Researchers say the study is a “light in the fog” in the search for the causes of chronic fatigue syndrome.

When Thabo Ngobeni was circumcised a few years ago he thought he could stop using condoms because he was now protected against HIV.

“Before the circumcision I always used condoms but afterwards I had unprotected sex with my partners because I misunderstood everything the doctor and nurses said at the hospital about the purpose of circumcision. I thought after my wound had properly healed it was 100% safe for me and my partner to have unprotected sex.”  

Abstinence the safest sex

Soon after his circumcision Ngobeni, who is now 19, discovered he was HIV-positive, and has started taking ARVs.

According to a local GP in Ermelo, male circumcision is effective when it’s combined with other safe sex practices, such as using condoms, reducing sexual partners and the safest sex of all – abstinence. The doctor said it was very important to continue using condoms after circumcision.  

Sister Zanele Zwane, a nurse, said men can enquire at any clinic or hospital about circumcision. In most cases the local clinic will refer the patient to a feeder hospital. Most clinics in Mpumalanga encourage men to be circumcised and have specific days when the hospital either sends doctors to the clinic to perform the circumcision or transport the patients to the hospital.

Zwane said all surgeries have some level of risk but risks associated with circumcisions are low. – Health-e News

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Cynthia Maseko

Hundreds of dams are being proposed for Mekong River basin in Southeast Asia. The negative social and environmental consequences — affecting everything from food security to the environment — greatly outweigh the positive changes of this grand-scale flood control, according to new research by Michigan State University.

Smoking and drinking often go hand-in-hand, stimulating pleasure centres in the brain. But there’s even more to this unhealthy relationship than meets the eye.

Researchers have found that nicotine in cigarettes cancels out the sleepiness caused by alcohol, basically allowing people to keep drinking … and smoking. The two vices feed off each other.

Shake up your routine

It takes time for your brain to stop associating the two activities. So, when you decide to quit smoking, it will help to take a break from drinking, too, at least during the first few weeks. If not, your brain will send out a signal prompting you to reach for a cigarette every time you have a drink. Try chewing gum or having a sugar-free candy instead.

When you do decide to indulge in a drink, shake up your routine. Have a different alcoholic beverage than your usual, use your non-dominant hand to hold the glass, and cut back on consumption with alternate drinks of glasses of water.

Alcohol aside, some people experience stronger effects from caffeine when they quit smoking. Though it’s hard to give up that morning coffee, try cutting back if you find yourself feeling a little shaky. Follow up that first cup of coffee with decaf or caffeine-free tea.

Keep in mind that cravings most often happen in situations that you normally associate with smoking, so the more you can change these daily rituals, the easier quitting will be.

Yes, that could mean skipping happy hour at your favourite watering hole. But if you replace at least some of those habits with healthier ones, like walking after work or even going to an evening fitness class, you’ll double the benefits of quitting smoking.

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Kids take their cues from mom and dad, so it only makes sense to participate with them when teaching them the merits of exercise.

Couch potato kids are a real concern. The College of New Jersey exercise science professor Avery Faigenbaum defined the term exercise-deficit disorder — or EDD — to draw attention to our children’s shortfall when it comes to meeting moderate-to-vigorous physical activity recommendations of at least 60 minutes a day.

And experts warn that the unhealthy effects of EDD will extend into adulthood, causing problems like high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes, and that it’s time to think of exercise as illness prevention.

The secret to getting kids motivated is the same as it is for adults: Make exercise fun.

One way to do that is by engaging kids in activity bites, small chunks of play that add up to better health without seeming like a chore. Here are some ideas to get your family started: 

In your backyard or a nearby park, set up relay races or an obstacle course and invite neighbourhood families to join.

For an activity that can be done anywhere, blow up some balloons and make a game of keeping them all up in the air. You can also do this with exercise balls or even beach balls, no matter what the season.

Take a page from your own childhood playbook and share the fun of hula hoops and tossing a Frisbee. Even an activity like drawing with pavement chalk gets kids out of the house and away from their electronic devices.

