Your Better Mental Wellbeing

Have you found yourself looking down at your empty plate, but barely remembering eating? Has eating and thinking about meals just become another thing that you need to get done?

Mindful eating will allow your mind to refocus, to enable to you concentrate and make intentional choices for your overall health and wellbeing.

Join Dr Neera Dholakia for a guided mindful eating session to taste, experience and enjoy every bite, in this Episode 11 Impactful 10: Savour the Flavour - Mindful Eating and Enjoying Every Bite.

Your Better Mental Wellbeing is a weekly podcast helping you to manage stress and build resilience with easy evidence-based tools.

We're your hosts, Neera and Soen.

Dr Neera Dholakia is a GP for Boots Online Doctor and the NHS. She is an expert in mental wellbeing and has extensive experience designing mental health services whilst working for NHS England, Healthy London Partnership and mental health trusts. As well as promoting self-care, she also works to improve mental wellbeing in the workplace.

Soen Trueman is a full stack developer with Boots Online Doctor, specialising in graphics design, user experience, and user behaviour. Soen’s interests in behavioural analysis extends to psychology and further to neuroscience, which he is currently studying at Harvard University.

This week's tools:

[00:51] The problem with autopilot eating

[01:19] How eating mindfully can enable productivity and efficiency

[01:37] Guided Mindful Eating exercise

[06:39] Applying eating mindfully to other areas

Join us next week when we discuss how to improve your sleep.

Find our more:

Mindful Eating - Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World (Mark Williams and Danny Penman)

https://franticworld.com/

For transcripts visit our website: https://yourbettermentalwellbeing.show

For great health, lifestyle and wellbeing information visit: https://onlinedoctor.boots.com

The information in this podcast is not intended to replace your own GP or other doctor’s professional medical advice.

How do you want to behave as a human being? How do you want to treat yourself and others, and the world around you? When you live according to your values you can have a rich and meaningful life.

Join Neera and Soen for Episode 10: Live Your Values, Accept Yourself and Let Go.

We discuss how we can find fulfilment in different ways, including valuing honesty and contributing to society. We acknowledge our personal imperfections, and the importance of setting boundaries and valuing personal time, as well as letting go of things that aren’t helpful to us. And we consider the benefits of being ourselves.

Your Better Mental Wellbeing is a weekly podcast helping you to manage stress and build resilience with easy evidence-based tools.

Dr Neera Dholakia is a GP for Boots Online Doctor and the NHS. She is an expert in mental wellbeing and has extensive experience designing mental health services whilst working for NHS England, Healthy London Partnership and mental health trusts. As well as promoting self-care, she also works to improve mental wellbeing in the workplace.

Soen Trueman is a full stack developer with Boots Online Doctor, specialising in graphics design, user experience, and user behaviour. Soen’s interests in behavioural analysis extends to psychology and further to neuroscience, which he is currently studying at Harvard University.

Links to this week's discussion:

00:57 Understanding the Importance of Values

01:42 Personal Reflections on Core Values

03:31 The Power of Honesty and Trust

04:28 Accepting Yourself: A Personal Journey

07:09 Letting Go of Negativity and Boundaries

09:11 Making Time for Creativity and Personal Growth

10:48 Enjoying the Moment: A Perspective

Join us next week for an Impactful 10 episode focusing on Mindful Eating and Enjoying Every Bite.

Find our more:

Personal Values - free online test https://personalvalu.es/

The Happiness Trap - Dr Russ Harris. Book and online course: https://thehappinesstrap.com/

For transcripts visit our website: https://yourbettermentalwellbeing.show

For great health, lifestyle and wellbeing information visit: https://onlinedoctor.boots.com

The information in this podcast is not intended to replace your own GP or other doctor’s professional medical advice.

When we express gratitude and kindness to ourselves and others, we build compassion and self compassion.This will lift your mood and make life more enjoyable.

In this Impactful: 10 episode, you'll hear Soen Trueman talking about his personal journey to practising gratitude and how you can take your kindness forward to improve your resilience.

Your Better Mental Wellbeing is a weekly podcast helping you to manage stress and build resilience with easy evidence-based tools.

We're your hosts, Neera and Soen.

Dr Neera Dholakia is a GP for Boots Online Doctor and the NHS. She is an expert in mental wellbeing and has extensive experience designing mental health services whilst working for NHS England, Healthy London Partnership and mental health trusts. As well as promoting self-care, she also works to improve mental wellbeing in the workplace.

