Latest news with #FrancescaRudkin
NZ Herald
16-05-2025
- Health
- NZ Herald
Women and exercise: ‘Function over looks' vital as you get older
Speaking to Francesca Rudkin and Louise Ayrey on the NZ Herald's health and wellbeing podcast, The Little Things, Duffy said she was running for around 10 years, sometimes five times a week, without any injuries. 'I reached that point in my life... where the hormones start to shift and there's different stresses on your body. And I started to get my first few niggles and then injuries. So that then led me to learn about, well, what's now happening with my body?' That made her realise she need to start incorporating strength into her workout, and provide her body with a strong foundation. For Duffy, that's involved going to gym and using weights, working on that foundation as well as improving her bones and muscles. 'There's a different focal point for the types of things I'm doing in the gym, but strength is very important in terms of your longevity in the sport. ''Cause our body makes us do what we need to do and we need to look after it and make it as strong as possible.' For many people who have grown used to their body and how it operates over the decades, hormone changes and the stresses of getting older can be difficult to adapt to. Duffy has adapted by developing a motto, focusing on function over face value. 'I pride how my body functions much higher than how it's actually looking. 'That's what I continually tell myself is, how do I wanna function when I'm 80? And if I can't do some of those things now I need to really address those things.' That is particularly key for people who do repetitive exercises, such as running, so building that core strength is necessary to maintain longevity. Duffy said women need to keep in mind that menopause is a 'head to toe condition', impacting everything from the brain - including motivation and mental health - to the metabolic and how women absorb glucose and manage weight. Talking to a sports dietician friend, Duffy learnt a phrase she wants all women to know: 'You need to disentangle performance goals from body image'. She said if you look in the mirror and see a bit of extra weight around the belly that wasn't there a few years ago, you need to put that to one side and focus on performance goals. 'So my performance goals at the moment are, there's a race I'm targeting, so I need to train sensibly, I need to have good recovery, I need to have quality nutrition, I need to do my strength, I need to get sleep in. Advertise with NZME. 'If I'm doing all the things to maximise my performance, the irony of all of that is your body will end up the best that it can be. So focusing on your performance goals and doing everything you need to in that space and the right things for your body optimises the physicality of your body that comes later.' Duffy said fixating on belly weight and trying to mitigate the impacts - such as restricting your calorie intake - can actually exacerbate the impacts of menopause. That's why she believes the focus should be on what you want to achieve for yourself right now. 'My body will be what my body will be. And I am so proud of what my body allows me to do. And yes, I am a 52-year-old woman who's got decades and decades worth of societal pressures on me to look a certain way. And I'm not saying it's easy, but I'm constantly reminding myself that it's okay where I'm at because I'm doing as a 52-year-old far more than what some 20-year-olds can do, and I'm proud of that.'
NZ Herald
09-05-2025
- General
- NZ Herald
Why embracing mortality and our limitations may help us succeed
The British journalist and author focuses his advice on 'imperfectionism', looking at finding ways to live a 'saner, freer' life, rather than a perfect existence. Speaking to Francesca Rudkin and Louise Ayrey on their NZ Herald podcast, The Little Things, Burkeman said mortality is central to his philosophy. 'Ultimately, at the core of almost everything that causes us stress, causes us anxiety, causes us to not be as fully present for a vibrant life than we might be, is this desire to not feel too intensely what it is to be a finite human. 'It's not so much about thinking every day about the end and about death 'It's much more, for me, the idea of the discomfort that is involved in having only so many hours in the day with an infinite number of things that feel like they ought to be done in the day... having only so much control over how time unfolds or understanding of what's going on in the world and still having to function in this intrinsically limited state.' He said we do a lot of things to try to manage our time, but ultimately end up ignoring this fundamental truth. His book Meditations for Mortals is split into 28 chapters, designed to be read once a day rather than all at once. Burkeman said this was motivated by how many self-help or advice books are written one of two ways. 'Either it's kind of a big perspective shift that then fades away, or it's a list of tips to follow, that you never get around to really making yourself follow because you don't understand the emotional logic behind them. 'So I wanted to sort of see if I could make a book that got the best of both worlds here and kind of led people through a series of very small perspective shifts of the kind that would maybe hang around in the back of their mind during the day that followed.' He didn't want to write a book that proposed a radical new way of living your life, and instead targets something more practical – with a focus on living a less anxious, more peaceful life, but still active and ambitious. 'I think in many ways what I'm trying to suggest is that it is only when we get a bit better at embracing limitation, acknowledging the way that the ways in which we are limited, that you are then freed up to really take the ambitious actions, do the things that count.' When it comes to striving, Burkeman said he falls in the category of what psychologists call insecure overachievers. 'We do lots of stuff... and we sort of put ourselves out there. But on some level we're doing that because we feel like if we don't do it, we don't get to count as. adequate human beings. 'So you're constantly trying to earn your place on the planet. And the wonderful thing, at least to aspire to, is the state of affairs where you don't need to do anything in order to feel like you have the right to exist. 'But then you do lots of stuff anyway because that's a fun way to engage with being human on the earth, right?'
