By Tracy Nguyen

It is no doubt that there are many health benefits to running. As medical students, you must have told several of your patients in GP clinics, or constantly heard your doctors reminding their patients of countless reasons why they should exercise. Personally, when I think about running, the first things that come to my mind are all of its common associated health benefits – improving cardiovascular health, strengthening muscles, increasing bone density and maintaining healthy weight. It is not only until relatively recently when I started doing park run that I realized there is way more to running than what I thought…

Don’t get me wrong, I am by no means a good runner. Not surprisingly, my first park run performance was honestly on the lower end of someone in the 20’s age group. I was sweating like crazy for the whole 5 kilometers with my face looking as red as a tomato and I could not help feeling the urge to stop running at any moment, with all the increasing squeezing pain in my abdomen and legs. Every time I saw someone about 10 years younger than me, or at least more than double my age running past me, it was quite hard not to feel embarrassed. At the end of the run, I thought to myself, I missed those sleep-in Saturday mornings where I could sleep cozily in my warm blanket, not having to go through all this suffering. I may give it another try but this might not be a suitable new routine thing I should do on weekends.

At the end of the run, I thought to myself, I missed those sleep-in Saturday mornings where I could sleep cozily in my warm blanket, not having to go through all this suffering.

To my own surprise, and probably to quite a few of the other park runners I met that day, I have been joining the park runs every week since then without fail. I have come to enjoy the run more and more for various reasons. I have learnt that park run is in many ways similar to life. You can constantly compare yourself to others but at the end of the run, it is you and your own progress that matters. It may seem so embarrassing that you are so far behind others and as if people must be judging your performance, however, everyone is just trying their best to finish their run rather than being judgmental or disappointed as you may feel. Everyone has their own story, some people have been running for the last 10 years, some just started today, some have chronic pain that they are struggling with for decades and some may start running again after years – but everyone has the same goal, to go to the finishing line. And on that journey, where both the fastest and slowest runners want to give their best, they also learn to be understanding and supportive of others, some encouraging shouts mixed in with heavy breathing sounds as “Good job” or “You are doing great” to people you have never met before making the run just seem so much more endurable. You set smaller goals along the way and feel more comfortable with your own pace and so proud of yourself as you pass another 500 meters or manage to get back to running after slowing down for a while. You become so mindful (and maybe so tired) that all the stress and worries from study and work no longer bother you, but at the same time you are more aware of the surrounding environment. “Oh, I didn’t notice the river looked this nice during the last run” or “Since when did all the leaves turn into this beautiful red color?”. And nothing is more satisfying than the moment you check your performance time after the run and see the time getting shorter and shorter, though just by very small amount of time each week, and you know you are definitely doing better than you used to. Smiling, while trying to catch your breath with muscle soreness all over your body, you are glad you decided to leave the cozy comfort zone to run again today, and you know you are going to be here next week….

And on that journey, where both the fastest and slowest runners want to give their best, they also learn to be understanding and supportive of others, some encouraging shouts mixed in with heavy breathing sounds as “Good job” or “You are doing great” to people you have never met before making the run just seem so much more endurable.

Maybe all that talk will not be enough to convince you to join a park run near you anytime soon, but don’t forget you are also doing a life run right now. There is no doubt it is full of stress and hardship sometimes, if not almost all the time, but do remember that things do get better, and every small step will bring you a bit closer to your goal and every effort you put in will count towards your end result. Learn to enjoy the journey rather than being too focused on the finishing line and be forgiving and supportive of yourself as well as others in that run. I wish you all get the best out of your run and enjoy every moment of it and hopefully find some good companionship on your way to the finishing line.

If you feel inspired to give park run a go, visit their website here to find out more about it, and join your nearest group!: https://www.parkrun.com.au/

BY Nicholas Wilkes

Have you ever found yourself worrying about one specific thing, which somehow leads to numerous other relevant or/and irrelevant worries that you just end up spending hours being anxious and worried? Have your worries ever interfered with your focus on studying and working, which eventually made you even more worried as the deadlines are coming closer but you have even less time left? Have those worries ever followed you till you go to bed, when you feel tired and sleepy, but somehow those worries during the day just cannot leave your mind, and the next thing you know it is almost the time you need to wake up and now you are still awake and left with more sleepiness and worries?  

All of the above situations may sound quite familiar to some of us, and a lot of people may have experienced that vicious cycle of worrying at some point in their life. In fact, worry in and of itself is not as bad a thing as we may tend to think it is, a healthy amount of worries can actually serve to help to motivate us to take action to stop those uncomfortable feelings and thoughts. However, worries can also easily become a cycle of self-perpetuating negative thoughts that are uncontrollable and detrimental to not only your productivity but also your happiness in the long term.

