Posts tagged with 'public health'
Health crisis for Britain's middle-aged
10th September 2011
Ouch, a very interesting international health survey, that has just been released, reports: "Middle-aged Britons are experiencing a mid-life health crisis, according to new research from Bupa, which shows that those aged 45-54 are more likely to be obese, more likely to smoke and more likely to suffer from depression …
Recent research: relationships & fairness – 3 papers on large social groups, 2 on bullying, and 2 on generosity
27th January 2011
"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion." Dalai Lama I really value how quotes about caring, like this favourite of mine from the Dalai Lama, are increasingly backed up by emerging research. Here are seven further papers in the general …
Recent research: six lifestyle & health studies - two on sleep, two on smoking, one on diet & one on weight
13th January 2011
Here are half a dozen recent research papers on lifestyle and health - fuller details, abstracts & links to all studies mentioned are listed further down this post. The first couple are on sleep. I live a pretty healthy life, but I do "short change" myself a bit on sleep …
Manchester BABCP conference: IAPT, inspiration & generativity (fourth post)
24th July 2010
It's the third and last day of this annual BABCP conference (although I'm posting this a day after writing it). I wrote yesterday about a symposium I went to on the second day. Today I was more settled - I got out for a pre-breakfast run and then had a …
New NICE guidance on alcohol misuse
10th June 2010
"Alcohol is the third leading cause of disease burden in developed countries". This month the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published the first two parts of a three-part guidance on alcohol-related problems. The first section is "Alcohol-use disorders: preventing the development of hazardous and harmful drinking" which …
Recent research: six studies on management, health messages, behavioural activation, ACT, expressive writing, and wellbeing
18th February 2010
Here are mixed bag of psychotherapy-relevant studies. Foy & colleagues' meta-analysis highlights the value to patients/clients of having good communication between their primary care physician and their mental health professional. The second paper I mention - free full text - by Mollen et al is a bit of a wake-up …
Vitamin D deficiency - again!
11th February 2010
This blog post is also downloadable as a Word format handout. The cover picture on January 16th's British Medical Journal is of a blazing sun with the words "Vitamin D deficiency" underneath it. Inside there is a major review by Pearce and Cheetham entitled "Diagnosis and management of vitamin D …
NHS LifeCheck: online health checks for three age groups - babies, teens & mid-life
11th October 2009
People who have visited this blog a fair amount will know that I'm a huge fan of healthy lifestyle. It's a no-brainer. I've talked about this in Does healthy lifestyle really make a difference?, Common sense isn't common, Would you like to be 14 years younger - it's largely a …
Three good books: “Positivity”, “The Compassionate Mind” & “The Spirit Level”
3rd May 2009
Here are three good, recently published books that are all highly relevant to the fields of stress, health & wellbeing. "Positivity" by Barbara Fredrickson (see below) is subtitled, a little breathlessly - "Groundbreaking research reveals how to embrace the hidden strength of positive emotions, overcome negativity, and thrive." Actually Professor …
Recent research: five papers on overweight - mortality, cardiovascular risk, diets, and schools
9th April 2009
Here are five papers mostly looking at aspects of overweight. The first, published recently in the Lancet, is a huge study on the effects of body-mass index (BMI) on subsequent mortality in nearly 900,000 adults. It shows progressive excess mortality above the BMI range 22.5-25 kg/m2. (To calculate your BMI …