This article was published on 25 Sep 2025. At the time of publishing, this article was true and accurate, however, over time this may have changed. Some links may no longer work. If you have any concerns about this please contact us.

Starting on 1 October quit smoking this Stoptober. There’s never been a better time to quit. Stopping smoking is the best thing you can do for your own health and those around you.  Research has shown that if you quit for 28 days, you’re 5 times more likely to quit for good.  For more details click here.

Many people who quit smoking are surprised by how good they feel. They feel more relaxed, have more money, they look and feel better, their skin looks healthier and they have more energy when they do something active like going for a walk or playing with their children, they no longer smell of smoke and they are not as worried about their health.

When you stop smoking, your lungs will start to repair and you’ll start to be able to breathe easier. The sooner you quit, the sooner you’ll notice the positive changes to your body and health.

Some of the benefits will be felt almost immediately and in the long term the benefits will be lifesaving:

• After a day – Your oxygen levels will recover, and the harmful carbon monoxide level in your blood will reduce by half.
• After 2 days – Nicotine will be totally eliminated from the body and your senses of taste and smell will improve.
• After 3 days – Your breathing will become easier as the airways begin to relax. Your energy levels will also increase.
• After 2 to 4 weeks – Blood will pump through to your heart and muscles much better because your circulation will improve, meaning you can walk and run easier.
• After 3 to 9 months – Your lung function will improve by up to 10 %, meaning any coughs, wheezing or breathing problems you have will improve.
• After 1 to 3 years – Your risk of having a heart attack will have halved compared to a smoker’s.
• After 10 years – Your risk of death from lung cancer will have halved compared with a smoker’s.

You will save money – giving up a pack of cigarettes a day could save you around £4,000 a year.

Stopping smoking tips

1. List your reasons to quit and when you are struggling and feel like you need to smoke, read through the reasons.

2. Tell people you’re quitting; your friends and family can then support you.

3. Use stop smoking aids, like nicotine patches and gum.

4. Have a plan if you are tempted to smoke; this should include someone you can talk to for support.

6. Keep busy to help reduce the cravings. Click here for more help with cravings.

7. Regularly exercise, as studies show that exercise reduces the urge to smoke, it also strengthens your heart and lungs.

8. If you have tried to quit before, remember what worked and learn from what didn’t.

9. Use support groups for help and advice.

Try using the free NHS Stoptober App, click here for more details.

Further help and advice

• Quit
• NHS
• Smokefree.gov
• British Lung Foundation

It’s never too late to quit

During Stoptober you may also want to consider stopping or reducing items in of your lifestyle, like the amount of alcohol you drink or the amount of time you spend gambling.  Which can both contribute to poor mental health.

Gambling can lead to problem debt. Having a gambling problem can also have a devastating impact on your relationships with other people.

It is important to speak to professionals if you are concerned about your gambling, call the National Gambling Helpline on Freephone 0808 8020 133, advisers are available 24 hours a day. For more information read our guide here.

There are many benefits to reducing the amount of alcohol you’re drinking, including feeling more energetic, better mood, an improved immune system and better sleep. 

Here are some tips on cutting down

• Set your limit – plan ahead how much you’re going to drink.
• Set your budget – once its spent, stop drinking.
• Tell your friends and family – they will then be there for support.
• Reduce the size – go from a double to a single or from a pint to a half.
• Reduce the strength – swap to a lower strength beer or wine.
• A little at a time – take one day at a time, this will make you more likely to be successful.
• Take a break – have several drink-free days each week.  You may decide to only drink at the weekend and not in the week.

For more help:

NHS

British Heart Foundation

Drinkaware

24 September 2025

This article was published on 03 Sep 2025. At the time of publishing, this article was true and accurate, however, over time this may have changed. Some links may no longer work. If you have any concerns about this please contact us.

National Fitness Day 2025 will take place on Thursday 24th September and is a chance to highlight the role physical activity plays across the UK, helping raise awareness of how our fitness levels assist us in leading healthier lifestyles through being physically active. For more details click here.

