The Open University

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 […]

“Could painkillers increase our risk of a heart attack?” OU academic explains

10 May 2017

Research by the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre, published in The British Medical Journal (BMJ), suggests that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) painkillers could increase the risk of heart attacks. The study of five NSAID painkillers, including ibuprofen, concluded that the risk of suffering from a heart attack was as much as 50% greater in those […]

Four myths about diabetes debunked

8 May 2017

The World Health Organisation estimates that the number of people with diabetes is 422m, globally. And between 1980 and 2014 the number of people with the condition almost doubled. Despite the high prevalence of the disease, it is often misunderstood. Here are some common misconceptions about diabetes. 1. Diabetes is purely a disorder of the […]

Why exercise helps with mental health

19 April 2017

What impact does exercise have on mental health? Lecturer in Sport and Fitness at The Open University, Karen Howells, provides expert insight into why exercise could improve your mental health. Mental health isn’t just the absence of illness “We know exercise is good for us; physically it can prevent diseases such as diabetes and keep us […]

OU responds to workforce development challenges with new Postgraduate Diploma in Social Work

21 March 2017

The OU is celebrating World Social Work Day (#WSWD2017) with the launch of a new Post-graduate Diploma and MA in Social Work. The OU has been training social workers for more than 18 years with 300 people graduating in the field each year. Speaking after a recent Parliamentary Reception Mick McCormick, Programme Director, Head of Department […]

The language of call centres and why it can “offend the ears”

9 February 2017

Most of us dread dealing with them, but call centres are hard to avoid as an increasingly widespread aspect of modern life. Now a new study from The Open University, published in the Journal of Sociolinguistics, has opened up the world of call centres and examined how pressurized call centre agents take short cuts to […]

Truthiness and alternative facts: meaning is a moveable feast

31 January 2017

Sales of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four have apparently surged since Kellyanne Conway introduced the phrase “alternative facts” into public discourse. For many, the term is reminiscent of Orwell’s dystopian Newspeak, the imaginary language used by the novel’s totalitarian government to control the way the population thinks. It also allows for the doublethink of the slogans […]

High blood pressure may protect over-80s from dementia

18 January 2017

It is well known that high blood pressure is a risk factor for dementia, so the results of a new study from the University of California, Irvine, are quite surprising. The researchers found that people who developed high blood pressure between the ages of 80-89 are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease (the most common […]

5 fitness trends for 2017

29 December 2016

Simon Rea, OU Lecturer in Sport and Fitness, takes a look back at sport in 2016 and examines the big trends in fitness for 2017… More people are getting involved in sport As 2016 comes to an end Sport England released a very positive report saying that the number of women playing sport has reached […]

Festive feast over? There is always room for another course.

26 December 2016

It’s Boxing Day and you have munched enough chocolate, pudding, and turkey to sustain you for another twelve months; however, there is always room for another course. If you are bored on Boxing Day and there isn’t anything of interest on TV – even though you have 846 channels – then dine on the OpenLearn […]

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Category: Education, languages and health