Be Well

Happy Friday After a full, busy and sometimes overwhelming year, I’m in a reflective mood as we approach the end of 2024. For the past 12 months our family has experienced the loss of friends who have passed, life threatening illness, the incredible joy of weddings and welcoming new babies. All the things, all at once, as they say! Beyond our shores, life has been unimaginably difficult for many around the world. Family, community, place and safety – things most of us in Australia take for granted every day – are only dreams for too many people I meet and work with here and elsewhere. I am deeply grateful for our stated and declared Australian values: treating every person as we find them, with care, compassion and support where needed. We stand for freedom, tolerance and a fair-go. We stand against racism, anti-semitism and discrimination in all forms. For generations, people from across the globe have chosen to come to Australia to escape war, oppression, conflict, discrimination and threats against their life, identity and culture. I know a good number of Be Well Members, and their families, have gained refuge in Australia for a diverse range of reasons including safety and new opportunities. This includes my husband, David, who came to Australia as a political refugee from Apartheid South Africa. These experiences can be both lifesaving and deeply traumatic. They can impact our mental and physical health for decades, and unexpected events can trigger traumas we have long thought repaired. One of the excellent books in the Be Well library is The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. The author, Bessel van der Kolk, M.D is one of the world’s foremost experts on traumatic stress, offers a bold new paradigm for healing. As his book’s title indicates, our bodies store past traumas, so to achieve true healing its essential to involve the body. Dr van der Kolk focuses on the integration of body and mind. He emphasizes the importance of regulating the body’s physiological responses to trauma through practices like yoga, mindfulness, meditation, and other activities that promote equilibrium and self-awareness. Trauma or not, the weeks’ leading up to the end of the year can be particularly stressful, including anticipation of family time. Not every extended family revels in spending up close and personal time together! However and wherever you land this Christmas or Chanukah, please be kind and gentle with yourself. Be Well will be Open for you so you can take timeout to look after you whilst you look after everyone else 🙏 Happy holidays from our fabulous team to our wonderful Be Well Members. And from our family to yours, we sincerely wish you peace, joy and love this holiday season. Navigate to more articles! PrevPreviousThe power (& science) of gratitude Be Well is the first-of-its- kind urban health, wellness and lifestyle club in Melbourne, Australia.  Informed by the science of longevity, Be Well nurtures the relationship you have with yourself and others, to optimise your lifestyle, and live your longest, best life.

Happy Friday Summer. Beach time in Australia. Family visits and gatherings. Gift giving. The optimism and hope of a whole new year. All these and so much more can fill us with a deep sense of gratitude. We believe expressing gratitude benefits the person we thank. However, gratitude may most best benefit the person who is feeling grateful.  We know this from personal experience, and the research is in: the practice of gratitude positively effect both our physical and mental health. Gratitude helps us feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improves our health, helps us deal with adversity, and build stronger relationships. In fact, studies have found that a single act of thoughtful gratitude produces an immediate 10% increase in happiness, and a 35% reduction in depressive symptoms. When we express, and receive, gratitude our brain releases dopamine and serotonin, the two crucial neurotransmitters responsible for our emotions, immediately enhancing our mood. Gratitude has the power to rewire our brains, by reinforcing positive neural pathways and diminishing the prominence of negative thoughts. And the area of our brain where anxiety comes from is the same part of your brain that feels gratitude. Which means you can’t be grateful and anxious at the same time. I saw a guy in the airport today with a hoodie that said: ‘I’m so happy we met’ I walked past and said: ‘me too!’ 😁 I am particularly grateful that it is my 41st wedding anniversary this week.Thanks for coming to Australia DJ 🙏😍 I’m so happy we met, grew a family and, in the third chapter of our lives, I am filled with gratitude that we have been able to build Be Well, together with our wonderful team, to share our passion for living longer, better and healthier 🥰 I am beyond grateful to the Be Well community, so many of whom are friends, and more to come whom we just have not met yet 😁 Feeling the gratitude! Navigate to more articles! PrevPreviousLiving your best life at Be Well Be Well is the first-of-its- kind urban health, wellness and lifestyle club in Melbourne, Australia.  Informed by the science of longevity, Be Well nurtures the relationship you have with yourself and others, to optimise your lifestyle, and live your longest, best life.

