Ditch dating apps but share the love: finding a match for people with dementia

It was wonderful spending the day with Irene and sharing our passion for football by watching our rival teams – Leicester City and Chelsea – play each other. We had so many laughs together.

Fiona and Irene really hit it off when they met up, after being brought together by an online matching service. But if this sounds like the makings of a great first date, the relationship is actually far more complex than you might expect.

They were partnered up by Side by Side, an innovative matching service that we at the Alzheimer’s Society are launching today, which is designed to connect volunteers to someone with dementia.

Side by Side is a completely new approach to volunteering. From joining a local club, going to football matches or just heading out for a stroll together in the park, the app pairs up people with dementia and volunteers with shared interests. A third of people with dementia lose friends after their diagnosis, and nearly two thirds who live on their own feel lonely. We know that one of the most important things for those affected is to remain part of their community and continue to do the things they love. By taking part in activities with the support of a volunteer with similar interests, they can continue with their hobbies – or even find new ones.

My team set up the service which was particularly important to me after seeing my granddad’s experiences with dementia. As his condition deteriorated, he became increasingly confused; he didn’t know whether he had just arrived at church or was leaving it. Although he had great relationships with all the people at his local church, they had limited resources to support him. The moment he had to stop doing something he had done his whole life broke his heart. If a service like Side by Side had been available, he wouldn’t have had to stop.

Side by Side has got off to a promising start. There are almost 2,000 people with dementia waiting to be paired up and we are urgently calling for more volunteers.

What makes this volunteer programme different is the flexibility. Side by Side is designed so that almost anyone can volunteer. It is flexible, so meeting up can be easily arranged around work and family, and a telephone service is also available for those with more limited time.

I was so convinced of the merits of the scheme that I decided to put my money where my mouth is. Despite having a busy lifestyle, doing a job I love and running around after three kids, I signed up as a volunteer. My Side by Side partner, who has Alzheimer’s, shares my healthcare background and love of gardening. I’d always wanted to learn how to grow my own vegetables and now that I’ve met Maggie,I know how to do this.

Maggie isn’t just a volunteering project; she’s a friend. Her daughter told me that it was the first time she has seen her mum smile in a long time.

Kathryn Smith is director of operations at Alzheimer’s Society. More information about volunteering for Side by Side or accessing the service can be found here.

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Ditch dating apps but share the love: finding a match for people with dementia

Ex-bodybuilder Taryn Brumfitt campaigns to ditch diets and end myth of the ideal shape

Many of us waking up will feel the familiar pang of New Year’s Day self-loathing and decide that this is the day to start that new diet, begin that new detox, finally attempt to get the body of our dreams. Within a month we will probably feel miserable, hungry and no closer to achieving our goal.

Now a new film is set to challenge the increasingly pervasive message that there is one way to look by tackling the myth of the perfect body and the celebrity culture that fuels it. Embrace follows Australian writer and campaigner Taryn Brumfitt as she travels across the world talking to a huge variety of women about how they see themselves. She speaks to actor and talk-show host Ricki Lake about body image and Hollywood, to an entertainingly direct Amanda de Cadenet about what it was like living with tabloid scrutiny at the age of 18 (“The message I took from it was that if you were thinner you were better … these days I’d say if you want to eat the biscuit, eat the fucking biscuit”) and to Harnaam Kaur, a British Sikh woman who celebrates the beard caused by polycystic ovary syndrome rather than break her religious beliefs.

Most movingly of all, the film introduces us to women who have seen their bodies change in dramatic ways, from Kirsty who lost a breast to cancer (“My boys think it’s cool, they’ve got a mum with one boob – it’s a bragging point”) to the inspirational Turia Pitt who suffered burns to 65% of her body when she was caught in a bush fire and who admits: “I’ve gone through something so huge … and I think, well, if I’ve managed to start my life from scratch then I’m not sure why other people can’t. That probably sounds a little bit harsh but it’s just how I feel.”

“I made the film because I really wanted to have a conversation about this,” says Brumfitt. “I felt as though a lot of people behind closed doors felt the way I did – that they were being pressured to look a certain way and I wanted people to know that they’re not alone.”

Brumfitt knows the price of striving for perfection. After the birth of her third child she became obsessed with regaining a pre-pregnancy figure and began a punishing weight-loss and exercise regime that culminated in competing in a bodybuilding contest. But despite having what society would claim was the perfect figure, she was desperately unhappy and decided to return to a more relaxed regime. One day she posted an online before-and-after picture, with a twist. The before picture was her at her thinnest, the happy after shot was Brumfitt as she was, carrying a few pounds yet content.

