You’d think it was uncontroversial that we need eight hours sleep a night. You hear that everywhere you go, but it turns out that it may be a myth. Canadian research has called this into question, particularly looking at the impact of shorter duration sleep on...
If you find a food reliably brings on a symptom like a headache or a rash, or worsening acne, then for you that food is probably a trigger. In consultation with your GP, it may be worthwhile avoiding it to see if it makes a difference. With acne though, the commonly...
Prostate cancer screening comes closer. It is estimated that there were 26,368 new cases of prostate cancer diagnosed in Australia last year. According to Cancer Australia, a male has a 1 in 6 (or 18%) risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer by the age of 85....
Metformin is a commonly used drug in people with type 2 diabetes. It’s cheap and safe. But it’s also known to have effects on the immune system dampening inflammation and maybe even on the brain affecting pain perception. It’s also known that people with knee...
A new study from the Garvan and Kirby Institutes in Sydney has looked at whether it makes a difference which arm gets your booster shot i.e. subsequent vaccinations to the first one. It turns out the immune response is much more effective if the second shot is given...
Apparently one in four Australians has a tattoo. Not sure how reliable that number is but anecdotally you now see a lot more people with tattoos. Anything from fine line art work to dense tattoos covering large areas. There’s a long history of tattoos going back...
Microplastics are small particles of plastics under 5mm in size. Some are tiny (less than 0.1 of a micrometre) and are often referred to as nanoplastics. In general, the smaller the particle, the more worried experts tend to be because that’s when they can be...
Acai berries are everywhere. Your gym might offer acai shakes. Your favourite café almost certainly has acai bowls on the menu somewhere. It’s definitely a thing. People love acai and fork out serious money for their daily hit. The Australian Financial Review...
With Daylight Saving Time (DST) ending recently, it’s timely we look at the available evidence to determine whether it’s good or bad for our health. When was DST introduced? DST was originally introduced during World War I as a wartime measure to conserve fuel and...
Most of us will have an episode of acute back pain in our lives and in some of us, the pain will last for weeks and months. The discomfort is such that you want something done about it and the professionals you see want to help you. Which is why various therapies and...
There’s endless fascination with the microbiome – that jungle of bacteria, viruses and fungi which live on our skin, in our airways and in our mouths and bowels. In fact, most of our DNA belongs to these microscopic organisms. The microbiome trains our immune...
A recent study into aspirin to prevent disease has turned up interesting findings in relation to dementia risk. When the trial was over, the researchers got the people in the trial (around 19,000 of them initially, mostly older) to agree to be followed up to monitor...
