"It can"t be much worse than licking a battery." What it"s like to have ECT

I have had depression and anxiety, mainly depression, on and off since I was a teenager. After dealing with it for 10 years I had a particularly bad winter when I was working almost 24-hour shifts at work.

I went to visit my aunt overseas because I got a few weeks’ sick leave. I thought I’ll go, I’ll decompress, but while I was there I got sicker and sicker.

The GP there prescribed something called Lyrica [an anti-seizure medication also known as pregabalin]. I don’t know whether that had anything to do with it, but I went into a psychotic episode – I thought I was going to be deported, I had a lot of paranoia.

I suddenly started getting very, very anxious – and took an overdose. That landed me in hospital. I was a voluntary patient but I think I would have been forced if I wasn’t voluntary.

I was there for a really long time – a couple of months. I saw a lot of people come and leave and I wasn’t really able to do anything. They had an ECT [electroconvulsive therapy]clinic downstairs and the psychiatrist kept on suggesting it.

Eventually it came to the point where they had tried all these medications that weren’t working and I was an absolute nightmare – I was really difficult and I couldn’t do anything. After being really reluctant I finally gave in. I thought either I am going to die this way, or ECT might help. My aunt was like: “Well, we have tried everything else.”

They scheduled it super quick. We said yes on Friday and they scheduled it for Monday, then they did it three times a week for two weeks.

At first I was worried because of the image you get from the horror films of people being strapped up and electrocuted. Then I learned a little more about it, although I couldn’t do any reading on my own because I was so anxious – I couldn’t even cope with the phone. But I talked to my aunt who put it in really simple terms and talked about all the side-effects.

The thing that scared me the most was the memory loss. I went to an elite university and I really pride myself on my brain, so I was worried. Was this going to make me stupid? But I reached the point when I said: “Well, I don’t care if I am stupid. If I’m stupid and happy it’ll be fine.” So that is what made me go for it, even though I had a very bad perception of it.

The doctors talked me through the entire process. I had never been under general anaesthetic before and because I was anxious and paranoid about not being in control of my body, that was something I was really afraid of. I agreed to do it if my aunt could be in the room – but she wasn’t allowed in the room when they gave the electric shock because it is so traumatic for loved ones.

Before the ECT, they showed me the equipment and said: “The amount of electricity we are putting through your brain is enough to light a lightbulb for a second.” I was thinking: “How is that going to do anything? It can’t be much worse than licking a battery.”

After the first session all the nurses said: “You are so much calmer. I think this is really working. This is really good.” I thought: “I don’t know what you are talking about. I am still super-anxious and I hate my life.”

But looking back, the change happened almost immediately. After the first week I had hoped that I was going to leave the hospital and by the end of the sixth session, after two weeks, I was ready to get on with my life.

I had problems though – mainly short-term memory. I compensated for that by using a journal. Whatever my therapist advised, I’d write down and look over every day and try to do it. But I constantly found myself being told that I had already just told people something I had said. I had to monitor my medication very carefully. The memory issue went away in the course of the month. The benefit of ECT stayed for about six months and I needed to keep taking medication to prevent a relapse. But it didn’t work.

I was hospitalised again – this time in the UK.

I really wanted ECT. But they said the memory effects can be worse if you do it again and again and at that point I wasn’t psychotic. It is much harder to reach someone once they are psychotic because you can’t really rationalise with them, whereas I did what people told me to do, so that drastic measure of ECT wasn’t really necessary. But as soon as I mentioned ECT to any medical practitioner in the UK they said: “Oh my God, seriously?” The only semi-positive reaction I had from one of my GPs was: “Wow, how was that? I have never met anyone who had it.” He wasn’t judgmental, just really surprised and fascinated. In hindsight, I don’t think ECT was the right thing to do.

Sometime later I relapsed again. This time I had ECT on the NHS. They then diagnosed me as bipolar.

After I first had ECT I was really freaking out about whether I was going to tell people. But because of my short-term memory problems I was forgetting who I had told what and it was getting really stressful. It got to the point where I was anxious to meet people because I was wondering: “How much do they know? What do I say?” Which is why I put it up on Facebook, because that way everyone knows the same thing. But I am quite reluctant to tell people that I had psychosis. Because although mental health issues are more accepted and depression is quite common, psychosis is like really crazy. Taking medication is more accepted now, going to therapy is more accepted, but ECT … I think people think of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

There is definitely a lot of concrete evidence of ECT working. My aunt was absolutely floored by the results and she talked to the nurses and they said: “It is almost like a miracle but we see it every week.”

(*Name changed for confidentiality)

"It can"t be much worse than licking a battery." What it"s like to have ECT

11 Warning Signs You’re Eating Too Much Sugar

11 Warning Signs You’re Eating Too Much Sugar

A veg (or five) too far: why 10 portions a day is way too much to ask | Kathleen Kerridge

Government guidelines have, for some years, held that eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day is what we should all be aiming for. That’s an achievable target for many, if not most, of us. Some days it might be felt in the purse, to make sure there’s broccoli on a plate, but generally it’s possible to eat five different fruits and vegetables a day even on a strict budget.

Ten, though? When I first read that the guidelines could change, and we should be aiming for 10 portions of fruit and veg a day, I nodded and thought: “Huh, makes sense.” But as I thought about it, while raiding my freezer for a bag of frozen carrots, I realised it was going to be another thing – like buying free range organic, or only buying ethically sound clothing – that will only serve to make the poor feel guilty, again less than good enough.

Most days my family consumes five a day with ease. The veg is in my budget, and there’s always a bag of bananas or satsumas around. I buy frozen vegetables and fresh fruit, and they get vacuumed up by the family as fast as I can serve them. To serve and supply double this, though? When vegetables are sold in 900g bags for the most part, and each member of the family should be having 10 portions a day at 80g a portion – they can’t be the same fruit or vegetable –then for families already struggling, this extra recommendation seems impossible.

Already millions are feeling the pinch of extended austerity. Finding a fiver for the electric meter, or making sure there’s food on the table at all, is a common battle across the country. It’s not unusual for thousands of children to go to school hungry, having not eaten breakfast because the cupboards were bare at home.

Food banks are having a hard time keeping up with the families who, after paying their rent, have no money left for groceries. People who have no real cooking facilities, often relying on a “worktop oven” or a microwave to see them through, will have good reason to roll their eyes and ignore this advice. For some, it’s not even worth aiming for. It’s impossible to afford it, let alone cook it.

‘Just adding half a frozen bag of greens to a meal for four people will cost an extra 50p. And that’s just one portion of veg at dinner.’ Photograph: Garry Weaser for the Guardian

When there is so much disparity in income in this country, and when so many are fighting to live from payday to payday, as Sure Start centres fade into memory, taking food education and their healthy eating plans with them, and school dinners rise in cost, it seems shortsighted to interfere more in what people are putting on their plates. Maybe a little bit cruel. Just adding half a frozen bag of greens to a meal for four people will cost an extra 50p. And that’s just one portion of veg at dinner.

To eat 10 portions a day, there needs to be three or four on a dinner plate if the target is going to be achievable – an extra £2 for one meal, or £14 a week for an evening meal with four portions of cheap frozen veggies each night. Add in a banana during the day, some fruit for breakfast, a snack of beans on toast, an apple before dinner, and then something else for supper? The food bill has got out of control, and the guilt sets in, much as it does when I’m left with no option but to buy cheap clothes I know have been made in a sweatshop overseas.

In an ideal world I would be dressing in Fairtrade cottons and eating produce from my local farmer’s market. In reality, a handful of sprouts and some green beans from the freezer accompany a meal, and my clothes are from the cheapest stores on the high street. In an ideal world, I would make my children smoothies every day for breakfast. I would source only the finest ingredients. I would only buy free range organic produce. I would eat 10 portions of fruit and veg a day.

