ISDM E-Newsletter Reviews, Recordings and Upcoming Events

Impact of AI on Gamification and Serious Games Webinar

Zenith Global Health Awards

Medilink Midlands Innovation Day

European Lifestyle Medicine Symposium

Royal Society of Medicine Events

BSLM2024 Conference Highlights

Cogniclear VR Dementia Screening Tool Video Recording

BSLM Voices of Lived Experiences Group

Future Events Calendar

?Some updated information on recent and upcoming events, including access to webinar recordings

Impact of AI on Gamification and Serious Games Recording

On Friday I did an online presentation on the impact of AI on Gamification and Serious Games. The event was hosted by the SHRI VAISHNAV VIDYAPEETH VISHWAVIDYALA, INDORE Centre of Excellence in Simulation and Gaming. My presentation was based on my thoughts on how AI will affect the theory and practice of gamification white paper I published some years ago. If you would like a copy of this White paper on the Theory and Practice of Gamification, please email me at [email protected].

The video recording of this webinar is now available at https://www.youtube.com/live/mRQ-gIhESR4?si=IZO42FGLreEOXBRG and includes an interesting Q&A session

Zenith Global Health Summit

The Zenith Global Health Summit and Awards took place in London on Friday and Saturday. They are a very important opportunity to recognise the skills and dedication of healthcare professionals making a difference to global health in Africa. Founded by the inspirational CEO of Zenith Global Health, Mary Akangbe, the Zenith Global Health Awards and the annual gala dinner in London was as memorable memorable and enjoyable as always and included an opportunity to not only celebrate but also to dance!!

To learn more about Zenith Global Health and their work, visit www.zenithglobalhealth.com.

?Medilink Midlands Innovation Day Coventry

Medilink Midlands Innovation Day will welcome the medtech and life sciences community to Coventry to share the latest inspiring developments from across the sector. Taking place on Thursday 3 October, this year they are collaborating with a new venue, Coventry Building Society Arena, to offer more exhibitors, more networking and more opportunities.

Registration is FREE at? https://www.medilinkmidlands.com/medilink-midlands-innovation-day/

?European Lifestyle Medicine Symposium

This year I plan to attend the European Symposium on Lifestyle Medicine, organised jointly by the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine (BSLM) and the Spanish Institute of Lifestyle Medicine (SILM). This event marks a milestone in the continued pursuit of a unified view of Lifestyle Medicine. The conference is being held in the Mediterranean city of Alicante, with delegates from various countries, united by a common commitment: to improve people’s quality of life through lifestyle medicine, science and innovation.

This conference is a unique platform to share knowledge, experiences and advances in the field of Lifestyle Medicine. It is also an opportunity to learn from thought leaders, researchers and colleagues who are at the forefront of this discipline, who recognize the critical importance of habits and lifestyles in the prevention, management and treatment of chronic diseases. The conference also presents an opportunity to strengthen networks, form new collaborations and join forces in our shared mission of promoting healthy lifestyles.

?You can learn more at https://bslm.org.uk/events/european-lifestyle-medicine-symposium/

Royal Society of Medicine Events

The Royal Society of Medicine host regular in person events and webinars which include the following events and topics:-

Medicine and Me: Living with Childhood Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) - October 5th

AI in human and veterinary healthcare: Comparative applications and ethical implications Webinar – Oct 10th

Artificial intelligence in science and medicine 2024: Ellison Cliffe lecture by Professor Christopher Bishop – Oct 15th

Optimising women’s health benefits everyone in society – 2024 Jephcott Lecture by Professor Dame Lesley Regan – Oct? 29th

?BSLM 2024 Conference Highlights

Once again the British Society of Lifestyle medicine annual conference exceeded all expectations with impressive attendance, fantastic speakers and topics, great networking and a mountain of clinical and personal evidence to support lifestyle medicine. Here is a brief summary of personal conference highlights :-

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?Unfortunately, I missed the very first welcome session but I saw the most of Prof Al Aynsley-Green’s passionate and articulate argument for the importance of putting the health and wellbeing of children at the very heart of BSLM’s strategy. His message very much endorsed the former NHS Chief Executive Sir Simon Steven’s contention that preventative healthcare strategies at the earliest possible age are the best chance that we have to prevent the NHS being overwhelmed with the effects of diabetes and lifestyle related conditions.

