Physical health

This week marks Men’s Health Week (MHW) which presents an important opportunity to encourage men to be more open about their mental and physical health and seek support where necessary. For 2022, the theme is 'MISSION: isPOSSIBLE' and the message to everyone is ‘The Action Starts with You’. However, there are barriers that can get in the way of keeping our body and mind healthy, especially for men. It is important to recognise what prevents men from seeking help and support when it comes to their health. To mark MHW, the Thrive Wellbeing Hub explores these barriers and shares simple but effective steps to keeping healthy both physically and mentally. Knowledge & Awareness Although men are not a homogenous group, there are similarities when it comes to awareness and knowledge of health issues compared to females. Men are prone to engage in more unhealthy habits compared to females. Females have a higher life expectancy than males, males tend to have higher rates of obesity, a greater proportion of males smoke, and there is higher participation in binge drinking and drug use. Poor lifestyles are responsible for a large proportion of chronic diseases. The four main causes of death among males in Ireland are cancer, circulatory system diseases, respiratory system diseases, and external causes of injury and poisoning. It is suggested that men tend to be less informed about the risk factors, causation and symptoms of poor health and certain diseases. This lack of knowledge and awareness may prevent men from seeking help as they are simply unaware of the symptoms surrounding certain illnesses. Therefore, it is important for us to educate ourselves on the signs and symptoms of poor health. Perception As outlined above, men tend to adopt unhealthier behaviours and are at greater risk for all leading causes of death. However, men are less likely to consult or visit a health professional compared to women and perception is a significant barrier to males engaging in health-seeking behaviours. This is where the severity of a health concern is underestimated or brushed off as nothing serious. Late presentation to health services is a cause for concern and can lead to health issues worsening or becoming untreatable. It's important to take action as soon as you notice something isn't quite right. Stigma Gender roles and the construct of masculinity have been cited as a barrier to men looking after their health, especially when it comes to mental health. These views associated with masculinity can result in men being more reluctant to speak out on mental health issues or engage in help-seeking behaviour for fear of being seen as weak or not embodying the traditional and frankly outdated attributes of what is considered masculine. This stigma allows for men’s mental health needs to often fly under the radar. This is evident in the high suicide rates of males in Ireland. Of the 390 people who died by suicide in 2019, 300 of them were male. Thankfully, this ideology is shifting, and men’s attitudes and awareness of mental health are changing. Being honest and open with yourself about how you are feeling and communicating this to loved ones or a mental health professional is so important. Proactive Steps Men and those who support them have an active role to play in encouraging and supporting men to take small steps to be proactive in both their physical and mental health. With this year, MHW message being ‘the action starts with you’, let’s challenge ourselves to take action and incorporate small changes to help improve our overall health: Eat well Exercise and spend time outdoors Reduce alcohol intake Know the signs of poor mental health, suicidal ideations, and other health conditions Schedule a medical, arrange a blood test and engage in screening services and programmes Talk and Listen – Confide in a loved one or someone impartial, ask if everything is okay, listen and help empower the men in our lives to take action If you are struggling with your mental or emotional wellbeing, Thrive can help you on your journey to better health. For wellbeing advice, contact the team by email at: thrive@charteredaccountants.ie or by phone: (+353) 86 0243294.

