Dienstag, 30. Juni 2015
Report: Women In CT Denied Some Mandated Health Benefits
Women in Connecticut have been denied health insurance benefits in violation of the federal Affordable Care Act, according to a study by the National Women’s Law Center.
Connecticut is one of 15 states included in the study, which analyzed the 2014 and 2015 health plans of companies that provide coverage under the ACA in state marketplaces. It found violations in all 15 states and concluded that they are likely occurring nationwide.
According to the report, Connecticut women have been denied coverage for the following: breastfeeding counseling and education after two months following delivery, infertility treatments after the age of 40, sterilization procedures, emergency birth control, and maintenance care for such things as lupus, HIV, and hormones after breast cancer treatment. Coverage was also denied for transgender transitions.
Some of the violations found in Connecticut have been corrected. The companies that participate in the state health marketplace, Access Health CT, are: Anthem Health Plans, ConnectiCare Benefits Inc., HealthyCT and UnitedHealth Group.
Karen Davenport, the law center’s director of health policy, said it takes all violations “seriously,” but added Connecticut didn’t have “really shocking problems” such as a Colorado insurer’s one-year waiting period for organ transplants, and a Tennessee insurer’s refusal to pay for labor and delivery costs for policyholders’ dependents.
The severity of a violation “depends on the woman and her circumstances,” Davenport said. “Where women aren’t able to get the services that the law guarantees them, depending on where you sit, any one of them could be egregious,” she said.
Some of the Connecticut violations were corrected in insurance plans after the state issued bulletins clarifying that transgender transitions, sterilization for women, and contraception should be fully covered without a co-pay or deductible.
The remaining problems with Connecticut plans mainly concern the duration for which breastfeeding counseling is covered and a lack of coverage for infertility treatments for women age 40 and older.
On breastfeeding counseling, the state’s Insurance Department informed insurers to provide coverage for an undefined postpartum period, according to spokeswoman Donna Tommelleo. The department used a federal guideline that stipulates coverage is required “during pregnancy and/or the postpartum period,” Tommelleo said.
But when asked for clarification, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) responded that health plans must cover breastfeeding counseling “for the duration of breastfeeding.”
The Insurance Department is now reviewing the infertility coverage issue and “collecting additional data,” Tommelleo said. All four companies in the state’s insurance marketplace limit infertility coverage to women younger than 40. But the law center report states, “many women over 40 still have reproductive capacity.”
Davenport, of the law center, explained that because Connecticut mandates coverage of infertility services in its benchmark plan for Essential Health Benefits, it must be covered under the ACA. “If Connecticut chose a benchmark plan that did not cover infertility, such as a plan offered under the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program, infertility would not be part of Connecticut’s Essential Health Benefits,” she said.
The state must also adhere to an ACA prohibition against age discrimination, Davenport said.
Meanwhile, the report praises the state’s Insurance Department for clarifying coverage requirements for contraception and transgender-related care. It calls the state’s birth control bulletin “an important step toward ensuring that issuers clearly understand the requirements of the law and are not inappropriately charging women cost-sharing.”
Susan Lloyd Yolen, vice president of public policy and advocacy for Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, said her organization joined the law center in approaching the Insurance Department, which was “eager to correct inconsistencies and violations.”
In May, the HHS informed insurers that all forms of contraception identified by the FDA should be fully covered. This followed a letter from 39 U.S. senators, including Connecticut Democrats Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, who complained about inconsistent contraception coverage.
“We take reports of non-compliance very seriously,” said Katie Hill, an HHS spokesperson.
After the state told insurers that failure to provide transgender transition coverage violates state discrimination law, all insurers in the state’s marketplace included it in their 2015 plans. None covered it in their 2014 plans, according to the law center report.
HealthyCT’s Chief Executive Officer Ken Lalime said when his company “became aware that policies were out of compliance, we immediately rectified the situation.” Its plan now includes coverage for lactation education through the duration of breastfeeding, and full coverage of female sterilization services and routine maternity care.
“As a brand new insurance company, HealthyCT had to write an entire Certificate of Coverage from scratch under new laws at the state and federal level,” he said, adding that “it’s unfortunate” that the law center didn’t acknowledge his company’s amended plan when it published its report.
ConnectiCare said it has been covering sterilization services for women without co-pays or deductibles since 2012 and disputed the law center’s contention that it hasn’t.
An Anthem spokesperson, Sarah Yeager, said in an email, “Our products are approved by the Connecticut Insurance Department.”
United, cited for the age limit in its infertility coverage, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Davenport said the center does not know how many women were affected by the violations. The state Insurance Department does not know how many Connecticut women have coverage under ACA, said Tommelleo. The report states that nearly 6.3 million women nationally bought insurance during the 2015 open enrollment period.
This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team (www.c-hit.org).
Report: Women In CT Denied Some Mandated Health Benefits
Montag, 29. Juni 2015
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Sonntag, 28. Juni 2015
Can cold weather help you lose weight?
A: Maybe. Cold weather may stimulate special tissue in your body which burns energy to keep you warm.
[Image source: iStockPhoto | Evgeny Sergeev]
Winter is here and with it, cold, bleak, short days where it’s easy to just lie around inside, eating comfort food instead of summer salads.
But could exposure to the cold help counteract our tendency to stack on extra kilos beneath our winter woollies?
Potentially yes, says Dr Paul Lee of Sydney’s Garvan Institute of Medical Research, who studies the impact of cold exposure on humans. In the interests of his research, he even elected to subject himself to cold showers daily to explore a theory about how the cold changes the body’s metabolism.
“Yes, that is true, I did take cold showers but I am not recommending it!” he says.
Lee believes cold exposure might have a role in fighting the obesity epidemic which has seen two-thirds of Australians become overweight or obese. Worldwide, there are now more people overweight than underweight.
It turns out cold temperatures stimulate the creation and activity of a special type of tissue in the body called brown fat, which, under the right conditions, burns energy to generate heat to keep us warm.
Fighting fat with fat
Brown fat is a type of fat, but strangely, it could help make you thin.
It functions quite differently in the body from the fat we’re familiar with in the bulges that appear around our tummies, legs, arms and hips. That fat, known as white fat, is made up of cells which serve as a store-house for the fat that accumulates when we eat too much and don’t exercise.
But brown fat, which exists in only small amounts in the lower neck area and collar bone area, contains cells that serve to burn white fat and in doing so, generate the release of energy as heat.
“You can think of brown fat as like a generator, a power house. It can basically combust excess energy and transform it into heat which is lost to the environment,” Lee says.
