The Optimise Health Blog

As the dark nights draw in some start to crave sunshine while experiencing symptoms of feeling tired all the time, aches and feeling low in mood and motivation.  Some of these symptoms can be attributed to low circulating levels of Vitamin D, of which 90% is gained through exposure to sunshine and 10% can be absorbed from dietary sources.  In Equatorial areas of the globe a fair skinned person exposing face and arms to the sun at noon for 30 minutes may synthesize about 2,000 IU of Vitamin D in the skin, although ironically we now advise avoiding the midday sun due to risk of skin damage and cancer.  Unfortunately in Northern climes (above the latitude of Newbury in the UK) the wavelength of sunlight is inadequate year round and deficient in winter, leaving many at risk of vitamin D insufficiency and causing consequent symptoms or complications if deficiency is left untreated. All living above Newbury in the UK should consider supplementation. ...

So I decided to enter the triathlon again this year. I was fundraising for York Foodbank - giving much needed food to people literally on the "breadline" in poverty. The Race didn't quite go to plan due to my bike being stolen 4 weeks beforehand, my 3 month old daughter spending a week in hospital with suspected meningitis 3 weeks before raceday and a consequently shortened training schedule of 6 weeks. I was pleasantly surprised when on a borrowed bike I completed the race almost a minute faster than last year! Thanks for all the support - we raised over £1500 for the foodbank. I have foolishly decided to go for a longer race next year - goals have to keep being pushed forward or we risk stagnation or worse regression... Dr Ben Sinclair Linked In Profile Twitter: Follow @menshealthtips  About Sinclair Health Ltd

I have a confession to make.  After telling people not to do crash diets, I lost a lot of weight in the few days after my initial weigh in! Actually I had only cut out the cheese excess so this was no crash diet!  The weight was fluid accumulated in my leg from swelling due to air travel.  Since the removal of lymph nodes in my groin through cancer surgery my left leg can swell during travel gaining up to 1kg/1L of fluid in the form of odema around the lower calf and ankle; this will recede after intense exercise or with a couple of  active days and a few  nights sleep.  So my weigh in this month shows 87.4kg. Skewed perhaps by an unknown weight of fluid, although I do know my clothes were tighter after the holiday so it was not all fluid gain!  I have another confession: I started lent late and gave up alcohol from yesterday onwards. Having suggested in the past that New Years resolutions can be unhelpful, I have found resolutions to be very helpful t...

Just back from a restful holiday in the French Alps I jumped on the scales and realised that I have gained 5 kg since my triathlon last year and around 3kg of this is from eating too much and doing less exercise over Christmas or just eating too much on holiday! So I resolve now to get back to and better than my fitness of last summer ...by going back to basics. How did I get here?  1. My portion sizes have crept up while my activity levels fell before Xmas with a chest cold and a hip injury slowing me down.  2. I ate too much cheese and drank too much wine in France! As it was a family holiday I did less exercise overall and while lugging my 2 yr old daughter up the hills sledging and snowshoeing helped strengthen my back, thighs and upper body, it did not counteract my vast mountain appetite and high fat intake of Savoyard restaurant diet.  3. I have had little to aim for as tri season was over too soon - I hope do at least a couple of triathlons this year. 4. Bad weath...

So I completed the triathlon. During the event I was surprised that I had time and presence if mind to think about what I would do differently next time. Train more, not get a cold or d+v in the 2 weeks running up to the day; oh and get calf compression guards!  The swim went ok but slower than I had hoped due to distraction of 99 swimmers front crawling  in a lake full of weeds... Can't say I enjoyed it but completed nonetheless and lesson learned is to get your heart rate up before maximal effort ( perhaps a quick sprint up and down pre-race and a swim up and down at the start) and to make sure your wetsuit is well fitted - mine had ridden up so that I found it hard to breathe and had to unzip during the swim.  The transition was simpler than expected and good planning here minimised lost time; lay out your bike shoes and put helmet and glasses on your handlebars facing you; I had my compression gear underneath wetsuit so it was a quick slip out of bottom half of wetsui...

I am less than 3 weeks away from my first sprint Triathlon. As you may see from the blog I intended to do a Triathlon last year to prove to myself I had fully recovered from Malignant Melanoma. This goal was thwarted last year by a slipped a disc and 5 months of standing up with sciatica. Undeterred I have entered the Castle Howard Triathlon on 21st July. Before commencing training this year I lost 6 Kg over 4 months through diet changes, mainly reducing processed carbs, cooking from fresh and reducing portions.  My weight has come down to a steady 87 Kg with benefits seen in my knees and running/swimming/cycling times. I have been training with a buddy who did the Castle Howard Triathlon last year and is fitter than me in all events - a good person to chase! I certainly have felt benefit in company and the motivation to continue training when we are tired or needing to push it to the max in cardio training. Barriers have included injury - an ankle sprained slipping on...

Why Movember? Because in 2010 there were over 40,000 UK men diagnosed with Prostate Cancer and over 10,000 men died of prostate cancer. Thats more UK fathers husbands sons and brothers than have been killed in action since the second world war. Why Movember? Because we need to unite behind a memorable and distinctive cause to help raise awareness of issues around Men's Health. Growing a moustache is hard to miss and kicks off many helpful chats about mens health - especially if people are used to you being clean shaven! Men are not the best at proactive approach to men's health and neither is the human race - on average around 70% of cancer research funding is used towards breast cancer research - now awareness is high and most of us know know breast cancer is a killer disease with good prognosis if caught early. Prostate and testicular cancer can also be treated successfully if identified early and dealt with appropriately. But still we don't have a good diagnos...