According to housing charity Shelter, over a quarter of renters experience dampness and mould in their homes.
While these can be unsightly, difficult problems to address in the home, they can be incredibly damaging to your health, particularly over an extended period of time.
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And according to Healthline, one of the signs of mould in the home that could sneak up on you is a consistently runny nose and congestion as well as irritated eyes.
If you find over time that these symptoms aren’t clearing up and worsen over time, it’s time to fully inspect your home for mould and dampness.
Signs of mould in the home
If you have been worried about the potential of mould in the home, now is the perfect time to address it as according to the BBC, it’s more likely to occur during colder months.
The signs of mould in the home include fuzzy black, white or green patches on the walls, and a damp and musty smell.
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According to the UK Government, “Damp and mould primarily affect the airways and lungs, but they can also affect the eyes and skin. The respiratory effects of damp and mould can cause serious illness and, in the most severe cases, death.”
How to clear mould in the home
If you rent your home, your landlord has a legal duty to address damp and mould issues and to check six weeks after action that the problems have stayed away. However, according to Ronseal, there are some things you can do to address the issues:
Fill a bucket with water and a mild detergent like washing up liquid. Or use a dedicated mould remover to make quick work of it
Dip a cloth in water and wipe the mould off the wall. Don’t brush it as this can release mould spores
Once you’ve removed the mould, use a dry rag to remove the rest of the moisture
Throw away the cloth and vacuum the room to make sure you’ve removed all of the spores
The sealant experts add, “If you have mould on soft furnishings like clothing or soft toys, they should be shampooed or professionally dry cleaned.”
Shelter has a wealth of advice and resources for renters facing damp and mould problems on their website.
Raspberries would be the perfect food if they didn’t go off more or less as soon as you bring them home. Most fresh berries are the same way; the average shelf life of a fresh punnet is three to five days.
So, if you (like me) are buying for one, that causes furry problems. White specks and blue fur overtake your plastic punnet; sometimes, one berry will weaken and rot, ruining the other berries in a matter of hours.
Of course, in an ideal scenario, we’d all have access to a bounty of fresh berries close by. But say for instance you’d just checked your fridge only to realise that half of your raspberries are already gone over to the spore overlords, and can’t be bothered to make it to the shop (asking for a friend, of course). What then?
None other than the Mayo Clinic have weighed in on the topic. Dr. Nipunie Rajapakse, a paediatric infectious diseases expert, said that the safe point is around a quarter of the soft fruit population: “If more than about a quarter of the berries are mouldy, you’re probably best off getting rid of all of those berries,” she says.
“But, if the rest are looking healthy, they’re not bruised, they’re not soft and there’s no visible mould on them, they’re probably OK to eat after you’ve washed them well,” the doctor adds.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is a little more cautious, advising that the high water content of the berries means spores can spread more easily between the fruits without being noticed.
But even they say that after you’ve thrown the offending food out, checkered the rest for mushiness and other signs of rot, and washed the remains, you should be good to go, they say.
You’ll likely be fine ― as Elizabeth Mitcham, a professor and director of the Postharvest Technology Center at the University of California, Davis told The New York Times, berry moulds “are actually not known to produce toxins, like some fungi do, and so there’s less risk.”
Plus, she adds, the taste will likely warn you of the presence of foul spores quickly enough to help you spit the berry out in time.
Let’s face it. Everything has felt pretty heavy recently. The news cycle is saturated with hard-to-digest information, filled with horrors daily. But, this little — well, actually, rather large crumb – of good news for our health was exactly what we needed to hear today.
Thanks to research funded by Cancer Research, there has been a cervical cancer treatment breakthrough that means deaths could be cut by 35%.
Dr Mary McCormack, the lead investigator of the trial from University College London’s Cancer Institute and University College London hospital, said that this was the “biggest improvement in outcome in this disease in over 20 years.”
“I’m incredibly proud of all the patients who participated in the trial; their contribution has allowed us to gather the evidence needed to improve treatment of cervical cancer patients everywhere,” she said.
Cancer Research explains that, since 1999, cervical cancer has been treated with chemoradiation — or CRT for short. This is a combo of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
What the INTERLACE trial found, was that prescribing six weeks of induction chemotherapy prior to CRT helped more people survive their brush with the big C, without ever hearing from it again.
