need any other reason?

5. Drink less alcohol.

Whilst I run the risk of being labelled the ‘fun police’ this change is by far the most powerful. Hands down, reducing your alcohol consumption is one of the best things you can do for your health. Even moderate consumption of alcohol has been linked to an increased risk of numerous cancers. Most people can agree that they feel better without alcohol in their lives – it’s an added expense and it dulls your shine – not to mention the numerous detrimental effects it has on your health. Replace alcoholic drinks with sparkling water, with fresh lemon and lime or simply just more natural water. Try making drinking less alcohol the top of your to-do list this year. Reducing your intake also doesn’t have to mean removing it altogether. Do what feels comfortable and then see if you can stretch a little further.

3 principles to help you eat intuitively

December 14, 2022 by Dr Libby Weaver

When it comes to what, when and how much you eat, do you let your body guide you, or do you look to someone or something else for answers? Do you count calories, no longer trusting your body to tell you to stop once you’ve had enough? Or, do you eat according to a prescribed meal plan, regardless of how your body’s needs change day-to-day?

I believe every human has a wisdom inside of them that knows what serves them and what doesn’t. Yet, so many of us have lost touch with this when it comes to food. If you’ve ever wondered how much avocado you’re “allowed” to have, or if you tend to jump onboard every new dieting trend, you may be stuck in a dieting mentality.

Intuitive eating is about listening to your body and what is right for you in each moment. It fosters a sense of freedom that inspires a healthy relationship with food and your body, and it’s an approach that aims to bring the joy back into eating without any of the guilt. I’m not saying you can eat like a piglet and still expect to have amazing health – of course not – but being rigid in our food choices or experiencing guilt around food isn’t healthy either. It is what we do every day that impacts our health, not what we do occasionally, so base your everyday choices on real, whole foods – rather than processed foods – that you know in your heart serve your body and your health.

If you would like to begin your intuitive eating journey, I cannot encourage you enough to embrace these principles:

Say no to dieting

More often than not, people who go on a diet regain the weight they lost, plus more. Diets don’t work in the long-term – they’re not sustainable. I have witnessed countless people transform their body by relaxing and moving away from basing their food choices on the calorie equation. They don’t weigh themselves and they don’t obsess over what they eat or don’t eat. Their clothes fit comfortably. They have great energy and excellent health. It is truly transformational when you shift your focus away from weight and calories to health, energy and nourishment. It’s time to stop dieting, and start nourishing. Choose nutrient-dense, whole, real foods.

Tune in to your body’s hunger and fullness cues

This can take a little practise, particularly if you’ve been eating refined sugars (as these make you want more and more sugar) or if you’ve been dieting and tuning these signals out for a long time, so please don’t judge yourself or give up if it doesn’t come easily to you from the get-go. When we’re eating highly refined, processed foods, it can be very difficult to regulate our appetite, so focus on eating whole, real foods to support you in this process.

Notice how your body tells you that you are hungry and observe how it lets you know when you’re no longer hungry. Some people find rating their hunger on a scale of one to ten helpful, so if this appeals, try doing this before, during and/or after a meal for a period of time to help you get back in touch with the messages your body is sending you.

We are so incredibly fortunate in the Western world to have more food available to us than we physically need. Remind yourself of this and know that you can choose to eat more when you are hungry again. Remember, your hunger and fullness signals are your body’s way of telling you what it needs, so do your best to appreciate these messages as the gifts that they are. Remember too, the importance of chewing your food well and slowing down your eating. Scoffing your food can also mess up your fullness cues as your body doesn’t have the time to communicate to you that it’s full.

Respect your body

The way you feed yourself is a form of self-care (love) you can show yourself, and as cheesy as it might sound, the key to any effective diet or lifestyle change is to truly believe that you are worthy of love – your own. Please remember that you are precious, that life is precious, and to treat yourself accordingly.

3 ways to regain a sense of ‘balance’ in your life

December 13, 2022 by Dr Libby Weaver

With the pace most people live at, it can be easy to lose ourselves to the demands of modern life and realise months (or sometimes years) down the track that we aren’t making enough time for the things we really value. Many people feel that they need to find a better balance when it comes to managing the different departments of their lives.

