Ageless Salome

01/09/2025

The view from the top. It's not every day you get to introduce people to climbing. It's extra special when they are these special people from my Ageless Grace class in Panorama. Aged 69-79 this was their first time trying climbing and I felt honoured that they trusted me to belay them.
Getting older means pushing fear aside and doing things that scare you...because if you let fear win, your world gets very small.

04/12/2023

23/08/2023

https://youtu.be/eGnGDeIe7Ws

COGNITIVE DECLINE AND DIET | S I E N

A recent study has shown a link to diet [link below].
Eating ultra-processed foods for more than 20% of your daily calorie intake every day could set you on the road to cognitive decline including the areas of the brain involved in executive functioning -- the ability to process information and make decisions.
In fact, people who ate the most ultra-processed foods had a 28% faster rate of global cognitive decline and a 25% faster rate of executive function decline compared with people who ate the least amount of overly processed food, the study found.

I have worked with many people who have a Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis so it is a subject of particular interest. I came across a surprising but of research looking into trying to establish where this disease originates since only a small minority of cases are genetic, and run in families, but 85 to 90 percent of cases are sporadic, meaning they just seemingly pop up out of nowhere.

It’s still not completely clear, but the abnormal clumping of a protein called (alpha) α-synuclein in the brain is thought to be involved. But how does this protein, found in the meat of vertebrae (cows, chickens, pigs, and fish) end up in the brain?
Diet seems a likely source. There is strong evidence suggesting that the protein, leaks out of the gut and makes its way up the vagal nerves into the brain.
Leaky Gut in a nutshell: Dietary fibre deprivation has been shown to degrade the intestinal barrier and enhance pathogen [in this case protein] entry.
So, it seems to suggest that a diet with lots of fibre [plants] and no meat could reduce risk for Parkinson’s disease.
It’s been shown that Parkinson’s does appear to be rare in populations that eat more plant passed diets; with rates about five times lower in rural sub-Saharan Africa, for instance.
It was thought was this could be because plant-based diets are high in antioxidants as well as the anti-inflammatory nature of the animal-free diets. Now it seems there may be a link to the increased intestinal exposure to fibre [creating a healthier non leaky gut] and decreased intestinal exposure to ingested nerves, muscles and blood from animal products.


For more on this, please check out these links:|
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/01/health/ultraprocessed-food-dementia-study-wellness/index.html
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-role-meat-may-play-in-triggering-parkinsons-disease/
https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/features/leaky-gut-syndrome

I am on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/SIENperspective
Other social media:
https://www.instagram.com/sienperspective/
https://www.tiktok.com/
Disclaimer:
I share my thoughts, experiences and things I’ve learnt but none of this is meant to be advice. If anything I say here resonates with you, please also do your own research and speak to any relevant professionals if you want to make any changes to your life or lifestyle.

A recent study has shown a link to diet [link below].Eating ultra-processed foods for more than 20% of your daily calorie intake every day could set you on t...

14/08/2023

https://connect.xena.world/posts/40696242?utm_source=manual

The Xena Alpha Series is BACK 🎉 Join us for an enlightening session on "Alpha Series: Stress - a perspective problem" featuring the incredible Salome Kraamwinkel from SIEN this Thursday, on 17th Au...

14/08/2023

https://youtu.be/CJ6cgRE5UxY
If you are afraid of developing dementia in later life, pay attention, I’m going to talk about mental decline!

Cognitive disorders like dementia, including Alzheimer’s and also Parkinson’s, show a strong link to lifestyle and not genetics. Only 3 to 4 percent of cases, including Alzheimer's disease, have these rare gene mutations….and most disease-related gene mutations are influenced by lifestyle which includes emotions, quality of sleep, diet and stress levels.
However, you don't have to get Alzheimer's disease to lose mental alertness as you grow old.
So what does this mean?
The cognitive decline that we associate with old age is linked to lifestyle and with lifestyle adjustments, you have a big say in how well your brain ages.