Happy Friday! Everyone is busy at this time of year! So what if I could tell you not only how to make the most of your time but also optimise the benefits of health, fitness and recovery at Be Well? Here’s some combinations to not only save time but turbocharge your fitness and recovery every week! Begin strong Be Strong + HUR or Pilates – medium-intensity cardio and strength training targeting major muscle groups. Mat Pilates + Yoga + Sauna – low-intensity activities to enhance flexibility and promote recovery. Keep going Be Strong + Compression – medium intensity interval training for improved endurance and calorie burn. Pilates or HUR + Sauna – focus on strength exercise and use the sauna for muscle relaxation. End well Hydrotherapy + Compression – utilise hydrotherapy for recovery and compression to reduce muscle soreness. Be Strong + Hyperbaric Chamber, medium intensity cardio with our Airpod hyperbaric chamber for enhanced recovery. Compression + Yoga + Sauna to maintain active recovery. Extra Hot Tips Schedule sauna sessions in the morning to boost energy and metabolism, or late in the afternoon to enhance relaxation and sleep quality. Compression therapy can be used almost any time, particularly after workouts to aid recovery and reduce muscle soreness. A Hyperbaric Chamber and Infrared Sauna combo enhances oxygen absorption and detoxification, promoting better circulation and relaxation. AND we really are better together! People who exercise with others push themselves harder. One study found that people who exercised with someone they thought was better than them increased their workout time and intensity by a whopping 200 percent! So find, or bring, a friend and see you at Be Well again soon! Navigate to more articles! PrevPreviousThere’s still time to get ready for summer! Be Well is the first-of-its- kind urban health, wellness and lifestyle club in Melbourne, Australia.  Informed by the science of longevity, Be Well nurtures the relationship you have with yourself and others, to optimise your lifestyle, and live your longest, best life.

Happy Friday December is the perfect time to put in that bit of extra effort and get fit around those end of year parties. There is still plenty of time to get ready to feel and look fabulous for the summer. The holiday season is also coming up and for most will be a time of celebration with family and friends. I noticed when I got to a certain age, maybe 50 (late starter, my kids are way better at this now!), that more ‘stuff’ just didn’t do it for me anymore. I wanted life, health and wellbeing experiences: large, small, short or long and unique try outs as gifts. So I started giving those I love and care about the gift of health and wellbeing. If you are feeling similarly, we can help you out at Be Well with a few special gift ideas for you, your family and friends to enjoy! Check out our Blue Zone, The Health Habit  & other books for sale, our beautiful copper water / display bottles or vases, our caps, tote bags, eye masks and cute pilates socks. We also have Health and Wellness packs and gifts vouchers that are so easy to purchase all laid out for you below. One or two clicks and you’re done! So why not give an authentic experience of living healthier, younger, longer and better this year. Your friends and family will love and thank you for it 🙏 And Be Wellers, we’ve got your backs right up until 24 December, so see you again at Be Well soon. Navigate to more articles! PrevPreviousOur Mighty Mitochondria Be Well is the first-of-its- kind urban health, wellness and lifestyle club in Melbourne, Australia.  Informed by the science of longevity, Be Well nurtures the relationship you have with yourself and others, to optimise your lifestyle, and live your longest, best life.

Happy Friday!   Increasingly statistics like ‘2 in 5 people will develop cancer in Australia’ are being spoken about as an inevitability. Cancer has impacted my family, like many others, and we have looked to new drugs and treatments to change outcomes. Recently I have been reading and listening to the pioneering Professor Thomas Seyfried from Boston, author of 150 peer reviewed articles and books including: Cancer as a Metabolic Disease. Professor Seyfried argues that cancer is primarily a mitochondrial metabolic disease, not a genetic one, as traditionally believed. As he puts it, cancer is simply cells division out of control. Seyfried’s research suggests that cancer cells rely on fermentation for energy due to damaged mitochondria, using glucose and glutamine as primary fuels. This dysfunction prevents normal cellular respiration and leads to the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells.  Non-toxic Metabolic Therapies Seyfried advocates for non-toxic metabolic therapies, such as calorie restriction and ketogenic diets, which deprive cancer cells of fermentable fuels while supporting healthy cells with ketone bodies. These therapies aim to target the metabolic vulnerabilities of cancer cells, offering a promising alternative to traditional treatments like chemotherapy and radiation. Seyfried also recommends using hyperbaric oxygen therapy as part of a “press-pulse” therapeutic strategy for cancer treatment. This approach involves combining the ketogenic diet with hyperbaric oxygen therapy to complement traditional cancer treatments. How to boost your mitochondria health quickly! It seems mitochondrial health is crucial to preventing and treating cancer and recent research suggests several strategies to quickly boost your mitochondrial health: 1. Caloric Restriction has been shown to enhance mitochondrial biogenesis, improve respiratory activity, and increase ATP concentration – the molecule that stores and provides energy or  fuel for our cells.  2. Exercise: Regular physical activity, especially endurance training, increases mitochondrial content and improves oxidative capacity.  3. Supplements: Urolithin A, a compound derived from gut bacteria, can enhance mitophagy and improve muscle endurance. Other supplements like CoQ10, NAD+, and PQQ support mitochondrial function. NB always get tested and access expert advice re supplements. 4. Intermittent Fasting: promotes mitochondrial biogenesis and reduces oxidative stress by switching energy sources from glucose to fatty acids and ketones. You can listen to a full interview with the remarkable 78yr old Professor Thomas Seyfried here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaVC3PAWqLk As the Professor says, it’s up to each of us to decide our path but he is a great proponent of the core philosophy of Be Well: our lifestyle (truly) is our medicine. Sleep, diet, exercise and recovery are our superpowers and completely within our control. Let’s use them to live longer, better, healthier and happier lives. Navigate to more articles! PrevPreviousSleep Glorious Sleep Be Well is the first-of-its- kind urban health, wellness and lifestyle club in Melbourne, Australia.  Informed by the science of longevity, Be Well nurtures the relationship you have with yourself and others, to optimise your lifestyle, and live your longest, best life.