Dr Iain Foulkes, executive director of research and innovation at Cancer Research UK said when it comes to treating cancer, “Timing is everything.”
He continues, “The simple act of adding induction chemotherapy to the start of chemoradiation treatment for cervical cancer has delivered remarkable results in this trial.”
Part of what makes this news so positive is that the two chemotherapy drugs are already approved for use, are easily accessible and as such, can be rolled out pretty quickly.
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This means more and more women and folks assigned female at birth (AFAB) can expect better odds of life-long survival from cancer. And, amidst calls for a more feminist approach to cancer care, this is welcome news indeed.
Foulkes said: “We’re excited for the improvements this trial could bring to cervical cancer treatment and hope short courses of induction chemotherapy will be rapidly adopted in the clinic.”
As ‘No Nut November’ rolls around again, abstinence from masturbation is a common topic of discussion this time of year.
If you’ve never heard of it before, the challenge is all about abstaining from ejaculating – with a partner or otherwise – for the entire month, with some believing it’s good for male health. And it’s pretty popular – on TikTok, the hashtag #NNN (short for No Nut November) has15.5 billion views.
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What is No Nut November?
According to the Reddit threadr/nonutnovember, the rules for taking part are strict: no masturbation, at all, throughout the month of November.
“Akin to trends like No Shave November, No Nut November is an event where those who have found it hard to go even a few days without masturbating attempt to challenge the dependency, and go the entire month without making the bald man cry,” reads the Reddit community’s About section.
Is ‘nutting’ a lot a problem, then?
That’s the thing – it’s not, really.
Gigi Engle, a sex and relationships psychotherapist and lead intimacy expert at thedating app 3Fun, argues there is “no such thing” as being dependent on masturbation in the first place.
“It’s the same thinking that masturbation is addictive, porn is addictive, sex is addictive. There is absolutely no reputable science that reflects this school of thought,” she tells HuffPost UK.
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Neithersex addiction nor porn addiction is recognised in the DSM-5, and the NHS also says that experts disagree on whether or not one can be medically addicted to sex and masturbation, saying: “Some sex and relationships experts believe people can become addicted to the enjoyable feeling or ‘high’ experienced during sex and sexual activity, but others disagree.”
So, why are men putting themselves through it?
The No Nut November Reddit community says “some do it just for the memes”, while others do it for actual self-improvement.
In 2019, u/yeeval, a moderator on the subreddit group doubles down on this, telling Rolling Stone:“In my opinion, most originally participate in NNN for the meme aspect of the challenge but as the days go on people begin to see how big their porn or masturbation dependency is.”
He continues to explain that No Nut November isn’t a political movement, neither is it anti-porn or anti-women.
“In its most simple form NoNutNovember [is] just a fun internet challenge that has grown in popularity due to many memes that circulate the internet…
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“However, I also think that the reason that it has become so widespread is that it has given many the opportunity to look within themselves and realise that they might be relying on masturbation and porn for comfort.
Another reason No Nut November is believed to exist is thanks to anow retracted 2003 study. In this, a claim was made that abstaining from masturbation could spike testosterone.
However, since the study’s retraction, researchers have been unable to replicate the findings. In fact, criticism of the data surrounding heightened testosterone says that it’s janky at best because ofsmall sample sizes and mixed results.
Is month-long abstinence a good idea?
Engle claims people who participate in ‘semen retention’ have shown consistently higher levels of depression and anxiety, she says: “This is because you’re building up a lot of stress, you’re not getting a release that can cause a lot of tension. There’s also a really big shame component.
“For people who believe in ‘semen retention’, if they do masturbate or if they watch porn, they are flooded with feelings of shame afterwards. And this can lead to detrimental mental health.”
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Reed Amber, sex educator, sex worker activist and host of the podcast F**ks Given says, “No Nut November promotes this idea that you are masturbating too much, or that you’re using porn too much, which I think is a really dangerous concept to have when people haven’t actually spoken to professionals, or therapists or doctors about the type of behaviours that they are having.”
