October brings insight this month on Menopause, Mental Health, Breast Cancer Evidence from NIHR and more..
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Oct 2023
Welcome member to
Your home of lifestyle medicine news
October is the month of many things. Not only is it a month of awareness for many important causes, but also Autumn/Winter time is in swing, including the stormy weather! We hope you're taking care and staying cosy!
Thinking back to conference, only a month past, feeling inspired and full of knowledge and reflecting on what amazing work we all do as a society. Building connections through the event, finding new research, interests and passions is exactly what we love to see!
We can see all of your contribution is moving us forward in the health sphere, raising awareness for other clinicians, but we also know interest is building outwith too! It's been overwhelming the support from all of our current members, alongside new members! Thank you, without your support we wouldn't be able to do what we do!
Below is your guide to all things Lifestyle Medicine this month, feedback and insight into October so far and the months to come.
In this month's Newsletter...
HEADLINE NEWS
BSLM 2023 - A Letter from our Executive Director
Dr Fraser Quin
Dear Members,
We are currently preparing feedback from the conference in terms of a general questionnaire, but also as a “main takeaways” paper, which will be circulated publicly. Whilst of course, there were the odd glitch as can be expected with an event on such a scale, we have also received almost universal praise for the organisation and speakers. We will of course learn, as we always do, on the run up to Newcastle/Gateshead 2024. The contracts have all been signed for this event, and planning starts on the programme next month.
We have taken every steps to keep costs down, and at this year at conference, we dropped the prices to support member attendance. Just to set a context for this, it costs in the region of £340,000 to deliver our annual conference. There are actually few venues that can accommodate our requirements of 1000 delegates, with a main auditorium, parallel room, sidebar rooms and meeting rooms. All this with extra space for yoga and other activities. The huge cost therefore lies in the venue at circa £130k, and food for delegates at circa £90k (yes, we know!). An additional large cost is the Live Stream and App, which comes in at around £70k.
These costs are met by ticket sales, and sponsorship, with any losses underwritten by the charity. Currently the conference makes a small loss each year, but we are taking steps to bring this to breakeven. The only way to realistically achieve this is via corporate sponsorship and exhibitors, but this remains a challenge in the current economic climate, and with our correctly stringent sponsorship policy. This year we raised just under £40k in conference sponsorship, but this figure needs to be around £80k. Much work to be done on this front.
As you will have heard from conference, we are increasing the staff team at BSLM HQ to allow us to chase opportunities for both BSLM and you as LM practitioners. This in turn, however, opens doors to increase income for the conference and puts the charity on as stronger financial footing should we need to continue to underwrite conference costs. We would hope, however, to deliver the conference as a cost neutral activity next year, which in turn frees up finances for other LM developments.
I hope you have found this brief update useful, but I am more than happy to answer any questions around conference organisation. Thank you all for supporting BSLM at conference again this year.
Dr Fraser Quin, Executive Director
You may recognise Andrew Howie from his talk at BSLM 2023
Have you seen our conference highlights videos?
Andrew has now been appointed as Chief Finance and Commercial Officer!
We all want to say a huge congratulations to Andrew in his new role
We have a wrap up video of BSLM 2023 available!
If you want to show your friends, family or peers how amazing BSLM2023 was in one snapshot - this is it! Have a peek on our social media for our short wrap up video too.
LIFESTYLE MEDICINE IN FOCUS
Some noteworthy Lifestyle Medicine features within the recent news in Britain.
Steps to a Smoke-free Future?
As one of the pillars of Lifestyle Medicine is reducing harmful substances, this topic I'm sure has been in the forefront of your radar this month,
What do you think of this proposed action? Currently there's an open consultation on this proposal which encourages you to share your views.
If you are looking for resources regarding the younger generation and vaping, there's fantastic teacher resources included in the Public Health England's Every Mind Matter's toolkit. Even if you're not displaying it to a class it's useful to look through as it's very topical right now!
'Why we need to understand the Breast Cancer Risk' for Breast Cancer Awareness Month - NIHR
According to Breast Cancer UK, "Breast Cancer is the most common cancer in the UK". NIHR have released an evidence paper this month on ‘Why we need to understand breast cancer risk'. Lifestyle factors are much more impactful than some may think!
Mental Health Awareness October
It was Mental Health Awareness Day this month on the 10th of October. Mental health and wellbeing is so important, with it being one of our 6 pillars too it's crucial we stay ahead of the mental wellbeing curve.
This month has also seen another proposal released by the Government on earlier support for mental health and investment in resources.
There's also been a fantastic article released by the BMJ to show the correlation between Physical Activity and the reduction of anxiety and depression.
If you work with younger members of society, there are some great resources via the Every Mind Matters campaign from Public Health England - It's a fantastic resource to refer to and includes a range of topics to read over.
