February has flown by, even if it's a leap year! Take a peek to see our lifestyle medicine updates for February so far.
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February 2024
Welcome member to
Your home of lifestyle medicine news
Two months in to 2024 and it's been busy enough for us to fill a full year which is such fantastic news. That also means a very busy newsletter for you this month!
We hope you've spent your February and the last of the winter weather well and actioning to your #1changes.
Below is your guide to all things Lifestyle Medicine this month, insight into February at BSLM and also what's in store come March time!
In this month's Newsletter...
HEADLINE NEWS
The UK are tuned in to Lifestyle Medicine!
This month has been so fruitful for Lifestyle Medicine. Every month is, however we've had some really exciting going-ons not only internally, but also the buzz is hitting mainstream and sparking conversation everywhere.
With the need for Lifestyle Medicine practice due to the NHS and Private Healthcare struggling to address climbing health issues and statistics in our population, we've noticed some upcoming trends and sure you have too.
Social media's buzz around self care, wellness retreats being featured on your newsfeeds, focus on diet and nutrition post new year's resolutions and health and wellness being more of a focus than ever, we couldn't be more grateful to be in the middle of it all, doing the work we do here at BSLM to make a lasting change.
A spotlight on: This Morning featuring Lifestyle Medicine
With Dr Hussain Al-Zubaidi
To give one example from this month, we were so delighted to hear that Dr Hussain Al-Zubaidi was on This Morning on the 8th of February this month, talking about implementing small changes to incorporate Lifestyle Medicine into your daily life. We're so happy to see this kind of conversation hit such a widely-watched British daytime magazine programme with a longstanding viewership and history. We really hope the viewers, and Alison and Dermot, get creative with their snacks as Hussain suggests!
After Lifestyle Medicine being the topic of discussion in December on BBC Look North's News, we're so excited to see this more and more on mainstream television and media. If you spot something we haven't covered, do let us know! We'd love to hear about local updates and news too.
BSLM 2024
Have you got your Abstracts at the ready?
It's been a month since we launched conference, which I'm sure you haven't forgotten!
Have you been thinking of submitting an abstract for BSLM24? We're open and ready to receive your submissions when you are. Don't forget to mark in your diaries that the deadline is the 14th of June. Although that seems far in the future, time does fly!
A perfect opportunity to be at the heart of the conference, with a large segment of the days surrounding the poster discussions and presentations, plus an opportunity for you to be up and presenting your findings in-amongst our fantastic speaker line-up.
If you have queries around your submission, do get in touch with us. We're always here to help!
Watched our BSLM24 video yet? Have a peek below!
We’ve partnered up with the Newcastle Gateshead Convention Bureau and snapped up some special room rates throughout the city to make sure for your stay is as convenient as possible during the conference.
LIFESTYLE MEDICINE IN FOCUS
Some noteworthy Lifestyle Medicine features within the recent news in Britain.
Britain is facing a health challenge of un-paralleled proportions: UKIHCA
Feeding on from our Headline News segment, Lord James has provided the foreward for The UK & International Health Coaching Association’s White Paper, ‘Towards a Healthier, Happier Britain: The Case for Health Coaching’.
This paper aims to take readers on a journey towards a healthier, happier Britain by setting out the case for integrating the evidence-based modality of health coaching as a foundational platform for every sector of health and human systems in a 21st Century Britain.
Health coaching is gaining traction in forward-thinking commercial companies in the health sector and by a growing number of companies in corporate sector workplace wellness schemes, who see health coaching as key to their successes.
IARC: Evidence released on reduction of alcohol consumption and related cancers correlation
A Special Report from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), published in The New England Journal of Medicine, reviews and summarizes the available evidence on the effectiveness of reduction or cessation of alcohol consumption in reducing alcohol-related cancers.
Institute of Health Equity: HEALTH INEQUALITIES, LIVES CUT SHORT
Life expectancy at birth in England has been increasing at a markedly slower rate since 2011 than in previous decades. This fantastic report assesses the role of inequalities in mortality in sustaining lower levels of life expectancy than might have been predicted from trends in mortality improvement in previous decades. This report is from January, however it's more relevant than ever to Lifestyle Medicine!
Valentines Day 2024
"Not Suitable for Children": Energy Drinks & their Impact
Sustain's piece below highlights over 40 health organisations and experts including the Children's Food Campaign are urgently calling on policy makers to reignite plans to restrict sales of energy drinks to children, after a new evidence review of the effects of energy drinks on children revealed wider ranging risks of mental and physical health problems associated with consumption.
