Talk to Sumodhee

10/08/2021

So proud to say that I have won the King's College London Recognition Award for my contribution in research during the pandemic 🎉🎉

28/05/2021

Useful article by : How to ease your way out of lockdown when you have social anxiety?

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/your-stories/how-to-ease-your-way-out-of-lockdown-when-you-have-social-anxiety/?fbclid=IwAR3IoaDZnUHhquKHE63_muea9jb70zQurX4G1jpmqw7VVoNwEJMZ0tx32ho

14/05/2021

07/04/2021

👉🏼 This week I attended a seminar aimed at stop smoking practitioners. It was very interesting to see the significance of a combination of BCTs and interventions tailored to the patients’ needs.

❓Behaviour change technique (BCT) is a procedure included as an active component of an intervention designed to change one's behaviour for a healthier lifestyle.

💡A wide range of BCTs have been identified in psychological research and the ones presented here are proven to be effective specifically for stopping smoking. These techniques aren’t definitive though and need to be adapted for each patient. For example, stop smoking medication dosage will depend on the patient’s ni****ne addiction level and side effects.

29/03/2021

With lockdown easing, people are gradually going back to the office. Let's not forget to take the time to practise mindfulness 😌

13/03/2021

04/01/2021

The holiday season is over and we are back in full lockdown in the UK. Here are my tips on coping with stress and anxiety.

21/12/2020

👀 How can we deal with our negative thoughts?⁣
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Negative automatic thoughts (NATs) are the conscious or unconscious thoughts that occur in response to everyday events. ⁣
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The first step in working with NATs is to identify them. If you know what you are looking for, then it is easier to spot, and you are able to recognize your thought patterns more easily. ⁣
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Once they are identified they can be evaluated and challenged to find alternative thoughts. What is the evidence for and against this thought? Are they accurate? What is another possibility? [swipe to see the process] ⁣➡️
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The next step is to come up with a more accurate, balanced alternative thought.

24/11/2020

🔬 As well as providing therapies to support patients to manage their health conditions, I conduct research to understand how to better help them.

Here's the research abstract of a paper I co-authored in the Eye journal 🧑‍🔬

👁️ Eye diseases such as uveitis have a significant impact on patients' quality of life. Health psychologists can help patients to self-manage their condition through one-to-one sessions and research on digital health apps.

👉🏼 Our recent findings suggested that patients had positive views on a digital health app which would enabled them to self-manage their condition. They welcomed the idea to have rapid access to their prescribed medication whilst doctors monitor them through the self-reported symptoms feature of the app.

07/11/2020

With a new national lockdown in place in England, here are a few tips to help with your mental health.⁣
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Remember, if you are struggling, you are not alone. You can call:⁣
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👉Samaritans (24-hour helpline): 116 123⁣
👉Anxiety UK: 03444 775 774⁣
👉Mind: 0300 123 3393 ⁣
👉Calm: 0800 58 58 58⁣
👉Your local IAPT service⁣
👉Your GP is here during the lockdown and can offer telephone/video consultations⁣
👉https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk provide plenty self-help resources⁣

04/11/2020

🥺 We all have thinking traps. Their aim is to preserve our mental resources. For example, if I believe that my friends think that I’m boring, as a result I may withdraw from interacting with them to protect myself. ⁣
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⚠️ Other thinking traps may involve dismissing relevant information and focusing only on the negative one. These thinking traps can cause trouble...remember the CBT model? Our thoughts (eg. my friends think I'm boring) impact on our emotions (eg. anxious), physical sensation (eg. heart racing) and our impair our normal functioning aka action (eg. withdrawal from a social life). ⁣
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🌈 There are multiple ways of tackling this and one good exercise I do with my clients is to list and rate evidence supporting and not supporting the belief and to find alternative balanced thoughts. To get in touch visit ⬇️ https://www.talk2sumodhee.com/

27/10/2020

I used to dislike autumn as it means that the cold weather is approaching but now I think it's the most beautiful season. Delighted that I've managed to capture some of the stunning colours on my morning run today 🍁🌳
🌅 Getting out of bed can be harder when working from home. One tip is to plan something that you enjoy doing in the morning. It can be going for a run/ brisk walk, meditation, listen to your favourite music, call a friend or prepare a nice breakfast?
What are you planning to do tomorrow morning to motivate you? Comment below 😀⬇️

23/10/2020

🙄 Have you heard about CBT? It stands for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. Our thoughts impact how we feel and behave. If unchallenged, our thinking habits can negatively impact on our emotions, physical feelings and subsequent behaviour.⁣
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⚠️ If you identify such thinking habits, you can challenge them and replace them with alternative and more helpful thoughts and by extension, improving how you feel.
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👩‍⚕️ As a health psychologist, I can help you assess how your thinking habits impact on how you feel and behave. Working together we can break the cycle by learning a more balanced way of thinking and managing stress and anxiety.

