It’s 2am and you’re staring at the ceiling instead of snoozing. Maybe it all started with a simple bathroom call. Yet, here you are with the morning alarm marching closer and no amount of sheep-counting or pillow-thumping is making a bit of difference. Instead, you’re thinking about things such as ...

Scientists do, and their findings may change the way you feel about taking the plunge. Human waste, it seems, can be resistant to being neutralised by pool sanitation chemicals like chlorine. The US centers for Disease Control and Prevention collected water samples from 161 filters in public and private swimming ...

It’s used in the manufacture of pesticides, chemical dyes and wood preservatives. But on numerous websites in Australia, it’s promoted as a fat-burner and as an easy way to lose weight without dieting. The chemical, dinitrophenol, or DNP, is being used in diet pills that promise to speed up the ...

If possible, avoid having any sort of cardiovascular event at night on a Friday in January and instead hold out until the Monday. Large-scale research has found that the outcomes of a Friday admission may not be as positive as one would hope. The Portuguese 14-year study into more than ...

Fast food menus listing how much exercise would be required to work off different items may be another way to help combat obesity. That’s the belief of a couple of US scientists who researched how much people ordered when they knew the amount of brisk walking it would take to ...

Imagine if your mobile phone could warn you of an impending heart attack or send out an alert to a passerby. Or if your iPad could connect you to a specialist who could diagnose depression by looking at your facial expressions. You may not need to use your imagination for ...

But do these actually work and should everyone be taking a supplement of some description? This is the question I commonly get asked and it is important that we know the answer to avoid potentially harming our bodies or at the very least, unnecessary spending. Should everyone take supplements? The ...

It’s suffered by a third of women who’ve had babies – and even one in eight who haven’t – yet because incontinence is not a problem people like to talk about, many are putting up with something that can be fixed. With the start of Continence Week tomorrow, Dr Margaret ...

A new treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) could change the lives of a quarter of a million Australians affected by the debilitating disease. Currently being trialled in the UK, the new therapy uses a patient’s own immune system to fight RA. It consists of a single low-cost injection made from the ...

Giving blood is one of the most worthwhile things you can do, yet not enough Aussies are doing it. In Australia there are currently 1 in 3 people who need blood, but only 1 in 30 people are donating. Patients require blood for a range a reasons from cancer to ...