Research shows that some areas of the brain involved with memory and learning continue to produce new nerve cells every day. At any age you have the ability to grow new neural pathways. This is called Neuroplasticity. So while it’s true that you do lose brain cells every day, you also are constantly replacing brain cells. …you always have.

The brain, like the body, needs to be stimulated/exercised to be able to perform at high levels. The best thing you can do to build new brain cells is to keep your brain active with new activities and learning. Build up a cognitive reserve so to speak.
Study Participants were followed for 11 years, during which time 5,185 developed dementia. The study found that, in participants who engaged in regular, vigorous activity, such as playing sports or working out, the risk of developing dementia was reduced by 35 percent. Surprisingly, people who reported regularly completing household chores also experienced a significant benefit; they had a 21 percent lower risk.
It’s very important to know that if you have a family history of dementia, you can use physical activity and diet to reduce your risk.

SOURCE: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/15/well/move/exercise-dementia-risk.html

I am on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/SIENperspective
Other social media:
https://www.instagram.com/sienperspective/
https://www.tiktok.com/
Disclaimer:
I share my thoughts, experiences and things I’ve learnt but none of this is meant to be advice. If anything I say here resonates with you, please also do your own research and speak to any relevant professionals if you want to make any changes to your life or lifestyle.

If you are afraid of developing dementia in later life, pay attention, I’m going to talk about mental decline!Cognitive disorders like dementia, including Al...

09/11/2022

STRESS | A PERSPECTIVE PROBLEM | WORKSHOP
SUNDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2022
09:00 [woman only] | 14:00 [mixed group]
THE GOOD FOOT COMPANY | 115 BEVEDERE RD | CLAREMONT
3 hour interactive workshop | R650 pp
Includes tasks, practical advice, useful tools, notes on the material covered and resources.
EARLY BIRD SPECIAL R500 IF YOU BOOK BEFORE 15 NOVEMBER

24/08/2022

https://youtu.be/k-7DRmPIoYs

When we look as retirement places in the developed world we see a lot of evidence for the idea that your body gets frail as you age. We may draw the conclusi...

13/07/2022

https://youtu.be/gvsui-OISCA

IT’S PROBABLY NOT IN YOUR GENES | S I E N
THE TRUTH ABOUT AGEING
What do most of us fear in old age? Illness and poor quality of life, not being able to do the things we enjoy doing? Part of what scares us is the idea that old age decline is inevitable, it is written in our DNA, in our family history.

We are beginning to learn that lifestyle factors like: diet, sleep, exercise, levels of stress, breathing; brain-body coordination; thoughts and emotions. can affect how you genes expression.

Although the gene sequence you were born with is fixed, gene expression depends on how you live your life.

The study of this is called epigenetics and this means that you can turn on or dial up some genes and turn off or dial down others.
I might be about to blow your mind: the majority/80+% of old age or chronic illness is linked to lifestyle. Think about it, this means that many age associated illnesses are because of a life time of consistent choices. It’s not because of a gene you have that flicks on when you turn 60, you’ve spent most of your life creating this. Realising that our health outcomes are not cast in stone [genes], we have an opportunity and we hold great power.
We know a lot more now about how specific dietary and lifestyle habits are major determinants of chronic diseases. A general conclusion is that reducing identified, modifiable dietary and lifestyle risk factors could prevent most cases without drugs or expensive medical facilities. By looking at populations that are genetically similar but have very different lifestyles, we can see how certain diseases are linked to lifestyle and income. As these populations migrate and their lifestyle changes, diseases start to appear too. Diabetes, coronary artery disease, cardiovascular disease, certain kinds of stoke, and some specific cancers.
You inherit more than DNA form you ancestors. Ideas, beliefs, biases and preferences are also passed down. This is why some diseases that are not genetic can run in families.
One of the biggest lifestyle factors is diet. A plant-based wholefood diet may be able to prevent many of these illnesses. But unfortunately, the prevention of chronic disease through diet and nutrition is an area of medicine in which most doctors are not trained and subsequently lack sufficient knowledge to properly advise patients. SO WHY NOT JUST TAKE SUPLIMENTS? There is no substitute for fibre in wholefoods. - Dr Michael Greger.

