Your Best Life - A Doctor's Secret Guide to Radiant Health Over 40

Louise Wiseman

Description

Louise tells the story of how a near fatal pneumonia as an NHS GP and mother of two transformed her lifeand way of thinking about health. In this personal narrative of how she 'had it all' and then nearly lost it,she explains how she sought even better health after her recovery. Louise looked hard for answers in allareas of medicine that could help women around the world to then embrace each and every decade. She takes an exciting tour from head to toe within the wonderful female body. By talking to specialists onthe frontline coupled with her own research, she brings to you the secret to living your best life in termsof health and happiness.Her passion is to transform the way women think about themselves and realise that 40, 50, 60, 70 canall be a new beginning. Can women really have it all? Yes, you can, and then some! You will find theanswers and be motivated to find out more about how to achieve your very own best life over 40.

Sujets

• Women's health

Informations

• Publié par: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 28 octobre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781838596002
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

YOUR BEST LIFE

Copyright © 2020 Dr Louise Wiseman
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.
The information in this book has been compiled as a way of general guidance to the specific subjects within it. It in no way replaces medical, healthcare, pharmaceutical, dental, orthodontic, psychological or other professional advice given by practitioners who know you personally and treat you clinically based on your medical and family history and their consultation with you. Nothing in this book constitutes personal medical advice to the reader, nor should it be interpreted as so. Please consult your GP or family doctor before changing, stopping or starting any medical treatment or instigating any change in lifestyle. So far as the author and any contributing specialist interviewees are aware, the information is up to date as of November 2019. Practice, laws and regulations all change and new research is constantly emerging. The reader should obtain up-to-date advice on any issues concerning their health. The author, contributors and publisher do not take any responsibility for any liability arising directly or indirectly from the use or misuse of the information contained in this book. All information is given following current UK guidelines (always subject to change), and different countries may have different requirements for healthcare. Any brands mentioned are as examples given in good faith and there has been no paid advertising within this book.
Matador
9 Priory Business Park,
Wistow Road, Kibworth Beauchamp,
Leicestershire. LE8 0RX
Tel: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
Web: www.troubador.co.uk/matador
Twitter: @matadorbooks
ISBN 978 1838596 002
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Matador is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd
For my children May you always have a dream, a plan and a smile
CONTENTS
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK FOR YOUR BEST LIFE
PRELUDE TO A BOOK
INTRODUCTION
BEAUTY OVER 40
HEALTH OVER 40
1 . HAPPINESS
2 . THE PSYCHOLOGY OF AGEING
3 . THE GENETICS OF AGEING
4 . EYE HEALTH – SEEING THE WORLD IN COLOUR
5 . PROTECTING MENTAL HEALTH AND MEMORY
6 . DENTAL CARE AND WHY IT CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE
7 . HEALTH SCREENING AND BREAST HEALTH
8 . WISDOM IN OUR FEMININITY
9 . SKIN AND SKIN PRODUCTS
10 . HAIR LOSS
11 . A BROADER APPROACH TO FEMALE HEALTH
12 . A GUIDE TO FEMALE BONE HEALTH
13 . MUSCLES AND JOINTS
14 . FOOD IS LIFE
15 . LONGEVITY AND BLUE ZONES
16 . GUT HEALTH, FRUIT & VEG AND THE ORGANIC QUESTION
17 . ALCOHOL AND THE FEMALE FORM
18 . PSYCHOLOGY OF FASHION, BODY IMAGE AND THE FEMALE STATE
19 . FRIENDSHIP AMONGST WOMEN
20 . SLEEP
THE WOMEN
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
REFERENCES
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK FOR YOUR BEST LIFE
I do not expect you to read this book from cover to cover. This is a book filled with information, opinion and anecdotes. After the informative chapters, you will read the stories of fabulous women like you. These will inspire, motivate and ultimately make you realise we are all in this search for the best life together.
The book is organised like a journey through your body. I could have written three books as we are incredibly wonderful, complex beings. Here lies the framework for what I believe are the most important areas of mental and physical health, and spiritual wellbeing. These are based on my career as a doctor and then my opinion as a woman. Nothing in these pages is prescriptive or medical advice and nothing supersedes or replaces a medical consultation and examination by your own doctor who knows you and your medical and family history. Please read the disclaimer at the front of this book thoroughly and then read it again.