Lee’s research has shown you need not subject yourself to Arctic conditions to stimulate the fat-burning properties of brown fat. It starts burning kilojoules when stimulated by temperatures as high as 19°C for as little as six hours per day.
No magic bullet
So exposure to cold can stimulate the creation and fat-burning activity of brown fat.
But, “unless people are exposing themselves to cold continuously, brown fat is not active all the time,” Lee warns. What’s more “if a person is not careful with their diet, the extra energy burnt during cold exposure can easily be compensated by extra food intake.”
In other words, our Western tendency to rug up, stay cosy and over-eat in winter means we may not activate our brown fat – or the calorie-burning powers that come with it.
“A bout of exercise like jogging can burn energy, but if that is done infrequently in the setting of general over-eating, then weight loss benefits are lessened,” Lee says.
Before you take off your clothes…
Lee says his work may one day lead to drugs that could mimic the beneficial effects of cold on the body, without the cold exposure.
In the meantime, if you want to try getting a little more chilly occasionally, that’s fine. But Lee doesn’t suggest anything as radical as switching to cold showers daily.
Like training for a marathon, you have to train yourself for exposure to the cold, slowly building up your tolerance and enabling your body to become “thermally fitter”, he says.
As with most weight loss methods, losing kilos tends to be challenging and exposure to cold temperatures alone is unlikely to be the answer. But it might help a bit.
“Boosting brown fat may be another strategy [to weight loss] but diet and exercise are certainly the two most studied and evidenced methods,” Lee says.
Dr Paul Lee discusses brown fat
Brown fat facts
- Until recently, it was thought only small animals and babies had stores of brown fat but it has since been discovered that adult humans also have it. But whether everyone is born with the same amount of brown fat isn’t yet known.
- Most humans have between 50g and 200g in the lower neck area and around the collar bones.
- While that may not seem like much fat to conquer obesity, it is extremely metabolically active tissue and if kept continuously active, it could burn as much as 4.5kg of white fat in a year.
- Dr Lee’s ICEMAN study found that cool environments stimulate development of brown fat, while warm environments stimulate the loss of brown fat.
- Animals with lots of brown fat are lean and protected from diabetes, obesity and fatty liver disease, which may cause permanent liver damage.
Endocrinologist Dr Paul Lee spoke to Jennifer King.
Published 29/06/2015
Can cold weather help you lose weight?
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Same sex marriage can improve health!
The historic US Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage could improve the health of gay, lesbian and bisexual people, says experts.
Evidence shows heterosexual people who are married have better physical and mental health than people who are not married.
Research done so on same sex marriage also suggests that marriage may provide the same benefits for same-sex couples.
“We know that marriage does enhance people’s health,” Richard Wight, a community health researcher at the University of California was quoted as saying in a Live Science report.
“Now, there’s the potential for marriage to enhance the health of sexual monitories in the same way it does for heterosexual people,” Wight added.
A recent study that Wight and colleagues conducted found that sexual monitories who were in same-sex marriages were no different than married heterosexuals in terms of their general level of psychological stress.
The right to marriage may have the potential to offset differences in mental health between sexual monitories and heterosexuals, Wight said.
Another study, which surveyed more than 2,600 people who were gay, lesbian or bisexual, found that those who were in legally recognized relationships reported lower levels of stress, fewer depressive symptoms and more meaning in their lives than those who were in committed relationships that did not have a legal status.
The exact reasons why marriage improves people’s health are not known, but it may be due to a number of factors, including being in a supportive relationship and having an improved financial status.
The benefits of legalizing same-sex marriage may even extend to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual (LGB) people who are not married. A 2011 study found that after same-sex marriage was legalized in Massachusetts in 2003, there was a decrease in health care visits.
The US Supreme Court ruled on June 26 that same-sex couples can marry nationwide and states cannot ban such marriages.
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Same sex marriage can improve health!
Samstag, 27. Juni 2015
Letter: Milk can be especially lethal for men
Today
‘Cows are amazing animals.” That’s what the author of a recent Forum commentary wrote as she told the story of her 20-year-old son’s longtime love of cows. She’s right. But what is most amazing about cows is how much they have contributed to our health problems. As we observe Men’s Health Month, it’s important to be clear about the serious health risks dairy products in particular pose to men.
I know how deep-rooted the milk myth is in our culture. Growing up in Fargo, I drank cartons of milk for lunch and always a glass of milk at dinner. It wasn’t until after I graduated medical school – and eventually saw my family members being attacked by diseases like cancer, artery disease, and dementia – that I began to question our milk-heavy diets.
Milk can be especially deadly for men. For decades, studies have consistently shown that the more milk men drink, the greater their risk for developing prostate cancer.
A study published earlier this month found that men who consume three or more servings of dairy products per day increase their risk of dying from prostate cancer by a staggering 141 percent.
In spite of this link, milk marketers continue to create campaigns that target men and boys. In recent years, we’ve seen Super Man flexing his muscles and sporting a milk mustache, while ultra-protein-packed products like MuscleMilk and Powerful Yogurt – Greek yogurt designed for the “needs of active men” – have popped up on grocery store shelves.
So what makes dairy products so dangerous? They’re extraordinarily high in fat, for one thing. A typical slice of cheese derives a whopping 70 percent of its calories from fat. In fact, dairy products are the top source of artery-clogging saturated fat in the American diet. On top of that, they’re a major source of sodium and cholesterol.
Continuous milk marketing has also been a major contributor to the obesity epidemic. The average American now consumes about 630 pounds of dairy products per year.
If you imagined you need milk for strong bones, science has shown otherwise. A large-scale Harvard study found no evidence that milk consumption can prevent bone fractures or osteoporosis. Another study of more than 96,000 people found that the more milk men consumed as teenagers, the more bone fractures they experience as adults.
In the coming months, North Dakota’s fields will be rich in tomatoes, radishes and cucumbers. We’ll be able to pick lettuce, peas, and green beans. With research showing that vegetable consumption can dramatically reduce the risk of prostate cancer and other forms of chronic disease, let’s celebrate the health of our sons, brothers and fathers with these foods instead of dairy products.
Barnard, M.D., is originally from Fargo. He is founder and president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Letter: Milk can be especially lethal for men
June 23 at 8:10pm
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June 23 at 8:10pm
5 Essential Tricks for Dealing with a Sunburn
Of course you recognize the relevance of sun block, yet often, no matter just how attentive you were with reapplying, you still end up getting too much sunlight. While the damages of a sunburn can not be undone (regretfully), there are points you can do to quicken the healing procedure as well as soothe your red, swollen skin. We asked Joshua Zeichner, MD, supervisor of cosmetic as well as scientific research study in the division of dermatology at Mount Sinai Healthcare facility in New york city City, about the very best method to really feel better fast.
