How many of us are looking at screens right up until bedtime? I know I often do although I do feel better when I am doing other things- it can be a way to wind down and relax to some extent. However, it can negatively affect sleep, as even electric lights at nighttime can and does impact the length and quality of our sleep.

If we are stressed during the day, we are far less likely to have deep, fulfilling, sufficient sleep at nighttime. A stressed mind leads to a stressed body, and a stressed body doesn’t easily rest. It is stuck ‘on’ in a survival mode…it senses there is danger and it needs to stay alert…..

We tend to live inside a lot, and this can disconnect us from having healthy circadian rhythms, which can lead to sleep issues, and/or waking up issues. I consider light to be an essential nutrient, something that goes far beyond the Vitamin D you can get in a bottle.

One of the reasons we can wake up during the night or early morning in particular, and struggle to get back to sleep, is because of a blood sugar drop i.e. we actually get hungry. When our blood sugar drops, the body will release adrenaline which helps mobilise stored glucose from the liver, called glycogen.

Of course, that adrenaline is not very helpful to our sleep. We then feel "wired but tired".

The currently popular low carb and intermittent fasting movements can both contribute to this issue…..

I find most of the women I work with need to hear and appreciate hearing me say things like:

Looking after kids is already a full time job- then you do paid work as well? It’s a lot you are managing, no wonder you are tired/exhausted etc

Women’s work doesn’t tend to be recognised or acknowledged, so we feel we have to do more and more...but look at everything you are doing.....

As women, mothers and/or wives, we tend to look after all the details of the family life and schedule, often including our husband/partner’s details. There is so much detail to keep track of in today’s world!

It’s ok to take time out just for you- the family revolves around you being ok, so take time to take care of you!……..

"If you can accept your body, then you have a chance to see your body as your home. You can rest in your body, settle in, relax, and feel joy and ease. If you don't accept your body and your mind, you can't be at home with yourself. You have to accept yourself as you are. This is a very important practice. As you practice building a home in yourself, you become more and more beautiful." Thich Nhat Hahn

As women we have a tendency to wake up in the morning and look at our tummies in the mirror and see how our weight is going today. We do it subconsciously, as if our weight is an indicator of how WE are doing.

But it’s a terrible indicator.

Our weight does not indicate our innate self worth to any degree, whatsoever.

And it doesn’t necessarily indicate our state of health either.

78% of women of a healthy weight are dissatisfied with their physical appearance. Wow.

Imagine if all that energy that goes into self judgement and criticism, and trying to meet unrealistic goals of our appearance, instead went into creativity, self kindness, an ability to laugh and accept ourselves, into feeding our bodies good food and treating ourselves with deep respect. Into treating ourselves with the same love we would a friend or a child.

I find that many people struggle with self-care. There is an epidemic of exhausted women with extreme fatigue, hormonal imbalances, upset tummies and chronic autoimmune or viral diseases.

These women (and sometimes men) have tried to juggle many roles, to totally love and care for our loved ones, to keep house, serve good food, earn money, maintain social lives and save the planet as well.

But we were never built to be superwomen- we do have limits…..

I have been reading about cancer screening and overdiagnosis a few times lately. For every 200 women getting mammograms, one will have her life saved..and three will receive chemo/radiation/surgery unecessarily. The cancer would never have been life threatening.

There is so much we still don’t know about treating cancer, and which ones might need treating. So there is some personal responsibility and risk involved even in deciding to do the screening tests. Many are non- invasive, like the free bowel cancer tests for older Australians- I recommend them. Nothing to lose…..

Lifestyle medicine" has become a popular term, and that's a good thing for everyone, because the focus in medicine does need to change. Naturopaths have been promoting lifestyle medicine for well over 100 years, and it's still a core part of what we do. We focus on prevention and on treating the cause of illness- and lifestyle is often the cause, or a part of the cause.

Have you heard that weight loss diets don’t work, but only 95 % of the time? Its true- statistically, they actually pretty much all backfire long term.  But because they all tend to work in the short term, dieting is a perfect way to make women feel inadequate and guilty for not being strong willed enough to continue. Dieting has also caused so many women to have eating disorders that these have become normalised. Do we even remember what it is like to eat ‘normally’, as we did as kids (if we were lucky)?

Some of the preventable risk factors for disease in Australia are: 

Smoking represents 9% of the total disease burden in Australia, more than any other single risk factor. Just under 15% of Australians smoke daily, more men than women, and these rates are fortunately decreasing. Smoking is more common amongst the disadvantaged than the affluent. It is associated with several cancers and many other conditions. ………

Have you been told you have Adrenal Fatigue? The term "adrenal fatigue" is probably not an accurate way to describe the symptoms it is referring to. And this term is criticised by the medical profession and is not a medical term or diagnosis.

However, fatigue is real. The term "adrenal fatigue" usually refers to the deep exhaustion and often associated physical symptoms, after a period of stress and/or trauma. Some people just cannot function normally or are even bedridden, just from fatigue.

We have been messing with the microbiome on the planet for at least the last hundred years, with antibiotics, antiseptics, pesticides, fungicides and an attitude of annihilation. Now, relatively unknown species, once no threat, are rising as a major threat (drug resistant) because what used to hold them in check - other species of microbes - have been wiped out with powerful pesticides, fungicides & antibacterial products. ……..