Physical exercise can help to build your self-esteem as well as reduce anxiety and improve your mood. When you exercise, your brains release endorphins which help to make us feel energised, happier, and less stressed. This could be as simple as a walk, dancing around the kitchen or even some gardening.

Our physical and mental health are undeniably linked, so it’s important to stay active.

To stay healthy, adults should try to be active every day and aim to achieve at least 150 minutes of physical activity each week or 10,000 steps per day through a variety of activities. If you would like to improve your fitness level, then you may need to increase this amount and also include some stretching and strengthening exercises into your routine. For any type of activity to benefit your health, you need to be moving quick enough to raise your heart rate, breathe faster and feel warmer.

If you are concerned about your health in any way always consult your doctor before starting exercise.

You don’t need to be at the gym seven days a week to improve your mood. Here are some ideas to help you incorporate workouts into your daily life:

• Don’t do it alone – If you’re committed to doing exercise with a friend, you’re less likely to back out. Try an exercise class, dance or yoga with a friend. This has the added benefit of keeping connected with people. Maybe spend some time learning a new form of exercise, like pilates or belly dancing.

• Enjoy it – Most importantly, you need to discover a physical activity you enjoy and that suits your level of mobility and fitness. If the exercise you choose is enjoyable you are more likely to stick with it. This could be an HIIT class or Pilates, cycling around the local area, a walk in the countryside or gardening in the back garden. There are so many different ways of exercising you just need to find the one that works for the time you have and that you enjoy.

• Go outdoors – Fresh air, natural light and exercise combined are great for our mental health. Whatever the weather it’s great to get outside, it may be for a quick stroll around the block or a longer walk with the dog. You could also invite a friend for a catch up.

• Set yourself a challenge – Give yourself a goal to work towards, start small and get bigger as you get more confident and fitter. This could just be to go for a walk every day and could then evolve to walk 10 miles a week or 1,000 miles a year. You could even try the NHS couch to 5k challenge, for more details click here.

• Log it – In order to monitor your progress, keep a record of your workouts. This could include the time and distance of your walk, run, ride or workout, but you may also want to include how you feel, in order to track your mood.

It’s common knowledge that a good night’s sleep makes us feel better.

An average of 8 hours will replenish all of our energy stores. What’s more, this downtime helps protects us from infection, providing a shield for our immune system.

If you are struggling to sleep, read our guide here.

Taking care of your mental health is as important as taking care of your physical health. So, it’s important to take care of your mind as well as your body.

Click here to read our mental health awareness guide.

As well as looking after physical and mental health it’s also important to look after your financial wellbeing.

Worrying about money can be extremely stressful and may lead to poor mental health, relationship problems, people to lose homes and families to break down. People from all walks of life can end up in debt for many different reasons, divorce, redundancy, ill health, bereavement. It’s not always easy to talk about money worries but if you’re struggling financially, it’s important to take action.

Police Mutual are here to help. We want to break down the stigma surrounding debt and get people talking about money.

We’ve teamed up with PayPlan*, one of the UK’s leading free debt advice providers, who offer free and confidential advice to anyone in serious financial difficulties.

They’re able to advise you on a range of debt solutions suited to your individual circumstances, helping to protect you and your family with a sustainable way to manage your debt.

Get free and confidential help to combat your debt, call PayPlan* on 0800 197 8433.

*PayPlan is a trading name of Totemic Limited. Totemic Limited is a limited company registered in England, Company Number: 2789854. Registered Office: Kempton House, Dysart Road, PO Box 9562, Grantham, NG31 0EA. Totemic Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Financial Conduct Authority Number: 681263.

10 September 2025

This article was published on 29 August 2025. At the time of publishing, this article was true and accurate, however, over time this may have changed. Some links may no longer work. If you have any concerns about this please contact us.