A life that is full of happiness, vibrancy, and vitality is something we all hope for and strive to achieve. But what does a life of vitality actually entail? Vitality is defined as the state of being strong and active, being full of life and energy. It is the exuberance of physical, mental, and emotional strength. It is about the feeling of aliveness- living life to the fullest and finding zest in every situation. Ahead of Thrive’s upcoming wellness webinar, Living with Vitality: The Science of Self-Care, the wellbeing team shares its tips for living a life full of vitality. Our vitality for life is of critical importance and is something that correlates with good wellbeing and is a contributor to our overall happiness and wellness. Increased vitality can help boost our productivity, help build better coping skills and enhance our ability to manage and navigate our emotions. Self-care for improved vitality Self-care may seem like a trendy term these days, but when you invest in and make time for yourself, it can translate into feeling better about yourself. Self-care is often misunderstood but it essentially means checking in with yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Self-care looks different to everyone. It is important to focus and identify what activities are fulfilling to you and make you feel good. It can also help ignite a spark and passion to take care of other aspects of our lives. This time for reflection and self-care can increase your propensity for a life of vitality. The need for self-compassion Self-compassion is an essential part of a lifestyle of vitality. In its most basic sense, self-compassion is being nice to yourself. The core elements of self-compassion are kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness. Self-compassionate individuals tend to care for and nurture themselves and others – making their world a better place to live. By taming your own inner critic, you can improve your relationships, wellbeing and lust for life. Being kind and compassionate can increase resilience and exuberance and strengthen the connection with yourself and others which greatly benefits us mentally, physically, and spiritually.  Mind & body nourishment Lifestyle factors such as physical activity, healthy and balanced nutrition, and good quality sleep are valuable components to good overall wellbeing but can also help us build the energy reserves needed to live with vitality. Contrary to belief, exercise actually increases our energy levels. Nurturing our bodies with the nutrients and vitamins it needs, getting proper rest and relaxation and moving our bodies allows us to experience a healthier, more positive life and allows us to perform to our best ability. Finding the positive A positive outlook or mindset is key to living with vitality. Having an optimistic outlook on life enables you to see yourself and the world from a positive, uplifting, and encouraging viewpoint. Appreciating the small moments, the beauty in life, and positive thinking are powerful ways to reduce stress and improve your wellbeing. However, it can be a struggle to maintain optimism in our day-to-day. Mediating, practicing gratitude, being present, immersing yourself in nature, and spending meaningful time with loved ones are some techniques that can help instill and engrain positivity into our lives. This in turn helps us improve our overall vitality and zest for life. Vitality is all about creating more energy and positivity in our lives. When we are energised and positive, our health improves, we feel happier and therefore lead a life that is thriving and full of vitality. Living with Vitality: The Science of Self-Care To learn more about leading a life with vitality, join the Thrive Wellbeing Hub on Wednesday 8 June at 12 pm for its upcoming wellness webinar, Living with Vitality: The Science of Self-Care, with physician and lifestyle medicine expert, Dr. Mark Rowe.  In this one-hour webinar, we explore the science of self-care, the need for self-compassion, and their role as key strategies for living a life of vitality and for burnout prevention. Dr. Mark Rowe has been a family physician for more than 25 years and is a thought leader in the areas of Lifestyle Medicine and Corporate Wellbeing. He frequently delivers events and workshops for organisations around the world. The three-time author regularly contributes to several publications where he shares his thoughts on positive health and wellbeing practices. In his most recently published book ‘The Vitality Mark’, Dr. Rowe shares practices that are proven to improve health and increase longevity. His self-development programme, VitalityMark™, supports subscribers to live with Vitality by becoming an active participant in their own wellbeing. Vitality Mark is a comprehensive self-assessment questionnaire giving an overall vitality score as well as highlighting relative strengths in separate aspects of your vitality – emotion, physical, mind, spirit and connections. If you would like to hear more from Dr. Rowe, you can follow his work via his newsletter. We hope you can join us for what promises to be an informative and uplifting event. Book your free place here: https://bit.ly/3LCw2wY

