Learning about your health can be overwhelming. It’s all microbiome and hypertrophy and dysmenorrhea – big, confusing concepts that are hard to understand. But a new study has found that taking lessons on wellbeing has huge benefits.

Students at Swansea University had “significantly improved mental health” after taking an optional five-week wellbeing science module that included lessons on connecting with oneself and how to create behaviour change.  

One might argue that this is evidence of a specific course nailing exactly how to look after and protect mental wellbeing. But my own experience suggests that taking time to learn about your wellbeing has a similarly huge impact, even when not done as part of a professional course.

The benefits of researching your health

Like many women, I once took everything I was told about my body as true. I did the workouts that influencers said I should be doing and ignored the frustrating symptoms that doctors seemed unworried about. 

Eventually, it became clear that these things weren’t working for me. The gym sessions people online swore by weren’t making me stronger. The health conditions weren’t sorting themselves out as I’d been promised. I felt powerless over my health. I know many people who feel the same – friends complain that they don’t see the point in working out because they followed someone’s guide for six weeks and felt no better, or tried meditating but still had panic attacks.

It was after living with amenorrhea for two years that I decided to take matters into my own hands. I know that sounds like the beginning of an alt-medicine documentary, but I wasn’t after herbal cures for diseases that didn’t exist – I just wanted to understand my body. 

Given I’m a journalist, I’ve always loved research, but I didn’t ever see myself as the sort of person who’d be trawling scientific studies - having given up biology, chemistry and physics at GCSE level. In a bid to regain my periods, however, I started thinking about what foods to eat and how to exercise beyond what I was seeing online – finding answers to simple questions around fuelling and digestion. I found out about my nervous system and how that linked to my workouts and my hormonal health.

The importance of asking ‘why’

Armed with that knowledge, I’m not only able to choose foods and exercises that make me feel good, but I also understand why these things improve my physical and mental health. There’s something powerful about knowing the reason behind the decisions you make. It means you don’t have to stick to rigid plans. Instead, you can manoeuvre around the gym with confidence, make meals knowing they will support your body and choose to rest, train, breathe or do whatever will best serve you in the moment. It also led me into the job of trying to share that information with other people – a surprising full circle experience.

Wellness can be confusing; some studies convincingly suggest huge tweaks that make you only 2% stronger (irrelevant for anyone who isn’t an athlete). But really, the closer you zoom in, the more you realise that you should zoom out and just focus on the basics. For example, there is no need to worry about adding two second pulses onto your deadlifts if you aren’t going to the gym regularly.

Where to find good research

The most important thing is where you get your information from. One of the worst places to start is by Googling your symptoms or research topic - there’s too much misinformation out there. Comb papers that you don’t feel qualified to read. Follow (legit) doctors online who are still engaged with their areas of research, like Professor Tim Spector and Dr Hazel Wallace. Find robust sites that break down information, like Stronger by Science and, of course, Strong Women. Imagine where an expert would go for their information, and go there.

The unfortunate truth is that we shouldn’t have to teach ourselves how to look after our bodies and minds, because these should be lessons that are rooted in society and taught at school. It’s really no wonder that so many of us give up on health or feel overwhelmed by advice given how little autonomous information we are given. It’s not about finding cures or even advice, but about understanding how the body works so you can take charge of your health. 

Images: Getty