Work from the inside out
So you’re on the way home from the beach, and one look in the rearview mirror informs you that you remain in trouble. As soon as you recognize your skin is a little too red, take an over-the-counter anti-inflammatory tablet like ibuprofen or aspirin, Dr. Zeichner recommends. This could aid quit inflammation and also soreness from obtaining any sort of worse and also alleviate discomfort.
RELATED: 5 Skin care Techniques to Look Better in a Swimwear
Cool
Once you get to a shower, rinse off with cool water to calm skin and eliminate any kind of chlorine, salt water or sand that might be remaining and creating more irritability. Have a bath? Even better! Bring in a cup of entire oats to the great bath water for additional soothing power.
Moisturize
The sun zaps moisture from the skin, so be sure to replenish it consistently over the following few days with an abundant cream. Zeichner recommends looking for ones that contain aloe, glycerin or hyaluronic acid like Sunlight Bum Cool Aloe Spray ($12, nordstrom.com). If it’s a small location like your nose, neck or ears, try a 1 % hydrocortisone ointment like Cortizone 10 Hydrocortisone Anti-Itch Lotion Plus 10 Creams ($9, walgreens.com) to decrease swelling. Hot tip: Maintain your moisturizers in the fridge for an extra energizing surprise.
RELATED: The best ways to Perform a Self-Exam For Skin Cancer cells
Make use of a DIY compress
Attempt utilizing an awesome compress soaked in skim milk, egg whites or environment-friendly tea. The proteins in milk and also egg whites layer as well as soothe the melt while eco-friendly tea lowers inflammation.
Drain
Not just does the sunlight take away the moisture from your skin, it additionally dehydrates the rest of your body as well, which is why you may additionally feel extra tired after a lengthy day in the sunlight. Combat the sun’s damages by drinking great deals of water and also eating water loaded fruit like watermelon, honeydew melon, cantaloupe, or grapes.
5 Essential Tricks for Dealing with a Sunburn
Freitag, 26. Juni 2015
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Donnerstag, 25. Juni 2015
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2016 Chevrolet Cruze introduced with sleeker design and 250 lbs weight loss [videos]
- Larger and lighter; all-new compact car is more agile with a dynamic driving experience
- All-new, standard 1.4L turbo engine with direct injection offers a GM-estimated 40 mpg highway; stop/start technology contributes to efficiency in stop-and-go driving
- New Chevrolet MyLink offers better performance, plus compatibility with both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, for smart, simple smartphone integration
- Advanced safety features include Side Blind Zone Alert, Rear Cross-Traffic Alert, Lane Keep Assist and Forward Collision Alert
- On sale in the U.S. in early 2016; diesel model follows in 2017
DETROIT – Chevrolet today introduced the all-new 2016 Cruze – a larger and lighter, more efficient and more sophisticated evolution of the brand’s best-selling global car.
Packed with new technologies such as available Android Auto, Apple CarPlay and new active safety features, as well as a more spacious interior and an athletic, aerodynamically optimized design, the 2016 Cruze elevates the compact car segment – from San Francisco to Shanghai and from Boston to Buenos Aires.
It will be offered in more than 40 global markets and goes on sale first in North America in early 2016. A new, standard 1.4L turbocharged engine with direct injection and an SAE-certified 153 horsepower (113 kW) helps enable a General Motors-estimated 40 mpg on the highway with the available six-speed automatic transmission. Stop/start technology helps enhance the Cruze’s efficiency in stop-and-go driving.
The new turbo engine and a leaner architecture that reduces up to 250 pounds (113 kg) also contribute to the new Cruze’s stronger performance, with expected 0-60-mph acceleration of eight seconds.
“The 2016 Cruze builds on a very successful program that introduced Chevrolet to new customers the world over,” said Alan Batey, president, General Motors North America. “We retained all the attributes that made the original Cruze a hit around the globe and built on them to make this car more sophisticated, more fun and more Chevrolet.”
Vehicle highlights include:
- Next-generation Chevrolet MyLink with smartphone integration capability, including a standard seven-inch-diagonal screen and available eight-inch-diagonal screen (at launch, eight-inch screen only with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto coming later)
- New 1.4L turbo engine with direct injection and stop/start technology matched with a standard six-speed manual or available six-speed automatic transmission (North America)
- Maximum highway range of 530 miles per tank
- All-new, stronger and lighter body structure enhances agility, efficiency and safety – with an approximately 250-pound (113 kg) lower curb weight
- Class-leading 106.3-inch (2,700 mm) wheelbase enhances roominess, contributing to greater rear-seat legroom and more rear knee room
- Projector headlamps with light-emitting diode (LED) signature lighting – and LED daytime running lamps on uplevel models
- More standard features than most competitors’ small cars such as 10 air bags, four-wheel disc brakes, rearview camera and available OnStar 4G LTE with Wi-Fi hotspot
- New, available features including wireless phone charging, heated rear leather seats and heated, leather-wrapped steering wheel
- Available advanced safety features include Side Blind Zone Alert, Rear Cross-Traffic Alert, Lane Keep Assist and Forward Collision Alert
- New model range for North America including L, LS, LT and Premier – and a more expressive RS package.
“The new Cruze is truly one of Chevrolet’s most global vehicles,” said Batey. “With content variations dictated mostly by local market demands, customers in every corner of the globe will enjoy the same fundamental dynamics that are making Chevrolet one of the fastest-growing brands around the world.”
In 2017, Chevrolet will introduce a new diesel model for U.S. customers that builds on the success of the current Cruze diesel model.
Wind tunnel-optimized design
The 2016 Cruze’s expressive design balances the designers’ inspiration and the efficiency-optimizing input of wind tunnel testing – leveraging the aero experience of vehicles including the Volt. The result is one of the sleekest-looking cars in the class, with a 0.29 coefficient of drag – an attribute that contributes directly to a GM-estimated 40 mpg on the highway.
Proportionally, the new Cruze is 2.7 inches (68 mm) longer and nearly an inch (25 mm) shorter in height than the current model, giving it a longer and leaner appearance. A faster windshield rake and a faster-sloping rear profile lend a sportier look to the design, while the rear profile culminates in a standard integral rear spoiler that contributes to the car’s aero efficiency.
The sleek profile is complemented by detailed, layered line work in the hood and body-side panels, contributing to an overall impression of muscularity – with an athletic stance enhanced by a longer wheelbase.
