Prevention is Cure Blog

From Innovation to Disruption: The Next Steps in Reducing the Burden of Mental Health Problems The prevalence of mental health problems is on the rise, with the current treatment gap estimated to be about 400,000 people. And that’s an optimistic estimate. With just...

Have you ever wondered about the tiny organelles called mitochondria, which are present in almost every cell in our body? As a metabolic neurologist and a world leader in his field, Dr. Matthew Phillips provides valuable insights into his ground breaking research in...

Controlled cold exposure, particularly by immersing yourself in cold water such as in a cold shower, cold bath or getting in a cold body of water, has an instant and enduring effect on your mood. There is both a physiological as well as a psychological procedure that...

Hello and welcome to PREKURE's weekly snippet of science, where on a weekly basis we share emergent research related to extending the human healthspan.   Context We've all heard it at one time another, probably from an overzealous well-intentioned personal...

Hello and welcome to PREKURE's weekly snippet of science, where on a weekly basis we share emergent research related to extending the human healthspan.  As a health coach, given our current global statistics, it is likely that you will work with clients who have goals...

It’s that time of year again - the season to be jolly. However, for many, getting into the Christmas spirit can be a challenge; it can often be a time of rising stress, anxiety and overwhelm. Maybe it’s a brimming social calendar that doesn’t leave enough time to rest...

What are the lifestyle factors that have a massive impact on your health outcomes if you catch Covid? And what should you do to prepare yourself?   Tune into our podcast below, as Prof Grant Schofield talks with Paul Taylor, Neuroscientist, Exercise Physiologist,...

Prof Grant Schofield talks to Prof Julia Rucklidge about the mental health treatment gap, what the main problems are and how we could find a solution. The treatment gap is the number of people who are currently not receiving any treatment, but who struggle with a...

By the PreKure Team In some areas, we're currently living in full lockdown or some stage of isolation. How can we manage ourselves in this period of insecurity and unpredictability? Here are 7 practical tips, in the form of questions, that can help keep us strong and...

How is your ‘staycation’ going? How are you coping? I remember a quote from Sir David Attenborough from last year's Covid-19 outbreak. This is what he had to say about it: "We don't need to think that if you catch coronavirus you might as well jump into a grave and...

Cliff Harvey, clinical nutritionist, researcher and author, shares his top 7 techniques and routines for better mental wellbeing. Many years ago, when I was a kid, I was diagnosed with depression. That diagnose was later changed to bipolar disorder. I was suffering...

Telesia Fa Macnamara, Personal Trainer and PreKure Certified Health Coach, found there was a gap between physical and mental wellbeing. In her job as a PT, she wanted to help people get physically healthier, and also help them to better mental wellbeing - connecting...

Fluctuations in mood are normal in humans and essential to a good life. But what causes low mood and what can we do to help us feel better? Prof Grant Schofield, Chief Science Officer at PreKure, has released a white paper on the biology of mental wellbeing, to help...

Here at PreKure, we’re concerned about how our mental wellbeing is tracking in society as a whole. Because at a time in human history where we have more resources than ever before, we have trouble feeling as good as we could. So, we decided to do something about this,...

Can you just leave the diet as it is, and train your way into great shape and lose fat? There is some great research on this, and the answer is a pretty firm ‘no’. Can you lose fat just by upping the ‘calories out’ - your exercise? Exercise actually has a fairly...

If you’ve had to take a break from training any significant amount of time, whether it was due to an injury, stressful times at home or at work, here are the things you should pay attention to when you start working out again after a long break.

With all the cooking, socialising, shopping and gift-giving, the holidays can feel more like trying to finish a marathon, than having time off with family and friends. Trying to meet expectations – real and imagined – can cause stress, and stress can in turn lead us...

Kent Johns' focus is on men's health. Kent went through a patch of feeling stressed, burnt out and demotivated. A diet change sparked new energy and inspiration in him.   Through that path of self-discovery, I realised that this is what I actually want to do. I...

 What are your risk and Protective Factors? Resilience isn't really about removing the stress and stressors in our lives. It's about how we as individuals learn to deal with that stress or stressors effectively. So, what determines our resilience? What are the...

Prof Grant Schofield talks to us about fitness. Is fitness medicine? "I get asked a lot about fitness and diet. People pit the two against each other as two independently healthy behaviours - should you have a good diet or should you exercise? Hello? Would you rather...

By Dr Chris Reid, GP What is poor mental health? As a GP, I often see people who say, "But I'm not depressed, doctor". Because the public often have a perception that depression has to mean someone who's looking and feeling miserable, crying all the time. But of...