This, though, isn’t an ideal world. This is Britain, hit by the effects of rising rents and an austerity budget. Many councils are set to raise taxes by 5% this year, adding another £100 at least to my bill for 2017. Tax credits, working benefits, housing benefits and every other benefit that isn’t an old age pension have been frozen for three years. Wages aren’t increasing to match the cost of living. Energy costs are going through the roof. In Britain today, an iceberg lettuce costs 75p, and I can promise you that a portion of lettuce won’t fill a stomach for long.

Ten a day? Maybe not.

A veg (or five) too far: why 10 portions a day is way too much to ask | Kathleen Kerridge

The chemo’s too much, but getting on a clinical trial is gruelling enough

Saturday 7 January

Now sharp-eyed readers may have spotted that this diary starts the day before the last one was published! By way of a little back story, my doctors have been trying to get me on to a clinical trial featuring new immunotherapy treatments, on the basis that my first line of chemotherapy worked well initially and then failed completely, and the second-line chemo, while it did show signs of working, was proving pretty hard for me to tolerate. But getting on to clinical trials has proved more than a trial in itself!

By the time of the last column I’d been consented for a really promising trial and come through all the necessary tests with flying colours. And because my New Year’s Eve heart scare – actually it was a complete false alarm (and thanks again to the staff at University College Hospital in London for sorting me out on their busiest night of the year!). But because there was nothing to it and it preceded my being consented for the trial – no reason why it should affect my trial status.

But that brings me to Saturday 6 January. I got up not feeling too great but set about the Observer diary for the next day’s paper. Finished the column early afternoon and set off to Hertfordshire to see my boys. But by the time I arrived there my fingers were absolutely freezing cold and I was getting really powerful rigors (I think they’re called …) right into my core – so much so I couldn’t stop my teeth chattering. After about an hour under a very warm blanket with a hot-water bottle the symptoms abated but I felt very odd indeed. So we started taking my temperature – which failed to produce a single reading under 38C and plenty up in the 39s and even 40. Temperatures at this level are a huge red flag for someone undergoing chemotherapy because it can indicate a systemic infection – occasioned by weakened immune system, low white blood cell counts etc, which can overrun your system in no time at all. In other words temperatures in this range are definitely potentially life-threatening for many cancer patients.

So another call to the Royal Marsden MacMillan helpline – who for some reason were nowhere near as efficient as they were the previous weekend – and instructions to go to nearest A&E – in this case Luton and Dunstable. Again, I got there and appeared to have been put to the front of the queue – the national protocol has it that potentially “neutropenic” cancer patients (those with low white blood cell counts) should be on intravenous antibiotics within an hour – but wasn’t seen for nearly 90 minutes. However once I was seen they were absolutely amazing. Blood tests, painkillers, fans to cool me down (temp still 39.4C) a bed on an intermediate ward and intravenous antibiotics and fluids in no time at all.

Sunday 8 January

On the upside it turns out according to the consultant I saw (yes L&D turns out consultants on Sunday mornings – and good for them!) that I do not have “neutropenic sepsis”, but I do have a “small pneumonia” at the bottom of my left lung. Which is a bit of an odd one because I had no indications of any signs or symptoms until the shivers started on Saturday early evening. Anyhow, signs are that the (very) strong antibiotics are overhauling the infection and that all being well I’ll be let out Monday afternoon with six days’ worth of oral antibiotics. Actually while I’m hugely grateful for the antibiotics they really don’t seem to agree with me – stomach pains and no appetite – again!

Monday 9 January

Still feeling antibiotic rotten but doctor comes at 2pm and says I can go. I just have to wait for my drugs from the pharmacy and for the final paperwork to be signed off. To cut a long story short – and remember this is a hospital with capacity issues – three hours later I was still sitting on my bed waiting. So late in fact that I had to do my regular interview with Radio 4’s PM programme from the ward! Can’t fault the treatment but these kind of system delays, especially when the staff and the NHS are under so much pressure, must be driving everybody mad!

Tuesday 10 January

Back to Marsden for blood tests before what might well have been my first dose of immunotherapy trial drugs on Thursday. But oh no! Unless my pneumonia infection has basically gone away then I can be excluded from the trial. And because this episode has occurred after I was consented to, the drug company (trial sponsors) has to be told about it. Medical team clearly a little exasperated – with me I think! What else can possibly happen? They’ve got me a spot on a high-profile trial – actually a relatively rare spot at that (120 places available via 50 centres in the US, Australia and the UK) So they’re clearly worried that if the sponsors start to feel I might be a bit flaky or especially sensitive to infections etc etc, we might lose our rare and valuable place.

For me this really is becoming stress city – which isn’t just psychological but produces actual pains in my stomach and oesophagus. What if I lose out on this trial as well? When might the next one come along? What will have happened to me in the meantime? So no treatment on Thursday – one of the genetic tests is not back, apparently.

Thursday 17 January

Back to the Royal Marsden for blood tests and good news! Blood tests all good – no outward sign of infection and I’m feeling OK. So nothing to frighten the horses at the trial sponsor there. But now it appears their “medical monitor” – in Poland apparently – has to say yea or nay to my inclusion in the trial. Stress levels definitely rising all round now. All data sent off and consultant Dr Starling firmly of the view that there are no solid grounds for excluding me.

Wednesday 18 January

Ordinarily this should be BBC Media Show day. But the stress is really getting to me – and as I say it requires painkillers to control the effects – so I decide not to do the show this week. BBC as always was amazingly considerate. Another issue now bubbles up. Can the pharmacy prepare the drugs in time for treatment tomorrow – still no word from Poland. At 4.30pm I call the senior research nurse Tracy to see if there’s any news. She says no. She then calls me at 6pm to say we still haven’t heard. Now, no one’s saying this – least of all me – but everyone’s thinking: is there a problem?

By 7pm Wednesday – the night before the treatment is supposed to start – and Tracy calls to say I’ve finally been accepted and “randomised” into that part of the trial who get both drugs. She’s thrilled. But all I could do was cry.

Thursday 19 January

First doses of nivolumab and GS-5745. The lists of side effects are long and some are potentially fatal but fortunately not that often – so fingers crossed on that front. But the thing I noticed most? They don’t make your hair fall out – so goodbye to the amazing Paxman “Coldcap”!

The chemo’s too much, but getting on a clinical trial is gruelling enough

"I exercise a lot but drink a bit too much": middle-aged readers" health fears

The government has launched a new health drive aimed at 40- to 60-year-olds, 83% of whom are either overweight, drink too much or are physically inactive.

With its One You campaign, Public Health England wants to help middle-aged people stay in shape. It says aspects of modern life – such as sedentary lifestyles and the consumption of junk food – are bad for our health, but it is those in middle age who are suffering the consequences most.

We asked our readers what they thought of the campaign and whether they had any concerns about their own lifestyles. Here’s what you told us.

Caroline, 58, from Essex: ‘There’s no incentive to lose weight when everyone you see is bigger than you’

I feel like I am generally in good health despite having an underactive thyroid and high cholesterol (I take medication for both these things). My weight is creeping up, however, which aggravates my arthritic knee – the legacy of a motorcycle accident in my 20s. My New Year resolution is to do more walking. I’ve got borderline osteoporosis, a condition that weakens bones, so know it’s important to build bone density, but having a desk job makes this hard.

I know I am overweight at 5ft 4in and 11st, but a lot of people are bigger than me and tell me I am “slim”. My clothes size has not changed over the years: I still wear a size 12, the same as when I was a teenager. There is no incentive to lose weight if nearly everyone you see is bigger than you.

