Working the system: 3 ways planners can defy the odds to promote good health for all of us

Sep 06, 2019 07:44 am UTC| Insights & Views Health

Many of the chronic and costly diseases Australians face are related to how we live in cities. The speed of modern life clashes with poorly designed urban areas. As a result, health-promoting activities, such as regular...

How poor diet can can lead to blindness

Sep 02, 2019 23:18 pm UTC| Health

A poor diet of chips and crisps caused a teenage boy in England to become blind. The boy lets call him Jasper first visited his family GP complaining of tiredness when he was 14 years old. Tests showed he was anaemic...

Leave the patchwork to the quilts: The case for pharmacare

Aug 26, 2019 04:23 am UTC| Insights & Views Health

On August 15, 2019, more than 1,200 academics, including me, with expertise in health care signed a letter to the leaders of Canadas federal political parties. The letter called on them to commit to a national pharmacare...

How many people have eating disorders? We don't really know, and that's a worry

Aug 19, 2019 01:19 am UTC| Insights & Views Health

Last week, federal health minister Greg Hunt announced that more than 60,000 Australians will be asked about their mental health and well-being as part of the Intergenerational Health and Mental Health Study. The mental...

Supermarkets put junk food on special twice as often as healthy food, and that's a problem

Aug 16, 2019 06:46 am UTC| Insights & Views Health

Half-price chips, two for one chocolates, buy one get one free soft drinks: Australian supermarkets make it very easy for us to fill our trolleys with junk food. Add in the bonus of an Ooshie or a Little Shop...

The fascinating history of boredom

Aug 16, 2019 06:45 am UTC| Insights & Views Health

Im bored is a statement many parents dread hearing during the summer holidays. Should parents scramble to fill the unstructured time of summer for their kids so they dont complain of nothing to do (or worse, get into...

Being left-handed doesn't mean you are right-brained — so what does it mean?

Aug 15, 2019 18:01 pm UTC| Insights & Views Health

There have been plenty of claims about what being left-handed means, and whether it changes the type of person someone is but the truth is something of an enigma. Myths about handedness appear year after year, but...