Teaching listening is essential for building trust, whether in personal relationships, business, or global affairs. When people feel heard, they’re more likely to trust us and find common ground, even in the most challenging situations.

By using phrases like 'Tell me more' or simply staying quiet, we create the necessary space for them to fully express themselves. Once they've finished, we can respond thoughtfully.

We need to create a safe environment for people to fully express themselves, even if their views are difficult to accept. Only then can genuine dialogue begin. Instead of defending our points or interrupting, we should encourage the other person to elaborate.

One crucial aspect is replacing judgment with curiosity. I know this can be challenging, especially in fields like medicine where judgment is often expected. However, understanding someone's perspective requires an open mind.

While repeating someone’s words might seem like active engagement, it's merely mimicking. True listening involves creating a space where the other person feels heard, understood, and valued. This is a skill that can be learned and practiced.

Active listening "My son’s repeated cries of 'Mama!' finally pulled me away from my laptop. 'Yes, honey?' I looked up after his seventeenth plea. It suddenly hit me that all he wanted to know was when we'd go out. This incident highlights a common misconception about listening.

A little perspective goes a long way for your mental health.

It seems that marital relationships, regardless of the quality of the relationship, are associated with lower HbA1c values (a marker for diabetes control) for male and female adults aged over 50 years, regardless of the quality of the relationship. https://t.co/v1R1jHf5xn

The influence of social relationships on the risk of death are comparable with well-established risk factors for mortality such as smoking and alcohol consumption and exceed the influence of other risk factors such as physical inactivity and obesity. - https://t.co/RdlZRWo6j9

The benefits for heart health of drinking alcohol is for a smaller group of the population than previously thought. The only group that may have a significant reduction in risk of death in the UK is women over the age of 55 if drinking less than 5 units a week. (CMO 2016)

Did you know? It is estimated that 10 units of alcohol carries the equivalent cancer risk of 10 cigarettes for women and 5 cigarettes for men.

Our ability to feel well is heavily influenced by how well our autonomic nervous system works. Being present with yourself in a kind and understanding way can help you feel better overall.

The twin cycle hypothesis: https://t.co/78DWBSxRie

7/ However, considering none of this is under your control, it helps to know about the things you CAN change that will make a difference.

6/ Remember, some people have a genetic predisposition to insulin resistance, not all fat storage is equal and some people just have less capacity to make insulin on top of the resistance issue.

5/ Another thing that happens is it shoots back fatty particles into the blood circulation (vLDL's). These reach the pancreas and so over time, this makes the beta cells (which make the insulin) lose their specialist role of making insulin at the right speed and in the right way.

4/ The liver has a really important job of managing glucose in the body. It balances glucose production (increases it when it's too low in the body and vice versa.) If the liver is fatty, it can’t do that job properly.

3/ When your body has been making high amounts of insulin for some time, the non liver and pancreas parts of the story run out of capacity to store fat, so this by-product effect of high insulin spills over to the liver. When this happens, you get fatty liver.

2/Your body storing fat makes your insulin not work as well. How does your body storing fat make insulin not work as well? Well, the twin cycle hypothesis has the following theory:

The lifestyle side of T2DM broken down (a thread): T2DM is not a lack of insulin, it is resistance (insulin not working well). This is because your body being exposed constantly to sugar makes your body constantly make insulin.