How being Australian is good for your health

By Tara Ali Photography by David Woolley

Australian Women Don’t Get Old or Fat isn’t about to hit bookstores. But it might not be long till it does. Hey, we’ve come a long way since the days of beer, meat pies and sunbaking till you’ve reached the right shade of terracotta. We still love a VB, but our tucker is now award-winning “cuisine”; and we know we need to be best friends with sunscreen. Our stunning climate and environment make this country a damn fine place to live. Australia was ranked the number one country in terms of health in an international survey for Men’s Health. And without blowing our own trumpet (OK, just a little) it’s not hard to see why.

WE TAKE OUR CHILL PILLS

“Too easy”, “no worries”, “she’ll be right” – the laid-back mantras spouted by everyone from that guy in the servo to your best mates are more than cute sayings the rest of the world love to mock. They reveal a lot about the way we deal with life’s curveballs. “Taking things in your stride means you’ll experience less stress, anger and depression and higher levels of psychological wellbeing,” says WH’s psychologist Dr Suzy Green. “And of course there are physical health benefits, too.” She’s talking about lower incidences of stress-related health problems such as headaches, adult acne, high blood pressure, and an enhanced ability to fight disease. Scientists from the Garvan Institute in Sydney found that during periods of stress our nerves release a hormone that damages the immune system, leaving us more likely to come down with colds and other illnesses. Happy-go-lucky types are also triumphant: a study by Yale University found that being optimistic increases life span by at least seven and a half years.
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Tax returns, the cat using your favourite jumper as a nailfile – life makes it impossible to channel your inner Bindi Irwin all the time. We’re also working longer hours: 60 per cent of Australians are frustrated that work keeps them from spending enough time with friends and family. “But it’s not always the events that cause stress, it’s the way we deal with them,” says Dr Green. “Some people are born with a physiology that takes a lot to wind them up whereas others are genetically prone to stress and anxiety.” But there are techniques to help you stop sweating the small stuff. Dr Green recommends mindfulness meditation – focusing on the moment instead of getting caught up in a permanent jumble of thoughts. It takes practice to master (visit freemeditations.com) but mindfulness can decrease depression and boost wellbeing. Regular exercise helps dissipate adrenaline, which drives stress and anxiety, and don’t discount having a big glass of wine with a funny friend: “A good guffaw buffers the effects of daily stresses,” says Green. For further reading she recommends Change Your Thinking by Sarah Edelman,a cognitive behavioural therapy book that helps you understand the way your thoughts work.

NATURE, NATURE EVERYWHERE

Unspoilt beaches and oxygen-rich bushes... Australia is blessed with 15 beautiful World Heritage sites and a myriad of national and state parks. So next time you’ve got PC brain-fry, head to the nearest park and see how quickly tension dissolves. Apart from just taking time out to stop and smell the wattle, connecting with nature has a very real affect on your body’s physiology by restoring the balance of negative ions – invisible air molecules that make you feel good. “Living in crowded cities affects the balance of ions in our systems,” explains Meredith Fuller, a Melbourne psychologist and a spokesperson for the Australian Psychological Society. “We get an overload of positive ions (created by pollution, air-conditioning, your PC monitor), which make us edgy and ratty.” Negative ions increase the flow of oxygen to the brain, improving mental sharpness, which explains why a run on the beach is the perfect tonic in stressful times.
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Hike in the mountains, or visit a waterfall – these are places where the air is highly charged with negative ions. “When you breathe them in, it’s relaxing and rejuvenating,” says Dr Mark Liponis, medical director at Canyon Ranch, a resort in Lenox, Massachusetts. Research from Columbia University found negative ion generators relieve depression in people as much as antidepressants. If your diary is fuller than Jack Black after dinner, you can get a similar feel-good effect by jumping in the shower – falling water produces the right kind of ions to soothe the effects of a rough day.

Fuller also suggests loading up the car and going camping. “There’s something very soul-nourishing about enjoying the crackle of a fire and the smell of gum leaves in the rugged Australian landscape,” she says. “In nature there’s a sense of connection – it might just be you and the dog or you and the birds but that intimacy really boosts your sense of wellbeing.”

