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Mothers’ dieting habits and self-talk have profound impact on daughters − 2 psychologists explain how to cultivate healthy behaviors and body image

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/janet-j-boseovski-451496">Janet J. Boseovski</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-north-carolina-greensboro-2069">University of North Carolina – Greensboro</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ashleigh-gallagher-1505989">Ashleigh Gallagher</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-north-carolina-greensboro-2069">University of North Carolina – Greensboro</a> Weight loss is one of the most common health and appearance-related goals. Women and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db340.htm">teen girls</a> are <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db313.htm">especially likely to pursue dieting</a> to achieve weight loss goals even though a great deal of research shows that <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-thin-people-dont-understand-about-dieting-86604">dieting doesn’t work over the long term</a>. We are a <a href="https://www.duck-lab.com/people">developmental psychologist</a> and a <a href="https://psy.uncg.edu/directory/ashleigh-gallagher/">social psychologist</a> who together wrote a forthcoming book, “Beyond Body Positive: A Mother’s Evidence-Based Guide for Helping Girls Build a Healthy Body Image.” In the book, we address topics such as the effects of maternal dieting behaviors on daughters’ health and well-being. We provide information on how to build a foundation for healthy body image beginning in girlhood. <h2>Culturally defined body ideals</h2> Given the strong influence of social media and other cultural influences on body ideals, it’s understandable that so many people pursue diets aimed at weight loss. <a href="https://communityhealth.mayoclinic.org/featured-stories/tiktok-diets">TikTok</a>, YouTube, Instagram and celebrity websites feature slim influencers and “how-tos” for achieving those same results in no time. For example, women and teens are engaging in rigid and extreme forms of exercise such as 54D, a program to <a href="https://54d.com/">achieve body transformation in 54 days</a>, or the <a href="https://health.clevelandclinic.org/75-hard-challenge-and-rules">75 Hard Challenge</a>, which is to follow five strict rules for 75 days. For teens, these pursuits are likely fueled by trendy body preoccupations such as the desire for “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/06/well/move/tiktok-legging-legs-eating-disorders.html">legging legs</a>.” Women and teens have also been been inundated with recent messaging around <a href="https://theconversation.com/drugs-that-melt-away-pounds-still-present-more-questions-than-answers-but-ozempic-wegovy-and-mounjaro-could-be-key-tools-in-reducing-the-obesity-epidemic-205549">quick-fix weight loss drugs</a>, which come with a lot of caveats. Dieting and weight loss goals are highly individual, and when people are intensely self-focused, it is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2000.19.1.70">possible to lose sight of the bigger picture</a>. Although women might wonder what the harm is in trying the latest diet, science shows that dieting behavior doesn’t just affect the dieter. In particular, for women who are mothers or who have other girls in their lives, these behaviors affect girls’ emerging body image and their health and well-being. <h2>The profound effect of maternal role models</h2> Research shows that mothers and maternal figures <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2017.11.001">have a profound influence on their daughters’ body image</a>. The opportunity to influence girls’ body image comes far earlier than adolescence. In fact, research shows that these influences on body image <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/how-toxic-diet-culture-is-passed-from-moms-to-daughters">begin very early in life</a> – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.acdb.2016.10.006">during the preschool years</a>. Mothers may feel that they are being discreet about their dieting behavior, but little girls are watching and listening, and they are far more observant of us than many might think. For example, one study revealed that compared with daughters of nondieting women, 5-year-old girls whose mothers dieted <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0002-8223(00)00339-4">were aware of the connection between dieting and thinness</a>. Mothers’ eating behavior does not just affect girls’ ideas about dieting, but also their daughters’ eating behavior. The amount of food that mothers eat <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2018.04.018">predicts how much their daughters will eat</a>. In addition, daughters whose mothers are dieters are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2018.04.018">more likely to become dieters themselves</a> and are also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2007.03.001">more likely to have a negative body image</a>. Negative body image is <a href="https://theconversation.com/mounting-research-documents-the-harmful-effects-of-social-media-use-on-mental-health-including-body-image-and-development-of-eating-disorders-206170">not a trivial matter</a>. It affects girls’ and women’s mental and physical well-being in a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105317710815">host of ways</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2011.06.009">can predict the emergence of eating disorders</a>. <h2>Avoiding ‘fat talk’</h2> What can moms do, then, to serve their daughters’ and their own health? They can focus on small steps. And although it is best to begin these efforts early in life – in girlhood – it is never too late to do so. For example, mothers can consider how they think about and talk about themselves around their daughters. Engaging in “fat talk” may inadvertently send their daughters the message that larger bodies are bad, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.07.004">contributing to weight bias</a> and negative self-image. Mothers’ fat talk also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15267431.2021.1908294">predicts later body dissatisfaction in daughters</a>. And negative self-talk isn’t good for mothers, either; it is associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105318781943">lower motivation and unhealthful eating</a>. Mothers can instead practice and model self-compassion, which involves treating oneself the way <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2016.03.003">a loving friend might treat you</a>. In discussions about food and eating behavior, it is important to avoid moralizing certain kinds of food by labeling them as “good” or “bad,” as girls may extend these labels to their personal worth. For example, a young girl may feel that she is being “bad” if she eats dessert, if that is what she has learned from observing the women around her. In contrast, she may feel that she has to eat a salad to be “good.” Moms and other female role models can make sure that the dinner plate sends a healthy message to their daughters by showing instead that all foods can fit into a balanced diet when the time is right. Intuitive eating, which emphasizes paying attention to hunger and satiety and allows flexibility in eating behavior, is associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-020-00852-4">better physical and mental health in adolescence</a>. Another way that women and especially moms can buffer girls’ body image is by helping their daughters <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.12.009">to develop media literacy</a> and to think critically about the nature and purpose of media. For example, moms can discuss the misrepresentation and distortion of bodies, such as the use of filters to enhance physical appearance, on social media. <h2>Focusing on healthful behaviors</h2> One way to begin to focus on health behaviors rather than dieting behaviors is to develop respect for the body and to <a href="https://theconversation.com/body-neutrality-what-it-is-and-how-it-can-help-lead-to-more-positive-body-image-191799">consider body neutrality</a>. In other words, prize body function rather than appearance and spend less time thinking about your body’s appearance. Accept that there are times when you may not feel great about your body, and that this is OK. To feel and look their best, mothers can aim to stick to a <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-best-diet-for-healthy-sleep-a-nutritional-epidemiologist-explains-what-food-choices-will-help-you-get-more-restful-zs-219955">healthy sleep schedule</a>, manage their stress levels, <a href="https://theconversation.com/fiber-is-your-bodys-natural-guide-to-weight-management-rather-than-cutting-carbs-out-of-your-diet-eat-them-in-their-original-fiber-packaging-instead-205159">eat a varied diet</a> that includes all of the foods that they enjoy, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-runners-high-may-result-from-molecules-called-cannabinoids-the-bodys-own-version-of-thc-and-cbd-170796">move and exercise their bodies regularly</a> as lifelong practices, rather than engaging in quick-fix trends. Although many of these tips sound familiar, and perhaps even simple, they become effective when we recognize their importance and begin acting on them. Mothers can work toward modeling these behaviors and tailor each of them to their daughter’s developmental level. It’s never too early to start. <h2>Promoting healthy body image</h2> Science shows that several personal characteristics are associated with body image concerns among women. For example, research shows that women who are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.02.001">higher in neuroticism</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/2050-2974-1-2">and perfectionism</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.983534">lower in self-compassion</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2013.08.001">lower in self-efficacy</a> are all more likely to struggle with negative body image. Personality is frequently defined as a person’s characteristic pattern of thoughts, feelings and behaviors. But if they wish, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/per.1945">mothers can change personality characteristics</a> that they feel aren’t serving them well. For example, perfectionist tendencies – such as setting unrealistic, inflexible goals – can be examined, challenged and replaced with more rational thoughts and behaviors. A woman who believes she must work out every day can practice being more flexible in her thinking. One who thinks of dessert as “cheating” can practice resisting moral judgments about food. Changing habitual ways of thinking, feeling and behaving certainly takes effort and time, but it is far more likely than diet trends to bring about sustainable, long-term change. And taking the first steps to modify even a few of these habits can positively affect daughters. In spite of all the noise from media and other cultural influences, mothers can feel empowered knowing that they have a significant influence on their daughters’ feelings about, and treatment of, their bodies. In this way, mothers’ modeling of healthier attitudes and behaviors is a sound investment – for both their own body image and that of the girls they love.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221968/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/janet-j-boseovski-451496">Janet J. Boseovski</a>, Professor of Psychology, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-north-carolina-greensboro-2069">University of North Carolina – Greensboro</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ashleigh-gallagher-1505989">Ashleigh Gallagher</a>, Senior Lecturer, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-north-carolina-greensboro-2069">University of North Carolina – Greensboro</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/mothers-dieting-habits-and-self-talk-have-profound-impact-on-daughters-2-psychologists-explain-how-to-cultivate-healthy-behaviors-and-body-image-221968">original article</a>.

