Imagine it was possible to successfully treat depression without needing to take any form of anti-depressant drug. Today I talk to therapist, Nic Saluppo, about his incredible journey to heal his own depression without using medication. Nic experienced psychological trauma as a child that led to severe depression as an adult. But he has managed to cure his depression for good - naturally, and after 9 years - by learning to experience the feelings he had been suppressing from his...

From getting drunk at a party, to stealing your clothes, to Xbox gaming into the early hours, teenagers often make what seem like bad decisions. I breakdown why teenagers make misguided decisions and how parents can help them to learn good decision-making skills. Teenagers will often express quite clearly why certain behaviours and actions are not desirable. But put them in a situation where they feel pressure, stressed, or are seeking attention from their peer group, they will start to make...

Why are women twice as likely as men to develop Alzheimer’s disease? I discuss some important differences in the way women's brains age and how this increases their risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. It’s not that a female brain is fundamentally different to a male brain. But there are some really important differences in the way a female brain responds to hormonal changes at different stages of life that drives brain ageing in women, significantly increasing their...

Ever wondered why you feel low or lethargic after eating certain foods and invigorated and energised after eating others? I breakdown why certain foods affect your mood and how changing your diet can improve your mental health. When we eat foods high in refined carbohydrates and trans fats and don’t look after our gut health it has detrimental effects on our mood and mental health. Whereas traditional diets high in vegetables, fruits, unprocessed grains, fish and seafood lower the risk...

Ever offered up what you thought was an inspirational solution to you teenager’s problem, only for it to be dismissed as annoying, irrelevant or even stupid. I breakdown why teenagers don’t want parents’ advice and prefer a sounding board not a solution. When we offer a solution too quickly, teenagers often feel like we’re not really listening to them or understanding what they’re going through. And it turns out that listening and understanding is what teenagers...

We often give teenagers a hard time for being impulsive, emotional outbursts, taking risks, too much screen time, or just because they can’t get out of bed in the morning. But I want to talk about a teenage super-power: their extraordinary capacity for learning. The growth of new brain connections and shedding of unused ones make teens sensation-seeking, learning machines. They learn much faster than adults and what they learn is retained for longer. This make the teen years an ideal...

Why are teenagers so susceptible to depression? And what can they do to thrive and be emotionally healthier? I share why the adolescent years are a window of heightened risk for depression and three tips to improve teenage emotional wellbeing. These simple strategies have helped thousands of parents to support teenagers to cultivate positive emotional wellbeing. Watch this video to learn these wellbeing tips to start using with your teenager today.

 Sleep offers new hope for both predicting and preventing Alzheimer’s disease. Sleep quality deteriorates as we get older. And this is linked to a decline in memory. But in people living with Alzheimer’s disease, the disruption of sleep is far worse, and sleep disturbances start many years before the onset of Alzheimer’s symptoms. This could mean that sleep problems are actually an early warning sign of this disease.

Recent research has gone a step further and shown...

Do you forget why you went upstairs? Fail to put a name to a familiar face? We’ve all done it. And, as we get older, we often worry that these small memory mistakes will lead to dementia.  Today I share why dementia is NOT an inevitable part of ageing and how to change your lifestyle to prevent the symptoms of dementia from appearing/