We want to thank Dr Rob Lawson for his time as Chairman 🤝 and welcome Dr Frances Elliot in her new role! ⭐ Read for November's lifestyle medicine updates!🧬
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November 2024
Welcome member to
Your home of lifestyle medicine news
With the cold winds and ice setting in and already nearing December's festive cheer, we hope you're taking good care on the roads, your walks and your mental health as the dark nights get earlier each day!
As always we want to take this opportunity to thank our growing Membership and this diverse, passionate community that has grown around us. We are grateful that month on month you follow our updates, contribute and build this fantastic and inclusive network across the UK and beyond!
Below is your guide to all things Lifestyle Medicine this month, insight into November at BSLM and also what's in store come December.
In this month's Newsletter...
HEADLINE NEWS
Dr Rob Lawson: Our current Chair
You may remember at the end of BSLM24, Dr Rob Lawson announced this November he would be stepping aside from his role as Chair, a title which he has held since 2016 with us.
We wanted to take a moment to reflect with him and thank him sincerely for everything!
From his involvement in BSLM's creation as a founding member and everything in-between, Rob has been a driving force for not only Lifestyle Medicine regionally in East Lothian, but an integral part of BSLM's roots, making us the community, team and society that we are today.
He has written a valediction piece for you all, which you can read below.
So, what's next for BSLM?
We wouldn't be where we are today without Rob's hard work, passion and belief in Lifestyle Medicine and BSLM. We hope you'll join us in thanking him today for all his dedication. Not to worry though, Rob will still be involved in BSLM and it's future activities. It's not a final goodbye!
The next steps for BSLM, as of the 1st of December, is to warmly welcome our New Chair, Dr Frances Elliot!
We're sure by now you have got to know Frances through her role as Vice-Chair, and most likely recognise her from our Annual Conference and other such BSLM events. Over the years, as Vice-Chair and as another driving force for BSLM, her ongoing input been incredibly valuable and we thank her for everything so far too.
What a fantastic opportunity to let her introduce herself as Chair to you all via the video below, and get excited for what the future holds!
LIFESTYLE MEDICINE IN FOCUS
Some noteworthy Lifestyle Medicine features within the recent news in Britain.
What are healthy diets? Joint statement by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization
This is a fantastic joint statement by the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nation and World Health Organisation - covering principles of what healthy diets look like, considering scientific literature, guidelines and normative elements developed by the two organisations.
BSLM backs this in-depth joint statement, which opens with a very similar definition to our Healthy Eating Pillar.
Get Britain Working Whitepaper
Newest Releases available to read now!
Some of the newest releases in November include:
Digging for Literature on Tailoring Cultural Offers With and for Older People From Ethnic Minority Groups: A Scoping Review and How Did the COVID-19 Pandemic Change Cigarette Smoking Behavior? both released on the 29th of November.
This white paper, Get Britain Working, released on 27th November summarises and details the government's plans to reform employment support. Interestingly, it highlights that the UK is the only major economy that has seen its employment rate fall over the last five years due to long-term sickness. This kind of point is EXACTLY why we need Lifestyle Medicine principles in mainstream circulation!
BSLM Fellowships Window: Early Preparations!
The next window for submitting a BSLM Fellowships Application ends in January. There are only 2 windows each year (January and July) so be sure to get your application in before then to avoid missing the date.
Click above to learn how to submit an application and view resources to help you do so.
Other Lifestyle Medicine News and Events
In aid of October being Menopause Month..
Yakult: the International Yakult Symposium in Amsterdam and The Microbiome Medics
In early October, BSLM members and authors of the BSLM Gut Microbiome course, Dr Sheena Fraser and Dr Siobhan McCormack were invited to travel to Amsterdam with the Yakult Science team for the 11th International Yakult Symposium.
This two-day conference titled "The Gut – Conductor of our Health: Putting the Microbiota in the Spotlight" brought together globally renowned experts to highlight the diverse aspects of gut health, covering topics such as the gut-brain axis, infant gut microbiota and women's health.