I doubt that the One You campaign will make much of a difference. We all know we should eat healthier, be active and drink and smoke less but how many people who don’t do this already will really be bothered to change?

Kevin Varney, 49, from Reading: ‘I exercise a lot, but drink a bit too much’

My health is pretty good at the moment. My body mass index is not much over 25. I exercise quite a lot, but I drink a bit too much. I probably drink about 14 pints, sometimes a small bottle of wine and two or three mixer tins – for example, of gin and tonic – a week.

I do worry about it a bit. If I am socialising with friends, that will involve drinking, but if I am on my own at the weekend, I will drink too. However, I am suspicious of medical guidelines. I suspect there is a puritanical element or a wide safety margin in them. I suspect the government would like to ban alcohol altogether if they could.

I am surprised by the rates of inactivity reported recently – it should be possible to fit in some exercise while working. You can cycle to work, jog over lunch or head to the gym in the evening. I suspect a lot of people just hate exercise. I don’t think a campaign to change this will help. People are constantly being told they are too fat and don’t take enough exercise. Telling them again won’t make much difference.

Gita Bapat, 51, from London: ‘Long working and commuting hours make it harder to stay in shape’

I’ve never smoked (inherited asthma) and am a moderate drinker – around 5-6 units a week – but I am about 1st overweight. This is my main concern as I am quite vain. I have dogs and walk them most days for around an hour and a half. I am also trying to start running again. When I lived in Paris I ran 25km a week. My goal is to run 5km three times a week.

Modern lifestyles – long working and commuting hours – make it harder to stay in shape, as do care obligations, such as looking after children and older people. It’s easy to feel a sense of hopelessness if one cannot live up to the unrealistic and Photoshopped standards of people portrayed in the media.

Medi Parry, 59, from north Wales: ‘I want to be active, self-sufficient and healthy as I get older’

We are living longer and I don’t want to be one of those elderly women who can’t do anything for themselves. I want to enjoy as much life as possible with my daughters and their families. I am an independent heritage consultant and want to keep working for as long as I can. I want to be active, self-sufficient and healthy as I age. I try to keep fit but hate the gym. I like to cycle but there are no cycle paths near where I live. I exercise by using the stairs where possible. I also jog in the kitchen while I’m waiting for the kettle to boil and go to a Zumba class once a week.

It’s not just modern lifestyles that make it hard to stay fit. The easy availability of high-calorie food also makes it difficult. Chocolates, sweets, pizzas and takeaways – they’re all too easy to get hold of and it’s hard not to eat them when you’ve been working hard all week. Our love of the internet means that we sit down for hours on end to engage with it; work is far more internet-based now and so more of us are tied to our desks for hours.

I’m not sure whether this campaign will work, it depends how it’s done. GPs find it difficult to broach the subject of weight with their patients as they mostly respond negatively (I have GP friends who confirm this – one has been reported for having “offended” his patient). It’s a good idea to flag up this research, and a preventative campaign should be more cost-effective than dealing with the long-term consequences of obesity in old age. However, I’m sceptical of the impact of this campaign unless it is backed up by some sort of legislation. The NHS has been running smoking cessation campaigns for decades but smoking has only really lessened following the ban in public areas.

Alex Dean, 40, from Kent: ‘I try not to drink during the week but usually buy a bottle of red on Friday’

I don’t worry about my health but I do limit the amount I drink, I exercise and only eat healthy low-sugar foods. I don’t think modern lifestyles are to blame for the rise in obesity. I have two young kids, work in an office and have a minimum 15-hour commute each week but still find the time to exercise. It is a state of mind.

I have always been aware of my health and enjoyed walking and climbing, but last year I stepped it up and did my first triathlon. Having a date set for that (I gave myself six months to train) really helped me achieve my goal. Also taking on three new sports, especially swimming, was really beneficial – I gained a lot from the learning process. I loved completing the triathlon and have already booked myself into a longer one for next year. Again having “an event” was something to aim for. I regularly got out and trained.

I am not sure whether the campaign will work but it’s good to try something. I also believe schools play a big role and we need to educate on the importance of fitness from a young age.

I try not to drink during the week but usually buy a bottle of red on Friday. I drink it over Friday and Saturday night. Not having drink in the house for the rest of the week makes it easier to manage for me. I’ve managed to cut down by knowing my wife does not like it if I am drunk or drinking too much. I also think it would negatively affect my health and motivation if I drank more.

"I exercise a lot but drink a bit too much": middle-aged readers" health fears

Why pictures trigger buried memories much faster than words

As you’ll have noticed, in our issue devoted to this year’s most memorable news images, there is an immediacy to a photograph that we can’t help but respond to. A picture can trigger a buried memory and recall a precise moment in time much more rapidly than words. But why exactly?

Neuroscientists have known for many years that humans have an extraordinary ability to encode pictures. In one study, first carried out around 50 years ago and repeated since, people are shown 10,000 photographs and, a few days later, another 1,000 – half from the original batch and half new. Within seconds, respondents point accurately to the ones they’ve seen before. Which is why, at this time of year when you look through a photo review, a picture glanced at six months ago will still chime and feel familiar, even though you couldn’t call it to mind a minute ago.

This is possible because our brains are so efficient at storing the ‘essence’ of a picture, capturing not just the subject but specific visual qualities. You can’t bring this to mind actively, it’s what we call a ‘passive effect’. If you were asked to recall a news image from March, you may struggle, but if you saw a stack of photos from that time, you’d instantly know the ones you’d seen before.

Before we get too full of ourselves, it’s worth knowing that at least one other animal shares a similar ability – the pigeon. In studies they show high levels of recall when presented with different images – helpful for finding food. For us it may be linked to social relations or just navigation.

However trivial the picture, it’s the recognition and the rush of familiarity that is fun – an added benefit that’s lost on pigeons but satisfying for us.

Dr Daniel Glaser is director of Science Gallery at King’s College London

Why pictures trigger buried memories much faster than words

Men much less likely to seek mental health help than women

Men are far less likely to seek medical support for a mental health problem than women, new figures reveal.

A survey commissioned by the Mental Health Foundation found that not only are men far less likely than women to seek professional support, they are also less likely to disclose a mental health problem to friends and family.

The YouGov survey, the largest of its kind, polling more than 2,500 people who have had mental health problems, showed 28% of men admitted that they had not sought medical help, compared with 19% of women.

The survey found that a third of women, compared with a quarter of men, had told friends or family about their mental health problem within a month of it arising. More than a third of men, compared with a quarter of women, either waited more than two years or chose never to tell friends or family about their problem.

Mark Rowland, director at the Mental Health Foundation, said the findings showed that there needed to be a cultural shift in the approach to the issue. “Mental health is so central to our experience of being alive that if we’re ever to rise to the challenge of preventing mental health problems, it will be because men feel more able to share when they are vulnerable,” Rowland said.

“This is not about being more of a man but being more in touch with our humanity.

“It takes courage to be open and honest about mental health, but when suicide is the leading cause of death for young men, we all have a responsibility to push for cultural change.”

Dave Chawner, 27, a comedian who lived with anorexia and depression for 10 years before seeking support, backed the findings.

“It’s important to talk about gender when we talk about mental health. It is more accepted for men to deal with stress, emotions and situations with anger. Anything else is interpreted as vulnerability and shut down.”

In the past year a number of campaigns have been launched to encourage men to talk about their mental health problems. Documentaries by the rapper Professor Green, Stephen Fry and the Bafta-award-winning actor Adam Deacon have all helped to draw attention to the issue as have the #RUOKM8 and #BoysDoCry social media campaigns.

