Tackling mental health problems needs ‘urgent attention’, says the prime minister.

Men who are victims of domestic violence find it hard to get help and the support they need, British researchers report.

“While both men and women are reluctant to seek professional help for their abuse, there is an added barrier for men voiced in these studies, that they may be falsely accused of being the perpetrator. The men also raised wider concerns about masculinity,” said study co-author Dr Gene Feder, a professor of primary care at the University of Bristol.

Professional help

He and his colleagues reviewed studies of men in heterosexual and gay relationships.

They found that fears of not being believed or being accused of abuse were factors in not seeking help. Embarrassment and feeling “less of a man” were reported to be other barriers.

Men also worried about their partner and damaging their relationship as well as losing contact with their children. Still others were afraid of telling their family or friends, or getting professional help.

Many men didn’t know that professional help was available, the study found, or thought that support services were for women only.

Some men only sought help when their situation became a crisis, the study found.

Serious health consequences

Those who decided to get help said confidentiality was important, as was seeing the same person over time and not being judged. Men preferred getting help from a woman.

“Our review has revealed that the experience of many men who are victims of domestic abuse is similar to those of women,” Feder said in a university news release. “Like women, although male victims wanted the violence to stop, they did not necessarily want to end the relationship.”

Domestic violence can have serious consequences on health and well-being. Researchers advise men who are being abused by a partner to seek help first from their primary care doctor, who can connect them with specialised services.

The report was published online in the journal BMJ Open.

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While kids get some benefit from using digital and social media, such as early learning and exposure to new ideas, too much of it can negatively affect their health, sleep and eating habits, and even their attention span.

But ruling out all media usage isn’t the answer either.

Screen-free areas

An approach suggested by the American Academy of Pediatrics can help you strike the right balance. It involves writing up a family media use plan that everyone agrees on and follows.

The idea is for parents and children to adapt Academy-recommended guidelines on screen time, including TV, cellphones, computers, tablets and even smartwatches.

This will include deciding on screen-free areas around the house such as the dining room, time limits on use, what time gadgets need to be turned off – and even where to charge equipment.

It’s key for restorative sleep for all family members that no one sleep with any devices in their bedrooms and all use should stop at least one hour before bedtime. A family plan should include all key lifestyle habits, from getting an hour of exercise every day to getting the age-appropriate hours of sleep.

You can create your own schedule or fill out the “Family Media Use Plan” on the Academy’s website. It lets you plug in your kids’ daily activities and determine how much time is available for media use. Whatever format you use, update it periodically to reflect any changes in your family’s schedule and your children’s ages and needs.

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Exercise is important for all kids, because it boosts their overall health and wards off excess weight.

But it holds added benefit for teens: According to a study in The Journal of Pediatrics, it improves their attention, which can help them do better in school.

The greatest payoff came from about an hour a day of moderate-to-vigorous activity, the study found. It seems that sustained exercise at a moderate level releases a specific protein that improves numerous brain functions.

But overly vigorous activity could make teens too tired to focus on learning.

A daily conditioning session

These findings suggest that exercise could also help children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as part of an overall care plan.

With many schools cutting back on physical education time during the school day, encourage your teen to take up a sport or activity that calls for a daily conditioning session, ensuring that they’ll be active not just on game days.

Some kids thrive on team sports, such as soccer and lacrosse, while others do better with activities that allow them to develop more as individuals, such as track and tennis.

If you have home cardio equipment, like a treadmill or exercise bike, suggest that your teen use it while listening to music.

Remember to model the behaviour you want your kids to follow, so let them see you working out and having fun doing it.

You might even get your teen to agree to some family fitness time on weekends – and that’s something everyone will benefit from.

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You just had sex with someone new.

Fun!

But now something feels off. Maybe you were changing out of your work clothes and caught a whiff of something… different down there. And you thought you knew yourself pretty intimately and all of your bodily scents!

So, now you’re here, hunting for answers.

First, don’t panic: An unfamiliar smell coming from your vagina might be nerve-wracking, but there are a whole bunch of possible reasons behind a change in odour that are no big deal. Here’s everything you need to know.

It’s actually pretty normal for your vagina smell to get thrown off from time to time.

With or without a new sexual partner, that is. As you probably know, your vagina naturally has a certain smell. It always does — you just probably don’t notice it most of the time because you’re used to it. That smell is based on the specific pH of your vaginal discharge, says Dr Nicole Bullock, an ob-gyn in Texas. (Remember back to science class for a second: pH is a scale of acidity.)

If something comes in and throws your vagina’s pH off, it’s going to change the smell of your discharge, Dr Bullock says. Don’t stress, though, because the change is often totally benign.

