How To Plan For The Unplannable
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How To Always Follow Through
❝Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference:
Now my socks are wet.❞
~ with apologies to Robert Frost
The thing is, much like a different Robert wrote, “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley”, and when we have a plan and the unexpected occurs, we often find ourselves in a position of “well then, now what?”
This goes for New Year’s Resolutions that lasted until around January the 4th, and it goes for “xyz in a month” plans of diet, exercise, or so forth.
We’ve written before on bolstering flagging motivation when all is as expected but we just need an extra boost:
How To Keep On Keeping On… Long Term!
…but what about when the unexpected happens?
First rule: wear a belt and suspenders
Not literally, unless that’s your thing. But you might have heard this phrase from the business world, and it applies to healthful practices too:
If your primary plan fails, you need a second one already in place.
In business, we see this as “business continuity management”. For example, your writer here, I have backups for every important piece of tech I own, Internet connections from two different companies in case one goes down, and if there’s a power cut, I have everything accessible and sync’d on a fully-charged tablet so I can complete my work there if necessary. And yes, I have low-tech coffee-brewing equipment too.
In health, we should be as serious. We all learned back in 2020 that grocery stores and supply chains can fail; how do we eat healthily when all that is on sale is an assortment of random odds and ends? The answer, as we now know because hindsight really is 2020 in this case, is to keep a well-stocked pantry of healthy things with a long shelf life. Also a good stock of whatever supplements we take, and medicines, and water. And maintain them and rotate the stock!
And what of exercise? We must not rely on gyms, we can use and enjoy them sure, but we should have at least one good go-to routine for which we need nothing more than a bit of floorspace at home.
If you’re unsure where to start with that one, we strongly recommend this book that we reviewed recently:
Science of Pilates: Understand the Anatomy and Physiology to Perfect Your Practice – by Tracy Ward
Second rule: troubleshoot up front
With any given intended diet or exercise regime or other endeavor, we must ask ourselves: what could prevent me from doing this? Set a timer for at least 10 minutes, and write down as many things as possible. Then plan for those.
You can read a bit more about some of this here, the below article was written about facing depression and anxiety, but if you can enact your plans when unmotivated and fearful, then you will surely be able to enact them when not, so this information is good anyway:
When You Know What You “Should” Do (But Knowing Isn’t The Problem)
Third rule: don’t err the same way twice
We all screw up sometimes. To err is, indeed, human. So to errantly eat the wrong food, or do so at the wrong time, or miss a day’s exercise session etc, these things happen.
Just, don’t let it happen twice.
Once is an outlier; twice is starting to look like a pattern.
How To Break Out Of Cycles Of Self-Sabotage, And Stop Making The Same Mistakes
Enjoy!
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6 Ways To Look After Your Back
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Back To Back
When people think about looking after their back, often thought does not go much further than sitting with good posture, and perhaps even standing with good posture. And those things are important, but:
1) People’s efforts to have good posture often result in overcorrecting creating an anterior pelvic tilt that causes lower back problems.
Quick tip: if you’re sticking your butt out, you’re doing it wrong (no matter how great your butt is). Instead, to find the correct posture, go up on your tip-toes for a moment, then imagine a plumb-line down the center of your body, thus perpendicular to the floor, going all the way down to the ground. Now, slowly return your heels to the ground, but as you do so, keep your spine aligned to the plumb-line, so you’re not moving backwards as you drop, just directly down. This will land you in perfect posture.
Unless you have scoliosis. In which case, it’ll get you as close to good posture as is likely attainable from any quick tip.
2) There’s a lot more to looking after our back than just good posture!
Here are 5 other important things to do:
Be strong
Do strength-training for your back. How to do that is beyond the scope of today’s feature, but there are many good guides and also personal trainers that can be found.
Start off easy and work up, but do start. The stronger your back is, the less likely a momentary lapse in concentration is to throw out your back because you picked something up with imperfect form.
See also: Resistance Is Useful! (Especially As We Get Older)
Stretch intentionally
Many back injuries occur as a result of stretching and/or twisting awkwardly, so if you ensure your basic mobility and range of motion is good, the less likely it is that unthinkingly twisting around 270° to see where that wasp was going will slip a disk.
