Wellness Matters with Natalie Madsen-Oesterbye

…….what are the chances? Bumped into my favourite Irish bird 🇮🇪 during a day trip to London. Spooky 🥰

Day 2 Guilfest Crew. Solid 🥰

……and last night was Lana at Wembley. What a songstress 🥰

Guilfest ‘25. Not quite Glastonbury but a lot more convenient 😘

Hi. I've just created a private group here on Facebook to start building a community for folks who are invested in their wellbeing are looking for information and inspiration. The Wellness Matters Community Facebook Group is intended to be a place where you can come and ask questions and hopefully be inspired by things that other folks are doing to support their wellbeing. There may well be a challenge or two thrown in for good measure and there'll definitely be a few recipes and wellness hacks along the way. Thanks and stay well. Nat x

“Sitting is more dangerous than smoking, kills more people than HIV, and is more treacherous than parachuting. We are sitting ourselves to death," says James Levine, Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, in an interview with the LA Times. "The chair is out to kill us."

Scary Mary! Dr Levine’s work is what convinced me to prioritise my daily step count and to stand whilst working at my desk.

His research estimated that, in the US, people spend more than half of their waking hours sitting down, either watching TV, driving, or sitting at a desk at work or home. This in itself is not a problem, however, when serious health issues including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease are linked to sitting down then it becomes a real concern.

Gavin Bradley, Director of Active Working, an international group aimed at reducing excessive sitting, explains part of the process, “Metabolism slows down by 90% after 30 minutes of sitting. The enzymes that move the bad fat from your arteries to your muscles, where it can get burned off, slow down. The muscles in your lower body are turned off. And after two hours, good cholesterol drops 20%. Just getting up for five minutes is going to get things going again. These things are so simple they’re almost stupid.”

If you need any more convincing, there’s plenty of evidence based research on the subject available online - just look up Dr James Levine and you’ll be off down a research rabbit hole in no time.

If you’re not already one of the step obsessed, you might want to give it some serious consideration.

Be Well,

Nat x

























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Your body depends on water to survive. Every cell, tissue, and organ in your body needs water to work properly. Good hydration is important for your well-being and making sure you get enough water every day is essential to maintaining your health.

Nothing we don’t know already, right? So why is so hard for so many of us to drink enough water on a daily basis?

In November, the Wellness Matters 30 day challenge will be focussed on hydration and your daily water consumption. Are you up for it?

More to come in the next few weeks, in the meantime, get guzzling.

Be Well,

Nat x

We don’t need scientific evidence to tell us that walking 10,000 steps a day will be beneficial for most people. What would be good to know though is why?

Walking a decent number of steps every day has been proven to provide physical and mental health benefits. For example, regular walking can support healthy and sustainable weight loss, it can improve joint health, boost mood and brain function and also aid recovery.

Walking is a low-impact exercise that's accessible to most people and is something that can be spontaneous with little or no planning required which makes it a physical activity that is easy to maintain.

The magic number of 10,000 steps is out there as a ball park, and provides nothing more than very effective frame of reference. In fact, the origins of the 10,000 steps a day concept can be linked back to one of the first manufacturers of pedometers who used the number without any data to back it up! Some studies have shown that around 7500 steps a day is the sweet spot and anything beyond that makes little difference.

Regardless, most of us can be motivated by tangible and consistent wins. The most effective advice on the number of steps that are right for you, is to do a little more than you’re doing now, stay hydrated, and to be guided by how you feel.

Be well, Nat x