Mind

6 common factors that are impacting your sleep

While we all do our best to make sure we’re get our eight hours every night, at times it can feel as though we’re our own worst enemies. And while we’re all aware of the importance of sleep, it can sometimes be difficult to figure out what the root of the problem is. Here are six common factors that may be negatively impacting your ability to get shut eye. Correct these and you’ll be on your way to enjoy a good night sleep. 1. Light Studies have shown the exposure to light can wreak havoc in terms of our internal circadian rhythm. Try to avoid having your vision obstructed by any light when you’re about to get to sleep and keep the use of mobile and computer devices to a minimum. 2. Food Asides from the correlation between poor quality sleep and processed foods, it’s generally not recommended you have large, heavy meals just before you’re about to go to bed. Also, try to avoid sugar and caffeine in the few hours leading to bedtime. 3. Noise Noise can also affect the pattern of your sleep as anyone who’s tossed and turned at the sound of a neighbour’s party. Earplugs are one option you can explore. It’s also an idea to perhaps try a light fan to drown the noise out somewhat, or some sort of gentle recording. 4. Temperature Each person has an optimal temperature for falling asleep and it varies between people. If you’re feeling a bit hot under the collar (or too cool to start sleeping) it’s worth experimenting with the temperature in your room until you find one that better suits. 5. Schedule Are bodies are fiends for routines, so try to go to bed and get up at the same time every day, even on weekend. Not only will this help integrate your body into a regular sleep/wake pattern, it will also make the actual process of falling asleep seem much easier. 6. Naps While there’s nothing quite as nice as an afternoon nap during the day, it can actually significantly disrupt out sleep patterns during the night. If you really do have to nap during the day, try to keep it short and avoid napping too much in the later parts of the day. Image credits: Getty Images

Body

Cooking (and heating) without gas: what are the impacts of shifting to all-electric homes?

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/trivess-moore-12580">Trivess Moore</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/alan-pears-52">Alan Pears</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/joe-hurley-157161">Joe Hurley</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a> Gas connections for all new housing and sub-divisions will be <a href="https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/new-victorian-homes-go-all-electric-2024">banned in Victoria</a> from January 1 next year. The long-term result of the state government’s significant change to planning approvals will be all-electric housing. The ACT made <a href="https://www.climatechoices.act.gov.au/policy-programs/preventing-new-gas-network-connections">similar changes</a> early this year, in line with a shift away from gas across <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47559920">Europe</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/19/gas-stove-culture-war-united-states">other locations</a>, although the NSW Premier Chris Minns has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jul/31/nsw-wont-ban-gas-in-new-homes-as-premier-declares-i-dont-need-another-complication">baulked</a> at doing the same. Around <a href="https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/renewable-energy/victorias-gas-substitution-roadmap">80% of homes</a> in Victoria are connected to gas. This high uptake was driven by gas being seen as more affordable and sustainable than electricity over past decades. The situation has <a href="https://www.iea.org/events/net-zero-by-2050-a-roadmap-for-the-global-energy-system">changed dramatically</a> as renewable electricity generation increases and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-27/aemo-wholesale-electricity-prices-fall-impact-power-bills/102654498">costs fall</a>. <a href="https://theconversation.com/all-electric-homes-are-better-for-your-hip-pocket-and-the-planet-heres-how-governments-can-help-us-get-off-gas-207409">Research</a> has suggested for more than a decade that the benefits of all-electric homes <a href="https://bze.org.au/research_release/energy-efficient-buildings-plan/">stack up in many locations</a>. New homes built under mandatory building energy performance standards (increasing from <a href="https://thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/building-construction/victoria-kicks-the-can-down-the-road-again-on-the-national-construction-code/">6 to 7 stars</a> in Victoria in May 2024) need smaller, cheaper heating and cooling systems. Installing reverse-cycle air conditioning for cooling provides a cost-effective heater as a bonus. Savings from not requiring gas pipes, appliances and gas supply infrastructure help to offset the costs of highly efficient electric appliances. Mandating fully electric homes means economies of scale will further reduce costs. <h2>How does this ban help?</h2> To achieve environmentally sustainable development, reforms of planning policy and regulation <a href="https://theconversation.com/sustainable-cities-australias-building-and-planning-rules-stand-in-the-way-of-getting-there-84263">are essential</a> to convert innovation and best practice to mainstream practice. Planning policy is particularly important for apartment buildings and other housing that may be rented or have an owners’ corporation. Retrofits to improve energy efficiency can be difficult in these situations. Banning gas in new and renovated housing will <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/getting-off-gas/">cut greenhouse gas emissions</a>. It’s also <a href="https://theconversation.com/gas-cooking-is-associated-with-worsening-asthma-in-kids-but-proper-ventilation-helps-151591">healthier for households</a> and <a href="https://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/research-data-and-insights/research/research-reports/the-victorian-healthy-homes-program-research-findings">reduces healthcare costs</a> as well as <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/getting-off-gas/">energy bills and infrastructure costs</a>. The Victorian government suggests the change will save all-electric households <a href="https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/new-victorian-homes-go-all-electric-2024">about $1,000 a year</a>. Houses with solar will be even better off. The government appears to be offering wide support to ensure these changes happen, but this will need to be monitored closely. Some households will face extra costs for electric appliances and solar panels. The government’s announcement of <a href="https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/new-victorian-homes-go-all-electric-2024">$10 million</a> for Residential Electrification Grants should help with some of these costs while the industry adjusts. There will be impacts and benefits for the local economy. Some jobs may be lost, particularly in the gas appliance and plumbing industry. The government has announced financial support to retrain people and they will still have essential roles in the existing housing sector. Many gas appliances are imported, including ovens, cooktops and instantaneous gas water heaters. Some components of efficient electric products, such as hot water storage tanks, are made locally. Local activities, including distribution, sales, design, installation and maintenance, comprise much of the overall cost. <h2>Challenges of change must be managed</h2> Sustainability benefits will depend on what <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/getting-off-gas/">happens with the energy network</a>. We need more renewable energy, energy storage and smarter management of electricity demand. The shift to all-electric homes may mean winter peak demand for heating increases. Energy market operators and governments will have to monitor demand changes carefully to avoid the reliability issues we already see in summer. However, improving energy efficiency, energy storage and demand management will help reduce this load (and household costs). While the benefits are clear for new homes, the changes may <a href="https://www.bsl.org.au/research/publications/enabling-electrification/">increase gas costs and energy poverty</a> for residents of existing housing who don’t shift to efficient electric solutions. The government has reconfirmed financial rebates to help households switch from gas. In addition, existing housing may face building quality and performance issues. Some may require electrical wiring upgrades as part of the transition. Social acceptance of some electric appliances may also be an issue. For example, <a href="https://www.rmit.edu.au/about/schools-colleges/property-construction-and-project-management/research/research-centres-and-groups/sustainable-building-innovation-laboratory/projects/heet-housing-energy-efficiency-transitions">our research</a> has found some households dislike the way heating from reverse cycle air conditioners feels. Others do not like cooking on induction cooktops. Consumer education and modifications to appliances and buildings may be needed to increase acceptance and avoid backlash. Some electric appliances are available overseas but not in Australia. Higher demand may increase the range of imports. For example, floor-mounted heat pumps can make heating feel similar to gas heating while still providing effective cooling. We should not assume electric appliances are all equal. To improve consumer protection, action is needed on weak standards and limited and inconsistent public information. For example, information on noise levels and efficiency under a range of weather conditions must be standardised. Moving housing away from gas is an <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-99-2760-9">important step</a> in the transition to a zero-carbon economy and energy system. Careful management is needed to ensure this transition is effective, accepted and fair. Continued planning reforms are also essential to ensure environmentally sustainable development of housing and communities. Other urgent priorities include urban cooling and greening, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/turning-the-housing-crisis-around-how-a-circular-economy-can-give-us-affordable-sustainable-homes-208745">circular economy approaches</a> to reduce the material and waste impacts of housing and thus the carbon that goes into building and running homes.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210649/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/trivess-moore-12580">Trivess Moore</a>, Senior Lecturer, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/alan-pears-52">Alan Pears</a>, Senior Industry Fellow, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/joe-hurley-157161">Joe Hurley</a>, Associate Professor, Sustainability and Urban Planning, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/cooking-and-heating-without-gas-what-are-the-impacts-of-shifting-to-all-electric-homes-210649">original article</a>.

