Joy at work is about meaning and purpose and connection and ensuring that caring and healing, which is the essence of what physicians do, is a naturally joyful activity. And it centre’s on realising the critical value of self-care and self-compassion.

Medicine is an incredibly rewarding profession but the pressures can sometimes be too hard to bear and the question that remains is how can you circumvent these pressures and avoid the burnout and mental decline that affects so many?

We need to value and prioritise our own self-care and self- compassion as a profession and consider joy at wok to be an essential, not a luxury item. 

The most joyful people at work are the most productive and engaged and feel both physically and psychologically safe, appreciate the meaning and purpose of their work, have some choice and control over their time, experience camaraderie with others at work, and perceive their work life to be fair and equitable.

So how do you get to be that person?

Here is the  toolkit -The L.I.F.E.S.T.Y.L.E First Method® - a blueprint founded in research and literature that takes you through the 10 key determinants of health and happiness, and hence the 10 areas of focus for wellness and joy at work

L: LIFE – What is your life purpose, the central motivating aim of

your life, the reason you get up in the morning?

I: IDENTITY – What is your identity – the strong daily affirmation

that  links closely with your behaviours?

F : FOOD – What eating practices are embedded at work?

E : EXERCISE – What opportunities for movement and exercise

would you enjoy and benefit from at work?. 

SLEEP – What prevents you from gaining 8h of optimal sleep?

T  :  TIME  OUT  –  What  opportunities  for  reflective  space  do  you

have in your day?

Y  :  YOUR  TRIBE  –  What  level  of  social  connectivity  exists  as  a 

direct link to longevity, health and happiness?

L : LEARN HABITS – What daily routines in the workplace align to

wellbeing?                                                       

E : EMOTIONAL WELLBEING – What takes place in the workplace

to recognise and reduce stress and foster positivity?

Fitness/mind-body market is valued in $828.2 billion globally, by GWI in 2019. This report connects benefits of belly dance and tantra, both mental and physical. Belly dancing provides good cardio workout, increases flexibility and strength "core muscles" and legs. As low-impact exercise, can be suitable for women at any age, also increasing bone density and preventing osteoporosis. Due to the constant twisting and turning of the spine during repetitive undulations of hips and torso, there is an increased release of synovial fluid. Movements can also stimulate digestion flow and prepare for natural birth by opening hips and strengthen muscles used for better orgasms. Mental health benefits are associated with better body image, focus and concentration required to choreography. Enjoyable and fun way to meditate, getting in touch with inner feminine energy, it greatly reduces stress levels.

Tantra could be called "yoga for sex life", it connects body, mind, and soul, and cultivates sexual energy. Inside everyone there is a switch: kunda ( light bulb of sexual energy), which can be awakened through senses, meditation and deep breathing. Breathwork raises happiness chemicals: serotonin and dopamine, delivering pleasure. Heart oppening during tantra guides an intuitive way to grow into best selves, attracting healthy relationships. Tantric exercises will release orgasmic chemicals (serotonin, dopamine, and testosterone), which increases sex drive, energy, and creates more blissful feelings, also helping to heal symptoms of depression. So, there are much more feelings to experience the bliss that comes from living a tantric lifestyle.

Obesity has become a global epidemic, which is rapidly spreading at phenomenal rates. The gravity of this “Globesity” epidemic goes beyond sheer numbers, as it is directly linked to many diseases that pose serious health risks and are responsible for escalating health care expenditures. Notably, obesity is the single most important contributor to the development of type 2 diabetes along with other metabolic disorders; comprising the constellation of cardiovascular risks. In this presentation, the magnitude of this crisis and its hidden consequences will be delineated setting the stage for the necessary actionable steps. Though the solution seems straightforward with weight reduction being the cardinal intervention, however, achieving and maintaining weight loss is extremely challenging. Diets have disappointingly had limited short term benefits with lack of sustainability and even rebound weight gain. In addition to their restrictive nature, there are even more complex personal behaviour and social factors affecting food ingestion that current day “diets” do not address. These shortcomings will be explored in the context of dietary behaviour patterns promoting weight gain that may be critical in sabotaging weight loss efforts. Our research group has undertaken study initiatives including a multicentre survey aimed at understanding eating habits in overweight and obese individuals in our region. The published data will be shared for interactive discussion and a recently published novel eating behaviour modification concept will be introduced. This lecture aims to provide an evidence- based presentation intended specifically for the target audience with compelling take-home messages.

