Are you one of the people across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent who needs to make sure they're not giving flu a chance this winter?
As autumn hits, GP surgeries and pharmacies are getting ready to make sure people are vaccinated against flu. The Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), the organisations responsible for the planning and buying of health services, want to make sure those most at risk, are protected.
Even if there is a direct link between breastfeeding and food allergies, the small risk is likely to be outweighed by the many other benefits of breastfeeding. These include a reduced risk of your baby getting an infection while lowering your own risk of certain cancers, such as breast cancer.
If you ever daydream about retirement, what do you picture? Lie-ins, instead of being woken by an alarm? Walks on a beach, in place of the morning commute? More time for beloved hobbies? Or perhaps endless open, solitary days, with nothing much to do…?
Retirement is what psychologists term a “major life transition”. As such, it’s regarded as a stressor that carries risks as well as potential rewards. Now that the number of retirees in many countries is soaring, so too is the number of studies into whether retirement is good for your mental and physical health — or not. This work certainly suggests that it can be, but there are a few warnings lurking in the results, too.
Study had significant limitations. Overall, despite this study's limitations, we know that getting enough sleep is important for our health. There are relatively simple steps people can take to improve their sleep, such as reducing caffeine and alcohol intake and doing more exercise. For people who have sleep problems that persist despite trying these things, or who are worried about their sleep, they should talk to a GP.
At the moment, it's not possible to say that e-cigarettes definitely cause lung cancer or changes in the bladder. This is because humans are not biologically identical to mice. We do not know if the findings represent what would happen in humans, or whether these laboratory exposures are the same as a person vaping.
We need to continue to monitor people using e-cigarettes and gather evidence on the potential health effects of vaping
None of us enjoys having our job cut into our leisure time. So the next time your boss asks you to work late and miss your band rehearsal or board game night, point them to a new study in the Journal of Vocational Behavior. Researchers have found that spending more time on a hobby can boost people’s confidence in their ability to perform their job well. But watch out — if your hobby is too similar to your work, then increased time on leisure activities may actually have a detrimental effect.
Ultimately this research cannot prove cause and effect. Both optimism and lifespan may be influenced by many hereditary, health, lifestyle and personal factors. People with a good overall standard of health and wellbeing are probably more likely to be optimistic about their future. While researchers attempted to adjust their analysis for these sort of factors, it's hard to remove their influence fully.
It's also questionable how applicable the results of these optimism assessments, taken 15 to 30 years ago from very specific groups of older US nurses and war veterans, are to the general UK population.
Nevertheless the research highlights the importance that mental health and wellbeing can have on physical health.
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.
To put this into context, 63 out of 1,000 women aged 50 to 69 develop breast cancer. The use of combined HRT for 5 years would cause an extra 15 to 20 cases per 1,000.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which regulates the safety of medical products in the UK, has advised women concerned about the news to talk to a GP.
It's fine to stop taking HRT, but doing so gradually is best to stop symptoms coming back.
Open access. Research into patient suicide indicates that it has an impact on the psychiatrists involved, but leaves a number of unanswered questions about which elements of the experience are most likely to cause problems, who is most at risk, what is the clinical or professional significance of any effect on the psychiatrist and how other professionals are affected. Despite these uncertainties, it is clear that a response is needed, with three bodies responsible in different ways for coordinating one: the relevant mental health trust, as employer; the Royal College of Psychiatrists, as the professional representative body; and the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health, as mediator of social and professional impact.
Due to the nature of the study the researchers were unable to prove that soft drinks are directly to blame for the small increased risk of death. However, the researchers say their findings add support to public health campaigns urging people to drink water instead of soft drinks. After all, tap water in the UK is safe to drink and free of calories.
Overall, the study does not provide any evidence that people should switch to or from a vegetarian diet. It's possible to have a balanced, healthy diet whether you eat meat or not. And of course, many people chose to eat a vegetarian diet for primarily ethical rather than health reasons.
Regardless of the diet you eat, the study also emphasises the importance of identifying and managing high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Whether napping during the daytime is healthy or unhealthy is unclear. Some previous studies found a reduced risk of heart and circulation problems, while others found a higher risk. This study of 3,462 Swiss adults aimed to see whether the number of naps a week, and the length of time spent napping, could explain the conflicting results.
While researchers found no link between length of naps and heart or circulation problems, they found that 1 or 2 naps might reduce risks, but having more than 1 or 2 naps did not reduce risk.
The study does not prove paracetamol use in pregnancy causes behavioural problems in children. Although the authors considered various health, lifestyle and environmental factors, others could be having an influence on the links.
The study assessed a wide range of behavioural measures, which unavoidably increases the possibility of finding some links by chance. It's also not possible to link this with any dose or frequency of paracetamol.
While there is little women can do to avoid living in areas of high air pollution, the study suggests another reason to press for better environmental standards to reduce air pollution.
Parents should be reassured that the increase in the chance of conditions such as ADHD was very small when it came to each individual child.
What the study perhaps best indicates is a need for teachers and other professionals to be aware of children who may be struggling in some way to ensure they get the support they need.
A. Sadilek, and H. Kautz. Proceedings of the Sixth ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining, page 637--646. New York, NY, USA, ACM, (2013)