Can soaking up the sun give you a hard head?

The prospect of a fortnight in the Aegean beckons, with the welcome possibility for heliosis, the Ancient Greek term for sunbathing, in deference to the sun God, Helios. They were apparently nicely conscious of its “health benefits”, with the distinguished physician Soranus of Ephesus (renowned for his treatise on gynaecology with a “truly magnificent” account of the management of a tough labour) commending sunbathing for various ailments of the skin and lung.

Almost 500 years earlier, Herodotus, in his account of the battle of Pelusium in 525 BC, commented on the big difference in the bony remains of the Egyptian and Persian casualties – identifying for the initial time the hyperlink among sun deprivation and weak or brittle bones. “The skulls of the Persians had been so thin that the mere touch of a pebble would pierce them, but it is scarcely attainable to break the skulls of the Egyptians with a blow from a stone,” he wrote.

When the benefits of scientific investigations are “too very good to be true”, they are normally just that. This proved to be the downfall of the psychologist Sir Cyril Burt, whose demonstration of the higher heritability of intelligence in scientific studies of twins separated at birth had a profound influence on post-war schooling policy. His findings remained unchallenged until finally, a handful of months soon after his death, Princeton psychologist Leon Kamin drew focus to their implausible consistency more than decades: even though the numbers of twin pairs he claimed to have studied increased nearly 9-fold, the correlation of their intelligence scores remained exactly the very same. This is impossible.

Lately, scrutiny of the benefits of the drug firm-sponsored trials of statins has recognized a related difficulty. For, while the costs of reported significant side-effects fluctuate considerably, it is usually precisely mirrored by the same figure for those taking the placebo. Thus, for those taking rosuvastatin, the incidence of significant adverse occasions was recorded as 15 per cent, and for individuals taking the placebo 15.5 per cent for those taking simvastatin six per cent, placebo six per cent – and so on. This is improbable and, speed Sir Cyril’s correlation coefficients, also great to be real.

Gum performs

The several therapeutic makes use of of chewing gum have featured in this column prior to, notably for stimulating the secretions of the salivary glands in individuals troubled by a dry mouth. Not too long ago its portfolio of clinical indications has expanded to incorporate pregnant females requiring a Caesarean, for whom thrice-everyday gum chewing minimizes the possibilities of building transient paralysis of the gut – and, for these who are discomforted by bloating, promoting a speedier return of normal functioning. “This safe and economical intervention,” it is claimed, “should be incorporated in the routine care of women following a Caesarean area.”

Austrian gynaecologist Heinrich Husslein has identified exactly the same advantage for ladies requiring keyhole surgical treatment on the fallopian tubes and ovaries. Scarcely rocket science – but critical for the females concerned.

Ghost reader

Ultimately, additional to readers’ accounts of encounters from the other side, Hugh Foster from Hampshire recalls reading a letter in his paper some time in the past from a lady reporting how the resident ghost in her house would hover behind her chair as she go through The Everyday Telegraph. The apparition, currently being a slow reader, would get annoyed if she turned the pages also swiftly – until finally ultimately she became so fed up that she summoned an exorcist to evict the ghostly intruder.

Email your health queries to drjames@telegraph.co.united kingdom answers will be published in the health area of the Telegraph site every Friday

Can soaking up the sun give you a hard head?