Turn scheduling exercise into a fun project by having your kids create an activity calendar and check off each “bite” as it’s completed. Post the calendar on the fridge along with snapshots of their best chalk artwork, for instance, for motivation.

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The challenge from a coalition of 20 US states is now likely to go to the US Supreme Court.

Rest days: To rest or not to rest? Me: I feel absolutely wrecked. Also me: must get my 300 vitality points today. Sound familiar?

Here’s the low-down on rest days from women whose job it is to be active…

Eat healthily

“Make sure on your off-days that you are actually pumping your weakened body back up for the next round! Even though I’m not working out, I still eat healthily because healthy food equals a healthy body.” – Dayna Nienaber, pro motocross racer

Read more: The 5 best ways to treat sore muscles, according to the pros

Get outside

“On top of whatever training I do, I also try to go outside for a half-hour power walk every morning. If I don’t go for a walk, I like to go to the gym for some active recovery in the form of foam rolling and stretching. But it’s important to listen to your body. Some days you just need a pure rest day – cheat meals, Netflix and all!” – Michelle Hayward, pro kitesurfer

Read more: These are 4 of the best fat-burning workouts

Take it easy

“During the week I have an active recovery workout after a hard day of training. That usually consists of swimming, a slow jog or a nice, easy bike ride. I also believe in training six days a week and then resting completely on the seventh day.” – Hanneke´ Dannhauser, champion obstacle course racer

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Michelle October

The death of a spouse can understandably bring sleepless nights. Now, research suggests those sleep troubles raise the odds of immune system dysfunction – which in turn can trigger chronic inflammation.

For the surviving spouse, that could mean an increased risk for heart disease and cancer, though the study did not prove a cause-and-effect link.

“We think these individuals are more vulnerable to the negative effects of poor sleep,” said corresponding author Diana Chirinos. She’s a research assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

The study included 101 people, average age 67. Half had recently lost a spouse, while the other half were married or single.

Sleep disturbances and inflammation

Researchers found that the association between sleep disturbances and inflammation was two to three times higher in the grieving spouses, according to the study published recently in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

“The death of a spouse is an acutely stressful event, and they have to adapt to living without the support of the spouse,” Chirinos said. “Add sleep disturbance to their already stressful situation, and you double the stressor. As a result, their immune system is more overactivated.”

Grieving spouses are at increased risk of developing heart disease or dying within a year of their partner’s death, the researchers noted.

“We already knew bereaved people had higher inflammation and a higher risk for heart disease and dying within a year of the spouse’s death,” Chirinos said. “But what was causing it? Was it the grief or sadness itself, loneliness or sleep? Now we know it’s not the grief itself; it is the sleep disturbance that arises from that grief.”

The main sleep problem associated with an overactivated immune system was poor sleep efficiency, which can include insomnia, early waking or difficulty falling asleep.

For bereaved people, the study highlights the importance of treating sleep problems, Chirinos said, adding that doctors need to ask patients about their sleep after a spouse dies.

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A super-fit dad completed three Ironmans without knowing he had a rare “death sentence” cancer.

Peter McCleave (40) was diagnosed with myeloma in March 2017 after dismissing his tiredness as resulting from long-distance running, which he’d done throughout the previous year.

Married with two children, he’d completed three ultra-endurance events by the time he was rushed to hospital in September 2016.

He received his earth-shattering diagnosis six months later.

Now Peter, from the village of Bunbury in Cheshire, UK, has been given seven years to live unless he finds a stem cell donor.

Seeing the signs

“I’ve always been fit and healthy so obviously if I was going to get something it was always going to be very serious. And in hindsight I did experience some warning signs,” he says.

“I got tired a lot and ached a lot but felt that it was all because of my training.”

Peter says although it’s been difficult at times to accept his illness, it’s changed his attitude to the world.

“I don’t waste my time on trivial things. Instead I try to focus on the things that really matter. I spend my time with people I want to spend time with and the people that I love.

“I appreciate time a lot more and don’t waste time like I used to. I don’t have time to waste.”

