Learning to live with Motor Neurone Disease
It is a disease which gained much prominence after the famous English theoretical physicist, cosmologist and author Stephen Hawking was assailed by it in the prime of his youth at 21. Given just two years to live, he has beaten all medical predictions. He is now 74 years old having lived with this debilitating neurological [...]
The superpower pomegranate
Have you ever had the pleasure of cracking open a beautiful ruby red fresh pomegranate? If not this is the perfect time to try. Your pleasure will continue when you taste the deep red seeds of this luscious fruit. Pomegranate (Delum in Sinhalese, Matulai in Tamil) is the fruit of Punica granatum L belonging to [...]
Paying attention could save your life
“Distraction is a lot like water: First refreshing, then exhausting, and, finally, fatal.” -Author unknown I thought this week I will take a departure from writing about mental illness, and bring to the attention of the reader, important facts about attention and distraction in humans. In my article I will focus on the use of mobile [...]
Always hungry? Here’s why
Always hungry? Foraging the fridge and kitchen cupboards often? Why do you feel hungry, even soon after you’ve cleared your meal away, and why does this pattern keep repeating itself? The resulting ‘grab and run’ approach to eating has become a way of life and we’re convinced that this is the only way to get [...]
Eating right to beat dementia
A recent study by a team of researchers in the USA identified a dietary pattern that can significantly reduce the risk of developing dementia. The diet had been ranked as one of the easiest diets to follow, and a good diet for healthy eating. Martha Clare Morris and her colleagues at Rush University Medical Center [...]
When words can become a matter of life and death
Medication errors are a threat to patient safety. They occur when specified standards are not attained during the treatment process, which includes prescribing, compounding, dispensing, and medicines administration. It must be emphasised that ‘Medication’ errors and ‘Medical errors’ are not synonyms. Medication errors are only one component of medical errors and include failures in the [...]
Personalised physiotherapy for many ailments
“There’s nothing more important than our good health – that’s our principal capital asset.” – Arien Specter. It’s a warm Friday afternoon (May 6) and chief physiotherapist at Physio Medicare in Dehiwala, Nilakshi Kasilingam is at her desk, awaiting her next patient. With five professionally trained physiotherapists – four female and one male with experience [...]