“With styling influenced by the acclaimed 2014 Impala and all new Malibu, the 2016 Cruze brings Chevrolet’s new, expressive global design language to the small car segment,” said John Cafaro, executive director, Chevrolet Design. “The Cruze’s approach to proportion and premium details adds to Chevrolet’s elevation of craftsmanship, content, quality and a fresh interpretation of an identity that is unmistakably Chevrolet in every market around the world.”
The headlamps sweep back into the front fenders and an expressive, stacked dual-port grille design offers upscale attention to detail. LT and Premier models feature premium forward lighting systems, including projector-beam headlamps and LED signature daytime running lamps.
Additional design details include:
- The center-rear stop lamp is mounted at the top of the roof line for a more refined appearance
- Seamless rocker panels convey upscale attention to detail and contribute to aerodynamic performance
- Polished aluminum, piano black and bright-finished accents provide a more contemporary, upscale aura to the design
- The RS package includes unique grilles, front and rear fascias, fog lamps, front splitter, rocker panels, rear spoiler and 18-inch wheels on the Premier model.
Roomier, more-connected passenger space
With greater spaciousness and technology, the 2016 Cruze’s interior is designed to be more comfortable and a better connected environment for the driver and passengers.
The greater spaciousness includes more rear legroom (36.1 inches / 917 mm) and two inches (51 mm) more rear knee room – more than Ford Focus and Hyundai Elantra. Beyond the quantifiable, there’s greater perceptual spaciousness in the new Cruze, driven by flowing line work in the instrument panel, which blends almost seamlessly with the front door panels.
Like the exterior, the Cruze’s interior – and the instrument panel in particular – feature lean, muscular and layered surfaces built around the Chevrolet-signature dual-cockpit theme. It’s a thoroughly modern design that emphasizes human-technology interaction through the prominent, standard MyLink screen in the “center stack.”
A mixture of accents, from piano black and matte black finishes to bright trim, along with more premium features such as available heated rear leather seats and wireless phone charging, complement the cabin with an upscale ambience generally reserved for midsize sedans – but one that is becoming increasingly important to customers around the globe who want premium amenities in smaller vehicles.
Additional interior features and amenities include:
- Unique center console design for North America with specific user interface details such as a repositioned shifter, more intuitive positioning of the cup holders and enhanced storage
- More soft-touch surfaces and animal-grained, micro-etched surfacing that enhance the premium look and feel of the interior, as well as premium fabrics with French stitching, distinctive for its contrasting stitch colors. Premium leather is available
- 4.2-inch-diagonal high-resolution driver information center in the gauge cluster
- Premium features including heated front cloth seats, heated rear leather-trimmed seats, and heated and leather-wrapped steering wheel.
Through smartphone integration, Cruze’s all-new Chevrolet MyLink infotainment system provides simple and intuitive use of smartphones in the vehicle. It integrates certain phone functions onto the Cruze’s seven-inch-diagonal color touchscreen, allowing them to call up music, navigation apps and more. An uplevel MyLink radio with an eight-inch display and navigation is available and also incorporates Apple CarPlay.
Apple CarPlay takes the iPhone features owners want to access while driving and puts them on the vehicle’s display in a smart, simple manner. This allows drivers to make calls, send and receive messages and listen to music right from the touchscreen or by voice via Siri. Apple CarPlay-supported apps include Phone, Messages, Maps, Music and compatible third-party apps. A full list of those apps can be found atApple.com/ios/carplay. Apple CarPlay is compatible with iOS 7.1 or higher.
Android Auto is built around Google Maps, Google Now and the ability to talk to Google, as well as a growing audio and messaging app ecosystem that includes WhatsApp, Skype, Google Play Music, Spotify and podcast players. A full list of supported apps is available at g.co/androidauto. Android Auto requires a phone running an Android Lollipop 5.0 operating system or higher.
Using both applications is simple. A “Projection” icon on the MyLink screen is visible when a phone is not connected, then changes to indicate CarPlay or Android Auto when a compatible phone is connected via USB.
Compatible apps need to be downloaded to a phone before using. Apple and Google’s privacy statements and terms of use apply. Data plan rates may also apply.
Complementing MyLink to enhance Cruze’s connectivity is available OnStar with 4G LTE and built-in Wi-Fi hotspot.
Larger, lighter and more dynamic
An all-new, more rigid and lighter architecture is the 2016 Cruze’s foundation for driving dynamism, while also playing significant roles in safety and efficiency. It is constructed of about 8-percent hot-stamped/high-strength steels, which contributes to an approximately 27-percent stiffer body structure that is also 53 pounds (24 kg) lighter than the current Cruze.
The lighter structure is also larger than the current model, with the new Cruze’s 106.3-inch (2,700 mm) wheelbase stretching nearly an inch longer, while supporting front and rear suspensions with wide tracks (60.8-inch front/61.3-inch rear). Aluminum is used strategically in the suspension systems to optimize weight and handling characteristics.
“The Cruze’s chassis system is perhaps the most mass-efficient in the segment,” said Ron Arnesen, executive chief engineer. “It is at the core of the car’s dynamic driving character, which is designed to deliver fun with an enhanced feeling of connectivity.”
Additionally, the new, more rigid architecture is the primary enabler for exceptional chassis tuning, affording more nimble and direct steering and handling attributes that foster driving confidence through precision. The longer wheelbase and wide front and rear tracks further contribute to a lower, wide “footprint,” which enhances agility and the feeling of control. Additional features include:
- A proven MacPherson strut front suspension design with specially tuned bushings and geometry intended to balance handling with comfort
- A torsion beam rear axle on L, LS and LT models; and an enhanced Z-link design on Premier. It helps deliver a more balanced driving experience, as the rear suspension better follows the lead of the front suspension
- Rack-mounted electric power steering is standard on all models. It enhances efficiency because it removes the conventional power steering pump from the engine’s driven accessories
- Four-wheel disc brakes with Duralife longer-life rotors are standard on all models
- StabiliTrak electronic stability control, with traction control, rollover mitigation and anti-lock brakes, is standard
- Wheel sizes ranging from 15 to 18 inches.
Power-dense, efficient turbocharged powertrain
In North America, the 2016 Cruze is driven by an all-new, standard 1.4L turbocharged engine derived from GM’s new family of small gas engines. It features direct injection, stop/start technology and is matched with a standard six-speed manual or a six-speed automatic transmission. Stop/start technology helps enhance efficiency in stop-and-go driving.