Many foods and drinks contain caffeine (1, 2, 7 trimethylxanthine) as purine alkaloids. On beside of coffee, caffeine can also be taken from drinks such as tea, cola, cocoa and energy drinks. Furthermore caffeine is part of frequently used drugs such as flu medicines, painkillers, slimming pills and stimulating drugs. Caffeine has effects on the body such as staying awake, reducing physical fatigue, increasing performance, increasing attention due to its stimulating properties. Recent studies on caffeine have found that this substance has many effects on the heart and circulatory system, respiratory system and endocrine system as well as the central nervous system. The stimulating effect of caffeine on the specific nervous system makes individuals more vigilant and alerted to the effects on the cardiovascular system as well as accelerating heart rate and vasodilatation by expanding blood vessels. It is a very important stimulating particle as it is found that it results in many complications, such as; insomnia, headache, impaired concentration, rise in heart rate and blood pressure, stomach problems, spontaneous abortions in pregnant women, babies with low birth weight and the diuretic effect. Depending on high dose caffeine consumption (400 mg/kg/day) it also adversely affects bone health and increases the risk of post-menopausal osteoporosis. On the other hand, it is shown that caffeine consumed in appropriate levels positively effects human health. Caffeine alleviates the physical and mental fatigue and thus increases work capacity. It increases alertness and mindfulness and in some cases, it eases headache and migraine pains. Therefore, caffeine is one of the most researched and discussed molecules of recent times.

Four geographical areas of the globe have been validated and designated as “Blue Zones.” The first Blue Zone discovered was in Sardinia, Italy.  Populations living in the Blue Zones appear to have the secrets of longevity living beyond 100 years of age and without experiencing chronic illnesses that plague most economically developed countries today.  

For the past two decades research scientists, medical professionals, psychologists, photographers and scientists and photographers from National Geographic magazine have studied the area in depth to uncover the many facets of living long and living well.

Carol Amendola D’Anca, citizen of both the U.S. and Italy is intimately familiar with the "Blue Zone" of Sardinia with first-hand knowledge of the people, diet and lifestyle. All photos in her presentation were taken by her while on her recent research trip to the Blue Zone of Sardinia.  They tell the story of why and how this phenomenon occurs.

Audiences are not only inspired by the story of the centenarians but also acquire a deep understanding for what produces meaningful health for themselves and their clients and patients.

The number one cause of death in the USA is the standard American diet, with the majority of calories coming from highly processed ‘food-like’ products and animal-based products. We have overwhelming evidence through large-scale, peer-reviewed  studies including epidemiologic, ecologic, case-control, case-series, and RCTs supporting reductions in chronic diseases, auto-immune and rheumatological conditions, digestive distress, dermatological conditions, pain syndromes, risk factors, and all-cause mortality, with increases in the consumption of whole, plant foods. There is additionally substantial evidence, both theoretically and clinically, that nutritional patterns based on whole plant foods can meet all required macro and micronutrients necessary for humans to thrive. A shift to nutritional prescriptions, either alone, or as adjuvant therapy to traditional medical treatments will help patients to optimize their health. These should be supplemented with the principles of motivational interviewing, education, resources and tools to succeed, goal setting, helpful tips, and regular follow-up to ensure and support successful lifestyle change. Lifestyle medicine and its associated pillars of health provide the foundation for advice to move beyond ‘eat better and move more’, and to supply valid treatment options that are often at least as effective as current standard of care, and the power of dietary change cannot be underrated or ignored any longer. It isn’t just food anymore… this is the future of medicine! 

Menopause is a physiological occurrence along with a series of bothersome symptoms. Given that lifestyle affects people's health and many menopausal symptoms are reduced by changing the lifestyle, this study aimed to determine the relationship between lifestyle and severity of menopausal symptoms in women referred to health centers in Yazd city.

Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2017 in Yazd city, Iran. By using stratified random sampling, 343 postmenopausal women were selected, who had experienced natural menopause for 1-5 years, and did not have any chronic or debilitating disease. The data collection tools were Walker's Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP2) and Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) questionnaires. A multiple hierarchical linear regression was used to investigate the adjusted association between lifestyle and severity of menopausal symptoms.