World Suicide Prevention Day is organised by the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP). The purpose of this day is to raise awareness around the globe that suicide can be prevented. For more details click here.

Suicide is more widespread than you might think. 

1 in 5 people in England say they’ve had suicidal thoughts in their lifetime. Those who contemplate suicide often describe the intense feelings they have as hopeless, helpless, worthless, and desperate. Whatever the trigger, suicide may seem like the only solution to an unsolvable, painful problem.  A suicidal person believes no one can help them and that the problem can’t be fixed.

There is no typical suicide victim. Suicide occurs across all ages, ethnicities, economic, and social boundaries and in both genders.  But some situations do increase the possibility that people will try to take their own life. The risk of suicide rises with factors such as having a mental health disorder, alcoholism and substance abuse, a family history of suicide or mental health condition, physical or emotional abuse, a physical illness with chronic pain, isolation, and loneliness or a major loss, which could be work, money or relationship related.

Individuals with multiple debt problems are at a ‘significantly higher risk of suicide’ than those with just one problem debt. According to the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute over 420,000 people in problem debt considered taking their own life in England last year, while more than 100,000 people in debt actually attempt suicide annually*.

Most people who are feeling depressed or desperate enough to consider suicide give clues as to how they are feeling. These may be difficult to see but knowing some of the warning signs can help you be better prepared to help someone who is struggling.  Talking openly about your concerns may help to prevent a death.

There are often warning signs that someone may be thinking about suicide. 

Here are some signs to look for:

Spoken or written threats of suicide

If the person talks about dying by suicide or about feeling trapped and not knowing a way out of their situation or has written notes or letters about it. Never assume the person, doesn’t really mean it, always take it very seriously.

High-risk behaviour

People who are thinking about suicide sometimes hurt themselves by engaging in drug or alcohol abuse, self-harm, and even criminal behaviour.  Suicidal people may drive recklessly and put themselves and others in danger.

Withdrawal and loss of interest

They no longer enjoy activities that they once did, isolate themselves from family or friends, don’t take care of their appearance, lack energy, or find it hard to cope with everyday things.

Recent important losses

A person may become suicidal as a result of problems or changes that make them feel helpless. These may include divorce, loss of child custody, job loss or the death of a loved one. For a child or a teenager they may be having a difficult time at school with friends, teachers, workload, or parental expectations.

Major changes in sleep or eating patterns

Excessive fatigue, not being able to sleep or sleeping much more than usual, or a loss of appetite or eating much more than usual are all signs that someone may be suffering from depression.

Obsession with death

Suicidal people sometimes show an unusual interest in death by the books or movies they choose or the websites they visit.

They may do online research about ways to kill themselves

Having decided to die, they may give away possessions. They may also suddenly be in a happier or calmer mood as they make these plans.

If you believe or even suspect that someone you care about may be suicidal, don’t ignore your suspicions.

If you notice any of these warning signs in a friend, relative or loved one, encourage them to talk about how they are feeling. Starting a conversation about suicide can be a difficult thing to do, especially when you’re worried about upsetting someone who might already be in a sensitive place emotionally.

How to help someone:

Offer support. Find a safe, private place to voice your concerns, speak to the person and better assess the situation. Do not agree to keep suicidal information secret, remind the person you are there to help support them. Don’t leave a suicidal person alone. If you suspect that someone who doesn’t live near you is suicidal, call the person’s local Police force and ask that a wellness check be carried out.

Be direct

Don’t be afraid to bring up suicide. There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that talking about it will make the person take his or her life.

Talk openly about feelings and concerns. Ask if they have a suicide plan.

It’s important to find out this information to pass on to a professional.

Listen. Be non-judgmental

Don’t tell them not to think about suicide or minimise their problems.

Give as much time as needed to talk and let them know you’re there to offer support.

Remove all dangers

Any prescription and non-prescription drugs or medication or firearms should be removed from their home.

Contact a GP, counsellor, or psychiatrist

Often these resources can direct you to community resources, such as support groups.