Other Lifestyle Medicine News and Events
Menopause Awareness Month
October is Menopause Awareness Month - it's been a busy month for many things! Menopause can affect anyone that has periods, usually starting between 45 and 55, but it can happen earlier. Everyone has a different experience going through menopause, but we see you and know that awareness is key for education and support!
The information and articles below can be useful to raising awareness and education, as well as coping with the symptoms and effects of Menopause as they happen.
Menopause Month : Dr Helen Kini - Regional Lead Recommendations
Dr Helen Kini attended the British Menopause Conference this year and one Menopause Specialist was highlighted during her attendance:
Dr Angela Maas is a Cardiologist specialising in female health. She provided lifestyle medicine related content in her talk and was an engaging speaker. New knowledge that was eye opening, the potential to really widen awareness over caring for women and their heart health now and for their future.
Menopause Month : Linwoods Menopause tips
Finding Menopausal fatigue hard to combat? Here's 8 useful nutrition tips from Linwoods Health Foods that can help manage these symptoms.
Menopause Month: the Menopause and your Gut
Menopause is a big transition for the body to go through and can effect so many differing systems in your body, not just your cycles. Symprove and Dr Dawn Harper provide some insight to Menopause and the Gut.
Black History Month
We hope Black History Month for you has been full of listening, learning and recognising past and present achievements.
This year's theme is #SalutingOurSisters, which highlights the achievement of historical and present figures that have made a lasting impact in the medical field in Britain.
Thank you to all of you who bring your amazing research, skills, knowledge and experiences to our community every day. We salute you too!
LATEST NEWS AT BSLM
The Lifestyle Medicine Journal - Volume 4, Issue 4 New Release
Dr Fraser Birrell our Director of Science and Research and Dr Tommy Wood who is one of BSLM's Trustees are two faces you will definitely recognise from our BSLM Conferences, especially BSLM 2023.
Both of these fantastic drivers in our community and their colleagues and peers have been working hard on the Lifestyle Medicine Journal and have recently released aa new addition to Volume 4, Issue 4 this month.
For those that don't know, Lifestyle Medicine is an interdisciplinary journal providing a forum for those interested in the rapidly growing specialty of lifestyle medicine, publishing articles and reviews which focus on the clinical and scientific aspects of lifestyle medicine and its incorporation into clinical practice. Research published is of relevancy to cardiologists, epidemiologists, endocrinologists, allergists and immunologists, and more.
Over the last 20 years, incredible research has outlined the pathways, from our nervous system to genomic expression that describes how social relationships, both good and bad, have such a profound impact on our health and well being. This Special Issue of Lifestyle Medicine covers the A to Z of how to transform both the lifespan and the healthspan. The issue, edited by Tommy Wood and Julian Abel, features 6 articles written by world-leading researchers and practitioners in different fields. Julianne Holt-Lunstad and colleagues discuss the latest updates on her groundbreaking work showing the impact of social isolation on health. George Slavich and Steve Cole, founders of the field of human social genomics, write an extraordinary article on how social connections affect our physiology. Allan Kellehear and Julian Abel write about reimagining public health with a community lens. Fraser Birrell, Denis Collen, and Sir Muir Gray discuss the role of group consultations. Cormac Russell brings insights into the field of community development and Helen Kingston and Frances da Cunha describe how Frome in Somerset transformed both healthcare and the town using a community-focused approach.
We've been at the Royal College of GP's Annual Conference!
BSLM went along to The Royal College of GP's Annual Conference in Glasgow on the 17-18th of October this year. Did you see us there?
It's so fantastic to be invited to these conferences to get to know you all, integrate and build our community.
If you didn't get the chance to go, we recommend checking out the Annual Conference event site that gives you all the information you need.
BSLM at Imperial College London's Freshers fair
BSLM has been featured to provide information and resources via the Imperial Lifestyle Medicine Society at Imperial's most recent Freshers fair.
Imperial Lifestyle Medicine Society also attended the Great Exhibition Road Festival to promote physical activity.
We are so grateful to have links like these to appeal to young, up-and-coming clinicians through these fairs, raising awareness and supporting the Lifestyle Medicine movement.
International Conference on Lifestyle Medicine
28th to the 29th of October, Saudi Arabia
Dr Rob Lawson, Dr Alex Maxwell and Dr Fraser Quin have been representing BSLM by attended the International Conference on Lifestyle Medicine in Saudi Arabia, at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital, department of Family Medicine.
They have spent their time presenting, promoting BSLM and BSLM Learning Academy.
Other BSLM October Updates
Sadly Summer is officially over!
REMINDER: The clocks go back this month on 29th Oct!
Hunrosa have provided us with a fantastic infographic and helpful tips on how to work around the upcoming change from Daylight Saving back to GMT.