“I thought it might help people but the response was mind-blowing,” she says. “It went viral and became this internet sensation and suddenly I found myself doing media across the world and talking about how women see their bodies.”

Taryn Brumfitt. Photograph: PR Company Handout

Brumfitt swiftly realised that the brief chats she was doing on morning television were only scratching the tip of a very large iceberg. She started up the Body Image Movement to provide a forum for discussion but still wanted to do more. “I was hearing from all these women from all over the world and I knew this was a subject that needed a bigger platform so I nonchalantly thought, ‘Oh, I know, I’ll make a documentary, how hard can that be?’ And of course the answer was very.”

It might have been hard but the result is compelling. Embrace delves into every aspect of body image pressure from the plastic surgeon who spends a large amount of time telling Brumfitt that her post-pregnancy nipples “should be up here” (“I took one for the team there,” she remarks drily) through the magazine editors who talk frankly about the way in which the perfect body is sold to the world. There are screenshots of the body shamers who contacted Brumfitt online after her pictures went viral, telling her she should be ashamed and that her husband must be devastated.

“I really gave the audience the parental guidance version of that,” she admits with a laugh. “It bothered me at first but then I realised what’s the point? I feel great about my body. The more shocking thing was that no matter where I went in the world, body shaming and body hating was everywhere. It was like an epidemic and I found that heart-breaking and mind-blowing.”

Certainly one of the most powerful moments in the film comes when Brumfitt asks women across the world how they feel about their bodies. They are a range of ages, body shapes and nationalities yet they all say they’re unhappy with how they look.

“I feel as though I’m drowning in a sea of media,” announces a distressed mother talking about how hard it is to convince her teenage daughter that she doesn’t have to look a certain airbrushed way – and Embrace is at its strongest when it tackles how we collude in this objectification.

“We live in a world where women are objectified and sexualised in advertising campaigns or on television on a daily basis,” says Brumfitt. “I really do hope that this film allows us to keep pushing back against the toxic ideal of perfection.”

She has already had positive responses from some unlikely sources. “Quite a few men who have seen the film have contacted me and been so beautiful,” she says. “They’ve said things like, ‘I’ve told my wife for ever that I love her the way she is and I just don’t care about all the things she’s so worried about’. And that’s important because I don’t think this is just a women’s issue – it’s a problem for humanity.”

Indeed, although Embrace was “made for women first and foremost”, Brumfitt says she’s increasingly aware of how many young boys are also suffering from body image problems.

“There have been so many studies recently on the use of steroids in teenage boys – they’re under pressure to conform to a certain kind of muscled, manly stereotype as well and they’re equally bombarded with images of how they should look and behave.”

Her main hope is that the uplifting Embrace will convince audiences to start treating their bodies as something to love rather than loathe. “Absolutely. We need to detox from the toxic messages we’ve allowed inside our minds for so long,” she says. “I want people to know that they do have a choice: you can either spend your life being at war with your body and hating it, dieting, shaming yourself, using exercise as punishment, or you can embrace your body, move it for pleasure and live an exciting and uninhibited, liberated life. I know which one I’d choose.”

Embrace will be available in cinemas across the UK from 16 January

Ex-bodybuilder Taryn Brumfitt campaigns to ditch diets and end myth of the ideal shape

Ditch the anti-septic mouthwash: Here is why

6 Reasons why your mouthwash may be harming your health

Before I talk about mouth wash I need to preface this with a little background information so that you understand how mouth wash can impact your health.

First a little about Why you need Nitric Oxide

Nitric Oxide (NO) is important for maintaining open blood vessels so your blood can travel easily through the rest of your body. These relaxed blood vessels allow more oxygen to flow through to where the body needs it, such as the heart, brain and your muscles. It is important in the prevention of plaque formation.

So having adequate nitric oxide levels is important for heart health and balanced blood pressure and for sport performance.

How low Stomach Acid complicates the problem

The older we get the less NO we produce because older people tend to have lower levels of HCL. When your nitrate rich saliva is swallowed it reacts with the acidic gastric juices to form nitrous acid, thus if you have low stomach acid you have low NO.

Proton Pump Inhibitors and over the counter stomach acid medications can lower your stomach acid thus creating a host of problems. We need stomach acid!  Often times we think we have elevated stomach acid levels because of acid reflux symptoms but in reality we may have low stomach acid.  For more information on stomach acid I recommend the book “Why Stomach Acid is Good for You” by J. Wright, MD.

