Is a six-figure salary bad for your health?

Ten years ago, Catherine Salway was brand director at Virgin, jetting between LA, New York and London, earning a six-figure salary, flicking through property magazines and considering buying a larger home in west London.

By most corporate executive standards, she was living the dream: a high-flying career at a riotously successful company, accompanied by a jet-set lifestyle of copious champagne, canapés and transatlantic flights.

The trouble was, it didn't feel as good as it seemed. "I was two stone overweight, I drank far too much, and my moods oscillated between stressed and depressed," she says. "I was cash-rich but time-poor, rarely seeing my family and friends, eating and drinking far too much."

After 17 years as Richard Branson's "brand guru", leaving Virgin was a wrench, but three years ago Catherine quit to set up her own alcohol-free bar, Redemption, in Notting Hill. "Some people think they have a book in them; I felt I had a brand in me," she explains. This sidestep out of the corporate world transformed her health. "I had been propelled by ambition and didn't realise just how bad the lifestyle was, until I popped out the other end.

"I haven't had a manicure for three years, but I'm down to a healthy size 12, I book yoga into my schedule three times a week and I see my dad twice a month, instead of a few times a year," she says. "At 42, I look and feel so much better than I did 10 years ago."

But there is mounting evidence that the executive lifestyle is not all it is cracked up to be. Last week, a major new study showed that employees who work more than 55 hours a week have a 33 per cent increased risk of stroke, compared with co-workers who clock up 35-40 hours. "Sudden death from overwork is often caused by stroke and is believed to result from a repetitive triggering of the stress response," wrote researchers from University College London, in the medical journal The Lancet. While they can't state categorically that long hours cause people to have strokes, their study shows a clear link - one that gets stronger as the hours people put in get longer.

4 cures for morning sickness in pregnancy

Vomiting and nausea in pregnancy are nothing new. In fact, the Egyptians wrote about them over 2,000 years ago. Morning sickness is nearly a universal condition for women in the first part of their pregnancies. Seventy-five percent or more suffer the symptoms.

If you're pregnant and have morning sickness, you've probably asked the question "Why do they call it morning sickness?"

Read: Chugging hot sauce induces labor and other baby myths

Actually, most women have the symptoms of morning sickness at any and all times of the day, although some do find it more severe in the morning, when they first wake up. Some people feel that it is worse in the mornings because nausea seems to be worse on an empty stomach, and after not eating all night, those first moments in the morning can be difficult.

So, one cure for that first-thing-in-the-morning nausea is to keep a few crackers or cheese at your bedside to eat before venturing out of bed. Carbs often sound the best to a sore stomach, but there is evidence that protein is helpful, too. It's also best to eat frequent, small meals while in this stage for the same reason. Don't let your stomach get too empty. And, as your pregnancy progresses, this is a great habit to keep. Later, when your baby is larger, you may have trouble with acid or heartburn. Smaller, more frequent meals will help.

Here are some other ideas:

Avoid trigger foods

You may notice certain foods or smells trigger your nausea. Avoid them when possible. Sometimes even flickering lights or a stuffy room will set you off. Once you identify these you can do your best to stay away from them. Fatty foods are often problematic, as well as very spicy foods. Pay attention to your body's signs.

Not so hot

Sometimes, eating a food at room temperature, or cold, is more easily tolerated than hot.

Ginger

It's a time-honored antidote for morning sickness. Make ginger tea from raw ginger, or take capsules with real ginger for a better result than commercial ginger ale. Some people get relief from ginger candies or suckers.

Peppermint

Tea may be helpful, or using pure peppermint essential oil topically. Sometimes, even sniffing the bottle of essential oil will quell your stomach. Be sure to use a therapeutic grade oil to avoid synthetic peppemint--which may actually make it worse.

When vomiting is severe, staying hydrated is a problem, since drinking water is sometimes hard to tolerate. Try freezing Gatorade into icecubes and sucking on them as an alternative.

Good nutrition is important when pregnant, but try not to stress too much if you can't keep a well-balanced diet down. Prenatal vitamins will help cover some of the bases. (Be sure to take them with food!)

Two Great Things Exercise Is Guaranteed to Do For You

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as of last month were telling us two and a half hours of exercise could lower your risk for these diseases. You don't need to run a marathon or climb Half-Dome at Yosemite. You just need to do some moderate intensity aerobic activity. For any of you who don't know it, weight-bearing workouts (cables, weights etc.) are definitely aerobic...I know this first-hand. If you can handle it, doing more is better. Building up to something every day is the best. You can start slow and gradually get where you want to be.

According to Scientific American in a January 2009 article, they quote the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) urging Americans to do moderate exercise for two and a half hours a week. They recommend brisk walking, water aerobics, or more vigorous running, swimming, or cycling for an hour and fifteen minutes a week. These are all good forms of exercise but are generally outside except for the cycling or running which you can do at the gym. I personally prefer weight-bearing exercise as it has many additional benefits such as weight-loss and toning and can be done indoors, even at home, all year. There is ample evidence now that exercise will add years to your life. People who are NOT couch potatoes live an average of three to seven years longer. You can get a lot of good stuff done in those extra years and have a lot of fun.

But these things are still not the ones I want to tell you about. So let's move on to those. The 2 Great Things Exercise is Guaranteed to Do For You are:

1. Improve your mental health and mood

2. Build your self-confidence

As a psychotherapist, I am particularly interested in these two benefits. I have worked with many, many people who have come to me because of problems in these two areas.

Sleep is crucial for your immune system to build itself back up after the stresses that tear it down through much of the day. A mix of aerobic and muscle-strengthening exercise three to five times a week for 30-60 minutes can provide these benefits. They will also help keep your thinking, judgment and learning skills sharp as you age (even if you're young, there will be improvements).

Self-confidence is crucial to everything we do. Much like our bodies, we take it with us everywhere we go. Even though we can't see it, it has an enormous impact on our lives, especially the quality of our lives. When our self-confidence is high, we can accomplish anything, or at least be willing to attempt anything.

Taking risks is what every super-successful person will tell you is necessary for achieving high levels of success. Just ask Tony Robbins or Deepak Chopra.

When we feel insecure, we tend to be more introverted, less social and less willing to try new things and meet new people. Exercise stimulates those good endorphins we need to feel good and in turn our behavior is positively impacted.


Working out consistently lets you get better and better and feel stronger and stronger and like the way you look and feel. So why not take a plunge into exercising and get the two great things (not to mention the many other great things) exercise is guaranteed to do for you!