Our cycling group have had a great time over the past two months building up their confidence to cycle on the road, learning cycling techniques, getting some exercise and discovering new and interesting places in Croydon.

Since our last update where we shared our experience cycling from Croydon to Catford we’ve had quite a few cycling adventures. We started off with a lovely 16.3km ride through South Norwood, Beckenham and Crystal Palace.  This route saw the group take on quite a few hills and busy roads as well as beautiful parks like Crystal Palace Park where we discovered the park’s Darwin and the Dinosaurs trail, a collection of life-size dinosaur models created by leading scientist Richard Owen.

Our second cycling adventure was a 16.4km route from Croydon Arena to Central Croydon and then on to Lloyd Park, Addiscombe and South Norwood Country Park. This was a really lovely route taking us through some beautiful, quiet neighbourhoods and along a number of green spaces.

Our most recent adventure was a 14km ride to West Wickham this was a challenging and sometimes dramatic ride as we battled scary roundabouts , rush hour traffic, and numerous buses.

These last three cycling sessions were great fun. Altogether we cycled 46.7km and burnt about 600 calories and we look forward to next week’s adventure.

High blood pressure is a major challenge for the black community in the UK with 33% of black adults having high blood pressure compared to 16% of white adults. When we look at the actual numbers, to understand the scale of the problem, the black community makes up 3.3% of the UK’s population so a staggering 625,503 black people in the UK are known to have high blood pressure; we have to do something about this.

What is high blood pressure?

Blood pressure is a measure of how much force (pressure) our blood exerts on our blood vessels (our arteries and veins). High blood pressure, medically known as hypertension, occurs when the force our blood exerts on our vessels is consistently higher than what is considered to be a healthy level, which is generally 120/80mmHg.  If a person has several blood pressure measurements, on separate occasions, which are 140/90mmHg or higher then they are considered to have high blood pressure. This is a major concern because it is associated with a number of health complications with people suffering from high blood pressure being twice as likely to have a heart attack or stroke. This is because the high pressure can damage our arteries affecting the blood supply to our heart or brain.

What causes high blood pressure?

The exact cause of high blood pressure is unknown but there are a number of factors that increase a person’s risk of developing high blood pressure and many of these factors are associated with lifestyle and these include: lack of physical activity,  an unhealthy diet (especially a diet high in salt), being overweight or obese, drinking too much alcohol, stress and smoking. Furthermore, your risk of developing high blood pressure increases as you get older, and you’re at a higher risk if you have a family history of high blood pressure, are from the black community and suffer from sleep apnoea. Additionally there are a number of health conditions that increase a person’s risk of developing high blood pressure so for example people who have diabetes, kidney disease and adrenal and thyroid disorders are at increased risk of developing high blood pressure.

Why is the black community at higher risk of developing high blood pressure?

We know that the black community in the UK are twice as likely to develop high blood pressure as their white counterparts and are more likely to develop it at a younger age, but the question is: why?  Research suggests that there may be several reasons for this and here are just four key reasons:

Salt Sensitivity

We now know that people respond to salt differently so some people who consume large amounts of salt will not go on to develop high blood pressure whilst others will.  This has led to a term called salt sensitivity which is a measure of how a person’s blood pressure responds to salt. A person who is salt sensitive is likely to develop high blood pressure from consuming salt whilst a person who is salt resistant is unlikely to develop high blood pressure from consuming salt.

Sodium (salt is sodium chloride), blood pressure and fluid balance are controlled by the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in our body. In this system hormones control the absorption of sodium by the blood and therefore control our blood pressure. People who are salt sensitive have genetic variations in some of the genes involved in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system which makes them less able to handle salt and maintain a normal blood pressure.

Members of the black community are more likely to be salt sensitive particularly black Americans and black Caribbeans who are thought to have inherited the aforementioned genetic variations.

Salt Intake

Work by the Consensus Action on Salt and Health has found that:

“The majority of salt consumed by people of black African descent is from salt added in cooking and/or at the table. This is in contrast to the rest of the UK population (and indeed the Western world) where 75% of salt intake comes from processed foods. A health survey in England found that 83% of black men and 85% of black women added salt in cooking. Over a quarter (28%) of the same population add salt at the table. Salted meats and fish like salt-fish and salt-beef, and heavily seasoned meats such as fried chicken, stews and curries can contain a lot of salt.”

 This suggests that the black people may consume more salt than their white counterparts and when this is coupled with the salt sensitivity phenomena this is a recipe for disaster when it comes to high blood pressure.