Prof Aynsley-Green was scathing in his criticism of politicians and Govt policies that have seen the decline in the health and wellbeing of the future generations. An amazing and electric start to the day.

Dr Kamran Abbasi reflected on the impact of social media and the COVID pandemic which led to a massive increase in the number of research papers published and the phenomenon of misinformation and poor quality and inaccurate research findings. He cited the example of the impact of social influencer Russell Brand when he featured a broadcast about Pfizer that was viewed by many thousands of people. It is a feature of modern technology and its global reach that is unlikely to get any better,

The final speaker in this first morning session was Prof Dame Jane Dacre of UCL who did a remote online presentation because she could not attend in person. She made a very articulate presentation about leadership and effecting change with a very effective cartoon that highlighted the need to be part of the discussion with the decision makers rather than being an outsider criticising the decisions. This was a very pragmatic and insightful presentation.

After the morning coffee break, networking and visiting the many exhibitor stands, the conference split into 2 tracks with the main hall featuring a series of presentations relating to child health, beginning with Dr Alex Maxwell sharing his experience of working of child health strategies and the social and economic value of child-focused lifestyle medicine,

The other track which I moved on to was based on Lifestyle Medicine Initiatives from around the world including Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and North America. I was particularly impressed by Dr Ifeoma Monye’s presentation on Lifestyle Medicine in Nigeria and how they are trying to address equity and accessibility issues for underserved populations.

Lunch was healthy and appetising and provided opportunities to network and share experiences. I had the pleasure of chatting to a Muslim lady GP talking about the different perceptions and prejudices that arise from modern life.

Day Two of the BSLM Conference was, if anything, even better than Day One although I did not manage to watch as many sessions

The highlight of Day Two, for me, was the opening session tribute to the Late Dr Michael Mosley, delivered by his friend Prof Roy Taylor who began with some anecdotal stories about Michael, his charismatic personality, his passion for lifestyle medicine, his skill as a communicator and his use of science based evidence and his willingness to explore the effects of interventions on himself. It included the story of how he had a leg injury and a plaster cast on the day of his presentation but to avoid the ignominy of limping on stage to make a presentation about health, he used a scooter to zoom across the stage. It concluded with a 10 minute video of him on a “Loose Women” TV program evaluating the ladies’ shopping baskets.

A sad loss to lifestyle medicine, his impact on everyday people will endure.

Prof Roy Taylor continued with his presentation on metabolic health showing the research findings on studies examining the effectiveness of various strategies to address Diabetes 2. These findings endorsed my own experience and that of Dr Michael Mosley that weight loss is critical and that exercise by itself makes little difference.

His key message was one of focus, illustrated by the Andy Cap cartoon above and that in changing a patient lifestyle, it is important to focus on one thing that they are in a position to change.

The final speaker in this first morning session was Javeno McClean who has dedicated his life to empowering disabled and disadvantaged people to live well. Javeno is a consummate story teller and communicator who shared stories and beliefs from his own life and the benefits of positive thinking and self-belief

After the morning coffee break, networking and visiting the many exhibitor stands, the conference again split into 2 tracks and I chose to join the second track which covered physical exercise and weight management.

Dr Mike Banna shared his lifestyle medicine journey and how, despite having a loathing for gyms and exercise, he discovered that physical activity could be enjoyable and that resistance training can make a dramatic impact of your health and wellbeing.

All of this mirrored my own experiences at the Longevity gym in Milton Keynes where I have been able to reduce my bioage by 14 years over a period of 3-4 months.

The last presentation of the morning session for me was a talk by Prof Amanda Daley on the weight management and physical activity strategies adopted in primary care. She introduced the concept of “Snacktivities” as a technique to encourage short sessions of moderate exercise that could build up to contribute to making the WHO recommended targets for the amount of exercise needed for preventative healthcare.