The new 1.4L turbo is SAE-certified at 153 horsepower (113 kW) and 177 lb-ft of torque (240 Nm). With more torque than the current Cruze’s 1.4L turbo and a lighter architecture, the new turbocharged engine is expected to deliver segment-best 0-60 performance of 8 seconds. That makes the new Cruze quicker than most competitors, while also beating most of them at the gas pump, with a GM-estimated 40 mpg on the highway with automatic transmission.
The 1.4L turbo features an aluminum cylinder block and head, which helps reduce the Cruze’s overall weight to enhance performance and efficiency. Engine efficiency is also enhanced through reduced friction, including low-friction piston rings, a low-friction camshaft drive and a low-friction oil pump.
The start/stop feature automatically shuts down the engine when the car comes to a stop under certain driving conditions, such as a stoplight. The engine automatically restarts when the driver takes his or her foot off the brake.
Advanced safety features
The 2016 Cruze’s safety story begins with the new, stronger body structure that incorporates high-strength steel in key areas to enhance strength and crash protection by helping to prevent intrusion into passenger compartment.
Cruze also returns with a segment-leading 10 standard air bags, including frontal driver and passenger air bags, roof rail-mounted head curtain side air bags that help protect the front and outboard rear seating positions; seat-mounted side-impact air bags (front and rear); and front knee air bags.
Available safety features include an expanded range of crash-avoidance technologies, including Side Blind Zone Alert, Rear Cross-Traffic Alert, Lane Keep Assist and Forward Collision Alert.
Additional safety features include:
- Front passenger seat occupant sensing system and rollover sensing and protection system
- Collapsible pedal assembly to help protect against lower-extremity injuries
- Three-point safety belts in all five seating positions, safety belt retractor pretensioners and lap pretensioners in the driver and front-passenger positions, and safety belt load limiters (with pretensioners) in the front safety belt retractors
- LATCH child seat latching system in the rear seat
- Tire pressure monitoring system, daytime running lamps
- Automatic headlamps.
Manufacturing
For the United States, the 2016 Chevrolet Cruze will be built at GM’s Lordstown, Ohio assembly plant, with locally and globally sourced components. The plant received a $50-million investment in tooling and other enhancements to support the new Cruze’s production.
CHEVROLET CRUZE FAST FACTS
- Cruze is Chevrolet’s best-selling car around the world, with 3.5 million sold since it went on sale in 2008
- Cruze sales in the U.S. in 2014 were 273,060 – a 10-percent increase over 2013
- Fifty-three percent of U.S. Cruze customers are new to Chevrolet
- In the U.S., Cruze is the segment’s second-best seller to customers under 25
2016 Chevrolet Cruze introduced with sleeker design and 250 lbs weight loss [videos]
Mittwoch, 24. Juni 2015
Band-Aid Plan Reached for Displaced Clinic Clients
A June 3 protest aimed particular fire at the mayor, for inaction after Chelsea’s STD clinic closed. Since then, activists and the city have come to an agreement on replacing lost services. Courtesy Gay City News.
BY DUNCAN OSBORNE | Roughly three months after the closing of the city’s Chelsea sexually transmitted disease clinic for a two-year renovation touched off protests, the city health department and community activists reached an agreement that will replace the services lost when the clinic was shuttered on March 21.
“This plan will help make sure that New Yorkers who have come to rely on the Chelsea clinic can get the services they need while we transform the Chelsea clinic into a world-class facility,” Dr. Mary T. Bassett, the city’s health commissioner, said in a June 16 statement. “I thank Councilmember Corey Johnson for helping us coordinate with community partners to ensure low and no-cost services are available in the neighborhood.”
The statement, which was written with Johnson and activists, also quoted Johnson, who represents Chelsea and is the out gay Health Committee chair, Mark Harrington, executive director of the Treatment Action Group, and James Krellenstein, a member of ACT UP New York. Harrington and Krellenstein were among the health department’s harshest critics. Activists who are now praising the deal previously charged that the health department never had a plan to replace the lost services other than sending clients to another city clinic that is 70 blocks from the Chelsea clinic.
State Senator Brad Hoylman, who is also gay, and Assemblymember Dick Gottfried were also quoted. Both represent Chelsea, as well. They participated in a May 15 meeting that was organized by Johnson and included activists and senior health department staff.
Under the deal, the health department will keep a mobile van at the Chelsea clinic location to send clients to three nearby nonprofits that will provide HIV and sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment. The department will fund those services at the Community Healthcare Network, the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center and Mt. Sinai Downtown Comprehensive Health Center. The city is also paying for one nurse practitioner at each site. That funding will “support approximately 60 to 70 more sexual health visits per day than what is currently offered,” the statement said.
Six nonprofits will continue to operate mobile testing vans at the Chelsea clinic site. The statement said the vans “can accommodate approximately 10 to 15 sexual health visits per day.”
Then, in the fall, the health department will keep a “full-service” mobile clinic outside the Chelsea clinic site that will provide “HIV and STD testing and accommodate approximately 10 to 15 more sexual health visits per day than what is currently available.”
These facilities, along with the city’s eight other sexually transmitted disease clinics, will “create a patient care capacity that approximates that of the Chelsea Clinic,” the statement said.
Since 2012, the Chelsea clinic had about 20,000 visits a year, more than any of the other city clinics.
Previously, activists had chastised the health department — but a June 3 protest held outside City Hall by ACT UP notably featured a shift in their target, when signs mocked Mayor Bill de Blasio. The health department believed it already had a deal on June 3.
The clinic, one of nine the city health department operates, was vital because Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen have the highest rate of syphilis infections in the city. That high syphilis rate is unchanged since 2007. Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen also have the highest rate of new HIV diagnoses in the city. The syphilis and HIV rates in those neighborhoods result almost entirely from new infections among gay and bisexual men. The two neighborhoods also have high rates of gonorrhea and hepatitis C.
The Chelsea clinic was also expected to be an important resource in the Plan to End AIDS that aims to reduce HIV infections in New York from roughly 3,000 annually to 750 a year by 2020. People who have a recent sexually transmitted disease may be at high-risk for acquiring HIV. Such people could be candidates for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which involves the use of anti-HIV drugs by HIV-negative people to keep them uninfected.
The June 16 statement quoted Charles King, the chief executive at Housing Works, an AIDS group, who conceived of the plan with Harrington.
Some ACT UP members continued to express skepticism on Facebook, though in a quieter voice than they used previously.
“All of these are improvements and some are solid programs that strengthen local institutions,” Jim Eigo, an ACT UP member, wrote on Facebook. “But adding abstract testing capacity in the general geographic area does not of itself replace the fragile ecosystem of a clinic and its people! And current light traffic at mobile testing vans deployed in the area suggest [sic] that, 90 days after the clinic closing, the city’s belated band-aids have barely begun to stanch a wound.”