10/10/2020

This year has been a tough one for us all. In times like these, taking care of ourselves and those around us is important. What is the one thing that you are going to do today for your mental health? Call a friend? Go for a walk? As to me, I'm going to do some mindfulness 🦋

09/10/2020

06/07/2020

👀 Healthy behaviour change: how can we bridge the gap between our intentions and our behaviour ❓⁣
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When we want to make a change we are often pretty motivated but sometimes our intentions do not always translate into actions. In my previous post, I explained how biological, psychological and social factors interact when we want to make a change in behaviour. So how can we follow through with our intentions? ⁣
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Let’s take an example of a behaviour change and explain how a health psychologist can provide support:⁣
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QUITTING SMOKING 🚭⁣
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🦠🧪 Biological factors: Smoking is addictive because of the ni****ne in to***co. Ni****ne is not harmful but it is the reason why people are addicted to ci******es. When the body is deprived of ni****ne it will result in physical changes that will cause mood change, tense muscles, stress and anxiety. Using ni****ne replacement therapies can help people to cope with these withdrawal symptoms.⁣
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🧠 Psychological factor: To cope with the withdrawal symptoms, one needs to learn to recognise their emotions/body reactions and develop coping strategies and self-regulating skills such as using relaxation and distraction techniques. Psychological work is also about making precise action plans to deal with unexpected events (eg. loss of job) to prevent relapse.⁣
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👥 Social factors: Social opportunities can be created by seeing non-smoker friends. We also encourage people to embrace to ‘non-smoker’ identity as soon as possible so instead of saying ‘I’m trying to quit smoking’ say ‘I don’t smoke’. ⁣

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10/06/2020

Health Psychology: the missing link that brings all together⁣
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Ever made a New Year resolution but never really got further than day 1? You are not alone. We often have the intention to do something but can’t always translate it into real actions. We often blame “lack of will power” or “no motivation”. How come so few of us go through with our intentions? There is a whole field of science exploring the missing link between our intentions and behaviour called behavioural science 👀⁣
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Our behaviour is a complex interaction between 3 factors:⁣
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🦠🧬 Biological factors such as our genetics, body response system to stress and anxiety.⁣
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🧠 Psychological factors including our belief system, coping strategies, perceived threats and emotions.⁣
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🗣️ Social factors such as our perceived norms (peer pressure to smoke), the place of a specific behaviour in our society (eg. smoking is extremely detrimental to our health and yet, buying/selling cigarette is legal).⁣
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Health psychology focusses mainly on the psychological and social factors to bridge the gap between our intentions and behaviour. Turn on the notification 🔔 for my next post, I will explain more how you can increase the likelihood of implementing a behaviour 😁⁣

29/04/2020

🤓 Covid 19 mini series #4: Ways to improve your sleep⁣⁣
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Sleep problems are a common difficulty but equally one, in my opinion, which tends to get ignored by people. It’s often simply seen as a symptom of something else for instance low mood or anxiety. ⁣⁣
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Sleep hygiene isn’t the full answer but it’s certainly a key first step. Here's how you can reverse that trend.⁣⁣
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🕙 Routine⁣⁣
Try to go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time each day, including weekends. You should aim for 8-9 hours sleep every night. ⁣
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☀️ Daylight⁣⁣
Daylight is key in regulating sleep patterns. Our eyes need exposure to outdoor light because of a hormone in our body called melatonin - it regulates our sleep and wake pattern. Although we can’t go outside as much as we want to, make sure you use your allowed once-a-day trip outdoors. ⁣⁣
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☯️ Manage your stress⁣⁣
As mentioned in my Covid-19 mini series #2 - the uncertainty can cause stress and anxiety. While it’s okay to be worried, try not to take those worries to bed. Have a look at my previous post about how to manage anxiety when self-isolating. ⁣
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💼 Think about your space⁣⁣
If you're working from home avoid working in your bedroom - your mind associates it with it being time to sleep. Try not to sit or lie on your bed until you actually need to go and sleep. ⁣⁣
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☕ Alcohol and caffeine⁣⁣
While alcohol can help to sleep faster, in the long run, it will damage the structure and quality of your sleep. Caffeine can take up to 12 hours to be fully metabolised so try to enforce a ‘no caffeine after noon’ rule. ⁣⁣
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📵 Smartphone, tablet and other devices⁣⁣
Studies show that screen-time is associated with poor sleep. Consider stopping all screen-time (including TV) at least 30 mins before going to bed and use the blue light filter or switch to the night-time mode on your phone. ⁣⁣
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➕ Still struggling? ⁣⁣
Don’t overschedule your evening and plan a relaxing activity, it should be part of your bedtime ritual. Take a hot bath, it will help you to relax and slow down so you are more ready to sleep. Drink a hot cup of nighttime tea or warm milk - another calm-promoting cue for your body.⁣⁣
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