All sorts of factors can affect vaginal pH, so you may not be able to pinpoint the exact cause. “The smell can change based on where you are in your menstrual cycle, if you’re on hormonal birth control, if you’re going through menopause, if you’ve eaten certain foods like garlic or asparagus, how much you’ve been drinking, and on and on,” Dr Bullock says.

READ MORE: 9 Habits Every Woman Should Adopt For A Healthy Vagina

The same goes for when you’re sexually involved with someone new.

This is especially the case if you’re not using barrier methods of protection. “With a new partner, you have a different chemical mix,” she says. That’s especially true if your partner has a penis, as vaginal fluid tends to be on the acidic side of the pH scale, and semen tends to be on the alkaline side. So, when you get a new person’s semen all up in your vagina, it can temporarily change how you smell down there. “It’s not good or bad, it’s just different,” Dr Bullock notes.

While it’s less likely, your vagina may also smell differently if your new sex partner also has a vagina. No two vaginas are the same, so if you end up getting your partner’s vaginal fluid inside your vagina, it could temporarily change the pH, according to Dr Bullock. This can happen if your partner was touching their vagina and then inserts their fingers inside of yours, or if you used a toy on your partner and then didn’t wash it before using it on yourself (but, in the future, PLEASE wash it).

READ MORE: 5 Causes Of Abnormal Vaginal Odour Every Woman Should Know About

In some cases, a change in vaginal odour after sex with a new person can be a sign of a bigger issue.

A change in smell might mean you’ve contracted an STI from a partner. Not all sexually transmitted infections cause a distinct odour, but one does. Trichomoniasis is a common STI caused by a parasite that typically passes from a penis to a vagina, or vice versa, during sex. It happens less often, but the parasite can also pass from a vagina to another vagina, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

About 70 percent of people who have trichomoniasis don’t feel any symptoms, the CDC says. But those who do have symptoms may notice itchy, red, and burning genitals, pain when they pee, and vaginal discharge that looks and smells strange; discharge may be thinner than usual, yellow or green-ish, and have a strong odour. Without treatment, trichomoniasis can last for months or years, according to the CDC, and you risk spreading the parasite to other sexual partners.

But treatment is easy: If you’ve noticed that your vagina smells funny, is itchy, and your discharge looks strange, get yourself to your doctor. They’ll do a lab test to make sure you really do have the STI and then prescribe you medication (either metronidazole or tinidazole) if you do. Wait seven to 10 days before you have sex again, and make sure your partner knows that you had the STI so they can get treated.

READ MORE: 7 Common Things That Make Your Vagina Smell Strange

The change in smell could also be related to a bacterial infection.

Your vagina (and the rest of your body) is full of bacteria — most of it is “good” bacteria that helps our bodies function. “Good bacteria, we want,” Dr Bullock notes. “We don’t want bad bacteria or yeast to grow.” Typically, the good bacteria in your vagina keep the bad bacteria in check. But that can change if you do something to throw them off their game, like using a vaginal douche or wearing a pad for too long, she says.

And suddenly changing up your sexual routine with a new partner, or just having more sex, can disrupt your vaginal bacteria, Dr Bullock says. “Sometimes people are single for a year and then they start a new relationship and now they’re having sex every day,” she explains. Sex every day is awesome, of course, but that might mean your vagina is suddenly enveloped in latex and lube and bodily fluids way more frequently than it was before. All of this can cause what’s known as bacterial vaginosis (BV).

If your vagina smells distinctly fishy, BV is a pretty good guess. The infection is caused by an overgrowth of bad bacteria in the vagina. But it isn’t necessarily an STI because it’s not clear whether it’s passed through sex, according to the New York State Department of Health. Trichomoniasis and BV also share symptoms like itching, burning, painful urination, and thin vaginal discharge.

BV is treatable and not dangerous, but you should see your doctor to get properly diagnosed and prescribed the appropriate meds to help kick it (and reduce the change of a recurrence).

A new-partner smell should go away in a few hours. If not, see your doctor.

If the smell is due to a new partner’s semen or other fluids mixing with your vaginal fluid, then it’ll probably go away within a couple hours, Dr Bullock says. And you can expect a similar timeline with triggers like food and alcohol.

“The vagina is a pretty self-sufficient environment,” Dr Bullock says. Translation: The less you mess with it, the better. So don’t actively try to get rid of the smell with a douche or by washing your vagina with soap (that could just make things worse).

In the case of an STI or bacterial vaginosis, the smell is probably going to linger until you get it properly treated. That means you’ll want to hit up your gynaecologist any time a new smell is just one of your symptoms. If your vagina is itching, burning, or red on top of having an odd odour, make an appointment with your doctor.

