Online clinic on prostate disease

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Posted on 21st November 2011 by admin in follow health recommends

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Prostate disease is very common, in fact according to the NHS Choices site it’s estimated for instance that a third of men over 50 have symptoms of enlarged prostate . But despite disorders being common, the prostate is something that many of us probably don’t know enough about.

To remedy this situation TalkHealth, the charity Prostate Action, and AXA PPP healthcare have teamed up to present an online clinic on prostate disease – with experts online to answer any questions about the various different types of protate diseases that can occur.

The event takes place from 25th November to 1 December. Click the link for more information about the  online clinic on prostate disease and find out how to take part.

Ready? Set? Deskercise!

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Posted on 27th July 2011 by admin in diet and fitness |follow health recommends |health news

What increases obesity, affects almost two thirds of the country and is as big a risk to your health as smoking? No, not the mighty Big Mac or the pepperoni pizza. I’m afraid to say that the consensus in the scientific community is that the latest threat to our health and well being is… Sitting at a desk. The British Chiropractic Association has conducted research which discovered almost a third of people spend at least 10 hours sitting every day, and half don’t even leave their desks and computers over lunchtime. These so called ‘desk junkies’ have a higher risk of heart disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes and the effect have been likened to those suffered by smokers.

An industry is emerging around getting people to be more active at their desk, with numerous gadgets and gizmos appearing to promote ‘deskercise‘, the phrase coined to describe people getting the blood flowing in the office. Devices such as stepping machines for under the table, seats made from exercise balls right down to PC’s powered by bikes and treadmills. These are all at the more extreme end of the list of solutions to office inactivity, and there are far more simple and less intrusive methods of preventing the negative effects of hours in front of a computer.

Getting up from your chair every half hour or so, walking round to talk to colleagues instead of sending an email, getting out of the office at lunch time and going for a walk are just a fraction of the things that can be done to improve your workplace health. Most companies will offer some kind of employee assistance when it comes to being more comfortable at your desk, and your comfort is a mutually beneficial arrangement as you will be more alert and productive throughout the day. This article in The Independent has a few ideas to keep you fresh and active at your desk.

Using Online Health Resources

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Posted on 9th June 2011 by admin in diet and fitness |follow health |follow health recommends

The internet is a wonderful place to learn about health – I often wonder what we did without it? From quickly checking a symptom to researching the best ways to stay fit, we have a wealth of information at our fingertips.

But the breadth of information available can sometimes become overwhelming – and it may be difficult to determine which sources are trustworthy. Some feel the internet makes it too easy to self-diagnose, and that people may convince themselves they have an illness without first seeking medical advice. On the other hand, it is also possible to accidently ignore real health problems after deciding your symptoms are not worth being checked by a doctor while researching online.

All of this confusion only highlights the need for some trustworthy resources online – a few websites and UK health blogs that you can return to again and again for advice and information.

Of course, even the most trusted health blogs are no substitute for a visit to the doctor when it is needed – but if you are looking for some general guidance on keeping healthy they can be wonderful.

We’ve previously looked at the resources we use, but here are some of the reasons we take to the web when researching health issues:

Health News: Of course, as a health news blog, Follow Health likes to keep on top of all the latest news to make sure we’re not missing anything. It’s good to stay informed on all of the latest treatments as a broad spectrum of knowledge can help you make decisions when you require medical assistance. The BBC always provide up-to-date coverage – good for reading until the next Follow Health post arrives!

Symptom Checking: Always try to be level headed when checking symptoms – remember that any symptom can be put down to a range of ailments, so there is no way these can be accurate without speaking to a doctor. Why not take a print out to the doctor to explain your concerns?

Health and Fitness tips: Keeping healthy is paramount – so luckily there are some great resources on fitness and nutrition online. Follow Health have recently began posting on such issues, but you can also view some great exercise videos and recipes on websites like Spark People.

Community advice: Sometimes it is good to discuss your health with people who are going through the same things as you. This is where forums can be useful, as you can meet many supportive people, ready to interact and share stories. We don’t recommend you look for a diagnosis here, but they can be a great way to share fitness tips or ideas on how to cope if you do get ill.

Why do you use online health resources? Any good websites to suggest?

NHS reform – helpful BBC Q&A

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Posted on 15th March 2011 by admin in follow health recommends |health news |nhs

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Without doubt, NHS reform is the hot topic in the UK health community at the moment. Sadly, for the ‘man in the street’ (and we count ourselves in this bracket) getting to the details about what is actually being proposed can be rather difficult. Well, thankfully the BBC has published an excellent Q&A page on what exactly the reforms could mean. It is highly recommended reading!

NHS reform Q&A from BBC Health

Health and wellbeing on the internet

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Posted on 2nd March 2011 by admin in follow health recommends

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There are a lot of good health sites out there in cyberspace. But it always pays to be cautious about what you decide to read – for every good health site there’s probably one somewhere trying to sell snake oil and miracle powder.

So what follows is a list of the sites we follow – all trustworthy:

Guardian health pages – very good indeed. Clearly laid out, with content relating to just about every area of health and wellbeing you could wish for, from mental health to NHS news, to more general health blogs. Highly recommended.

NHS Choices – a very nice resource indeed, like having your own medical encyclopedia except it takes up no shelf space.

The Independent newspaper’s health and wellbeing pages are always worth a look, same with those at the Telegraph.

AXA nutrition and fitness – wide selection of resources from videos on diet, fitness and the mind to healthy eating recipes and healthy living guides.

Mental Health Foundation – mental health isn’t something that’s talked about as much as maybe it should be, but we’ve come a long, long way over the years. Mental illness is also reasonably common with about 5% of people suffering from it at any one time. This means that most of us will either have suffered from it, or known someone who has suffered from it during our lives.

Anyway, these are the health sites that we peruse regularly.

If you’ve got any suggestions for sites that we can add to our list of must -reads, please let us know in the comments.

Until our next post – be healthy, take it easy.