Give your mum gift of health
DON’T give mum a dust buster or slippers this Mother’s Day. Give her a gift that augments her health.
Mothers are experts at caring for others but not as much for themselves.
My advice? Cook mum a healthy meal one night a week and let her complain to you that it’s not as good as fried chips with processed sauce.
Shower her with support and well-deserved praise.
Our paper on the global burden of dementia showed prevalence is increasing with our ageing populations and has doubled in the last 25 years. But in fact, improved activity, nutrition, health and healthcare could be reducing the cases of dementia.
Despite an abundance of fresh food, choosing refined sugar, processed and high-calorie foods is leading to problems exacerbated by decreased activity in our leisure and work time.
The resulting inflammation and obesity then increase rates of diabetes, heart and blood vessel health problems.
All of these increase the three leading causes of death in Australian women: dementia, heart disease and stroke.
Mother’s Day is just one day a year, but our work with the longest-running study of women’s health in Australia spanning 30 years of research showed that it wasn’t the great athletes or dieters that had the best health over decades, but rather those women who did something each and every day for their health.
So think of something you can do for mum each and every day.
While there is a traditional focus on mothers on Sunday, it’s important to reflect on those who take on the “mum” role in our friendship groups, at work and in our community. Caregivers worldwide share many “mum” characteristics, including the disparities seen in gender and remuneration.
While global concerns about the chronic diseases of ageing are real, and these are having an increasingly big impact not just on longevity but on something far more important – our quality of life – some cases really are preventable.
If there is just one thing to do for your health starting now, be more active each day, and combine that with eating healthy.
Being active each day can improve your heart, burn calories, augment blood flow, reduce inflammatory factors, give you better brain health and probably some other effects we don’t even understand yet.
It will give you the best chance of healthy ageing.
As a clinical researcher, I routinely disclose any bias that could impact my interpretation of information.
Therefore, it is essential that I confess that while I have been extremely privileged to hold many rewarding roles in my life, none has been as great as being a mum.
MOTHERS ARE EXPERTS AT CARING FOR OTHERS BUT NOT AS MUCH FOR THEMSELVES.