^{This article was originally published on www.womenshealthsa.co.za} 

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Kasandra Brabaw

Urinary incontinence can be embarrassing for patients to talk about. Silence, however, is not a viable option as the condition can have far-reaching complications if left untreated.

According to statistics, many women are hesitant to seek treatment for urinary incontinence. A study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology states that more than a third of middle-aged or older women suffer from a form of urinary incontinence, but that only half of them seek intervention. This cohort study interviewed at least 969 women over the age of 40, all from Northern California, with readily-available access to healthcare.

A more recent poll released in 2018 doesn’t show any improvement in the awareness of the need to treat incontinence: More than 1 000 women between the ages of 50 and 80 took part in the poll and more than 50% admitted to suffering from urinary incontinence in some form – yet two-thirds of these women have never consulted a doctor as they reckon the issue is “too embarrassing”.

The following are some of the consequences of ignoring the issue:

1. An underlying issue can escalate into something more serious

If your urinary incontinence is caused by an underlying medical problem such as a urinary tract infection or bladder issue, the problem may go unnoticed and become more serious over time. When an infection goes untreated, it might travel into the kidneys and bloodstream, according to Harvard Medical School.

Urinary incontinence may also signify cancer of the pelvic region, cancers of the brain or spinal cord, affecting the nerves surrounding the bladder. It can also be the result of a neurological condition like Alzheimer’s disease.

No form of urinary incontinence should be left unchecked, according to the Urology Hospital in Pretoria.

2. Urinary incontinence can affect your mental health in the long run

According to the National Association for Continence, the constant fear of having an accident in public and not making it to the bathroom in time can severely impact mental health and lead to depression as sufferers become more and more isolated from friends and family.

A person might also experience anger and frustration about the condition and why it’s affecting them, as well as anxiety. Research has shown that there is a strong link between urinary incontinence and mental health issues. Conditions like depression can be debilitating in the long run.

3. Urinary incontinence can affect your general quality of life

If you were living an active, social lifestyle before urinary incontinence, but no longer want to go out because of the fear of an embarrassing accident, it doesn’t only impact your mental health, but also your physical well-being.

You might suddenly become inactive due to a fear of exercising. This can lead to weight gain, which may exacerbate urinary incontinence as extra weight places pressure on the urethra.

If you’re worried about incontinence at work, it might affect your productivity. It may also have an impact on personal relationships as you try to hide the condition from your partner or immediate family members.

4. Urinary incontinence may increase your risk for infections

Urinary incontinence can lead to an increased risk for repeated urinary tract infections when the bladder never completely empties. This can lead to kidney damage in the long run.

Skin infections are also a possibility as the bacteria in urine eventually weaken the skin’s protective barrier, making it more susceptible to contact dermatitis and other forms of inflammation, causing painful rashes and sores.

5. Urinary incontinence is linked to more rapid decline in the elderly

Research has shown that untreated urinary incontinence in older adults can have remarkably negative consequences on their overall physical and mental health, which may lead to a more rapid decline and earlier death.

A study published in Urology states that urological conditions such as incontinence cause elderly adults to fall and suffer serious injuries more often as the frequent need for urination causes them to hurry to the bathroom. When urinary incontinence is addressed and managed, the risk of such injuries declines. 

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Marelize Wilke

If your loved one’s crooning is music to your ears, the reason appears to rest with part of brain that is super-sensitive to pitch.

That’s the upshot of a new study offering a fresh look into what makes us human.

Keener sensitivity to pitch

For the research, which aimed to understand the role of music in health, researchers compared how human brains and monkey brains respond to speech and music. Key finding: People have a far keener sensitivity to pitch than our evolutionary cousins, macaque monkeys.

“This finding suggests that speech and music may have fundamentally changed the way our brain processes pitch,” said lead author Bevil Conway, of the US National Institutes of Health. “It may also help explain why it has been so hard for scientists to train monkeys to perform auditory tasks that humans find relatively effortless.”

In the study, researchers played a series of harmonic sounds, or tones, to healthy volunteers and monkeys, and used imaging to see how their brains responded. They also monitored brain activity in response to toneless sounds.

Though the brains of monkeys and humans had similar hot spots in response to high frequency sounds, a brain area called the auditory cortex was far more sensitive to tones among the humans.

Evolution of human brain

“It’s when we added tonal structure to the sounds that some of these same regions of the human brain became more responsive,” Conway said in an NIH news release. “[So] these results suggest the macaque monkey may experience music and other sounds differently.”

