Health

I believe that every adult has a duty to take responsibility for their own good health (and that of their children if applicable.   Be grateful that the NHS is there, but don't be under any illusions that it will always be able to fix you.   Magic pills are very few and far between and your effort will always be needed so isn't it better to put the effort in to prevention rather than have to make the effort to get bet better once the damage has been done?

"But I could be hit by a bus tomorrow - why deny myself?"    You are much less likely to be struck by a bus if you keep your eyes and ears open and look both ways while crossing the street.  If your lifestyle is poor (and we all know what constitues poor in health terms) then you are relying on that bus missing you rather than you avoiding it.  Take control.

I have studied health and nutrition for the past 12 years, informally but passionately.  I started from the common standpoint of having been let down by conventional medicine and determined that I wasn't ever going to be caught napping again.  I have developed a deep respect for healers - both conventional and alternative - and a blistering contempt for those who harm rather than heal either through greed or misguided beliefs. 

Nothing I say on these pages is intended as medical advice which I am not in the least qualified to give. 





     

Skills you need to help your health:

Follow to the source:    If you see a health related story in a newspaper that interests (or angers you) don't rely on that report being accurate - follow it to its source (there is usually enough info to track the original study or article down) and make up your own mind. Newspapers, even online editions, want to sell papers and they know their core readership well.  If they can 'engage and enrage' you and in the process confirm your feelings that all experts are a load of timewasters and you are jolly well going to do as you like because "everything gives you cancer and anyway you've got to die of something"  then they will do,  to keep you coming back to their paper to read more.   One particular paper is known for it. 

The NHS has a useful 'behind the headlines' service here:  http://www.nhs.uk/News/Pages/NewsIndex.aspx

Onmedica  and Medical News today are both useful:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/
http://www.onmedica.com/Default.aspx

PubMed will have the original research, but you will need to learn a few techniques to be able to discern a good from bad paper - more on that later
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed


Be wary of natural panaceas:    Natural medicine is still medicine and anything capable of an action in your body is also inevitably able to cause side effects.   Do not assume natural is safe.   Prevention is still better than cure.   Be interested in what is most efficiently effective with the least likelihood of unintended harm. Chewing while willow bark will eventually stop your headache but taking an aspirin is easier, for example (and neither for under 12's obviously)   

St Johns wort may be effective for mild depression and is preferred by many to  the anti-depressants commonly prescribed by GP's (and has its own set of side effects to be aware of), but regular exercise in the open air and a diet containing a mix of carbohydrate and proteins to raise and stabilise the neurotransmitters associated with low mood can be more effective for mild mood disorders than either drug approach.  And the only side effects are likely to be positive ones too. 

Low tech doesn't keep as many people in jobs as creating a disorder and providing a treatment (conventional drug or alternative therapy) to treat it.  Always worth keeping in mind.