Helix Clinic blog

In 2007, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (which is part of the WHO) listed shift work as a possible human carcinogen. This listing was based on studies that showed that shift workers are at a 48% higher risk of developing breast cancer than women who work regular daytime hours.

The body’s production of melatonin is reduced if night time is spent in artificial light. Melatonin acts to keep the biological clock ticking so that you are alert during the day and sleep at night, but is thought to also play a role in cancer protection.

There is evidence suggesting the night shift effect is also linked to reproductive health. A Danish study of 40000 women showed that night workers were more likely to have lower-weight babies or longer lasting pregnancies, potentially increasing the risks of still birth.

The ancient Chinese were keen observers of biological cycles, and used the language of yin and yang to describe their observations. They have long noted that staying up late or working into the night can deplete the ‘yin energy’, and over long periods of time, they also noticed that this deficiency can lead to fertility and reproductive problems or more serious illnesses such as cancer.

Tags: cancer, melatonin, yin energy

This Mother’s Day, Paola, one of our massage therapists is running a special offer on her natural face lift massages. It’s a wonderful gift to give to your mother as a way to show your appreciation for everything that mums do. And the best bit… if you buy your mum a natural facelift for Mother’s Day, you can get one yourself for free!

Why not check out Paola’s article on how to look more youthful and refreshed in just one hour? Try her massage and we guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Tags: natural facelift

A research study carried out by researchers at Glasgow University was published today in the journal Thorax.  They used data drawn from the medical records of 14,000 children who were followed from birth until the age of eleven-and-a-half. Parents were asked whether their children had shown signs of wheezing, and if their GP had diagnosed asthma at any stage.

The researchers found that children who watched more than two hours of TV a day at 39 months were twice as likely to have developed asthma compared to more active children. The baseline showed that 6% of children whose breathing was healthy at 39 months went on to be diagnosed with asthma by the age of eleven-and-a-half. The results were the same for boys and girls, and were unrelated to the children’s weight.

This study makes us think about how posture relates to lung function. Many small children sit on the floor to look at the TV (like in the picture above), which creates a classic slumped spinal posture with the neck tilted back. Traditional energy-building forms of exercise such as qi gong or yoga emphasise the importance of a straight spine. If the spine gets used to being in an unnatural position, then the organs of the body near to that part of the spine can often be affected. One of the most common examples of this that we see is if a patient comes in with a respiratory problem, and when we look at their posture we see that the upper part of the spine is often collapsed. The connection between the strength and structure of the spine and the internal organs is an important one, and the results of this new study certainly fit with that view.

If you suffer from a respiratory condition like asthma, take a minute or two to examine your own posture. Is the upper part of your spine collapsed in any way? If so, you may have found the key to changing your condition for the better, without the use of any steroid drugs or other medication.

Tags: asthma, children, television

This year, eating disorders awareness week is between the 23rd and 28th February. You can keep up to date with daily initiatives, projects and news on the website run by BEAT. BEAT is the leading UK charity for people with eating disorders and their families, and is the working name of the Eating Disorders Association.

Eating disorders are a serious mental illness, and they affect over a million people in the UK. BEAT provides helplines for adults and young people, online support and a UK-wide network of self-help groups to help people beat eating disorders.

If you have ever wondered if you suffer from an eating disorder, there is an effective and simple questionnaire that you can do to give you a better idea. The SCOFF questionnaire asks 5 questions, and was introduced in an article published in the BMJ in 1999. The questions are:

1. Do you make yourself (S)ick because you feel uncomfortably full?
2. Do you worry you have lost (C)ontrol over how much you eat?
3. Have you recently lost more than (O)ne stone in a 3 month period?
4. Do you believe yourself to be (F)at when others say you are too thin?
5. Would you say that (F)ood dominates your life?

In the original paper, two positive answers out of 5 were found to give a 100% sensitivity to anorexia and bulimia. There were a few false positives (i.e. if 2 or more positive answers were given by respondents who were not diagnosed with an eating disorder), but all of the respondents who had been independently diagnosed with anorexia, bulimia or both answered 2 or more questions positively.

If two or more of these questions are relevant for you and you haven’t been diagnosed with an eating disorder, it would be wise to make an appointment to talk to your GP to discuss it further.

We have other health-related questionnaires on our website. Why not check out our lifestyle questionnaire and checklist for symptoms of stress?

Tags: anorexia, BEAT, bulimia, eating disorders, questionnaire, SCOFF

If fertility consultants had a way to check collected eggs for chromosome abnormalities, they would be able to reduce the chances of miscarriage or birth defects after implantation. Recently, in Nottingham, doctors collected 9 eggs from a woman undergoing treatment and were successful in using a new screening technique to help identify the best eggs with intact chromosomes. The 41 year old woman had previously had 2 miscarriages and 13 subsequent unsuccessful courses of IVF, but fell pregnant after the cycle that used the new screening process.

The process could also potentially be helpful to doctors wanting to reduce the number of twins and triplets as a result of IVF, as it could improve the chances of selecting the most promising embryo and reducing the need to implant 2 or more in any given cycle.

The technique has not yet been subject to full rigorous trials so will probably not be widely available for some time yet, but seems a promising development in fertility medicine.

Tags: chromosome abnormalities, egg screening, infertility, IVF, miscarriage