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Based on the 2022 Opinions and Lifestyle Survey issued by the Office for National Statistics, there are approximately 4.5 million vapers in Great Britain, most of whom believe that e-cigarettes are safer than conventional cigarettes since they do not contain tobacco, and contain much lower levels of other carcinogens associated with normal cigarettes. Setting cancer

For many of us who are time poor and cannot face cooking from scratch at the end of a long day at work, ready meals and other convenience foods can feel like a godsend. However, many of these types of food fall into the category of “ultra-processed”, and more and more research is showing that

It might have the fewest days in number but for many people February feels like the longest month of the year, with dark mornings and evenings, and often leaden skies during the day. It can therefore feel like there is not a lot to smile, or indeed laugh, about. A good laugh certainly improves mood

Research published in December 2023 has shown that cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide. The research was a collaboration between the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the US Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in the USA. Together they looked at 18

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD as it is more commonly known, is a disabling condition affecting approximately 2.6 million people in the UK, of which 694,000 are children. Symptoms include restlessness, impulsiveness, and a strong difficulty in focussing or concentrating. Although most cases are diagnosed in childhood, an increasing number of adults are being

For as far back as I can remember, 10,000 steps a day has been the Holy Grail of daily physical activity, with the promise of better health and fitness if only we can incorporate 10,000 paces into our day. The principle sounds easy but it is a fairly elusive target for those with sedentary occupations

The British Heart Foundation estimates that 1.4 million people in the UK today have survived a heart attack. It also estimates that some 30,000 people a year suffer a heart attack outside of a hospital setting (known as OHCA, or an “out-of-hospital cardiac arrest”), and of those 30,000, only 1 in 10 survive. The world

October is National Cholesterol Month in the UK, a month-long initiative to raise awareness of the dangers of high cholesterol and measures that an individual can take to reduce theirs. There are several components that together make up the blood cholesterol level, the two major components being LDL (low density lipoprotein) and HDL (high density

29th September is World Heart Day, established by the World Heart Federation in conjunction with the World Health Organization to help increase awareness of cardiovascular disease and how it can be prevented. The latest statistics from the British Heart Foundation estimate that today alone in the UK 460 people will die from cardiovascular disease. For

In recent times tabloid newspapers and medical journals alike have been ablaze with articles about semaglutide (also known as Wegovy and Ozempic), both positive and negative. Many celebrities have endorsed it as a weight loss drug, but it was first developed as a drug for diabetics, to help control their blood sugar. It works by

According the British Heart Foundation around 15 million people in the UK have high blood pressure, and of those, at least half are not receiving effective treatment. Given that 50% of all heart attacks and strokes in the UK are associated with high blood pressure, the importance of achieving consistently optimal blood pressure control cannot

In last month’s article “What’s blood pressure go to to do with it?” we spoke about the importance of maintaining good blood pressure control and the potential consequences of persistently high readings. Standard blood pressure monitoring devices involve a cuff around the upper arm, which is either inflated manually by a doctor using a sphygmomanometer