“Porn isn’t bad,” she continues, “but we can have bad habits revolving around porn, it’s about asking yourself, why you are masturbating?”
However, if participants are signing up in the capacity u/yeeval say they are, then isn’t that a good thing?
The answer, it seems, is complex.
Amber explains that a normal masturbation routine looks different to different people. “Some people need to masturbate once a month, and other people need to masturbate six times a day. And both those versions can be healthy, it just depends on where your mind is, and why you are masturbating,” she says.
There are now myriad studies that showmasturbation to be a normal, healthy part of sexuality, even if you’re doing it multiple times a day. So long as you aren’t causing yourself distress, or inflicting distress upon others, there really isn’t anything to worry about.
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“For the most part, porn can be used as a really healthy, exciting, beautiful tool for people and their pleasure,” says Amber. “Some people go through phases of using it unhealthily, just like we can do with binge-watching TV shows, or eating the wrong kinds of food or going to the gym too much.”
This is echoed by Engle, who says, “This whole idea of trying to ‘break your dependency’ and challenge yourself to not doing it is based on nonsense.”
Bima Loxley, a Sex and Relationship Therapist and Sexologist, explains to HuffPost UK that “For people with penises, it is generally healthy to ejaculate at least once a week for different reasons, however, more research needs to be done on this.”
Currently, research shows thatclearing the prostate, a natural byproduct of masturbation, can decrease the risk of prostate cancer. This is because regularmasturbation clears the prostate of fluid build-up that could contain inflammatory matter, cancer-causing material and infection.
In England, over 44,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year, according to findings byProstate UK.
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Prostate health can also be linked toerectile dysfunction (ED). In a study conducted by the International Journal of Clinical Practice, 41.5% of participants reported experiencing erectile dysfunction. It is believed that 10-20% of all erectile dysfunction cases are caused bymental health stressors, such as performance anxiety or chronic stress. It is believed that these symptoms can bealleviated through masturbation, by building confidence.
So, should you do No Nut November, or no?
While nobody should ever feel coerced into masturbation if they don’t want to engage in it, it does have medical benefits for the body and mind.
Whereas abstinence from masturbation under the guise of enhancing masculinity by boosting testosterone levels has proven to be detrimental to mental and physical health, as well as being scientifically debunked.
“Porn and masturbation aren’t the problem — it’s our society and how we use it,” says Loxley.
The key takeaway is that shame and stigmatising masturbation is unhealthy. Questioning why we might be masturbating and being introspective about our consumption of pornography isn’t necessarily all bad, especially if we’re worried about compulsive behaviour.
So if you did want to have a good ol’ wank in November, go for it. And if you feel like you need to address some compulsive, sexual behaviours – the NHS has a list of recommended resources and support is available.
If you’ve ever been on a work video call (and after COVID, it’s safe to say lots of us have), then you’ll probably know the particular stressors the medium can bring.
There’s the person who’s accidentally muted themselves. There are the patchy internet connections. There’s the awkward, crossed-mic silences when the person leading the call asks a group questions (martyrs, IMO).
And now, a paper published in Imaging Neuroscience has found that video calling people affects more than just social cues; it suggests that the contact method can have a pretty noticeable effect on how our brains process the interaction.
“Separable Processes for Live ‘In-Person’ and Live ‘Zoom-like” Faces’,” a study led by Yale professor Joy Hirsch, found that “the social systems of the human brain are more active during real live in-person encounters than on Zoom.“
People who we see on video calls “do not have the same ‘privileged access’ to social neural circuitry in the brain that is typical of the real thing,” Hirsch said.
The researchers used brain imaging tools to look at the neural activity of pairs speaking via video call and those speaking in person.
The scientists observed high levels of neural activity during face-to-face interactions, along with long gaze times, increased pupil diameters, and what appeared to be enhanced face-processing abilities.
Those who were looking at an image on a screen had a “suppressed” social response compared to those who were talking face-to-face, the paper revealed.
“Overall, the dynamic and natural social interactions that occur spontaneously during in-person interactions appear to be less apparent or absent during Zoom encounters,” said Professor Hirsch. “This is a really robust effect.”
The Yale study highlighted the unique impact face-to-face interactions can have on our brains.
