The global obesity crisis shows no signs of abating, and we urgently need new ways to tackle it. Consuming fewer calories and burning more energy through physical activity is a proven way to lose weight, but it’s clearly easier said than done.
Sleep has become widely recognised as playing a really important role in our overall health and wellness – alongside diet, stress management and exercise. Recently, researchers have been learning more about how poor sleep influences our dietary choices, as well as how diet influences sleep quality.
Could your medical treatment one day be tailored to your DNA? That’s the promise of “personalized medicine”. This concept is based on the idea that small genetic differences between one person and another can be used to design tailored treatments for conditions as diverse as cancer and schizophrenia.
This quote from an anonymous patient sums up the experience of millions of sufferers of a health problem that’s rarely recognized or even discussed, yet has a major impact on their lives. Simply put, these people can’t catch their breath.
More than a quarter of commercial honey brands have potentially been watered down with sugar cane, corn syrup or other products, according to our new analysis of 95 products from local food markets and supermarket shelves.
Physical Education (PE) is often viewed as a marginal subject within the curriculum. And many secondary schools actively reduce PE time to make way for what are deemed more “serious” or “important” subjects.
It was March 2014 when I received a phone call as I was working in my office. The person on the other end introduced herself as Dr. Linda Houston-Feenstra, chief cardiac nurse of Loma Linda University SACHS Heart Clinic. She said that she has heard about my work on persuasive technology, in particular how it can influence attitude or behavior change in people. She wanted me to assist her with her heart-failure patients.
- By Mark Cragg
We’re beginning to treat cancer in a whole new way. Rather than killing cancer cells directly with chemo or radiotherapy, the latest treatments are designed to promote the body’s natural immune control over the disease.
We’ve known for a long time that certain patients in the intensive care unit recover faster and have better clinical outcomes if they receive enough nutrition.
Schizophrenia is one of the world’s top ten causes of disability. It develops between the ages of 16 and 30 and often persists for life. It affects between 100,000 and 200,000 Australians. Symptoms include delusions and hallucinations (“psychotic” symptoms), diminished emotional expression, poverty of speech and lack of purposeful action (known as “negative” symptoms), and incoherent speech and disorganised behaviour (“disorganised” symptoms).
It is well known that eating a balanced diet is of vital importance for maintaining good health and well-being. It is also one of the great social pleasures of life. Yet, far too many young people in prisons are consuming a poor diet, lacking in nutrition.
If you’ve ever tried to lose weight, you’ve probably heard that crash dieting isn’t the best way to go about it. Although you may lose lots of weight initially, you won’t be able to keep the weight off and may even end up being heavier than you were before. But our latest research suggests that this isn’t always the case.
- By Dominic Tran
But it’s much harder to estimate how many are within a healthy weight range but have poor diets or sedentary lifestyles. These can cause significant health problems that will often be missed because the person appears to look “healthy”.
Being depressed can negatively affect your appetite and what you eat, but can bad eating habits bring your mood down? Our latest study, a systematic review of the best available evidence, found a clear link between the quality of a person’s diet and their risk of depression. And it goes beyond the effect of diet on body size or other aspects of health that can affect mental health.
It can often be tempting to jump on a bus for a short journey through the city, especially when it’s raining or you’re running behind schedule. Where there are dedicated bus lanes in place, it can feel as though you speed past gridlocked traffic. But as city authorities begin new initiatives to get people walking or cycling, that could all change – and so could you.
The Fountain of Youth may still be a myth, but a longer life expectancy is now a reality. In fact, life expectancy at birth in the U.S. has risen by more than 30 years in barely more than a century to a current 78.6 years.
If you have ever broken an arm and had to wear a cast or splint for a few weeks, you will be familiar with the alarming loss of muscle and uneasy feeling of weakness experienced after removing your cast. Most people do not do much exercise while a broken arm is healing and can struggle with this loss of muscle for many weeks after the injury.
It can be difficult to find reliable information online on timing and how to introduce foods – and how to balance that with breastfeeding. Here’s what the recommendations say, and the science behind them.
Baby boomers, who once viewed themselves as the coolest generation in history, are now turning their thoughts away from such things as partying and touring alongside rock bands to how to they can stay healthy as they age. And, one of the most important parts of healthy aging is avoiding a fall, the number one cause of accidental death among people 65 and older.
- By Jared Wadley
If you plan to try and quit eating junk food, expect to suffer similar withdrawal-type symptoms—at least during the initial week—that addicts experience when they attempt to quit using drugs, according to new research.
- By Karl Bates
New research with mice may upend our understanding of the connection between the gut and the brain, as well as appetite. If you’ve ever felt nauseous before an important presentation, or foggy after a big meal, then you know the power of the gut-brain connection.
Tonight ABC’s Four Corners will air the first of a two-part investigation into the often shocking treatment of the elderly in aged care homes around Australia.
- By Ailsa Welch
Ancel and Margaret Keys, an American husband-and-wife team, first reported on the Mediterranean diet’s health benefits in 1975. Since then, the diet has become particularly well known for its effect on cardiovascular health. What is less well known is whether the diet has different benefits for men and women. Our latest study sheds some light on the matter.