IT TAKES TIME FOR THE EFFECTS OF OUR CONSISTENT CHOICES TO BECOME VISIBLE HENCE ILLNESS IN LATER LIFE –although we are more often seeing age associated illnesses present sooner.

The sooner you start making different choices the sooner you can change your outcome years from now. Think of it as investing in your retirement health.

THE TRUTH ABOUT AGEINGWhat do most of us fear in old age? Illness and poor quality of life, not being able to do the things we enjoy doing? Part of what scar...

08/07/2022

https://youtu.be/rudeBkWy3JA

CHRONOLOGICAL VS BIOLOGICAL AGE | S I E N

QUESTION: How old do you feel?

How does old feel? Tired? Slow? Low energy? What is the opposite?

Take a moment to consider your own associations with getting older and question them. Sometimes tired is just tired but when you associate it with chronological age [something you can’t change] you give away your ability to feel differently or seek another reason for why you are tired.

People report feeling better and more vital when they spend time with younger people, it’s like they absorb their enthusiasm and curiosity. Attributes we associate with youth.

How you perceive the process of aging; your expectations and beliefs; how you experience time and how energetic you feel actually affects the biology of aging.

Another way of saying this is that the Psychology of ageing affects the Biology of ageing.

THE TRUTH ABOUT AGEINGWhat we believe about ageing can have a tremendous effect on how we actually age. We tend to overestimate the influence of genetics and...

30/06/2022

https://youtu.be/lo06lc1y9mw

HYPERVIGILANCE | S I E N
!RED ALERT!
A biological adaptation to stress, your brain’s method of trying to keep you out of harm’s way by being highly alert and aware of your surroundings, constantly looking for and assessing potential threats around you.
Looking forward: a looming threat, common with anxiety disorders.
Looking back: reminder of a previous threat, common with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other trauma manifestations.
One can also be hypervigilant in the context of a relationship. Especially one that has historically been difficult to navigate, so you anticipate a problem at any second.
I’m going to focus on the type of hypervigilance associated with chronic stress and anxiety. I’ve noticed lately how many people seem to be hypervigilant and not realise this. It no wonder considering the conditions we have been living under globally. Sometimes something begins for one reason and continues even when that reason is no longer relevant.
It can basically present whenever you DO NOT FEEL SAFE or UNSURE or OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE for whatever reason.
When you feel uncertain you might experience irrational or exaggerated fear over a person, situation or event. This fear can cause your nervous system to be excessively aware or scanning for threats to your safety. A feeling that something “bad” is about to happen and you’re unable to relax in your environment. . You may be perfectly safe but being hypervigilant can cause a feedback loop. You look for a specific threat and you get more anxious, which causes you to look for more threats. On and on it goes. Your nervous system is primed for danger so there must be a danger so you keep looking. To find the treat, you focus intently on people’s expressions or tone of voice. In this state of readiness you can latch on and react to harmless things as if it is a treat to you. Since you are under threat you are more sensitive so you may take things personally and experience emotional outbursts.
Fearing the worst without an obvious cause can lead you to catastrophize, or believe that the worst possible thing is about to happen
Being in a constant state of high alert is exhausting and it affects your health since you can’t ‘switch off’ sleep is affected and you may even have elevated blood pressure.
Stress Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh510TBQBfn90XtAV6c-a7mqs1Uw7hv2z
I am on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/SIENperspective
Other social media:
https://www.instagram.com/sienperspective/
https://www.tiktok.com/
Disclaimer:
I share my thoughts, experiences and things I’ve learnt but none of this is meant to be advice. If anything I say here resonates with you, please also do your own research and speak to any relevant professionals if you want to make any changes to your life or lifestyle.