Helping someone who is feeling suicidal can be extremely stressful.

Make sure you have support for yourself from friends, family, or a trained counsellor.

Helping a teenager who may be at risk of suicide

The teenage years can be a difficult time for you and your child. Adolescents may break rules or experiment with different behaviour as they try to establish their independence. As a parent, it’s important to know when your teenager’s feelings are a normal part of growing up and when they are putting themselves at risk. By staying involved in your child’s life, talking openly together, and knowing the warning signs of suicide, you can help deter at-risk behaviour and make sure your child gets the help they need.

Suicide is a tragic occurrence that leaves those affected wondering how it could have happened, and how could it have been prevented. Those who are struggling with thoughts of suicide might show outward signs, and it’s important that friends, family, colleagues, and managers are aware of the signs that someone might be at risk of attempting suicide.

The suicide of someone you love can be devastating. You may have many intense emotions all at once. You may feel shocked, confused, angry, or guilty. You may wonder if you could have done something to prevent the suicide.

These thoughts and emotions are normal, and, although it will take time, with the right support, you can move forward with your life.

There isn’t a correct way of grieving after a suicide. Grief is a process of healing that people experience in different ways. Even if someone you love died months or years ago, your grief may resurface at certain times of the year, like birthdays or on the anniversary of their death. Your grief may never be entirely over, but it can become gradually more manageable. Try not to set time limits on your grief or compare your feelings to anyone else’s.

As you mourn, you may feel these emotions:

Shock

Feelings of numbness and disbelief are common when someone dies by suicide. Right after a loss, people often cope with their grief by denying the reality.

Anger

After a suicide, you may blame doctors or others for not preventing the death. You may blame the person who died for leaving you, or you may feel angry with the world.

Guilt

Intense grief makes it hard to think clearly, so, you may at times have thoughts that you know aren’t realistic. You may dwell on all the “what ifs” even if you know that you did the best you could at the time.

Despair

You may feel very sad, lonely, or helpless. You may wonder how you will ever cope without the person who died. The sadness of losing them in such a tragic way may never completely disappear, but there are ways to deal with the pain. Be patient. Don’t try to rush the healing process. We all deal with

grief in different ways.

Suicide can affect anyone. If you suspect someone you know is considering suicide, act quickly to get them professional support. Or if you find yourself contemplating it, contact a counsellor, medical professional or one of the organisations listed below immediately.

Where to get help:

• Samaritans For anyone with suicidal thoughts or those concerned with suicide. Call the helpline on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org
• Childline A helpline for children and young people in the UK. Calls are free on 0800 1111 and the number won’t show up on your phone bill.
• Papyrus For children and young people under the age of 35 who are experiencing thoughts of suicide. Also, for anyone concerned that a young person could be thinking about suicide. Call 0800 068 41 41, text 88247 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org
• Students Against Depression is a website for students who are depressed, have a low mood or are having suicidal thoughts.
• National Bullying Helpline is a website for both children and adults affected by bullying.
• Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) This resource is specifically for men. Call the helpline on 0800 58 58 58 from 5pm to midnight 365 days a year.
• NHS Help for suicidal thoughts.
• The Silver Line A confidential, free helpline for older people across the UK. Call them on 0800 4 70 80 90 – 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

If you believe that someone is in immediate danger, call 999 or bring them in to your nearest accident and emergency hospital service. You can also call Samaritans on 116 123.

Police Mutual Services

We’ve teamed up with PayPlan**, one of the UK’s leading free debt advice providers, who offer free and confidential advice to anyone in serious financial difficulties. They’re able to advise you on a range of debt solutions suited to your individual circumstances, helping to protect you and your family with a sustainable way to manage your debt.

Get free and confidential help to combat your debt, call PayPlan** on 0800 197 8433.