The more you stretch intentionally (carefully, please), the more you will be able to stretch unintentionally without injury.
See also: Building & Maintaining Mobility
Stand when you can, walk when you can
We humans have outrun our evolution in a lot of ways, and/but one thing our bodies are definitely not well-adapted for is sitting. Unless we are sitting in a low squat the way you might often see an orang-utan sitting, sitting is not a good way of being for us. Even sitting seiza-style or cross-legged is passable for a short while, not for too long.
So, while there sure are times we need to sit (especially if you’re driving!) minimizing those times is ideal. There are a lot of activities that are traditionally done sitting, where there’s no need for it to be so. For example, your writer here sits for the day’s main meal, but takes any smaller meal standing (and when guests visit for a coffee or such, I’ll offer them the couch while I myself prop up the fireplace). Standing desks are also great if you spend a lot of time at the computer for any reason.
See also: The Doctor Who Wants Us To Exercise Less & Move More
Rest when you need to
You can’t stand all the time! But know this: if you want to rest your legs, lying down is a lot better for your back (and internal organs) than sitting.
Taking a 5 minute break lying on your couch, or bed, or floor, is a perfectly good option and only social convention says otherwise.
If you want a compromise option, though? A recliner chair, in the reclined position, is a better for your back than being scrunched up in the Economy Class Flight position.
PS: About that bed situation…
What Mattress Is Best, By Science?
Kill pain before it kills you
Painkillers aren’t great for the health per se, but pain (or rather, our bodily responses to such) can be worse. Half the time, when it comes to musculoskeletal problems, things get a lot worse a lot more quickly because of how we overcompensate due to the pain. So, take your pain seriously, and remember, the right amount of pain is zero.
If you’re thinking “but pain relief option xyz isn’t good for me”, we strongly recommend checking out:
The 7 Approaches To Pain Management
Take care!
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25 Healthy Habits That Will Change Your Life
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Cori Lefkowith, of “Redefining Strength” and “Strong At Every Age” fame, has compiled a list of the simple habits that make a big difference, and here they are!
The Tips
Her recommendations include…
- The healthy activities you’re most prone to skipping? Do those first
- Create staple meals… Consciously! This means: instead of getting into a rut of cooking the same few things in rotation because it’s what you have the ingredients in for, consciously and deliberately make a list of at least 7 meals that, between them, constitute a healthy balanced diet, and choose to make them your staples. That doesn’t mean don’t eat anything else (indeed, variety is good!) but having a robust collection of healthy staples to fall back on will help you avoid falling into unhealthy eating traps.
- Schedule time for healthy activities that you love. Instead of thinking “it would be nice to…”, actually figure out a timeslot, plan in advance, making it recurring, and do it!
- Have (healthy!) no-spoil food options always available. No-spoil doesn’t have to mean “won’t spoil ever”, but does mean at least that it has a long shelf-life. Nuts are a good example, assuming you’re not allergic. Sundried fruits are good too; not nearly as good as fresh fruit, but a lot better than some random processed snack because it’s what in. If you eat fish, then see if you can get dried fish in; it’s high in protein and keeps for a very long time indeed.
- Stock up on spices! Not only do they all have great health-giving properties (at least, we can’t think of a refutation by counterexample, Arrakis be damned), but also, they literally spice up our culinary repertoire, and bring joy to cooking and eating healthy food.
If you like these, check out the rest:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically
Further reading
For more about actually making habits stick quickly and reliably,enjoy:
How To Really Pick Up (And Keep!) Those Habits
Take care!
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Can kids overdose on melatonin gummies? Yes, and an online store has suspended sales
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US-based online store iHerb has suspended sales of melatonin gummies to Australia. This comes after a rise in reports of non-fatal overdoses in Western Australia in children who took these popular supplements.
This latest move raises fresh concerns about the safety of these non-prescription sleep aids.
I have been a sleep researcher and a psychologist treating children with behavioural sleep problems for more than 20 years.