“Online representations of, faces, at least with current technology, do not have the same ‘privileged access’ to social neural circuitry in the brain that is typical of the real thing,” said Professor Hirsch.
So, if you’ve ever felt like a video meeting was genuinely mind-numbing, you might be onto something…
Raise your hand if you’ve ever thought about brain health. No? Well, apparently it’s quite a big deal. And, there are things we absolutely should not be doing that — I hazard a guess – you are doing every single day. I know I certainly have been.
But why? How do these three things affect our mood and brain age? If you open your phone first thing in the morning, like to indulge in highly processed food and engage in a little negative self-talk (my personal fave), then you’re going to want to read this.
Time to cut out morning screen-time
Does this sound like you? Wake up in the morning, reach for phone, scroll, scroll some more and then get up?
If it does, this could be why throughout your day you’re addicted to checking your phone. Here’s why.
Turns out, there’s a science to waking up well, and it’s all to do with brain waves.
When you wake up, your brain goes from producing theta to alpha waves. These tell your body you’re in a state of restful wake, rather than sleeping or extremely relaxed. And, according to Emily, this is a time when you are more susceptible to programming. So whatever content you’re consuming will have a greater impact on your mindset.
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The result? In her TikTok, Emily says, “It messes up dopamine for the day so we continue to check our phones.”
*Adds traditional alarm clock to basket immediately*
Put a stop to the negative self-talk
“What you say to yourself matters, and the more you say the more it gets wired in. And what’s wired in is what we manifest,” says Emily.
She’s not wrong – the way you speak to yourself affects cognitive function. So if you’re engaging in negative self-talk, you’re more likely to rewire your brain to believe it. Whereas if you opted for affirming language you could teach yourself to feel more positive about yourself.
It’s easy to get caught up in self-flagellating thought processes, there’s enough going on in the world to make us feel bad about ourselves. From comparison on social media to feeling under pressure to achieve more at work.
Approaching these moments with self-compassion and acceptance can help us overcome some of these negative cycles, as can cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).
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No more eating ultra-high processed foods (cries in McDonald’s)
In a study conducted by ZOE, they found that those who ate the least amount of ultra-processed foods experienced slower cognitive decline.
Eating these foods is especially bad for you if you’re over 60, but — there’s some good news. Interestingly, the researchers in this study were only able to identify links between ultra-processed foods and cognitive decline in people with a “generally unhealthy diet”.
A lot of healthy foods and naughty little treats from time to time won’t do you much harm.
On October 1, 2021, after having what I had thought was routine thyroid surgery, I was diagnosed with anaplastic thyroid cancer, a cancer so rare that none of my doctors had ever seen it before. It’s so aggressive that it only exists as Stage IV.
The typical survival rate? Six months or less. One in five patients lives 12 months.
It’s October 2023.
I did a 10K race in July. At 6,000 feet. Last winter, I was a ski instructor. I’m a rock ’n’ roll DJ at the mountain town station that I used to stream when I lived in New York, fantasising that I was living here. Now I am. I have the life I’d longed dreamed of.
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Every morning, as I watch the sun come up over the mountains I never thought I’d live in again, I give thanks for everything in my life that brought me to this moment. Especially that diagnosis. It taught me that I had no time to waste. It taught me how much I love life — rough, bumpy and hard as it often is. It taught me how much more I wanted to do. And now I’m doing it.
But on that fall day in 2021, I was terrified. I was also furious.
I was two years out from a divorce after an unhappy marriage that I had long wanted to escape but had been afraid to leave. I felt I’d spent years quashing my voice and my spirit to keep that marriage going. Being a wife had become my identity. When the marriage tanked, I felt betrayed by the society that still pushed the fallacy that a woman had to have a man to be something. I felt betrayed by the husband who dumped me. Most of all, I felt I had betrayed myself by staying instead of standing up for myself and leaving.
I was desperate to resurrect the young woman I’d been back when I’d first gone to New York for grad school after ski bumming in Aspen. That me had planned on spending just a few years in the city before returning to the mountains. But you know how it goes: I met a guy, fell in love, marriage, kids, mortgages. And, hey, New York is pretty damn fun — until it nearly kills you.