Happy Friday! At this time of year just about everyone is feeling tired and emotional. Our usual form is to crash through to the holiday break and then fall in a heap. What if there was one thing you could do that will guarantee a different end to the year and give you more years on your life without cognitive decline? I’ve done some research and it turns out sleep is the superpower that will get us through to the finish line, all of them, with flying colours! The Big Picture Sleep can help with tiredness and stress in many ways, including: ● Reducing stress hormones: Sleep helps reduce the body’s production of cortisol and other stress hormones. ● Improving mood: Well-rested people tend to be calmer and react less strongly to negative situations. ● Regulating the immune system: Sleep helps the body produce substances that fight infection and illness. ● Improving brain function: Sleep helps the brain form new pathways for learning and memory, and improves attention, decision-making, and creativity. ● Enhancing energy: Sleep helps people feel more energised. Sleep and Longevity Recent research underscores the vital role sleep plays in longevity, and aging. Poor sleep is linked to chronic diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular issues, with both insufficient and excessive sleep increasing mortality risk. Healthy sleep patterns can actually boost life expectancy. Brain Sleep Varied sleep patterns are associated with increased risk of cognitive decline, as seen in a study where older adults with fluctuating sleep patterns showed higher cognitive impairment compared to those with stable sleep patterns. 5 Hot Sleep Tips 1. Regular Sleep Schedules Maintaining consistent sleep-wake times is crucial. Regular sleep patterns are strongly associated with lower mortality risk, even more so than sleep duration alone. 2. Deep Sleep Maintenance Super-agers often retain more time in deep, slow-wave sleep, which is restorative and linked to better health outcomes. 3. Balanced Sleep Duration Both abnormally short and long sleep durations are linked to increased mortality, highlighting the importance of balanced sleep habits for longevity. 4. Bin the Booze The older you get, the worst the impact if alcohol on your sleep quality. Drink less, and stop drinking 3 hours before bed for a good night’s sleep. 5. Napping’s Nuances Daytime napping can enhance cognitive function if done moderately – the ideal is 20-40mins. The optimal nap time is between 1-4 pm to align with natural cycles and avoid disrupting nighttime sleep. Sleep well Be Wellers! Navigate to more articles! PrevPreviousFire & Ice Be Well is the first-of-its- kind urban health, wellness and lifestyle club in Melbourne, Australia.  Informed by the science of longevity, Be Well nurtures the relationship you have with yourself and others, to optimise your lifestyle, and live your longest, best life.