Eat these foods
But here is something interesting. Did you know that if you use an anti-septic mouthwash you may be lowering your NO levels right from the get go? Nitrates are found in leafy greens and beets. The bacteria on your tongue convert the nitrates in these foods into nitrites which circulate in the body to form NO.  But if you use anti-septic mouthwash this will kill that bacteria that is needed on your tongue.

So there you go-another reason why you need to eat your leaf greens and other nitrate rich vegetables. Once you chew them well, it mixes with the saliva in your mouth. Having adequate levels of NO will help to manage your blood pressure and reduce systemic inflammation.

By not eating vegetables you already are at a disadvantage, which is a large portion of the US population thanks to the standard American diet.

And if you have heart disease, you can bet that your NO levels are low

But what if you do eat your vegetables daily but also use antibacterial mouthwash daily?

Guess what? It doesn’t matter how many nitrate rich foods you eat, because the anti-bacterial mouthwash will still kill the good bacteria on your tongue.  So all that effort to eat healthy and you may not be reaping the full benefits.

A study found that using antiseptic mouthwash reduced oral nitrite production by 90% and plasma nitrite levels by 25%. Using the antibacterial mouthwash also correlated with higher blood pressure. For your heart health, blood pressure health and to reduce inflammation you are going to want to avoid these products.

What ingredient in anti-septic mouthwash is causing the problem?

Using these mouthwash products will disrupt your oral microflora. As you can see, your oral microflora is very important for overall health. The main ingredient is triclosan which is the antibacterial agent in these products such as Colgate Total Breeze mouthwash for example.

Triclosan is found in many other products, such as dial liquid soap, some cosmetics and some deodorants. For a complete list of products that contain triclosan, visit www.drbenkin.com

Not only does it affect your oral health but triclosan has other effects such as weakening the immune system (which is pretty ironic seeing how it is in soap!) Not only can it have an effect on your oral flora but it has been shown to alter gut flora.

Is my mouthwash affecting my weight

  Studies have shown that by altering the gut flora it can alter your weight. Studies have shown a link between triclosan levels in the body and body mass. So if you are trying to lose weight, that’s another reason to avoid triclosan containing products.

To sum it up: 6 ways how anti-septic mouthwash can impact your health

Disrupt the microbiome

Contribute to weight gain

Weaken the immune system

Contribute to high blood pressure

Contribute to heart disease

Contribute to systemic inflammation

What are my options instead of using my mouthwash?

You may be using these mouthwash products to destroy germs that cause bad breath. You do have other options. You can switch to mouthwashes that are all natural and free of these chemicals.

Since you now know how important the microflora is in your mouth, I like probiotic products that use strains that have shown in studies to support optimal health benefits of your gums, teeth and mouth. These probiotic products will also reduce the bad breath that you have been using the mouth wash for. I personally like Great Oral Health Advanced Oral probiotics. (I have no affiliation with them what so ever).

There are several oral probiotics products so you need to do some research to pick the one best for you. You can also try oil pulling daily to reduce bad breath and support oral health. In the end there are many healthier options for bad breath and oral health than anti-bacterial mouthwashes!

Herbs can be restorative and preventative for your oral health.  You can make them into a tea and swish in your mouth.  Another option is to rub some tincture of one of the herbs along the gum line.  Or you can add a little of the tincture into your toothpaste.

Coming Soon!

More on which herbs to use for a mouthwash and an easy mouthwash recipe!

If you like this information and feel it can be of use to someone else, please pass it on!

Sources
Bauman, E. & Friedlander, J. (2014) Therapeutic Nutrition. Pengrove, CA: Bauman College
Gregor, M. (1/26/16) Antibacterial toothpaste: Harmful, helpful or harmless? Retrieved from
nutritionfacts.org
Kapil, V. et. al. (nd) Physiological role for nitrate-reducing oral bacteria in blood pressure control.
Retrieved from ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Karen Brennan, MSW, CNC, Board Certified in Holistic Nutrition (candidate), author of the E book Tru Foods Depression Free Nutrition Guide; How Food Supplements and herbs can be used to lift your mood and owner of Tru Foods Nutrition Services, LLC believes in food first when addressing the root causes to your health conditions.  For more information, visit her website at www.trufoodsnutrition.com

Ditch the anti-septic mouthwash: Here is why

NHS bosses advised to ditch 1st-class travel and take the bus

NHS chief executive Simon Stevens has informed colleagues to ‘think like a patient and act like a taxpayer’. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

NHS chiefs have been banned from investing taxpayers’ cash on initial-class rail fares and ordered to get the bus or tube as an alternative of hopping in a cab.