The health department had contacted Eigo to contribute a quote to the June 16 statement, but he got their message too late and was not quoted.
Band-Aid Plan Reached for Displaced Clinic Clients
Eating fermented foods may reduce social anxiety
Now, a new study suggests that young adults who eat fermented foods exhibit fewer signs of social anxiety, linking mental health to the health of one’s gut. The kids who are helped the most? The ones who have a genetic risk for social anxiety disorder.
This study is just the first in a series of in-depth explorations of the mind-gut connection, says Hilimire.
“Assuming similar findings in the experimental follow-up, what it would suggest is that you could augment more traditional therapies (like medications, psychotherapy or a combination of the two) with fermented foods — dietary changes — and exercise, as well.”
The researchers also want to do further research to see if there is a correlation between eating fermented foods and autism symptoms.
So, what kind of fermented foods should you can add to your diet? Here are three easy ones you can likely find on the shelf at your local supermarket.
Sauerkraut: This ballpark favorite, traditionally used to top hot dogs, hamburgers and reubens, is a good probiotic, contains vitamins C, helps fight ulcers, and has cancer fighting properties.
Kombucha: This drink, which has been gaining popularity in the U.S., is fermented tea, meaning it contains probiotics. It’s also a good source of B vitamins.
Related on MNN:
Eating fermented foods may reduce social anxiety
'Hey man, how's your sex health?'
Tanya Farber | 2015-06-25 00:01:08.0
Sexologist Dr Eve wants men to speak more openly about sexual health during June – Men’s Health Awareness Month – and in the months to come. File photo
Image by: Gallo Images/Thinkstock
What topics are least likely to be discussed around the braai or when the rugby is on? Answer: erectile dysfunction, vasectomies, STIs and prostate and testicular cancer.
Sexologist Dr Eve wants men to speak more openly about sexual health during June – Men’s Health Awareness Month – and in the months to come.
She said: “Erectile dysfunction is very prevalent and should be taken seriously as an indicator of other health issues. This is particularly true in men over 45. If a man is younger, it could have more to do with performance anxiety.”
Cape Town urologist Anesh Naidoo said testicular cancer was the most common form of cancer in men between the ages of 20 and 40, but that early treatment was “very effective” and men should examine their testicles for lumps.
Prostate cancer, on the other hand, more commonly affected men over the age of 45.
Andrea Thompson, who works at Marie Stopes South Africa, said vasectomies were highly effective, and “much less sore than men think”.
Mbuyiselo Botha, of the Gender Sonke Justice Network, which runs clinics for men, said men in South Africa “aren’t encouraged to articulate emotions unless it is anger”.
"Hey man, how"s your sex health?"
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Dienstag, 23. Juni 2015
Community Midwives, Women's Health, Counties Manukau DHB
We have an exciting opportunity for Midwives to join our team. The Community Midwifery Service embraces a midwife-led/woman focused model of care enabling continuity of carer during the antenatal and postnatal period.The hours of work are Monday to Friday, 8 am to 4.30 pm. You will be required to work a weekend day each month. Our Community Midwives provide midwifery care for women with complex needs ranging from social challenges to medical conditions affecting their wellbeing in pregnancy. The Midwives are supported by our Specialist Midwives in Diabetes, Maternal Fetal Medicine, Social Workers and Community Health Workers. Components of this model include:
- Home/community based antenatal and postnatal visiting
- In-patient postnatal visiting and discharge planning
- In order to meet the requirement of the midwifery scope of practice you will have the opportunity to be supported in providing occasional intra-partum care.
Essential:
- NZ Registered Midwife
- Current Practicing Certificate
- Current NZ drivers licence
If you are keen to be part of community midwifery with a difference, then apply now! Please apply online at http://www.countieshealthjobs.com/. For more information, contact Sabrina Freitas at the Recruitment Centre on 259 3640.
Applications close : 7th July, 2015
Job number : 077136
Community Midwives, Women"s Health, Counties Manukau DHB
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Montag, 22. Juni 2015
Sonntag, 21. Juni 2015
Should You Be Using Digestive Bitters?
All trends are cyclical, whether we’re talking about fashion, beauty, or wellness. So, it’s not totally crazy to see the health trends of yore come back in style, so to speak.
Like, for example, the practice of of ingesting digestive bitters. Bitters–which you might be familiar with from seeing them as cocktail ingredients at fancy bars—are said to aid digestion, relieve bloating, upset stomach and occasional nausea and heartburn, as well as to support liver function and healthy skin. Not too shabby, eh?
We asked health and nutrition expert Joe Colella, MD, author of The Appetite Solution, about the revival of these herbal remedies and he said that while “their best use might be as a digestive aid, bitters may also make some sense as a pre-meal partaking to help you eat less.” (Foods such as arugula and olives, he adds, can also act as “bitters” to lessen your craving for sweet or salty taste.)
But why are bitters making a comeback today? Well, given that gut health has become a big topic when talking about overall wellness—and even beauty—combined with the fact that many of the popular processed foods we eat tend to veer on the sweet and salty side, we don’t usually get a lot of that crucial bitter taste in our diets.
To further explain, we interviewed Guido Masé, the chief herbalist at Urban Moonshine, which makes digestive bitters from certified organic Vermont herbs and roots, in addition to other globally sourced ingredients, about how bitters work and why we might want to try them.
MORE: Your Summer Skin Problems, Solved
How exactly do bitters work?
GM: Our digestive tract is finely tuned to perceiving bitterness: receptors for bitter compounds are found in the mouth, stomach, pancreas, intestines and colon—even in the liver and gallbladder, and beyond! When bitter-tasting substances found in plants like dandelion, artichoke, and gentian stimulate the bitter receptors, they trigger activities that improve the breakdown, digestion, and detoxification of what we eat. This is part of a protective response: some of the most poisonous, difficult-to-digest foods taste very bitter.
First, this response increases the secretion of important digestive juices: saliva in the mouth (you experience this immediately), balanced hydrochloric acid and pepsin production in the stomach, pancreatic enzyme production (amylases, proteases and lipases) and bile secretion from the liver. Our bodies have an incredible ability to secrete the right amount of enzymes and digestive juices to optimally digest our foods, even as we age—they just need the right cue, and bitter plants provide it. When you can break food down completely in the digestive tract, you see less fermentation, which means less inflammation, bloating, spasm, gas, cramping and discomfort.