Increased Risk of Diabetes

Diabetes is a key risk factor for high blood pressure with about 80% of type 2 diabetics suffering from high blood pressure.  When we look at how diabetes affects the black community data suggests that the black community is three times more likely to develop diabetes than their white counterparts, and this will mean that as a result of diabetes black people will be more likely to develop high blood pressure. Again, if we put this into numbers, to understand the scale of the problem, it is estimated that 5.3% of the UK’s black population have type two diabetes compared to 1.7% of the white population which means that  50,000  black people in the UK are affected by diabetes and hence are at a higher risk of developing high blood pressure.

Lifestyle

We also know that the black community are at increased risk of high blood pressure due to other lifestyle factors, for example black African women in the UK have been found to have the highest prevalence of obesity and obesity is a risk factor for high blood pressure. Additionally, the black community are less likely to be physical active with  NICE reporting  that:

“African-Caribbeans aged 16 to 74 years, 62 per cent of men and three quarters of women do not participate in enough physical  activity to benefit their health* (HEA 1995a), compared with the general population (59 per cent of men and 68 per cent of women (HEA 1995b).”

Physical inactivity is a key risk factor for high blood pressure and the above shows that many black people are not achieving their recommended level of physical activity putting us at a higher risk of developing high blood pressure.

What can we do?

In order to tackle this problem we clearly need to make some changes to our diet and lifestyle.  We can make a significant difference by looking at our salt intake. The government recommends that adults consume no more than 6g of salt a day. To achieve this we have to:

• Avoid adding salt to our food and use herbs and spices to season our food
• Avoid processed foods
• Ask restaurants to  prepare low-salt versions of the dishes on their menu

For some great tips on how to reduce your salt intake visit Consensus Action on Salt and Health’s website

Additionally we have to get more active and aim to do 30 minutes of physical activity every day and we have to tackle diabetes. We can reduce our risk of developing diabetes through lifestyle changes, – a healthy diet, being active and maintaing a healthy weight.

Finally, there needs to be collaboration between the government, the food industry, the public and charities to ensure that it is easy for all of us to achieve a healthy lifestyle or else this problem of high blood pressure will not go away.

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References

1. Ageymang C & Bhopal R. Is the blood pressure of people from African origin adults in the UK higher or lower than that in European origin white people? A review of cross-sectional data. Journal of Human Hypertension. 2003; 17(8). 523-534
2. Blood Pressure UK.
3. D Lane, D G Beevers and G Y H Lip. Ethnic differences in blood pressure and the prevalence of hypertension in England Journal of Human Hypertension (2002) 16, 267-273. DOI: 10.1038/sj/jhh/1001371
4. Diabetes UK. Diabetes: Facts and Stats (2014)
5. Diabetes UK. Diabetes in the UK 2011/2012: Key Statistics on Diabetes. Diabetes UK, 2011
6. Fuchs FD. Why Do Black Americans Have Higher Prevalence of Hypertension? An Enigma Still Unsolved. Hypertension.2011; 57: 379-380
7. Gatineau M, Mathrani S. Obesity and Ethnicity. Oxford:  National Obesity Observatory, 2011
8. NICE. Promoting Physical Activity Among Black and Minority Ethnic Groups
9. Scarborough P, Bhatnagar P, Kaur A, Smolina K, Wickramasinghe K and Raynew M.Ethnic Differences in Cardiovascular Disease. Oxford:  University of Oxford/British Heart Foundation, 2010
10. Sullivan JM.1991. Salt sensitivity. Definition, conception, methodology, and long-term issues. Hypertension. 17(1 Suppl):I61-8. PMID:1987013.
11.  The Stroke Association. Stroke in African Caribbean People. London: The Stroke Association, 2012
12. 2011 UK Census

On Wednesday 5^th August we were delighted to take part in TWYLYTE VIP’s Creative Arts, Entertainment and Networking Summer Event.  This was an excellent event that brought together representatives from the music, film, fashion and media industries and gave us the prefect opportunity to raise awareness of a very important health issue, cervical cancer.

The event was hosted by Jaye of TWYLYTE PR and recording artist Kele Leroc who started the night’s proceedings with live interviews featuring actor Femi Oyeniran (Kidulthood and Anuvahood); Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe, the director of the British Urban Film Festival; Nadine Woodley and Dani Mosely writers of the stage play The Forty Elephants; and Martina Barnett from Inside Out.

