As part of the University of Southampton’s Women’s Health Month, we’re sharing insights from staff about how they manage their health and wellbeing. Here, Deborah Gill, Vice President (Education & Student Experience) and wellbeing champion, speaks about how she approaches her health and wellbeing and her previous life as a GP.
What do you do to support your own health and wellbeing?
I try to eat healthily, be active, and get a decent night’s sleep, as I know this makes a difference to my energy levels, my performance at work, and my mood. That doesn’t mean that I manage this all the time. I try to go easy on myself for the times when I have a bag of crisps and a large glass of wine for supper.
For me, sleep is the most important thing to get right, and I found it very difficult to manage during my menopause when I lost the ability to quickly fall asleep and stay asleep. Thankfully, I sleep much better now.
You previously worked as a GP. How does that change your perspective on women’s health?
As a female GP, I did see many more women than men as patients. I was in the same practice for over 25 years, and so I saw some of my female patients from birth to adulthood, and I got to know many of them very well. I always tried to balance not over-medicalising normal human experience and physiological change with not underestimating illnesses that required intervention. Hopefully, I managed to get that balance right most of the time.
In my experience, sometimes women just need to know something is common, a shared experience, or will eventually go away of its own accord. Sometimes my patients didn’t want treatment but just wanted to be heard, or for me to bear witness to their suffering. On the other hand, some women tolerate the most appalling symptoms while putting others’ priorities before their own or without seeking help. It made me realise that by shaping the conversation, talking about the interplay between their lives and their symptoms or worries, and normalising talking about difficult topics, I could often help make a real difference to my patients’ lives and wellbeing.
What do you think are the barriers to women seeking help when it comes to their health?
Barriers can be those we create for ourselves by allowing ourselves to think, ‘I don’t want to bother anyone, ‘it’s just part of being a woman, or ’I don’t want to talk about that symptom or show anyone that part of my body’.
Barriers can also be those others create for us, such as appointment times that don’t work with work or caring responsibilities, outmoded and frankly wrong assumptions by medical practitioners that certain types of suffering are ‘just part of being a woman’ or cultural norms that see women as caregivers and those who ‘should’ put others first.
What improves your days and makes you feel happier?
I am a people person. Interactions with people improve my day, especially if they involve laughter. Oh, and dogs also make me happy. Also being outside in the sunshine or a nice cup of tea and a sit-down. I try to enjoy the little things.
How do you manage stress? How has this changed as your career has progressed?
I enjoy a challenge and often do my best work in difficult circumstances. I am one of life’s optimists; it really is a gift that helps me manage stressful and challenging situations. In work, I try to prioritise my workload, so it doesn’t feel overwhelming and not to procrastinate to avoid getting stressed as deadlines approach.
I am better than I used to be at switching off for a few hours in the evening. Being present and available all the time and doing just a few more hours of work really doesn’t make me more productive or successful; instead, it makes me overtired and can make me grumpy with my loved ones.
Outside of work, I try not to mull over the things I cannot change, and I talk to family and friends, which often helps me work through what is bothering me and how to move on.
As an organisation, how do you think we can support women’s health?
The most important thing we can do is talk about women’s health and wellbeing, normalise talking about it, and acknowledge that even normal physiological changes like periods, pregnancy, and menopause can significantly impact women’s wellbeing and productivity at work.
We need to constantly look at our policies and practices and recognise that not all women are the same, and not all phases of each woman’s life are the same either. Positive things we do for women’s health and wellbeing often benefit others, whether that is the other people who work alongside us or the people we love and care for when we are not at work.
To find out more about our events planned for staff for Women’s Health Month this March, take a look at our Women’s Health Sussed post.