Spring has sprung!

Spring has finally arrived in England! Only 2 months late, but it is here! yey! sunshine and warmth! trees full of blossom and flowers everywhere! simply beautiful!

I have been having a lovely day. I was working on an essay as part of my hypnosis course. My essay is on 'Hypnosis during pregnancy and childbirth'.

Basically it is a discussion of the research which shows the effectivenss of hypnosis for:

- antenatal depression

- postnatal depression

- tokophobia, which is a condition in which the woman has a phobic fear of dying during childbirth (to the extent that, despite really wanting a baby, women do anything and everything to avoid getting pregnant, and ending a pregnancy if they do, because they are terrified of dying while giving birth).

- during childbirth (amusingly called hypnobirthing) .

Apparently, hypnobirthing can:

- ease some of the pain and fear of labour
- lower the risk of medical complications
- shorten labour by up to 6 hours
- reduce the need for pain mediciation
- reduce the need for C-section
- shorten amount of time mothers and babies stay in hospital

....and so promoting a safer, more comfortable delivery for mother and child.

There are actually quite a few studies on its usefulness during childbirth and all these studies seem to have quite favourable results (website that I borrowed info from)

I guess it kind of makes sense....being very calm and relaxed, feeling in control and having a positive outlook during labour and birth can only really be help!

Hm, what else have I done today...oh yeh, I also went swimming! It is part of my new 'keep fit' regime!

Did you know that, in order to lead a healthy life we should:

1. Eat 5 portions of fruit or veg every day

2. Drink at least 2L of water a day (more if it is hot or you sweat a lot)

3. Do a minimum of 30 mins of heartbeat-raising exercise 3 times per week

4. Eat 3 portions of oily fish per week

5. Eat minimum/no salt (again, unless you sweat a lot. Apparently in a typical Western diet so much extra salt is added to processed food that there should be no need to add any extra salt ourselves)

at least according to the doctors in our hospital!

And so because at best, I do none of those, I have decided to start swimming!

anyway, better go cos it's almost time for Mass! yey!