Courtesy of Kate Rice
The author after her second surgery, this one at MD Anderson in Houston, in October 2021.
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The final years of my marriage, the divorce and its aftermath were brutal. I routinely woke at 3 a.m. staring into the darkness. My weight plummeted. I landed in the ER with what I thought might be a heart attack but was really a panic attack.
I struggled to pull myself together. I kept on running. I became a certified yoga sculpt instructor. I read self-help books. I not only talked to my therapist once a week, I sent her email after email filled with grief and fury.
And then I did something I never thought I would do: I started singing rock ’n’ roll. Onstage! Me! Who had all but died when faced with piano recitals at St. Patrick’s School. In high school plays, I stayed behind the scenes and did makeup and worked on costumes. I was solidly in the audience.
But now I was running from the firestorm of my old life. I came to a cliff, closed my eyes and jumped. I was desperation personified when I took that leap. I was shaky as hell, but singing in the spotlight gave me a solid piece of ground in a world that had turned into quicksand.
The stage was a place where I could escape my pain for a few hours. But it was still there. The wounds wrought by my past were still raw inside me, haunting my dreams and shadowing my days.
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COVID hit. Stages everywhere, including mine, went dark. I lost my refuge. I still planned to leave New York and return to the mountains, but I was waiting for my youngest child to graduate from high school.
She went off to college. I stayed in New York. COVID still raged. I rationalised it was a bad time to move to a town where I knew no one. And I thought my kids should still have their mama’s place to come home to in New York, even though my new apartment was a fraction of the size of the one they’d grown up in.
Courtesy of Kate Rice
The author power-walking with her IV pole, nicknamed Slim, during her MD Anderson treatment.
What it all boiled down to, though, is that I was afraid to leave. Yet again.
So the universe kicked me in the butt. Hard.
As I lay in my bed on that October night in 2021 after being told I had just months to live, I railed against my fate. What gives, universe?I thought we were in sync! C’mon!
I knew one thing: I was getting the hell out of New York. But I wasn’t going to the mountains. I was going to Houston, one of the flattest places in the United States. It’s also home to the MD Anderson Cancer Center, which my cousin discovered has a special clinic — named FAST — that specializes in my type of cancer.
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I packed up what I thought I would need in Houston. I ran around New York gathering my medical records. I went out to dinner and drank margaritas with friends.
And then I bought something many people facing cancer like mine would never think to buy: a T-Card, a discount ski pass for Telluride Ski Resort, near where one of my brothers lives in Colorado.
I bought it because of one line in the anaplastic thyroid cancer printout I’d gotten the day of my diagnosis. After learning I probably had just six months to live, I read this sentence: “Despite these discouraging figures…” (Discouraging? I had thought as I read it. What comedian wrote this?) “…there are some long-term survivors.”
“I’m going to be one of them,” I had promised my daughters. We were all crying. “I don’t know how, but I will.”
And that was why I made the decision to buy that ski pass. I was going to do more than live — I was going to be strong and healthy enough to ski. And this purchase was going to be the thing that kept me fighting no matter what came my way.
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See that, universe? I thought as I clicked the “buy now” icon.
Courtesy of Kate Rice
The author at the mic at KPCW radio.
Five days after my diagnosis, I walked in the doors of MD Anderson.
The FAST clinic was aptly named. MD Anderson kept me on the run. I liked that. I had CT scans, PET scans, brain scans, MRIs, blood tests. I even got to look at my vocal cords during a laryngoscopy.
I had a second surgery.
“The odds aren’t good,” the surgeon told me. And then he added, “But we do cure some people with this cancer.”
I had five weeks of radiation and chemo. I stayed with my cousin in Houston. She has a big house, a bigger heart and a long-suffering husband. Both of my daughters, one accompanied by her boyfriend, came to cheer me on. Each of my three brothers (one with his almost house-trained new puppy), my sister and three of my besties from New York came, one after another. We talked. We power-walked. We partied. I had Zoom calls with friends and family. I couldn’t drink alcohol, but I asked everyone I knew to drink for me. And they did.
I finished my treatment. I rang the proverbial bells, one for my last chemo treatment and one for my last rad cure, as I had started calling radiation. But I wasn’t done with MD Anderson. I had to come back every two months to get scanned. Anaplastic thyroid cancer is like Rasputin — it comes roaring back 80% of the time.