Balance is highly subjective – it will look different to everyone and it is essentially a futile pursuit – it’s more like a feedback mechanism. When you feel like you need more balance, it’s usually a sign that you feel as though you are compromising something important in order to maintain the pace or lifestyle you are currently living – whether it be your health, happiness time with loved ones or to yourself – it is an indication that something needs to change. Let’s explore five ways you can regain a sense of balance in your life, however that looks for you.

Lose the ‘all or nothing’ mentality

If you use the phrase ‘fallen off the wagon’ to describe your daily choices, remember that there is actually no wagon to fall off. This kind of thinking can really sabotage our health efforts because we feel as though if we’re not doing everything ‘right’, we may as well not try at all. The truth is, we either make choices that are more or less nourishing, closer to or further away from what we truly value. The choice that you made yesterday has nothing to do with the choice you make today or tomorrow. You haven’t ‘ruined’ anything, you’ve just made one single choice – and there are plenty more to follow.

Align your priorities with your values

If you look at what you spend the majority of your time doing, you will see your priorities. We always make time for what we prioritise. So if you find yourself saying ‘I don’t have time for that’, consider that what you are essentially saying is ‘that is not a priority for me’. So, try that on. How do you feel when you say to yourself, for example, that preparing a nourishing dinner is not a priority for you? The reality is we cannot compromise our nutrition or continue to meet everyone’s needs above our own and expect to still have fantastic health. Working towards aligning your priorities and your values will help you to feel like you’re living a life true to you and that will give you a sense of balance like nothing else.

Consider your perception of pressure and urgency

Are you driving a sense of imbalance with your thoughts? Have you made what you have to do each day full of pressure and urgency? For too many, it doesn’t seem to matter if they have two things to do or 200, they are in a pressing rush to do it all. Yet for most, it rarely feels as if they are in control, or on top of any of it. In fact, a desire to control even the smallest details of life can be part of the challenge. There are moments, of course, that require us to act with urgency but these are generally few and far between. Try to save your sense of urgency for when it really matters and not drive the production of stress hormones in your body by living as if everything is urgent.

Why is my skin so dull?

December 13, 2022 by Dr Libby Weaver

You probably look in the mirror every day—but are you really seeing what’s going on?

Our outer reflection tells us a story about what is happening inside our body. This is because the quality of our skin, hair and nails, what I like to call our “beauty bits”, is related to the health and function of a number of body systems, including the digestive system, liver and the adrenal glands. Here are a few things dull skin could be trying to tell you about what’s happening on the inside.

A need for more nutrients

Nothing on this planet can replace a nourishing way of eating, one that focuses on providing our body with the nutrients it needs to thrive. If your skin is looking dull, tired or is ageing rapidly, try focusing on whole, real foods with an emphasis on colourful plants. Not only will this load your body full of antioxidants that the skin loves, it will also fuel the biochemical processes in your body that keep you alive and give you energy and vitality.

The vitamins that are particularly good for the skin are vitamins A, C and E. They all help improve the overall health of our skin, and they appear widely throughout real food. Vitamins C and E help to protect the skin against premature ageing by reducing the damage caused by free radicals, which are generated by many things, including pollutants from many sources – that might be in what we eat, drink, inhale and/or absorb. Vitamin C is also required for the production of collagen, a protein important for skin structure. Good food sources of vitamin C include citrus fruits, kiwifruit, capsicum and Brassica family vegetables, while vitamin E is found in nuts, seeds and eggs yolks.

When vitamin A intake is inadequate, you are likely to see some skin-related symptoms, such as a dry, flaky complexion and/or scalp, because vitamin A plays a key role in normal structure and turnover of our cells. Orange vegetables are rich in beta-carotene, which your body can convert to vitamin A, although consuming some vitamin A itself can a range of benefits, including some related to the skin. Zinc is a mineral your skin loves and needs. It is particularly important if you have acne or if you notice wounds are slow to heal or you scar easily. Eaten in food or taken as a supplement, zinc promotes clear skin by helping to regulate oil production, which may help to prevent acne. It is also important for healing the skin, including any existing acne lesions. Food sources of zinc include oysters (from clean, uncontaminated water), red meat (preferably grass-fed, organic), and there is a small amounts in eggs and seeds, particularly sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds.

Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs)are also rock stars of the skin world. Fats from whole foods help to beautifully nourish your skin. If your skin is dry, and/or is often inflamed with white heads and black heads, you may be lacking EFAs, which are key for the skin’s natural oil barrier. Cracked heels are another sign of an EFA deficiency. EFAs of the omega 3 type are found in oily fish, flaxseeds and walnuts, while omega 6 EFAs are found in evening primrose oil, borage oil and whole blackcurrants.