After another healthy and nutritious lunch, I joined the second track for the first presenter, Dr George Ampat, whom I had met at last year’s BSLM conference. George must be unique amongst orthopaedic surgeons because he succeeds in helping patients avoid unnecessary surgery.

I missed the final sessions of the day that were focused on women’s health to walk back to my rented flat to get ready for one of the highlights of BSLM conferences, the Gala Dinner.

An excellent and memorable day

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, Day 3 of the BSLM 2024 Conference proved, for me at least, the best – possibly because the first sessions were focused on healthy ageing.

Dr Sam Manger delivered the opening presentation remotely from Australia on the topic of Lifestyle Medicine and Healthy Ageing.

It was a very comprehensive and insightful presentation that was rammed with nuggets of wisdom to take away and it was ironic that he began his presentation by apologising that he couldn’t cover all of the factors involved in his 20 minute time slot. This is one of the slides that he used that resonated with my own experience of healthy ageing to summarise a range of interventions than can support brain health.

His concluding slides included a couple of important reflections about ageing. Although the ageing process is an inevitable part of life, we must listen to our bodies and also to remember that growing old in a privilege which is denied to many people around the globe.

Prof Rose Anne Kelly succeeded in tackling what was a hard act to follow by looking at the science behind living a longer and healthier life to illustrate that our genetic make-up only accounts for 20-30% of our lifespan probability.

The point was clearly illustrated in this slide showing research on identical twins that showed how 2 twins had epigenetic markers to illustrate how they had aged differently over 47 years. Epigenetic Age Test home testing kits are now available to help you personalise your own interventions.

The takeaway message is that old age does not have to be a trial and they can apply lifestyle medicine tour own lives and improve the chances of staying healthier for longer.

Graham Lawton is not an academic or a scientist but his work as a journalist for the New Scientist Magazine provided further supporting evidence for lifestyle medicine and healthy ageing.

Graham began his talk with an anecdote about Henry Ford who conducted research into which components in his cars failed most often. It revealed that all but one part failed but the steering wheel kingpin never failed. In this story, Henry Ford’s solution was not to improve all the failing components but to reduce the quality of the kingpin.

The scientific message behind Graham’s talk was about how you can age more healthily by addressing the components in your body that need most attention.

The next presentation was by Dr Bogdan Chiva Giurca from the National Academy for Social Prescribing. His talk showcased the challenges faced by GPs in the NHS today because of the heavy workload and the focus on curing rather than preventing exacerbated by the fact that many patient problems do not need medication. Social prescribing, lifestyle medicine and the concept of community link workers means that patients get a more personalised solution and more dedicated time with a lifestyle medicine practitioner.

The final 2 presentations of the session were from selected abstracts, the first of which was delivered by Dr Caroline Gibson on how they addressed post-Covid health issues in region.

The second abstract was from? Dr Ichechim White who delivered a very articulate presentation about how to tackle health inequalities based on her inspiring work in South East London. I was lucky enough to sit next to her at the Gala Dinner the previous evening so I already had a sense of the passion and commitment she has for her work.

I was not able to watch any presentations after this session but I can only endorse BSLM conferences as one of the best investments any interested in lifestyle medicine can make.

?Cogniclear VR Cognitive Screening Tool Webinar Recording

This week I had the pleasure to interview Bebiana Sa Moura and Nicolas Morgenstern of Virtuleap to share details of a new product they are due to launch later this year. Cogniclear is a VR-based cognitive assessment tool designed to detact and help mitigate against conditions like Dementia.

You can watch the YouTube recording at https://youtu.be/Fw-UqwsvBlo?si=viAtlccxz3a82_Ph

?British Society of Lifestyle Medicine Lived Experiences Group

After BSLM 2024, I learnt about their Voices of Life Experiences Group and hope to contribute my own experiences of lifestyle medicine and healthy ageing in the hope it will benefit others. This short clip sums up me experiences over the last 11 years.

You can watch the YouTube recording at https://youtu.be/o5W8C_h2nAs

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