I went through hell and back with an acute illness that motivated my career break and the search for even BETTER health. I want to provoke you to think about yourself differently, to grasp every opportunity in life by looking after your body and mind. I truly believe that the way to get women to do this is to help them understand how their bodies work . If I just told you what to do, this book could have been five facts: eat well, exercise, relax, sleep, love. However, if you know why you need to do those things it might infiltrate your psyche deeper and reflect in the choices you make. Women have come to my talks and then told me later that they have lost their excess weight, started self-care, exercised, and so on. I did not put them on diets or prescribe specific gym classes – I just explained what you need to do to look after your body and hopefully prevent disease or detect it early.
I want this to be a book you keep and refer back to when the relevance of a chapter arises in your life. I want you to share any wisdom with your friends, daughters, nieces and grannies. Any topic that gets women talking about loving themselves again is invaluable.
By discussing with specialists on the frontline, this is the most accurate account I can make, but opinions change, medicine moves on and even doctors differ in opinion. None of the takeaway messages will be rocket science, they will all be things you can do inexpensively at home, whatever your age. The opinions of the specialists and ladies in this book are their own and not necessarily mine , so it is like listening in on many conversations and taking from it what you need . Have fun on this journey. We start with happiness and end up with sleep – both incredible parts of life. There is a plethora of wondrous female stuff in between.
Just like a family doctor is a gateway to other professions, this book provides a gateway to other books, resources online or avenues for you to privately explore. One book cannot hold all the answers but may spur you on your own path to your best life.
Resources are highlighted in bronze .
Good facts in green .
Questions and alarming points in purple .
It is invaluable to me that you have given your hard-earned money and precious time reading my book. I hope these words reach you deeply and encourage you to reach higher for your health and wellbeing.
PRELUDE TO A BOOK
MY PERSONAL JOURNEY FROM HEALTHY DOCTOR TO DYING PATIENT AND BACK
I am sitting up in bed. My 38 th birthday was last month. I cannot breathe. The salt water keeps flooding into my mouth. Coughing barely clears it. I turn my head to the end of the bedroom. There is an elderly lady dressed for a funeral – a neat black veil over her coiffed hair. Am I imagining her? I turn away. I am not ready for her yet. Sleep beckons and I drift off.
I hear the key in the lock downstairs. I hear the giggling sounds of my little daughter as she runs in across the wooden floor. My husband shushes her: “Mummy is sleeping.” I manoeuvre myself from my sweat-laden bed and shuffle onto the landing. My heart is pumping manically, whether I sit, lie or stand. I lean my body over the bannister so they can hear me. “I need… I need you to get me to the doctor.” My husband has looked concerned for days. The doctor who telephoned yesterday did not understand how I felt; I was mentally begging her to visit. I should have been more clear. Now I have no choice. I have to go.
I pull on clothes, my heart pounding relentlessly. I gingerly walk down the stairs. The thumping in my chest, in my ears; and the salt water, it keeps coming – what is that? I hold back from my beloved daughter. My husband puts her pink fluffy coat back on and she looks puzzled that she is going out again. She runs towards me with outstretched starfish hands. “No, no, darling, don’t come near!” I can’t have my darling girl infected by this beast. I have quarantined myself in the bedroom for days. Not wanting to infect anyone with this flu. Except it’s not like any flu I’ve ever had.
I climb into my husband’s silver 4 by 4. The daylight stretches my ability to keep my eyes open. My daughter is chattering away, asking me if I am okay. I make reassuring noises with my eyes closed. The car starts and I feel it swing around corners and somehow we are at the GP surgery. I instruct my husband to wait outside with my daughter. He doesn’t and they sit near me. I am called straight in. I make jovial greetings with the male doctor. This kind, smiling doctor I have only met once. I play it down. I say I am ill but am not sure. He shoves a pulse oximeter quickly on my right index finger and the numbers flash up ‘oxygen saturation 82’.
F**k me, I am ill.
He listens to my heart and chest and looks at the heart rate reading on the monitor. 155 beats per minute. Bloody hell , I think, and see the panic in his kind face.
“Get your husband to take you now – no time for an ambulance – to A & E. I will tell them you are coming.”
I know those words. I have said them enough. To one or other of my 1,600 patients when they have shown possible signs of a heart attack or breathing difficulties. But this is me . I get back in the car. It’s such a high step up. I can hardly do it. I slump to the side as I fasten my seatbelt, eyes closed again. “I’m not going to die, am I?” I ask my wonderful non-medical husband.
He drives fast and I close my eyes, the salt water still coming. I cough into another tissue. What is that damn stuff?
We park randomly outside A & E. We walk in. I spot an old colleague, Roger, walking towards me – I have not seen him since I was the junior anaesthetist and he was the wise junior m