Heart risks linked to ‘food deserts’ caused by costs, not lack of access

Dear parents, if you want your children to have proper sleep, read this carefully. Joining a growing list of studies that tell parents to shun devices at bed-time, researchers say that children who use devices and decide what time they go to sleep, achieve less sleep and feel more sleepier the following day than their peers.

The study of children in this age-group (aged 11 to 13 years), published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, found most (72 per cent) of the 163 students interviewed by University of Otago researchers achieved recommended guidelines of an average 9 to 11 hours sleep nightly over one week.

"But that also means that almost one in four students did not achieve sleep within these guidelines, which highlights an area for improvement," said study researcher Kate Ford.

However, consistent with previous research in 15 to 17-year-old New Zealanders, the study results show less sleep on the nights where devices are used in the hour before bed.

According to the researchers, students who used devices before going to sleep were also more likely to report that they felt sleepy the following morning. Watching television before bed had no significant effect on sleep length.

There were also some interesting observations over the weekends where students went to bed later but woke later achieving similar sleep length to the school days, the researchers said.

A small group of students (six per cent) who reported less than seven hours of sleep, including a small number reporting not sleeping at all, according to the study,

Therefore, while the average across the week of 72 per cent of students reporting adequate sleep is reassuring, it is far from the goal of every child achieving sleep within the recommended guidelines," Ford said.

Dr Paul Kelly, head of the Sleep Health Service at Canterbury District Health Board, supervised the study and explained that the foundations for good health are based on proper nutrition, regular exercise and good sleep quality.

Sleep quality is often overlooked as a contributory factor to poor health.

"The study findings suggest the need for parental guidance around bedtimings and moderation of the use and availability of electronic devices before bed," Kelly said.

"Respect and protect your sleep, as good daytime functioning is reliant on adequate sleep," Kelly added.

The practice of washing your hands for 20 seconds is one of the best preventive measures you can take to avoid the spread of any virus including coronavirus as recommended by the WHO.

The modern day concept of handwashing was introduced by Hungaraian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis, in 19-th century Vienna. Semmelweis proposed the practice of washing hands with chlorinated lime solutions in 1847 while working in the city's general hospital.

Decades later, in the modern times too the practise has not lost it's relevance. To connect with savvy consumers the message is being sent through social media? But social media can also be a dark place where misinformation is rampant; consumers can end up being misguided and compromised on sensitive issues like health and hygiene.

Dettol, recently kickstarted its #HandWashChallenge on TikTok aiming to raise awareness on four simple steps of handwashing. Strategically aimed at creating awareness among audience, a unique song has been created pairing it extremely well with the hashtag #HandWashChallenge. The hashtag filter has a branded Dettol strip across the top with the hashtag and names the steps involved in washing hands. The user can dance out the steps to the challenge and share it with their friends to further amplify the message on hygiene and safety.

Commenting on the same, Pankaj Duhan, Chief Marketing Officer, RB Health South Asia said, "We are elated with the response to the #HandWashChallenge, it has definitely become one of the most successfully led initiatives by any of our brands at RB. Understanding the consumer's mindset is of the utmost importance to us, therefore our campaign communication is built in a way that creates meaningful conversations to drive awareness amongst consumers. The participation by TikTok users across India has helped deliver the right message in a more engaging and interactive manner.

"I personally would like to encourage more and more people to join this global health & hygiene educational exercise. Together, let us all build a healthier nation, four steps at a time."

He further said, "Over the past couple of weeks we have witnessed a lot of misinformation floating around hygiene practices, especially over the internet. Realizing the gravity of the issue and being the responsible brand, we felt it was our prerogative to initiate this awareness campaign."

The campaign witnessed several quirky activities on each day leading to increased consumer interest. Joining the force were some of Bollywood's popular celebrities like Kartik Aaryan and Urvashi Rautela among several other TikTok influencers who have millions of followers on the platform. As part of Phase II, Dettol plans to take the challenge global by encouraging more users to participate while the audience worldwide.

The challenge has witnessed over 18 Billion views and generated over 123K user participation videos in one week of starting the campaign.

Singapore, May 25: COVID-19 patients are no longer infectious after 11 days of getting sick even though some may still test positive, according to a new study by infectious disease experts in Singapore.

A positive test "does not equate to infectiousness or viable virus," a joint research paper by Singapore's National Centre for Infectious Diseases and the Academy of Medicine, Singapore said. The virus "could not be isolated or cultured after day 11 of illness."

The paper was based on a study of 73 patents in the city-state.

The latest findings may have implications on the country's patient discharge policy. The discharge criteria is currently based on negative test results rather than infectiousness.

Singapore's strategy on managing COVID-19 patients is guided by the latest local and international clinical scientific evidence, and the Ministry of Health will evaluate if the latest evidence can be incorporated into its patient clinical management plan, according to a report by the Straits Times.

So far, 13,882, or about 45% of the total 31,068 Covid-19 patients in Singapore have been discharged from hospitals and community facilities. Singapore reported 642 new Covid-19 cases as of noon on Saturday.

The government has been actively screening pre-school staff as it prepares to reopen pre-schools from June 2. On Friday, two pre-school employees tested positive for the novel coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases among pre-school staff to seven, according to the Ministry of Health.