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At one point, I noticed a small growth on my face. “It looks fine to me,” said my radiation doctor. “But you never can tell with this cancer. I’m sending you to dermatology.”
The growth was benign and the dermatologist just froze it off, but I remembered the doctor’s respect for this cancer and the need for constant surveillance.
I headed to the mountains of Colorado to be near my Telluride brother. I rented an Airbnb near his family’s home in case my radiation side effects got bad. I hired a moving company to empty my apartment back in New York and put my belongings in storage in Hoboken.
I was scared. I could feel unfamiliar prickling sensations in my neck. Was it just after effects of radiation? Or was it something terrible?
Courtesy of Kate Rice
The author running a 10K in Park City, Utah, in July 2023.
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Two days before Christmas, I got a call from Houston.
“We think you’re a good candidate for immunotherapy,” the nurse told me. “Can you come back to Houston next week?”
Damn straight I could.
I flew back to Houston. CT and PET scans showed I was still disease-free. I was the perfect candidate for immunotherapy.
“Basically,” my endocrinologist told me, “it opens your immune system’s eyes to cancer.”
It helps my body keep me healthy and disease-free.
“Go back to Colorado and ski,” my endocrinologist told me. “Just don’t break any bones.”
As I walked out of MD Anderson after hearing the good news, I wept tears of joy and gratitude. The deadly cancer I’d been diagnosed with had just become a disease that is chronic but manageable.
On a cold but clear blue-bird-sky January day in 2022, I stepped into my skis and glided over to Lift 7 at Telluride. The liftie scanned my T-Pass and up I went.
On that first run down the hill, I revelled in the moment. The sparkling snow. The crisp air. The sky above me. Skis, mountain, snow, gravity and me, all working together. I was alive!
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I wanted to do that first run on my own, but then I caught up with my brother. He and I and one of his ski buddies rode up the Prospect Express lift together.
“What brings you here?” the friend asked me.
I took a deep breath and exhaled.
Courtesy of Kate Rice
The author’s first time back in her skis and using her T-Pass at Telluride after she finished her cancer treatment (January 2022).
“Well,” I said. And I told my story — Aspen, New York, love, marriage, divorce. And cancer.
“I always planned on returning,” I told him. “And now, finally, I have.”
The friend was silent for a moment and then he looked at me.
“Welcome back,” he said.
Kate Rice is a runner, rock ’n roll singer and stand-up comic who performs mostly in the shower but sometimes on stage. She’s an author and former reporter. She lives in Park City, Utah, where she is a ski instructor and rock ’n roll radio DJ. Her new memoir, “Cured: A Tale of Badassery,” will be released on November 15, 2023.
Picture this. Lately, you’ve not been feeling yourself, sex has become painful and your periods are haywire. You’re feeling anxious, depressed and all ’round things just don’t feel right. Your hair is thinning, you’re forgetting things, having heart palpitations, migraines and hot flushes. The worst part, you don’t know why.
Menopause usually begins between the ages of 45-55, with perimenopause (the period of time before menopause where symptoms begin) starting up to 15 years beforehand. While menopause usually hits in middle age, some people will experience it before the age of 40 – this is known as early menopause and affects 5% of women.
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A recent study conducted by the Women’s Health Journal in 2022 found that a staggering 90% of participants had never been taught a single thing about menopause. As a result, 60% reported feeling unprepared and uninformed.
Common themes emerged in the study relating to knowledge gaps and the impact and severity of symptoms. Being unaware of menopause comes from a lack of education and social taboo surrounding “women’s troubles”. Those of us who experience menopause are more likely to speak to a friend about symptoms than their partner, or even a doctor.
It’s perhaps unsurprising, then, when HuffPost UK sat down to speak with Dr Shirin Lakhani, an award-winning cosmetic doctor and intimate health specialist, that she tells us; “When I was growing up, my grandma, and my mom never talked about going through menopause, they never talked about the symptoms they experienced.”