Men much less likely to seek mental health help than women

Women now drink as much alcohol as men, global study finds

Women have caught up with men in the amount of alcohol they drink and are doing increasing amounts of damage to their health as a result, according to a global study that looked at the consumption habits of four million people over a period of over a century.

The change is partly the result of successful marketing campaigns and the creation of sweeter products aimed at young women or girls, as well as cuts in price, say health campaigners. Some studies have even suggested that younger women may be out-drinking men, according to the study’s authors.

The researchers from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre of the University of New South Wales, Australia, say the conclusion is that public health efforts need to focus more on women.

“These results have implications for the framing and targeting of alcohol use prevention and intervention programmes. Alcohol use and alcohol-use disorders have historically been viewed as a male phenomenon. The present study calls this assumption into question and suggests that young women in particular should be the target of concerted efforts to reduce the impact of substance use and related harms,” they say.

Their analysis, published in the journal BMJ Open, looks at the convergence of drinking habits between men and women over time, from 1891 to 2014. It pools the results of 68 international studies, published since 1980, to look at the changing ratio of male to female drinking over the years.

Historically, far more men drank alcohol than women. Men born between 1891 and 1910 were twice as likely as their female peers to drink alcohol and more than three times as likely to be involved in problematic use or use leading to harms. But in all three respects, this had almost reached parity among those born between 1991 and 2000.

Women’s drinking has increased for a number of reasons. Those who have succeeded in obtaining jobs that were once the preserve of men have joined – or found it necessary to become part of – the after-work drinking culture. Office for National Statistics figures from 2011 show that women in management and professional jobs drink more than the average woman and drink more on weekdays.

But drops in the price, which have led to wine and beer becoming regular items in the supermarket shopping trolley and part of everyday life at home, have also been a factor, alongside deliberate marketing targeted at women.

“Since the 1950s we’ve seen women’s drinking continue to rise,” said Emily Robinson, director of campaigns at Alcohol Concern. “Drinking at home has continued to increase and because alcohol is so cheap and easily available it’s become an everyday grocery item. We’ve also seen a concerted effort from the alcohol industry to market products and brands specifically to women.

Some studies have even suggested that younger women may be out-drinking men, according to the study’s authors. Photograph: OJO Images / Rex Features

“We know from our annual Dry January campaign that people often don’t realise that alcohol has become a habit rather than a pleasure, with women having ‘wine o’clock’ most nights of the week.

“Drinking too much, too often, can store up future health problems, both mental and physical, with people not realising just how easy it is to go over recommended limits,” Robinson added.

“This is why we need mandatory health warnings on alcohol products and a mass media campaign to make sure the chief medical officer’s guidelines are widely known and understood.”

Sally Davies, the chief medical officer (CMO), changed the alcohol guidance earlier this year, advising both men and women they risked harm if they drank more than 14 units a week – previously the upper limit for men was 21 units. But she warned that there was no safe limit for anybody.

Katherine Brown, director of the Institute of Alcohol Studies, said: “Historically women did not drink that much. There has definitely been a proactive effort to entice women to drink more.”

Some of the drinks now available have been targeted at young women who “pre-load” while getting together to dress and do their make-up before a night out. Three large glasses of wine can be the equivalent of nine units, she added.

Babycham was the first drink specifically designed with women in mind in post-war Britain. Today there are many others including Lambrini, which is aimed entirely at young women. “Sweet or fruity? Lively, smooth – or are you a classic kind of girl? With a Lambrini tailored to complement your own personal style and taste, you’re going to love our new collection!” says the advertising on its website.

Alcohol advertising and sponsorship is also noticeable in TV programmes aimed at women. For example, Baileys backed Desperate Housewives.

Women’s bodies do not tolerate alcohol as well as men’s, however, because they have a higher fat to water ratio. Because they have less water, the alcohol in their system remains more concentrated. They also have smaller livers than men, which makes it harder to process alcohol safely.

Women now drink as much alcohol as men, global study finds

Personality influences lifespan as much as socioeconomic status. Why is that?

On this day in 1930, the Mother Superior of the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, sent a letter asking every member of the sisterhood to write an autobiography. She offered few further instructions, and so left it up to each member of theorder to decide how to describe the most important episodes of their lives. Some nuns chose to insert emotional details about how their experiences had affected them. Others recounted only bald facts.

Seven decades later, researchers at the University of Kentucky found that these differences were strong predictors of how long the 180 nuns in their study lived. The more the sisters couched their accounts of personal responses to major life events in positivity, the greater their longevity.

The great benefit of studying nuns is that on all the common lifestyle factors that tend to affect longevity – living conditions, access to health care, marriage (or lack of it) – nuns live virtually identical lives to one another. The autobiographies were written when the Notre Dame sisters were around 22 years old. So this study suggests that enduring tendencies and coping mechanisms, when extended throughout our adult lives, matter substantially for health and lifespan.

These days, psychologists have reached a consensus on a more thorough way to measure personality than merely degree of positivity: they score individuals along five dimensions.

These dimensions, known as the Big Five, are each continuums: from pure introversion to exaggerated extraversion, for example, or neurotic nervousness to complete confidence. Together the Big Five compose the acronym Ocean –openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism (or emotional stability) – and are typically assessed using a questionnaire. Over time, researchers have come to realize that personality is at least as good at predicting longevity as socioeconomic status.

That may sound implausible, but records of 1,500 Hawaiian students illustrate how personality types can play out. In the early 1960s, some elementary school teachers in Hawaii were asked to assess each member of their young class for the Big Five dimensions.

Forty years down the line, early childhood scores for a few of these dimensions correlated strongly with a roster of risk factors for chronic illness: smoking, alcohol consumption, and excessive body mass among them.

For both sexes, the more conscientious elementary schoolers were the ones who grew into healthy adults at middle age.

For women only, smoking in one’s 40s was associated with low agreeableness (or conformity) scores in elementary school – perhaps, the study authors suggest, because these women became hooked on nicotine when smoking was considered a more rebellious behavior for women than it was for men.

Conscientiousness is undoubtedly the personality trait that matters most for longevity. It is also a remarkably stable trait across whole lifetimes. The direct health benefits of being an orderly, goal-directed person, able to control your impulses, are intuitive: not only do they mean you are psychologically equipped to resist a second slice of cake, but also that you do a good job of adhering to a doctor’s advice when you get sick.

Conscientiousness is what separates Sardinians with lots of “good cholesterol” from those with too much “bad cholesterol”; it is what predicts which patients with poorly functioning kidneys are going to snuff it first.

There are indirect advantages to conscientiousness, too. It is an excellent predictor of college GPA, even when the influence of high school SAT scores is removed using statistics. As a result, the conscientious tend to get better jobs, and in turn, better healthcare. The overall medical advantages that stem from conscientiousness are so substantial that possible methods to instill the trait have been put forward as public health policies, and medical researchers have called for measures of conscientiousness to be included in patient records.

For the remaining Big Five, the relationship with lifespan is less straightforward. Neuroticism implies never waiting long to see a doctor about a niggling medical worry, although – and unlike the long-lived nuns – a tendency towards low mood and poor ability to manage life’s stressors. Extroverts are probably good at seeking support when they need it, but they can be drawn into risky behaviors.

For agreeable people, the world is a more trustworthy place, and so they often enjoy high quality personal relationships. Yet in their obedience, the agreeable can do things they may later regret. (For example, agreeable people were especially willing to deliver a high-voltage electric shock in a Milgram-like experiment.) The fifth member of the Big Five, openness (aka creativity), can also be good or bad for health, depending on what exactly it is that an open person seeks to explore.