Soen Trueman is a full stack developer with Boots Online Doctor, specialising in graphics design, user experience, and user behaviour. Soen’s interests in behavioural analysis extends to psychology and further to neuroscience, which he is currently studying at Harvard University.

This week's tools:

-Practising gratitude for ourselves and others is healing

-Finding times to be kind improves wellbeing

-Smiling is infectious and makes us feel great

Join us next week as we move towards a new year, when we explore how you can 'Live Your Values, Accept Yourself and Let Go'

Find our more:

For transcripts visit our website: https://yourbettermentalwellbeing.show

For great health, lifestyle and wellbeing information visit: https://onlinedoctor.boots.com

The information in this podcast is not intended to replace your own GP or other doctor’s professional medical advice.

What food can improve your mood? And why do you need to know about your gut microbiome? Feeding your gut well will benefit your brain.

That's what we are talking about today on Episode 8:Happy Gut, Healthy Mind.

We're your hosts: Dr. Neera Dholakia and Soen Trueman, and we're joined by Ruth Taylor who is the lead nutritionist in the Boots Online Doctor lifestyle team. We discuss the connection between gut health and mental wellbeing and how what we eat can impact our mood and stress management. We consider how we can improve our gut microbiome by diversifying what we eat. We also explore specific foods such as protein-rich foods, beneficial fats like omega-3, better snacks, and look at taking a 'Mediterranean' approach to eating. 

Your Better Mental Wellbeing is a weekly podcast helping you to manage stress and build resilience with easy evidence-based tools.

We're your hosts, Neera and Soen.

Dr Neera Dholakia is a GP for Boots Online Doctor and the NHS. She is an expert in mental wellbeing and has extensive experience designing mental health services whilst working for NHS England, Healthy London Partnership and mental health trusts. As well as promoting self-care, she also works to improve mental wellbeing in the workplace.

Soen Trueman is a full stack developer with Boots Online Doctor, specialising in graphics design, user experience, and user behaviour. Soen’s interests in behavioural analysis extends to psychology and further to neuroscience, which he is currently studying at Harvard University.

Links to this week's discussion:

[01:36] Understanding Food Craving, Stress and Mood

[04:48] The Role of Gut Microbiome in Mental Wellbeing

[06:54] The Gut-Brain Connection

[10:28] Proteins, Pre and Pro-biotics

[13:43] The Importance of Healthy Fats

[18:41] Healthy Snacking

[23:31] How to Identify the Impact of Changes

Key takeaways:

- We should aim to boost our beneficial gut bacteria

- Nutritious food, will benefit our gut health and our brain health, and improve our mood

-Start with simple changes and gradually build up to eating a variety of colourful foods and flavours

Join us next week when we rediscover really tasting and enjoying our food with some mindful eating.

Find our more:

Ruth Taylor is a nutritionist, health and wellness coach and registered nurse. Lots of extra information about what she discusses is here:

-Plant based nutrition guidance 

-Understanding Macronutrients

-Understanding Dietary Fats

-Mediterranean Eating

For transcripts visit our website: https://yourbettermentalwellbeing.show

For great health, lifestyle and wellbeing information visit: https://onlinedoctor.boots.com

The information in this podcast is not intended to replace your own GP or other doctor’s professional medical advice.

Live today. Enjoy the ups, and accept the downs. Focus on your experiences in the here and now and you will cope better with the past and the future.

Mindfulness is about paying attention in the present moment, with acceptance and without judgement. So join Dr Neera Dholakia, who will be guiding you through a short mindfulness exercise in this Episode 7 Impactful 10: Being Present and Becoming Mindful.

Your Better Mental Wellbeing is a weekly podcast helping you to manage stress and build resilience with easy evidence-based tools.

We're your hosts, Neera and Soen.

Dr Neera Dholakia is a GP for Boots Online Doctor and the NHS. She is an expert in mental wellbeing and has extensive experience designing mental health services whilst working for NHS England, Healthy London Partnership and mental health trusts. As well as promoting self-care, she also works to improve mental wellbeing in the workplace.

Soen Trueman is a full stack developer with Boots Online Doctor, specialising in graphics design, user experience, and user behaviour. Soen’s interests in behavioural analysis extends to psychology and further to neuroscience, which he is currently studying at Harvard University.

This week's tools:

[00:46] Understanding Mindfulness and its benefits

[01:51] Leaves on a stream mindfulness exercise

[06:45] Returning to reality

Join us next week when we look at how a happy gut creates a healthy mind.

