Category: Health

Ground Picture/Shutterstock Insomnia may have been torturing humanity since ancient times, but over the last 20 years scientists have made progress in their understanding of chronic sleep deprivation. Today, sleep deprivation is one of the most widespread reported psychological problems in Britain, with about a third of the adult population in England reporting frequent insomnia […]

Jack_the_sparow/Shutterstock For a medicine so commonly found in bathroom cabinets and high street pharmacies, codeine has a surprisingly complicated story. It sits at the intersection of pain relief, genetics, public health and regulation. As the UK continues to tighten rules around opioid use, codeine offers a useful case study in how a drug can be […]

Maciej Bledowski/Shutterstock.com My husband was recently describing something that happened on a past holiday. It wasn’t a significant event, but it sounded pleasant. I, however, had no recollection of what he was telling me. He couldn’t quite believe it. We know that “recollections may differ”, but how can it be so different? And why do […]

Who has access? DC Studio/Shutterstock.com Palantir, a US data analytics company backed in its early years by In-Q-Tel, now plays a central role in the NHS’s £330 million Federated Data Platform. Supporters say it could improve planning and efficiency, while critics have raised questions about governance, transparency and trust. Here’s what you need to know. […]

nobeastsofierce/Shutterstock Antibiotics are one of the greatest breakthroughs in medical history. They turned once-deadly infections into treatable illnesses and made modern healthcare possible. But bacteria are changing, and some of the drugs we have depended on for decades are becoming less effective. Around the world, infections are becoming harder to treat. This problem is known […]

All sorts of supplements are marketed online as being able to improve symptoms of the menopause. Pixel-Shot/ Shutterstock Social media is saturated with menopause solutions: powders for brain fog, gummies for sleep or capsules promising hormonal balance. Supplements such as magnesium, lion’s mane, creatine and collagen are being marketed as must-haves for perimenopause and menopause. […]

Postpartum pre-eclampsia can affect as many as 27% of mums. antoniodiaz/ Shutterstock During pregnancy, a mother’s body undergoes vast structural and functional changes. But what many might not know is that the after-effects of these changes can last long after giving birth – and can even result in the development of new health conditions. Here […]

Microplastics have increasingly been linked to a range of health harms. SIVStockStudio/ Shutterstock Through the air we breathe and the food we eat, we can’t help but inhale and ingest tiny bits of plastic every day. These microplastics, as they’re known, have been found in many parts of the human body – including the lungs, […]

At the back of the queue. toodtuphoto/Shutterstock.com Hospitals that score poorly on feedback from female patients could soon see their budget cut under a plan unveiled in April by Wes Streeting, the UK’s health secretary. Branded “patient power payments”, the scheme would tie a slice of hospital income to women’s experiences of care, a measure […]

PeopleImages/Shutterstock.com How is it possible to spend tens of billions of dollars developing drugs to treat a serious disease that affects millions of people, and yet end up with something that does not work? This is a mystery that has bedevilled Alzheimer’s research for years. A new review of the evidence has concluded that the […]