* Money and Health Policy Institute report ‘a silent killer’ Published December 2018

**PayPlan is a trading name of Totemic Limited. Totemic Limited is a limited company registered in England, Company Number: 2789854. Registered Office: Kempton House, Dysart Road, PO Box 9562, Grantham, NG31 0EA. Totemic Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Financial Conduct Authority Number: 681263.

8-14 September 2025

This article was published on 28 August 2025. At the time of publishing, this article was true and accurate, however, over time this may have changed. Some links may no longer work. If you have any concerns about this please contact us.

Know Your Numbers Week encourages people to get their blood pressure tested. Many people have high blood pressure without knowing it which can cause other health problems.  As well as understanding your blood pressure, it’s also important to understand your cholesterol, blood sugar and body mass index.

The more you know about these key health numbers the more you can do to take steps to look after yourself and lead a long and healthy life.

This guide will provide you with some self‑tests that you can do yourself at home and also information on how to improve your overall wellbeing.

Your weight

The vast majority of people will know if they are carrying too much weight or not. If you don’t own a set of scales, then you can use the waist to hip ratio. All you need to do is measure your hip at the widest point and your waist at just above the belly button. Then what you do is divide your waist size by your hip size.

• A ratio of 0.95 or below for men is good and 0.80 and below for women.
• 1.0 or higher for men and 0.85 or higher for women is greater risk of poor health.

Alternatively, you can just measure your waist:

• The ideal waist size is 35 inches for men and 32.5 inches for women.
• A waist size for men of 40 inches (102cm) and 35 inches (88cm) for women increases the risk of diabetes and heart disease significantly.

Waist size is important because it’s all about where you store your fat. If you store your fat around the waist then its sitting around your vital organs such as the liver and kidneys, which will increase the chance of diabetes and cholesterol.

Blood pressure

You can get your blood pressure checked with your GP or you can buy your own machine for around £20 to £30. Your heart responds to virtually everything that happens in your body, and you can learn a lot from blood pressure by analysing the readings. Although the most common way is to look at the actual level of the diastolic and systolic readings e.g., 120/80 the other useful analysis is to look at the pulse pressure difference which is the difference between the higher and lower figures.

If the difference is continually above 60 e.g., 140/80 – then it could be an indicator of arteriosclerosis or hardening of the arteries. The reason being that the arteries are having to expand too far and if they do that continually they lose their elasticity.

If you don’t have a blood pressure machine, you can simply do pulse testing either manually yourself by counting the number beats from the pulse (against your neck or inside your wrist) or through a free app on your phone.

Your pulse is an important test and it’s a good idea to get to understand your pulse. A healthy person should have a resting pulse rate of between 60 to 100 beats per minute.

However, it is possible to have a resting pulse rate as low as 35 if you are extremely fit. If you are not extremely fit and regularly have a heart rate outside of 60-100 beats per minute then you should visit your G.P.

When you understand your average pulse rate, and for example you know that your pulse is regularly in the low 60’s and all of a sudden, its 85 – then unless you know why it’s changed so radically (85 over the course of 3 days) then again it may be worth calling your G.P.

If you are taking your pulse manually you will start to understand how it feels and if it feels irregular then again, it’s something that you might raise with your G.P. One of the causes of high pulse pressure can be stress and it can be improved by doing relaxation breathing exercises.

The other home test you can do, is a urine test, urine analysis sticks can easily be purchased from the chemist. They are easy to use and can tell you a host of information, particularly around blood glucose, testing for diabetes but also kidney and liver issues. It’s important not to misinterpret the results and to take tests over a period of a few days to ensure that the issue wasn’t just something passing through for example a cold or virus.

Additionally, it’s important to ensure that you are drinking plenty of water and keeping hydrated. A lot of kidney and liver issues are due to dehydration skewing the results.

Cancer self-tests

Everyone should be checking their skin regularly for changes to moles and spots that don’t appear to heal. We should all be checking our breasts, testicles, armpits, neck, and groin for lumps.

