Saving the boys

Do you remember the remarkable story about the 13 Thai boys rescued from the Tham Luang caves during the monsoon? Which part of the story do you remember? Maybe it was that they anaesthetised the boys to dive them out of the caves, delivering them, alive - incredibly - like small parcels, to safety? Did you also remember that rainwater was redirected from the caves from above to avoid further flooding and inevitable disaster? Well, I didn't remember that part - it was less exciting.

This is an example of how dealing with an issue upstream is just as important as dealing with an acute problem downstream.

Lifestyle Medicine

This week, I'm attending the sixth annual conference of the BSLM - the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine. Lifestyle Medicine is a relatively new branch of medicine in the UK but uses age-old wisdom and, quite frankly, common sense your granny already knew. But providing the evidence base and tools that we Western medics crave to implement into our professional conversations. Lifestyle medicine places the upstream problems of chronic diseases front and centre, recognising the crucial need to attend to root causes.

The 6 pillars of lifestyle medicine are nutrition, movement, substance control, sleep, social connection and mental wellbeing.

I'm a passionate advocate of lifestyle change because I believe this is where the most powerful impact for health lies for us all. We can't change the basic genetic hand that was dealt us, but with a helping hand, we can change everything else. It's where we need to place more attention.

Yoga goes Upstream

Yoga works in perfect partnership with the pillars of Lifestyle Medicine. Yoga can add physical activity into your routine; the meditative qualities of breath, focus and movement help your mind and nervous system. Practitioners cite better sleep and less stress. Some even find that over time, they drink and smoke less and eat better; as you become more aware, you treat yourself better. And we commonly practise together in a community :)

6 pillars ticked off, right there! Win win, win.