Here’s what’s great and not so great about using melatonin to help children sleep.
Vitaliia Hryshchenko/Getty What is melatonin? Who uses it?
Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone secreted in our brains. Its main function is to make us feel sleepy. A synthetic version is used in prescription and non-prescription products, for adults and for children who have trouble sleeping.
Melatonin prescriptions for children and adolescents with sleep difficulties have increased substantially around the world in recent years.
Melatonin available on prescription is an effective and relatively safe drug in children, particularly those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder. It is now the most commonly prescribed drug to treat insomnia in children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders.
These children commonly have considerable difficulties getting to sleep, or getting back to sleep when they wake in the night. This can be distressing for the child and the whole family.
Guidelines for melatonin for these children suggest a low dose and only using it for a maximum two years. Melatonin does not appear to be addictive. So it seems like a good option for these families.
A rise in wider use
Up to one in four children have behavioural sleep problems, including children who are not neurodivergent, or who are developing typically.
So parents have turned to sourcing non-prescription melatonin, including melatonin gummies.
However, unlike for neurodivergent children, there are no scientific studies and therefore no evidence to demonstrate whether melatonin would work or pose a risk in typically developing children. There’s certainly no indication of how much children should take and for how long.
So melatonin is not usually recommended for children who are not neurodivergent.
Yet, it is widely available
In many countries including Australia, melatonin is classified as a pharmaceutical product. In Australia, the Therapeutic Goods Administration approves paediatric use for children with ADHD, autism and Smith-Magenis syndrome, and only on prescription.
In other countries, notably the United States, melatonin is categorised as a dietary supplement and is thought to be natural and safe. As such it is less tightly regulated than a pharmaceutical product.
As it’s available online, parents in countries with tighter restrictions, including Australia, can buy child-friendly melatonin gummies from the US, for example, and have it shipped. They can do this without a prescription or medical guidance.
Are melatonin gummies safe?
Accessing these gummies online for children without a prescription is at best concerning and at worst dangerous.
We don’t know how much melatonin is in these gummies. Studies show levels vary between brands of melatonin supplements and within the same brand. Melatonin levels range from practically zero to four times more than the amount stated on the label.
Some products also contained serotonin, which is concerning as this can interact with melatonin, and also affect a child’s mood.
There are also few studies on the long-term effects of taking melatonin, or what is a safe dose. So the risk of overdose is a real concern. Symptoms depend on many factors, including the age of the child. Symptoms include significant nausea, excessive sleepiness and migraine. The potential effects on other body systems and hormones have not been studied.
There have been deaths and hospital visits associated with the use of melatonin gummies in the US. There have been seven deaths in young children where the link to gummies has been suspected but not substantiated.
In Australia, there has been reports of a rise in queries about gummie overdoses to a poisons hotline.
There’s also the risk of toxicity with melatonin use. But there’s much we don’t know about how this happens, over what time frame, or its effects. Labels don’t always reflect what’s in the product so we don’t know if toxicity in children relates to those who have taken what’s recommended on the packet, or who have taken too many gummies by accident.
Melatonin gummies look like lollies. What child would not love to eat as many lollies as they can?
If you think your child has eaten too many gummies, they need emergency care.
So what are parents to do?
Sleep difficulties can be extremely distressing for the child and the whole family. But we need to treat melatonin with care. Buying melatonin gummies online is not the answer, despite many parents thinking they are safe and natural.
A medical professional can assess if a melatonin prescription is right for your child. They will also support you by recommending behavioural sleep strategies we know work, are sustainable and safe.
If you’d like support for your child’s sleep problems you can visit your GP and/or search for a trained sleep psychologist via the Australasian Sleep Association.
Sarah Blunden, Professor and Head of Paediatric Sleep Research, CQUniversity Australia
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Get Well, Stay Well – by Dr. Gemma Newman
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Dr. Gemma Newman is a GP (British equivalent of what in America is called a “family doctor”) who realized she was functioning great as a diagnostic flowchart interpreter and pill dispensary, but not actually doing much of what she got into the job to do: helping people.