The information came soon after figures showed nine well being bosses spent almost £200,000 last 12 months on meals, travel and hotels.

The new NHS England chief executive, Simon Stevens, has told colleagues to “think like a patient and act like a taxpayer”.

He has banned cost claims for initial-class fares and told colleagues that they should constantly consider to take public transport as an alternative of taking taxis.

The figures, obtained by The Daily Telegraph, showed that 9 individuals on the board of NHS England invested £195,802 amongst them on transport, meals and hotels in the course of 2013-14.

The newspaper identified that during the organisation’s initial yr, former NHS boss Sir David Nicholson claimed £32,000, including £6,700 on taxis. Tim Kelsey, nationwide director for patients and data, spent £46,000, the newspaper reported. Former nationwide director for policy Bill McCarthy claimed virtually £500 for a single night in a hotel in Berkshire, it added.

The investing has been referred to as an “absolute disgrace” by a patients’ group. Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients’ Association, informed the Telegraph: “It is an absolute disgrace when individuals are waiting longer for care, when frontline workers are so overloaded, and when there are this kind of difficulties in some parts of the service, to see this scale of extra at the best of the organisation. It genuinely beggars belief.”

An NHS England spokeswoman said: “In his very first deal with to personnel ,Simon Stevens set the aim of ‘thinking like a patient, and acting like a taxpayer’. He knows how important this is to the individuals and the public.

“He would like the highest standards of transparency, governance and behaviour.

“He has already banned very first-class travel and manufactured clear public transport ought to constantly be taken in which possible.”

On Thursday, the new NHS chief, who took a shell out minimize when he started out the position, will handle the NHS England board on troubles of transparency. He will inform officials that as well as publishing costs, they will also be necessary to routinely publish meetings with other organisations.

NHS bosses advised to ditch 1st-class travel and take the bus

Scotland"s prescription for wellness: ditch the PFI | SA Mathieson

The space resembles a properly-equipped commercial health club, except that the floor to ceiling windows are frosted for users’ privacy. The health club, employed for rehabilitative workout, is component of Aberdeen’s new health village. The state of the art building delivers a range of services underneath a single roof such as physiotherapy, podiatry and sexual overall health clinics. It is replacing a century-outdated hospital and other run-down web sites across the city that are in the procedure of closing.

“We now have changing services for our individuals,” explains Catriona Cameron, the village’s lead physiotherapist. This permits sufferers attending an early morning session to shower and go on to operate afterwards. The constructing is in the city centre, a single bus journey from any component of Aberdeen, one thing that sufferers stated was essential to them.

Dr Ambreen Butt, support lead for sexual well being, says Woolmanhill hospital, the place the services employed to be based mostly, was “crumbling close to our ears”. Her workers played music loudly in the old unit’s reception to quit consulting space discussions getting overheard via the thin walls. There was a glass display among reception employees and visitors: “We were striving to remove the stigma of functioning in a services like sexual well being. Our outdated waiting room perpetuated this,” says Butt. The new reception – signed as “yellow zone” so that no-a single has to stick to indicators to sexual overall health – has an open reception desk. Butt says morale amongst workers ” is genuinely excellent now, since [the wellness village] is a pretty fresh new constructing”.

Podiatry educator, Rachel Tiny, says the village permits staff to function far more effectively, as men and women spread across different internet sites are now in 1 building. It is great for individuals too: “It was adapted amenities we were in just before. This is a function-built developing. They [individuals] are a lot happier when they come in.”

Aberdeen well being village, which opened final month, also homes other components of the public sector: Police Scotland’s nearby sexual forensic unit a branch of Carerspoint, run by NHS Grampian overall health board, Aberdeen city council and voluntary organisations, to support unpaid carers and a healthier living guidance service.

This joint operating extends to the way in which the village has been financed. It is the very first healthcare task to open with the assistance of the Scottish Futures Believe in, a firm set up and owned by the Scottish government to offer public sector infrastructure projects with an option to the controversial private finance initiative (PFI).

Below traditional PFI, the private sector provides the finance, building and management for huge-scale projects this kind of as hospitals and schools. The primary issue has been the personal sector finding ways to make extra profit out of the taxpayer. “One of the feelings about PFI was that all the revenue was going into the pocket of the personal sector,” says task manager Jackie Bremner.