Home & Garden

"So traumatic": Michelle Bridges grilled over Biggest Loser's impact

Michelle Bridges has been slammed by a body positivity activist for the negative impact The Biggest Loser's strict rules around weight loss had on viewers. Appearing on The Project for a discussion around health and body image, Bridges went head-to-head with activist April Helene-Horton, who said she was unsure if she wanted to appear in the segment, given the “traumatic” presence The Biggest Loser was in her life. The weight loss program, which aired on Channel Ten from 2006 and ran for 11 seasons, featured Bridges as one of the several tough-talking trainers, motivating overweight contestants to intensively diet and exercise in a contest to lose the most weight in the fastest time for a big cash prize. During the discussion on The Project, Bridges and The Biggest Loser were put to the test to discuss what it means to be healthy. <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CsFI_QPu7Y9/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CsFI_QPu7Y9/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by The Project (@theprojecttv)</a> </div> </blockquote> The Project host Sarah Harris asked Helene-Horton who was to blame “for the idea that larger bodies are bad”, as she listed “mainstream media, fashion, doctors who don‘t want to see fat patients, social media” among the main culprits. “Would you put the fitness industry in that same category?” Bridges asked. “Yeah I would. And I’ll be really honest and say, I was somewhat nervous coming here today to see you, because I would genuinely say that the show The Biggest Loser was one of the most traumatic things that ever happened to me,” Helene-Horton replied. “Yeah, I hear you. I absolutely hear you. Going on a show like that back in the day, I really had to dig deep and question my morals about why I’m in the health and fitness industry,” responded Bridges. Helene-Horton said that, having spoken to Bridges, she’d soon realised they had some things in common. “You, like me, are somebody who struggled against the idea that you need to be perfect. But the edit [on The Biggest Loser] still made me feel like someone who had the same values as you … would make me feel shame.” Bridges went on to admit that The Biggest Loser wouldn't "work" today, due to the liberation of the body positivity movement and the change in definition of what it means to be healthy. “When I look back on it, 17 years ago, it was a totally a different culture back then. I don’t think that show would work today. In fact, I know it wouldn’t,” she said. Image credits: The Project <div class="media image" style="caret-color: #000000; color: #000000; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; flex-direction: column; align-items: center; width: 705.202209px; margin-bottom: 24px; max-width: 100%;"> </div>

Body

Locking up kids has serious mental health impacts and contributes to further reoffending

This article contains information on violence experienced by First Nations young people in the Australian carceral system. There are mentions of racist terms, and this piece also mentions self harm, trauma and suicide. The ABC Four Corners report “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-14/locking-up-kids:-australias-failure-to-protect/101652954" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Locking up Kids</a>” detailed the horrific conditions for young Aboriginal people in the juvenile justice system in Western Australia. The report was nothing new. In 2016, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-25/australias-shame-promo/7649462" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Four Corners</a> detailed the brutalisation of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory’s Don Dale Youth Detention Centre, in its episode “Australia’s Shame”. Also in 2016, <a href="https://www.amnesty.org.au/amnesty-international-welcomes-queensland-youth-detention-review/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amnesty International</a> detailed the abuse children were receiving in Queensland’s juvenile detention facilities. Children should be playing, swimming, running and exploring life. They do not belong behind bars. Yet, on any given day in 2020-21, an average of <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/youth-justice/youth-justice-in-australia-2020-21/contents/summary" target="_blank" rel="noopener">4,695</a> young people were incarcerated in Australia. Most of the young people incarcerated are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. Despite Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in WA making up just <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/youth-justice/youth-justice-in-australia-2020-21/contents/state-and-territory-fact-sheets/western-australia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">6.7%</a> of the population, they account for <a href="https://www.oics.wa.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Banksia-Hill-2020-002.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than 70%</a> of youth locked up in Perth’s Banksia Hill Juvenile Detention Centre. <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/agispt.20211109056541" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The reasons</a> so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are detained are linked to the impacts of colonisation, such as intergenerational trauma, ongoing racism, discrimination, and unresolved issues related to self-determination. The Four Corners documentary alleged children in detention were exposed to abuse, torture, solitary confinement and other degrading treatment such as “folding”, which involves bending a person’s legs behind them before sitting on them – we saw a grown man sitting on a child’s legs in this way in the documentary. The documentary also found Aboriginal young people were more likely to be held in solitary confinement, leading to the young people feeling helpless. Racism was also used as a form of abuse, with security calling the young detainees apes and monkeys. One of the young men detained at Banksia Hill expressed the treatment he received made him consider taking his own life. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> No action taken against Don Dale guards over 'excessive force' in fresh Four Corners vision <a href="https://t.co/RdJgN8vQhu">https://t.co/RdJgN8vQhu</a> — Sarah Collard (@Sarah_Collard_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Sarah_Collard_/status/1592451372808802305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 15, 2022</a></blockquote> How does incarceration impact young people’s mental health? Many young people enter youth detention with pre-existing neurocognitive impairments (such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-youth-with-foetal-alcohol-spectrum-disorder-need-indigenous-run-alternatives-to-prison-56615" target="_blank" rel="noopener">foetal alcohol spectrum disorder</a>), trauma, and poor mental health. More than <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10398560902948696" target="_blank" rel="noopener">80%</a> of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in a Queensland detention centre reported mental health problems. Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare revealed that more than <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/youth-justice/young-people-in-child-protection/summary" target="_blank" rel="noopener">30%</a> of young people in detention were survivors of abuse or neglect. Rather than supporting the most vulnerable within our community, the Australian justice system is <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/agispt.20211109056541" target="_blank" rel="noopener">imprisoning traumatised</a> and often developmentally compromised young people. <a href="https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S027273581300010X?token=9CBCD682BF76BBE308B2073C2A3980D63745C157813CAC79F171AA4577C849EC40D0B848B6DB0D009AFACC05B8BC6185&originRegion=us-east-1&originCreation=20221116031322" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Research</a> has shown pre-existing mental health problems are likely exacerbated by experiences during incarceration, such as isolation, boredom and victimisation. This inhumane treatment brings about retraumatisation of the effects of colonisation and racism, with feelings of <a href="https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/committees/SCLSI/Youth_Justice_System/Submissions/Submission_44-Parkville_College.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hopelessness</a>, worthlessness and <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/completed_inquiries/2004-07/inst_care/report2/c06" target="_blank" rel="noopener">low self-esteem</a>. Youth detention is also associated with an <a href="https://www.ranzcp.org/news-policy/news/detention-of-children-in-adult-prisons-must-stop#:%7E:text='Youth%20detention%20is%20associated%20with,substance%20use%2C%20and%20behavioural%20disorders." target="_blank" rel="noopener">increased risk</a> of suicide, psychiatric disorders, and drug and alcohol abuse. Locking young people up during their <a href="https://www.cypp.unsw.edu.au/sites/ypp.unsw.edu.au/files/Cunneen%20%282017%29%20Arguments%20for%20raising%20the%20minimum%20age%20of%20criminal%20responsibility.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crucial years</a> of development also has long-term impacts. These include poor emotional development, poor education outcomes, and worse mental health <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5260153/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in adulthood</a>. As adults, post-release Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-842X.2004.tb00629.x" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ten times</a> more likely to die than the general population, with suicide the leading cause of death. You don’t have to look far to see the devastating impacts of incarceration on mental health. Just last year, there were <a href="https://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Hansard/hansard.nsf/0/A4A8FAAE33FDD6BE48258844001C7E29/$File/C41%20S1%2020220511%20All.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">320 reports</a> of self-harm at Banksia Hill, WA’s only youth detention centre. Locking up kids increases the likelihood of reoffending Imprisoning young offenders is also associated with future <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027273581300010X?casa_token=TJ6WoQJnWnsAAAAA:NKTzeYv-LJcHuwT7Xs5fxeHUx9lHsKzVlQDpLpWPyG7u4KAXb1866s-sdupwbQmcbPR93qArg99O" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offending behaviours</a> and <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Committees_Exposed/atsia/sentencing/report/chapter2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">continued contact with the justice system</a>. Without proper rehabilitation and support post-release, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young peoples often return to the same conditions that created the patterns of offending in the first place. Earlier this year, the head of Perth Children’s Court, Judge Hylton Quail <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-10/hylton-quail-slams-conditions-banksia-hill-detention-centre/100819262" target="_blank" rel="noopener">condemned</a> the treatment of a young person in detention at Banksia Hill, stating: <blockquote> When you treat a damaged child like an animal, they will behave like an animal […] When you want to make a monster, this is how you do it. </blockquote> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Today marks 5 years since the recommendations of the Royal Commission into the Detention and Protection of Children in the NT, which recommended closing Don Dale. We now have record numbers of Aboriginal children incarcerated due to punitive bail laws introduced last year. <a href="https://t.co/buxMFFucW7">pic.twitter.com/buxMFFucW7</a> — NAAJA (@NAAJA_NT) <a href="https://twitter.com/NAAJA_NT/status/1593059263223844864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 17, 2022</a></blockquote> What needs to be done? There needs to be substantive change in how young people who come in contact with the justice system are treated. We need governments to commit, under <a href="https://www.closingthegap.gov.au/national-agreement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Closing the Gap</a>, to whole-of-system change through: <ol> <li> recognising children should not be criminalised at ten years old. The <a href="https://raisetheage.org.au/campaign" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Raise the Age</a> campaign is calling for the minimum age of responsibility to be raised to 14. Early prevention and intervention <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/agispt.20211109056541" target="_blank" rel="noopener">approaches</a> are necessary here. Children who are at risk of offending should be appropriately supported, to reduce pathways to offending. </li> <li> an approach addressing why young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are locked up in such great numbers is required, driven by respective First Nations communities. This means investing in housing, health, education, transport and other essential services and crucial aspects of a person’s life. An example of this is found in a pilot program in New South Wales called <a href="https://www.justreinvest.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/JRNSW-I-Reinvestment-Forum-I-Report.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Redefining Reinvestment</a>, which tackled the social determinants of incarceration using a community approach. </li> <li> future solutions must be trauma-informed and led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. </li> </ol> Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are not born criminals. They are born into systems that fail them, in a country that all too often turns a blind eye before locking them up. The Australian government needs to work with First Nations communities to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including our future generations. If this article has caused distress, please contact one of these helplines: <a href="https://www.13yarn.org.au/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAsdKbBhDHARIsANJ6-jfrUNMB9So6Gd1ICVQPd6uvGbfEaceXNR0BNYnEVCoxnMs7eiMmv20aAjDaEALw_wcB">13yarn</a>, <a href="https://www.lifeline.org.au/">Lifeline</a>, <a href="https://headspace.org.au/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAsdKbBhDHARIsANJ6-jdx8qmNF8hzPZNjURGbT9af0wT_xGUjDU26wX5Eftykygb35_OPLccaAp5uEALw_wcB">Headspace</a><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194657/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> Writen by Summer May Finlay, Ee Pin Chang, Jemma Collova and Pat Dudgeon. Republished with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/locking-up-kids-has-serious-mental-health-impacts-and-contributes-to-further-reoffending-194657" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Getty Images

