Posted in Health and Well Being

Do you think about food, your weight and/or exercise constantly? Do you feel guilty or ashamed after you have eaten or eat differently in private than you do in front of others? If this sounds like you, you are not alone as many people do. This constant thinking or changing behaviour around food and health habits can affect your self esteem, your productivity and can even impact relationships, sleep and result in either anxiety, depression or both. For some people this thinking pattern has become so entrenched that they consider it a normal part of being them.

Over the last 15 years or so, medical research has been focusing on the incredible aspects of brain plasticity. Where as in the past we used to think it was very difficult to change our thinking and behaviour we now know that the brain changes itself on an hour by hour/ minute by minute basis- every thought can change our brain. This has lead to some incredible break throughs in psychological therapy.

Dr Kerrie Salbury has developed a special interest in weight management, emotional eating, eating disorders, body dis-satisfaction and addictive behaviours. Much of the research supports challenging our previously held thinking and adapting a Health at every size (HAES) approach. Over thinking, obsessive thinking and high internal anxiety are common in those suffering from anxiety - so developing new, effective self regulation skills is at the core of psychology to support, facilitate change and enhance lifestyle medicine for future physical and mental health.

1. Focus on your positive qualities, skills and talents. Are you funny, artistic, strong, an animal lover, a great cook, singer, writer, artist, caring, dependable?
    
2. Start saying positive things to yourself daily. Save them as screen savers, plaster them around the house. It's time to end the cycle of verbal abuse- you would talk to people you love this way.
    
3. Focus on what your body has done. For example, learnt a musical instrument, given birth, danced, played in the rain, climbed trees,  driven a car, cooked, swam, parachuted, gardened, cycled, cleaned, socialised, hugged, laughed.
    
4. Avoid making body comparisons with others.
    
5. Cleanse your social media- make a conscious decision about what you read and view. Media images can be unrealistic and only represent a minority of the population.

Is hypertension the same as high blood pressure?  Yes

Why is it important? Because if we don't treat it, it puts us at risk of damaging our internal blood vessels and risking them bursting.

The outcome of this is commonly a stroke or aneurysm. It is also a major risk factor for heart disease and micro-vascular dementia.

If you are over the age of 50 years, it is important to get your blood pressure checked yearly at the very least. The reason why you need to check it, is that high blood pressure is often associated with no symptoms. So you won't know if you have it.

It is also one of the easiest risk factors to treat.  If your are concerned about your blood pressure, or it fluctuates from time to time or you have a strong family history why not talk to Nurse - Heather about having a 24 hour blood pressure check up 03 5986-4229. This can be done if you are wanting a more accurate diagnosis or if you are on medication and want to make sure it is effective - day and night.

Talk to your GP or nurse today about your blood pressure and they can help you be pro-active about your most important gift - your health.

• MHR is Australia's national electronic health record system. 
• It provides online storage for documents and data containing information about your health.
• The information can be uploaded by you, your healthcare providers, or by Medicare.
• It is you who will decide whether to make your information available to healthcare organisations and health care practitioners.

The My Health Record system has been running for several years. In the past it required you to opt-in, the change is that you will now be automatically registered unless you 'opt-out' before 31st January, 2019.

What are the benefits of having a My Health Record?

• Your- "My Health Record" may provide an additional source of information for your doctor that was previously not available.
• A doctor that you don't see regularly will be able to access your past medical history.
• In the event of an emergency, if you are unable to provide information about your medical history, healthcare providers will be able to access your My Health Record to see your health information such as allergies, medicines and immunizations.
• It enables you to better track and manage your own health

What about your privacy?

• Your My Health Record is personally controlled by you; it's your choice who sees the information.
• You are able to track who have accessed and updated your My Health Record
• The uploaded documents in the My Health Record are set to general access for healthcare providers by default, however, you can change your access controls at any time.
• Your My Health Record can be used by The Department of Health for secondary purposes such as research, policy and planning. However, you can elect for your information not to be used for such purposes.
• Your information cannot be used non-health related purposes, this includes commercially.
• Your information cannot be provided to insurance agencies.
• You can nominate whether you wish to give access to other people such as carer's, friends or other family members.

Note: You are NOT able:

1. Alter the content of clinical documents created by a healthcare provider
2. Restrict particular healthcare providers access to your record (only able to restrict access to the health organisation as a whole)

So what next?

1. You can choose not to have a My Health Record at all (by opting out by 31st January 2019 or cancelling an existing record at any time)
2. If you choose to opt-out, you can still register for a My Health Record at a later date.
3. You have the power to instruct your healthcare provider/GP to not add particular information into your My Health Record.
4. You can set a record access code to give access only to selected health organisations.
5. You can choose to give access to a nominated representative such as a family member, close friend or carer.
6. You can remove particular documents from the record.
7. You can set up automatic notifications via an email or text to alert you when a new healthcare provider accesses your record.
8. Feel free to discuss your decision regarding your My Health Record with your GP

For further information: https://www.myhealthrecord.gov.au/

If you wish to opt-out of My Health Record: https://www.myhealthrecord.gov.au/for-you-your-family/opt-out-my-health-record

A medication only approach is not the only solution for people who are suffering with mental health issues. At Whole Medicine we offer non-invasive, evidence based alternatives that have a growing research base supporting their use.

In treating ADHD, stimulant medication has for many years been the first line choice. For many children it can be effective in managing the impulsivity and inattentiveness that is core to ADHD but only while they take it. When the medication is stopped, so too does the impact on these symptoms.  Medications have side effects that for many parents and adults have become a great concern including sleep problems, cardiac concerns, anxiety and nervousness. Sleep disorders have been found in 70-80% of ADHD sufferers, leading to concerns around the use of stimulants and their known impact on sleep.

There is a growing body of research on sleep, demonstrating the primary role it plays in maintaining our mental health and may even be the driver of conditions such as ADHD and Depression. As our understanding grows in this, more focus is shifting to treating the sleep disorder as a primary focus. Medication for sleep is not the answer and may even contribute to altering the sleep rhythm. It is for these reasons that many are seeking evidence based, alternative ways of treating their sleep and ADHD concerns.

EEG Neuro-feeback, otherwise also known as Neuro feedback therapy, is a technology based learning technique that uses a computer to give information to a person about his or her own brainwave pattern in the form of EEG activity, in order to train the person to modify his or her own brainwaves.

When the brain is not functioning properly, evidence of this usually shows up in EEG activity. EEG neurofeedback assists a person to alter his or her own brainwave characteristics by challenging the brain to learn to reorganise and function better. The EEG neurofeeback technique is a process in which subtle brainwave information is amplified and shown back to the trainee in the form of a computer game.

This treatment is backed by the American Psychological Association and has given it a top level 5 rating - "efficacious and specific" and when the treatment is finished, a further improvement in symptoms has been observed in 2 year follow up studies.

Ryan Morgan is Whole Medicine's psychologist, with additional skills in neuromodulation and nutrition.