Stress needs to be addressed

Stress can affect our appearance in a number of ways, whether through our facial expressions, a dull or tired look to the skin, breakouts, or an exacerbation of an inflammatory skin condition. Because stress hormones communicate to your body that your life is in danger, your body’s primary focus will be on the processes that are essential to your survival, rather than non-essential processes such as the ‘beauty bits’ –keeping your skin, hair and nails in top shape.

Dehydration

So much that is related to our health is truly dependent on the quality and quantity of the water we drink. Unintentional chronic dehydration can contribute to pain and inflammation in the body, and it can even be involved in the development of many degenerative diseases. Helping your body prevent such ills by ensuring great-quality water intake on a regular basis is a crucial step with any health and/or beauty focus. Water plays an enormous role in keeping the moisture content of our skin at a lovely high level. If you are not consuming around 2 litres of water per day, try increasing your intake of this essential hydrator and see if that makes a difference to the vibrancy of your skin.

Love your liver

Most people understand that smoking, tanning beds and excessive sun bathing all age the skin prematurely but have you also considered how your liver health impacts on your shine? When it comes to every aspect of our health, the liver packs a mighty punch. It is one of the big guns when it comes to your energy, vitality and hormonal balance, as well as to the clarity of your skin and eyes. In conjunction with the gallbladder, the liver works endlessly to help us excrete fatty substances that the body no longer needs, including old hormones, pesticides and other potentially problematic substances we are exposed to in our daily lives. For vibrant, radiant skin, we want a happy liver that is working efficiently. Any potentially harmful substance that we put on our skin (such as some of the synthetic substances in conventional skincare products), has to go via the liver to be detoxified before it can be excreted. There are also numerous substances we can consume that add to its load. I lovingly call these substances ‘liver loaders’ and they include alcohol, trans fats, refined sugars and synthetic substances such as those found in pesticides, herbicides and some ultra-processed foods. Depending on our lifestyle choices, our liver can have quite a busy job! Considering your current consumption of or exposure to those substances and reducing your intake of them is a wonderful step toward radiant skin.

7 reasons you are tired all the time

December 13, 2022December 12, 2022 by Dr Libby Weaver

Each of us comes into this world endowed with a fundamental ‘energy’. This energy operates as a kind of bank account and supplies us with the power to function, grow, heal and regenerate ourselves daily.

We are designed, however, to supplement this original endowment of energy with what we generate from eating, drinking, breathing, sleeping, working, playing, learning and interacting (relationships). Each day we make withdrawals and deposits; we invest or deplete. And when the balance of the scales tips in the direction of us using more than we put back in, we begin to live in the red, with the potential of falling further and further behind.

To keep the currency analogy going, we are then forced to dip into our savings. When we continuously withdraw from our savings account, alarm bells can begin to sound, telling us that our survival is being challenged. These alarms present to us as symptoms in the body, often of the type that don’t initially lead us to stay home from work … so we soldier on and often do nothing about them. Or the medicating—rather than the resolving—of these symptoms begins.

For example, if you get a headache every afternoon at 3pm, it is not a deficiency of painkillers that has led to the headache, yet many people treat the headache as if it is due to such a deficiency. Some of the symptoms of dipping into our energy savings accounts include fatigue, low mood, anxious feelings, apathy, unrefreshed sleep or insomnia, brain fog, lowered resistance to infections, stiffness, digestive system problems, “unexplained” changes in body fat levels, and signs of rapid ageing. These are just some of the ways our body might choose to let us know that we are physically, mentally and/or emotionally exhausted. So, what are some common factors that may lead us to live in the red when it comes to our energy and what can we do about them?

1. Stress hormones

Whether from the overconsumption of caffeine or living in a way that is perceived to be full of pressure and urgency, many people are churning out stress hormones on a daily basis. Adrenaline, our short term stress hormone, affects our blood sugar levels, which can cause spikes and drops in our energy and have us hunting for quick sources of energy such as more caffeine or ultra-processed carbohydrate-rich foods full of sugar (thus continuing the cycle of living off stimulants). If stress continues, the body may begin to produce more of your long term stress hormone cortisol and when cortisol levels fall outside their ideal range, it can wreak havoc on our energy. If you feel as though stress could be behind your fatigue, take steps towards calming down your nervous system. You may like to embrace a restorative practice, commit to regular diaphgramatic breathing, explore your emotional landscape and consider your perceptions of pressure and urgency.

