Blog post. According to statistics published by the British Heart Foundation, we spend 76 days per year, on average, sitting. The World Health Organisation describes physical inactivity as a “global public health problem” that contributes to millions of deaths each year.
You might not be surprised to hear about the harmful health consequences of a sedentary lifestyle, but perhaps less obvious is that physical inactivity is also associated with unwelcome changes in personality over time. Previous research has documented these effects over periods of four and ten years. A new paper in the Journal of Research in Personality has extended this, finding that greater physical inactivity at baseline is associated with deterioration in personality two decades later, even after accounting for any differences in initial personality.
As temperatures will potentially rise this weekend, health experts across the county are advising people to stay safe and well during the hot weather.
Shropshire’s Council’s Stay Safe and Well this Summer webpages offers a host of advice for people young and old, to help keep cool and hydrated throughout the hot weather.
As temperatures rise, health experts across the county are advising people to stay safe and well during the hot weather this week.
Shropshire’s Council’s Stay Safe and Well this Summer webpages offers a host of advice for people young and old, to help keep cool and hydrated throughout the hot weather.
These limitations mean we cannot say for sure that pollution causes dementia. However, the study findings are important. If air pollution does increase dementia risk, measures to reduce pollution could have a big impact on the overall numbers of people getting dementia each year. And we already know that air pollution worsens heart and lung health.
A survey has revealed which areas across England have the highest levels of binge drinking. Data was collected by Ipsos MORI from 25 local authorities to cover all regions and all types of local authority. The figures also show the number of people who abstain from alcohol. Public Health England (PHE) said there is a lack of reliable information about alcohol consumption, primarily due to the cost of collecting the data. Rates of frequent drinking, considered to be drinking on four or more days a week, varied from 9% in Peterborough to 22% in West Berkshire.
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We often think of alcohol misuse in terms of dependence and the conditions associated with heavy drinking like liver disease and pancreatitis. But, as last year’s Chief Medical Officers’ new guidance indicated, lower levels of alcohol misuse can contribute to a wide range of conditions not so readily associated with alcohol. Is it therefore worth considering how alcohol could be affecting the health of a wider range of patients and not just heavy drinkers?
Intermittent fasting has been a popular diet plan since the 5:2 diet, where you eat normally for 5 days and fast for 2, hit the headlines.
But intermittent fasting is not safe or suitable for all people, such as those with long-term health conditions or a history of eating disorders.
And the researchers involved in this study made the point of warning that alternate day fasting should not be tried without medical advice. Speak to a GP for advice before starting.
Importantly, these results come from data from an observational study that was not set up to look at this question, so it cannot prove direct cause and effect between coffee drinking and mortality.
It's not possible to fully rule out the influence of other dietary, health and lifestyle factors, and participants' responses on coffee intake may also have been inaccurate, as they were self-reported.
A final point is that the participants were over the age of 40. The results may have been different if a younger population had been studied.
Honey and over-the-counter remedies should be a patient’s first point of call to treat a cough, not antibiotics, says NICE and PHE in new draft guidance.
In most cases, acute coughs are caused by a cold or flu virus, or bronchitis, and last around three weeks.
Clinicians are advised in most cases not to offer antibiotics as they make little difference to a person’s symptoms.
In lower-income countries, it's possible people are generally less likely to do recreational exercise but more likely to have physically active lifestyles involving manual work. The aim was to see if this sort of day-to-day activity could be just as beneficial as any other type of exercise.
The main finding was that it made no difference. Physical activity of any type – whether it was walking or doing household chores – was clearly linked with a lower risk of death or heart disease and stroke.
The growth of crowdfunding websites has opened up the possibility of private or alternative medical treatment for people who would not otherwise have the money to pay for it. Many people, including friends, family and strangers, are moved to donate when people plead for "another chance" of a cure for terminal cancer.
People may look for alternatives after being told there is nothing further that the NHS can do for them and that all proven treatments have been exhausted. Not surprisingly, they may be willing to try any treatments that might prolong their lives, even if there is little or no evidence to prove that they work.
This research provides some evidence that glass sizes have increased over the years, which may have led to greater alcohol consumption.
But it only looked at glass size, not the amount of alcohol drunk, so can't prove that the increase in glass size has directly led to higher rates of alcohol consumption. The Mail Online's headline is therefore misleading.
This informative blog highlights how having regular short 15 to 20 minute naps can help to combat fatigue, improving a persons ability to function thereby leading to less errors.
This study is valuable in improving our understanding of diabetes. For example, the researchers found that people who had cluster 2 or 3 diabetes had a higher risk of kidney disease or vision problems (retinopathy) than people in the other clusters.
However, the diagnosis and management of diabetes isn't going to change overnight. Further research is needed to see whether these 5 clusters hold true for non-Scandinavian populations.
These are self-reported symptoms of depression. The participants have not been clinically diagnosed as depressed.
This means it's not clear from the study if these slightly higher levels of depression symptoms had any impact on the women's daily life and wellbeing.
As working patterns and depression symptoms were measured at the same time, we do not know if the long hours were the cause of the symptoms. Many other personal, health and lifestyle factors may be involved.
Shropshire Council’s public health team is encouraging families to take part in the programme, which uses the excitement of Star WarsTM and its characters – alongside Double Olympic Gold medalist, Jade Jones – to encourage children to ‘Train Like A Jedi’ and is designed to increase levels of physical activity amongst children in England.
Taking inspiration from the traits of iconic Jedi such as Luke Skywalker and Rey, Train Like A Jedi helps children master six key skills – technique, strength, stamina, speed, agility and mastery.
The Children’s Food Campaign has won a landmark ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to stop Kinder targeting adverts to children via its Kindernauts website, Magic Kinder website, app and YouTube films.
The ruling by the ASA Council agreed that the sites and advergames had broken rules set by the Committee of Advertising Practices (CAP) on the promotion of high fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) products to children under 16 years.