It’s recommended that you keep a record of your checking and in the case of skin checks don’t be afraid to take photo’s so that you have got something to refer back to in the future to assess changes.

Additionally, other symptoms to look out for are blood in the urine and stool, regular pain in the kidneys and stomach without any apparent reason and increased need to go to the toilet at night when you haven’t been drinking excessively.

If you are worried about anything, then ensure you make an appointment to see your GP.

How to stay healthy

Exercise is the key, if you don’t like exercise or don’t have a lot of time, then try high intensity training.

For example, use an exercise bike for 10 minutes every day, within this 10 mins, do 30 seconds of sprinting followed by 30 seconds of relaxing riding.

You could also do the same thing by sprinting and walking between lamp posts or on a step box. Or do weight bearing exercise in the same way, using quite light weights, but fast reps.

Weight bearing exercise is important because you lose about 1% of muscle every year over the age of 40. Muscle speeds us metabolism and metabolism burn fat.

High intensity exercise was designed by Dr Tabata and research shows that it is a form of exercise that is very good at reducing blood sugar and therefore avoiding diabetes.

Another big reason for increasing exercise is to do with stress. Exercise can work as a distraction for your brain constantly either thinking about work or other issues. Exercise helps people to switch off.

As well as exercise, it’s also important to relax. Mindfulness is great to help you switch off, as many people struggle to do this on their own, apps such as Headspace and Thrive tend to help focus the mind.

Relaxation techniques are not just about the brain they also really help the heart. Reading is also a great way to relax, it can help distract the brain from more stressful issues.

For more details read our stress awareness guide here.

Nutrition

Nutrition is now more important than ever, having a balanced diet helps ensure we have the correct nutrients. Dark green leafy vegetables and colourful fruits and especially fruits with red in them can really make a difference. These will ensure you get vitamin C, vitamin D and zinc on board.

It’s also important to reduce the amount of processed fats you eat, as these types of fat stick around your waist and increase issues such as heart disease. These types of fats are found in many takeaways.

Water is massively undervalued, every organ in the body needs hydrating, water is needed in order for the fat burning process to work, depending on your size and how much exercise you are doing, you need to drink 2-3 litres per day.

Our bodies were not designed to sit down on chairs, sitting down as much as we do fundamentally squash’s our skeleton, which can lead to musculoskeletal problems.

What we need to do is move more, the HSE recommend a 10-minute movement break from sitting down every hour. The key is to try to introduce movement into the daily routine e.g., take all telephone calls standing up where you can and taking a break for lunch away from the desk and go for a walk.

For more information read our Healthy Eating guide here.

Boosting your immune system

Having a strong immune system is important in order to be able to fight off a variety of illnesses and infections. In order to increase the ability to produce antibodies and ensure that your T-cell levels (lymphocytes) are not reduced you can:

• Increase your level of vitamin D – spend time outside, drink fortified milk, eat fortified cereal, salmon, mackerel, and sardines.
• Increase your level of vitamin C – eat plenty of citrus fruits like Grapefruit and Oranges, Red Bell Peppers (3 times the vitamin C of an orange), Broccoli, Garlic, Ginger, Spinach, Yoghurt, Almonds, Sunflower Seeds, Tumeric, Green Tea, Papaya, Kiwi, Poultry, Shellfish (it’s important to take vitamin C daily because your body can’t store it).
• Reduce the amount of alcohol you drink, as it damages the immune system.
• Ensure you relax, exercise, and have good quality sleep as all of these boost the immune system.
• Take an immune busting vitamin tablet every day.

Sleep

Many people use their mobile phones for alarms and look at them right up until we turn the lights off, without giving their minds time to start to relax. Before going to sleep it’s important to be as relaxed as possible, the room to be dark and for it to be the right temperature.

It’s also important to have coping skills on how to relax your mind if you do wake up in the middle of the night, in order to maximise the relaxation of the nervous, respiratory, and cardiovascular systems.

For more information read our Sleep guide here.