Menopause is caused by the natural biological decline in female fertility. Egg reserves run out, oestrogen production fizzles as the ovaries become less functional and, slowly but surely, the female reproductive organs cease to function the way they used to. Periods stop and pregnancy is no longer possible.
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Dr Helen O’Neill, CEO and Founder of Hertility Health, says that; “The main perimenopausal symptoms are changes in menstrual cycles, often accompanied by hot flushes and night sweats (known as vasomotor symptoms).”
But this natural wind down doesn’t end in a soft landing for everyone.
“For men, hormones decline like a gentle stroll down a hill. For women, we fall off a cliff,” says Dr Lakhani.
The sudden onset of menopause symptoms can be debilitating.
“Perimenopause and menopause affect many other parts of the body, and cause symptoms such as mood changes, memory issues, joint pain, vaginal dryness and sexual dysfunction,” says Dr O’Neill.
For many menopausal people, it can have a huge impact on their relationships and careers.
Shelly Hatfield, Middlesbrough Manager at LUSH and Menopause CN Chair, tells me that for her, menopause almost made her resign. “At one point I was going to throw in the towel and pack in my job because I was having a hard time,” she says, “And then I realised it was just that I wasn’t being open enough about it.”
Shelly isn’t alone in this. Shame can prevent many women from reaching out to employers for help. Up to 10% of people leave the workplace because of menopause despite the fact that those in this age group are typically at the peak of their careers. This is because employers are failing those experiencing menopause. Eight out of ten women say their employer hasn’t shared information, trained staff, or put in place a menopause absence policy.
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Shelly knew she would have to take it upon herself to make change happen. “I started talking to the right people, and people were listening and very interested so we set up the menopause network community and soon we had 66 members,” she tells HuffPost UK.
Her proactive thinking has now meant LUSH sales assistants have received specialist training on menopausal symptoms and are able to recommend products that can help with symptoms like restless leg syndrome, general aches and pains and sleep disturbances.
This training has normalised conversations surrounding menopause, creating space for their customers to feel supported and seen. Additionally, staff at LUSH now have access to training materials and internal support systems that create something of a safety net for menopausal employees.
Education on menopause is seriously lacking, and the workplace is only one location that needs more resources. Dr Lakhani tells HuffPost UK that, in her opinion, schools should be teaching menopause as part of the sex education curriculum. “I think you need to have the education in place to understand what’s happening to your bodies,” she says.
Truth is, little is done proactively to assist those experiencing menopause symptoms across the board. Sometimes this is because of cultural taboos, but there is also discrimination at play.
One 2023 study found that doctors were significantly more likely to prescribe HRT (hormone replacement therapy) for white women than for other ethnicities. Highlighting the need for more education surrounding racial bias and menopause amongst GPs.
So, when should I start prepping? And, how do I prepare?
“You’re never too young to start learning about menopause,” says Dr Lakhani, who is of the belief that having as much knowledge as possible on what symptoms can look like, and being in tune with how those symptoms appear in your body is of great importance.
She says that most people think of hot flushes and the absence of periods when they think of menopause. But, when it comes to seeking support, these symptoms are the last thing on their mind. She explains that while the physical symptoms can be an inconvenience for her patients, and in some cases quite debilitating, most of them can take it in their stride.
“What they’re not prepared for, is the mental health issues that go along with the hormonal changes. Anxiety, depression, losing all their confidence, feeling like they don’t belong in the environment that they’re in, they get impostor syndrome,” Dr Lakhani lists.
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Explaining further, Dr Lakhani says that the best way to prepare is to get to know your base level of normal and monitor any symptoms you feel creeping up on you. Be that achy joints or sudden feelings of anxiety or depression (especially if you’ve never experienced these things in the past).
If you’re concerned you’re beginning perimenopausal, the best thing to do is speak with your GP about your symptoms. “A thorough medical evaluation and discussion of symptoms with a healthcare professional are vital steps in understanding your menopausal transition,” advises Dr O’Neill.
Dr O’Neill explains that there are several tests that can provide valuable information on where you’re up to. “Hormone level testing, such as measuring follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) can help determine if you’re approaching menopause. Other hormones (such as oestradiol and luteinising hormone) can also be helpful to assess whether you are going through menopause,” she says.