A good night’s sleep should not be underestimated at any time but when you are trying to delicately balance work, family, hobbies and study, it is even more important. Sleep is just as important a part of your success and health as other parts of your day like eating, exercising, studying and working. Just as you prepare and plan your study time or work time to optimise the benefits, have you thought that you might need to invest a little more in your sleep? If you do not sleep well or if you have poor quality sleep, there may be something fundamental that needs attention. If it’s ongoing it may well impact on other parts of your life in a detrimental way and this needs to be looked at. Poor sleep has been linked to wider physical and mental health implications such as diabetes, depression, obesity, high blood pressure amongst others. Not only these but our moods can deteriorate, we can get clumsier, but critically for any of us studying and working, our concentration and memory retention is lowered. A lot of our hard work may therefore be being sabotaged by our sleep cycles. Anyone who has listened to the Freakonomics podcasts may have heard two episodes of the economics of sleep. Many of those with poorer sleep patterns had lower economic and educational outcomes. These are all very tangible effects that should not be ignored. If you feel you are not sleeping properly, you can certainly try to address environmental and lifestyle factors in the first instance. It could be that you are unfortunately doing this to yourself but little changes may well improve your sleep. One of the main things to note is that mental stimulation and sleep are just not compatible. 1.       Don’t work or study in your bedroom. It’s really important to separate your leisure and relaxation space from your workspace. If you are working through course notes or a work project propped up on your pillows, you’re probably not working very productively but crucially you are blurring the lines for your mind between the two activities. You may not be able to switch off and have trouble getting to sleep or poor sleep. 2.       Keep your sleep space organised Your mind will get frazzled in a cluttered, hectic physical space. Try to do a little neaten up to make it a pleasant sanctuary at night time: hang up clothes, neaten up the piles of papers and books, have as soft lighting as possible, make your bed in the morning. That way when you walk in at bedtime, it is restful which will relax your mind. 3.       No screens! Any kind of screen in the bedroom is a no-no. The blue light in devices like television screens, tablets, smartphones and energy saving light bulbs are proven to disrupt our day-night rhythm. Effectively you are telling your body and mind that it’s daytime, activity time. To avoid temptation to tweet that witty musing at midnight, just leave all of these devices in another room. Read a book, flick through a magazine or newspaper if you need to wind down your brain after the day. And what’s more, you’ll probably really enjoy the mental retreat. 4.       Have a bedtime It’s really important to establish a rhythm. Our bodies and minds love routine. The hours between 2am and 6am are when your body is best at healing and regenerating after the rigours of the day so this is when you should really try to be asleep. Going to bed at a set time each night is a really positive way to encourage good sleep. There is an adage that an hour of sleep before midnight is worth two after, so it’s well worth trying to get to bed and lights out by 12. 5.       Have a good pre-bed routine Don’t do too much just before bed. Again, if you’re busy right before bedtime, you won’t have a lot of time to wind down before you need to be asleep, plus you might find your heart and mind racing. You might think physical exercise is a good way to get tired, but that 10km run at 10pm isn’t such a good idea. Pull it back to 8pm and your body will have time to cool and slow down. Basically before you go to bed you should try to do calm, leisurely activities: reading, TV in another room, a stroll around the block, a phone call with a friend…anything that tells your mind it’s now time to switch off. 6.       Limit fluids before bed It’s fairly obvious that what goes in must come out! Don’t drink too much just before bedtime. Avoid in particular caffeine and alcohol as they are too stimulating. 7.       Temperature and comfort The temperature and ambience of your bedroom is important: you will wake up if you are too hot or too cold, if the room is stuffy, your covers are too hot…simple changes like more comfortable pyjamas, opening the window a little to allow fresh air, a better quality duvet or even a new mattress might all be excellent investments. Good sleep will make you feel fresher, more energetic and motivated, as well as improve your mental concentration and physical health. With all these factors in place, you may be setting yourself up to perform better at work and study tasks which can lead to better professional outcomes too. As a former insomniac myself, I can attest that making the changes is well worth it. Feeling like the walking dead at work and at social functions is really not very nice. Try the small changes first and see how much better you’ll feel (and hopefully how much better you’ll do too!) Good luck and sleep tight! (If you need information about sleep clinics around Ireland, see your GP or visit http://irishsleepsociety.org/index.htm)    Amy Dawson Amy is a member of the Specialist Qualifications team at Chartered Accountants Ireland. With over ten years experience in arts administration, she has also worked in education administration providing support for distance learners. From a postgraduate diploma to an online Masters to swimming, oil painting and theatre production, she's always looking for the next learning indulgence or to help you find yours.

