WELLBEING Julia Bradbury Julia Bradbury on how her pre-cancer life ‘was like being chased by a tiger all day’
By Lisa Salmon, PA lifestyle reporter
Julia Bradbury’s stress hormones used to be so high that a doctor told her it was like she was being chased by a tiger all day.
And then she got cancer.
Now, four years since she found a lump in her breast and had a mastectomy, the TV presenter, 54, has turned her life around and has finally got the balance right.
“I didn’t have a very balanced life before cancer,” she admits.“Now, I really do feel grateful for every day – balance is very, very important.”
Bradbury, who presented Countryfile and a number of other TV documentaries, many of them about walking, says:“I’ve had my cortisol [stress hormone] measured, and historically it’s been through the roof.As one doctor described it, I appeared to be being chased by a tiger all day. “It’s something for everybody to be mindful of – we are human beings, not human doings. Even lions and tigers don’t hunt all day, they rest a lot, and that’s a good metaphor for us – you can’t be in hunting mode or being chased all the time.
“You have to find some time to rest and be calm, and find a little bit of security and peace somewhere where you’re not being chased.”
So now Bradbury, who’s written six books about walking, plus the forthcoming health tips book Hack Yourself Healthy which will be published in September, does breath work and meditation every morning at first light, meditates at night, and exercises regularly.“I try very much to build peaceful, calm moments into my day, because it’s very, very important for me, particularly post a cancer diagnosis,” she explains.“It’s very important to maintain, to keep your stress levels at a minimum, but not always easy when you’re running around and trying to meet book deadlines and TV deadlines and all the rest of it.
“So I make sure I carve out those times in the day for me to do my nature walk, to do my breath work, to really calm my cortisol levels.And that for me, I believe, is life-saving.”
She also journals and, perhaps most importantly, spends as much quality time as possible with her three children – Zephyr, 13, and her twin daughters Xanthe and Zena, 10.“I really revel in being present with them and doing things with them that are nourishing and enriching – not big things, just being with them and spending time together is really, really important.” And she still values life’s smaller wins too, explaining:“Nurturing those small things is important – that early morning cuppa, if you’re lucky enough to have a balcony or open a window or have a garden, and you have that first cup of tea, and it’s a peaceful moment for you.
Photo: Jamie Walton, author of Nettles and Petals
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