Category: Health

Many of us start the New Year with good intentions, but without the right support and motivation our will power quickly wanes. National charity, Heart Research UK, believes that a little give and take could hold the key to your success. The charity’s new 50th Anniversary campaign, Give up, Take up campaign, challenges people to…

Heavy alcohol use during adolescence alters the development of the brain, according to a recent study from the University of Eastern Finland and Kuopio University Hospital. Cortical thinning was observable in young people who had been heavy drinkers throughout their adolescence. The findings were published in Addiction. The study performed magnetic resonance imaging of the…

Standing for too long at work is associated with low back and leg symptoms, according to a recent systematic review, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The review was conducted to get a better understanding of recent initiatives that encourage office workers to use sit-stand desks and, more generally, encourage intermittent standing in…

Smoking cessation reduces mortality at any age, according to a recent study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The study look at data on more than 160,000 people over the age of 70 in the US, who had completed a questionnaire on their smoking habits in 2004 to 2005. This group were followed up…

Interventions during labour and childbirth are on the rise in most developed countries[1]. In addition, use of an epidural block, while providing pain relief, has been identified as a contributing factor to assisted births, including caesarean section. A randomised controlled trial recently published in the BMJ Open[1] evaluated the effectiveness of a birth preparation course,…

Eighty-four per cent of GPs in England believe that unchecked and growing workload pressures are ‘undermining their ability to provide safe and quality care’ to patients, according to the findings of a recent survey by the British Medical Association (BMA). More than 5,000 GPs responded to the survey, with more than half describing their daily…

Approximately one third of people with Alzheimer’s disease use prescription medicines for pain after their diagnosis, reports a recent study conducted at the University of Eastern Finland. The use of analgesics was as common among people with Alzheimer’s disease as it was among those of the same age without the disease, but there were significant differences…