Shortly afterwards, the Yakult Science launched their new HCP website. This redesigned website gives improved user experience - making it easier than ever to access the educational resources, science updates, and news available from the Yakult Science team. Check it out via the button below.
It's been Self Care Week this November!
National Self-Care Awareness Week isn't just having a pamper night: this UK-wide annual awareness week that focuses on embedding support for self-care across communities, families and generations.
Self-Care is so important all year round but with a focus on the theme “Mind and Body” this year, they advise that organisations are encouraged to use Self-Care Week as a hook to help people practise self-care for a healthier, happier life.
The great thing about this initiative is that the resources that are provided touch on the 6 pillars of Lifestyle Medicine perfectly!
Their resources for this week, and all year round, if you'd like to use within your practice are available below.
Red January - a Decade of Red coming up!
To mark this special occasion, the Red January team are proud to share a new brand identity symbolising connection and support. RED now stands for 'Rise Every Day'. To rise each day means to begin each day with the intention of moving to boost your mood.
This is a 2 month prompt to remind you to join and rise to your own challenge of walking, dancing, stretching, running, cycling - whatever works for you. More than half of RED participants experience a significant improvement in happiness and a reduction in anxiety!
LATEST NEWS AT BSLM
We've included some updates below to give you an idea of what we've been up to. Mostly we've been getting back to our daily routines post conference, but a few exciting highlights for you!
You may have seen our collaboration earlier in the month with ELC - Want to learn more?
Did you attend, or hear about, our joint event with The Experience Led Care Programme, free ELC Masterclass: Getting Going with Group Clinics? Intrigued to learn more from ELC and group clinics in general?
As you'll be aware, Georgina Craig is the National Director of The Experience Led Care Programme and the ELC website is full of video resources and other useful in-practice content!
We've picked a featured video that shows group clinics in practice - available on youtube or below on their 'what patients think' page.
There are also a wealth of videos within their bank, including sessions from our very own Dr Rupa Joshi too.
We hope these resources support you in your group clinics journey within your setting!
WLMO, BSLM & ELMC: LM In 21st Century - a Collaborative Document
You may have already heard about this already or seen on our news page that we have a fantastic Collaborative document to shout about!
The "Lifestyle Medicine for the 21st Century" report from the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine, European Lifestyle Medicine Council and World Lifestyle Medicine Organisation, outlines the role of lifestyle changes inpreventing, managing and even remitting lifestyle related chronic diseases.
Key takeaways include:
- Emphasis on whole-person care that acknowledges socio-economic and environmental determinants, knowledge of six key pillars - physical activity, healthy dietary patterns, mental well-being, reducing exposure to harmful substances, healthy relationships and restorative sleep along with practical skills to support patients in this area
- Importance of community-based programs to support equitable, sustainable, health behaviour changes
- Collaborative models involving multi-disciplinary teams.
- Focus on personalised interventions to maximise engagement and outcomes.
We hope this is the beginning of such fantastic collaborative work and documents to come.
What's happening in Our Communities?
Voices of Lived Experience: Introducing the team
A long time ago the call for Voices of Lived Experience was a regular request in our newsletters.
You've, last month, met our new voice of lived experience group comprised of passionate individuals who have all used lifestyle medicine to manage, and even reverse, a chronic illness or condition.
But now we’d like to hear from those of you with your own lived experience…
How has Lifestyle Medicine impacted your health, wellbeing and your life as a whole?
Whether it’s how you found lifestyle medicine to begin with, how you have implemented one or all of the pillars, or just one thing you would tell someone who is starting out on their journey – we want to hear it!
The goal is to use your testimonies in order to show healthcare providers, politicians, policymakers and the broader media that Lifestyle Medicine really works, and that people want to feel empowered to use these practices in own their lives.
We'd love to capture some of your journey with this form below, and either share on our website (if you give your consent and opt in below) or use it anonymously to build up an overall picture of lifestyle medicine in practice.
