his could be the simplest bit of health advice ever: Exercise reduces women's risk of breast cancer, no matter what kind of exercise they do, how old they are, how much they weigh, or when they get started.

Researchers in France looked at studies that involved more than 4 million women around the world who participated in prospective studies from 1987 to 2013. They found that the more active a woman is, the better her odds of avoiding breast cancer. Women who were most active, with more than an hour a day of vigorous activity, got the most benefits, lowering their cancer risk by 12 percent.

But women weren't as active saw reduced risk, too, notes Mathieu Boniol, research director at the Strathclyde Institute for Global Public Health in Lyon, France. More activity was better, but anything was better than nothing. He presented the data Thursday at the European Breast Cancer Conference in Glasgow.

"This decrease is the same whatever the country, whatever the age, whatever the menopausal status," Boniol told Shots. And it didn't matter if women were active in work, activities of daily living, or sports. "It's very good news."

Scientists don't know why physical activity reduces breast cancer risk. There's been speculation about exercise's effect on hormones and inflammation, but no one knows for sure.

Other studies have found breast cancer risk reductions as high as 25 percent from physical activity, but Boniol says that because of the huge number of women included in this analysis, the 12 percent reduction is more accurate.

Women who were overweight or obese benefited a little less, but still lowered their risk by 10 percent overall.

And women who got moving after menopause also saw benefits from exercise. "It's not something to say, 'Oh, I've never done sports why do that right now?' " Boniol says. "We now have evidence that it could still be beneficial. And it's cheap. It's a very cheap way to do prevention of breast cancer."

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/03/20/291894075/exercise-cuts-breast-cancer-risk-for-all-women-everywhere

Top 10 tips to keep oral cancer at bay

Top 10 tips to keep oral cancer at bay

20th March is World Oral Health Day.

‘Quit smoking!’, ‘Don’t chew tobacco!’, ‘Ban gutka!’, ‘Keep away from second hand smoke!’, ‘Smoking causes cancer’ — all this advice usually tends to fall on deaf ears. Even gory ads portraying people dying of cancer solely because they chewed tobacco or smoked, has not seemed to make a dent in the number of people smoking or indulging in smokeless tobacco. So where are all the anti-tobacco and anti-cancer crusaders falling short? Well, it might just be their approach. In a new way to approach the problem, Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, renowned Head and Neck surgeon at Tata Memorial Hospital, and an fervent crusader against tobacco tells you about 10 ways you can prevent the disease. After all prevention is better than cure — especially in the case of cancer.

Today oral cancer is becoming an increasingly common disease that affects people from all walks of life, age groups and genders. Due to the stress of modern life, it is imperative for all of us to pay heed to our health by adopting certain lifestyle changes. In fact, the problem of oral cancer is so bad that India is known as the oral cancer capital of the world with 86 percent of the world’s cases recorded in the country. This is probably also due to the fact that India is renowned for its gutka and tobacco product consumption.

It is a serious cause of concern that the number of cancer patients amongst the youth is on the rise and many of them could be victims of cancer due to their consumption of oral forms of tobacco.

There is a misconception that cancer is an unavoidable disease. The general tendency among most people is to blame fate or bad luck for the disease. The fact is that cancer like most other diseases are caused by a variety of choices that we make throughout our lives. Smoking, drinking, eating junk food and a sedentary lifestyle as well as many more factors play a part in causing cancer. Here are some changes that you can make to your lifestyle to avoid the dreaded disease:

1. Quit Tobacco Chewing: It is a proven fact that tobacco whether chewed raw or in the form of gutka is the single biggest cause of oral cancer in India.

2. Quit Smoking: Smoking in any form whether cigarettes, bidi, pipes or hukka is well known to cause oral cancer. Read more about the 25 things that happen in your body when you smoke.

3. Quit Betel nut and Pan masala: Betel nut or supari is an independent risk factor for oral cancer and it is the main ingredients of pan masala.

4. Quit Alcohol: Alcohol is an established risk factor for oral cancer. The carcinogenicity increases many folds when consumed along with tobacco.