We thought Valentines day would be the perfect day to look at what impact love and social connectedness can have on our health and wellbeing! Here are the links for further reading.
Other Lifestyle Medicine News and Events
Swimming for Joy Article Release in the BMJ
A fantastic article release this month from Scarlett McNally on Boosting Swimming for Health and Joy in the BMJ
This quote in particular begins to highlight the tie between swimming and aquatic activities and Lifestyle Medicine:
"Swimming and other aquatic activities have huge benefits for health and wellbeing. People of all ages and communities can benefit from water’s hydrostatic pressure, as well as improved social connectedness and exercise."
Go and read the article and give some love to this wonderful feature in the BMJ. We hope you swim for joy in celebration of it's release!
Exciting outcomes and New Data from Holly Health!
New data shows that GP Appointments are going down in Holly Health users. This is most likely a result of higher levels of self-management and consistent behaviour change improvements. The reduction is, on average, 1.4 appointments per user per year (based on using the Holly Health service for 8+ weeks).
In a typical PCN where Holly Health supports around 1500 people per year, that could be around 1000 fewer appointments per year! If Holly Health digital coaching is of interest to you, don't forget that being a BSLM member gives you 50% off Holly Health licence prices for your practice/PCN.
To see the potential impact for your PCN, check out the new ROI Calculator below!
Yakult: Educational Grant
Are you a healthcare professional, researcher or student wanting to attend a conference or training in a specific area of health? Yakult Science for Health offer grants of up to £1000 to support your participation in a virtual, national or international conference or training course.
The application deadline closes March 31st 2024 (T&Cs apply). Apply today to further your professional development!
Symprove: 3 Ways to Show Your Gut Some Love
With February being the month of love, Symprove has worked together with their resident gut-health expert, and Specialist Gastroenterology Dietitian Dr Sammie Gill, to share three easy ways to show our gut some extra love. And they're a lot easier than you think.
Reminder: Aquatics and Swimming programme now available for all!
Download this fantastic resource for Health Care Professionals below!
LATEST NEWS AT BSLM
What's happening in our Communities?
With Rachel Cox
Live Well was previously called East Lothian Cardiac-Pulmonary Rehab Group and was founded by Dr Rob Lawson, our Chairman. We introduced Rachel, our Communities officer last week and how she would be regularly featuring in our newsletter to highlight the work of Live Well and what it does highlighting Lifestyle Medicine principles come to life in communities across the East Lothian Area to support those who need it.
An hello and intro to 'Live Well East Lothian'
Live Well is a charity that offers gentle exercise classes across the East Lothian region to help people get the exercise they need to live a healthier lifestyle, regardless of their medical condition or fitness ability. The classes are for those living with or recovering from chronic long-term conditions or events, or even for those just wishing to improve general stability and fitness whilst increasing social connectedness.
In 2022 BSLM took up the charity as one of our delivery arms and Rachel Cox, our new Communities Officer, is currently working on some funding applications to help increase referrals and expand the class offering. If you know of a similar group in your area, we would love to hear more about it and what they offer!
How does Lifestyle Medicine fit in?
Not only do the classes incorporate balance, strength and cardiovascular elements to ensure a well-rounded work out, but our specialist instructors also give advice and guidance on how to exercise safely at home, provide gentle nutrition tips, and encourage social interaction between participants at the end of class.
Hear it from our participants:
“I have been at various types of classes before, but always felt a bit out as they went too fast or were for a younger or fitter generation. Now I have found the ideal class that takes time to go through aches and pains and why we do what we do to the body, now I feel part of a group.”
"After my heart attack I was pointed in the direction of exercise. These classes have made a huge difference to my fitness, going every week helps keep me disciplined. I'm so grateful for the advice I have had."
If you are in the area and know someone who might benefit from a class please get in touch, we are now on the NHS safe senders list and would love to welcome more people into the community. If you have any questions feel free to drop us an email at livewell@bslm.org.uk.
For more information about Live Well you can visit their website below.
BSLM: BHMA Feature
The British Association for Holistic Medicine and Healthcare featured us this month in a post on their social media.
It read:
"Lifestyle medicine is branch of
evidence-based medicine in which comprehensive lifestyle changes (including nutrition, physical activity, stress management, social support and environmental exposures) are used to prevent, treat and reverse the progression of chronic diseases by addressing their underlying causes.
An easier explanation is one which my patients understand.
