Your November's Lifestyle Medicine scoop - from new research, staff updates and more!
No images? Click here
November 2023
Welcome member to
Your home of lifestyle medicine news
Welcome to the winter months, and your last Newsletter before the festive period!
We hope this month you've been keeping cosy as the icy weather is approaching. November is a busy month, with new research papers released, staff updates, events and webinars, it's been jam packed with lifestyle medicine updates we look forward to sharing with you.
Thank you for your continued support. None of this would be possible without you!
Below is your guide to all things Lifestyle Medicine this month, feedback and insight into November so far and the months to come.
In this month's Newsletter...
HEADLINE NEWS
We have some news!
A letter from our Executive Director
With Dr Fraser Quin
Dear Members,
I am delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Rupa Joshi to the role of Transformation Lead at BSLM. Rupa will officially start in the New Year, so you will hear more from then onwards.
Rupa has been a front-line clinician for 26 years and GP for 22 years. She has leadership experience at neighbourhood, PCN, place, system, region and national levels, which have enabled her to be part of cross-organisational, strategic and operational discussions. She also provides clinical leadership through various roles; Clinical Advisor for the Primary Care Transformation team at NHSE, Deputy Chair for Berkshire West Primary Care Alliance and a member of the BOB GP leadership group, Chair of NHS Confederation’s Workforce and Estate’s design group, Facilitator for Phoenix GP retention programme and clinical lead for ELC. She has been a Training Programme director and an expert mentor for ELC teaching group consultations, an accredited coach and mentor and Clinical SRO for NHS Confederation’s Primary Care Network development programme.
You may well remember that the Transformation Lead role has been introduced to support the membership in bringing Lifestyle Medicine principles and practice firmly into your own workplaces. Rupa is ideally suited to support you in this work. This is a very important role for BSLM, and we sincerely hope you will engage with Rupa so that she can determine exactly where her focus should be around funding, project design, business case writing and so on.
Rupa’s CV is too long to go into every impressive detail in this short piece, but as you get to know her through her TL role, you will see that her background in workforce, training, leadership, and Lifestyle Medicine service delivery, makes her ideally suited to support the BSLM membership in delivering meaningful projects to patients.
Her appointment is part of an exciting series of exciting developments at BSLM, all aimed at ensuring that the membership of BSLM has greater access to information and opportunity to deliver Lifestyle Medicine initiatives.
Dr Fraser Quin, Executive Director
We hope you'll join us in giving Rupa a warm welcome!
We have a fantastic piece from Dr Sheena Fraser up on our website!
Dr Sheena Fraser has also written a fantastic course with her colleague Dr Siobhan McCormick on The Gut Microbiome. Check that out below too!
LIFESTYLE MEDICINE IN FOCUS
Some noteworthy Lifestyle Medicine features within the recent news in Britain.
NIHR Evidence Released: 8 Findings to help you stay healthy as you age
Just published our NIHR Evidence Collection on ‘8 findings to help you stay healthy as you age’.
This Collection brings together a sample of recent NIHR research: 8 studies that all address key risk factors for poor health in later life. All the studies featured have important and actionable findings.
Some of the risk factors addressed in the collection include physical inactivity, high blood pressure, heavy drinking, smoking, being overweight, high cholesterol, and diabetes. The Collection provides useful information for members of the public, especially those in mid-life, to help them stay healthy as they age. People working in public health and primary care may also be interested. Check it out!
New releases from the Lifestyle Medicine Journal came out on 6th of November & the 23rd of November!
The new releases were "What is the impact of a multi‐component exercise intervention on the cure rate of urinary incontinence among older women living in the community?" and "Urban green and blue spaces for influencing physical activity in the United Kingdom: A narrative review of the policy and evidence"
You can read the newest releases here!
It was World Children's day!
Did you see our story on Instagram on the 20th of November?
We have a wonderful piece on Child Health and Lifestyle Medicine from our President Dr Alex Maxwell. He has provided a piece based around Child Health, the Nurturing guidance from WHO and UNICEF, highlighting how this fits alongside Lifestyle Medicine.
