Friday has arrived, but the end of talkhealth’s working week has not – we’ll be working at The Sleep Show in London all weekend. But Sleep Show or no Sleep Show, we bring you another brief round-up from the world of health.

Cannabis approved for medicinal use

Yesterday the media raced to break the news that, following a review into medicinal cannabis, Home Secretary Sajid Javid has relaxed the rules on when doctors can prescribe cannabis products to patients. The new regulations apply to England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, from as early as next month. For a while now, epilepsy sufferers have reported that using medicinal cannabis helps them to control their seizures.

Find out more on the Guardian online.

Don’t let pollution stop you exercising outside

The Guardian has also published six basic tips to get more people to exercise outdoors. It’s partly in response to air pollution being named as the biggest risk to public health in Europe.  Several countries in the European Union (EU), including the UK, regularly breach EU pollution limits – and these limits are lower than the standards set by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Air pollution is estimated to lead to 400,000 early deaths in the EU, with 10% of those in the UK. However, the Guardian believes that this shouldn’t stop you exercising outside.

The newspaper’s six tips are:

  1. Avoid polluted streets
  2. Use apps to get real-time data about which streets to avoid at which times
  3. Avoid rush hour exercise when pollution levels are highest
  4. Leave your mask at home – many of them are ineffective
  5. Eat a healthy diet
  6. Cover your baby’s pram or pushchair if you’re running with it.

Read the details behind the tips on the Guardian website.

Non-drinkers increasing in number

Young people are drinking less alcohol than previous generations did, according to a new study. In 2015 nearly one-third of 16 to 24-year-olds said they didn’t drink, compared with around one-fifth ten years earlier.  In the same age group less than one-third (28%) of people admitted drinking above the recommended limits, compared with just under a half (43%) in 2005.

Researchers surveyed almost 10,000 people and discovered that the level of alcoholic consumption is decreasing across all age groups. The number of non-drinkers is also on the rise in several age brackets.

Read more on the BBC News website.

News from talkhealth

We like to practice what we preach here at talkhealth. So, that means we don’t just talk the talk about health and exercise, our team members walk the walk (or run the run, in this case) too! Last weekend, one of us boldly took on a double-ultra marathon race around the beautiful Essex coast. (An ultra marathon is any distance longer than the standard 26.2 miles of a ‘normal’ marathon.) Not content to run one ultra marathon of 39 miles on the Saturday, our colleague ran another 37 miles the next day. In total, he took just over 12 hours to complete the full 76-mile course, and finished in fourth place overall. “How many calories did he burn while running?” we hear you ask. According to his watch, well over 8,000!

Don’t forget that you can discuss any conditions you may have, and share your experiences with others, on the talkhealth forums.

Wherever you are in the world, enjoy the weekend!

  

talkhealth

This is the talkhealth blog spot, where we post on a wide range of health conditions, topics, issues and concerns. We post when we see something that we believe is of interest to our visitors. Our posts do not reflect any particular view or standpoint of talkhealth, but are merely to raise attention and awareness.

One Response to This week in health – 12 October 2018

  1. Couldn’t agree more. Thanks for sharing.

    on October 15, 2018 at 11:19 am Dean Johnson

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