NZ Herald
02-05-2025
- Health
- NZ Herald
Understanding gut microbiome and what it means for your health
Speaking to Francesca Rudkin and Louise Ayrey on their NZ Herald podcast, The Little Things, he said it is amazing to consider how familiar people are with the gut microbiome now, given it wasn't long ago that there was 'zero awareness' even among the medical community. 'We've come a long way to where now this is bordering on a mainstream conversation that you may be having with other people. I love that. 'It's important for everyone to understand that there has been this huge discovery that's taken place during the last 20 years in science, and it's transforming the way that we think about our own body as humans – and that is the microbiome. 'So it turns out that we are completely covered from the top of our head to the tip of our toes with invisible micro-organisms, bacteria, yeasts, these things called archaea. 'They're there in all of those places. Our skin, our nose, our mouth, but they're most concentrated inside of the large intestine, which is the colon. 'And in that place, just that place alone, your large intestine, you will find approximately 38 trillion micro-organisms now.' To put that into context, Bulsiewicz said if you took every star in our galaxy and put them into a ball and put it into your large intestine, you would have to do this 380 times. 'So you have 380 galaxies full of stars. And perhaps even more shocking to me is that we only have about 30 trillion human cells. 'So with total clarity, I can say you are less than 50% human.' He said that among the 380tn micro-organisms, the viruses, bacteria and parasites in there aren't necessarily always working in harmony, but we have evolved to give these micro-organisms a lot of control over our bodies, including our relationship to nutrition, inflammation, metabolism, and the immune system. 'Seventy percent of your immune system resides within the wall of your gut. 'And in fact, so close to these microbes that just let me pretend for a moment that we pick up our microscope and we take a look and we're zooming in on this very, very minute part of what's happening inside of you. 'And what you would see is you would see these microbes and then there's a single layer of cells, we call it the epithelial layer, and it's thinner than a fraction of a hair off the top of your head. And the epithelial layer separates those microbes from the immune system on the other side, 70% of the immune system is on the other side.'
NZ Herald
25-04-2025
- Health
- NZ Herald
What you need to know about therapy, its benefits and AI
Maguire told hosts Francesca Rudkin and Louise Ayrey that everyone can benefit from therapy if they want to engage with a therapist, and have something they want to engage about. 'I think probably for the majority of the population, we think about therapy from a deficit point of view - you go and see someone when something is wrong. 'I was raised by a psychologist and a social worker, so in my house growing up, therapy was very much viewed through a tool lens of if you're stuck or you're wanting to learn skills or you are in a transition in life, you can use therapy proactively. 'So I think it's really important that we can hold both of those elements together in this conversation; that you can go when stuff's hard or you need to get some advice or some guidance, and you can go if you're wanting to improve on some things in life.' She said there is still scepticism about the benefits of therapy, particularly when it comes to having to share your most intimate thoughts and fears with someone. 'If you're somebody with an avoidant attachment or you're somebody that kind of 'heads in the sand' to keep going, then coming to speak to someone can be hugely frightening, right? Because you don't quite have full control, perhaps, about what comes up or how that's gonna feel.' Our 'attachment style' is formed early in our life through our bond with our primary caregiver - and can be securely attached, anxiously attached, or avoidant attached. Maguire said that can be shifted through therapy and working with others, but if you are 'avoidant' or self-reliant, then being part of that dynamic can feel 'uncomfortable and strange'. Cost has been a prohibitive factor for many to seek out therapy. In recent years, online therapy platforms have launched, and the pandemic opened the door for more remote, Zoom sessions. Maguire said she was put onto one AI tool by her social worker father. 'I thought, I'm gonna go and try it out, because it's like ChatGPT but for therapy - and s**t, it was good. 'I don't think you should be using AI if you've got really complex stuff going on in your life, but if you are like, 'how do I navigate this tricky conversation with my colleague?', it was amazing. I was blown away and I thought $9.99 for the month, that's pretty good.' Social media is also playing a big role in helping people navigate therapy - though many are using it as a form of 'self diagnosis', particularly for neurodiversity and personality disorders. Maguire said some of this can be useful in helping spur people into having bigger conversations, but notes that some social media aspects can be difficult. 'The hard thing about TikTok... is that often the people that are spreading that information are not experts and they're talking about their personal experience. 'And the thing is, you could have 10 people lined up with ADHD. Their worlds are very different, the way they think is very different, their symptoms are very different, and so I think it's really important you see someone who knows what they're doing, if you are concerned or you are querying whether that's you.' Listen to the full episode of The Little Things for more advice from Jacqui Maguire on therapy and how to find someone that is right for you. The Little Things is available on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. The series is hosted by broadcaster Francesca Rudkin and health researcher Louise Ayrey. New episodes are available every Saturday.