Check out our Highlights under WCD 2023 to see Dr Maxwell's amazing work!
NICE Guidelines on Stroke Rehab have Changed
NICE have released updated guidance on stroke rehabilitation
Their latest guidelines say that people who have had a stroke or experience continuing impairment or limitations on their activities should be offered additional rehabilitation to help them recover.
As part of the rehabilitation, lifestyle changes such as social and community re-introduction, eating and nutrition support.
A 2-page visual summary to aid discussions about care and support between healthcare professionals and people who have had a stroke is available to read.
Other Lifestyle Medicine News and Events
Vaping Guidance with Hunrosa
Hunrosa have created a really insightful factsheet on Vaping, addiction and providing support. A fantastic and topical resource that can help those that are stopping vaping.
Stay Well this Winter with Holland and Barrett
Holland and Barrett have created a great guide on how to stay well this winter. A Lifestyle Medicine friendly list to give good and achievable ideas for this Winter as the cold weather sets in.
LATEST NEWS AT BSLM
Need a new Podcast to listen to?
We have some really interesting podcasts available for your next new fix!
We have regular releases on our Microbiome Medics and our Movement Prescription Podcast too. Keep your eyes peeled on this page!
Microbiome Medics Podcast
Microbiome Medics release a podcast every month on The Gut Microbiome. Packed full of knowledge, passion and insight on how the gut works with lifestyle medicine, tune in mid month to hear Dr Sheena Fraser and Dr Siobhan McCormick to build your gut knowledge. Dr Sheena Fraser wrote our new blog this month too, alongside them both having our The Gut Microbiome for Clinicians Course!
This month's Podcast is Exercising Your Gut Microbiome with Darryl Edwards: Exploring the Power of Exercise on Gut Health!
"The latest episode discuss the journey toward movement for prediabetes with Darryl Edwards, a movement coach and author, who made this transformation. From a fascinating conversation about the Primal Play Method to an enlightening discussion on the transformative power of exercise on the gut microbiome, this episode is full of insights and inspiration."
This podcast is brought to you in collaboration with the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine.
The Movement Prescription Podcast
The Movement Prescription Podcast is hosted by Dr Callum Leese, Dr Hussain Al-Zubaidi and Dr Suzy Scarlet. All part of our Physical Activity SIG, in partnership with RCGP too. They delve into depth into Physical activity and Lifestyle Medicine and the connection in daily life.
This month's latest Podcast is Promoting Physical Activity in Chronic Disease with Dr Emma Lunan!
"This episode focuses on how we can realistically encourage our patients with chronic disease to move more. Suzy interviews GP, Sports Exercise consultant and fellow enthusiast Dr Emma Lunan, who was involved with Movement for Health from its inception. During this episode these two frontline GPs discuss the realities and possibilities of incorporating physical activity interventions into routine general practice, with all patients including those with chronic disease, being aware of the barriers and challenges (often starting with ourselves)."
Produced using funding from NHS Tayside Educational Fund and the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine.
Every time one of the podcasts above are released we'll be updating the newsletter so also keep an eye out for updates here too for your monthly listening fix!
Prescribing Lifestyle Medicine
Prescribing Lifestyle Medicine is an online course consisting of 4 eLearning modules aimed at Doctors and healthcare professionals who want to learn how to implement a lifestyle medicine approach in a practical way. The course covers research, evidence, science and strategies to help you deliver results beneficial to both practitioner and patient in your field of practice. £395 + VAT for 12 months subscription to the course and materials.
Living Proof
We're aligning with the work they do.
Recently we've made connections with Living Proof as we believe they're doing great work through their activities, foster a great approach and ethos.
So what is Living Proof all about?
We'll let them explain:
"Living Proof is a UK-based not-for-profit organisation aiming to raise awareness of the latest neuroscience-based approaches to recovery from chronic pain and other ‘unexplained’ persistent conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome.
Our organisation is run by people who have experienced full recoveries from these types of conditions through a neuroplastic approach, and are now living healthy, vital lives with no restrictions. We are passionate about sharing the message that recovery actually is possible from such conditions, through brain re-training and nervous system regulation.