To clarify the health impacts of these conflicting influences, groups of Big Five researchershave mushroomed all over the world, with the intention of figuring out the common personality traits among longevity’s high achievers: the world’s centenarians. These scholars have accessed of personalities of people over 100 years of age living in Tokyo, Sweden, and the southern state of Georgia, among other places. In Australia, researchers used one-hundredth birthday letters from Queen Elizabeth II as proof of age.

Although not all centenarian studies have found the same results, generally, people who make it to very old age are predominantly emotional stable (ie non-neurotic) extroverts – in addition to being highly conscientious. In Baltimore, researchers studying the elderly calculated exactly how much this combination of traits contributed to survival. Having scores for extraversion and conscientiousness one standard deviation above average, and a score for neuroticism one standard deviation below average, adds two or three more years of life, they report.

Like the sisters of Notre Dame – many of whom wrote their autobiographies from a convent in Baltimore – these retirees were blessed with the intrinsic skills to navigate what life threw at them with aplomb. Their lesson to the unconscientious, to the natural introverts and hypochondriac wallowers out there, is to recognize how your own behavioral tendencies could be impacting your health, and take steps to address them. One day, your life may depend on it.

Personality influences lifespan as much as socioeconomic status. Why is that?

Doc Martin? Being a GP ‘is much more fun than that’

Family doctors are launching a campaign to explode the “myth” that hospital teams in television dramas such as Casualty and Holby City are the only medics with exciting and important jobs.

GP leaders hope the initiative will dispel the idea that their members do mundane jobs that involve treating nothing more serious than colds and coughs.

The Royal College of General Practitioners wants to persuade young doctors, and even teenagers gearing up for GCSEs, that family doctors are a linchpin in the community and help patients with a range of medical problems.

The initiative comes as new royal college research shows that the UK is facing the potential closure of 594 practices by 2020 because of early retirement and recruitment difficulties. On current trends, by 2020 Britain will be 9,940 GPs short of the number needed to cope with an ageing and growing population, it believes. The campaign, Think GP, seeks to tackle the negative portrayals of GPs on screen and show hospital doctors are not the only ones with challenging roles that affect people’s lives. It wants to banish “the falsehood that circulates in certain parts of the medical world that the role of a GP is somehow run-of-the-mill”.

The college says hospital dramas such as Casualty are “adrenaline-fuelled, with highly skilled medical professionals carrying out exciting procedures and saving lives”. However, Professor Maureen Baker, the royal college chairwoman, said: “When GPs are portrayed on TV, they are unhinged, such as [in] Doctor Foster, grumpy failures like Doc Martin, or inept, as we often see in Doctors.”

The best-known GP in British popular culture is still Dr Finlay, but that drama was 50 years ago

Prof Maureen Baker, RCGP chair

Baker said the best-known GP in British popular culture is still Dr Finlay – the homely GP in the fictional Scottish town of Tannochbrae featured in Dr Finlay’s Casebook – “yet the programme is more than 50 years old”.

She added: “We’re grateful to our colleagues who take part in programmes such as GPs Behind Closed Doors that attempt to showcase the diversity of our profession, but with the scale of the challenge ahead, more needs to be done.”

Starting this week, Think GP is to use videos and social media to promote what the college extols as the “varied and fulfilling” life of a family doctor.

“Our new Think GP campaign explodes the myth that general practice is the poor relation of hospital specialities. In general practice no two days are the same.

“Every day in our surgeries, we manage the care of patients with multiple and complex conditions that even a decade ago would have been automatically referred to hospital,” Baker said.

It aims to persuade freshly qualified young doctors, medical students and even A-level and GCSE pupils to see general practice as a serious career option.

The college warns that early retirement in the face of increasing workloads has contributed to understaffing while some parts of Britain, such as the north-east and east Midlands, face real problems in recruiting young GPs.

The boss of the NHS in England is backing the college’s campaign. NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens recently pledged to increase spending on general practice from £9.6bn to £12bn a year by 2020-21, and to cut the red tape that GPs face and reduce the work that hospitals pass on to them.

Casualty actor Rosie Marcel as Jac Naylor … just your average consultant cardio-thoracic surgeon. Photograph: Alistair Heap/BBC/Alistair Heap

“There’s arguably no more important job in modern Britain than that of family doctor,” he said. “There’s not a family in the country that won’t at some point rely on the skill, care and dedication of their GP, and there’s no other branch of medicine that offers greater variety, stimulation and opportunity.”

A brochure to be distributed by the college as part of the campaign describes a GP as “an expert medical generalist – someone able to understand the multiple conditions patients have, as well as their wider health and wellbeing”.

The college says that big changes in how NHS care is delivered in future will mean that “a career as a GP will become more and more intellectually and medically challenging, diverse and fulfilling. GPs will have portfolio careers heading multidisciplinary teams, leading work in areas from geriatrics to neurology, running ‘in-reach’ to hospitals and ‘outreach’ to patients’ homes.”

The campaign is to highlight five GPs who do much more than simply hold surgeries in order to show the variety and responsibility the job involves. One of them, Dr David Hogg, whose practice is on the Scottish island of Arran, also works in the local hospital and is part of the mountain rescue team. Another, Dr Louise Rusk, successfully juggles a career as a GP with working for a hospital-based headache clinic in Northern Ireland and raising two daughters.

NHS England called the Think GP initiative “an important step” towards strengthening the GP workforce in the face of rising patient demand.

A spokeswoman added: “Anyone choosing to become a GP can look forward to a varied and hugely rewarding career, looking after patients and their families, rather than being consulted on particular diseases.”

Doc Martin? Being a GP ‘is much more fun than that’

Our Toxic Footprint Is So Much More Than Just Carbon

PepsiCo, UPS, Walmart, General Motors, Cargill, and Coke, are among the thirteen corporations signing the White House American Business Act on Climate Pledge, which pledge efforts to cut carbon emissions. (1) But these Big Corporations haven’t really proven themselves, and haven’t cut their toxic footprint. If we do our homework we may find LARGE holes in all their pledges.

1- WALMART is not just doing business in the US. There are 3,500 Walmart stores in China, Central America, the U.K., Brazil, Japan, South Africa and Chile that appear to be owned through units in tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands, Curacao and Luxembourg. Ninety percent of Walmart’s overseas assets are owned by subsidiaries in Luxembourg and the Netherlands, two of the most popular corporate tax havens. Luxembourg Units report over a billion in profits between the years 2010 and 2013 and paid taxes at a rate of less than one percent, according to the report.(2) To make matters worse, Walmart has been in the news for unfair policies and wage law violations. Their appeal for the class action law suit against them was denied.(3)  They also have a reputation of using foreign and child labor.(4)  But that’s not all, the movie, ‘The High Cost Of Low Price’  shows Walmart’s real intentions for disrupting local communities.

2- The COCA-COLA Company sells beverage products in more than 200 countries. Coca-Cola contributed $ 1,700,500 to political campaign known as “The Coalition Against The Costly Food Labeling otherwise called Proposition 37.”(5) This means they were and still are against GMO labeling even though sodas are implicated in diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.