“However, worries can also easily become a cycle of self-perpetuating negative thoughts that are uncontrollable and detrimental to not only your productivity but also your happiness in the long term”

There’s a saying by Corrie ten Boom which I find more and more accurate the more I think about it –  “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength”. Excessive worries indeed can adversely affect our study and work and put a strain on both our mental and physical health as many studies have shown. So, now we know that it’s bad but how to stop it?

The very first step of tackling worries is to realize and accept that you are excessively worried and you need to do something about it.

The very first step of tackling worries is to realize and accept that you are excessively worried and you need to do something about it. It can be hard to totally eliminate worries especially if your problems can’t be fixed right away, but you can always set aside a designated time for worrying. Instead of staying worried for all day and everyday, set a fixed period of time like 30 minutes a day when you can think about your problems. During this time, identify what is worrying you and try to list out different options of how you may deal with this problem. When you can come up with a plan of what to do, you can then take small steps toward the goal, which would be way more productive than just being chronically worried without a specific solution. This special “worry time” should be far away from your bed time so not to compromise with your sleep, and whenever you catch yourself worrying not during this set time, make sure you try to think of something else or do something to distract yourself. Of course, things are easier said than done, but do not forget to give yourself time to control the worries, share your issues with your loved ones and be patient and understanding to yourself while you are dealing with all the stress and worries. I hope that that reading this may somehow help you to briefly forget about your current worries, and will motivate you to set your own worry time soon when I strongly believe you can also find a way to overcome your problems.

BY MONIQUE CONIBEAR (MUMUS Community and Wellbeing)

Before this month, I thought I knew what endometriosis was. I had learnt a bit about it at uni, done a bit of my own research and even read some personal stories from women who have experienced it. However, the truth was I didn’t really know that much at all and even now, I can’t completely grasp the impact it would have on someone’s life.

On the 4^th of March this year, just 4 days into Endometriosis Awareness Month I got a call from a friend. For years, this friend had been experiencing horrendous abdominal pain. She had gone through both gastroscopies and colonoscopies to try and diagnose it, had a resting heart rate above 100, had been diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), and had even had a loop recorder device implanted to record her heart rate and rhythm 24/7. Unfortunately, despite all this they still couldn’t figure out exactly what was causing her abdominal pain and a lot of the time doctors simply ruled it down to ‘anxiety’ without fully listening to her story.

Then on the 4^th of March she had another visit to the emergency department with severe abdominal pain linked to her menstrual cycle which had put her into a massive POTS flare up (increased heart rate and large drop in her blood pressure making her feel faint). The doctors asked for her permission to do a transvaginal ultrasound and of course at first, she was hesitant. By this stage she had gone through numerous investigations, MRIs, colonoscopies, gastroscopies etc. and a lot of them had come up completely clear. To decide to have such an invasive investigation with the risk of it revealing nothing was a difficult decision to make however she went through with it and was lucky she did because they found cysts on the endometrial wall.

“Studies suggest that endometriosis affects 1 in 10 women during the years they have their periods, 10% of the female population”

Endometriosis is a condition where tissue that is similar to the uterine lining grows outside the uterus and causes pain and/or infertility. Due to the nature of this condition, it can only be fully diagnosed by undergoing laparoscopy and having a biopsy taken. Although my friend wasn’t definitively diagnosed with the transvaginal ultrasound, the doctors are now pretty confident she has endometriosis and for once she finally has answers to why she has been experiencing so much pain.  

Studies suggest that endometriosis affects 1 in 10 women during the years they have their periods, 10% of the female population. Diagnosis of the condition is often delayed, with an average of 7 years between onset of symptoms and diagnosis. The reason for this is endometriosis is incredibly unique and individualised to every person. For my friend, the pain didn’t always occur at the same time as the periods and as a result it was exceedingly difficult to diagnose.

One of the ways we can help is to increase awareness of endometriosis. To let women, know that it isn’t normal to experience severe period pain and to give them a space to be heard.

One of the ways we can help is to increase awareness of endometriosis. To let women, know that it isn’t normal to experience severe period pain and to give them a space to be heard.

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This ENDOMARCH and beyond, take some time to learn more about Endometriosis and how you can help those around you who may encounter it:

Home

https://www.jeanhailes.org.au/health-a-z/endometriosis

https://endometriosis.org/