Author: fitness-expert

Since 1987 there has been a ban on HIV+ people entering the United States.  The US is one of a minority of countries that took the view that people with HIV posed a public health risk to its citizens. This is in contrast to the vast majority of countries who treat HIV as being neutral regarding whether admission was granted. It is perhaps worth reflecting on the implications for HIV+ people of this ban. 1.        HIV+ people had to leave their medicines at home when travelling to the United States or face deportation.  Interruptions to treatment will have caused many…

It’s a sad fact, but look round the average nursing home and they are full to the rafters … with women.  Men often leave their partners widows but not the other way round. Research by Howard Friedman and Margaret Kern in California (reported in the New Scientist) suggests a way to confound the statistics – act conscientiously. The researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 20 papers that linked data from nearly 9000 people measuring conscientiousness and longevity.  What they found was quite remarkably.  People who were less conscientious were 50% more likely to die at any given age than those who…

Ever wondered what women go for in a man? Well research by Mark Prokosch and his team and reported in the Journal Evolution and Behaviour suggests that women tend to go for guys with more intelligence. The researchers filmed guys performing a range of routine tasks then played the films back to women. Not only were the women rating the guys with higher IQ’s as more desirable, they were also pretty smart themselves at rating a guys intelligence. Maybe men should be better advised to hit the library rather than the gym, at least if they want to maximise their…

All the really exciting developments in therapy these days make claim to the title ‘Cognitive Behavioural Therapy’ or CBT.  It’s a great therapy that helps you to understand the relationship between how you think and how you feel.  I know from my own practice, that for those clients that are open to the approach, they can make rapid improvements.  What about those clients that are unable, or unwilling, to visit a therapist?  Well there is an alternative in the form of online self help courses known as computerised CBT. Do the courses work?  What is interesting is that these online…

There has been a lot of recent press attention given to young children who have been excluded from school for inappropriate sexual behaviour.  I watched one mother talk of her outrage and concern at the ‘predatory’ behaviour of a boy in her sons class. The problem with having a sensible discussion about pre-teen sexuality is that the ‘official’ line is that pre-teens aren’t supposed to have one.  One recent study by Iqbal et al. (in press and cited by Iqbal and Pipon-Young, 2009) showed that across a panel of experts, very little consensus could be found on what is sexually…

Children of fathers who have psychiatric disorders are twice as likely to develop psychiatric or behavioural problems themselves.  This research has been published in The Lancet by a team of University of Oxford experts.  What is interesting about this, is men are most prone to psychiatric problems at about the same time they are likely to become fathers, between the ages of18 and 35. According to the researchers, too much emphasis has been given in the past to women’s mental health and its impact on their children and the effect of men’s mental health on their children has been neglected.  As…

MIND, the UK’s leading mental health charity, has launched a a new campaign focussed on men and mental health.  It has a two pronged attack.  First, it wants to encourage more men to talk about their mental health.  Second, it wants to urge health services to take better account of men’s needs. To launch the campaign, MIND commissioned a YouGov survey of over 2000 men and women.  They found that one in three men would be too embarrassed to seek help for a mental health issue, and only 23% of men would see their GP if they felt low.  Men,…

As the name ‘man boobs’ suggests, enlarged breasts in a male are often dismissed lightly, or even treated as a joke. This article provides information for men who might be embarrassed about seeking help and reassurance for their problem. What is Gynaecomastia? The mammary glands in males are normally so small that they are barely noticeable. True gynaecomastia occurs when the gland becomes enlarged, leading to protrusion of the breast. The enlargement is usually seen on both sides, though sometimes only one breast is affected. The most common form of gynaecomastia is thought to be caused by an imbalance between…

Research by Tony Cassidy and his team at Ulster University reported in Therapy Today, suggests that families with lots of boys are more vulnerable in times of divorce. It appears that girl’s in the family promoted a more “open attitude”, and encouraged family members to “talk about feelings” more often. The implication is that this helps mitigate the worst effects of family breakup. The Therapy Today article then went on to suggest that boys, as men do, tend to keep their problems to themselves, and try to work them through on their own. This is just a restatement of what…

When I was a university student, I formed some pretty strong conclusions about God and about science. God, or so I reasoned, was about the meaning of life and  morality, whereas science was about laws that govern the “stuff” that makes up the universe. There was no way in which one could inform or contradict the other. They were, or so I thought, different areas of human experience, so there was no point in saying things like “science proves that God doesn’t exist”, or that “science shows us the best way to behave is…”. Looking at some of the review…