Her patients were getting plenty of treatments, but not getting better. Often, they were getting worse. And she knew why: they come in for treatment for one medical problem, when they have six and a half medical problems probably a stack of non-medical problems that contributed to them,
So, this book sets out to do what she tries to do in her office, but often doesn’t have the time: treat the whole person.
In it, she details what areas of life to look at, what things are most likely to contribute to wellness/unwellness (be those things completely in your power or not), and how to—bit by bit—make all the parts better, and keep them that way.
The writing style is conversational, and while it’s heavily informed by her professional competence, there’s no arcane science here; it’s more about the system of bringing everything together harmoniously.
Bottom line: if you think there’s more to wellness than can be represented on an annual physicals chart, then this is the book to help you get/keep on top of things.
Click here to check out Get Well, Stay Well, and do just that!
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How Vitamin D May Help Protect Against Diabetes
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…and other items from this week’s health science news:
D vs D
Vitamin D may help protect you from diabetes… Or it may not. The science is clear on this!
In other words: the data (with a large amount of data analysis and a RCT with 2,098 people with prediabetes) is clear about the effect in general, and what that science says, is that whether or not it helps you as an individual, will depend on your genes.
Specifically:
- Participants with the AA variation of the vitamin D receptor gene showed no meaningful response when taking 4,000 IU of vitamin D daily compared with a placebo.
- Participants with AC or CC in the the vitamin D receptor gene had a 19% lower risk of developing diabetes when taking 4,000 IU of vitamin D daily compared with a placebo.
Why the genetic variation matters: vitamin D must bind to the vitamin D receptor to work in your body, and differences in this receptor—particularly in insulin-producing cells in your pancreas—will affect how well vitamin D helps regulate blood sugar.
So, this one’s a case for personalized prevention, where a simple genetic test could identify who is likely to benefit from higher vitamin D intake.
Read in full: Vitamin D may help prevent diabetes
Related: The Real Benefit Of Genetic Testing
Relighting the brain’s fire for happiness
Researchers (Dr. Alice Meuret et al.) have found that a therapy that directly targets lost pleasure (anhedonia*) improves depression and anxiety more than standard treatments that mainly reduce negative emotions.
*It’s not just about pleasure in the sense most might speak of such, though; anhedonia is the reduced or absent ability to feel positive emotions in general. It affects nearly all people with depression, and is strongly linked to worse outcomes, relapse, and suicidal risk.
The problem with standard therapies: most treatments focus on reducing sadness, fear, or distress, but largely ignore rebuilding positive emotions—even though patients often see that as their main goal.
Positive Affect Treatment (PAT), in contrast, is a 15-session psychotherapy designed to restore joy, motivation, meaning, and reward sensitivity. Specifically, it targets the brain’s reward system by encouraging engagement in meaningful activities, shifting attention towards positive experiences, and practising gratitude, savoring, and compassion-based exercises.
As for how well it works: the RCT of 98 adults with severe anhedonia, depression, and anxiety compared PAT to a conventional therapy focused on negative emotions. The results? PAT produced greater overall clinical improvement, including reductions in both depression and anxiety, even though it never directly targeted negative emotions.
Read in full: Targeting lost pleasure lifts depression and anxiety more than standard therapy, new study finds
Related: Behavioral Activation Against Depression & Anxiety
Allergy season feeling different this year?
Due to climate change, pollen seasons are starting earlier, lasting longer, and even overlapping. because of warmer temperatures and higher CO₂, which keeps your immune system in overdrive for longer and leads to more intense symptoms.
Air pollution (which is getting steadily worse in the US and likely many other places too) can also alter pollen particles, making them more irritating to your airways and increasing inflammation.
Children’s symptoms are easy to miss: kids may show allergies through mouth breathing, fatigue, irritability, sleep issues, ear infections, or dark circles under your eyes rather than clearly describing symptoms.
A very common mistake (regardless of age), is starting treatment too late, and/or using medication only when symptoms become onerous, but by this time, your immune system has already been overworked, and taking anti-allergy meds now won’t mean the already-in-progress war in your body suddenly stops instantly.
