My Health: NI hotelier and restaurateur, Ken Sharp

Do you consider yourself to be healthy?

Yes for a 52 year old who played rugby for 30 years and is probably a little too fond of food and wine!

Did you contract Covid? If so, how did it affect you?

No, I have managed to avoid it.

Do you smoke/drink?

I like my cocktails, craft beer and wine but generally keep it in check. A couple of cans of an evening with the rugby or some wine with dinner on a night off does it.

I Have been known to enjoy the odd Cuban cigar but as they can take an hour to smoke and the Northern Ireland climate does not really cater for that outside, it has been a while.

Do you take supplements?

I take the Wellman Max range. Having played rugby for 30 years the joints need all the help they can get and my irregular eating patterns need a bit of support.

Ever been on a diet?

Been on a few, though I have found the most effective that fits with my job is intermittent fasting.

Any big health scares?

Apart from double pneumonia and pleurisy as a child, I would have to say it was a recent bout of depression and anxiety that I was diagnosed with.

I thought that only really happened to other people and it came as a shock, however, it explained a lot of physical issues I had been having. And came on the back of the deaths of a couple of staff members due to overdoses, and the stress of keeping the business going and staff employed over Covid lockdowns.

Have you tried alternative/complementary therapies?

I worked in hotels when spas started to be incorporated and as I usually worked in the evenings I quite often got brought in as a body for therapists to train on.

So I have experienced reiki, kinesiology, reflexology and a few others.

I have to say that my more traditional chiropractor and my therapist are the ones who do me the most good and who I return to for check ups on a regular basis.

Do you take regular exercise?

I go swimming every morning at Aurora in Bangor and daily journaling.

This is really important to me. I find that in general people do not realise we need to exercise to keep our mental health fit just as we physically exercise for our body.