Happy Friday! In our quest for improved health and longevity, we’ve explored various wellness practices and brought them under the one roof at Be Well. However, one ancient technique that has stood the test of time and we couldn’t wait to offer it due to its remarkable benefits.  Hello, hydrotherapy or contrast baths, involving hot and cold-water immersion.While research into the benefits of hydrotherapy is ongoing, emerging perspectives are promising as is some compelling areas of research and evidence: ● Cellular Health: Recent studies have highlighted the role of hydrotherapy in improved circulation and reduced inflammation in promoting overall cellular health. Healthy cells are more resilient and better equipped to withstand the aging process. ● Enhanced Immunity: hydrotherapy can boost the immune system by increasing the production of immune cells, particularly natural killer cells. This heightened immune response may help the body fend off infections more effectively. ● Pain Relief: A recent meta-analysis published in the Journal of Pain Research (2023) has highlighted the efficacy of hydrotherapy in relieving chronic pain. The alternation between hot and cold water can help reduce inflammation, soothe discomfort, and improve overall pain management. ● Stress Reduction: Studies published in the Journal of Psychophysiology (2022) have investigated the psychological benefits of hydrotherapy. Regular sessions were found to significantly reduce stress and anxiety levels, contributing to better mental health. ● Cardiovascular Health: A study in the European Heart Journal (2023) suggests that hydrotherapy has the potential to enhance cardiovascular function by promoting healthy blood pressure, reducing cholesterol levels, and improving arterial flexibility. ● Pain Management: A longitudinal study published in JAMA Internal Medicine (2023) has highlighted the role of pain management in longevity. Chronic pain conditions can significantly impact the quality of life in older adults, and the pain relief provided by hydrotherapy can make daily activities more manageable and enjoyable. With all that said and done hydrotherapy might still be your worst nightmare or your most exciting new gamechanger! Either way, you won’t know until you try it so we encourage you to give it a go!  Getting into the water Our baths are set at the recommended 40C for hot water and 10C for cold water.  Here’s the recommended Be Well hydrotherapy protocol: ● Immerse your entire body or the warm water for 1 to 3 minutes. ● Immediately follow with a 1-minute dip in cold water. ● Repeat this process for up to 20 minutes, ending with cold water. As you gain experience, you will find you are able to stay in the cold water up to 3mins. You can use hydrotherapy once a day, once a week or once a fortnight. It’s up to you.   Enjoy Be Well’s carefully curated health, wellness & longevity program. It’s all part of what we call The New Healthy – and embracing the living younger, longer, better revolution! Navigate to more articles! PrevPreviousWhat is ‘contrology’? Be Well is the first-of-its- kind urban health, wellness and lifestyle club in Melbourne, Australia.  Informed by the science of longevity, Be Well nurtures the relationship you have with yourself and others, to optimise your lifestyle, and live your longest, best life.

Happy Friday! As many of you know, I have been a dedicated yogi for many decades, however with the closure of my local yoga studio during covid, I decided to finally give Pilates a try. Joseph Pilates originally called his work ‘Contrology’.  He founded his body/mind/spirit approach to movement on 6 core principles: centering, concentration, control, precision, breath and flow.  Pilates aka Contrology worked! About 8-12 months later ( I have lockdown amnesia ) I looked and felt great, and strong. I still couldn’t run up stairs effortlessly after those twice weekly sessions though? We know pilates improves core strength, flexibility and balance, but turns out it doesn’t provide enough cardio or resistance training, particularly to meet the needs of people over 40. As we get older, we experience a marked decline in muscle mass and bone density, and an increase in body fat, which in turn increases our risk of chronic health conditions such as osteoporosis, heart disease, and diabetes. So it’s incredibly important to combine both resistance training and cardiovascular exercise, in addition to practicing Pilates for its unique benefits. Latest research also recommends an intentional recovery program to ensure we give our bodies the best chance to bounce back and repair after exercise. We purposefully designed Be Well as an integrated and holistic approach to flexibility training, cardio, resistance and recovery with an expert team of PT’s, yoga and Pilates instructors, massage therapists and a senior physiotherapist. We know every individual has different fitness levels, preferences and goals, so we build you individually tailored 12 week programs that are safe and effective. The verdict? Pilates isn’t enough, but we’ve got you covered. So please, enjoy and use everything we have curated for you all under one roof, share this incredible discovery with your friends and be well together! Navigate to more articles! PrevPreviousSweat it out Be Well is the first-of-its- kind urban health, wellness and lifestyle club in Melbourne, Australia.  Informed by the science of longevity, Be Well nurtures the relationship you have with yourself and others, to optimise your lifestyle, and live your longest, best life.