After the inspirational and informative live interviews we moved on to the ‘FASHION Meets AWARENESS’ Magnetic Fashion Show.  FASHION Meets AWARENESS is the brain child of Celena of Magnetic Fashion Connections and it aims to showcase creative designers whilst highlighting important health issues – an excellent idea. The fashion show featured a collection of creations from a new wave of fashion designers that included Erwin Michalec, Sonia Funnell and Dee Naturals. Following the fashion show we delivered the awareness part of FASHION Meets AWARENESS  with a short presentation on cervical cancer covering what is cervical cancer, what causes it, risk factors, screening, the HPV vaccination and the symptoms.

This was a really fun event and we were very grateful to be given the opportunity to raise awareness of cervical cancer and we’d like to say a big thank you to Celena from Magnetic Fashion Connections for inviting us to take part in this event.

In this week’s blog we speak to Paul Lowe co-founder of Cycling Instructor, a bikeability organisation that we’ve teamed up with to lead our summer cycling sessions. Our cycling sessions run weekly over the summer months and are open to everyone.

Can you tell us about the Cycling Instructor and why it was started?
Cycling Instructor Ltd was set up by Michael Poole and myself in 2005.  We had both worked for another cycle training provider and thought we could start our own business doing the same thing.

Can you tell us about the work you’re doing with Croydon Council?
We provide Bikeability training in Croydon borough schools, for adults over the age of 16 and various special projects with voluntary sector groups, such as The Lake Foundation.

What has been your favourite cycling project so far?
We really enjoyed the bench opening project with a local school and sustrans.

 How long have you been cycling and what do you enjoy most about cycling?
I have been cycling since I was about 6 and what I love doing is cycle camping or youth hostelling by bike.   After a few days on a trip the world falls away and you enter a ‘bubble’. Also due to the exercise your physiology changes and you can eat as much as you want all the time.

What advice would you give to anyone new to cycling in terms of equipment, technique and building confidence?
Just get a good second hand bike, get a lesson and a map and get going.  You learn about cycling by doing it.

Where can people find out more about the Cycling Instructor
There is lots of information about us on our website:  www.cyclinginstructor.com

Our summer cycling sessions have been running since the beginning of July and we’re now half way through the sessions which will run until the end of August. This year we’ve had a lovely group of people come along to the sessions; all very friendly and eager to build their confidence in cycling and get some exercise.

Friday’s session was excellent. We had ten in the group and were led, once again, by Brian from the Cycling Instructor who was supported by Matthew.

In previous weeks we focused on cycling technique and riding safely on the road and this week it was time to put it all into practice with a ride from Croydon to Catford and back (about 9 miles).

Our journey to Catford took us along Route 21 which is part of the UK’s National Cycle Network  and is a 94 mile route from Greenwich to Crawley and then on to East Bourne via East Grinstead and Heathfield.

We began our journey at the beautiful South Norwood Country Park and joined Route 21 at Elmers End. The cycling path took us through the picturesque green spaces and quiet neighbourhoods of  Beckingham, Sydenham and Lewisham and included riverside cycling along the Waterlink Way.

This session was a lovely experience. The weather was perfect – sunny and mild, and the beauty of route was really impressive.  Many South Londoners, myself included, are certainly missing out on the beauty of our city as the pressures of city life mean we aren’t able to take the time to explore and appreciate the beauty that is right on our doorstep. Cycling really addresses this as it creates endless opportunities to explore the city of London in a fun way.

We encourage everyone to give cycling a try, you’ll be surprised at how fun and relaxing it is and at the journey of discovery you can have; you’ll see your city in a whole new light! And we love it because it provides you with a great way to get some exercise. It’s a win-win.

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Joins us next week Friday at Croydon Arena, all are welcome. For more information visit our events page or email events@thelakefoundation.com

We are delighted to announce the launch of our new fibroids booklet. This booklet was developed in response to our fibroids survey which  showed that:

• There was a general low level of awareness of fibroids amongst participants prior to their diagnosis
• There was a good level of awareness of the main symptoms of fibroids but a low level of awareness of other symptoms.
• Participants were aware that ethnicity was a risk factor for fibroids but less aware of other risk factors.
• 80% of participants stated that they needed information but only 53% said that this was available to them.
• 63% of women said they didn’t feel that they had enough information to make an informed decision about their treatment

In addition to the above some participants stated that their biggest challenge in managing their condition was the lack of information and conflicting information about fibroids. For example, one participant said, “there is not enough information, particularly with regards to surgery alternatives and diet changes.”