Find our more:

For transcripts visit our website: https://yourbettermentalwellbeing.show

For great health, lifestyle and wellbeing information visit: https://onlinedoctor.boots.com

The information in this podcast is not intended to replace your own GP or other doctor’s professional medical advice.

Do you spend time worrying about things, wishing that you weren't worrying or feeling anxious? Finding helpful ways to manage your worries will reduce your stress and give you time back to focus on things meaningful to you.

That's what we are talking about today on Episode 6:Taming your Worries in Today's World .

We're your hosts: Dr. Neera Dholakia and Soen Trueman, and we're joined by Ben Cronin who is an experienced high intensity cognitive behavioural therapist working in an NHS Talking Therapy service in Surrey and Kent for With You. We explore the science behind worry and anxiety. We provide insights into the benefits and drawbacks of worry and discuss common worries and concerns. We also discuss lots of practical tips to cope better and manage worries effectively.

Your Better Mental Wellbeing is a weekly podcast helping you to manage stress and build resilience with easy evidence-based tools.

Dr Neera Dholakia is a GP for Boots Online Doctor and the NHS. She is an expert in mental wellbeing and has extensive experience designing mental health services whilst working for NHS England, Healthy London Partnership and mental health trusts. As well as promoting self-care, she also works to improve mental wellbeing in the workplace.

Soen Trueman is a full stack developer with Boots Online Doctor, specialising in graphics design, user experience, and user behaviour. Soen’s interests in behavioural analysis extends to psychology and further to neuroscience, which he is currently studying at Harvard University.

Links to this week's discussion:

02:47 Common themes of worry

04:06 The purpose of worry including the impact of social media

06:51 Rumination and the role of worrying about past events

09:49 Differentiating between helpful and unhelpful worry

11:40 Coping with your worst case scenario

15:43 Practical techniques to deal with worry: cost-benefit analysis, worry postponement, 2 minute rule, spot-stop-switch

Key takeaways:

-Worrying can be a helpful process but it's important to identify when it is not.

-We often compare ourselves, judge ourselves and worry we are not good enough

-Some easy techniques to cope with worry or worry better include: saying 'so what if', postponing worrying or worrying for 2 minutes and spot-stop-switch 'choo-choo'.

Join us next week for an Impactful 10 guided session on Being Present and Becoming Mindful.

Find out more:

Ben Cronin is a Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist providing mental health support for individuals, couples and families. He works for WithYou treating people with mild to moderate depression and anxiety disorders.

WithYou provides free, confidential counselling and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in Surrey and Kent. They also have an online chat service. For more information, visit https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk

For transcripts visit our website: https://yourbettermentalwellbeing.show

For great health, lifestyle and wellbeing information visit: https://onlinedoctor.boots.com

The information in this podcast is not intended to replace your own GP or other doctor’s professional medical advice.

You can’t feel stressed and relaxed at the same time. Actively relaxing your muscles dissolves the tension in your body and calms your mind, making it easier to cope with whatever life throws at you. 

Dr Neera Dholakia will be guiding you through a practical session on deep muscle relaxation in this Episode 5 Impactful 10: Progressive Muscle Relaxation.

Your Better Mental Wellbeing is a weekly podcast helping you to manage stress and build resilience with easy evidence-based tools.

We're your hosts, Neera and Soen.

Dr Neera Dholakia is a GP for Boots Online Doctor and the NHS. She is an expert in mental wellbeing and has extensive experience designing mental health services whilst working for NHS England, Healthy London Partnership and mental health trusts. As well as promoting self-care, she also works to improve mental wellbeing in the workplace.

Soen Trueman is a full stack developer with Boots Online Doctor, specialising in graphics design, user experience, and user behaviour. Soen’s interests in behavioural analysis extends to psychology and further to neuroscience, which he is currently studying at Harvard University.

This week's tools:

This muscle relaxation will reduce the body’s stress reaction and so reduce your heart rate, your blood pressure, your breathing rate, and your startle reflex. And as your body feels less stressed, your thoughts will also be calmer, more logical and rational. By reducing muscle tension, you can also dial down pain that has developed as a result of built-up tension. This deep relaxation helps to relax your body and restore your mind into its calm, resting state. 

You move progressively through your whole body from one muscle group to the next, tensing and releasing. By focusing on the sensations of tension and relaxation, you learn how your body feels when your muscles are tense and relaxed, and which areas you might need to concentrate on more. You only need to tense to a moderate tension, avoiding discomfort or cramp. 

You can do this in the moment when you need it, or practise it regularly to build up its beneficial effect. Many people find it helps them to sleep too.