“The Coca-Cola Company produces Coke syrup concentrate, which is then sold to various bottlers throughout the world.” They claim to make a greener plant-based plastic bottle for their products that are reported to have less of a negative effect on our environment and climate. They’ve even won a Recycling Award! (6)

“Green Planet Bottling and Keystone Water Company says for every 72 plant-based bottles produced, they save one gallon of oil. The bottles also use 65 percent less energy and fuel to produce.” (6)

But, these claims need additional research. Their plastics usually and ultimately end up polluting our waterways and oceans while their bioplastics are not easily broken down as once thought! (7)

“Nearly all compostable plastic ends up in a landfill instead of being composted. Like other plastics, bioplastics remain intact, buried in the oxygen-free environment of landfills. But some scientists worry that over many years, bioplastics will slowly decompose, giving off methane (CH4), a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide.”(7)

3- What else can destroy OUR OCEAN ECOSYSTEMS? “Every year, some 100 million sharks are killed to make shark fin soup. The sharks are “finned,” then their bodies are tossed—still alive—back into the sea. The sharks sink to the bottom of the sea, can’t swim and suffocate. Not only is this process extremely inhumane, but it’s destroying our ocean ecosystems.”(8) The US still sells shark fins to Hong Kong. And UPS is involved.(9)

4- GENERAL MOTORS reputation precedes them with the EV1, and a documentary film named, ‘Who Killed the Electric Car?’  According to this documentary, in the 1990’s GM was responsible for taking back and crushing every one of these electric cars from the customer. Why? The electric car technology was in direct competition with Big Oil Companies.

In 2013 General Motors pledges the reduction of emissions by its freight shippers. “According to the EPA, 28 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are produced by the transportation sector. Of that percentage, approximately thirty percent is freight related.”(10)

What GM fails to consider is, there are toxic exposures in the work environment for their employees. These toxins may kill you slowly.

If we check out auto shops, manufacturers, and repair shops, we may find neurotoxic effects of occupational exposure to mixtures of organic solvents, chemicals and dyes. (10b)

Pollution and toxic exposures in the car industry include but are not limited to handling of chemicals such as Trichloroethylene probably the most common chlorinated solvent used in auto shops, Carbon tetrachloride, Methylene chloride, and Perchloroethylene.(10c) 

Additional toxins in manufacturing cars remind us that the use of asbestos in brakes and clutches were never abandoned completely.(11) Whether it be a toxic product made today, that may take twenty years to experience side effects from, doesn’t make it any less toxic. The American worker seems to be disposable.(12)

5- OIL SPILLS from oil drilling and fracking have each left their own destruction and toxic footprint on our planet. In fact, there are no adequate safeguards.(13)  Yes, even when they said fracking would be the cleaner way for the future of our planet. Truth is, when Big Corps want Big Profits they can say almost anything. We have been the victim of false statements, false data, in order to falsely sway us into believing fracking can cut the toxic

footprint and destruction.  Studies suggest more carbon emissions are caused from fracking.(14) Damages from fracking is so toxic, we have seen a rather large cancer increase.(15)

6- HERBICIDES and Deforestation have been said to leave a high carbon footprint, and a California community was left outraged because of such toxins from both Dow and Monsanto Corporations.(16)

In 2015, in Northern California up to 400,000 trees were clear-cut in the park district and the remaining stumps sprayed with toxic herbicides by Dow and Monsanto.(17)

But wait there’s more. Prima Columbian Properties (Frank Giustra) received a concession to cut timber in a Rainforest along the Pacific Coast.  This timber was intended to be exported to China. And to make matters worst, the Clinton Foundation profited from it, while claiming they stand for healthy sustainable forest. (18)

7- The over forty billion dollar corporation CARGILL has direct ties with Monsanto.

In 2013 Cargill spent $ 200 million to buy a stake in Ukraine’s largest land farmer UkrLandFarming which happens to be the world’s eighth largest crop grower and second-largest egg producer.(18a)

Left with a toxic water and farming footprint, Monsanto continues to show it’s true colors in the agriculture industry.(19)

***

So why are all these corporations getting onboard and saying they’re cutting their carbon footprint? Monsanto mixes words with chemicals saying, “ at the heart of their business is a Climate Smart Agriculture.” (20)

Seriously?

Right now, Monsanto is in negotiations for merging with Bayer Corporation, who not only makes aspirin and vitamins but also tons of pesticides and herbicides as well, and they’re based in Europe and Asia.

If we include commercial meat, chickens and pork we’ll find Factory and Mega Farmed animals generate more of a toxic footprint then you can imagine,(20a) with 45% of the earth’s land used for livestock.

Why we need to be concerned

TODAY THE TREND is Big Corporations such as Coca-Cola, Cargill, ConAgra, Kraft and PepsiCo want in on the organic market. However their reputation and track record in the industry, is anything but healthy. The financial motivation is what drives them, so if one researches their history they haven’t been completely trustworthy in the past. Cargill has been in the news for unsafe practices, child trafficking, tainted beef patties and grains.

Coca-Cola advertise their products as healthy when they are not.(21)

Kraft Corporation (now bought by a Brazilian Company22) sells a processed cheese which is a processed GMO product and not a health food.(23) They have also added milk products in their acquired Green & Blacks Chocolate bars that were once dairy-free.

Worrisome is the fact that Big Corps will continue ‘private unsafe practices’ because they are too big to be regulated or fail. There will be no transparency. The downside may be price increases on organic foods, less independent companies left, unconscionable acts followed by bargaining practices. The question is, who will be there to regulate them(24) since subsidized mega and factory farming invites illness.(25)

“Organic farmers maintain certain principles that they follow. While no antibiotics or pesticides can be fed to organic-certified livestock, the food animals consume has to be organic feed. They also have to treat their animals humanely. Organic feed has a lower carbon footprint. It takes less of a carbon footprint when buying organic…avid Pimentel of Cornell University has estimated that it takes about 30 percent less energy to grow organic soy and corn than it does to grow the conventional kind. As for the food on your dinner plate, going organic is the eco-friendly choice!”(26)

***

In order to have a healthier planet it would behove us to include more of a broad spectrum term to our footprint left on this planet. What if we called it a TOXIC BIG CHEMICAL FOR PROFIT FOOTPRINT. Why? Because this name means more than just contributing to the carbon pollution footprint. It means Big Corporations must be required to PUT AN END to the toxins that are poisoning our planet. Big Corporations leave more than their share of internal and external toxic footprints using toxic practices and tax dollars that contribute to disease and poverty and continue to make not only their employees sick, but contaminate most of our domestic animals, homes and waterways. If we continue believing it’s all just about carbon, we’re missing the BIG PICTURE. We’ve forgotten crimes against humanity, which are crimes against our very survival.

Author: Connie Rogers is a Certified Integrative Holistic Health Coach, a Gut Health and Cancer Prevention Coach, Gluten Free Practitioner, Reiki Master, Wellness Blogger, Researcher, Optimal Living Expert, Ambassador of Well-Being, Published Author and Speaker.

Connie believes, health and wellness are established with proper nutrition, fitness, and mindfulness. She takes a natural and holistic, common sense approach to rebuilding well-being from the ground up. Invite her to your next event.