What the booklet covers

Our booklet provides much-needed information on all aspects of fibroids from symptoms and risk factors to treatment and prevention. It aims to ensure that women have accurate, reliable information about this condition and importantly discusses the treatment options available. We hope this booklet will be a one-stop-shop for anyone with questions or concerns about fibroids.

We appreciate all those who have helped us

We’re delighted to have had some excellent reviewers work with us. We would like to say a big thank you to Dr Nigel Hacking, Consultant Interventional Radiologist at Southampton University Hospital and Miss Rosol Hamid, Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist and Head of Women Services at Croydon University Hospital for providing very helpful comments and suggestions.

We would also like to thank Celia Osu and Tenequa Wildy for their useful feedback and  our case studies for their willingness to share their experience and raise awareness. Finally, we are grateful to The Brielle Agency for proofreading our work and to Adrinqa for their creativity in designing the booklet.

You can download a pdf below and hard copies will be available soon.

Fibroid_LF_booklet_v0.4

On Saturday 18th July, we were honoured to deliver a presentation at the RNCJ’s 2nd Annual Elderly Conference. The theme of the conference was enhancing health and wellbeing and in keeping with that theme we spoke about aging healthily. We stressed the importance of combating the negative perceptions, stereotypes and narrative around the elderly which is very disempowering, and replacing this with a more positive narrative that empowers the elderly and enables them to live the best life possible; this means creating opportunities for the elderly to remain active.

We discussed the health challenges associated with aging and how these can be overcome through lifestyle changes particularly keeping active, eating a healthy diet, keeping the mind active and staying connected to friends, family and the wider community.  And, we finished off by reminding attendees that our ‘Golden Years’ can be the best years of our lives as we have a lot of time and flexibility. This gives us the opportunity to do the things that we’ve always wanted to do, pursue our passions, make a difference in our community and spend time with our loved ones, but we can only enjoy this phase of our life if we are healthy.

Attendees also heard from Sabrina Jantuah from Age UK who spoke about Community Connections, a project that is aiming to tackle isolation in Lewisham by encouraging people to access local services. Sabrina stressed the need for projects like community connections as 51% of people who are over 75 live alone and this has a negative effect on their wellbeing.  Sabrina’s talk was supported by a presentation from  Jeremy Sharpe of The Link who also highlighted the scale of the problem of isolation of the elderly in the UK. He provided data that made for grim reading – 500,000 older people in the UK spend Christmas Day alone and over 5 million older people consider their TV to be their main form of company. Jeremy described how The Link are combating isolation by working with churches to develop befriending programs where volunteers regularly visit those who live alone.

It was also really nice to hear of all the great work that the RNJC is doing to support the elderly in their local community in Lewisham. They run a monthly keep fit class, are implementing a befriending programme with support from The Link and are starting a coffee morning.

This was a very enjoyable and informative event and we’d like to say a big thank you to the conference organisers, particularly Shola Fiberesima.

July is Ethnic Minority Cancer Awareness Month (EMCAM) in the UK giving us the prefect opportunity to focus on how the black community is affected by cancer and to raise awareness within our community. Overall the black community is slightly less likely to develop cancer than the white population but there are some cancers that are of particular concern. These are:

• Prostate cancer – black men are two times more likely to develop prostate cancer than white men
• Cervical cancer – black women over the age of 65 are more likely to develop cervical cancer than their white counterparts
• Myeloma – the black community is 2-3 times more likely to develop myeloma, develop it at a slightly younger age and have poorer survival rates.
• Breast cancer – black women although less likely to develop breast cancer than white women are more likely to die from it and black women tend to develop breast cancer at a younger age than white women

In addition to this, research over the years has found that awareness of symptoms and uptake of cancer services, such as cancer screening, is lower in the black community. This leads to many black cancer patients being diagnosed at a late stage when their cancer is harder to treat, leading to lower cancer survival rates. We can change this by increasing awareness, taking prompt action if we notice symptoms and taking part in the breast, bowel and cervical cancer screening programmes.

This Year’s Ethnic Minority Cancer Awareness Month (EMCAM)

This year EMCAM is focusing on raising awareness of bowel cancer and the importance of screening. Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK with over 33,000 new cases diagnosed every year and it is more common in people over the age of 50. If caught early this cancer can be treated very successfully therefore screening and being aware of the symptoms is very important.