ADVANCE AUSTRALIAN FARE

Nutritionists now know that diet and health are more closely related than the Olsen twins. “In the major cities of Australia, healthy food is abundant. Good quality seafood is available, plus takeaway options and restaurants are generally very good,” says Dr Joanna McMillan-Price, nutrition scientist and co-author of The Low GI Diet Cookbook. All the hoo-ha about omega-3 oils helping relieve everything from PMS to dry skin, and protecting against heart disease is true. Every year more than 12,000 women in Australia die from heart disease, so chowing down on oily fish (including salmon, trout, mackerel, sardines and tuna) is one of the best health moves you can make. “As well as the omega-3 benefits, seafood includes potassium (for healthy blood pressure), phosphorous (for strong bones and teeth), and magnesium (for proper nerve and muscle function),” says Dr McMillan-Price. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center also found that fish makes you happier – people with lower levels of omega-3 were more likely to be depressed and have a more negative outlook, while those with higher blood levels of omega-3 were more agreeable.

Researchers at the University of South Australia also found that omega-3 increases the body’s fat-burning ability by improving blood flow to muscles during exercise.
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Australian Dietary Guidelines advise eating one or two serves of fish a week, but only 24 per cent of us manage that. “It sounds like a lot but remember that canned and packet fish also count, so it’s not so hard to hit the target,” says Dr McMillan-Price.

Fish too, er, fishy for you? Omega-3 supplements give the benefits of the real thing, and kangaroo meat is a great alternative. “It’s cheap, rich in iron and zinc and supplies omega-3,” says Dr McMillan-Price. You can also get nutrition kicks from that other Aussie staple, Asian food. The American Dietetic Association calls Japanese-style eating “a passport to health” so eat foods like miso soup, sashimi, seaweed and shiitakes to your heart’s content.

WE’RE INVENTIVE

If you were asked to name some great Aussie inventions you might come up with the Hills hoist and Vegemite. Sure, they’ve helped make life good, but in more recent years, antipodeans have made even bigger waves – this time, in the health industry. The 2006 Australian of the Year, Professor Ian Frazer, has become a household name thanks to his cervical cancer vaccine. Frazer has made a huge difference to the health of our daughters and granddaughters to come – cervical cancer affects 500,000 women each year and it’s estimated his vaccine will eventually prevent 70 per cent of cervical cancer cases in Australia. Other Aussies famous for their ingenuity include Dr Fiona Wood, the creator of spray-on-skin – which was used after the 2002 Bali bombings – and Professor Colin Sullivan from the sleep clinic at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, who devised the first machine to give complete relief from sleep apnoea – a condition that can cause heart attacks and strokes.
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Take a leaf out of another Aussie pioneer’s book and eat low-GI grains. Twenty-five years ago, Professor Jennie Brand-Miller from the University of Sydney found research on a colleague’s desk ranking foods by the way they affect blood sugar. Brand-Miller ran with the idea and researched the health implications of these rankings. She ended up publishing GI diet books that have helped us understand that all carbs aren’t equal. As well as improving memory and concentration, recent research says a bowl of wholegrain cereal each morning could reduce the risk of heart failure by 27 per cent.

HAPPY DAYS

A Sydney Morning Herald poll asked Australians to rate their life satisfaction on a scale of zero to 10 and the average response came in at 7.9. Researchers at the Australian National University looked at 13 separate international surveys that measured happiness or life satisfaction, and Australia consistently ranked in the top tier of nations. So is it true – are we a happier, more satisfied country than most? We put it to Dr Timothy J Sharp, psychologist and founder of The Happiness Institute. “It’s fair to say that Australia is a relatively happy country,” he says. “We’re economically prosperous, relatively immune from terrorism and natural disasters. We live in a democracy and we’ve got high employment. Those things lead to people feeling good about the state of their country.”
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Happiness is complex. Those “what I would do if I won lotto” fantasies are great for daydreaming, especially when they involve you, Clive Owen and a billion dollar yacht in the Bahamas. But don’t expect more money to make you happier – researchers at the London School of Economics found that when people win lotteries, initially there’s a big increase in happiness, but then happiness reverts to its original level. And last year, in a study by The Australia Institute, 21 per cent of Australians in the lowest income group (who earn up to $25,000) said they were totally satisfied with life, whereas only 9 per cent in the highest income group (who earn $100,000-plus) said they were totally satisfied.

So what does make us light up inside? Creating opportunity, nurturing personal relationships, leading an active lifestyle and taking annual leave, among other things. Researchers at the Marshfield Clinic in the US found that women who take holidays frequently are less likely to be tense, depressed and tired, and are more satisfied with their marriages.

So there you go. While we can’t claim Australia is a utopia – even though our beaches look like they’re straight out of God’s own travel brochure if you’re after a longer and healthier life, you’re in the right place.