Our friend Dr Bagasi recently completed an Ironman Triathlon raising money fro Bridge2Aid. He has written a blog about the important benefits of exercise and how helping others helps you feel good about yourself.
“On Sunday, 15th July, I completed the Ironman Triathlon in a time of 15 hours, 29 minutes and 1 second – a personal best.
A 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile cycle and a full marathon it was a challenge like nothing I had ever done before. As the day of the race approached, I was a mixture of excitement and nerves, while everybody else around me thought I had lost my mind!
While I had many motives for taking part in this particular challenge, there were 
two main ones – one was to support the noble cause of Bridge2Aid as well as raising money for hospices dotted across every town in the North West that Synergy Dental has a presence (Blackpool, Preston, Blackburn, Bolton, Bury and Ormskirk). These causes are something I can relate to and have full support for.
The other motive was to be a bastion of awareness and inspiration for fellow associate dentists across the industry – by demonstrating how much engaging in a fitness-related hobby can assist in alleviating some of the psychological burden that dentists carry, to ensure they are at the peak of their professional capabilities at all times and to raise money for worthy causes.
The problem
It’s an under-reported aspect of the dentistry profession that a lot of dentists suffer from stress and burnout. This has negative psychological impact on them outside of their surgeries and trickles into their personal lives. The stress and burnout stems from a number of sources – all of which are essential to stay on top of, if dentists are to run a successful practice. Elements such as complaints from disgruntled patients, financial concerns placed by the pressure of NHS Units of Dental Activity (UDA) targets, personal issues, changing regulations and Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections, to name but a few.
I’ve been very fortunate not to suffer as much – largely due to the fantastic team that support me – but I have a lot of friends in the industry who regularly turn to me for advice. Furthermore, when you consider some of the challenges that dental professionals face in developing countries – like Tanzania, where Bridge2Aid does a brilliant job in making emergency dental services accessible – being able to put myself through the challenge of training for this mammoth task seemed like nothing at all.
The solution
Due to the magnitude of the challenge it had to become a lifestyle for me. I had to balance work, training, nutrition, recovery and of course leisure time, too. When I look back it has made a huge positive impact on my personal and professional life.
When I’m not training for these types of challenges I like to head to my local gym and push my body to its limits by taking part in high intensity circuit training, weightlifting as well as a mixture of boxing and mixed martial arts training. The impact of this has allowed me to leave any issues from work behind and given me something else to focus on.
It’s important to have something else to focus on and challenge you outside of work – it puts your problems into perspective. This doesn’t exclusively apply to dentists either.
There’s nothing better than engaging in some sort of exercise to help you. If you can raise money for worthy charitable causes too then it’s a win-win in many different ways. There are so many exercises to choose from. It’s been scientifically proven to release endorphins in your brain to energise your spirit and make you feel good about yourself. It helps you break out of the cycle of negative thoughts brought on by stress that can lead to anxiety and depression.
The ethos of the work/life balance is something that runs through Synergy Dental Group. We have an in-house holistic wellbeing & nutritional therapist who works with our staff to provide them with diet plans, nutritional advice, sports massages and much more. Associates are encouraged to have a healthy balance between practice life and their own lives.”
If you’re inspired to take on your own challenge please drop us an email at fundraising@bridge2aid.org