The Five Ways to Wellbeing was developed by the New Economics Foundation in 2008, where their project collated research from around the world on proven actions that can help us feel good. Wellbeing is a term that has gained popularity in recent years but in its simplest form it is a state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy. In a broader sense, it’s how satisfied you are with life, your sense of purpose, and how in control you feel. The framework is used globally in various ways to build more awareness on our collective wellbeing and help people take action to improve it. Each action can make a positive impact in our lives and most of us will engage with these activities without being aware of it. To get the most from the five steps, it is important to incorporate all of them on a daily basis. Why not try the five today? Connect Social connection is extremely important for our wellbeing. We are social animals, and our need for connection can help us feel happier, increase our feelings of security and safety and gives us a greater sense of belonging and purpose. Make time to connect with others each day. Nurture and invest in your relationships with loved ones.  This could be talking to someone rather than sending an email, speaking to someone new - possibly chatting to another in your local coffee shop or supermarket or taking time out to ask a loved one how they are truly feeling. Be Active Look for ways to be active each day. This doesn’t mean spending hours in the gym though; find an activity you can enjoy and try to incorporate it into your everyday life. Physical activity is intrinsically linked with lower rates of depression and anxiety. Why not take the stairs rather than the lift, go for a walk at lunch, or explore your local park – little changes can reap huge rewards. Take Notice Simply put, be in the moment. Being aware of the now can help you feel calmer and reduce stress. Take stock of what is around you and paying attention to the present – to your own thoughts, feelings and to the world around you. Keep Learning Be curious and ever learning! Continuing to learn throughout life can help boost our self-confidence and self-esteem. As adults, we can be time poor with other day-to-day responsibilities but simple activities such as learning a new recipe, getting around to that DIY project, doing a puzzle or setting yourself a new challenge can help achieve a higher level of wellbeing. Give Giving to others makes us feel good. When we give or help others, it activates parts of the brain associated with trust, social connection and pleasure. It provides a sense of meaning, improves our life satisfaction and mood, and can even reduce stress. Giving up your time to others can also help strengthen relationships or build new ones. Try to complete a small act of kindness today. Research into actions for improving happiness has shown that committing an act of kindness once a week over a six-week period is associated with an increase in wellbeing. And there you have it, the five ways to wellbeing! If you are struggling with your mental or emotional wellbeing, Thrive can help you on your journey to better emotional health. For wellbeing advice, contact the team by email at: thrive@charteredaccountants.ie or by phone: (+353) 86 0243294.

