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by Dr Neesha Patel
•
13 Mar, 2024
Why a Mind and Body Retreat?
by Neesha Patel
•
23 Jan, 2024
Think back to the start of the New Year. Many of us have goals to improve our health and this includes weight loss, fitness, having a healthy diet, sleeping well, and to exercise more, but over a short period of time old habits start to kick back in. Emerging evidence shows that when your health and wellbeing goals are aligned with your personal values (what matters to you the most), you are more likely to achieve your long-term goals, even when faced with challenges or setbacks. Why does this happen, you might wonder? Why is it that every year I set goals and have New Year’s resolutions, and by spring just struggle to achieve the goals? Well, often we make the goal too hard for the brain to be able to manage and process the changes that are being made. We often don't realise the power of the brain when making health behaviour changes, but when we restrict or change an old habit too quickly, our brain struggles to either accept, maintain or adapt to the change. Quite often we set the bar too high when we start to do something new by setting unrealistic expectations and goals, and not giving ourselves enough time to be able to undertake the activity to achieve the goal. For example, if the goal is too difficult to achieve, we may give up or reduce the effort in attaining the goal and feel like a failure by the end of January or February once we give up. For some, emotions such as guilt, shame, worry, sadness or even anger and frustration may start to show up, making it harder to keep on track and to stay motivated. It may be hard to believe, but taking a step back and re-framing and rethinking the way we set goals can help you to achieve your goals.
02 Nov, 2022
Thinking about your Mental Health Last month, on Monday 10th October 2022, we celebrated World Mental Health Day. This day raised awareness about the importance of Mental Health and how to look after our mental health. However, I believe that we should be thinking about our mental health on a regular basis and incorporate simple activities into our daily routine that help to boost our mental health. Mental health is a key part of health and well-being that enables us to cope with daily life, learn new skills, work, build relationships and shape the world we live in. However, in health psychology the focus is not just on mental health but mental and physical health. Why? Because research shows that our mind and body are connected. What we think (mind) drives our actions and behaviour (body) and impacts on how we feel (emotions) (see image below). For example: If you get invited to a party but you think that nobody likes you and nobody wants to talk to you, the chances are that you won’t end up going to the party and will feel quite sad and upset. Or If you have a thought such as ‘I can’t be bothered to go to the gym today because I don’t feel like it’, the chances are that you won’t end up going and may feel frustrated and guilty.
04 Oct, 2022
A very warm welcome to Evoking Health Limited. This is Evoking Health’s first blog and marks the launch of the new business and this website. It’s been a longstanding career ambition of mine to set up my own private health psychology practice in the UK. I am passionate about using my skills and expertise to help people to make long lasting health behaviour changes to enable them to live a long and healthy life. Over the last 18 years, I have worked in a wide variety of settings ranging from health charity, academia, NHS, private organisations and public services. A common dominator I found in all the settings was peoples struggle with their health and navigating through the NHS to get the support and care that they needed. Peoples regrets of wishing that they had taken care of their health when they were younger or making changes to their health when they were advised to seemed to impact on peoples hope for the future of their health. Unfortunately, we know that time and change are both constant and neither can be reversed BUT it is possible to make changes for a healthier and happier future. I truly believe that our health is our wealth . In my opinion, providing people with the information, psychological tools and skills to make changes to their health outside of the health service and in their own environments (work, home) will help to prevent or even delay the onset of several chronic health conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, Obesity and Heart disease as well have a more positive impact on mental health too. These conditions are a huge constrain on the NHS resources in terms of time, costs and the associated health problems that come with them. The reality is that the NHS will not be able cope with the demand of the aging population and the health problems linked with lifestyle (diet, sleep, exercise, stress) and this will impact on peoples quality of life and longevity. COVID-19 has taken the NHS to the ultimate test in terms of resources, and we are still seeing how some NHS services are still really struggling to run routine services as well as provide care for those critically ill with COVID-19. We know that COVID-19 is here to stay for years to come and that looking after our health can have huge benefits for both our physical and mental health. Although the NHS service employs health psychologists across several health conditions, there remains a gap and a postcode lottery in terms of funding for the number of health psychologists needed to provide patients high quality health and lifestyle behaviour change services that’s needed. So why Evoking Health? To ‘Evoke’ is to bring to the conscious mind. To be aware. To be in the present. Being aware of our health behaviours can make space for change. The business logo symbolises growth and expansion in the form of a ‘tree’, visualising the connecting of pieces to represent one’s experiences as the foundation in which change to occur. My mission with Evoking Health is not to keep people in endless therapy sessions but to: Empower people to understand the psychology of health behaviour change particularly weight management by making lasting lifestyle changes, not just short-term changes for events such as weddings and holidays. Taking the first step to accessing psychological support can feel quite daunting. However, if want to have a healthier relationship with food, and you have been struggling to lose weight, or want to improve your health and wellbeing by making lifestyle changes, then please get in touch to discuss the options available to you and how I can support you today. Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. For more information on Evoking Health, please click here . For appointments, please contact info@evokinghealth.co.uk or phone 07752 354645 . Please share this via the social media links below.
by Dr Neesha Patel
•
13 Mar, 2024
Why a Mind and Body Retreat?
by Neesha Patel
•
23 Jan, 2024
Think back to the start of the New Year. Many of us have goals to improve our health and this includes weight loss, fitness, having a healthy diet, sleeping well, and to exercise more, but over a short period of time old habits start to kick back in. Emerging evidence shows that when your health and wellbeing goals are aligned with your personal values (what matters to you the most), you are more likely to achieve your long-term goals, even when faced with challenges or setbacks. Why does this happen, you might wonder? Why is it that every year I set goals and have New Year’s resolutions, and by spring just struggle to achieve the goals? Well, often we make the goal too hard for the brain to be able to manage and process the changes that are being made. We often don't realise the power of the brain when making health behaviour changes, but when we restrict or change an old habit too quickly, our brain struggles to either accept, maintain or adapt to the change. Quite often we set the bar too high when we start to do something new by setting unrealistic expectations and goals, and not giving ourselves enough time to be able to undertake the activity to achieve the goal. For example, if the goal is too difficult to achieve, we may give up or reduce the effort in attaining the goal and feel like a failure by the end of January or February once we give up. For some, emotions such as guilt, shame, worry, sadness or even anger and frustration may start to show up, making it harder to keep on track and to stay motivated. It may be hard to believe, but taking a step back and re-framing and rethinking the way we set goals can help you to achieve your goals.
02 Nov, 2022
Thinking about your Mental Health Last month, on Monday 10th October 2022, we celebrated World Mental Health Day. This day raised awareness about the importance of Mental Health and how to look after our mental health. However, I believe that we should be thinking about our mental health on a regular basis and incorporate simple activities into our daily routine that help to boost our mental health. Mental health is a key part of health and well-being that enables us to cope with daily life, learn new skills, work, build relationships and shape the world we live in. However, in health psychology the focus is not just on mental health but mental and physical health. Why? Because research shows that our mind and body are connected. What we think (mind) drives our actions and behaviour (body) and impacts on how we feel (emotions) (see image below). For example: If you get invited to a party but you think that nobody likes you and nobody wants to talk to you, the chances are that you won’t end up going to the party and will feel quite sad and upset. Or If you have a thought such as ‘I can’t be bothered to go to the gym today because I don’t feel like it’, the chances are that you won’t end up going and may feel frustrated and guilty.