Welcome to Living Well with MS. In this episode we are delighted to welcome Associate Professor Sandra Neate as our guest! Sandra is from the Neuroepidemiology Unit (NEU) at the University of Melbourne where she researches lifestyle modification and diet quality for people with MS.

This webinar was recorded in September 2022 as part of our 'Finding Hope with Overcoming MS - 10th-anniversary edition' webinar series. You can watch the whole webinar here or the podcast highlights on YouTube here.

Keep reading for the key episode takeaways and bio. 

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Evidence shows there are benefits to regular meditation

(28:57) “The most compelling result was that meditation resulted in reduced depression, and increased feelings of mastery. It's about the feeling that one's life is under one's own control and not controlled by external forces, feelings of empowerment, that sort of thing. The interesting finding was that those who were meditating even as little as once weekly for 20 minutes were still experiencing a benefit.”

Sticking to the Overcoming MS diet can lead to improved health outcomes

(21:34) “We've conducted two studies that have looked at sticking with an MS-specific diet. Now some of these are named MS diets, like the Swank diet, the Overcoming MS diet, the Wahls style, etc. One of our studies looked at whether following an MS-specific diet led to improved health outcomes. It found that persistent adherence to the Overcoming MS diet led to lower fatigue, disability and depression than both non-adherence and ceased adherence to the diet. So, your ability to stick with the diet is a very important thing.”

The Neuroepidemiology Unit wants to provide the tools for people with MS to take control of their health

(45:15) “We're trying to build a picture of what lifestyle modification can do in MS. By doing that we hope to help people with MS find confidence and empowerment through the knowledge they've gained. We hope to provide people with MS with the tools to self-manage because the principles are fairly simple. The practicalities may not be so simple, but the tools are there. We hope that people will live with hope, based on the evidence that we've provided.”

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Sandra’s career

NEU research