HEALTH NOTES

TV STAR’S HELP FOR STUDENTS

TV presenter Anna Richardson is offering help to students struggling with their mental health during lockdown.

The Naked Attraction host, below, who is also a qualified cognitive hypnotherapist, co-founded Mindbox – an online mental health resource and has teamed up with NUS recommended student platform, TOTUM to support UK students affected by the pandemic.

They will provide students free access to Mindbox Now (until April 2021) which has more than 40 video, audio and journal techniques designed to help manage and overcome stress and anxiety.

Anna says: “Starting university can be a stressful time for young adults. To go through this experience during a global pandemic adds a whole new level of pressure, as they try to navigate social distancing rules, curfews and in some cases, complete lockdowns.”

For more information visit mind-box.co.uk and to register as a student for free access to Mindbox Now, visit totum.com

LET STRESS GO TO SEED

REDUCING stress levels could be as easy as planting a seed.

According to a study by the Royal Horticultural Society, sowing seeds could relieve emotional tension by the same amount as eight mindfulness sessions.

In a four-year project, researchers planted ornamental plants in bare front gardens in a deprived part of Manchester. They measured the residents’ stress hormone cortisol before and after the dig. At the beginning of the study, only 24% had healthy cortisol levels, but afterwards, 53% did – more than double.

FOODS THAT KILL THE MOOD

EATING certain foods like pasta, liquorice, soy, microwave popcorn and strawberries, may have a negative effect on your love life, according to health experts at food supplement company Testogen. They also say diet drinks affect libido.

A spokesperson for Testogen, which claims to boost natural testosterone, adds: “Cutting out these foods will increase the level of potency, libido and pleasure in the bedroom.”