Author Archives: Tamika Hassum,

10 Dec 2025

Surviving the Silly Season: Smart Strategies to Stay Active Over the Holidays

From work parties to family feasts and last-minute shopping trips — the festive season can feel like a whirlwind. Routines get messy, stress levels spike, and exercise often becomes the first thing to drop off the to-do list. But staying active doesn’t have to mean sacrificing the fun of the holidays.

As an Exercise Physiologist, I believe movement should make your life better — not busier. Here’s how to keep active, energised, and empowered right through Christmas (without missing a single mince pie):

20 Aug 2025

Moving Forward: How Exercise Can Support Women with Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer is a life-changing diagnosis, and the treatments that follow—surgery, chemotherapy, or targeted therapies—can take a significant toll on both body and mind. Many women face fatigue, pain, reduced fitness, and changes in mood or confidence. While exercise might not be the first thing that comes to mind during cancer treatment, research now shows that the right kind of movement can be one of the most powerful tools to support recovery and long-term wellbeing.

27 Jun 2025

Exercising Safely with a Prolapse

Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a common condition affecting many women, particularly after childbirth or during menopause. It occurs when pelvic organs—such as the bladder, uterus, or rectum—descend into or outside the vaginal canal due to weakened pelvic floor muscles and connective tissue.

While this diagnosis can feel limiting, exercise remains a vital part of maintaining overall health and managing prolapse symptoms—when done safely.

05 Mar 2025

Breast Cancer and Exercise Therapy

Breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer, with one in eight women diagnosed in Australia. While advancements in treatment have significantly improved survival rates, many individuals face ongoing challenges related to fatigue, reduced strength, mental health impacts and overall quality of life. Exercise has widely been recognised as a powerful tool in cancer care, offering benefits that have led to it being advocated as a standard part of cancer care. Let’s dive into the evidence-based recommendations.

19 Feb 2025

Getting Back to Running and Impact Exercise After Having A Baby

As an Accredited Exercise Physiologist working in women’s health, I know very well that there has been a significant gap in research and support provided to new mums who want to get back into impact-based activities like running. Some fantastic new research has come out that provides a framework for new mums and health professionals to help bridge this gap. Let’s check it out!

22 Jan 2025

Creating Good Habits

Welcome to part 2 of our habits series where we aim to help you understand your behaviour and to give you some useful tips for breaking those bad habits and sticking with the good ones. Today we will focus on creating good habits.

15 Jan 2025

Breaking “Bad” Habits

I believe that most of us want to be the healthiest and best version of ourselves. It can sometimes be frustrating when we continue to do ‘bad’ habits when we don’t want to, and struggle to stick with our ‘good’ habits even when we know how important they are. This blog series aims to help you understand why this is the case, and to give you some useful tips for breaking those bad habits and sticking with the good ones. Today we will focus on breaking bad habits.

16 Oct 2024

Exercise Your Mental Fitness

There seems to be increasingly more awareness and understanding around the importance of prioritizing mental health, which is awesome. Despite this, we often find ourselves not giving our ‘mental fitness’ the same time of day as our physical fitness. What if I could convince you that your physical exercise CAN help your mental fitness!?

09 Sep 2024

Exercise Physiology to Support You in a Healthy Pregnancy

Pregnancy is a transformative time that may fill you with big emotions like excitement and anticipation. However, it can also come with physical and emotional challenges that require careful attention to health and wellness. While many women are aware of the benefits of staying active during pregnancy, understanding exactly what this looks like to be as safe and effective as possible can be challenging. Let’s discuss why working with an Accredited Exercise Physiologist (AEP) can make all the difference in a healthy pregnancy journey.