Diary of an academic mum

Dr Breanne Kunstler (BBiomedSci, BHealthSci, MPhysio, PhD). Physiotherapist, behaviour change scientist and run coach. There are people who insist on eating before a run to feel energised and prevent the dreaded mid-run "bonk" (no, not that kind of bonk...) and those who absolutely refuse to eat to avoid tummy upsets and hope for the best. Both of these runners will use stored carbohydrate, which comes from food consumed in meals consumed in the hours and days before the run. Regardless of whether you eat before a run or not, your run is going to use carbohydrate/carbs (sugars) to fuel your muscles. Therefore, getting the most out of your running depends on the food you consume, and don't consume, at times when you aren't running too. Those who make sure they get sufficient carbohydrate in their diet throughout the days leading up to their run will likely get more out of their running. Eating to run: How much carbohydrate should I eat each day? There's plenty of e...

Dr Breanne Kunstler (BBiomedSci, BHealthSci, MPhysio, PhD). Physiotherapist, behaviour change scientist and run coach. What is “running power”? Let’s start with an analogy:  You are walking in the park and feel water beginning to drop lightly on your shoulders. That’s OK, a little rain never hurt anyone and it’s certainly not going to stop you going for a walk in your favourite park on such a beautiful, sunny day. Wait…sunny? Yes, it’s a warm, sunny day. The temperature and the absence of clouds in the sky, together with your choice of summer outfit and knowledge that today is meant to be sunny, conflict with the feeling of raindrops on your shoulders. Ah, it rained last night! Those drops must just be left over rain falling from the leaves of the trees above you. The above example shows that, when coming to a conclusion, we can use one piece of information (feeling of rain drops = raining) or many pieces of information (sunny and warm day ≠ raining). Often, the more informa...

Dr Breanne Kunstler (BBiomedSci, BHealthSci, MPhysio, PhD).  Physiotherapist, behaviour change scientist and run coach. Those who have seen a physio before are probably used to going to a clinic, checking in with the receptionist, waiting in the waiting room and then seeing the physio in their consultation room. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a spanner in the works. The clinic is your computer room, your receptionist is the 'accept' button on a calendar invite, your waiting room has a comfy couch and your trusty dog and your physio's consulting room is in the cloud. This is 2020. This is pandemic physio. This is telehealth! So what does a telehealth consultation look like? A patient of mine gave me permission to share a video of part of our consultation where I am assessing her shoulder movement and prescribing her an exercise. As you can see, there's not much difference between assessment over telehealth and assessment in person! Except that the consultat...

Dr Breanne Kunstler (BBiomedSci, BHealthSci, MPhysio, PhD).  Physiotherapist, behaviour change scientist and run coach.   COVID-19 ("Coronavirus") has officially been  declared a pandemic  by the  World Health Organisation (WHO) . Australia has recently taken the extreme and necessary step of asking people to self-isolate if they :  Are experiencing symptoms (e.g. fever, cough, shortness of breath or sore throat [Image 1]); Have been in contact with someone with COVID-19; or Have travelled overseas and arrived back in Australia after March 15. Image 1: Symptoms of COVID-19 (credit: health.gov.au ) Self isolation can be just that: isolating . We often say that we wish we could just stop time for a couple of weeks and take time off from our responsibilities, like work and exercise, and put our feet up. Well, now that it's enforced for many, we start to realise that it's actually not much fun. In fact, breaks from usual activity can be  bad...

Spending time with my 3-month-old daughter, Abby, at the library (Christmas, 2019) My name is Brea and I have never had a blog before. I have recently decided to start putting some of my thoughts on (electronic) paper to give myself something entertaining to do aside from work and supporting my family. At the time of writing this, I am 31 years old (born 1988), have been married to my husband Ben since 2015, currently own a house in south east Melbourne (Australia) and have one child called Abby who was born on September 13 2019. I have Bachelor's degrees in biomedical science and health, a masters in physiotherapy and a PhD in physical activity promotion. I work as a researcher and a physiotherapist. My hobbies include exercise and setting physical challenges for myself, lifelong learning (by doing short courses etc.) and blogging (for now anyway!). I primarily write about public health related issues, as well as topics related to my personal life. I hope you enjoy my ...