Category: Health

"Have you heard the one about…" Videnskab.dk/Lærke Slot We all like to laugh. Not only is it entertaining and helpful for social bonding, but it also makes us feel good. When we laugh at something we find funny, our bodies release feel-good hormones. Dopamine floods our system, which has an uplifting effect, and endogenous opioids, […]

Polypharmacy is more common in people over the age of 65. AleTanevitch/ Shutterstock Around 8 million people in the UK take five or more medications each day (known as polypharmacy), with a further 2 million people taking ten or more prescription drugs daily. The majority of people who take multiple medications each day are aged […]

Researchers are investigating whether HRT affects dementia risk, but the evidence does not yet establish that it offers protection. Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock A study has raised a question that many women would understandably want answered: could hormone replacement therapy (HRT) protect against dementia? The research found that women who had used HRT were less likely to receive […]

Farion_O/Shutterstock When someone buys a drug illegally, they cannot be sure exactly what is in it. More than one in three samples submitted to the Welsh Emerging Drug Identification Service (Wedinos) where the buyer had said what substance they believed they had purchased, contained something other than what they expected. Between April 2025 and March […]

Chay_Tee/ Shutterstock If you’ve spent any time on social media recently, you’ve probably found yourself wondering whether you should be taking a magnesium supplement. There’s no shortage of influencers listing all the benefits that different types of magnesium supplements have – from boosting brain function to helping ease anxiety and improving sleep. Indeed, magnesium is […]

Jon C 303/Shutterstock.com From the start of October, people sleeping rough or staying in homeless hostels and night shelters in England can get a free flu vaccine for the first time. But will the jab reach those who need it? The case for eligibility is not in doubt. The UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and […]

Almost 900 people in Bangladesh are suspected to have died in a measles outbreak that began in March. Most of those affected are children. Measles is one of the most infectious diseases known. It can spread rapidly when vaccination rates fall, and the Bangladesh outbreak shows how quickly years of gaps in protection can turn […]

Song_about_summer/Shutterstock.com Patient information leaflets are meant to help people use their medicines safely. But many people find them confusing, overwhelming or even frightening. If a document designed to keep people safe ends up putting them off their treatment, it’s a sign that something isn’t working. These leaflets appear in every medicine pack. They explain what […]

Don't give up just yet. EugeneEdge/ Shutterstock Many runners describe the first ten to 15 minutes of a run as the hardest of all. Breathing can feel laboured, the legs can feel heavy and a pace that would normally seem manageable may suddenly feel surprisingly difficult. It might be easy to assume the reason your […]

Tatjana Baibakova/Shutterstock Scroll through social media and you will soon encounter advice about living longer, from fasting plans and supplements to elaborate daily routines. Yet reaching an advanced age tells us little about how healthy or independent those later years will be. Researchers often use the term healthspan for the years spent in good health, […]