13/03/2023
Thursday saw another fantastic day as we partnered once again with Modality to run a mini health centre at Cougar Park, where patients came in for their health checks, vaccines, and receive information on support available to them from partners organisations.
Modality .modality.partnership will visit Cougar Park once again on the 26th March, at the Bradford Bulls match to run blood pressure tests while also giving information to the general public.
All this was possible thanks to Modality and Leeds Community Fund.
23/12/2020
Wellbeing Wednesdays:
During the winter months we are more prone to getting run down. Diet, stress, fatigue, pollutants and stimulants all affect the immune system which may affect your health, or catching viruses like colds and flu, so this is a good time to work on optimising your health
Give your immune system a boost with these expert tips.
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5 nutrition tips for a healthy immune system:
1. Look after your gut
Our gastrointestinal tract plays an important role in immunity so it is important that we look after our gut health to help protect immune function. In the winter months include plenty of prebiotic and probiotic foods in your diet and if necessary take a probiotic supplement, these will help to encourage the growth of the friendly bacteria which help protect against harmful gut microbes which lead to infections.
Good sources of probiotics are live yoghurt, kefir, fermented foods, such as sauerkraut, miso, tempeh and kimchi (Asian form of sauerkraut).
Prebiotic foods feed your microflora (friendly bacteria) and stimulate their growth. These include leeks, Jerusalem artichokes, onions, asparagus, legumes and whole grains.
2. Include plenty of foods which are high in antioxidants
Antioxidants help to combat damage by free radicals. Free radicals are made when your body breaks down food or when you are exposed to to***co smoke or radiation. The buildup of free radicals over time is largely responsible for the aging process. Free radicals may play a role in cancer, heart disease, and conditions like arthritis.
Find out more about antioxidants.
3. Avoid immune suppressants for example refined, processed sugar
Some foods and drinks prevent your immune system from doing its job properly. Sugar inhibits the activity of white blood cells which protect us against pathogens and alcohol and ci******es can also lower immunity. Too much alcohol will compromise the liver’s ability to deal with the by-products of viruses and bacteria and also deprives the body of valuable immune-boosting nutrients such as vitamin A. This makes white cells - your body's defence against illness and disease - less able to kill germs.
4. Avoid too much caffeine
Because caffeine can inhibit the absorption of vital nutrients it's best to stick to one cup of a caffeinated drink a day. This includes fizzy 'energy' drinks, which contain as much caffeine (and in some cases more caffeine) than a cup of coffee.
5. Drink plenty of water
Water is essential for your body to function but it also helps to clear the body of toxins. You should drink a minimum of two litres of water a day, more if you are exercising.
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16/12/2020
Wellbeing Wednesday:
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How to find hope during the pandemic:
Things may be looking up. Along with the news of a potential vaccine on the way, we’ve also found out that we can spend Christmas with our loved ones. However, COVID-19 continues to present major difficulties for many and there will be challenges ahead. Now is the time to lean into hope.
An anchor is an ancient symbol of hope. A good anchor protects a boat in a storm, by keeping it from drifting. It gives stability and security, even in wild weather – an unseen but vital connection to the ocean floor that cuts through the volatile, changeable and hostile waters above it.
When thinking about large-scale challenges posed by COVID-19, it's very easy to feel overwhelmed or to wonder how we can make a difference. We can rapidly feel hopeless. However, psychological research reveals that cultivating hope in situations like this can be really powerful.
Hope helps us to reset a course toward our goals, even when the waters are very changeable. But what is hope, what are the benefits of it, and how can we increase our own levels of hope?
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What is hope?
Let's start with what hope isn't. Hope isn't simply positive thinking and assuming that everything will always turn out for the best. Rather, hope is when you have the motivation to persevere toward your goals, even when you’re not sure if a positive outcome is likely.
When you have hope, you don't take it for granted that things will work out, but you're willing to 'crack on' and achieve something despite the choppy waters.
* Will power (agency): This involves being motivated and feeling confident that you can achieve your goals. It isn't the simplistic 'self-discipline' version of will power – needed to complete your New Year's resolutions – it's having the will to try, and the belief that if you do, you can reach your goals
* Way power (pathway): This is being able to think of many ways to achieve something. Achieving can be as simple as getting from here (where we are today) to there (where we will be next year).
Will power without way power is just a wish. Way power without will power is just being optimistic. Both will power and way power can be measured using the Hope Scale – a series of statements that psychologists might ask you to what extent you agree with, in understanding how hopeful you are.
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Benefits of hope:
It’s been found that hope has a positive effect on both our mental and physical health.
⭐️ Better mental health
In a study published in 2020, researchers found that more hopeful participants reported higher levels of positive emotions, lower levels of depression, a stronger sense of purpose and meaning, and less loneliness.
It seems that hope is closely linked to wellbeing, as hopeful people approach stressful events in healthier ways. They're less likely to avoid the problem or end up catastrophising about the situation. Instead, they come up with multiple ways of dealing with the problem and are more likely to find silver linings in the situation.
Hope can be a valuable asset in protecting us from disillusionment, stress or even burnout. Evidence suggests that low-hope individuals may be more susceptible to burnout, while hopeful individuals are less reactive to stressful situations.
⭐️ Better physical health
Hope also appears to have benefits for physical health. Research shows that people who are more hopeful are more likely to exercise.
Hope also appears to be linked to higher levels of life satisfaction in people with chronic illnesses. Researchers even found that higher levels of hope were linked to a lower risk of mortality.