Mind

A history of head injuries could impact your sense of smell

A history of head injuries could make you more likely to experience a loss of your sense of smell, according to a team of international researchers. The study, published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaoto.2022.1920" target="_blank" rel="noopener">JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery</a>, found that out of 5,961 participants - including 1,666 people who had a history of head injuries - those who had suffered from at least two head injuries or had more severe injuries were more likely to report a loss of smell. If you’ve ever had a nose full of snot during a severe cold or sinus infection, you’ve likely experienced a temoorary bout of anosmia - a full or partial loss of your sense of smell - but it can also be permanent. The team reported that 24 percent of those with a history of head injuries self-reported a loss of smell, in comparison to 20 percent of those with no head injuries, with 15 percent having objective anosmia versus 13 percent in the cohort with no injuries. For those with traumatic brain injuries (TBI), previous studies have found that 14 to 20 percent suffer from a loss of smell, with this most-recent study finding that the likelihood of suffering from smell loss relied on both the number of head injuries and their severity. The researchers found that both self-reporting a loss of smell and being objectively assessed to have anosmia were associated with a person having a history of at least two head injuries which were moderate, severe or penetrating. As for how TBIs cause a loss of smell, the authors suggest that it could include the shearing of the olfactory nerve fibres anchored to the cribriform plate, a part of the ethmoid bone that is anchored in the nasal cavity that is covered in holes to allow for nerves to convey smells to the brain. They also suggest that injuries to the sinonasal tract, olfactory bulbs, and olfactory-eloquent cortical brain regions could be behind smell loss, but note that other factors such as severe depression, posttraumatic epilepsy, and medications prescribed to manage TBIs could be responsible. Surprisingly, the team reported that a high proportion of participants were unaware of the extent of their loss of smell, echoing findings from previous studies. They found that those with a history of head injuries were more likely to under-report or over-report the extent of their smell loss - which was also measured using objective olfactory testing - in comparison to those who hadn’t suffered a head injury. Given that a loss of smell is often inaccurately reported by those with head injuries and that it is associated with negative effects on mental and physical health, the team argue that their study has important considerations for health practitioners working with patients with a history of head injuries. “Findings also suggest important clinical considerations for the diagnosis and treatment of posttraumatic olfactory loss; that individuals with remote prior head injury are at risk for posttraumatic olfactory dysfunction but are unlikely to be aware of their deficits; and conversely, that individuals with prior head injury may be more likely to overreport subjective olfactory deficits, which may not be confirmed by objective testing,” they write. “Taken together, there should be consideration of objective psychophysical olfactory assessment in patients with head injury.” Image: Getty Images

Mind

How the pandemic has impacted retirees

Two years of lockdowns, mask-wearing and rapidly expanding our medical knowledge during the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the world in a variety of ways - and retirees are no exception. New research has found that Australia’s over 50s have shifted their priorities since the pandemic, with 44 percent of seniors wanting to live closer to their families and nearly 70 percent feeling their appreciation of the little things in life has changed. According to the <a href="https://www.seniors.com.au/news-insights/australian-seniors-series-quality-of-life-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australian Seniors Quality of Life Report</a>, which surveyed over 5,000 Australians over 50, one in three Aussies have changed their priorities in retirement because of Covid, and approximately half find that good physical and mental health is their highest priority during retirement. Though Covid has had the biggest impact on retirees' travel plans - according to 55 percent of respondents - spending time with family (42 percent), and socialising and being in the community (36 percent) have been listed as a close second and third. Seniors’ expectations for their quality of life during retirement have also changed following the pandemic. A majority (62 percent) expect they might not be able to travel in the ways they want to, while just over 50 percent expect they may have to deal with greater health risks - with people over 60 more at risk of becoming seriously ill with Covid, it’s unsurprising that this is a big issue for retirees. Even with all of the changes the pandemic has brought to our lives, nearly all seniors agree that living independently is the most important part of retirement and it ranks in the top five of key goals Aussies have. It comes as the preference for living at home and receiving residential care outstrips aged care, with the <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services</a> finding that the number of home-care packages reached 236,554 in the last financial year, while the number of aged care packages stayed stable. “If you asked 100 people where you would rather be, 100 percent say ‘I want to stay home’,” Darren Nelson, an adjustable bed expert at Solace Sleep, told OverSixty. “We are seeing a huge increase in people reaching out, desperate to avoid having to go into an aged care facility.” As a result of this spike in demand, Solace Sleep – a company providing in-home care supplies – has seen the sale of mechanical beds go from less than 10 beds a year to over 300. Not only that, but living at home means that it’s easier to stay connected to friends and family - another key retirement goal. All in all, the COVID-19 pandemic has seen many of us question our priorities in life, and shift our focus to spending time with the people that matter most - and it might be that it’s an antidote to the isolation we’ve faced over the past few years and the key ingredient for a fulfilling life. Image: Getty Images

Retirement Life

Shifting seasons: using Indigenous knowledge and western science to help address climate change impacts

