Dear Healthy Lifestyle participant,

 

What a year we have had but here we are in November! Hope you have been enjoying the warmer weather and the beauty spring brings along.

 

In this newsletter we continue with our spring theme including some unbeelievable facts about bees, an easy blueberry recipe, the downward dog and a brain teaser to celebrate Movember. We hope you enjoy reading and are keeping up your exercises at home.

We call them worker bees for a reason. Honey might be their most famous output, but these incredible insects produce five additional hive products over their short lifespans: pollen, beeswax, propolis, venom and royal jelly – all of which are collected by humans and used for various medicinal and nutritional purposes. That’s not all!

 

When they’re not creating products to line the walls of our supermarkets, bees are busy with one of the most important natural processes on the planet, pollination.

 

Hard to beelieve facts:

• Honey bees can beat their wings 200 times per second.
• The average worker bee lives for just five to six weeks.
• A queen bee can lay as many as 2,500 eggs per day.
• A honey bee colony contains about 50,000 bees, 99% of which are female!
• Bees have six legs, five eyes and four wings.
• Honey bees perform a special “ waggle dance” to help each other find food. It took Sussex University researchers two years to decode the dance.

 (Source: Tim McGuire, Medibank Live Better magazine)

If you feel you need medical assistance and are unable to go to your doctor or hospital never hesitate to contact Healthdirect hotline. Healthdirect is a government-funded service which provides quality, approved health information and advice.

Call the Healthdirect Hotline  on 1800 022 222 to speak to a registered nurse about your health concerns. The hotline is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

 

The Healthdirect website contains an extensive range of information on health topics, medicines, symptoms and health care services.

The downward dog pose is one of the most recognised and classical poses in the Yoga sequence. It can be energising, soothing, strengthening, meditative and calming.

 

The chair supported version provides support for those with stiffness in the legs and upper body. This pose strengthens the legs and the upper body. Many muscles are also stretched, bringing better alignment to our posture.

 

Before you start, ensure you have a sturdy chair on a non-slip surface.

 

Begin by standing in the supported mountain pose (pictured to the right), ensure your feet are tracking forwards, slight bend in both knees. Stand tall, gentle draw tummy muscles in and relax your shoulders. Take a few breaths in and out.

1. While holding the chair, step away from the chair and bend forward from the hips to bring the trunk down.
2. Be sure to pull your tummy in, keep your head slightly above your arms.
3. Tighten your thigh muscles and remain in this position for 2-3 breaths. Breathe smoothly
4. Raise your head and chest as you begin to walk back to the chair again.
5. Return to  the supported mountain pose for a few breaths. Repeat 2-3 times.

November is Movember month which is an annual event involving the growing of moustaches to raise awareness of men's health issues. So go on… grow that mo and tell the story about “GROW A MO SAVE A BRO!

 

Movember targets three key health issues faced by men today:

• Prostate cancer (the rate of prostate cancer is set to double in the next 15 years)
• Testicular cancer (the rate of testicular cancer has doubled in the last 50 years)
• Mental health (On average, one in eight men will experience depression and one in five men will experience anxiety at some stage of their lives)

The Benefits of Exercise for Prostate Cancer

 

Prostate cancer affects 1 in 6 Aussie men, making it the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men. Regular exercise has shown to be beneficial for assisting in both the treatment and management of side effects associated with cancer treatments such as hormone therapy.

 

Benefits of regular aerobic and strength-based exercise include:

• Increased blood flow – An increase in blood flow allows more oxygen to diffuse into the site of the tumour.
• Improved immune function.
• Offset of the effects of fatigue, sarcopenia (muscle loss), osteoporosis and cardiovascular fitness changes.
• Reduces fat mass and body weight, while increasing lean body mass.

The Health Promotion Service for Older People, supported by the Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association, provides a range of free health education sessions.   Please see below some of  the zoom sessions which are listed for November 2021:

• Healthy Brain Healthy Life (Wed, November 10, 2021 at 10 am)
• Healthy Bone and Osteoporosis (Tues, November 16, 2021 at 10 am)
• Arthritis Management (Fri, November 26, 2021 at 10 am)

If you would like to attend these or view other available zoom sessions, please register by clicking on the below link.