‘Nice’ estimates that emergency caesareans are twice as costly at £3,042 compared to natural births at £1,512, with planned C-sections slightly more expensive at £2,369.

The guidelines add that if the counselling attempts have failed then expectant mothers should then be given the chance to have a caesarean.

The news is to be formalised in November, with campaigners and some clinicians welcoming the move. One consultant obstetrician, Patrick O’Brien said, “I do not think it changes practice a whole lot. It is formalising what was informally happening in most hospitals.”

Some middle-class mothers have been accused of being ‘too posh to push’, with the rate of caesarean births having doubled over the past 30 years to 25 per cent of all births. However, research suggests that the procedure is carried out on medical advice in many cases and the increase could be linked to a rise in older women (who are at greater risk of having trouble during labour), having babies.

In England, the caesarean rate is much higher than the World Health Organisation’s recommended figure of 15 per cent.

View the original Telegraph article here.

Emily’s loneliness set in after the death of her father during her early thirties, after which her loneliness became so crippling that she would go to her local shops simply to talk to people.

Though at the time Emily felt as though she was all alone in feeling the way she did, statistics show that around one in ten people actually suffer from chronic loneliness.

Emily eventually reached the stage where she had only three other people in her social circle, was lying to work colleagues about her social life, and even mentioned it to her GP who laughed it off and told her he would love to have some alone time.

Despite the nations reluctance to talk about and accept loneliness as a growing concern, a 2010 report from The Mental Health Foundation revealed that loneliness is becoming an ‘epidemic’ in Britain, and they are urging people to start talking about it.

In addition, approximately 30 per cent of people in Britain now live on their own, and as a nation we spend less time visiting friends and family than we used to in the past.

With all of this in mind, Emily decided she wanted to challenge the stereotypes and stigma and set about writing a book detailing her own experiences of loneliness and how she managed to overcome it.

If you would like to read Emily White’s book, Lonely, it can be purchased from Amazon.

If you are feeling lonely and isolated then it is important to remember you are not alone in feeling that way. It may help you to talk through your experiences with a counsellor in confidence who will listen to what you say and could help you to make sense of why you feel the way you do and what you can do to implement positive changes and move forward.

If you would like to contact a counsellor, please use the search tool located on the homepage of this site.

View the original Daily Mail article.

The researchers from the Paris School of Economics, analysed data from a Europe wide survey and have found that three-quarters of those asked thought it was important to compare their salaries with others, even though those who did seemed less content.

The Economic Journal analysed data from the European Social Survey which covered 19,000 participants in 24 countries. The survey found that those who compared incomes tended to be less happy than those who did not.

In addition to this the study also found that it was comparing pay checks with friends and family that seemed to be the most unsettling for people and the act caused up to twice as much pain as comparisons with colleagues.

Experts have said comparing your salary with the earnings of colleagues could actually help to promote positive feelings about potential future income whereas comparisons with university friends cause damage because you shared the same opportunities.

Professor Cary Cooper is an expert in organisational psychology and health at Lancaster University Management School and has advised that people refrain from making such comparisons if we want to be happy with who we are and if we do really insist on doing so ”remember those you’re comparing yourself with may not actually be more content.”

It started with a missing memo telling you the time of an important meeting had been changed, it progressed to constant criticism from a collage and now you have been given a workload that would take an army to complete. If you feel like you are being set up for failure or you wake up every morning and feel terror at the thought of another day in the office then you need to ask yourself a serious question. Are you being bullied?

Bullying is a serious allegation that could loose somebody their job so it is understandable that many people brush it off as a colleague having got out the wrong side of bed or you being extra sensitive. However, remember that bullying doesn’t have to be physical. It isn’t a case of your colleagues pinching your lunch money and flushing your head down the toilet. Just because someone isn’t shouting and being abusive it doesn’t mean you should disregard your feelings of discomfort.

As a result of the recession, we are no more job insecure than ever. We are terrified we might loose our jobs at any given moment and can often try to justify one managers bullying as a robust approach to the job.

So how do we know if we are being bullied, or if we are simply misinterpreting a colleagues actions? Well according to Acas, the employment relations service, if you answer yes to any of the below you’re being bullied.

Are you being bullied?