Results: The total mean (SD) score of menopausal symptoms severity and women's lifestyle were 10.21(SD = 6.55) and 126.44(SD = 79.27), respectively. The results of multiple hierarchical linear regression showed that, by increasing each lifestyle score, the mean score of menopausal symptoms severity significantly decreased in all three models (P-value <0.001).

Conclusion: The study concluded that healthy lifestyle reduces the severity of menopausal symptoms. Therefore, it is suggested that health policy makers in the design of postmenopausal care programs should pay special attention to the role of healthy lifestyles, including physical activity and healthy diet. Moreover, by preventing aggravation of menopausal symptoms, it is possible to economize on referrals to physicians and medicinal and therapeutic costs.

In the European Regulation 1924/2006 and especially its first recital; the evaluation of health claims (HC) by European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) was introduced so as “to ensure a high level of consumer protection, [and] give the consumer the necessary information to make choices in full knowledge of the facts…” Now, with 10 years of hindsight since the Regulation was adopted, it can be asked whether EFSA HC process of evaluation that led to a marginal number of accepted claims is consistent with this objective, not just for protecting consumers but for allowing them to decide freely and make informed choices. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that the inclusion of a ranking of the weight of evidence in the assessment of EFSA’s scientific substantiation of HC would allow consumers to benefit from the very high standard of scientific evaluation performed by EFSA. The definition of standards of proof is a generalized practice and rests on the principle that evaluations of health practices should be understood in terms of descriptions ranging from formal proof from high-power double-blind placebo-controlled studies to rankings based on the consensus views of experts or even agreement among professionals. Grading of weight of evidence – not of scientific expertise – is pervasive in all the recommendations or consensus meetings of health authorities or learned societies. This approach would stimulate research and product innovation as industrials would see a positive return on investment. The transition from an all-or-nothing system of health claims to a system graded by weight of evidence would be an alternative to the current system. This approach would be more consistent with the rationale of European Regulation which aims both to provide consumers with the best possible information by giving them the opportunity to exercise their free will in full knowledge of the facts and to promote research that meets sound scientific and medical grounds providing a basis for such information.

The state-of-the-art advances in neuroscience and anti-aging medicine show that the brain can adapt to chronic stress by increasing its neuroplasticity capacity. Neuroplasticity allows the neurons in the brain to compensate for injury and disease and to adjust their activities in response to new situations or to changes in their environment. The aging brain can adapt through cellular defences mechanisms, such as DNA repair, release of neurotrophins (BDNF, IGF-1), promotion of neurogenesis and also through the capability of the dendrites and synapses to change in response of the environmental demands, including nutrition. The brain’s perfect immunity regulation by the microglia and the central nervous system’s antioxidant capacity enhancement depends on several concepts, including the best nutritional foods and supplements, hormones, physical activity and learning procedures. The orthomolecular medicine establishes the use of the correct molecules to keep the perfect physiological and biochemical function of the body. The aim of this talk is to reveal the biochemical and immunological mechanisms behind the brain aging and to address the best clinical orthomolecular protocols to prevent the neurodegenerative diseases and stimulate the neuroplasticity with the use of dietary substances, natural immune-modulatory molecules and bioidentical hormones.

The state-of-the-art advances in neuroscience and anti-aging medicine show that the brain can adapt to chronic stress by increasing its neuroplasticity capacity. Neuroplasticity allows the neurons in the brain to compensate for injury and disease and to adjust their activities in response to new situations or to changes in their environment. The aging brain can adapt through cellular defences mechanisms, such as DNA repair, release of neurotrophins (BDNF, IGF-1), promotion of neurogenesis and also through the capability of the dendrites and synapses to change in response of the environmental demands, including nutrition. The brain’s perfect immunity regulation by the microglia and the central nervous system’s antioxidant capacity enhancement depends on several concepts, including the best nutritional foods and supplements, hormones, physical activity and learning procedures. The orthomolecular medicine establishes the use of the correct molecules to keep the perfect physiological and biochemical function of the body. The aim of this talk is to reveal the biochemical and immunological mechanisms behind the brain aging and to address the best clinical orthomolecular protocols to prevent the neurodegenerative diseases and stimulate the neuroplasticity with the use of dietary substances, natural immune-modulatory molecules and bioidentical hormones.