The Open University

Why cancer cells go to sleep

27 April 2018

Cancer has always been thought of as something that grows rapidly and uncontrollably, but this view may be wrong. New evidence suggests that cancer alternatively uses the “accelerator” and the “brake” in order to survive. If you plot the growth of prostate cancer tumour progression over years, you get a graph that looks something like […]

Margaret testing Chris Bavin in the Truth about Obesity

The UK’s obesity epidemic – the challenge

25 April 2018

Obesity cuts life expectancy by up to ten years, and costs the UK £6.1 billion per year to treat. It’s a huge problem – according to the Health Survey for England, obesity levels in England have nearly doubled in the last 25 years and nearly two thirds of adults were overweight or obese in 2015. […]

Female doctors show more empathy, but at a cost to their mental well-being

24 April 2018

Female doctors show more empathy than male doctors. They ask their patients more questions, including questions about emotions and feelings, and they spend more time talking to patients than their male colleagues do. Some have suggested that this might make women better doctors. It may also take a terrible toll on their mental health. Studies […]

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall pouring sugar

Britain’s obesity epidemic explored in two new BBC programmes

24 April 2018

According to the Health Survey for England obesity levels in England have nearly doubled in the last 25 years, and nearly two thirds of adults were overweight or obese in 2015. Now, two new BBC series co-produced with the OU set out to explore our national obesity epidemic, and what it means to be obese in Britain today. […]

Why nutritional psychiatry is the future of mental health treatment

2 March 2018

A lack of essential nutrients is known to contribute to the onset of poor mental health in people suffering from anxiety and depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and ADHD. Nutritional psychiatry is a growing discipline that focuses on the use of food and supplements to provide these essential nutrients as part of an integrated or alternative […]

“Nurses need better support,” says OU Head of Nursing

26 January 2018

Nurses must be given support from NHS managers to learn while they earn as part of a new drive to reverse the debilitating exodus from the profession, according to The Open University’s Head of Nursing. Julie Messenger welcomed a report by the House of Commons Health Select Committee, which endorsed the need for different routes […]

Still a stigma: Abortion 50 years on

27 October 2017

Fifty years on from from the 1967 Abortion Act, OU academic and researcher in abortion policy, politics and teenage pregnancy, Dr Lesley Hoggart, examines why there is still a stigma attached to women who have more than one abortion. Challenging the stigma associated with abortions “It’s been 50 years since the Abortion Act 1967 was passed, […]

Why asking what causes autism is the wrong question

11 October 2017

The animal rights charity PETA recently made a link between autism and drinking cow’s milk. The article on its website discussed research that linked a diary-free diet with a reduction in symptoms of autism in children. The charity cited two particular research projects which suggest a link between drinking cow’s milk and autism. It was […]

Top tips on getting to sleep the night before the big day

15 August 2017

Getting to sleep before a big day is never going to be simple. But it can be much easier if you manage your sleep (and your children’s sleep) beforehand. Honorary Associate, Dr Paul Kelley, is an expert in circadian and memory neuroscience, and given his top tips on how to wind-down before the big day: […]

How to settle social care funding once and for all

5 June 2017

Branding it a “dementia tax” was inspired – opponents of the Conservative Party’s election manifesto railed against its fundamentally unfair proposals for dealing with the social care costs of increasing numbers of old people with dementia. Theresa May’s U-turn took less than a long weekend. But there is still massive unfairness in the provision of […]

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Category: Health