Traditional Owners in Australia are the creators of millennia worth of <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/native-knowledge-what-ecologists-are-learning-from-indigenous-people" target="_blank" rel="noopener">traditional ecological knowledge</a> – an understanding of how to live amid changing environmental conditions. Seasonal calendars are one of the forms of this knowledge best known by non-Indigenous Australians. But as the climate changes, these calendars are being disrupted. How? Take the example of wattle trees that flower at a specific time of year. That previously indicated the start of the fishing season for particular species. Climate change is causing these plants to flower later. In response, Traditional Owners on <a href="http://www.archerpoint.com.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yuku Baja Muliku</a> (YBM) Country near Cooktown are having to adapt their calendars and make new links. That’s not all. The seasonal timing of cultural burning practices is changing in some areas. Changes to rainfall and temperature alter when high intensity (hot) burns and low intensity (cool) burns are undertaken. Seasonal connections vital to Traditional Owners’ culture are decoupling. To systematically document changes, co-author Larissa Hale and her community worked with western scientists to pioneer a Traditional Owner-centred approach to climate impacts on cultural values. This process, <a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7kw7z2c9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published last week</a>, could also help Traditional Owners elsewhere to develop adaptive management for their Indigenous heritage. <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467324/original/file-20220606-15930-59oyt9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Wattle flower" /></a><figcaption>A YBM Traditional Owner showing the wattle flower which used to be an indicator species for good fishing. Author provided</figcaption></figure> Climate change threatens First Nations - their perspectives must be heard Australia’s First Nations people face many threats from climate change, ranging from impacts on food availability to health. For instance, rising seas are already <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/torres-strait-islanders-plead-for-climate-action-as-government-builds-seawall-20220401-p5aa13.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flooding islands</a> in the Torres Strait with devastating consequences. The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on impacts and adaption noted in the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_FinalDraft_Chapter11.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australasia chapter</a> that climate-related impacts on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their country and cultures are “pervasive, complex and compounding.” While it is important these impacts are recorded, the dominant source of the data is academic literature based on western science. Impacts and pressures Traditional Owners are seeing and managing on their country must be assessed and managed from their unique perspective. Traditional Owners have survived and adapted to climatic shifts during their 60,000+ years in Australia. This includes sea-level rise that flooded the area that is now the Great Barrier Reef and extreme rainfall variability. As a result, <a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-knowledge-is-lost-when-a-species-disappears-its-time-to-let-indigenous-people-care-for-their-country-their-way-172760" target="_blank" rel="noopener">they have developed</a> a fine-tuned sense of nature’s variability over time. <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467327/original/file-20220607-20-y7p3ak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Drone shot of Annan river" /></a><figcaption>YBM Traditional Owners and scientists surveying freshwater mussel populations on Annan River near Cooktown. Author provided</figcaption></figure> So what did we do? Worried about the changes they were seeing on their Land and Sea Country around Archer Point in North Queensland, the YBM people worked with scientists from James Cook University to create a new way to assess impacts on cultural values. To do this, we drew on the values-based, science-driven, and community-focused approach of the <a href="https://cvi-heritage.org/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener">climate vulnerability index</a>. It was the first time this index had been used to assess values of significance for Indigenous people. YBM people responded to key prompts to assess changes to their values, including: <ul> <li>What did the value look like 100 years ago?</li> <li>What does it look like now?</li> <li>What do you expect it will look like in the climate future around 2050?</li> <li>What management practices relate to that value and will they change?</li> </ul> We then discussed what issues have emerged from these climatic changes. Using this process, we were able to single out issues directly affecting how YBM people live. For instance, traditional food sources can be affected by climate change. In the past, freshwater mussels in the Annan River were easy to access and collect. Extreme temperature events in the last 10 years have contributed to mass die-offs. Now mussels are much smaller in size and tend to be far <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311066114_Freshwater_mussel_surveys_from_the_Annan_River_Yuku_Baja_Muliku_Country_-_project_findings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fewer in number</a>. <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467325/original/file-20220607-16-b1ny4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Freshwater mussels Annan River" /></a><figcaption>Freshwater mussels used to be more common. Author provided</figcaption></figure> Through the process we also documented that changes to rainfall and temperature have altered the time when some plant foods appear. This is particularly true for plants that depend upon cultural burns to flower or put up shoots. This in turn has meant that the timing of collecting and harvesting has changed. <figure class="align-right zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467328/original/file-20220607-12-61cmu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="bushfoods found on YBM country" /></a><figcaption>The timing of when some bushfoods appear is changing. Author provided</figcaption></figure> These climate-linked changes challenge existing bodies of traditional knowledge, altering connections between different species, ecosystems and weather patterns across Land and Sea Country. A key part of this process was developing a mutually beneficial partnership between traditional ecological knowledge holders and western scientists. It was critical to establish a relationship built on trust and respect. Walking the country first – seeing rivers, mangroves, beaches, headlands, bush, wetlands, and looking out at Sea Country – helped researchers understand the perspectives of Traditional Owners. Honouring experience and knowledge (especially that held by Elders and Indigenous rangers) was important. Indigenous cultural and intellectual property <a href="https://www.artslaw.com.au/information-sheet/indigenous-cultural-intellectual-property-icip-aitb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">protocols</a> were recognised and respected throughout the assessment. <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Respecting</a> and working collaboratively with Traditional Owners as expert scientists in their own knowledge system was critical for success. Any effort to incorporate traditional ecological knowledge in climate change assessments must protect sensitive traditional knowledge. As climate change will continue and accelerate, we must work together to minimise resulting impacts on the cultural heritage of First Nations peoples.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183229/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/karin-gerhardt-1350288" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Karin Gerhardt</a>, PhD student, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/james-cook-university-1167" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Cook University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jon-c-day-142416" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jon C. Day</a>, PSM, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/james-cook-university-1167" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Cook University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/larissa-hale-1346434" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Larissa Hale</a>, Yuku Baja Muliku Traditional Owner, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/indigenous-knowledge-4846" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indigenous Knowledge</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/scott-f-heron-256521" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scott F. Heron</a>, Associate Professor in Physics, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/james-cook-university-1167" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Cook University</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/shifting-seasons-using-indigenous-knowledge-and-western-science-to-help-address-climate-change-impacts-183229" target="_blank" rel="noopener">original article</a>. Image: Yuku Baja Muliku Land and Sea Rangers (Facebook)

Domestic Travel

Impact of Block auction loss on Ronnie and Georgia revealed

A castmate from The Block’s Ronnie Caceres’ time on Celebrity Apprentice has shared a new insight into how he and his wife Georgia handled coming last on the DIY show. The Perth couple had been among the contestants tipped to win the 2021 season, but placed fifth and earned total winnings of $296,000 - a far cry from the $744,000 winning duo Mitch and Mark scored. Now, Ronnie’s Celebrity Apprentice castmate Darren McMullen has revealed that the palpable disappointment the couple displayed on The Block extended to the second show, which was filmed at the same time as The Block’s houses went to auction. The former Voice host told KIIS 101.1’s Breakfast Show with Jase & Lauren that after Ronnie left filming to attend the auction, he came back a different person. “Something changed dramatically after The Block; I think everybody would say that,” he told the show on Wednesday morning. “We were initially segregated into guys’ and girls’ teams - and the boys were really tight; we were winning all the challenges, everything was great. Then Ronnie went down to do The Block auctions in Melbourne and it didn’t go very well; I think they came last. “He came back a different guy.” Despite winning the most room reveal challenges, the couple made the least amount on auction day and even trailed behind the two teams implicated in the season-long “cheating scandal”. Image: The Block

Real Estate

COVID-19’s impacts on heart disease will be with us for years to come

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruptions to heart health services, a new meta-analysis published in the European Heart Journal reveals. COVID-19 impacts on cardiac health have likely been driven by a combination of healthcare system pressures and the spread of the virus itself. “Heart disease is the number-one killer in most countries, and the analysis shows that during the pandemic people across the world did not receive the cardiac care they should have received,” says lead author Ramesh Nadajarah, a British Heart Foundation Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Leeds, UK. “That will have ramifications.” The analysis reports a notable global decline since the start of the pandemic in people being admitted to hospital with cardiovascular disease, longer delays in accessing treatment, and increased death rates from cardiovascular disease. For example, there was a 22% decline in hospitalisations for serious heart attacks in which one artery connected to the heart is completely blocked. A less-severe form of heart attack, in which an artery is partially blocked, saw an even greater drop in hospitalisations of 34%. Heart-attack patients had to wait on average 69 minutes longer than before the pandemic to receive medical assistance. The paper also reported a 34% drop in heart operations globally, and a 17% increase in people dying in hospital after experiencing a major heart attack. “This analysis really brings to light the substantial impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had, and will continue to have, in harming cardiovascular health globally,” says Deepak L. Bhatt, senior author on the meta-analysis and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School as well as executive director of interventional cardiovascular programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, US. COVID-19 impacts on cardiac health will persist and reinforce inequalities if not addressed, experts say The findings were based on an analysis of data from 189 research papers from 48 countries across six continents, all investigating the impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular health services in the two years from December 2019. Although the impacts of the pandemic on cardiovascular healthcare were observed globally, many were concentrated in low- and middle-income countries. These countries saw greater declines in hospital attendance for heart attacks and a “sharp” decline in the percentage of heart-attack patients receiving the gold standard of medical care. “The analysis is revealing that the burden of COVID-19 has disproportionately fallen on low- to middle-income countries,” says Samira Asma, a co-author on the paper and Assistant Director-General for Data, Analytics and Delivery for Impact at the World Health Organization (WHO). “We suspect it will widen the inequality gap in health outcomes of cardiac care between high-income countries and low- to middle-income countries, where 80% of the world’s population live. This underscores the need for universal health coverage and access to quality care, even more so during the pandemic.” The disruption caused by the pandemic is likely to cause ongoing health impacts well into the future. Delayed and missed opportunities for diagnosis and treatment cause compounding cardiovascular health problems. “The longer people wait for treatment for a heart attack, the greater the damage to their heart muscle, causing complications that can be fatal or cause chronic ill health,” Nadajarah says. “Health systems need to reinforce systems to help support and treat people whose heart conditions will inevitably be worse because of the pandemic.” The research team called for mitigation strategies to deal with the increased burden of death and disease from cardiovascular disease to be rapidly implemented around the world. “The repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on cardiovascular care and outcomes will be with us for a long while yet,” says senior author Chris Gale, a consultant cardiologist and professor at the University of Leeds. “Urgent action is needed to address the burden of cardiovascular disease left in the wake of the pandemic.” This article originally appeared on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/covid-19-impacts-on-cardiac-health/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and was written by <a class="fn" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: halyard-text, sans-serif; color: #000000; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: #ffffff;" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/matilda-handlsey-davis" rel="author">Matilda Handsley-Davis. </a> Image: Shutterstock