Do you feel excluded from the office, or picked on?
Do you feel anxious, frightened of work and demotivated?
Are you being overloaded with work or set impossible deadlines?
Are you being deliberately blocked from promotion or training, or criticised constantly?
Is someone spreading rumours about you?
Do your colleagues make unfounded comments about job security?
Do you find the level of supervision that you receive at work overbearing?
Are you teased or insulted about your age, race, sex, disability, sexual orientation or religion?
Do you experience unwelcome sexual advances or the sharing or e-mailing of offensive materials?
Is someone copying your memos and e-mails that are critical of others and sending them on to others who don’t need to know?

So now that you can be sure you are experiencing bullying what is the next step? Well the first port of call is to report it. Go to someone within the organisation you feel comfortable talking too. Even if the bully is your boss try to find someone perhaps in HR and discuss your options with them.

Talk the the bullies. Sounds terrifying but some people will genuinely not realise their behaviour has been effecting you in such away. Remain calm and ask them to cease their behaviour. If you don’t feel comfortable then ask someone else to approach or send an email/memo.

Keep a diary of events and copies of relevance emails or memo’s incase you have to present evidence.

If the bullying is effecting your health then visit your GP and inform your employer.

Other useful contacts are Citizens Advice Bureau, the Acas Helpline (acas.org.uk 08457 474747) which offers advice on specific problems and can help you to explore alternatives to an Employment Tribunal or the National Bullying Helpline (0845 2255787).

Read the original article here.

Neuroscientist John Cacioppo says social pain is akin to physical pain. He explores this notion in new book Loneliness, which he co-wrote. He explains how there is a difference between feeling the occasional pang of loneliness when you are alone on a Saturday night to regular chronic loneliness, which does serious damage. Being consistently alone will increase stress levels, higher blood pressure, disrupt sleep patterns, all the way to accelerated dementia and sadly, many pensioners who complain about not seeing enough of their family may end up in this category.

Loneliness also appears to be contagious. A study of 5,000 Massachusetts residents conducted over a 10 year period found that a friend of a lonely person was 52% more likely to develop feeling of social rejection. It even went further than that with one of the friends of the friends being 25% more likely to feel lonely and even a friend of a friend of a friend was at greater risk.

Before this turns into an epidemic, Cacioppo wants to encourage neighbours to try and come into contact with each other on a more frequent basis. The seriously lonely should consider helping other through charity work or by cooking for acquaintances. “When you’re lonely you feel you could just eat other people,” he says. “But the trick is to feed them.”

Read the full story here.

The scheme, which aims to offer the most vulnerable free social care is now under scrutiny because it will not be of any benefit to the 400,000 people living in care homes.

It would take until next Autumn to implement the bill which was announced in the Queen’s speech.

The other fatal flaw in the plan is the fact that it will only affect around half of the 500,000 people receiving care in their own home. Most of these are elderly although some are people with disabilities.
In contrast, during the summer a green paper was published putting forward a series of proposals affecting the whole range of social services.

Under the plans put forward in the bill, around 280,000 have been judged to have critical needs. This is basically those who cannot get out of bed or feed, dress and wash themselves and these are the people who are to receive free home care regardless of wealth.

Currently all people receiving social care at home are means tested with anyone with savings over £23,000 having to pay for help.

Wales and Northern Ireland are also looking at ways to reform social care as the UK faces up to the prospect of an ageing population.

If you are feeling a little sluggish and low then remember that food doesn’t just fill you up, it also acts as a mood enhancer contributing to improving your memory, learning power and concentration by increasing production of the nerve transmitter acetylcholine.

Try to opt for some slow-release glucose found in foods such as porridge and muesli, both choices will deliver a stable flow of energy to the brain. Also try and snack on these foods. There are some delicious winter fruits around, various types of berries are good for snacking and Satsuma’s are also great. Nuts and seeds are a great source of magnesium, which helps the body to make serotonin more effectively and will keep your hunger at bay till your next meal.

At the end of the day have an evening meal rich in carbohydrates, as this will help you to sleep better. Also, when your body processes carbs, blood-sugar levels rise, prompting the pancreas to release more insulin into the bloodstream, which helps tryptophan to reach the brain more easily.

The final tip is to keep hydrated. Even a small drop in hydration could leave your mood uneven. Keep caffeine free drinks to hand and top up your fluids regularly, especially when sitting in heated rooms.

Read more here.

