As the temperature in the Middle East gradually drops to the levels of nice European summer, there is much more to do outdoors. You see people taking a walk or a jog, kids playing outside straight after school, not needing to wait until after the sunset as was the case only last month, more BBQ events on the wild beaches or trekking trips in the desert. There are more eco-friendly activities organized, like beach clean-ups, plastic trash collection from parks and tourist places like dunes, forts, cornishe or camel markets. It’s nice to see people realizing something needs to be done to preserve our nature. Nature can be tough, has amazing recovering abilities and can withstand harsh treatments like the Tree of Life in Bahrain but our nature is now weakened and ill because of human behaviour and it’s important to talk about it and not only see negatives but also celebrate every little attend to make thing better.

The Workout That Suppresses Your Appetite

If you are not already doing high-intensity interval training (HIIT) to increase your calorie burn and reduce your gym time, here’s another reason to go hard then go home.

HIIT suppresses your appetite. According to the Medical Publication; International Journal of Obesity, subjects who did intervals for 30 minutes ate 170 fewer calories at a meal an hour later than those who exercised at a moderate intensity. Not only that, they ate 100 fewer calories over the following 24 hours. For further appetite suppression, choose weight-bearing forms of cardio such as running or skipping: Japanese research found this crushes cravings more than cycling. Alternate 15 seconds flat out with 60 seconds active recovery.

MW

Save yourself from nagging by turning off your mobile phone.  A US study from University of Wisconsin Milwaukee found that those fixed onto their mobile phone were most likely to report negative “spillover” between work and leisure, spoiling family time and turning up domestic stress levels.  Switch off your phone when you get home from work and focus on face-to-face communication with your nearest and dearest.

Avoiding mental stress could save your arteries, a University College London study of middle-aged people has found.  The researchers believe this might be because stress encourages the body to produce more glucose, requiring the liver to churn out more LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) to transport it around the body.  The solution?  Taking up a hobby or a new language can help – both spark new connections between brain cells and help grey matter become less frazzled when faced with lots of information.

Doctors Condemn Plan To Link A&E Payments To Staff Flu Jab Uptake

The UK’s public health and emergency doctors’ leaders have criticised it’s health secretary for linking extra payments to hospital accident and emergency departments to flu vaccination rates amongst staff.

The Health Secretary (Jeremy Hunt) announced  a plan in September where he detailed how an extra 250 million GBP for emergency services for 2013 -2014 would be allocated.  A further 250 million GBP would be allocated to the emergency services next year, but these payments will be made in full only to NHS trusts where 75% of their staff are vaccinated against influenza this year.

The health department said that the target was not meant  to penalize trusts.  Less than half of frontline NHS staff get vaccinated against influenza, and in some hospitals the proportion is less than one in five.

Dean Royles, chief executive of NHS Employers, which organises the national NHS staff influenza vaccination campaign, said that achieving 75% target would be a huge challenge for many trusts, “especially when their immunisation plans are already in place.”

Life-Lengthening Health Advice Ratios

Research suggests you can increase the average odds of extending your life by following the below:

2:1          Average odds of Heart Disease

You can cut your risk of heart disease by a massive 40% (4:1) just by getting your RDA of vitamin D, found Danish researchers.

25:1        Average risk of Heart Attacks

By eating meat can change your odds to 50:1.  Carosine, a nutrient in meat, protects your heart by lengthening your telomeres (parts of your DNA that shorten with age).  Just make sure your 300g a day is lean!

4:6          Heart Attack Risks with Cholesterol

Change your odds by eating an apple a day to 17:1.  The proverbial doctor-repellant reduces your LDL cholesterol by 40%, found the Ohio State University.  LDL is the type known to lead to hardening of the arteries, a direct cause of heart disease.  It’s crunch time for your ticker.