Body

Australians’ favourites show Aboriginal art can transcend social divisions and art boundaries

New analysis shows landscape art is the most popular visual art genre among Australians, with Aboriginal art coming in second place, followed by portraits and modern art. But Aboriginal art is more likely to bridge social divides and can dissolve personal prejudices between different kinds of art. Many Australians are sharply divided as to whether they prefer more traditional genres like landscapes or more contemporary and abstract visual forms. And these divisions relate to differences in age, class and education. But Aboriginal art bucks this trend because it is seen as “telling a story”. The research is discussed in a new book called <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Fields-Capitals-Habitus-Australian-Culture-Inequalities-and-Social/Bennett-Carter-Gayo-Kelly-Noble/p/book/9781138392304">Fields, Capitals, Habitus: Australian Culture, Social Divisions and Inequalities</a>. <h2>We know what (and who) we like</h2> Researchers conducted a <a href="https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/newscentre/news_centre/story_archive/2018/research_shows_social_class_has_a_strong_influence_on_cultural_tastes">national survey of Australians’ cultural tastes</a>, administering surveys to 1,202 Australians. Extra samples to ensure representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, Italian, Lebanese, Chinese, and Indian Australians, brought the overall survey total to 1,461. Researchers subsequently <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-13/what-your-habits-reveal-about-your-social-class/9610658?nw=0">partnered with the ABC</a> to conduct online surveys on cultural tastes that were compared with research findings. Aboriginal art was the second most popular genre, liked by 26% of the main sample, behind landscapes (52%) but ahead of portraits (24%) and modern art (17%). Impressionism and Renaissance art came in at around 15% each, while abstract art, colonial art, Pop art and still lifes ranged, in order, from 13% down to 7%. Survey respondents were <a href="https://theconversation.com/tom-roberts-anyone-a-national-survey-finds-the-line-in-art-appreciation-51301">given a selection of artists</a>and asked to say whether they had heard of and liked them. Indigenous landscape painter <a href="https://manyhandsart.com.au/about/albert-namatjira/">Albert Namatjira</a>was the third most familiar but, at 63%, he was only narrowly pipped by painter <a href="http://www.sidneynolantrust.org/about/sidney-nolan">Sidney Nolan</a> (67%) and the colourful <a href="https://kendone.com.au/">Ken Done</a> (68%). Indigenous multi-media artist Tracey Moffatt was less well known (14%). But Namatjira was the most popular of all, liked by 49% ahead of both Nolan (42%) and Done (40%). Unsurprisingly, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were much more enthusiastic about Aboriginal art (67%) and Namatjira (liked by 70%) than the main sample, but not notably so for Moffatt. Indian and Lebanese Australians also showed a marked liking for Aboriginal art at 38% and 36% respectively. Aboriginal art had a broader cross-class appeal than most genres. It did, however, appeal more strongly to those in intermediate (such self-employed and clerical workers) and professional and managerial occupational classes than to those in skilled or unskilled working-class occupations. Namatjira was most popular with the older members of Australia’s intermediate classes. Moffatt, by contrast, appealed most to the younger, tertiary educated Australians in professional and managerial occupations. There were clear correlations between these preferences for particular Indigenous artists and genre tastes. Those who liked Namatjira preferred traditional and largely figurative genres – landscapes, still lifes, and portraits. Those who liked Moffatt favoured genres tending towards abstraction or critical engagements with figurative conventions – modern art, Pop art and abstract art. <h2>The great divide … and a bridge</h2> A key finding of the research was how much those who liked traditional and figurative genres disliked contemporary and abstract genres. The reverse was even more true: those who liked contemporary and abstract art often had a strong aversion to traditional and figurative art. Yet the category of Aboriginal art often crossed the boundaries between these two groups of genres. This is not entirely surprising. Aboriginal art has expanded beyond its traditional forms to include acrylic dot art, contemporary urban Aboriginal art practices, rock art, or the kitsch forms of “Aboriginalia” like that collected by Tony Albert. But what is surprising is how frequently, when discussing their art tastes in follow-up interviews, our survey respondents treated Aboriginal art as an exceptional art form. While most viewed it as a form of abstraction, it was seen as a purposeful abstraction with a story to tell, crossing the boundaries between the abstract and the figurative. It was on these grounds that Aboriginal art was let off the hook by those who usually disliked non-figurative art. This was pithily summarised by one respondent who, dismissing modern and abstract art as “equivalent to what my daughters would do in kindergarten”, praised the “uniqueness of Aboriginal art and the dots” because “there’s stories behind it – there is the story they are trying to tell”. This was a recurring theme in appreciations of Namatjira. In a follow up interview, one survey respondent – a professional in a high-level executive role – liked Namatjira’s work for not being “too abstract” in its depiction of “the beauty of the bush and the country”. For another, a part-time accountant and labourer, Namatjira served as a counter to his dislike of modern and abstract art because his paintings are “real … they just feel like he’s telling a story in his pictures and they’re real”. And a third, a woman in her 30s from a Sri Lankan background, expressed her appreciation of Namatjira and Moffatt in similar terms. She loved “Tracey’s storytelling” with its “strong style and voice”, emphasising its appeal to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous women, while singling out the “cultural connections” that Namatjira’s work makes. While, then, different kinds of Aboriginal art appeal to different publics, the category of Aboriginal art is one that recruits a broader interest. We got a strong sense that it is something that non-Indigenous Australians felt they ought to like and know more about because of what it has to say about Indigenous culture, its relations to Country, and its significance for Australian culture and identity. This registers a significant shift from the terms in which Namatjira was initially appreciated, in the 1950s, as <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/ces/386">an imitative adaptation</a> of pastoral modernism. It is a shift that registers the work of Indigenous artists, curators and critics in stressing the role that Aboriginal art can play in transforming the relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/australians-favourites-show-aboriginal-art-can-transcend-social-divisions-and-art-boundaries-143827" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Art

News of war can impact your mental health — here’s how to cope

The war in Ukraine has left many across the world <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220303-ukraine-war-sends-western-anxiety-soaring-on-back-of-pandemic">feeling stressed and anxious</a>. Coming on the back of a global pandemic which has already had a <a href="https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2021/10/11/covid-19-has-led-to-a-sharp-increase-in-depression-and-anxiety">devastating toll on mental health</a>, news of the war has only compounded feelings of fear and uncertainty which are <a href="https://www.hindawi.com/journals/np/2020/8866386/">known to increase anxiety</a>. People far from the conflict may be wondering why their mental health is suffering as a result of the news and images they’re seeing. Part of this can be explained by the fact that our brains are designed to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4276319/">scan for threats</a> to protect us from potential danger. This can lead to an almost unstoppable, constant scouring of the news to help us <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140728-why-is-all-the-news-bad">prepare for the worst</a> – a phenomenon many might know better as “doomscrolling”. Research shows that even <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9061893/">short exposure to bad news</a> can lead to increased levels of worry and anxiety that can be long lasting. Bad news can also <a href="https://doi.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0022-3514.75.4.887">perpetuate negative thinking</a>, which can lead to feeling caught in a loop of distress. Another reason watching news from Ukraine may be affecting mental health is because witnessing the suffering of others can actually <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053811904005208">cause us to feel pain</a>. Seeing personal stories shared on social media makes us feel more connected to people than statistics about casualties might – increasing our empathy further. Generally, people are told to avoid engaging with the news if it’s affecting their mental health. Yet this is hard to put in practice – especially given the constant stream of unfiltered stories across social media, and a desire to stay up-to-date with what’s going on. Here are some other ways you can manage your mental health that don’t require you to switch off: <h2>Managing wellbeing</h2> Acknowledge the feelings: Many people try and dismiss their feelings by saying things like, “I’m being silly - there are people who are really struggling in the world.” While undoubtedly there are others suffering, this doesn’t invalidate the feelings you have. You can feel anxious and upset for yourself and for others, or even have <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1754073916639661">mixed feelings</a> of being grateful (that you are safe) and sad (that others aren’t). Trying to rationalise or dismiss emotions never actually makes them go away – it can even make you <a href="https://openaccesspub.org/ijpr/article/999">more emotional</a> and less able to cope. Acknowledging and accepting our feelings without judgement can lead to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5767148/">improved mental health</a> by reducing the burden of denying negative feelings. Engage with your feelings: The stories that are emerging may trigger our own personal experiences of feeling helpless or out of control, feelings of loss, memories of fear of separation from loved ones, or uncertainty. But the reasons a person experiences each of these emotions will be different. For example, as a person of colour, witnessing the <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/28/europe/students-allege-racism-ukraine-cmd-intl/index.html">discrimination of minority refugees</a> has touched on my own experiences of discrimination. Images of <a href="https://twitter.com/BowenBBC/status/1499645055207936001?s=20&t=uvMTUOCigKIAu5aGw3Yf-w">families being separated</a> may remind people of being unable to see their loved ones during the pandemic. It might be <a href="https://mental.jmir.org/2018/4/e11290/">helpful to write down</a> feelings, or talk to a friend. Speaking about silent thoughts we may be struggling with has been shown to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17576282/">disrupt the stress cycle</a> and have long term benefits such as helping us manage stress better, feel more grounded when we experience anxiety, <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/your-personal-renaissance/201906/why-talking-about-our-problems-makes-us-feel-better">and even improve overall health</a>. Take action: Think about whether there are any practical things you can do, such as making a donation to a charity or <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11266-018-0041-8">volunteering</a>. Both of these may help tackle feelings of helplessness and may also <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2458-13-773">improve your mental health</a> by giving you a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/scs.12869">sense of reward</a> through helping others. Make time for yourself: Since it’s not always possible – or wanted – to avoid the news altogether, consider controlling when you’re engaging with it. Avoid it just before bed and first thing in the morning because it <a href="https://www.scienceworld.ca/stories/scrolling-bed-heres-what-your-brains/">increases alertness in the brain</a>, which can increase stress levels and make it difficult to relax. You might also want to consider doing something nourishing for yourself – such as phoning a loved one, <a href="https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/52/12/800.abstract">going for a walk</a> with a friend, being <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/11745398.2019.1655459">outdoors in nature</a> or <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1090198117736352">making a favourite meal</a>. This will help shift your mind from troubling news and create a more positive and resilient mindset that can better deal with worries. Ultimately, we can’t control the outcome of the conflict. But having control over the things that we can change – such as how much news we consume, or the activities we do to help ourselves unwind – will help us better retain our sense of wellbeing when the world feels out of control. Image credits: Getty Images This article was originally published on <a href="https://theconversation.com/news-of-war-can-impact-your-mental-health-heres-how-to-cope-178734" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Mind

