Julie's Story
Walking by the sea, feeling more like me
By keeping active each day, Julie has relieved her aches, improved her heart health, and lifted her wellbeing.
"You can do this!”
Two years ago, Julie found herself struggling with low energy and a lack of enthusiasm in her daily life. Initially believing that the symptoms related to her age, she consulted her GP, who informed her that she had high blood pressure, which contributed to these symptoms. This news alarmed Julie, particularly as her mum died of a heart attack.
Julie’s GP surgery offered her a health and wellbeing coach to help her in making positive lifestyle changes to support with the management of her condition. She embraced the opportunity and together they set simple targets such as increasing her daily movement, drinking more water, and other healthy lifestyle changes. Julie and her coach telephoned weekly to discuss her progress, something that helped her stay motivated in the early part of her journey to becoming more active.
How Julie moves more
Julie works in a management role at her local hospital and incorporated more activity into her daily routine by parking her car further from work, allowing for a 15-minute walk to and from the office, pausing for 5 minutes mid-morning to do 5 minutes of stretching, walking into town at lunchtime, and always opting for stairs instead of using a lift.
In the evenings, she has swapped time spent sitting on the sofa watching TV with walks along the coast, or home-based Pilates workouts. On the weekends, Julie enjoys moving more through gardening and going for longer walks in the countryside with her husband.
How Julie feels now
These small yet consistent changes have enabled Julie to lose weight and lower her blood pressure, but she also experiences less pain in her knees and hips. This improvement has even reduced her reliance on Hormone Replacement Therapy medication.
Julie says that she feels more confident, and wants others to prioritise their health and wellbeing around their busy schedule.