Health & Medical Advice and Information - UK Medical Health

If you are lucky enough to still have a head of hair there are a few things that you can do to help keep it attached to your head. Regular brushing is one of them.

Brushing your hair not only removes dust and particles it also serves to remove flakes of scalp skin that are naturally shed and retained in the hair. Brushing the hair distributes sebum from the root along the length of the hair providing protection and increasing shine and strength. Brushing your hair regularly with a good quality, clean hair brush will help keep your hair healthy and shiny.

For many years there has been a stigma surrounding hearing aids as unsightly and large objects that sit, very obviously, behind the ear. This is no longer the case as advances in hearing aid technology have made rapid advances in recent years.

With the introduction of smaller, more hi-tech hearing aids, the appeal of these devices is likely to lead to less concern and anguish for young people who suffer from hearing difficulties but are hesitant because of the negative image surrounding hearing aids.

Many digital hearing aids now feature built in Bluetooth technology which, via a transmitter worn round the neck or in a pocket, will link a hearing aid to a mobile phone or mp3 player – functionality that just wasn’t available in past years and something that greatly appeals to the younger generation.

Advances in digital hearing aids have not only meant sizes reductions and pretty colours – the actual functionality of the devices has improved monumentally.
Analogue hearing aids used to contain small microphones and amplifiers which would increase the volume of sound, but the problem with this was background noise was also amplified and so sound quality was not even close to what is experience by digital hearing aid users today. Analogue hearing aids also picked up feedback from certain electronic devices and transmit a whining sound into the wearer’s ears, whereas recent digital technology has meant that background noise is drastically reduced and even soft speech is audible.

It is fantastic to see such major+ advances which will completely change people’s perspective of hearing aids, advances which will help to improve the quality of life of many.

1. Watch Your Waist: A study by EPIC scientists has shown that women with a waist measurement of 34 inches (86 cms) or more almost double their risk of developing womb cancer. Another reason to stay fit and active.

2. Type 2 Diabetes: A 2007 Finnish study suggests that zinc deficiency appears to increase the risk of heart attack and death from heart disease in patients with type 2 diabetes. Use Lamberts Zincatest to check if you’re short of zinc.

3. Prostate Cancer:  A UK study has shown that vegetarians are half as likely to get prostate cancer as meat eaters. Reduce or eliminate meat to increase the possibility of avoiding this common cancer in men.

4. Got A Cold: Try herbal echinacea tablets for a cold. Research has shown that taking echinacea more than halves a person’s chance of catching a cold and shortens the symptom time for those who did get the cold by 1.4 days.

5. Giving Up Smoking? Research suggests that you are 4 times as likely to give up if you use formal support (such as NHS smokers’ clinics) as if you go it alone.

6. Male Infertility: Chlamydia infection can affect sperm DNA. This infection is often without symptoms in men and may be there for many years. Get yourself checked out. It’s easy to treat.

7. Always thirsty? If you’re always thirsty, tired and rushing to the loo/bathroom, you could have diabetes.  Ask your doctor for a check-up.

8. Sperm At Risk: If you’re  overweight, aromatase in your fat tissue converts testosterone to a weak form of oestrogen, a female hormone. High levels of female hormones reduce your sperm count.

9. Chronic Pain? Acupuncture has been shown repeatedly to help with chronic pain. Give it a try by finding an acupuncture therapist.

10. Osteoarthritis Danger: Johns Hopkins School of Medicine researchers have found that men carrying a few extra pounds in early adulthood nearly double their chance of developing painful knee and hip osteoarthritis later in life.

11. A Quick Exercise:  Stand on one leg while you clean your teeth in the morning. Stand on the other leg in the evening. This will strengthen your hamstring muscles and is good for balance.

12. Feeling Better:  In a study funded by Mind, the UK mental health charity, 80% of the participants said they felt better (emotionally and mentally) if they cut down on sugar.

13. Working Through Lunch? Working through your lunch break isn’t good for you and will probably mean that you will work less effectively in the afternoon. Do everyone a favour and take a break.

14. Standing A Lot: The American Chiropractic Association says: When standing, keep one foot slightly in front of the other, with your knees slightly bent. This position helps to take the pressure off your low back.

15. Depressed After Antibiotics? If you’re feeling low after a course of antibiotics, try taking a B Complex supplement. Antibiotics destroy some of the friendly bacteria in your gut that make some of the B vitamins. Also take an acidophilus supplement to help repopulate the bowel flora.