A key aim is to help reduce the burden on our health services through improved understanding of this neuroscience, amongst both healthcare professionals and patients. We are particularly interested in working with GPs, to support them in better helping those ‘difficult-to-treat’ patients.
Dr Sarah Hadfield, one of our medical advisors, is currently working with a team of GPs to develop an introductory course to the neuroplastic approach, which we anticipate launching in 2024. For now, you may be interested to watch our two short films which were created as an easy introduction: https://www.livingproof.org.uk/chronic-pain & https://www.livingproof.org.uk/mecfs.
We also deliver a range of patient workshops and courses, and will be launching an awareness campaign in collaboration with parkrun in Perth, Scotland on 9th December 2023: https://www.parkrun.org.uk/perth/.
Lots more information is available throughout our website, where you are also very welcome to contact us with any queries or ideas: www.livingproof.org.uk."
We can't wait to work alongside this wonderful fellow charity in the future.
Other BSLM September Updates
Swiss Re: Metabolic Health Fact Sheet
Did you know that poor metabolic health is the primary cause of NCDs, which today make up over 74% of deaths globally?
This fantastic factsheet from Swiss Re on Metabolic Health gives you a deep dive into tackling your health inside out.
The Alliance Features: Some useful information
Know someone in your personal life or a patient who has Long Covid?
Do you have a special interest in Long Covid and want to keep an eye on current, up to date research?
Alliance Scotland are looking to collect the views of adults who are living with Long Covid, or supporting someone living with Long Covid, to share their experiences of Long Covid healthcare services via a short online survey.
FEATURED BSLM EVENTS
Head to the dedicated BSLM events page for the full list of upcoming events
November Webinar
Did you come along on Tuesday 21st of November @ 7pm
Did you join us for our November Webinar? We had a fantastic insight from both our speakers on different topics that both have a wealth of knowledge on.
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.
We'll see you in January!
December is a no-webinar month, so therefore we won't be hosting one until January. We will be sad to not host for December but excited to see what we have in store for January 2024. We hope that you have a lovely festive period in the meantime!
BSLM and WONCA Webinar
Thursday the 23rd November @ 6pm GMT - Online
Lifestyle Medicine Special Interest Group of WONCA Europe together with the European Lifestyle Medicine Council (ELMC) and co-organised by BSLM had a webinar on "Beyond the Prescription Pad: Transforming Lives through Movement Medicine".
Assoc Prof Dr Özden Gökdemir talked about "The recipe for physical activity: Children and Adolescents Aged 5 to 17" while Dr Hussain Al-Zubaidi talked about "Integrating lifestyle medicine into primary care."
The webinar was on Thursday the 23rd of November at 6pm GMT, 7pm CET.
The Webinar was really well received and a fantastic insight from both of the speakers regarding physical activity and lifestyle medicine. Did you attend the Webinar? We hope you enjoyed it and learnt something new!
BSLM October Webinar is on our Website!
October's webinar is available to watch back now, thank you for your patience on this!
We hope that you can enjoy it as much as you did first time round on the replay.
Other Events
Schedule the below in your diary for the New Year!
Liz Sizer Gala Dinner, Hosted by You Okay. Doc?
Saturday 2nd of December 2023 @ 6.30pm, the historic Old Dining Hall at Queen’s College, University of Cambridge.
You Okay, Doc? Is an Aligned Organisation of ours which we support with a similar common goal as us. We're aware that Mental Health in our community for Doctors and other Clinicians is something so important right now, especially with the current rates of burnout within the medical field.
Join them for the inaugural Liz Sizer Gala Dinner, a Black Tie event of fine dining and fundraising.
Guests will be welcomed at 6:30pm with a drinks reception, followed by a three-course meal. The evening will feature a keynote speaker, a silent auction, an awards ceremony, and more, concluding around 10:30pm. Manley Hopkinson, a pioneer in compassionate leadership and global adventurer, will be our host for the evening.