You can find her Published Books on Amazon:

 ‘Path to a Healthy Mind & Body’

and

‘Fat Vegan’

Websites: www.bitesizepieces.net and www.thehealthguru.net

Footnotes:

1-http://www.fleetfinancials.com/news/story/2015/07/white-house-initiative-on-climate-backed-by-major-corporations.aspx

2-http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-17/wal-mart-has-76-billion-in-overseas-tax-havens-report-says see also http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-18/life-after-loopholes-means-luxembourg-needs-plan-to-stay-on-top 

3-http://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/275064-supreme-court-rejects-wal-mart-case-challenging-class-action-lawsuit

4-http://www.dailydot.com/opinion/walmart-labor-unions-bad-company/

5-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Coca-Cola_Company

6-http://www.environmentalleader.com/2010/03/08/bio-plastic-water-bottles-trickle-into-marketplace/

7-https://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/resources/highschool/chemmatters/videos/chemmatters-april2010-bioplastics.pdf

8- http://www.ecowatch.com/shark-finning-kills-100-million-sharks-a-year-international-commission-1881982976.html

9- http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/32373-why-is-ups-still-shipping-shark-fins-despite-public-outcry

10- http://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/help.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2013/Dec/1218-smart-way.html

10b-https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/87-104/

10c- http://www.environmentalpollutioncenters.org/auto/repair-shops/

11- http://www.asbestos.com/occupations/auto-mechanics.php

12- http://michaelwestfall.tripod.com/id127.html

13- http://www.ecowatch.com/massive-fracking-explosion-in-new-mexico-1919567359.html

14-https://theconversation.com/fracking-boom-could-mean-up-to-12-more-carbon-emissions-33050

15- http://blogs.naturalnews.com/decisions-make-mother-earth-desperately-unhappy/ see also http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33612293

16- http://treespiritproject.com/sfbayclearcut/

17- http://wakeup-world.com/2015/12/10/public-lands-slated-for-deforestation-and-monsanto-herbicide-spray-ignites-community-outcry/

18- https://youtu.be/7LYRUOd_QoM?t=1s

18a- http://althealthworks.com/3779/monsanto-cargill-takeover-in-ukraine-could-open-the-gmo-floodgates-for-europe-other-countries/

19-http://www.alt-market.com/articles/2148-6-ways-monsanto-is-destroying-humanity

20-http://monsantoblog.com/2015/09/21/from-nyc-to-paris-the-road-to-a-cooler-planet/

20a- http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/meat-eaters-guide-get-to-know-the-carbon-footprint-of-your-diet-lamb-beef-cheese-are-the-worst.html

21- http://mashable.com/2015/03/16/coke-is-a-healthy-snack/

22- http://fortune.com/2015/03/25/3g-capital-heinz-kraft-buffett/

23- http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/blogs/vitamin-g/2015/03/processed-cheese-labels-health

24- http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/business/organic-food-purists-worry-about-big-companies-influence.html?_r=0

25- http://www.pcrm.org/health/reports/agriculture-and-health-policies-unhealthful-foods

26- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/16/AR2009111602667.html

Our Toxic Footprint Is So Much More Than Just Carbon

New study finds sitting down too much costs the world $67.5bn

New research published in peer-reviewed medical journal the Lancet attempts to put a price tag on our latest health crisis: sitting too much. According to an international team of researchers, a sedentary lifestyle cost the world a whopping $ 67.5bn in 2013. That’s equivalent to the total GDP of Costa Rica in the same year.

In modern life, there is more temptation than ever to spend most of the day sitting. Between the prevalence of desk jobs and the 2.8 hours of TV the average American watches each day, we’re all guilty of some couch potato tendencies. Most office workers don’t take a lunch break, eating instead at their desks, further cutting down time spent on their feet. We commute to work in cars, and on buses and trains, adding more sedentary time to our day.

The Lancet study attempted to estimate the financial impact of five diseases associated with humans’ increasingly sedentary lifestyle across 142 countries: coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer and colon cancer.

Related: An emotional support animal is just a mouse click away

Like all population studies, findings in the paper are based on estimates, as it would be impossible to quantify the exact contribution of a sedentary lifestyle to each case of disease.

The study used the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for physical activity – a modest 150 minutes per week – and relied on individuals’ self-reported data, which is not the most reliable.

While the authors fully admit that the data is “imperfect” , the survey does provide a starting point in the conversation around what all that sitting means to the global economy. The Lancet study is the first global estimate of what our collective lack of exercise means in economic terms.

The staggering costs – both from healthcare spending and loss of productivity – are meant as more of a wake-up call to governments and businesses to devote more resources to tackling sedentary lifestyles. Though the personal out-of-pocket costs as estimated in the global study ($ 9.7bn) are also a pretty big chunk of change.

But there is good news amongst the gloom. This price tag comes on the heels of another study in the Lancet, part of the same series on physical activity, that finds that just an hour of moderate exercise each day is enough to offset the health effects of all that sitting.

So go ahead and take a brisk walk during your lunch break. Walk on a treadmill while catching up on your favorite Netflix guilty pleasure. Join an amateur soccer team. You won’t just be doing your health a favor and saving yourself future out-of-pocket health costs: you’ll also be helping to reduce your country’s overall spending and boosting the economy.

New study finds sitting down too much costs the world $67.5bn

Tastiest All-natural Remedy for Cough: Coffee Plus Honey (Much more Effective Than Steroids)

A research (one) had a conclusion: “The mixture of honey and coffee can be employed as an different medication in the treatment method of persistent postinfectious cough (PPC)”.

In the examine, 97 adults who had PPC for a lot more than three weeks were divided into three groups.

The very first group acquired a jamlike paste produced from coffee and honey, 2nd group received a steroid medicine (prednisolne) and the third group received a non-steroidal cough syrup (guaifenesin).

The participants were advised to dissolve a certain amount of their solution in warm water and drink after each eight hrs for a week. Cough frequency was measured during this week.

Review final results showed that the group who took the honey and coffee mixture had the biggest decrease in cough frequency.

The conclusion of the study: A mixture of honey and coffee can be utilised as an different medication in the treatment method of PPC.

In accordance to the researchers,

Every single yr, billions of dollars are invested on controlling and attempting to cure cough although the actual effect of cough medicines is not quite reputable. Even however PPC is reported to account for only 11–25% of all cases of chronic cough and it is not associated with disability and mortality, it can cause morbidity and is accountable for health care expenses.

Honey and coffee are normal edible substances that are protected, agreeable, significantly less pricey than medicines, and simply accessible. Furthermore, they have proved to be efficient in a quick time period of time. (2)

Make certain to use raw honey in this answer to know how wonder of this nature’s gift:

• Honey contains rich antioxidants which aid minimize the chance of heart condition.


• Raw honey has Anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-fungal properties.


• Honey aids you regulate blood sugar amounts.


• Honey heals wounds and burns as an external remedy.


• Honey is a popular ingredient for your homemade beauty goods, its anti-bacterial characteristics are valuable to deal with numerous skin issues.


• Honey promotes rest and improves sleep effectively.

Honey is actually a healing present from nature. Apart from mix it with coffee to alleviate cough, you can also make cough syrup with other elements employing honey.

Honey, ginger and lemon

• 1 cup raw honey


• 1 teaspoon ginger


• juice of one fresh lemon

Combine the substances with each other and simmer above minimal heat for 10-15 minutes. For in case you overheat, you can also add honey in right after heating the lemon juice and ginger, this will preserve the nutrients and healing positive aspects of honey.

Drink the mixture two-3 occasions a day to alleviate the cough, it’s also very good for sore throat.

Honey and apple cider vinegar

• one/four cup raw honey


• one/four cup apple cider vinegar

Combine honey and apple cider vinegar, and consider a tablespoon of this syrup. It will alleviate the signs.

Honey, lemon juice and coconut oil

• 3 tablespoons lemon juice


• one/four cup raw honey


• two tablespoons coconut oil

Place the substances in a saucepan and heat in excess of low heat until the coconut oil melts. Get a spoonful of this syrup when it’s warm.

Homemade cough syrup with honey and onion is also really effective. It is also great for treating cold too.

Sources:

(1) ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

(two) greenmedinfo.com

More Posts By Author:

10 Medicinal Uses of Onions: Much more Than An Ingredient

How Apple Cider Vinegar Can Adjust Your Existence and 5 Recipes to Get Your Every day Dose of It

Tastiest All-natural Remedy for Cough: Coffee Plus Honey (Much more Effective Than Steroids)

Snoring Could Be Much more Hazardous Than You Consider

Plenty of folks snore. Possibly you snore. Perhaps your spouse hopelessly lies awake at night praying some miracle will just shut you up for a 2nd. Sound acquainted? It does to me.