5. Maintain Good Oral Hygiene: Brush and floss your teeth daily as bad oral hygiene is a known risk factor for oral cancer.

6. Regular Self Oral examination: Examine your oral cavity in good light once every month to look for non-healing ulcers, areas of bleeding, abnormal patches or any swellings, as these may be signs of cancer and early detection means better cure.

7. Regular Dental Checkup: The dentist may be the first person to detect oral cancer, also inform him about any sharp tooth causing repeated trauma.

8. Avoid Increased Sun Exposure: UV rays are a known risk factor for cancer especially of the lower lip. Try and limit sun exposure and ensure that you wear sun screen whilst going out.

9. Don’t ignore any ulcer / bleeding / pain: If you spot any ulcers or bleeding that do not respond to treatment for 2 -3 months, please go get it checked out as it could be something more serious.

10. Proper Diet and a Healthy Lifestyle: A diet rich in vegetables, fruits and nuts with regular exercise is known to protect from oral cancer. Most of us have sedentary lifestyles and we must try and balance this by doing some form of regular exercise.

Friday 7 March 2014

5 facts about online dating

By Aaron Smith 6 comments

This Valentine’s Day, many American singles will be looking for love on one of the multitude of online dating sites and mobile dating apps on the market today. The Pew Research Center released a study about the world of online dating in late 2013, which found that 11% of American adults have used an online dating site or a mobile dating app. Here are five facts from our research about the world of dating in the digital age.
1Online dating has lost much of its stigma. A majority of Americans now say online dating is a good way to meet people, when that hasn’t always been the case.

When we first studied online dating habits in 2005, most Americans had little exposure to online dating or to the people who use it, and they tended to view it as a subpar way of meeting people. Today, almost half of the public knows someone who uses online dating or who has met a spouse or partner via online dating—and their attitudes towards online dating have grown progressively more positive.
To be sure, there are still lots of people today who don’t really understand why someone would want to find a romantic partner online—21% of Americans agree with the statement that “people who use online dating sites are desperate”—but in general it is much more culturally acceptable than it was just eight years ago.
2One-in-five adults ages 25-34 years old have used online dating, but it’s also popular with older singles, too.

Online dating peaks among people in their mid-20s through mid-40s. Some 22% of 25-34 year olds and 17% of 35-44 year olds have used an online dating site or mobile dating app. Indeed, 45-54 year olds are just as likely to date online as are 18-24 year olds (8% of 45-54 year olds and 10% of 18-24 year olds are online daters). This might seem counterintuitive—aren’t most of those 18-24 year olds single? But middle-aged adults are often described as a “thin dating market,” meaning that they have a relatively limited number of available partners within their immediate social circles. Other researchers have argued that online dating is most useful to people in these thin dating markets, and our own findings seem to bear this out in the case of age.
3One-third of people who have used online dating have never actually gone on a date with someone they met on these sites.
If you haven’t found quite what you’re looking for on an online dating site, you aren’t alone. Two thirds of online daters—66%—tell us that they have gone on a date with someone they met through a dating site or dating app. That is a substantial increase from the 43% of online daters who had actually progressed to the date stage when we first asked this question in 2005. But it still means that one-third of online daters have not yet met up in real life with someone they initially found on an online dating site.
4One-in-five online daters have asked someone else to help them with their profile.
Many online daters enlist their friends in an effort to put their best digital foot forward. Some 22% of online daters have asked someone to help them create or review their profile. Women are especially likely to enlist a friend in helping them craft the perfect profile—30% of female online daters have done this, compared with 16% of men.
55% of Americans who are in a marriage or committed relationship say they met their significant other online.
Despite the wealth of digital tools that allow people to search for potential partners, and even as one-in-ten Americans are now using one of the many online dating platforms, the vast majority of relationships still begin offline. Even among Americans who have been with their spouse or partner for five years or less, fully 88% say that they met their partner offline–without the help of a dating site.
Quiz: Online Dating: What’s Your View?
Report: How American Couples Use Technology

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/02/13/5-facts-about-online-dating/

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Our Vision and Services

Our vision is of a society where no one should experience discrimination on the grounds of their mental health.

