Time is the essential commodity nowadays as we realise that the work/life balance it crucial for both health and happiness. Life without the play factor is pretty dull, unfulfilling and deadening. Personally, I had always thought that the solution was to do everything faster, with time as my enemy, so then I would have more time for personal interests like sport, relaxation, friends and family, until I read a quote from The Universe, TUT's Adventurers Club:

"The trick to blending work and play lies not in what you do, but in how you view what you do. See work as play and see play as important - very important"

This hit me like a brick - I get it! I've always been passionate about my work and practice but even still there are always areas that you don't like doing, like your tax for instance, so rather than feeling trapped in a never-ending cycle which you can't get out of, it was to change my attitude and feeling towards it instead. It didn't change what I had to do but this simple reminder took an enormous pressure off and turned my work into enjoyment. I now have this stuck to the wall above my desk and if I ever feel myself groaning over any aspect of my business, I look at this and I feel the shift inside so it suddenly seems to become easier, certainly more fun and I get it done faster too.

Obviously this is easier said than done when you have spent years ingraining a habit or our inner critic that I like to call the “gremlin”. At the The Conscious Club the other week I heard the neuroscientist, Dr Joe Dispenza from the movie What The Bleep Do You Know? talking about breaking the habit of the mind and recreating what you want in life. As he reiterated, the key is the combination of thought and emotion which makes it so powerful. Once you have the feeling, the action follows more easily. This applies both for the positives and negatives in our lives. It creates choice between your thoughts and emotional reactions. But if you've never known what it feels like to sing from the rooftops, it can be difficult to visualise and feel the joy that would accompany this. This is where I have found the ThetaHealing comes in as a tool to retrain the brain what these feelings feel like http://www.claudettewadsworth.com.au/thetahealing/ Simply repeating any affirmation or goal is not going to get you anywhere very fast - the key is to visualise and feel like you've already achieved it now in your life!

Prioritising play is also a fairly new concept as most of us were brought up in a society where play was seen as frivolous that should be placed well after work. However, research shows that employees who work less hours to enable more free time for relaxation and families, get the job done faster and more efficiently because they're more motivated, relaxed, happier and thereby, feel more fulfilled in their jobs. Hence the saying, if you want a job done, give it to a busy person - they've got less time at the job but they actually achieve more. Interestingly, more high profile executives are putting this into practice such as Facebook's CFO Sheryl Sandberg who leaves work at 5.30pm everyday to be home for her children. 

Question whether you are taking on too much and preventing others from doing their fair share. You may be blaming them unnecessarily for not taking on more responsibility or beating yourself up for not getting everything done, although it maybe unrealistic. Be clear with your boundaries and learn to say No. Doing things you don’t want to only creates stress so change what you do or change your attitude as stress is the number cause of most health problems I see in my practice. Ask yourself these questions: What am I most grateful for in my life right now? Who do I love? Who loves me? What am I committed to in my life right now? What am I most happy about in my life right now?  What am I proud of in my life right now? What am I most excited about in my life right now? What do I enjoy most in my life right now? It does not have to take loads of time or money to have fun. Smiling and laughing occasionally is a start and helps to keep the "gremlin" at bay.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have made a surprising discovery that yoghurt boosts sexual performance of male mice and even increases the size of their testes! This was an unexpected result as they were actually studying the influence of probiotic diets on obesity. However, the yoghurt eating mice had 10x the active follicle density - giving them thicker, shiny hair, 5-15% heavier testes, faster insemination of their partners, and even developed a "male swagger" pointing their testes outwards. Females eating the yoghurt gave birth to larger litters and were more efficient at weaning their pups. Now researchers at Harvard University are studying the link between yoghurt intake and semen quality in humans with similar results. Source: The Week.

The Pill is a convenient and effective contraceptive of synthetic, powerful hormones (various combinations of oestrogen and progesterone) used to override and suppress the body’s own production of these hormones. As a result, ovulation does not occur as the ovaries are suppressed and the eggs unused. These hormones are involved in cell replication, bone density and the body’s production of other hormones, such as DHEA and testosterone.

What many women don't know are the unwanted side effects of the Pill which are more common than women realise and become accumulative in nature as most women stay on the Pill for years at a time. These include:
• Vitamin and mineral deficiencies. I advise all women taking the Pill to take a multivitamin each day but unfortunately the Pill actually affects how these are absorbed as well. Palan PR et al, American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 2006 v194:e35-e38
• Increased copper and vitamin A storage, so that there is a risk of toxicity from too much.
• Increased risk of blood clots and high blood pressure: do not smoke whilst on the Pill!
• Increased pigmentation of the skin, causing brown skin marks.
• Decreased liver clearance ability, impairing liver function, causing a build up of toxicity in the body
• Increased risks of reproductive cancers. Meta-analysis of case-control studies has found that use of oral contraceptive drugs is associated with an increased risk of premenopausal breast cancer, especially with use before first full-term pregnancy in parous women. Kahlenborn C, Modugno F, Potter DM et al. Mayo Clin Proc 2006; 81 (10): 1290-1302.
• Reactivation of the body’s production of hormones upon cessation of the Pill may be delayed or dysfunctional, causing hormonal irregularity and imbalance as well as infertility
• When used for purposes other than contraception, it does not correct the underlying causes of the hormonal dysfunction that will reemerge once the Pill is stopped.
• Increased tendency to develop vaginal infections including candida.
• Can trigger or exacerbate migraines and/or headaches.

Cautions to be aware of:
• Antibiotics, anti-epileptics, anti-fungals, vomiting, severe diarrhoea decrease its effectiveness: additional contraceptive measures should be employed during this time!
• Do not smoke whilst on the OCP as blood clotting is increased significantly by both the Pill and smoking. Spontaneous, fatal heart attacks and strokes of seemingly healthy women in their 20-30 years have been reported when using both drugs.

FemCap

A women's hormone-free, safe, effective and easy-to-use contraceptive that actually works! FemCap is a reusable, latex-free, FDA-approved contraceptive cervical cap. It’s easy to insert and remove yourself, not as bulky and more effective than a diaphragm and doesn’t need to be fitted by a gynaecologist. It’s not sold in Australia yet as our market here is so small but easily available with comprehensive notes & DVD by post.  www.femcap.com

High Cholesterol

Osteoporosis OA is caused by a depletion in bone density, called "porous bones" so that they become weak and brittle with age, resulting in fractures. However, if there are adequate nutrients to support their structure and repair as well as favourable environmental conditions for the bone formation and restructure, your bones will provide enough strength and support throughout your life. The foundations of your bones are laid down early in life but they are being constantly remodelled all the time and it is never too early to start taking preventative steps. Post-menopausal women are at higher risk of OA due to the hormone changes but there is much that can be done to prevent excessive loss if healthy changes are made early enough.

Diet & Sunshine

Vitamin D is one of the most important nutrients for bone formation. Make sure you have a blood test with your doctor to check your levels (at least 100mmol/L) as I find many clients today are deficient as they are either working inside all day, are overly conscientious in avoiding the sun or live at a latitude where there simply is not enough sunlight exposure. The Vitamin D producing UVB rays are absent all day in winter at latitudes south of 35 degree which is everything south of Canberra! Being a fat soluble vitamin, food sources include cod liver oil, butter, oily fish eg. sardines, mackerel, salmon and milk. Most people are not consuming enough though so you will need sunlight exposure everyday in the morning without sunscreen or sunglasses or to supplement. The recommended dosage is 1000 international units (IU) of vitamin D every day but if you are already deficient, then this maintenance dose will need to be increased.

Calcium sources include soups made with bones, seaweeds, full fat dairy (you need the fat to absorb the calcium properly), vegetables like kale and broccoli, almonds, tahini and oily fish mushed up with the bones eg. sardines or salmon. The recommended dosage is at least 1,000 milligrams (mg) of elemental calcium (1500mg for post-menopausal women) every day. You need other minerals as well which work with the calcium which come from a broad healthy diet with lots of vegetables and salads.

Soft drinks, especially Coke, coffee, sugar, sweeteners, diruetics, alcohol and cigarettes all leech calcium and minerals out of the body. Research shows that junk food and carbonated drinks in teenage years are a primary cause of osteoporosis.

Exercise

Weight bearing exercise is essential to deposit the minerals into the bones. This includes walking with hand weights, jogging, squats, lunges, push ups, resistance exercises, yoga but does not include swimming unfortunately! Our bodies are made to move every day so include some exercise into your daily routine with duration being more important than intensity.

Stress  

Stress hormones strip the body of vital minerals and create acidity in the body which accelerates bone demineralisation. In our stress-driven modern world, relaxation is vital for everyone. Relaxation is different to sleep and uses different brain waves. Choose a method that suits you and make a commitment to yourself to spend to spend some time every day practicing relaxation. eg. meditation, drink chamomile tea, stretching, yoga, gardening, spend time in nature, remember to breathe, counselling, massage, creativity: writing, art, cooking, singing - especially in the shower, dancing - even around the room for 10 minutes is a great release!

To boost your mental power and speed up your memory recall, include these foods in your diet:

In the 1980s, the San Antonio Heart Study examined consumers of artificially sweetened drinks who gained about 8kg/year and had greater rises in the body mass index than the controls. The weight gain correlated with dosage.
Artificial sweeteners, as they are 200 times sweeter than normal sugar, encourage sugar craving and sugar dependence. Repeated exposure trains flavour preferences.

Gout is caused by excess uric acid levels in your body forming needle-like crystals that deposit in your feet, causing pain and potential immobility. Over the past three decades there has been a 250 per cent increase in the rates of gout, which has been linked to an increased consumption of fructose-rich drinks such as soft drinks and orange juice. Women who had one 180mL serving of soft drink per day were 74 per cent more likely to develop gout than women who consumed one per month or less. Women who had 180mL of orange juice per day were 41 per cent more likely to develop gout.

Source: Journal of the American Medical Association

A new study showed that after having beetroot juice there was an increase in blood flow to white matter in the frontal lobes of the brains. These are the areas of the brain associated with dementia and loss of other mental functions. The reason beetroot juice has this effect is its high nitrate content. In your mouth, good bacteria convert nitrate to nitrite and nitrites help open up blood vessels in your body.

Source: Nitric Oxide: Biology and Biochemistry