# HYPERVIGILANCE

!RED ALERT!A biological adaptation to stress, your brain’s method of trying to keep you out of harm’s way by being highly alert and aware of your surrounding...

15/06/2022

https://youtu.be/RwoOnoXshrc

BUILDING TOOLS STRESS | S I E N

If I asked you to cut down a tree but I don’t give you an axe, you won’t be able to. No matter how much you may want to!
The same is true for cutting down on stress; you need to have certain physical tools. These tools are aimed at a long term lowering of baseline stress.
MUSIC: There is no pill you can take than can affect your mood like music.
FOCUS: Focus is linked to Emotional maturity [lengthening the time between impulse and action] and uses same circuitry in the brain:
There are many things we can do to learn how to focus, like meditation, yoga and tai chi.
EXERCISE: New research is showing that frequency is more helpful than intensity so 10 mins a day is enough to maintain and even improve your wellbeing.
COMMUNITY: reach out, but choose your community wisely, stress is contagious! The Friendship Bench
ADVENTURE: doing things that make you feel uncomfortable or roughs you up a little helps build or remind you of your own resilience.
MASSAGE: Physical touch can be calming but also emotionally stimulating.

If I asked you to cut down a tree but I don’t give you an axe, you won’t be able to. No matter how much you may want to! The same is true for cutting down on...

08/06/2022

https://youtu.be/B52JokO5Mi4

Stress is essentially a perspective problem.
So how do you shift a perspective? How do you see things differently? A good place to start is to consider what you believe. IT IS POSSIBLE TO LIVE A LIFE FREE OF CHRONIC UNDERLYING STRESS.
NOTE YOUR RESPONSE - IF YOU FIND A FEELING OF RESISTENCE, THAT IS INTERESTING AND IT IS WORTH EXPLORING. Maybe being stressed means what you are doing is important or significant. If you aren’t stressed you aren’t working hard enough? Is it possible that perhaps some sense of self-worth is tied up in how stressed you are?

Whatever your attachment to chronic stress may be, it is good to question if your belief is serving you? You are likely watching this video because you’ve caught on to the fact that chronic stress isn’t healthy and it’s not really helping.

You have up to now likely BELIEVED that stress is an inevitable part of living in the modern world. Stress is unavoidable and you must just get used to it, or perhaps you believe it is just temporary but when you start to look back you may realize that this is not actually the case.

First thing you should do: You must buy into the idea that it is possible to go about your life free from that underlying feeling of worry that so often can be a constant companion.

Mindfulness means NOT ignoring it if you are feeling stressed. When you do that you are giving it space to exist. Once you are aware of your stress you can:
1. Breathe
2. Explore the trigger
3. Formulate a plan

De-clutter your life. Reduce demands, prioritize and let things go. Really give this a chance. Sometimes there are demands on us that we feel we cannot let go. Is this really true? Ask yourself why and what would happen if you let go? What would be the worst thing that would happen and is that really so bad?
Being aware of what you subject yourself to on a minute by minute basis and choosing what you want to pay attention to.

Fail. You will make mistakes. You will drop the ball. The sooner you realize that this is ok the less scary it will seem. Allow yourself mistakes, the world will not stop spinning. FAILURE IS A PART OF LIFE, PRACTISE FAILURE AS A SKILL IN SMALL WAYS. So when it happens, say at work, you are able to manage your response better since you’ve been practising.

Be kind to yourself. Acknowledge that you are doing your very best. Realize that your best does not always look the same. Your best today may seem less than your best yesterday, this is ok. It is still your best and it is good.

Language. The way we speak reinforces how we feel. HAVE TO vs WANT TO
In the next video I will explore actions you can take to give you the tools to further lower your stress base line, create neural pathways to help you focus and how to trigger the production of chemicals to make you feel more relaxed!

Stress is essentially a perspective problem. WHY WE GET STRESSED | S I E N https://youtu.be/nMPbkj5sKJM So how do you shift a perspective? How do you see thi...