Continuing, she states that, importantly, these tests should be analysed along with your menstrual cycle patterns and symptoms. “This is why you cannot diagnose menopause in people who are using hormonal contraception, as these medications skew natural levels of FSH as well as affect your menstrual cycles,” she says.
Her advice to anyone worrying about menopause, or wanting to know more, is to learn about the symptoms, available treatments and lifestyle adjustments you can make.
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“They will empower you to manage this phase effectively,” she encourages. “By fostering open dialogue and eradicating the stigma associated with menopause, we empower women to take charge of their health and well-being during this significant life transition.”
Recently, I haven’t been able to open a single app without being confronted with the menacing form of a bed bug. After taking hold of Paris’ mattresses, it seems the critters have started to establish their London stronghold, too (oh, good).
We know from personal experience how ridiculously disruptive the little bugs can be. So, we thought we’d reach out to the pros to find out how to protect ourselves while travelling.
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HuffPost UK spoke to ecologist, conservation scientist, and entomologist Professor Adam Hart about the bed-based terrors. Here’s what he had to say:
1) Inspect, inspect, inspect
Whether you’re staying at a friend’s house or a hotel, it’s a good idea to get up close and personal with your mattress, Professor Hart told HuffPost UK. In fact, it was his first piece of advice.
“When travelling, the best thing to do is to inspect your bed carefully,” Hart says. He advises we “look online to find out what eggs, larvae and adults look like, and to see how bed bug droppings and blood marks look. That way you will be able to see if you might have a problem.“
2) Think outside the box
One of the many terrifying things about bedbugs is how good they are at hiding. Professor Hart advises we look a little further than our mattress and sheets when trying to find the beasties.
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“Check other areas, like around and behind the headboard,” he says. Bed bugs may also hide in places like sofa and chair seams and old drawer joints.
3) Cover your clothes
Speaking of bed bugs’ many homes, you’ve likely already heard about their ability to cling to our clothes. So, it makes sense that Professor Hart advises us to keep our outfits securely covered while travelling.
“If you are worried then keep your clothes packed inside your closed bag. Some people even pack their clothes in Ziplock-style bags to keep any bed bugs out,” he says.
4) Wash everything the second you get home
If you’re worried about bringing bugs home, Hart says you should steam-clean or machine-clean your clothes (and bags, if possible) the second you get home.
“When you return home wash clothes at a high temperature and tumble dry; dry-cleaning and steam cleaning also kill bed bugs in fabrics that be washed or dried at high temperatures,” he says.
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Heat is important here, so don’t lower the temps too much.
For a while now, chia seeds have been one of the key foods celebrated by health and fitness enthusiasts and with good reason: they’re loaded with antioxidants, can lower your risk of heart disease, contain important bone nutrients such as calcium and magnesium, and can even reduce blood sugar levels.
All in those tiny seeds! They’re so easy to add to smoothies, porridge, and yoghurts making them an ideal healthy choice. Especially since they don’t really taste of anything.
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However, if you’re fond of sprinkling some of these popular seeds on your foods, you really need to make sure you’re drinking a lot of water because according to a gastroenterologist, chia seeds can absorb up to 27 times their own weight.
Chia Seeds Can Form A Concrete-Like Mass In Your Digestive Tract
Yep, that’s right.
Chia seeds may be small but they truly are mighty. According to Socalgastrodoc, an MD and gastroenterologist on TikTok, when there isn’t enough liquid in your digestive system, these seeds will form a concrete-like mass in your digestive tract which can lead to them getting stuck.
She even provided a shocking photo of one of these masses stuck in somebody’s oesophagus after they dry-scooped chia seeds. Lovely.
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One commenter said “based on all the messaging I thought that they were a good form of fibre for my diverticulitis. I ended up with a blockage in my colon and almost died”…!
However, the good news is that this is very avoidable. Drinking plenty of fluids or using them in something like overnight oats means you’ll avoid such grim complications and still get the wealth of health benefits that chia seeds have to offer.
A commenter said “Moral of the story: make overnight chia seed pudding and never eat them dry” to which Socalgastrodoc replied with a trophy emoji which we can only assume is approval.
As another commenter said though, “Doritos don’t do this to me.”