So instead, you might consider starting allergy medication before symptoms peak, and then taking it consistently for a few weeks (even if the symptoms stop, because that is what the meds are for!), to prevent your immune response from ramping up.
Read in full: Are you managing your allergies the wrong way?
Related: Antihistamines’ Generation Gap
Take care!
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What is psychosocial therapy? And why is the government thinking about adding it to Medicare for kids?
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The government is considering new, bulk-billed health checks for three-year-olds, to pick up developmental concerns and refer kids that might need additional support.
The detail was buried in the announcement of the new “Thriving Kids” program which aims to provide foundational support for autistic children and those with developmental concerns.
The government announced it is also considering creating new Medicare items to provide for children that health checks identify as needing additional support. These would be provided by allied health practitioners and include speech pathology and occupational therapy, but also a type of therapy you might be less familiar with: psychosocial therapy.
So, what is psychosocial therapy? Health and disability minister Mark Butler said it will support social and emotional functioning.
Let’s take a look at what psychosocial therapy is, which children might benefit from it, and the evidence for offering these kinds of support.
Catherine Delahaye/Getty Developmental milestones
Brain development in the first five years of life is faster than at any other point in a human’s life. We can measure this rapid growth against developmental milestones. These are key indicators parents can use to respond to their child’s changing needs, and can be observed across motor, language, speech, behavioural, and emotional skills.
The way a child develops involves a dynamic series of processes that are a complex interplay of genetics and environmental factors. So there are natural variations between children in the timing of these developments.
There are guides for roughly expected age ranges we would generally expect certain skills to emerge.
Examples of these early milestones include seeking connection with trusted caregivers, crawling, jumping, counting and communicating. These all emerge by the time children are around two years old.
When parents, early childhood educators or health professionals identify an unmet need that is delaying the child’s development, it can indicate the need for supportive services, including psychosocial therapy.
What is psychosocial therapy?
Psychosocial therapies are treatments that focus on the psychological factors (emotions, thoughts and behaviours) and social factors (relationships, community and environmental) that affect a person’s wellbeing and mental health.
For example, for a three-year-old who is anxious at daycare drop-off, changing social interactions with educators or adjusting the physical environment may help reduce their anxiety.
By definition, psychosocial supports consider both the child and their environment – their family and their community. This is sometimes called a nested wellbeing approach.
There is good evidence that psychosocial therapies are effective and are considered best practice treatment for health professionals working with children.
These are sometimes called biopsychosocial therapies as they recognise the interaction of biological factors, such as genetics, as well as psychological and social factors that impact the child’s development.
Approaches that are suitable for very young children involve their family or caregivers. For instance, behavioural family therapy and parent training are programs that teach parents effective strategies to manage children’s behaviour and improve parent-child relationships.
These would be delivered by psychologists and/or occupational therapists.
For older children, psychosocial support could include cognitive behaviour therapy (which focuses on reframing thinking and behaviour) and interpersonal therapy (which focuses on improving relationships with others to alleviate mental health symptoms).
The evidence for psychosocial therapies
Psychosocial supports are not new to Medicare and are already part of the allied health items for those eligible disabilities, such as autism or other neurodevelopment conditions, such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
For young children, there is good evidence that early psychosocial interventions (like those above) can lead to significant improvements. These include improvements in developmental delays and behaviour, and self-regulation and executive functioning.
The evidence shows that early psychosocial supports work when parents are also supported to facilitate responsive caregiving that is “good enough” (not perfect).
In some instances, this might include training and education for parents to better understand their child’s cues and preferences. In other instances, it might look like practical caregiver supports, such as in-home support, peer support or help navigating care options.
The evidence shows if young children need more targeted and tailored support, including parents and caregivers in these interventions lead to the best outcomes for children, family and community wellbeing.
However, in the current discussion about new supports and NDIS, early intervention should not be seen as a substitute or alternative for ongoing disability support. Some people may continue to need support for day-to-day living in later childhood and as adults.
Shawna Mastro Campbell, Assistant Professor in Clinical Psychology, Bond University and Susan Rowe, Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology, Bond University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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