Second, bitters have an astringent effect on the smooth muscle that lines the digestive tract, but especially on the muscular valve at the bottom of the esophagus (the throat). Bitters make that valve tighten, leading to less reflux and symptoms of heartburn. They also allow food to remain in the stomach longer, ensuring that it is optimally digested.
MORE: Healthy Skin Starts In Your Belly: How to Get Your Gut Back On Track
How can bitters curb cravings for sugar and balance appetite?
GM: Bitters have a dramatic role on blood sugar balance. This is partly because of their effects on the liver, our major sugar storage and processing organ, and also because they slow the rate of entry of sugar into the bloodstream (the glycemic index).
This translates to some immediate, important effects: bitters can block sugar cravings. When we feel cravings for sweets, our bodies want quick nutrition: bitters “trick” the body into thinking it has eaten, reducing the craving and helping us make a healthier choice. And the more sensitive to bitters we are, the less we overeat, and the more balanced our blood sugar is. Fortunately, the more you taste bitter, the more bitter taste receptors we make and the more pronounced these effects become!
Can they do anything for the skin?
GM: By reducing systemic inflammation through their “cooling” action bitters have the ability to “cool off” skin rashes and acne. This is part of the gentle, daily detoxification bitters provide, and can counteract the worsening of skin complaints that comes from exposure to difficult foods or synthetic chemicals from the environment.
How can people get the best result from incorporating bitters into their diets?
GM: One of the most important considerations is to make sure that you are actually tasting the bitter flavor: the high quantity of bitter taste receptors on the tongue makes this a very important site of action. This is why bitter formulas are almost universally liquid!
For digestive health, a small amount of bitters will do—the taste does a lot of the work. Take bitters before eating to prevent cramping, bloating, or irregular bowel habits. Take bitters after meals to address indigestion, heartburn, nausea or upset stomach in the moment. You can also mix some bitters with a little sparkling water and serve it as a pre-appetizer course for your family or friends.
Are there any people or circumstances who shouldn’t use them?
GM: Bitters should not be used by people who have active ulcers. Traditional bitters formulas should also not be used during pregnancy.
Should You Be Using Digestive Bitters?
Women's Health Suffers When You Defund Family Planning Programs, Push Abstinence-Only Sex ...
More than 40 years ago the Title X Family Planning Program was enacted to give millions of low-income or uninsured individuals access to family planning and related preventive health services, like birth control, pregnancy and STI tests, as well as breast and cervical screenings. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (which oversees the program) reports that in 2011, Title X-funded centers saw approximately five million clients — 92 percent were women, 8 percent were men — in addition to helping avert one million unintended pregnancies, testing hundreds of millions of Americans for STIs and HIV, and providing 1.5 million cervical cancer screenings. In 2010, The Guttmacher Institute found these STI and cancer screening tests helped avert 99,000 chlamydia infections, 16,000 gonorrhea infections, 3,700 cases of cervical cancer, and 2,100 cervical cancer deaths.
But this past week, The House Appropriation Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies proposed a budget for the 2016 fiscal year that would render devastating cuts to this program, along with other health care services currently reaching 4.6 million people. What’s more are the proposed cuts eliminates nearly all federal funding for teen pregnancy prevention and sex education programs. Dr. Leslie Kantor, the vice president of education for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told Medical Daily these latter cuts are especially unfortunate.
Kantor said funding for the teen pregnancy initiative would go from $105 million to $10 million — “only about as much money to keep the office open and keep the staff in place.” Kantor added this $10 million moves to something called “sexual risk avoidance,” which is just another way to say abstinence-only sex ed.
Abstinence-only programs have more or less taken precedence over comprehensive sex ed programs in the U.S. since the federal government enacted the Adolescent Family Life Act in 1982. So something like the teen pregnancy initiative was “a very important step forward for pregnancy prevention and sex ed in the country.” It was the first time federal resources had been devoted to sex ed other than abstinence-only programs; it provided “funding for organizations to replicate programs that have been found to work, programs that have been proven in rigorous studies that delay sex until older or use contraception when they do,” Kantor said.
“This is something you would think all Americans and policy makers would agree on,” she added. “They actually work and actually help kids in healthy ways.”
Abstinence-only vs comprehensive sex ed
Advocates for Youth, a non-profit organization and advocacy group based in Washington D.C., says that abstinence-only programs are eligible for federal funding if they meet an eight-point definition. These points make clear the purpose of the program must be to exclusively teach “the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity.” Abstinence must also be taught as “the standard for all school-age children,” as well as “the only certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and other associated health problems.” What’s more is sexual activity outside the context of marriage is made to sound psychologically and physically harmful.
None of these characteristics are among the ones the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified among effective sex ed programs. Instead, these programs focus on “clear health goals, like the prevention of STD, HIV, and/or pregnancy; focus on specific behaviors leading to these goals, like abstaining from sex or using condoms or other contraceptives; and address multiple sexual psychosocial risk and protective factors affecting sexual behaviors, such as knowledge, perceived risks, values, and attitudes.”
To find these characteristics, CDC scientists conducted systematic reviews of 83 studies of HIV prevention and sex ed programs from both developed and developing countries. The total list of characteristics (shown below) also considers the process of developing the curriculum, the contents of the curriculum, as well as how the curriculum was implemented.
Abstinence-only programs, as Planned Parenthood points out, provide misinformation and purposefully withhold medically-accurate information necessary for young men and women to make healthy, informed choices when it comes to sex. The proposed budget aside, this is something more people are realizing.
Back in May, Donald Black, the superior court judge of Fresno County in California, ruled “health classes exclusively teaching students to remain abstinent until marriage didn’t meet the state’s comprehensive sex ed requirements,” ThinkProgress reported. Black concluded the country’s high-rate of STIs and unintended pregnancy warranted accurate information, “an important public right.” Case and point: the chlamydia outbreak at a Texas high school where no sex ed classes are offered.
More recently, at keast one study found students themselves think sex ed could be more in-depth and inclusive (at least in the U.K.), while another found teaching women about highly-effective forms of birth control significantly reduced their rate of unintended pregnancy.
Kantor said, too, when polling voters, parents, and teens about sex ed, people overwhelming support comprehensive programs; about 95 percent of parents and teens support this kind of education being taught in high school. Respondents claim they want to know more about birth control and sexual orientation, with over 90 percent of respondents expressing an interest in learning more about healthy relationships.
“The country is not divided by people who want [a] comprehensive approach…everyone wants this,” Kantor said.