‘Smart drugs’ as they have been coined are claimed to enhance academic performance by increasing focus, concentration and stimulation. Those who are desperate to succeed are now turning to drugs such as Ritalin which is ordinarily used as treatment for hyperactive children as apposed to traditional stimulants such as caffeine.

Other drugs with brain boosting potential include modafinil (Provigil), a stimulant prescribed for the sleep disorder narcolepsy, donepezil (Aricept), prescribed for Alzheimer’s disease to improve memory, and selegiline (Eldepryl), prescribed for Parkinson’s disease to increase motivation.

Those who are rallying against the proposed introduction of drug tests are arguing that the use of smart drugs is no different to sending children to a private tutor. However, comments made in an article in the Journal of Medical Ethics suggested that if smart drugs are used consistently for long periods of time this could be a health risk. They would also uneven the playing field because it is only likely to be the wealthy that could afford them, making the rich not only richer, but also smarter.

Most of the smart drugs also cause serious side effects. Those of Ritalin include mood swings, increased heart rate, headaches, dizziness and insomnia. Alongside this students also face the risk of becoming addicted and may find it difficult to wean themselves off.

Earlier this year scientists at Bristol University warned that schools could have to provide the drugs to their pupils within a generation because they could become so widespread that poor children would lose out if they could not afford to buy them.

In 2006 the starvation of two models erupted the size zero debate. Since then it seems that the media is full to the brim with stories about weight issues, but it is often unclear what they are trying to convey. We are constantly bombarded with news of ours nations soaring obesity levels, but sitting on the opposite page is another size zero story.

Back in 2006 models Luisel Ramos and her sister, Eliana, and Ana Carolina Reston and Hila Elmalich died after starving themselves to death in their attempt to be thin. As a result of the outcry caused the council of Fashion Designers of America recommended that runway models be aged over 16 and Spain banned models weighing less than 8st 11lb from Madrid’s Fashion Week.

A story in a recent issue of The Guardian interviews once anorexic but now plus size model Crystal Renn, quizzing her on an industry she knows like the back of her hand. Renn explained that there was very little immediate change in the industry and the high fashion models remained as thin as ever.

But, said Renn: “Thankfully the pendulum seems to be swinging back, at least a bit,” she said. “The 2009 face of Marc by Marc Jacobs is Daisy Lowe, who has a curvier body than has been in style lately. The looks of Jennifer Hudson, Adele and Beyoncé are generally admired, not reviled. ”

Designers are gradually beginning to see that larger models have a role. Hopefully this will show women who look to models as the ideal form, that there is a healthy happy medium between being anorexic or obese.

Antonio Berardi has talked of the trouble he has finding girls with a womanly shape. “We have to spend days altering things,” he complained. “We add padding and pieces that work inside the clothes to exaggerate their bodies into a more female form. I don’t want all those girls with pale skin who look the same. My family is Italian – I am inspired by a womanly aesthetic.”

Roland Mouret agrees: “I see advertising going back to that powerful 1980s mentality, when girls like Linda [Evangelista] were ideal. Back in the 80s, when supermodels were several sizes larger than top models today, the clothes worked on bigger bodies,” he added. “They were bright, bold, curve-enhancing.”

VCT services for HIV play a huge role in the national AIDS programme in sub-Saharan Africa. These services offer counselling for those receiving their results and also provide a window of oppourtunity for those infected by HIV to receive antiretroviral therapy as it becomes more widely available.

The point of VCT services is to help people learn about their HIV results and to receive the appropriate counselling. VCT sessions for HIV are an opportunity to promote changes in behavior which in turn will help reduce the risk of HIV among adults who are sexually active, as well as referring them for further treatment if they are HIV positive. However, uptake of such services is very low among high-risk and HIV-positive groups in some settings.

Approximately a third of the men interviewed and a quarter of the women, expressed an interest in the VCT service. However, only 12 percent of men and 7 percent of women went on to complete VCT. When researchers looked into why VCT was unpopular within cetain group settings they found that failure to complete VCT was down to a number of reasons, for example the higher number of men who took part in VCT correlates with a higher proportion of HIV-positive men knowing their HIV status than HIV-positive women.

Researchers concluded that a disproportionate number of women who may be in need of additional referral treatment are failing to access VCT and are potentially missing out on further treatment.

More on this story