Concerning impact of long Covid on the brain

Almost two years since Australia plunged into lockdown due to Covid-19, we are still learning many things about the virus. Symptoms of this contagious disease range from mild to severe and people can recover easily, while others struggle to get better. This can be known as long Covid, where symptoms last for weeks or even months, affecting the body greatly. But doctors are now concerned about the effect long Covid has on the brain which shows a decrease in size of the organ. "Parts of the brain related to smell and emotion were found to be smaller when scans were done for patients who have had COVID-19," Neuroscientist Dr Rahul Jandial told <a href="https://9now.nine.com.au/today/what-are-the-long-term-effects-of-covid-19-on-brain-health/ba46e182-3241-47e8-ac72-08dd82484906" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Today</a>. "There are things you can do to improve COVID fog, and the horizon is optimistic, but it does affect the brain." He recommends exercise, eating better, and getting more sleep to combat the brain fog but understands that it is a bit more difficult when you have long Covid. Like chemotherapy patients, Dr Jandial recommends double the intake of coffee and training concentration for brain fog. Dr Jandial does however say “three things stand the test of time”, and that includes walking, sticking to the Mediterranean diet, and interacting with people. Image: Shutterstock

Mind

Putin’s allies in tears over sanctions impacting luxury homes

A Russian TV host has complained about sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union and how they are impacting his various luxury properties in Italy. Vladimir Soloviev was angered to tears as he discussed the restrictions, and how he was now facing the loss of his two luxury villas in Lake Como: a popular location for Hollywood’s elite. The TV host, who is known for strident attacks on the West, flew into a passionate rage as he debated Italy’s property rights. “I was told that Europe is a citadel of rights, that everything is permitted, that’s what they said … I know from personal experience about the so-called ‘sacred property rights’,’’ he said. During Friday’s program of The Evening With Vladimir Soloviev, he complained, “I bought it, paid a crazy amount of taxes, I did everything. And suddenly someone makes a decision that this journalist is now on the list of sanctions.” “And right away it affects your real estate. Wait a minute. But you told us that Europe has sacred property rights!” A disgusted Soloviev said of the sanctions, “All of a sudden, now they say: ‘Are you Russian? Then we will close your bank account, if it’s in Europe. And if it’s in England, you’re allowed to keep no more than a certain amount there. Why? Because you’re Russian.” Following Soloviev’s on-air spat, hundreds of people flocked to Twitter to express their disgust at his rant, noting that people were dying while he was only concerned about his holiday home. As he concluded his rant, Soloviev looked at his watch before looking at the television camera and saying, “Is Trump coming back yet?” Image credits: Russia-1 / Getty Images

Real Estate

Body and mind: Metastatic breast cancer impacts mental health too

A diagnosis of breast cancer can be a difficult pill to swallow not just for those who receive the diagnosis, with friends, family and others in their support network also needing to come to terms with it. According to Dr Lisa Beatty, a clinical psychologist and senior research fellow at Cancer Council South Australia, everyone will react to their diagnosis differently. “We do know that the distress rates are roughly four in ten women will have what we call clinically significant distress and that is where it is actually getting to the point where it might be causing a real impact in how they’re able to function in their life,” she <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.breastcancertrials.org.au/blog/psychological-impact-breast-cancer" target="_blank">said</a>. Stage IV breast cancer, also called metastatic, advanced or secondary cancer, can be even harder to cope with, as the diagnosis comes with a lower five-year survival rate and the knowledge that cancer cells have spread from the breast to the bones, liver, brain, or lungs. Dr Nicholas Zdenkowski, a breast cancer researcher and member of the Breast Cancer Trials Scientific Advisory Committee, tells OverSixty that metastatic cancer is diagnosed at two time points: as an initial diagnosis or as a recurrence months or years after diagnosis and treatment. <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7847044/nick.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/9e95419ba42d4c5caa6a500d9169ac70" /> Dr Nick Zdenkowski says work is continuing into individualising diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer. Image: Supplied “Breast cancer is most likely to be diagnosed around age 60, however it affects women and men across a broad range of ages (younger and older),” he says. According to the Breast Cancer Trials, it is estimated that between five and ten percent of those diagnosed with breast cancer each year will have metastatic breast cancer. Additionally, it is estimated that 20-30 percent of people diagnosed with early breast cancer will go on to develop metastatic cancer. Although the likelihood of developing metastatic breast cancer is well-understood on a population level, Dr Zdenkowsi says identifying exact individuals “is a major challenge”. “We have greatly refined our understanding over the years, but it is still a work in progress,” he explains. “Enormous effort is being put into individualising the level of risk of breast cancer so that further research into screening, prevention and early treatment can reduce the likelihood of metastatic recurrence.” With psychological symptoms of breast cancer diagnoses including anxiety, depression, shock, and issues surrounding body image and intimacy, there have been <a rel="noopener" href="https://jons-online.com/issues/2021/november-2021-vol-12-no-11/4165-information-and-support-needs-of-people-with-newly-diagnosed-metastatic-breast-cancer" target="_blank">appeals</a> from organisations such as Living Beyond Breast Cancer to improve the availability of information for those diagnosed about metastatic breast cancer, mental health, and talking to family. For those looking to support a loved one with breast cancer, <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.cancer.org.au/about-cancer/patient-support/" target="_blank">Cancer Council</a>, <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.bcna.org.au/metastatic-breast-cancer/coping-with-metastatic-breast-cancer/where-to-find-support/" target="_blank">Breast Cancer Network Australia</a>, and <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.breastcancertrials.org.au/blog/online-support-breast-cancer" target="_blank">Breast Cancer Trials</a> have further resources that can help you figure out what to say to your loved ones, and how to support them through treatment. Dr Beatty will also be appearing at a free Q&A panel on metastatic breast cancer hosted by journalist Annabel Crabb and organised by Breast Cancer Trials. Taking place on Monday, February 7 between 5-6.30pm, the <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.breastcancertrials.org.au/qa-events" target="_blank">Q&A</a> panellists will discuss the latest research in metastatic breast cancer and the impacts of the disease on mental health and will be open to questions from registered attendees. Image: Getty Images

Mind

Reducing air travel by small amounts each year could level off the climate impact