Our monthly Live Well Update
With the Live Well East Lothian Team
"A love of dance and a strong belief in the positive effect of exercise on physical and mental health inspired me to make a career change in 2019. Having already achieved the Level 2 Exercise to Music and Zumba Instructor qualifications in 2014 I then added the Level 3 GP Referral Instructor training. This has given me a deep understanding of how to deliver exercise in an effective, safe and enjoyable way whilst taking into account various health conditions.
Following a move from Edinburgh to East Lothian I was lucky enough to become involved with Live Well, supporting the team in classes across the county. Alongside instructing the Level 1 and 2 classes, I've been delighted to be able to bring a new inclusive dance-based class to the programme.
One of the things I enjoy most about the classes is seeing the support and friendships between the participants - it's a lovely community to be a part of." - Nikki Sprott
Nikki’s experience means that we have been able to launch a new Dance class in Prestonpans which has been really well received.
To find out more visit our website or if you have a similar group or idea in your area please get in touch with us below, we’d love to hear about it!
Our Podcasts
Microbiome Medics Newest Release:
Ep.22 - MicroBirth: Toni Harman on Birthing Choices and the Infant Microbiome
The Movement Prescription Podcast below, as on a hiatus!
Every time one of the podcasts above are released we'll be updating the newsletter so keep an eye out for updates here too for your monthly listening fix!
FEATURED BSLM EVENTS
Head to the dedicated BSLM events page for the full list of upcoming events
Our Monthly Webinar is ON HOLD for December..
.. we look forward to welcoming you again in January!
Thanks for joining us in November!
Our previous Webinars are below if you want to catch up on them!
Other Events
Schedule the below in your diary for December!
This month is slightly quieter than November - we hope you can also find time for any of the below if they are of interest!
MIMS Learning Live North: Liverpool
Mental Health SIG Online Meeting
4th December at 7-8pm, Online
Talk 4: 11th Dec 2024 - Access to learning and nature – addressing health inequalities
WLMO Partnership: Case Study Submission and the Asia-Pacific Regional Symposium
The World Lifestyle Medicine Organisation, in partnership with the Global Practice Initiative of the University of Technology Sydney, Australia invites you to join the upcoming Regional Symposium of the project titled The Critical Role of Nurses in Influencing Upstream Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) and Advancing Equitable Healthcare Globally ("Upstream SDoH in Nursing Practice").
NNEdPro-IANE 10th International Summit on Food, Nutrition & Health
This event is offering our Membershop online registration with a 20% discount!
Learning Academy
Thank you for your patience, keen learners!
You'll have seen a lot of "coming soon" from our Learning Academy platforms, with lots of exciting things in the pipeline, we can only thank you for your patience.
In the meantime we wanted to give you something that's already released, and for free CPD too!
Free learning and CPD from our Learning Academy at your fingertips!
We’ve had multiple opportunities over the past couple of weeks to focus our efforts on sharing education to empower our healthcare professionals to reach underserved communities using lifestyle as medicine with our recent fantastic events: Reaching Underserved Communities event and our Reducing Inequalities through our Healthcare Practice – BSLMLA and IHPE Joint Webinar
To specify, our BSLM Learning Academy and Institute of Health Promotion and Education jointly on the 28th of November brought you a webinar on health inequality, with a specific focus on practical strategies for use when working with deprived populations.
The event, which was well attended, led to some really great conversations about how we can improve health inequalities, particularly the strategies that may be straightforward to implement yet make a big difference.
Did you see these events come up but weren't able to make it live?
Not to worry! We now have our Free for all CPD accredited events available to watch back on our "socio-economic determinants" page
Scroll to the bottom (or have a leisurely read) of the page below to see the recording - we can also CPD certificates on request, contact us below.
Happy viewing!
Our Lifestyle Medicine Start Up course will be releasing in a matter of weeks!
NHS NETWORKS
Top News Stories in November
Dedicated fund for GP surgery upgrades
Mental health inpatient out-of-area placements
Treatments for people with newly diagnosed asthma
Unpaid carers supported by investment
Building confident leading women
Breast screening: interval cancers
Email us - office@bslm.org.uk