Happy Friday! I came late to saunas, no doubt because I grew up in Queensland. With all the humidity in summer, it was a bit like living in a sauna. It was only when we got to Melbourne that I discovered what zillions of people have known forever.  People have been getting into saunas for a while. As in, for thousands of years. In Scandinavia, of course, but also China, the Americas, and elsewhere. The first known sauna in Finland was a hole dug into the side of a hill (and ‘sauna’ is the only Finnish word in popular use in English). In Mexico and central America, a temazcal is a sweat lodge, usually made of clay or stone. The ancient Romans and Greeks built large scale bathing facilities that included thermal rooms for sweating. In Islamic culture its called a hammam. Indians use heat therapy in Ayurvedic medicine. And so on.  People went to the enormous trouble of creating a heated space because of the considerable benefits they experienced. And because its so pleasurable. Come the 20C, science caught up and a huge number of studies now prove just how beneficial saunas are.  Saunas provide passive exercise. We just sit or lie down, enjoying the heat, perhaps listening to music or a podcast or chatting with a friend. But there’s a lot going on. The body tries to cool itself by increasing heart rate, pushing blood from the core to the skin, and sweating, being the main ones. When we heat the body by running or similar, the body cools itself in the same way.   These cooling actions improves our health in several ways:  – Cardiovascular health improvements by reducing blood pressure, heart rate, and cholesterol levels. – Reduced inflammation throughout the body and improving symptoms of conditions such as arthritis, muscle pain, and chronic fatigue syndrome. – Improved detoxification by helping to increase sweating, which can help to remove toxins from the body and boost metabolism. – Improved skin health by increasing blood flow and creating a significant increase in collagen production. Traditional saunas use steam to create heat, mostly by throwing water onto hot rocks. Infrared saunas heat the body directly, rather than heating the air around the body. Invented in the 1960s by Japanese scientist Dr. Tadashi Ishikawa, infrared saunas are more comfortable and efficient than traditional saunas, and also allow for a wider range of health benefits. Our superb Sunlighten saunas are literally best-in-class. The most effective, highest quality full-spectrum saunas available on the market, near, mid and far infrared available.  They include Chromotherapy, or colour therapy, the science of using colours to adjust body vibrations to frequencies that result in health and harmony. They have a full sound system, including Spotify, YouTube (and even Netflix!). Mostly, you’ll sweat deep, and sweat fast, saving time while getting the maximum physical benefits of full spectrum infrared therapy.  What To Do Before A Sauna– Drink water – Place a towel on the bench and floor of the sauna (and keep a clean towel handy to wipe excessive sweat from your body too)– Set up your favourite music or podcast through the Bluetooth connectivity. What To Do During A Sauna– Drink water– Enhance your sauna experience with colour therapy– Sit back and relax! Ponder the meaning of life, what to have for dinner, how awesome you’ll feel after a great sleep (we recommend going phone-free during sauna sessions too) What To Do After A Sauna– You guessed it, drink more water – Have a shower to cleanse the skin (hot tip: a cold shower will activate cold shock proteins which can aid weight loss) – Feel good! (I know, we’ll have to twist your arm on this one)  Enjoy the sweat and live longer, younger, healthier, better all!  Navigate to more articles! PrevPreviousHUR will never HURt you Be Well is the first-of-its- kind urban health, wellness and lifestyle club in Melbourne, Australia.  Informed by the science of longevity, Be Well nurtures the relationship you have with yourself and others, to optimise your lifestyle, and live your longest, best life.

Happy Friday! Gyms are notoriously tricky. Not only do most of them look like torture chambers and sound like the nightclubs of our 20’s, if you hurt yourself by using the equipment wrongly – an all too often occurrence – you can take yourself out for months. Most people never return. On the contrary, our resistance training equipment at Be Well was designed by the world renowned team at Helsinki University in Finland. We searched the world for the most evidenced and researched equipment designed to support all fitness levels. HUR products and programs are based on scientific research and incorporate the latest findings from universities, research centres, and other organizations. HURs research guidelines ensure that the company is involved in high-quality research in the fields of exercise science and exercise as medicine. Tailored precisely to your body and goals, the HUR equipment is adaptable and adjusts resistance automatically based on your workout history, allowing you to build strength efficiently. HUR’s low-impact design targets muscles without causing strain on your joints, promoting faster and safer strength development. Specific benefits of HUR equipment  include: Improved strength, posture, flexibility, and mood Decreased pain Strengthening the back and shoulders Helping to build strength back after operations. Once you’ve completed your HUR Onboarding, you gain access to our HUR classes and small group strength training sessions at different times. In addition to structured sessions, you can also utilise the equipment during non-class hours. HUR Onboarding is included at the beginning of Be Well membership, ensuring a seamless start to your wellness journey. Schedule your session via the App, or speak to a Be Well Keeper to begin experiencing the benefits today. Enjoy training safely and happily to live longer, younger, better! Navigate to more articles! PrevPreviousBreathe in Wellness Be Well is the first-of-its- kind urban health, wellness and lifestyle club in Melbourne, Australia.  Informed by the science of longevity, Be Well nurtures the relationship you have with yourself and others, to optimise your lifestyle, and live your longest, best life.