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HEALTH&HABITAT

Aug/Sept 2011 www.esb.ie/em

GET ACTIVE FOR A HEALTHY HEART

Regular physical activity is one of the main factors that reduces your risk of heart attack, along with not smoking and having a healthy blood pressure level and cholesterol level.

HEALTH SERVICES UPDATE

BEING ACTIVE IS the one factor that you can influence and change yourself without medication or treatment, and usually with very little cost.

Being active:

• Keeps your heart strong
• Helps to manage your weight
• Keeps joints moving
• Strengthens muscles and bones
• Helps you to relax and sleep better
• Gives you more energy and zest for life
• Helps you recover after a heart attack
• Gives you a feeling of well-being.

How much activity?

All it takes is about 30 minutes of aerobic activity most days, such as brisk walking, swimming or dancing. you can include household tasks such as cleaning the house and gardening. Build up to 30 minutes of activity over two to three shorter sessions if you prefer, for example 1 or 2 x 10 minutes walking and 1 x 20 minutes gardening.

To get started, try and be more active at home and at work each day. You will be surprised how a walk to the shops and some gardening can add up to 30 minutes of activity in your day.

At home

• Give the car a rest
• Walk or cycle to the shops, bank and church
• Walk the dog or take the family for a walk
• Tackle housework - sweep, scrub, and vacuum. In the garden - rake leaves, pull weeds and mow the lawn
• Play active games with your children, for example hide and seek, follow the leader and ball games

When doing gardening or housework, take good care of your back and avoid overusing any one muscle group. Change from one activity to another every 15 to 20 minutes.

At work

• Cycle or walk at least some of the way to work
• Walk during your lunch break
• Stretch at the desk
• Move about during the day
• Climb the stairs

At leisure

• Share some of the activities with a friend or partner
• Check out sports clubs and exercise classes
• Find out about local activities from the health promotion department in your local health board
• Look out for your nearest Slí na Sláinte Route.

Now get fit

Now that you are including regular physical activity in your weekly schedule, you can start to get fit. Most people just need to be fit for life, rather than to be as fit as an athlete.

To be fit for life, follow the ‘FITT’ formula.

FREQUENCY - You are now active most days of the week. To get fit, include at least three sessions of continuous activity for 30 minutes.

INTENSITY - Increase your pace to a moderate level so that: you are breathing a little deeper and faster (but not out of breath); your heart is beating a little faster than normal; and you are sweating a little (but not profusely).

You do not have to exercise so much that you start to feel dizzy or faint, or that you are in pain. This could be a danger to your health.

TIME Gradually extend the length of your continuous physical activity sessions from 20 to 40 minutes.

TYPE - Any activity is good for you. For best results, include aerobic activity as well as strengthening and stretching exercises.

Guidelines for being active

• Be physically active every day. Choose an activity that you enjoy and makes you feel good.
• Take part in activities that get the whole body moving, for example walking, swimming, dancing, jogging and cycling.
• Warm up at the beginning and cool down towards the end.
• Try to build up 30 minutes or more of physical activity on most days of the week. Include exercises which strengthen muscles in the tummy and lower-back area.
• Listen to your body - stop exercising if you feel unwell, have pain or feel dizzy.
• Consult your doctor before exercising if you are unsure or have a health problem

Adapted from the Irish Heart Foundation

For further information see: www.irishheart.ie

YOU ARE NOT ALONE

EAP NOTICEBOARD

The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) is a free, confidential, independent and non-judgemental service for people in debt or at risk of getting into debt. It is a national service funded by the Department of Social Protection.

NOT BEING IN control of your finances can be a difficult, lonely and sometimes desperate, place to be. Money difficulties can affect people’s health and overall well-being. The MABS experience is that financial difficulties can affect everyone from high-income earners to people on low incomes, so if you are worried about money you are not alone.

People often seek the help of MABS when:

• There are extra bills to pay because something has happened, such as illness in the family, separation, bereavement or an accident
• There is no money left over to pay everyday bills
• The money coming into the household is less than it used to be and loan repayments have fallen behind
• They have been living on a low income for a long time and are getting further and further behind because of the cost of medicines, childcare, travel or rent etc.

MABS is there to, in a non-judgemental and confidential setting, assist people to regain control of their finances by putting in place with them an affordable and sustainable budget.

The service is there to work with the person:

• In making out a budget and establishing priorities
• Researching their rights and entitlements
• Contacting and negotiating with creditors on their behalf if necessary
• Establishing affordable offers to creditors
• Setting up appropriate payment systems
• Monitoring, if required, new budgeting arrangements.

The MABS website has valuable information on budgeting and dealing with debt. It is designed to help people help themselves in over indebted situations or with budgeting. It contains a tried and tested four-step approach to money problems based on assessing your situation, budgeting, dealing with debts and making payments. It contains tools that can be used to put your finances in order, such as sample letters to creditors, budget sheets, a spending diary, negotiating tips, etc. (It also contains contact details for local MABS services nationwide.)

The Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) is a confidential service provided to ESB Staff and Pensioners.

For further information on this or any related matter contact your local EAP Officer. or MABS
Helpline number: 1890 28 34 38.
Local Offices: MABS have a network of over 50 offices nationwide.
Website:www.mabs.ie

NO SUGAR ON THE PLATE

MIRIAM MCDONALD

NATURAL HEALTH

The Food Pyramid has been replaced by the more practical Food Plate. The Food Plate, stresses a high intake of fruit and vegetables with lesser amounts of grains and protein and only a very small amount of dairy. It contains no sugar.

Sugar is an ‘empty calorie’, which means it has no additional nutritional value. It is found in a wide range of foods, including bread, cakes, ice-cream, salad dressings, ketchup, processed cheese, many yogurts and dairy based desserts and some microwaveable meals. Sugar consumption has been shown to contribute to weight gain and illness. In fact, it is believed that sugar consumption is a bigger contributor to health problems than fat consumption.

A major source of sugar is sugar-sweetened drinks. With approximately nine teaspoons of sugar per 365ml can, these types of drinks pack a lot of calories and almost a third of young people drink two or more cans per day. And don’t be fooled by so called healthy drinks – sports drinks and many concentrated fruit drinks or fruit-flavoured drinks also have significant amounts of sugar, as do alcoholic drinks.

The problem with sugar-sweetened drinks and alcohol is that many people do not recognise they are consuming calories. Because the sugar is dissolved it doesn’t give you the same feeling of fullness that would normally tell you to stop eating. In fact, there is some research to show that drinking sugary drinks actually increases appetite (particularly for similar high-carbohydrate foods) resulting in higher calorie consumption. Research has also shown that drinking one or two sugary drinks per day increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Eating an otherwise healthy diet only slightly reduces your risk. A recent study also found that reducing your intake of sweetened drinks can also significantly reduce high blood pressure.

Artificially sweetened drinks are, unfortunately no better. While they are lower in calories they seem to create a disassociation in the brain between sweet taste and calorie intake. No formal trials have been conducted on humans, but a number of studies have identified this disassociation resulting in increased calorie intake and body weight. Lenoir et al also found that rats given a choice of intravenous cocaine or an oral saccharine solution, selected the saccharine, which would indicate that it may be potentially more addictive than cocaine!

Ireland’s obesity rate has risen by 30% in the last four years. Much of this is due to increased sugar intake. Eliminating sugary drinks and other sugars is the first step in managing your health.

Miriam McDonald is a Nutritional Consultant & Practitioner (CANNP). She can be contacted at miriam.mcdonald@freshperceptions.com