Reduce stress Find out why stress can be helpful, when it can lead to damage, and how to manage it. Dr Desiree Dickerson, PREKURE's Neuroscientist and Clinical Psychologist, shares facts about stress and tips how we can reduce it. I think it's really important to...

Use this mindfulness technique to take the edge off worry and anxiety. It will help you be more focused and centered. Try it now with Dr Carlo Bellini.

Behaviour change is hard. Eating healthier, stopping smoking, starting to exercise, increasing your activity - living a more healthy lifestyle is really, really hard. But with Covid-19, we can change our behaviour relatively quickly. Hand washing suddenly becomes more...

Lockdown exit strategy should focus on diet, exercise and sleep Something fundamentally new has come out just in the last 24 hours, which is the best data we've had by miles so far. What we've been waiting for is what we call serological surveys, which is taking blood...

Join PreKureME Lockdown Edition for some immune-boosting self-improvement in self-isolation.   Let’s make sure we come out of isolation in our little bubbles, healthier and in better shape than we started. We might as well take that opportunity. Here at PreKure,...

What do I need to do to become healthy? The priorities that many of us have had a chance to think about in lockdown are the simple things. The simple things, such as eating whole, unprocessed food, which is very hard to do in this day and age. But it is clear that...

Dr Desiree Dickerson, PreKure's clinical psychologist, shares some valuable tips for coping with isolation. I am writing to you from Spain, where we are in day 12 of isolation. In New Zealand, you’re about to go into the same thing.  Here in Spain, we are allowed to...

Each day for the foreseeable future we here at PreKure are coming to you live at 8PM New Zealand-time on Facebook to talk about issues regarding COVID-19. Visit us on Facebook.   Prof Grant Schofield talks about what works for his family - set up a structure that...

Hear from Sonya English, critical care outreach nurse, and PreKure Faculty member: 1. If you strictly follow the government recommended guidelines, masks are not needed. 2. N95 (specialist personnel protection equipment, PPE) masks should not be used by the public....

  By the PreKure Team   How can we manage ourselves in this period of fear, insecurity and unpredictability? Here are 7 practical tips, in the form of questions. Remember there will also be times of strength and love and confidence.   1. What am I...

Each day for the foreseeable future we here at PreKure are coming to you live at 8PM New Zealand-time on Facebook to talk about issues regarding COVID-19. Go to our Facebook page here.   Dr. Desiree Dickerson, PreKure's clinical psychologist, is living in Spain...

Food, Your Brain and You Julia Rucklidge is a professor of clinical psychology who has spent the last 10 researching the interface between nutrition and mental illness, using micronutrients as the way to test and look at the relationship between the two. “13% of the...

  During his podcast episode with Grant and George, "quiet change maker" Cliff Harvey gets the question on what he concentrates on for his health and well-being. And his number one is a mindfulness practice. In the fourth episode of the Flippin Health podcast, we...

What if we accepted that new challenges will inevitably come in some form or other, and that our exposure to them will in fact make us stronger and more capable. PreKure’s Neuroscientist and  Clinical Psychologist, Dr Desiree Dickerson, takes us on a journey through...

What is resilience? Are we born with it? What can we do to strengthen it? Dr Desiree Dickerson, PreKure’s Neuroscientist and Clinical Psychologist, takes a look at the definitions. How do we define resilience? It's a term that we use a lot in everyday language. Dr...

If you've got 2 minutes, the best thing you can probably do with it is move your body. Our 2-minute workout incorporates 4 “natural” movements of humans:1. Stretching and standing tall2. Squatting3. Crouching and lunging4. Cross-legged sitting These real...

Fitness is Medicine Here at PreKure we believe being fit is good for you. That being fit increases your quantity and quality of life.Fitness has 7 components (the seven s’s), and you can choose to emphasise different components depending on your...

Cocksy talks to us about his thoughts on #FitnessIsMedicine and #PrescriptionsForLiving. In this video, he shares his thoughts on the importance of getting and keeping fit to help fight cancer best. He likens it to the mindset and core values of an All Black (of...

The Cholesterol Myth As a pharmacist, I have lost count over the years of the number of conversations I have had with people who are concerned about their “high cholesterol” which increases their heart disease risk. Cholesterol has had a bad name since the very flawed...

What’s more important to you – your left arm or your right foot? What would you rather keep if you had to lose one or the other? It’s a stupid question I know. Because both are independently useful and important. Yet I’m asked a very similar question all the time....