No ‘usual’ symptoms

Peter says he lived with the cancer for a year but his fitness level meant he didn’t experience any of the usual symptoms.

A former rugby player with a successful career in finance, he thought the warning signs of the cancer were just the usual aches and pains experienced by endurance athletes.

In September 2016, just days after completing the Ironman Triathlon in Wales, Peter was rushed to hospital with suspected sepsis, pneumonia and Legionnaires’ disease.

In March 2017, following a series of blood tests, he received the devastating news that he had myeloma. The disease developed in his bone marrow and nearly paralysed him when the tumour broke three vertebrae in his back.

 “I was very lucky not to be paralysed.”

Cocktails of painkillers

Soon after his diagnosis, Peter began three intense cycles of chemotherapy.

“The first two cycles after the diagnosis were terrible. I was surviving off a cocktail of painkillers,” he recalls.

“For the past year and a half I’ve had non-stop chemotherapy, it’s just been cycle after cycle.”

Despite receiving an autologous stem cell transplant in May, where blood stem cells are removed before chemotherapy and then put back to grow new blood cells, Peter says he’s searching for a stem cell donor so he can live longer than seven years.

Reassessing what’s important in life

He and wife Jenny (40) haven’t told their children, Max (8) and Seb (6), about the gravity of his condition.

“They don’t need to know it yet, we try to normalise it rather than make a fuss. Sometimes I say I’m too tired to do things but I try to do things with them whenever I can.

“They know something isn’t right.”

Peter travels across the UK at his own expense to raise awareness about registering as a stem cell donor.

He said despite the suffering he’s endured, the illness has made him reassess what’s most important in life.

“A full stem cell transplant will give me a brand-new immune system and give me the best possible chance of living beyond the seven-year estimate.

“I’m also trying to raise awareness about registering as a stem cell donor.

“We need more people to register as stem cell donors. It’s a simple process but it will save my life.”

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Magazine Features

Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL) is a type of hearing loss that occurs suddenly in the inner/middle ear.

Patients usually notice a decline in their hearing after hearing a sudden “pop” or after waking from a night’s rest.

This loss of hearing is most often unexplainable as only 10% of cases have been linked to other conditions and illnesses.

Patients usually put off seeing the doctor after experiencing this hearing loss as they think it is something that will pass. This is, however, a big mistake.

Immediate attention

According to a recent study, SSHL occurs in every 20 per 100 000 people, 90% of whom experience SSHL in only one ear.

Some babies are born with SSHL as a result of genetic factors. 

Symptoms of SSHL can include muffled sounds, dizziness, loss of balance, difficulty hearing high-pitched sounds, not being able to isolate certain sounds if there’s a lot of background noise, and tinnitus. Tinnitus is a constant buzzing and ringing sound in your ears.

Doctors recommend that you immediately see your GP or ear, nose and throat specialist. Putting off getting your hearing checked puts you at greater risk of it not returning to normal.

According to Health 24 expert Dr Kara Hoffman, “It is vital to have your hearing tested immediately, and the earlier you can attend to it by stimulating the nerves and brain, the better the outcome.”

Treatment 

Research suggests that SSHL be attended to and treated within 24–48 hours. Even then the chance of recovering one’s hearing is only 50%. The American Hearing Research Foundation notes that should one wait more than two weeks before attending to the hearing loss, recovering one’s hearing is close to 0%.

The difficulty about SSHL is that you may mistake it for being a temporary hearing loss. You may think that it is simply an earwax or fluid blockage that will clear in a couple of days. The problem is that the symptoms in both cases are pretty much the same. That is why any kind of hearing loss needs to be checked, just in case it’s something more serious. 

If you suffer from an ear infection, head trauma, blood circulation issues, Ménière’s disease or neurological disorders like multiple sclerosis you may be subject to SSHL.

Doctors commonly treat SSHL by injecting steroids into the inner ear. The steroids help to reduce any swelling and inflammation that may have occurred in the ear.

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Lauren Mitchell