World Cancer Day is an international day marked on 4 February to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment. The global initiative aims to prevent millions of deaths each year and when it comes to a disease like cancer, the first step towards its prevention is awareness. In celebration of the day, the Thrive wellbeing team hopes to empower you with information on spotting symptoms and the simple things we can do to help move towards a cancer-free world.  Cancer In Ireland Current estimates state that almost 44,000 people in Ireland get cancer each year. Sadly, cancer is the biggest killer in Ireland today accounting for approximately 30% of deaths every year. Stark statistics show one person dies from cancer every hour in Ireland and there are over 9,000 deaths every year from cancer. The most common types of cancer are prostate, colorectal and lung cancers for males, and breast, colorectal and lung cancers for females. However, there are things we can do to prevent our risk of cancer and we now know that 4 out of 10 cancers can be prevented.  Prevention The European Code against Cancer aims to inform people about the actions they can take to reduce their risk of cancer. They produced a code based on scientific evidence that consists of 12 recommendations most people can follow to lower their risk of cancer. You can reduce your risk by 30-50% through making some simple lifestyle changes. These include: Quit smoking Avoid second-hand smoke Keep a healthy weight Stay active Eating for health Limit alcohol intake Be Sunsmart Be Aware of the Air: Protect yourself against pollutants Reduce radon risk: Radon is a naturally occurring gas found in the environment. It can increase risk of lung cancer when it is present in high levels. Women’s advice: Breastfeeding can reduce the risk of breast cancer while some HRT medication can either increase or decrease your risk. Get Vaccinations: such as HPV Get Screened: Visit https://www.screeningservice.ie/ for more information   Know the signs The early detection of cancer is imperative to increase the chances of survival. For the day that it is, take some time to check your body for changes or if you have been experiencing anything unusual. The main changes are classified into three categories: Unexplained, persistent, or unusual. Check for any lumps or swelling Unexplained bleeding Sudden/Rapid weight loss Unexplained pain Persistent cough, changes in your voice or shortness of breath Sores that won’t heal Bloating Persistent or painful indigestion/heartburn or difficulty swallowing Ulcers Changes in bowel or bladder movements New mole or changes in existing ones Any change to your breasts such as shape, size, texture or if experiencing a pain in one breast. You should talk to you doctor if you notice such changes or patterns and while the majority of times it is nothing of concern – this intervention could save your life. Supports and services Thankfully, in Ireland there are a plethora of supports and resources available to help with the prevention of cancer, cancer symptoms and supports to help cope with a cancer diagnosis. Such services and supports include: Irish Cancer Society Marie Keating Foundation HSE’s National Cancer Control Programme If you are struggling with cancer or supporting someone with a cancer diagnosis, Thrive is here to help. We are available to talk and support those in our community affected by cancer this World Cancer Day, and any other day you may need us. We would also like to remind all members, students, and their families that CA Support can assist with the financial fallout that an unexpected diagnosis like this can have. Find out more about World Cancer Day and how you can get involved here. Information & figures in this article was sourced from; HSE, Irish Cancer Society, Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), European code against cancer.

Each year in January we have Blue Monday, and it has been cited as the most depressing day of the year. Why might you ask? Well, Christmas and New Year joy has evaporated, resolutions and motivation begin to crack and wane, finances can be stretched and we find ourselves in the thick of winter.  However, it is important not to allow the concept to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The day presents an opportunity to check in with yourself, practise some self-care and learn how to look after your mental health. Perhaps it is time to retrain our brain - maybe January could be the time for new beginnings. The days start to become a little brighter and we are a step closer to Spring and Summer. There is something reassuring about the subtle change in nature in anticipation of better weather that can lift our spirits and encourage us to look to the future. Why not carve out some time for yourself and make plans or set goals to try something new. Enjoying an early morning walk Having breakfast with your kids Exploring, and appreciating, your local area Getting out in nature every day Embrace online learning Tackling that big DIY project and much-avoided clear-out Develop new gardening skills Learn to cook or bake Start to play an instrument Catch up with friends Activity/Health Now is a good time to think about your health. Being active and having a healthy heart has never been more important. A regular walk will make a big difference and there is plenty of workouts or classes online, no matter what your fitness level is. Self-care Managing our stress and anxiety levels is essential and many people use meditation or yoga. But everyone is different, and some find painting or gardening works. Explore some options and find what works for you.  Appreciation The New Year gives us time to reflect and consider our surroundings, our family, friends, and appreciate all that is good in our lives. It also gives us the opportunity to consider changing things which perhaps were not so good for us.    If, however, Blue Monday has made an impact on you then perhaps Thrive can help? We have a 1:1 confidential listening service and lots of other supports to help get your mojo back. Join the District Societies, in collaboration with Thrive, this Monday 17 January at 3pm for the 'Know the Signs' wellness webinar with Pieta house.  Pieta will join us to offer some practical tips on how to spot the warning signs that someone may be struggling with suicidal thoughts or self-harm and information about maintaining our own health and wellbeing through self-care and stress management.  Book Now