Health

The hand that rocks the cradle may rule the world but from the times of Aristotle, through the Victorian age and till the present day, a woman with a medical emergency is less likely to be taken seriously, more likely to have their symptoms dismissed out of hand and will rarely receive prompt and appropriate treatment. Don't believe it? Well, there is a lot of medical research that supports this view.

There's a new stool in the market. If you prop your feet on it while sitting on the Western-style commode, it claims to give you the advantage of squatting. For, recent research says that squatting while defecating not only helps clear the bowels but also keeps the knees healthy.The stool maker is cashing in on the squatting trend.

Q At the age of 55, I am already beginning to find life difficult. I leave my keys here and there and misplace my spectacles often.

In a recent study of American work force, 77 per cent of the working individuals surveyed reported being unhappy because of work-related stress. Many of us could say the same about ourselves — the enormous stress that we feel because of our jobs.

Cycling is all the rage these days with cycling marathons, cycle rentals (PEDL Cycle rents cycles at Re 1 for half an hour), cycle lanes being set up in the city and people giving up cars to cycle to work. This trend is not only good for our health but also for the environment.

Pain is a common complaint. Acute pain comes on suddenly and may be due to trauma, internal obstruction, or an infection. Its onset can be pinpointed. Sometimes, the pain starts so gradually that it is difficult to isolate its time of origin. Pain is considered to be chronic if it has lasted three months or more. Quite often, chronic pain is in one or more of the joints, or the spine, back or hip. It may affect multiple joints as in rheumatoid arthritis, or one or more large joints as with degenerative osteoarthritis. In most acute or chronic conditions, blood tests and imaging studies confirm the diagnosis.

Eighteen years ago, my genial Irish family doctor saved my life. Dropping in to discuss a puzzling neurological complaint, he seized the opportunity to take my blood pressure, which to his, and my, great surprise proved to be alarmingly high. So high, in fact, that I had a 99 per cent chance of a potentially fatal stroke or coronary by the time I was 65 years old.

Being married may reduce the risk of heart disease and cardiovascular death, a review of studies published in the journal Heart has found. Compared with married people, those who were unmarried - whether never married, widowed or divorced - were 42 per cent more likely to have some form of cardiovascular disease. The unmarried also had a 43 per cent increased likelihood of coronary heart disease death and a 55 per cent increased risk for death from stroke. Stroke risk was higher for the unmarried and divorced, but not for the widowed. Is marriage more advantageous for men or for women? Cardiologist at Keele University in England and co-author of the study, Dr Chun Shing Kwok's response was cautious. "Our findings suggest both men and women benefit from marriage," he said.

His suicide came as a slap on my face. Like for many others, Anthony Bourdain’s suicide was a shock to me. Here was a man, who was at the top of his game and yet he killed himself. As an adolescent, I always dreamt to be a food critic travelling the world, but chose a far less interesting career in medicine instead. 

This spring, when every tree in Brooklyn seemed to be shedding pollen all at once, I developed a nagging itchy throat with frequent spasms of coughing that made it difficult to talk or walk. I attributed the problem to allergies even though I'd never had such a reaction before.