Your health questions, answered by a real expert.
This week, we’ve partnered up with Dr Sana Gill, Clinical Psychologist in Neuropsychology. Dr Sana Gill is registered with The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and the British Psychological Society (BPS), as a chartered Clinical Psychologist. She works with individuals across the lifespan from a wide range of social, cultural and religious backgrounds. She works together with curiosity to explore life experiences both past and present to understand how these may have shaped and guided our emotional experiences in adulthood.
What’s one simple thing people can do every day to feel healthier?
"Keep a diary! Being aware of your social and emotional limitations can really help you to stay in control of your "battery" and ultimately reduce experiences of stress, allowing you to live optimally. Use your diary to notice the types of things you have done with your day and how this affects your emotional and social battery. Try to structure your week to include a balance of things and people that energise you and those that drain you! Each of us are different and so it's important to know where YOUR limits lie, try not to compare yourself to others."
What’s a common health myth that you wish more people knew the truth about?
"Mental health difficulties are changeable. You have the power to make a difference to your lived experience. Medication can be really useful sometimes, but it is NOT the only answer and it doesn’t have to be forever. Making small changes to your daily life, connecting with your values can do wonders for your mental health. Finding harmony in your social, physical, emotional and even spiritual health can be the path to living an optimum life, with contentment."
If you could give just one piece of advice for living a balanced life, what would it be?
"Allow your emotions to flow naturally, these will feel positive at times and at others, may feel challenging and very distressing. In either case, remember these experiences are fleeting and temporary and shall pass. Often, when we fight against our natural emotional processes, we can increase and exacerbate our experiences of emotional distress. In the fast-paced society of the United Kingdom, I think it’s important for us to consciously make an effort to allow space and time to feel and process our very natural and normal emotions. We are human after all."
What’s a small change that can make a big difference in someone’s overall well-being?
"A good night's sleep is a game changer and can have a huge biopsychosocial benefits to us. Biologically, sleep helps us to regulate the nervous system allowing neural pathways to work more efficiently. We are more able to regulate our emotions after a good nights sleep and therefore start to feel more in control emotionally enabling us to stay mindful of our actions. Cognitively, regular and good quality sleep allows us to think with clarity and stay more rational in our approach to decision making and interpretation of events on a daily basis. This can help to interrupt negative automatic thoughts which ultimately lead to reduced feelings of worry and low mood. Socially, a good nights sleep allows us the energy to interact with others and spend our time meaningfully, connected to our values. This can help to enrich our feelings of self worth, sense of connectedness."
Got a question for the doctor?
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