[00:56] Understanding the Benefits of Muscle Relaxation

[02:29] Guided Progressive Muscle Relaxation Exercise

[08:28] Final Relaxation

Join us next week when we discuss: Taming your Worries in Today's World

Find our more:

For transcripts visit our website: https://yourbettermentalwellbeing.show

For great health, lifestyle and wellbeing information visit: https://onlinedoctor.boots.com

The information in this podcast is not intended to replace your own GP or other doctor’s professional medical advice.

Do you have times in your life when you feel endlessly stressed, thinking you can't cope or finding it difficult to deal with things?

That's what we are talking about today on Episode 4: Loosening the Grip of Long-Term Stress.

We explore the the topic of long-term stress, its effects on mental and physical health, and ways in which listeners can manage and mitigate its impacts. We look at two main coping strategies: problem-focused coping that deals with the reducing or removing the cause of stress, and emotion-focused coping that works to reduce the emotional distress associated with stress. We also offer a wealth of practical tips around time management, reframing thoughts, breathwork, mindfulness and deep muscle relaxation. 

Your Better Mental Wellbeing is a weekly podcast helping you to manage stress and build resilience with easy evidence-based tools.

We're your hosts, Neera and Soen.

Dr Neera Dholakia is a GP for Boots Online Doctor and the NHS. She is an expert in mental wellbeing and has extensive experience designing mental health services whilst working for NHS England, Healthy London Partnership and mental health trusts. As well as promoting self-care, she also works to improve mental wellbeing in the workplace.

Soen Trueman is a full stack developer with Boots Online Doctor, specialising in graphics design, user experience, and user behaviour. Soen’s interests in behavioural analysis extends to psychology and further to neuroscience, which he is currently studying at Harvard University.

Links to this week's discussion:

[02:34] The Stress Bucket Analogy

[03:58] Effects of Long-Term Stress on Physical Health

[10:00] Problem Focused Coping Strategies

[12:00] SSTA (Stop, Slow Down, Think, Act)

[15:42] Emotion Focused Coping Strategies

[18:37] Importance of Relaxation in Stress Management

Key takeaways:

-Managing long-term stress is essential for mental and physical health.

-You can identify the feelings and behaviours that impact on how you cope with stress.

-Use problem-solving and relaxation techniques to reduce stress and improve your ability to deal with it when it's there.

Join us next week for a guided Impactful 10: Muscle Relaxation.

Find our more:

For transcripts visit our website: https://yourbettermentalwellbeing.show

For great health, lifestyle and wellbeing information visit: https://onlinedoctor.boots.com

The information in this podcast is not intended to replace your own GP or other doctor’s professional medical advice.

Coming up over the next few weeks on Your Better Mental Wellbeing: coping with long term stress, dealing with worry and anxiety, how food and sleep affects your wellbeing, and living your life with the values that are important to you.  

You’ll also get some more great tips on relaxing your body and mind, and you'll discover quick and easy practical exercises in our shorter 10 minute Impactful 10 episodes.

Your Better Mental Wellbeing is a weekly podcast with Dr Neera Dholakia, a GP and expert in mental wellbeing, and Soen Trueman, a software developer and neuroscience researcher.

Join us on Friday for Episode 4: Loosening the grip of long-term stress

Find our more:

For transcripts visit our website: https://yourbettermentalwellbeing.show

For great health, lifestyle and wellbeing information visit: https://onlinedoctor.boots.com

The information in this podcast is not intended to replace your own GP or other doctor’s professional medical advice.

Do you want to improve your ability to deal with stress? Not only surviving, but thriving through the challenges life throws?

Building resilience will prepare you for difficulties and tough times ahead by finding healthier ways of responding to stressful thoughts and feelings. By listening to this podcast, you'll learn how to identify the early signs of stress, to be able to reduce them, and you'll learn how to prepare for and prevent stress triggers. You'll have insights from health and wellness specialists and tips on developing helpful strategies using easy evidence-based tools.

Your Better Mental Wellbeing is a weekly podcast with Dr Neera Dholakia, a GP and expert in mental wellbeing, and Soen Trueman, a software developer and neuroscience researcher.

Join us on Friday to explore how to lose the grip of long-term stress

Find our more:

For transcripts visit our website: https://yourbettermentalwellbeing.show

For great health, lifestyle and wellbeing information visit: https://onlinedoctor.boots.com

The information in this podcast is not intended to replace your own GP or other doctor’s professional medical advice.