Rather than continuing to mop up the overflow from a bathtub, lifestyle medicine is about trying to turn the leaking tap off."
We're so delighted that they've featured us this month and highlighted how important lifestyle medicine is.
Have you heard of them? Have a look at who they are and what they do below!
Featured Podcasts
As you'll know we have some fantastic podcasts on our radar. Podcasts are a great way of getting all the latest insights and information on Lifestyle Medicine or not.
Recommended Listening for the Month:
Ep.1. - Introducing Sleep On It
Sleep On It with The Sleep Charity
Sleep On It is a new podcast via The Sleep Charity. As one of our 6 pillars, get clued up on all things sleep through this informative podcast! Their focus is on ADHD at the moment.
Ep.48. - Improving Leadership in Surgery
New Podcast with NIHR Dr Helen Saul
New research findings could provide guidance for people who design, develop and conduct leadership training for surgeons. Helen Saul, Editor in Chief of NIHR Evidence, speaks with Amy Grove, Professor of Implementation Science, University of Warwick; and Peter Hutchinson, Director of Clinical Research, Royal College of Surgeons of England. They discuss the three key elements of successful leadership training and what it means for the surgical community.
Our Podcasts
The Microbiome Medics Newest Release:
Ep.14 - The Vaginal Micobiome with Professor Sarah Lebeer: a Triumph of Citizen Science.
The Movement Prescription Podcast Newest Release:
Ep.17 - Get on Your Bike and Ride with Mark Beaumont and Angus Rodney
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!
Introducing Wise GP
We're aligning with the work they do.
We've made connections with WiseGP as we believe they're doing great work through their activities, foster a great approach and ethos.
So what is WiseGP all about?
We'll let them explain:
Hello from WiseGP
Hello! My name is Joanne – I am a consultant in GP, professor of primary care, and founder of WiseGP. We are excited to be joining forces with BSLM to work on our shared goal to do medicine differently.
WiseGP exists to champion, grow and sustain a new vision of whole-person, advanced generalist medicine. Like you, we are working to shift the traditional pipeline view of doctors passing expert knowledge to patients. Our work focuses instead on the knowledge that is co-developed by 2 experts – the patient and the doctor – coming together to create, use and critique shared understanding of healthcare need and use.
WiseGP grew out of a workshop at RCGP conference in 2017. There, the GPs spoke about how hard this work is; and the many barriers they experience in everyday practice.
So we have been building a set of resources to help. Our focus is on the knowledge work of advanced generalist practice – how to both deliver care and know you’ve done it well. We have a growing library of resources designed to help people grow their skills and confidence in this work – all collated by Dr Annabelle Machin, our WiseGP Fellow.
Our next piece of work will focus on helping those outside of practice – the public, policy makers, politicians – better understand the advanced work of general practice. Sign up to our newsletter to hear more about that.
Annabelle and I are delighted to be working with all of you at BSLM!
We can't wait to work alongside them in the future! Don't forget to check out their website or contact for further info.
Yoga in Healthcare Alliance
A little update from them:
Paul from The Yoga In Healthcare Alliance, which is one of our fantastic aligned organisations, and also yoga sessions at conference last year, has been nominated for his volunteer work!
Their update:
"We're delighted to hear that Paul Fox from The Yoga In Healthcare Alliance (one of BSLMs Aligned Organisations) is a finalist in the NHS Our Health Heroes Awards in the category of Health Volunteer of the Year having delivered Yoga4NHS staff wellbeing to 396 staff during 2023 free of charge as an unpaid volunteer. Huge congratulations to Paul for this nomination in recognition of his dedication. Please click on the link below to find out more about the work of the finalists - we wish them all the very best of luck!"
Sprink
Introducing Sprink!
Food has a huge influence on our health, and poor diets are a key cause of very high and increasing levels of obesity and chronic disease. Despite this, the food environments in our health care organisations (e.g. hospitals) are often poor, with a lack of delicious, healthy and sustainable food for patients, staff and visitors.
Sprink's Healthy Food Environments Online Training Programme aims to help you to address this, and BSLM community are eligible for an exclusive discount!
FEATURED BSLM EVENTS
Head to the dedicated BSLM events page for the full list of upcoming events
Our Monthly Webinar for March is coming soon...
..here's a sneak peek to keep you going!
Join us on the 19th March 2024 @ 7pm
Thanks for joining us in Feb!
The Webinar for February is up on our website, so do watch it back in your own time below!
Lifestyle Medicine in Practice Seminar Today!