All proceeds from the event will support the mental health and wellbeing of doctors and nurses. You Okay, Doc works to integrate services into trusts, deliver educational resources through podcasts and webinars, and provide support services. With your help, we have already supported over 3,000 doctors, and we aim to do even more.
Two ticket types are available: Blue Light (specifically for NHS staff) and General Admission. Please note tickets are non-refundable, and don't forget to buy early to secure your spot!
D Greengross A4D Global arts for Brain Health Changemakers Conversation - Rare Dementias
Thursday 18th January 2024 @ 4pm, Online
Innovative inclusive arts practice to combat cognitive decline and rebuild resilience in the community
More than 55 million people worldwide, 944,000 in the UK, of whom between 5% and 15% receive a diagnosis of a rare, inherited or young onset dementia. These conditions tend to occur at a younger age than Alzheimer's disease, the most common cause of dementia, and can cause symptoms that are not only memory-related. These include difficulties with vision, language, movement and behavioural changes.
Rare Dementia Support UK provides support for seven rare dementias: Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), Primary progressive aphasia (PPA), Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), Familial frontotemporal dementia (fFTD), Familial Alzheimer’s disease (FAD), Lewy body dementia (LBD), Young-onset Alzheimer’s disease (YOAD.)
As people living with Rare Dementias explained in our Young Onset Conversation in October, personal expression through creative activities, whether reviving or learning afresh, spending time in nature and with others, enables enduring sense of achievement, or hope, of connection.
This Conversation, chaired by Professor Sebastian Crutch, Professor of Neuropsychology at the Dementia Research Centre, UCL Institute of Neurology, will explain the neuroscience and present a range of research, lived experience and practice in the UK and America.
If you work in the arts for health sector, are involved in rare dementia research or practice, innovative creative ageing, dementia prevention, social prescribing, are keen to discover new paths to preserve brain health, to enable people and their loved ones from the onset of dementia to live their best lives through creativity , join us for this key online conversation between world leaders in the field.
For just £6 you can join this discussion. The event would usually be free however this is to cover the Eventbrite cost to host.
Discount code for our Members for IPM 2024 tickets is here!
6-8th June 2024 @ QEII Centre, Westminster, London UK
Integrative & Personalised Medicine Congress 2024
Join 2000+ healthcare professionals at the IPM congress, incorporating a cutting-edge conference, international exhibition and CPD approved workshops designed for medical & healthcare professionals focusing on whole-person, patient-centred care.
Taking place at the prestigious QEII Centre in the heart of London, the congress welcomes healthcare professionals representing conventional, integrative, functional, lifestyle, environmental, complementary and holistic medicine. During the three days, highly acclaimed healthcare professionals will present the latest evidence-based research and case studies during three cutting-edge conferences (Whole-person Health conference, Integrative Mental Health conference, the College of Medicine’s Food on Prescription conference).
By sharing clinical experience, knowledge and ideas, doctors, therapists and practitioners will gain a greater understanding that a multi-disciplinary team and whole-person approach can provide the patient with the best possible outcomes.
Members of the BSLM can register to attend the conference at the discounted 'members rate' using the code: BSLM-20 (20% discount off the standard price to attend). Conference prices start from £149 and workshop & exhibition prices start from just £25 per day.
Learning Academy
Pharmacist's roles are changing
This Pulse article released advises that the workload is now going to transpire onto Pharmacists, especially in England.
Pharmacies to prescribe for ‘common conditions’ from end of January
Community pharmacies across England will be able to opt in to provide a ‘common conditions’ service from 31 January – subject to the right IT support being ready."
How do you feel about this change? Are you feeling ready to deal with this influx of patients in your Pharmacy?
To make sure you're in-the-know for January, why not check out our Core Accreditation below, which can grow your knowledge and advise when you can't prescribe.
Or have you ever thought of our Core Accreditation, whether your a pharmacist or not?
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 November
NICE to assess new dementia treatments
Enhancing your emotional intelligence
Phase out smoking and tackle youth vaping
Tackling health inequalities on NHS waiting lists
Developing sustainable care markets
Email us - office@bslm.org.uk