FEATURED BSLM EVENTS
Head to the dedicated BSLM events page for the full list of upcoming events
Our October Webinar - Wednesday 17th October
On Wednesday the 17th of October at 7pm we had our Monthly Webinar return with a bang featuring the fantastic speakers and topics below!
We apologise for the technical issues on the day but really hope you still enjoyed the speakers and the topics they covered.
The Webinar recording is still to be released, once this is up we will happy notify you so you can watch back the fantastic content.
BSLM November Webinar
Our upcoming November Webinar will be confirmed nearer the time via email and social media, however have a sneak peak at the below!
Swim England
Thurs 14th December @ 10 am -12.30 pm - Virtual
BSLM Aligned Organisation Swim England will be hosting their next Health & Wellbeing Learn and Share Network Event (virtual) to be held in December.
This is aimed primarily at Water Wellbeing accredited pool operators across the Country who are working to be more accessible, inclusive and welcoming to people with long-term conditions. For the first time they are inviting healthcare professionals to join this FREE ‘invitation only’ event.
The provisional programme is as follows:
- Updates from the Swim England Health & Wellbeing and Good Boost teams
- Education: Aquatic Activity and Pregnancy
- Education: NHS England’s Aquatic Activity and Swimming for Health elearning
- Swim Together pilot in Leamington Spa (Leamington PCN, Mental Health Swims, Everyone Active)
- Signposting to swimming through health coaching pathways (UKIHCA)
- Other opportunities to hear from pool operators around their own experiences of Water Wellbeing and Good Boost delivery
If you're interested do have a look at the below to get more information or your invitation to attend!
IANE and BSLM Webinar
Wednesday the 22nd of November @ 6.45pm
We are in discussions with the International Academy of Nutrition Educators, via NNEDpro to host a joint Webinar in November.
IANE operates in partnership with esteemed institutions such as the BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health. It's a great opportunity to learn more in this area and we hope to see you there!
As soon as we have finer details on the event we will get in touch via email.
Other Events
Don't forget these events from last month's newsletter!
Royal Society of Medicine: Upcoming Events
Reimagining working for health: Addressing the workforce crisis
UPDATE: The Reimagining working for health: Addressing the workforce crisis event has been postponed
Importance of diet for brain health and cognitive function through the lifespan
Wednesday 8th Nov 2023 from 9:00am to 5:00pm @ The Royal Society of Medicine, London
You can access a BSLM Member Discount on these events! Any support required do contact us.
Diabetes Professional Care
Tuesday 15th and Wednesday 16th Nov from 9am to 5pm @ Olympia London
We'll see you there!
British Geriatic Society: Upcoming Autumn Meeting
Wednesday 22nd to Friday the 24th of Nov @ Vox, Birmingham
You'll be able to utilise your Member Coupon Code when booking this event! Any support required do contact us.
Learning Academy
The Learning Academy is a fantastic resource for all BSLM advocates, members and has grown massively in itself and community around us over the last few years. Thank you for supporting the Learning Academy, enrolling and enjoying the course content just as much as we do!
A huge congratulations is in order, as previously mentioned, for Andrew Howie our new Chief Finance and Commercial Officer!
Andrew is a huge driving force behind the BSLM Learning Academy and we are so grateful for all the hard work he has poured into both BSLM and the Learning Academy.
We will regularly keep you updated with news and features on exciting new, varying opportunities - sometimes the first of their kind!
Dr David Unwin is going to DPC This year!
One of the Co-Authors of our new Low-Carbohydrate Approaches for People with Type 2 Diabetes Course is at Diabetes Professional Care Conference. If you'd like to see him there there's more information below!
Have you had a look at our new courses yet?
Want to share your Learning Academy Experience?
If you have any feedback or a review following a course you'd like to share with us on your experience with the Learning Academy, please do reach out. It's great to see what your thoughts are!
Have a topic that's courseworthy?
Building on the success of our Microbiome and Core Accreditation in LM courses, we are looking to expand our range of options for learners.
Our experienced team will support you every step of the way. If you would like to learn more about what course writing entails you can watch this video of our vice president, Ellen Fallows, talking about course writing.
We are currently particularly looking for writers in the areas of women’s health, child and adolescent health, and weight management, so please do let us know if you have expertise in these areas. However, if you have another idea for a course, please get in touch and we would be happy to explore it with you.
To express interest please complete this form and we will be in touch to discuss next steps.
A reminder if you're not quite ready for writing a course, but would be interested in presenting on an evidence-based topic - we'd love to hear from you for our monthly webinars.
NHS NETWORKS
Top News Stories in October
Making patient experience a priority
Reduce hospital admissions for urinary tract infections
Power of community-led health service design
Climate change and public health indicators
Email us - office@bslm.org.uk