And let’s encounter it: snoring is humorous. My dad snored, and I never let him hear the finish of it. It’s effortless joke fodder, and we’ve all had a laugh at a snorer’s cost.

Here’s something you may possibly not know: snoring typically precedes many serious wellness situations, and if you “saw logs” at evening, a doctor’s check out might save your lifestyle. Here are just a number of of the hazards related with snoring and why (if you snore) you could be at a lot more risk than you consider.

Snoring Is a Symptom

This is the very first and most critical issue to understand: snoring is a symptom. It is not typical, and it is received quite specific brings about.

There are tons of triggers, such as a weak jaw, congestion, extreme fat in the throat, or standard weakness of the neck muscle groups.

Amid the most common (and most unsafe) triggers of snoring is Obstructive Rest Apnea (OSA). OSA is the most widespread kind of rest apnea and is seen most regularly in middle-aged men with hefty-set necks and shoulders, despite the fact that anybody can have it.

OSA happens when the tongue and soft palate unwind ample to make contact with the back of the throat, both restricting airflow or stopping it entirely.

And that is the scary portion: occasionally OSA brings about breathing to quit fully, which, if untreated, can lead to major well being difficulties.

Heart Disease

For persistent snorers, heart ailment poses the most significant risk.

When OSA triggers breathing to really quit, it’s known as an “apneic occasion.” Often, apneic occasions trigger a “fight or flight” response in fact, numerous OSA individuals report shooting out of bed in a panic feeling as if they had been drowning.

Each event exerts stress on the heart, and the cumulative result of plenty of apneic events increases the chance of heart conditions considerably. For instance, OSA individuals are 30% more likely to have a heart assault. They are also at better chance of congestive heart failure due to pulmonary strain create-up in the proper side of the heart.

Hypertension

Researchers have located that Obstructive Rest Apnea is one particular cause of secondary hypertension (high blood strain). When breathing stops during the evening time (triggering that “fight or flight” response), both systolic and diastolic blood stress spikes, which keeps blood pressure elevated all through the evening.

This triggers a notably harmful form of hypertension. Most folks who suffer from hypertension get a bit of relief at evening simply because their blood strain falls. Continual snorers often experience substantial blood pressure for the total 24 hours of the day.

Stroke

In men, OSA can boost the danger of stroke by virtually 300%. Much more importantly, this is not just observed in severe instances you can be at greater threat even if you have moderate sleep apnea.

Though the exact link between OSA and strokes is not clear, there is a proven website link amongst the two.

The Actual Danger

Here’s the actual danger of snoring: Obstructive Sleep Apnea often goes totally undiagnosed, so several individuals do not know they are at risk.

Why? The symptoms of OSA arise in the course of sleep, and tons of people—especially those who really do not share a bed with any person else—don’t even know they snore. Even more, individuals tend to see snoring as something humorous that just… transpires.

So, if you are not certain if you snore, right here are a handful of other symptoms to view out for:

• Extreme fatigue during the day


• Restless sleep


• Headaches in the morning


• Being baffled in the morning


• Heart burn up


• Sore or dry throat

All in all, snoring seems harmless but may interfere with your all round overall health in approaches you are mindful of. At the quite least, it might warrant a trip to your physician. It cannot harm to inquire, appropriate?

Sources

Snoring Could Be Much more Hazardous Than You Consider

Research: Females with breast cancer of the milk duct could want much less therapy

Ladies who are handled for what has come to be regarded a non-invasive breast cancer of the milk duct could require significantly less remedy – not much more – a new research of much more than one hundred,000 girls signifies.

The examine, which seems in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Oncology this week, found that girls handled for ductal carcinoma in situ, a group of abnormal cells located in the milk duct, had been not substantially less probably to die of breast cancer than girls on regular. Some individuals who acquired radiation treatment truly fared worse, particularly if the treatment was on the left side.

“What this examine tells us is that our treatment method of DCIS is so good that hardly ever does anybody who ever has DCIS die from it, or certainly their death price is the actual very same as men and women who really don’t have DCIS,” stated Dr Otis Brawley, chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society. “Either we’re incredibly very good at treating this condition, or we’re treating a condition that often doesn’t need to have to be handled.”

Connected: Day-to-day glass of wine raises threat of breast cancer in females

Perhaps most substantial for girls diagnosed with DCIS, the variation in survival amongst mastectomies and lumpectomies was not considerable – meaning daily life-altering double mastectomies have been no more efficient than little lumpectomies in terms of survival.

DCIS accounts for up to 25% of mammography-detected breast cancer diagnoses. Celebrity chef Sandra Lee is maybe the ideal known girls to just lately come forward with a diagnosis.

Whilst the research and an accompanying editorial recommend clinicians use less remedy, it also raises the possibility that DCIS has a lot more in frequent with invasive cancers than previously imagined. Researchers stated it’s not clear to what extent a breast cancer diagnosis after DCIS is a consequence of a recurrence, or whether or not DCIS has a high prospective to be malignant from the outset.

The findings are probably to intensify debate – and research – of DCIS. In the last ten years, doctors have named to get rid of the word carcinoma (cancer) from the disease’s identify, even as intensified efforts to detect cancer early have enhanced a emphasis on calcium deposits in the breasts, exactly where such “pre-cancerous” cells are often discovered. Prior to screening was widespread, DCIS accounted for just three% of all breast cancer diagnoses.

The examine analyzed data from 18 large databases, spanning from rural Georgia to Los Angeles to Alaska. The databases, identified as the surveillance, epidemiology and finish final results databases or SEER, track outcomes and remedies without having utilizing patient’s identities, and cover approximately 28% of the American population.

Associated: Cancer survival costs 3 instances larger with early diagnosis

Researchers isolated a lot more than one hundred,000 females who had been diagnosed with DCIS, also known as stage zero breast cancer, and in contrast their 10- and 20-year mortality costs against females from the standard population had died of breast cancer.

Researchers located that for all but a minority of youthful girls diagnosed with DCIS, those taken care of aggressively with mastectomies or lumpectomies in mixture with radiation have been no less likely than females on common to die of breast cancer after 20 many years. Medical authorities consider this as an successful price that is so higher, it calls into question regardless of whether treatment is impacting outcomes.

“We’re not suggesting a do-nothing at all, wait-and-see technique. We’re suggesting that the standard therapy – the fundamental therapy would be to just remove the [cells by way of a] lumpectomy,” explained Dr Steven A Narod, the lead researcher on the study. Researchers were based at the Women’s School Hospital in Toronto, Canada and Toronto University.

Researchers reported several, seemingly contradictory findings. Narod’s crew concluded that DCIS has a lot more in typical with invasive breast cancers than previously thought, since localized therapies this kind of as lumpectomies, mastectomies and radiation treatment don’t appear to have a substantial impact on mortality.

Since of that, researchers concluded that for all but substantial chance patients treatment method less aggressive remedies ought to be considered by clinicians, such as lumpectomies alone.

Higher danger individuals were recognized as these diagnosed younger than forty (which researchers recommended could constitute a various disease), black females and people whose DCIS exams positive for HER2, a protein which can boost the growth of cancerous cells.

“You shouldn’t truly feel like you have a ticking time-bomb in your breast and your lifestyle is in excess of,” said Brawley. “You truly feel for the huge amount of women who are diagnosed with DCIS who actually are concerned that they have breast cancer, and that name is so intimidating. It really does make it sound like it’s something of far greater threat than it in fact is.”

Research: Females with breast cancer of the milk duct could want much less therapy