Mental health problems are extremely common across society, with one in four of us experiencing them in any year. Despite being so common, people from all communities will still experience discriminatory attitudes and behaviours that can prevent people from speaking out, seeking support and playing full and active roles in our communities. The impact of mental health stigma and discrimination will vary between communities as mental health has a cultural context that affects the way communities talk about the subject and engage with people who have mental health problems. In some cultures depression, for example, doesn't exist and in others an experience of a mental health problem can be attached to a sense of shame.

For the African and Caribbean communities a key issue is the overrepresentation of young African and Caribbean men in mental health services. Misconceptions and stereotypes have led to a perception that this group is more likely to pose a risk of violent behaviour and, as a result, they are more likely to be treated as inpatients and sectioned when compared to other groups. It is well documented that this has led to a fear of talking about mental health issues more openly and a fear of using mental health services. Research by the Race Equality Foundation (2011) also highlighted fears that discrimination against Black & Minority Ethnic (BME) communities and migrant service users will increase in the austerity climate and whilst commissioning arrangements change.

Our Services

· Provide information, advice, advocacy

· Represent diversity communities in Health Care services, policies and strategies

· Organise training in health and social care in collaboration with local colleges

· Provide human resources ( including interpreters) who are suitable to the diversity communities especially to break language and cultural barriers

· Provides domiciliary care and support

· Provide services such specialised support for people with mental health needs, including people who suffer from short-term memory problems, Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease.

· Provide visits to elderly people and help them with outings and home services

· Participate in local authority and NHS consultations , research events and programmes to voice the needs of diversity communities.

· Increase access to services and rights for disadvantaged people and the most vulnerable of our society

· Help and support unemployed people to look for work, including training and job preparation

· Provide legal advice in a range of issues from on Immigration and Asylum , welfare benefits, housing, health, education, community care, and training, employment, etc.

· Provide advice and guidance, information and practical help so that our service users can access opportunities they are entitled to

· Organise training and other community learning opportunities that provide new skills, increase confidence and motivation

· Support our service users to overcome barriers to learning, employment and training

· Provide support for young people with their education, training, confidence building, employment and social needs.

Objectives of our Diversity Living Programme:

· To promote the inclusion and participation of diversity communities* in integrated care.

· To inform policy, locally and nationally, and assisting in the formulation of effective policies, strategies and good practices in integrated care in order to contribute to improved health outcomes for the people from the diversity communities (e.g. Black and minority ethnic communities) and to ensure health services are able to meet their specific needs.

· To improve the quality of life for diversity people with disability, mental health problems and their families and carers through integrated care by providing inclusive advocacy and information.

· To provide service that enable diversity groups and individuals with disability /elderly and their carers to make the right choice for themselves and have an influence on decisions made about their future.

· To promote the rights of diversity people with disability, their families and carers and make sure their rights are safe and protected.

· To promoting access to information regarding healthcare issues and to raise awareness of the needs of diversity disabled children, young people, older people and their families.

· To promote the rights of older and disabled diversity people, helping them overcome and enable them to participate in decisions about their future

· To provide support and information to those suffering the isolation and loneliness that can be associated with disability and old age

· To fight against mental health stigma in refugee, black and minority ethnic communities and ensure no one should experience discrimination on the grounds of their mental health or disability.

*Diversity communities are older people, disabled people, Black, Asian, refugees, migrants, asylum seekers and other ethnic minorities.

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Saturday 25 October 2014

We Need to Tackle Mental Health Stigma in African and Caribbean Communities

Tuesday 25 March 2014

Personal health budgets in England - making them work in mental health

Friday 21 March 2014

Exercise Cuts Breast Cancer Risk For All Women Everywhere

Top 10 tips to keep oral cancer at bay

Friday 7 March 2014

5 facts about online dating

5 facts about online dating

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Objectives of our Diversity Living Programme: