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Managing lifestyle factors

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Exercise

When you have an operation and while you are recovering your body has to work a little harder than normal. Doing regular exercise to improve your fitness before an operation can help get your body ready for this extra work. You and your whānau can choose any activity that gets you moving – like walking, swimming or aqua-walking, cycling, or any physical activity you enjoy. Try to do at least 30 minutes of exercise on five or more days of the week. You can split the time over the day, if you prefer.

For more information on exercises you can do at home, and how to find local community group exercise classes, click here.

Nutrition (what you eat)

In the weeks leading up to your operation, try choose foods that will help make your body strong.

These foods include:

  • Protein (e.g. meat, dairy products, legumes, eggs)
  • Calcium (e.g. dairy products, soy beans, dark green leafy vegetables)
  • Fruit and vegetables
  • Iron (e.g. meat, seafood, beans, dark green leafy vegetables)

The EATWELL guide [PNG, 660 KB] can help you achieve a balanced diet.

For some body types, there are some operations where a surgeon might recommend losing weight before surgery. This might be because the operation has much higher risk when someone has a bigger body, or because it’s hard for the surgeon to do the operation and losing some weight can make things much easier. This should be explained to you during your appointment with the surgical team.

Most of the time, it is much more important that your preparation for surgery is focused on moving your body and eating foods that will help your body heal and recover, rather than trying to lose weight.

Managing anxiety

Having an operation can be a very big deal and you may find you feel worried or anxious while you are waiting for surgery, or when you get to hospital. It’s important to recognise if you are having those feelings, and ideally work with your whānau to find ways to help you relax and keep positive. Some people like mindfulness exercises, or breathing techniques.

You can find lots of helpful information here, or your GP may be able to offer you useful resources. 

You can have a support person stay with you in DOSA before surgery. Cultural and spiritual support through the kaitiaki and chaplain service is available before and after surgery if requested.

Smoking and vaping

People who smoke are more likely to have complications during and after surgery. Complications can be things like heart attacks, blood clots, chest infections, and infections in the surgery wound. This can mean needing another operation and taking longer to recover and get discharged from hospital.

It is strongly recommended that you stop smoking before having an operation. The best results happen when you can stop smoking at least six weeks before surgery, but even stopping for just a few days before will still make a difference.

You are more likely to be successful in stopping smoking if you have support, especially from people who are trained ‘Stop Smoking’ advisors. You and your whānau may have a support network, and we can also help you connect with services designed to help.

Once and For All is a local service that coordinates all enquiries about smoking cessation in the Waikato region. For more information, visit their website here.

Free call Quitline on 0800 778 778 or visit their website here.

Electronic cigarettes or ‘vapes’ have been used to help quit smoking. Although the ingredients in vapes are not as harmful as cigarettes, they can still cause complications when continued before surgery. The listed ingredients of vapes are unreliable, even ‘nicotine-free’ vape liquids can contain nicotine, and nicotine-containing vape liquid can have much more nicotine than in regular cigarettes. To have the best results for your surgery, we recommend stopping vaping for the same time as you would stop cigarette smoking – as long as you can, and ideally for at least six weeks before surgery.

Alcohol

Alcohol can have many effects on the body, including causing harm to your heart and liver. This can effect how your body processes medicines given during your hospital stay and can increase bleeding during surgery. Make sure you are drinking less than the recommended limits to improve your body’s ability to heal after surgery.

It is recommended to drink less than:

  • Two standard drinks daily / 10 standard drinks per week (for women)
  • Three standard drinks daily / 15 standard drinks per week (for men)

Reduce the risk of an infection

An infection in the surgical wound can slow your recovery. Sometimes you might also need another operation to help get rid of the infection. There are some things that you can do to lower the chance of getting an infection. The video below shows some of the things you can do before and after surgery to help prevent surgical infections. 

For Te reo Māori and Samoan versions of this video, please see below