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How to develop hope in times of adversity
Psychological research shows that there are many ways we can sustain hope in stressful and overwhelming situations:
* Acknowledge the reality that there's always hope: No matter how difficult or dire a situation may seem. Thoughts and feelings connected to hopelessness are almost always tied to some type of unhelpful thinking style that skews reality. It may be helpful to keep a diary of events, feelings and thoughts
* Seek out a 'hope hero': Find someone you find inspirational in terms of hope. The Hope Exchange is a great resource for this
* Try problem solving (finding way power): If you find yourself feeling hopeless, remember building hope can start with taking small steps. Using problem solving techniques can help you think of different ways of achieving something and speaking to people you trust can help you bounce ideas around in order to find a solution
* Share hope: Helping others can make you feel more hopeful – things like assisting at a local food bank or community initiative, or simply giving time to a colleague you’ve noticed has been feeling less hopeful.
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Hope springs eternal
Whatever the challenges ahead, hope can act as an anchor to prevent us from getting swept away. Take some time to think about how you can use the steps above to create your own sense of hope, and encourage colleagues, friends and family to do the same. Like the virus, hope is contagious.
"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." – Victor Frankl, 'Man's Search For Meaning'
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10/12/2020
Happy Hanukkah to Jewish communities around the world.
Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah – the Festival of Lights. Over 8 nights, families and friends spin the dreidel, eat latkes and light the candles of the Hanukkiah one by one. They shine as a symbol of perseverance and strength; the power of together.
09/12/2020
The CBT formula for good sleep:
These cognitive behavioural therapy techniques retrain your body and mind to sleep well at night.
Most of us will experience a lack of quality sleep at some time, and for some this endures over the long term. Whether you’re a new parent, a shift worker, or feeling the effects of stress and anxiety, sleep is often one of the first things to suffer and it can have severe effects on your overall health.
Getting to the root of the problem is important, and small adaptions to your lifestyle can make a big difference to your sleep too. But there’s also a formula that is used by cognitive behavioural therapists to tackle the majority of sleep-disturbing factors.
There are two main interventions that cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) utilises in order to help an individual to tackle sleep difficulties. These interventions are sleep hygiene and stimulus control. Sleep hygiene is about forming good sleep habits and stimulus control works to strengthen the connection between the bed and sleep behaviour.
Implementing the key aspects of these two interventions will help individuals to unwind more quickly when they go to bed and so be ‘sound asleep’. The aspects of the two interventions fit conveniently into this acronym:
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Stimulus control
S – Sleep – The bed should be reserved for sleep and s*x only. In order to strengthen the connection with the bed and sleeping you need to associate it with sleeping. The more additional things that you do in bed (read, eat, use smartphone, watch TV) the weaker, more diluted, the connection between sleep and the bed.
O – Observe - Whilst in bed observe the feel of the mattress beneath you, the comfort of the pillows, the sense of being ‘absorbed’ into the mattress. Try to make all the sensations associated with the bed and sleep as vivid as possible.
U – Unable to get to sleep - If you can't sleep after 15 to 20 minutes, apply the quarter of an hour rule. Get up, get out of bed and go to a different room and do something not stimulating for 20 to 30 minutes, then return to bed. If you are still unable to get to sleep after 20 to 30 minutes get up again. Repeat until you sleep. This is hard but necessary. If you lie in bed unable to sleep for long periods you start to associate your bed with wakefulness and maybe agitation. The only way to break the cycle is by re aligning the bed-sleep association.
N – No napping - In order to strengthen the connection between night-time sleep behaviour and the bed, you need to ban any daytime napping. It's essential to associate both the night (and the bed) with sleep and the day with wakefulness.
D – Decide your routine and stick to it - If you go to bed at 11:00 pm – always have a fixed rising time no matter how well you sleep. The amount of sleep we need differs from person to person but if you don’t have fixed bed time and rising time the risk is that sleep starts to ‘seep’ into the day and you lose that valuable association between sleep behaviour and night-time/the bed.
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Sleep Hygiene
A – Alcohol and ni****ne - Both will interfere with sleep so limit these before bed
S – Sleep environment – Make sure the bedroom is dark enough, comfy enough (pillows, mattress), quiet enough with good air quality and appropriate temperature for sleep
L – Leave it out - Leave laptops, smart phones, TV’s, paperwork out of the bedroom
E – Exercise regularly - Around an hour's exercise a day will help, but leave a ‘buffer’ period of at least 2 hours before bed
E - Eat a balanced diet - Wakefulness can be caused by hunger, but going to bed too full can also cause wakefulness. As such, make sure you consume a balanced diet throughout the day and aim to have a ‘buffer’ period of at least 2 hours before going to bed after eating a large meal. If you’re up late and haven’t eaten for four to five hours a small snack before bed might prevent wakefulness due to hunger.
P – Plan for sleep – have a pre-bedtime wind down. Think of it as your very own – bath, story, bed. Children sleep well when they have a specific routine associated with bed time, and…so do we. As such, try to develop a ‘wind-down’ routine at least 60 minutes before you go to bed. This period should involve ceasing doing stimulating activities (e.g. paperwork) and instead engaging in more relaxing activities – e.g. having a bath, listening to relaxing music etc.
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07/12/2020
Our new JBG? partnership with Keighley Albion RL FC
COUGARS SUPPORT ALBION TO TACKLE DISCRIMINATION IN KEIGHLEY, WITH THE FIRST INCLUSIVITY PARTNERSHIP IN UK COMMUNITY RUGBY LEAGUE. Keighley...
03/12/2020
Heritage:
This weeks we look at the records from a now defunct inter-town competition.
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KEIGHLEY CHARITY CUP
Competed for by local sides in the Keighley District, between 1889-1932.
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References:
Photo & Information:
Trying Times, Keighleys Amateur Rugby Teams through the years , Rob Grillo 2011.
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14/01/2021
10/12/2020
09/12/2020
07/12/2020
05/12/2020
03/12/2020