Health Archives - Conversations through the middle

I’m in the Daily Express today – health feature: vitamin D deficiency

July 8, 2014

I’m in the Daily Express today, talking about my vitamin D deficiency and how treating it with supplements made a real difference to my health.

http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/487363/Lack-of-sunshine-vitamin-D-was-behind-my-mystery-ache-and-pain

Children and sleep – how do you make sure they get enough?

September 25, 2012

We are three weeks into the new school term and I have a problem. How do I get my 11-year-old daughter to go to bed? I’m serious. It’s not like I can just carry her upstairs or put her to bed as I did when she was little – she’s as tall as I am! And I spend so much time telling her to go to bed I sometimes wonder if I’m just white noise in the background.

Now she’s in senior school her days are longer; she has to leave home in the mornings an hour earlier than she did before, so she can catch the school bus, which means of course she’s up much earlier than she was before. That should mean she should be happy to go to bed at night, right? Of course she isn’t.

What is a reasonable time for a child of her age to go to sleep at night? I try for 8pm, thinking it will take her at least half and hour to actually get in to bed, but in truth most of the time I’m lucky if I can get her upstairs for 9pm. Even then I will often catch her reading when she is supposed to be sleeping.

To be fair, she does get up in the morning – eventually – and she hasn’t yet been late for school (not this one anyway), but I can see she is tired. What is it with children that they refuse to give in and go to bed when they are tired? I love my bed and would happily spend many more hours in it than I do, given the chance.

Is it a case of kids know everything, especially pre-teens and teenagers, and mum knows nothing? I don’t recall my parents having this problem with me and my sister and brothers.

Should I simply leave it and let her go to bed when she’s ready? Then that brings up a new set of problems – at what point do we parents get to have adult time or just time to chill?

While I’ve been pondering this issue for the past couple of weeks a new survey has been released by Travelodge focusing on children and sleep. It shows that the average child in the UK goes to bed at around 11.20pm during the week (whatever an average child is, I think they must mean on average).

It also states that children from seven to 11 years old should have between 9.5 and 11.5 hours sleep each night. According to Dr Pat Spungin, a child psychologist and parenting expert quoted in the report: “Scientific evidence shows that adequate night-time sleep is just as important as healthy eating and regular exercise for children to develop.” She says not getting enough sleep affects their concentrations, attention and mood. “Research also shows that children who are sleep deprived do less well academically, show more problem behaviour and have lower levels of social skills,” she adds.

So what can I do to improve the sleep situation at home? I’m open to ideas as I think this is very important. If you have time, leave your ideas and experiences in the comments section below as I would love to hear how other parents cope with the sleep issue, especially those of you with children around the same age as my daughter.

Hands that do dishes…

February 1, 2010

One thing I can guarantee at this time of year, without fail, my hands will become really dry and look ancient, while the skin on my fingers will crack and split in places and become really sore. It sounds horrible and it is, and it’s something that has been happening to me every winter since I was a child.

Many years ago I underwent a series of allergy tests but the doctors at the hospital couldn’t find anything obvious I was allergic to so they came to the conclusion that my hands got into such a state because of washing up and water. The doctor who spoke to me apologised for being ‘sexist’ but said it was because of all the cleaning/ washing dishes/ housework/ washing clothes that women do.

Well these days I never hand wash – the machine does it, I have a dishwasher and as for cleaning, my other half would laugh if somebody said I do too much housework. Yet my hands are still a mess.

So I’m on a mission to find the best hand cream to help them. And I have tried loads let me tell you. So far my favourite is by Dermalogica, but I’m open to suggestions if anybody can recommend others?

All for charity

December 5, 2009

You can look beautiful and help out a good cause at the same time with these hair straighteners from Nicky Clarke.

The Love Women Cermamic Straighteners carry the Ovarian Cancer Action Charity logo and 10% from the sale of each set is to go to the charity.

Nicky’s aim is to help raise awareness of ovarian cancer. He says: “I’m hoping my hair straightener will act as a talking point among families and groups of friends.”

Highlighting the disease can only be a good thing. Often symptoms are difficult to spot, just not there or are mistaken for something else, yet according to the Ovarian Cancer Action Charity, ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer found in women and each year almost 7,000 women are diagnosed with it.

Symptoms can include: Persistent pelvic and stomach pain, increased abdominal size / persistent bloating – not bloating that comes and goes, difficulty eating and feeling full quickly.

Sufferers may also notice urinary symptoms, changes in bowel habits, extreme tiredness or back pain.

Frighteningly, ovarian cancer is the fourth most common cause of death from cancer in women. Yet, if diagnosed early enough up to 90% of sufferers will survive for more than five years.

Forewarned is forearmend, visit Ovarian Cancer Action at www.ovarian.org.uk