We are so glad you managed to join us today for our fantastic Lifestyle Medicine in Practice Seminar!
We had a wonderful array of speakers and we want to thank all of those that spoke at today's event alongside attending. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
If you didn't manage to make it, not to worry. We have it covered! If you attended/bought a ticket, you will be sent a watch on demand link shortly.
If you have any feedback on the Seminar, we'd love to hear from you.
Miriam Maisel - Stress Management and Resiliency Training (S.M.A.R.T) Webinar
6 March 2024 @ 7.30pm, Online
In our last month's newsletter, we advised that we'd provide updates on this upcoming webinar. We're so delighted to say that this is scheduled for the beginning of March, with further details below! Can't wait to see you there!
Dr Miriam Maisel also has a new cycle of her training coming up which we'd like to notify you about. You can gain relevant CPD through attendance.
Other Events
Schedule the below in your diary for March & Beyond!
NIHR: Maternity Services: Research to improve safety and quality of care
4 March 2024 @ 1pm-2pm, Online
Speakers will present actionable evidence drawn from women’s experiences of labour induction, as well as research on the key features of safe maternity care and the role of hospital boards in improving maternity care. Presentations will be followed by an interactive Q&A session.
Miriam Maisel - Stress Management and Resiliency Training (S.M.A.R.T) Webinar
6 March 2024 @ 7.30pm, Online
Join the Inaugural Celebration of BR UK
BSLM: Edinburgh Catch up reminder!
12th March, 2024 @ 7.30 - 8.30PM, Spartans Community Foundation, EH5 2HF
Can Exercise Decrease the Need for Total Hip and Knee Replacements? With Dr George Ampat
14th March 2024 @ 8pm, Online
As part of our ongoing programme to explore prospects for improved healthcare, we are pleased to announce this online educational event, Can Exercise Decrease the Need for Total Hip and Knee Replacements?, independently provided by College Lead for MSK Faculty and Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Mr George Ampat.
Join us for an exciting online educational event exploring the potential benefits of exercise in reducing the need for total hip and knee replacements. Discover the latest research and expert insights on how exercise can improve joint health and potentially delay or prevent the need for surgery.
Don't miss out on this educational opportunity to learn more about the power of exercise in preserving your patient's hip and knee health!
Cost: £3
Your Learning Academy: Upcoming Webinar
Save the date: More Info coming soon!
Cardio Renal Metabolic (CVRMUK) Annual Meeting
Tues 26th March 2024 @ 8.30am 4.45pm, The Kings Fund, London, W1G 0AN
RCPsych and BSLM Event
No Life Half Lived with Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland
8th May 2024 @ 10.30am, Apex Grassmarket Hotel Edinburgh EH1 2HS
Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland CEO Jane-Claire Judson invites you to find out how we can work together to achieve our mission of No Life Half Lived and support the NHS.
The event will be from 10:30am - 12:00pm (followed by lunch)
Together we can help reduce pressure on your NHS local services by providing quality supported self management and community recovery services for people living with chest, heart, stroke or Long Covid conditions.
Join us to hear about our Community Healthcare Support Services model, meet your local CHSS colleagues, connect and network over lunch with likeminded local health and care professionals, and find out how we can work together to achieve this mission and support the NHS.
Reminder: We'll be at IPM 2024
6-8th June 2024 @ QEII Centre, Westminster, London UK
Integrative & Personalised Medicine Congress 2024
Members of the BSLM can register to attend the conference at the discounted 'members rate', see the members section for details. Conference prices start from £149 and workshop & exhibition prices start from just £25 per day.
Learning Academy
Wondering what our Learning Academy is all about?
Join us in March!
As mentioned in the events segment, we're holding an interactive webinar on the 26th of March. More details coming soon, however we have a lot of exciting new updates, information and we plan to make it interactive, where you can have your questions answered directly! Keep your eyes peeled on our social media for further updates.
Been thinking about becoming a Trailblazer?
Unlock the Power of Lifestyle Medicine with the LMCA!
Elevate your practice to new heights with the Lifestyle Medicine Core Accreditation (LMCA), the premier programme written by experts and peer-reviewed for UK practitioners like you. Dive into evidence-informed strategies and comprehensive knowledge that will revolutionise your approach to patient care.
Have a look-out for the benefits and testimonials from our core accred on our socials!
NHS NETWORKS
Top News Stories in February
Building the health of the nation
A person-centred approach to hospital discharge
Baby loss certificate
Mental health 360
Making care closer to home a reality
Email us - office@bslm.org.uk