Sex misinformation in the media
The critically-acclaimed documentary Hot Girls Wanted shines a (harsh) light on the amateur porn industry. A quick Google search gives you several headlines like, “The Documentary That Will Make You Think Differently About Amateur Porn,” and “Netflix Hot Girls Wanted Documentary Exposes The Shocking Exploitation Faced By Amateur Porn Stars.” One of the most disturbing things we see in the film is the clearl lack of effective sex ed among some of the girls.
One up-and-coming star named Brooklyn Daniels said, “Plan B always works, I guess,” when talking about the withdrawal method her male co-stars relied on. Lucy Tyler, who has since left the industry, said, “This can’t be good for you to have sex that much, with that many different people…so weird that that’s my job.”
Plan B is commonly referred to as the morning after pill, and while it is effective — about 7 out of every 8 women who would have gotten pregnant don’t after taking the pill as directed — it’s not for everyone. Birth control methods in general are not one-size-fits-all and warrant comprehensive education in order to help women figure out what methods will be effective for them, personally.
If sex misinformation doesn’t confuse young women, it shames them. Take a look at The Duggar family, TLC’s former reality stars (the network cancelled their show amid Josh Duggar’s sexual abuse case) and purveyors of abstinence-only education. Cosmopolitan’s Jill Filipovic reports that Jim Duggar explains to his daughters that having sex before marriage equates them to a used bike; “someone comes and rides first, leaving it all banged up.” Or worse, girls are basically a bucket of spit. Filipovic says Michelle Duggar offers this explanation:
“What if we were at a meeting with about 100 other people and the speaker asked that a large cup be passed around and that everyone spit in the cup? What if you happened to be all the way in the back — the last person on the last row — and when the cup finally came to you, the speaker asked you to drink out of the cup? What would you do?"”
These scenarios don’t exist only in religious households either. Sex ed classes in Mississippi, for example, were recently found to compare women to dirty pieces of chocolate. Both the Duggars’ and Mississippi’s approach are rooted in the antiquated idea a woman’s identity and self-worth is determined by sexual purity, that sex before marriage automatically makes women dirty and worthless (hello, slut-shaming). Worse yet, as we learned in Elizabeth Smart’s case, abstinence-only education devalues rape victims.
“The best thing we can do is educate young people as young as we can reach them,” Smart said.
What we gain with quality sex ed
Sex ed over the years has improved, but the truth is, it is still the case that very few people truly get comprehensive sex ed. Instead, Kantor said some people receieve ] evidence-based programs through school or their community, while other young people are getting unproven, abstinence classes.
“[These classes are] really more ideologically based, and you still see quite a bit of homophobia and lots of gender stereotyping: Girls should be or are this way, or girls never want sex, and boys always want to have sex,” Kantor said. “There tends to be very little or no information on birth control and to that extent, it exaggerates the failure rates, so we’ll hear from young people something like, ‘[Sex ed] left me with the idea I shouldn’t bother to use the condom because they’re holes in them.’”
This is assuming young people are in classes touching on these topics at all. The CDC’s 2012 school health profiles offers a state-by-state analysis of the topics covered by sex ed and HIV prevention programs, and the states with higher rates of unintended pregnancies and STIs were covering a limited amount of topics compared to states with lower rates.
“You can’t say this is causal,” Kantor said, “but you can say ‘look, there’s an association between states not teaching them very much about sex.’”
According to Kantor, Title X is one of the most successful programs in government history. It’s extremely cost-effective, too: every dollar funded into family planning is estimated to save consumers about seven dollars. True, few are convinced Title X will completely go away, or that the senate will propose similar cuts, but it is worrisome congressman would consider severely cutting spending for women’s health.
“We live in a country where 99 percent of women use birth control in their life. There is a huge disconnect.” Kantor said. “Can I tell you person-by person what this posturing is about, no — but I think what we do know is there’s unfortunately a perception of some Republicans that [these cuts are] a way to appeal to their more conservative supports…there’s a really clear political agenda.”
It’s not just the lack of affordable access to birth control and tests women will suffer from, but the lack of knowledge in general. Safe, social spaces help women learn and ask questions they may feel scared to otherwise.
“When implemented by trained teachers, based on not just telling kids information, but letting them build the skills, [comprehensive sex ed] can really make a difference,” Kantor said. “It really is a shame we would have any policymakers [against it]. We ought to be putting more money into these programs.”
Women"s Health Suffers When You Defund Family Planning Programs, Push Abstinence-Only Sex ...
Men urged to seek help and support if they are lonely in Father's Day health message
Matthew Bunn Health correspondent Sunday, June 21, 2015
8:00 AM
Public health bosses in Suffolk have today urged fathers across the county to seek help and support if they are feeling lonely.
The call has formed part of a county-wide campaign highlighting men’s health and has been raised ahead of Father’s Day on Sunday in response to research showing connections between loneliness and poor mental health.
According to the Mental health Foundation there are links to depression, anxiety, paranoia and it can even be a contributory factor to suicide. Key events which could cause those feelings, according to the Samaritans, include losing a job, the death of a loved one and divorce or separation.
Tony Goldson, cabinet member for health at Suffolk County Council, which is responsible for public health, said: “There are many competing factors that can put pressure on men, both at home and at work.
“Combine this with the general tendency for men to be less open about their emotional and mental health, and it is clear that loneliness can go undetected for a considerable time and store up real problems in the longer term.
“That’s why it’s important to remember that there is plenty of support available both from families and friends, and also opportunities for fathers to meet, compare experiences and make friends.
“I would encourage Suffolk fathers to take this opportunity to think about their wellbeing, to talk about their mental health with others and to find out about the many options for taking action that are presented as part of this campaign.”
There are a number of groups available in Suffolk for men, including at the county’s children’s centre, where there are opportunities to meet other parents and get face-to-face support.
There is also a Befriending Scheme running in the county, which aims to provide friendship and learning opportunities for adults.
Among its members is Dennis Avery, of Cavendish. The former City worker was diagnosed with a very rare brain tumour in 2004.
Despite it being benign it had to be operated on and he was unable to work after and was cared for by his wife and two daughters and depended on them for social interaction.
He said: “The problem with a brain illness is that you feel like you are in a cocoon and you don’t feel like anyone can understand what you are going through.”
Mr Avery joined the Befriending Scheme about six months ago and in that time he has already started to see improvements.
He added: “They have got a good mix of people here. It makes you realise that your illness is not as bad as you think. I’ve realised that I am getting better and that is what is important.”
For more information about activities available in Suffolk, visit www.suffolk.gov.uk/helpforadults
Men urged to seek help and support if they are lonely in Father"s Day health message
Samstag, 20. Juni 2015
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