2. “Leaky” gut

In a healthy gut, only the tiny nutrients (vitamins and minerals) diffuse (move) or are transported across the gut wall into the blood, and this is the remarkable process through which we are nourished and stay alive. However, the cells that line the gut can come apart, like a row of bricks with gaps between them. This is also how our gut is when we are born. When food travels through a gut with good cell-lining integrity, it can only go straight ahead and only the nutrients are absorbed. However, if it travels through a gut in which the cells have come apart, it may go straight ahead or it may move out of the gut and into the blood. Fragments of food are not intended to enter the blood. Nutrients — the vitamins and minerals from food — are. So, if fragments of food enter the bloodstream, the immune system, which protects you from infection, thinks that the food fragment is a germ and it mounts an immune response against it. This is one way adults develop food sensitivities, and is, I believe, a process that contributes to exhaustion in some people.

3. Insufficient nourishment

There is nothing in the world that can replace a nutritious way of eating. For some, food is either about losing or maintaining a preferred body weight, for others it’s about eating the most convenient thing to squeeze into a busy day. Yet, when we eat in a way that focuses on nourishment, our body thrives. Nourishment means whole, real foods as close as they come to nature. It means prioritising vegetables, particularly leafy greens and feeding our body with the nutrients it needs to drive the millions of biochemical processes in our body (many of which lead to energy).

4. Not enough rest

We can’t fight our biology–our body needs rest. If you’re on the go 24/7, you’re going to find yourself exhausted after a while. If you add to that poor quality sleep, either because you can’t seem to sleep very well or because you don’t prioritise the need for 7-9 hours sleep per night, it’s just going to compound the situation. You might feel like you don’t have enough time to slow down but actually, the act of slowing down helps you to feel as though you have more time – you create a sense of more spaciousness. You will notice a significant difference to your energy if you build sufficient rest time into your routine.

5. Movement

Some people don’t get enough movement in their days while others overdo it. Either scenario can lead to sluggish energy. Our body needs movement or we start to lose our muscles and joints can become stiff and sore. Yet exercise is actually a stress on the body (some of which is eustress) but we can do too much of it. Be guided by how your body feels during and after exercise –if you come away feeling absolutely exhausted, you’ve gone too far. You want to feel energised afterwards. And don’t discount incidental exercise –parking a little further away so you have further to walk, carrying your groceries in a basket rather than a trolley, taking the stairs instead of the lift. It all adds up. Remember also to get up from your desk and walk around at least once an hour for a few minutes. Sitting for long periods of time can also drain our energy.

6. Low iron

Iron deficiency is still the most common nutritional deficiency in the Western world. In Australia and New Zealand, 20 to 30 per cent of women of child-bearing age are iron deficient. There are so many consequences to this and fatigue is just the beginning. Low iron levels can be caused by multiple factors. Poor dietary iron intake, poor absorption due to digestive insufficiencies or too many competing factors blocking the absorption of iron. For example, calcium and iron compete for absorption and calcium always wins, as it is a bigger structure. So if you only eat iron-rich foods at the same meal as calcium-rich foods, then you will absorb very little iron from that meal. Another reason for low iron levels can be blood loss; most commonly from long-term, heavy menstruation. The flipside of this however, is that some people accumulate iron and store too much of it so it is wise to see your GP and have an ‘iron studies’ blood test to know if you are deficient or not.

7. Busy mind

Having too many tabs open in our brain can put a drain on our energy. As can having a perception that everything is urgent and putting immense pressure on ourselves to do it all to the highest standard. If your mind is running at a million miles an hour, your body is likely struggling to keep up. Try to close tabs regularly –this means completing those little tasks that sit in the back of your mind and nag at you. Also explore your perception of pressure and urgency. An inbox overflowing with emails might feel urgent, but in reality, there will be many correspondences in it that don’t require your immediate attention. Look at what you expect yourself to do within a day and ask for support. There are often people just waiting on the sidelines to help us out if we only ask them! Or we can remind ourselves that others won’t think badly of us if we don’t get it all done.

Adopt these 7 habits to age well