Though 90% of the health village’s £15m value has been met by insurance coverage and pension firm Aviva, crucially it is managed by Hub North Scotland, an organisation jointly owned by the public and private sector. Alba Partnerships, (formed by development firm Miller and Sweett Investment Providers) owns 60%, local public sector bodies including NHS Grampian, the council and the police force, own an additional 30%, and Scottish Futures Believe in the remaining ten%.

Hub North is overseen by a board, chaired by Alan Gray, who is NHS Grampian’s director of finance. He says: “The finance expenses on this are considerably much less than on PFI offers”. He adds that not like PFI discounts, the threat is a lot more evenly spread in this model in between the personal and public sectors.

Scotland has been running its NHS independently since 1999 under devolution it has ended competition between companies, preferring integrated acute, principal and social care in geographical overall health boards. So Scottish NHS boards have benefits more than the English wellness support when generating the case for this type of venture.

NHS Grampian runs all health solutions in its spot of north-east Scotland, rather than England’s industry-design division amongst providers and commissioners, which has permitted it to move assets internally from acute to primary care.

This is a crucial justification for the wellness village, which has no in-patient beds, and fits with the strategy to deal with older folks in their personal properties when possible, rather than in hospitals, despite the fact that Aberdeen nevertheless retains a single acute hospital.

In some respects, tasks funded through the Scottish Futures Trust – which presented NHS Grampian with comprehensive tips on the wellness village and contributed a share of the remaining costs of the scheme – are related to PFI discounts. “It is like a mortgage with a services contract attached to it,” says Bremner NHS Grampian will pay out a charge covering the interest and solutions over 25 years then will very own the creating outright.

But NHS Grampian has negotiated what Bremner believes to be a lot much better arrangements than numerous PFIs, which normally consist of “soft” amenities management this kind of as grounds maintenance, cleansing, laundry and decorating. “If it was in the contract, we would have to say, paint walls each and every seven many years and replace floors each 10 many years,” she says. But the wellness board has retained this operate for itself, which signifies the walls will be painted when essential. It also signifies the creating will be maintained to an equivalent – rather than a much better – regular to the board’s other folks: “We’ve received equity of situation,” says Bremner. Hub North will give only “hard’” facilities management, such as repairs.

Stan Mathieson, the project’s commercial lead, says they have discovered from some of the problems of conventional PFI in which personal organizations acquired all the earnings and contracts have been non-negotiable, locking the public sector into paying over the odds for small jobs such as shifting light bulbs.

Scottish Futures Trust is functioning on a additional 5 major NHS projects, like a £203m deal for a new hospital in Dumfries and £155m for a hospital extension in Edinburgh that will property the Royal Hospital for Sick Children and the neurosciences division of the city’s Royal Infirmary. It is also procuring two major street improvement schemes and 30 tasks in education as of November, the believe in had 47 tasks with a capital worth of £2.46bn at various phases of advancement.

That remains relatively minor in contrast with the UK’s 725 PFI projects at the finish of March 2013, with a total capital worth of £54.2bn – and an estimated remaining cost to taxpayers, from April 2014 till March 2050 – when the final a single expires – of £227bn. In accordance to an analysis of Treasury information released in December, NHS organisations’ share of this is £74.6bn – such as £1bn for 5 tasks in Scotland, all agreed far more than a decade in the past.

Some English NHS trusts have been severely broken by PFI. A 2012 Nationwide Audit Workplace report blamed PFI for substantial fiscal difficulties at Peterborough and Stamford NHS believe in. “The believe in board’s poor fiscal management and procurement of an unaffordable PFI scheme have left it in a critical economic place,” mentioned the public investing watchdog.

Westminster has been working to change what George Osborne has described as the “discredited PFI” with PF2, underneath which the state will act as a minority investor in discounts. Last month, Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen university hospitals trust announced that just £126.5m of the £429m necessary to build its new Royal Liverpool hospital and BioCampus science park will come from the private sector, with the Department of Well being, European Investment Financial institution and the trust’s reserves offering the rest. But the Scottish view is that England has tweaked PFI rather than identified an different, which it claims its public sector shareholding model is.

Back at the Aberdeen overall health village, staff are expecting to see up to 700 patients a day when all departments are working fully. NHS Grampian believes that the new creating will assistance its policy of making an attempt to preserve people’s overall health, rather than deal with sickness. “It’s not a wellness centre, as there are no GPs doing work in the developing. It truly is not a hospital both, as a hospital is a area you go when you are sick,” says Bremner. “Its target is wellness, rather than illness.”

Scotland"s prescription for wellness: ditch the PFI | SA Mathieson