Bowel Cancer Screening

In the UK, everyone aged 60-74 is invited to take part in the bowel screening programme but participation is very low with only 50-60% of 60-74 year olds taking part. We encourage everyone to take part; it a very simple and straightforward process. Sample collection takes place in the comfort of your own home and you can simply send your samples off in a freepost envelope. For more information on bowel screening please click here.

The Symptoms of Bowel Cancer

The symptoms of bowel cancer are:
• Bleeding from your bottom and/or blood in your faeces
• A change in bowel habit lasting for 3 weeks or more (constipation or diarrhoea)
• Unexplained weight loss
• Unexplained fatigue
• Persistent tummy pain
• A lump in your tummy

If you are experiencing one, some or all of these symptoms and they aren’t going away, don’t panic, your symptoms could be due to a number of reasons, but do visit your doctor to rule out bowel cancer.

Learn More About Bowel Cancer This Month

Bowel Cancer UK, the Department of Health and community groups across the UK are working together to host free bowel cancer information sessions and below are the dates and locations of these events.

Friday 17th July – Age UK – 81 Brigstock Road, Thornton Health, CR7 7JH – 12 noon
Monday 20th July – The Sugar Group
Tuesday 21st July – CVA Resource Centre – 82 London Road, CR0 2TB – 12 noon
Saturday 25th July – Croydon BME forum – 387 London Road, CR0 3PB – 12 noon
Sunday 26th July – BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Temple – 75 Pitmaston Road, Hall Green, Birmingham, B28 9PP – 1pm
Monday 27th July – Pannel Croft Village – Pannel croft Newtown Birmingham B19 2YD – 2pm.
Wednesday 29th July – Wai Yin Chinese Elderly Group

For more information about bowel cancer please visit Bowel Cancer UK’s website.

Last Friday, we were absolutely delighted to be back at Croydon Arena for another round of summer cycling sessions.  We started these sessions last summer after teaming up with the Cycling Instructor with support from Croydon Council and as it went so well we decided to run the sessions again this year.

Friday’s session was the first in a series of four sessions which will run once a week throughout the month of July. The aims of the sessions are to improve confidence in cycling, prepare attendees for road cycling, teach basic cycling techniques and introduce people to an enjoyable way to get some exercise.

This first session was great fun and it was nice to see Brian from the Cycling Instructor again, he led the group last year and did a fantastic job so we were happy he was back with us again this year.  We were also really pleased with the turnout, there were ten of us and it was a really mixed group in terms of age, ethnicity and cycling ability, plus everyone was really friendly;  all the right ingredients for an enjoyable session.

After a round of introductions it was on to the serious part of the session, technique. We learnt how to check that our bikes are road worthy and then were instructed on the proper way to get on and off a bike, maintaining balance, braking properly,  riding with one hand (preparation for signalling) and cycling slowly (to prepare for cycling in traffic).

We were all given plenty of opportunity to practice all these techniques making this a very informative but practical session, and at the end of the two hours we had cycled several times around the track so we got some good exercise too!

The next session will be on Friday 10^th July at 6pm at Croydon Arena.  Please email events@thelakefoundation.com to register or call 07440 146 645, and you can download our flyer below for more information.

We would like to say a big thank you to the Cycling Instructor and Croydon Council for giving us the opportunity to run this cycling group.

On 18^th June we were invited by Croydon Council to have a stall at the first annual Croydon Voluntary and Community Fair. This event was organised to allow charities and community groups in Croydon to showcase their work to attendees which included frontline Croydon Council staff, the general public, potential funders and representatives from the private sector.

We had a wonderful time on the day as it gave us the perfect opportunity to meet other charities to learn more about their great work, discuss ideas and get advice on common challenges. We were particularly delighted to meet Fatima Koroma from the Community Food Bank and learn of the work they’re doing to support vulnerable families and individuals. Additionally, it was wonderful to learn about the Mighty Men of Valour and the Ministry of Empowerment who are working to support and empower men and women in Croydon.

Speaking on the day was the mayor of Croydon, Councillor Patricia Hay-Justice who officially launched the fair and Councillor Mathew Kyeremeh, the deputy cabinet member for communities, safety and justice.

This was a really useful day allowing us to raise awareness of our work, connect with some really inspirational people and meet representatives from Croydon Council in person.

We’d like to say a big thank you to Croydon Council for organising this event and also for their generosity in designing and donating pull-up conference banners to every single stallholder. We love our new banner!