And this “ear up” on other primates could be key to understanding how the human brain evolved.

Conway said the results suggest that over time the ability to speak and craft music may have somehow fundamentally altered the way the human brain interprets pitch.

“It makes one wonder what kind of sounds our evolutionary ancestors experienced,” he said.

In contrast, the macaque’s experience of the visual world is probably similar to humans’, Conway added.

The findings appear in Nature Neuroscience.

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It comes after two more patient deaths are linked to an outbreak of listeria in hospital food.

A study hopes to boost the small number of black and Asian people using end-of-life care services.

Women still face significant barriers in forging successful and influential careers in UK energy research, a new high-level report has revealed.

A team of experts from the University of Exeter’s Energy Policy Group has analysed gender balance within the crucial field of energy research and spoken to female researchers about their experiences of academic life. The study, launched today (14th June 2019), sets out how research funders and universities can ensure female talent and expertise is mobilised in transforming our energy systems.

The report is particularly timely as the UK parliament declares a climate emergency and the government commits to legislate for a 2050 net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target. It is clear that energy research needs to harness 100 per cent of available talent in order to meet the challenge of rapidly decarbonising energy systems.

The study revealed that women are still significantly under-represented in energy research and application rates from women are low. It also found that grants applied for and awarded to women tend to be of smaller value, when they do apply female academics are equally and sometimes more likely to be funded than male academics.

The report also highlighted the ‘significant drop-off’ between the number of female PhD students and funded researchers — meaning the sector loses a substantial pool of potential talent at an early stage.

The research presents four key ways in which funders and universities can work together to improve gender balance: look at the data, fund more women, stimulate career progression for female energy academics, and build on what’s already working.

Jess Britton, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Exeter and co-author of the report said: “Progress on gender balance in research has been too slow for too long, but we think now is the time to bring together action across funders and universities to ensure that female talent in capitalised on. Taking action across the funding, institutional and systemic issues we identify could drive a real shift in inclusion in the sector.”

The new report, commissioned by the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) and funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) saw the researchers speak to 59 female academics conducting energy research and from various disciplines, institutions and career stages. They also analysed available data on gender and energy research funding.

Crucially, interviews with the researchers unearthed an array of issues that were felt to be holding women back from career progression — including the detrimental impact of part-time work or maternity leave, and inherent institutional and funding bias towards established, male academics.

While the report recognised that since 2017 there has been some progress in the gender balance of Peer Review Panel Members and small increases in awards granted to female researchers, progress has remained slow.

The study suggests that any progress should be accompanied by systemic change within the institutional structures and cultural environment of institutions involved with energy research.

Jim Watson, Director of UKERC added: “This report shows that there is an urgent need to address the poor gender balance within the UK energy research community — particularly with respect to leadership of grants and career progression.

“It not only reveals the extent of the problem with new evidence, but makes a series of practical recommendations should be required reading for funders and universities alike.”

The research identified four key ways in which UKRI, other funders and universities can work to improve gender balance. They are:

Look at the data — There remain significant difficulties in accessing meaningful data on gender balance in energy research. Data should be published, used to set targets, monitor progress and provide annual updates. The report also suggested using quantitative and qualitative data to identify key intervention points, speaking to more female energy academics to identify biases and barriers, and continuing to improve gender balance in funding review processes.

Fund more women — the report identified that funding structures can be a barrier, and that both part-time working and career breaks are perceived to slow progress. It suggests that the assessment of part-time working and maternity leave needs to be standardised across funder eligibility criteria and in the review process. It also identified that a lack of diversity of funding types impacts on women, and suggested trialling innovative approaches to allocating funding and supporting early career researchers.

Stimulate career progression for female energy academics — The report highlighted the need to acknowledge and take action on the individualistic, long hours culture of academia and also overhaul existing institutional structures and cultures. Early career stages are often characterised by precarious fixed-term contracts and over reliance on quantitative measures of progress. It also recommended building suitable training, mentoring and support networks to help more women progress and ensure the visibility of female researchers.

Build on what is working — The study recommended identifying key points of engagement to build gender balance: combine specific targeted actions, such as UKRI and university frameworks and targeted funding initiatives, with long-term action on structural issues that promote cultural change in our institutions. It also identified the need to ensure equality of voice — so that female academic voices are heard.

Alison Wall, Deputy Director for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at EPSRC said: “We welcome this report, its findings and recommendations. Many of the issues raised are ones we recognise more widely in our research community.

“Enhancing diversity and inclusion is one of the priorities in our new Delivery Plan. For example, we plan to make further progress on embedding EDI into the grant application process, developing our peer review processes, provision of further data and increased flexibility in our funding.”