Just before the pandemic, aircraft engines were burning <a href="https://www.iata.org/en/iata-repository/pressroom/fact-sheets/industry-statistics/">one billion litres</a> of fuel a day. But then the number of daily civil aviation flights fell from <a href="https://www.iata.org/en/iata-repository/pressroom/fact-sheets/industry-statistics/">110,000</a> to less than 50,000 during 2020, on average. With the easing of travel restrictions, air traffic is increasing back towards its pre-pandemic peak. Most world leaders and delegates will have flown to Glasgow to attend COP26 – the 26th annual UN climate change summit – in person. But as they haggle over emissions targets to limit global warming to 1.5°C, and not <a href="https://theconversation.com/cop26-what-would-the-world-be-like-at-3-c-of-warming-and-how-would-it-be-different-from-1-5-c-171030">3°C or more</a>, aviation is unlikely to be included in them, given the lack of low-carbon alternatives to long-haul flights. But it should be. <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac286e">In new research</a>, my colleagues and I calculated that if the aviation sector continues to grow on its present trajectory, its jet fuel consumption will have added 0.1˚C to global warming by 2050 – half of it to date, the other half in the next three decades. Aviation is responsible for 4% of the 1.2°C rise in the global mean temperature we have already experienced since the industrial revolution. Without action to reduce flights, the sector will account for 17% of the remaining 0.3°C left in the 1.5°C temperature target, and 6% of the 0.8°C left to stay within 2°C. Airlines effectively add more to global warming <a href="http://globalcarbonatlas.org/en/CO2-emissions">than most countries.</a> <h2>Warming footprints</h2> At the current rate, the world will have warmed by 2°C <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_SPM_final.pdf">within three decades</a>. To quantify how different activities contribute to warming, scientists measure carbon emissions. This is because how much the Earth warms is proportional to cumulative carbon emissions in the atmosphere. This is a very good approximation in many cases, but it is inaccurate for emissions caused by aeroplanes travelling at altitudes of up to 12 kilometres. As well as CO₂, aircraft engines emit nitrogen oxides, water vapour, sulphur and soot, causing <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04068-0">contrail cirrus clouds</a> and other complicated chemical reactions in the atmosphere. The sum of these so-called non-CO₂ effects adds more warming on top of the CO₂ emissions. So the total warming footprint of aviation is between two and three times higher than a conventional carbon footprint. <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430221/original/file-20211104-21-xa7pet.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="An aeroplane's trail viewed from between two tall buildings" /> Condensation trails produced by aircraft engines contribute to global warming. <a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/architecture-skyscraper-skyline-3984725/" class="source">MichaelGaida/Pixabay</a>, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" class="license">CC BY</a> While a large share of a flight’s CO₂ emissions remain in the atmosphere for many thousands of years, the non-CO₂ effects diminish over time, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2020.117834">vanishing within about ten years</a>. So any growth in aviation, measured in global jet fuel consumption, has an amplified impact as both CO₂ and non-CO₂ effects add up. But a decline in aviation can partly reverse some warming, as the non-CO₂ effects disappear over time until only the CO₂ effects remain. Think of the non-CO₂ effects like a bathtub – it fills up when the taps are turned further and further, despite a slow outflow down the plughole. But the same bathtub will eventually empty if the taps are gradually turned down. The non-CO₂ effects of flights on the atmosphere will slowly disappear if fewer and fewer flights are taken, so that aviation’s contribution to warming eventually levels off. In that situation, the increase from continued CO₂ emissions would balance the fall in non-CO₂ effects, and although aviation would still contribute to climate change, the total warming from both would remain constant over time. How much would aviation need to shrink to level off its influence on global warming? Our calculations show that flying does not need to stop immediately to prevent aviation’s contribution to global warming expanding. Flying has already caused 0.04°C of warming to date. But with a yearly decrease of 2.5% in jet fuel consumption, currently only achievable with cuts in air traffic, this warming will level off at a constant level over the coming decades. <h2>When do we really need to fly?</h2> COVID-19 had a huge impact on the aviation sector. Air traffic is still approximately 10-20% below pre-pandemic levels, but is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac286e">rebounding quickly</a>. Politicians should shift subsidies from flying to more sustainable modes of transport, such as train journeys. And there is much more that can be done. <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430217/original/file-20211104-25-1v0sxdb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="An aeroplane parked at an airport" /> Forced changes in flying habits due to the pandemic have led some to permanently cut back on flights. <a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/airplane-aircraft-airport-travel-4885803/" class="source">Dmncwndrlch/Pixabay</a>, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" class="license">CC BY</a> Lockdowns and the shift to remote working made many people rethink the necessity of flying. People resolving to fly less can contribute considerably to reducing the number of unnecessary flights. Combining in-person and virtual attendance in hybrid meetings wherever possible is a great way to support that shift. Reducing the space that business classes take on aeroplanes is another way to cut the number of flights, as it allows more passengers to travel on one flight. Not allowing airport expansions could also have a big impact. The UK’s Climate Change Committee, an expert body which advises the UK government, has recommended <a href="https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Sector-summary-Aviation.pdf">not expanding airports</a> to align the sector with climate targets. Yet the expansion of Heathrow airport is currently <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-51646562">planned to go ahead</a>. Sustainable aviation fuels, and hydrogen or electric planes, are being developed, but none of these technologies are currently available at the necessary scale. At the moment, there is little chance of the aviation industry meeting any climate targets if it aims for a return to its pre-pandemic rate of growth. <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/milan-klower-879339">Milan Klöwer</a>, Postdoctoral Researcher in Weather and Climate Modelling, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-oxford-1260">University of Oxford</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/reducing-air-travel-by-small-amounts-each-year-could-level-off-the-climate-impact-171184">original article</a>. Image: Free-Photos/Pixabay

International Travel

We calculated the impact of ‘long COVID’ as Australia opens up. Even without Omicron, we’re worried

Over the past two years, we’ve learned COVID-19 survivors can develop a range of longer-term symptoms we now call “<a href="https://theconversation.com/long-covid-a-public-health-experts-campaign-to-understand-the-disease-152212">long COVID</a>”. This includes people who did not have severe illness initially. Such <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-2019-nCoV-Post_COVID-19_condition-Clinical_case_definition-2021.1">longer-term symptoms</a> can affect multiple systems in the body. This can result in ongoing, severe fatigue plus a wide range of other symptoms, including pain, as well as breathing, neurological, sleep and mental health problems. So far, Australia has had far fewer COVID-19 cases than many other nations. But as we <a href="https://www.australia.gov.au/framework-national-reopening">re-open</a>, this situation may change. So we will likely see more long COVID in the months and years ahead. Our research, which we posted <a href="https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-1066181/v1">online as a pre-print</a> and so has yet to be independently verified, examined the shifting burden of disease of COVID-19 as Australia re-opens and as high vaccination rates reduce mortality and severe illness. We show how long COVID will increasingly drive the burden of COVID illness, even as death rates decline. We <a href="https://iht.deakin.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/153/2021/12/Briefing-Paper_Long-Covid_Final.pdf">also estimate</a> the likely numbers of long COVID cases we can expect in Australia over the two years following reopening. We wrote this <a href="https://iht.deakin.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/153/2021/12/Briefing-Paper_Long-Covid_Final.pdf">briefing paper</a> before the rise of Omicron, the impact of which we’re yet to fully understand. <h2>Here’s what we did and what we found</h2> We examined the 2021 Delta outbreaks in <a href="https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/victorian-coronavirus-covid-19-data">Victoria</a> and <a href="https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/covid-19/Documents/covid-19-surveillance-report-20211111.pdf">New South Wales</a> in which nearly 140,000 people had been infected by the end of October. We estimated long COVID prevalence using two sources. A large dataset <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/prevalenceofongoingsymptomsfollowingcoronaviruscovid19infectionintheuk/1april2021">from the UK</a> found more than 13% of people had symptoms after 12 weeks. A much smaller study <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666606521001024?via%3Dihub">conducted in NSW</a> found about 5% had symptoms over roughly the same period. Our modelling suggests, by the end of October, the combined Victoria and NSW outbreaks may <a href="https://iht.deakin.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/153/2021/12/Briefing-Paper_Long-Covid_Final.pdf">have already led to</a> 9,450–19,800 people having developed long COVID that could last 12 weeks after their COVID infection. Even more will have experienced long COVID symptoms for a shorter time: 34,000-44,500 people will likely have symptoms for at least three weeks after first becoming ill, but our model indicates more than half will then recover over the following nine weeks. We also estimated the likely consequences for long COVID if we follow Australia’s national re-opening plan, based on interim modelling from the <a href="https://www.doherty.edu.au/uploads/content_doc/DOHERTY_MODELLING_INTERIM_REPORT_TO_NATIONAL_CABINET_17TH_SEPTEMBER_2021.pdf">Doherty Institute</a>, which has since been updated. The Doherty Institute modelled various scenarios with different vaccination rates and public health measures in place. These gave different estimates of COVID-19 cases. We combined these with our upper and lower estimates for long COVID prevalence. We calculated that more limited relaxation of public health measures could generate 10,000-34,000 long COVID cases (people with symptoms lasting at least 12 weeks). More complete relaxation of public health measures could lead to 60,000-133,000 long COVID cases. Based on the longer-term UK data for long COVID prevalence, we calculated 2,000-11,000 people might still be sick a year after their initial infection. What we cannot be absolutely certain about is the impact of vaccination on the expected number of long COVID cases. Some studies suggest that if vaccinated people become infected, this reduces their chance of developing long COVID, but <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03495-2">the evidence remains uncertain</a>. <h2>Many impacts, beyond health</h2> Long COVID can be a debilitating and distressing health condition. It also has a number of economic impacts, for the health system and people’s ability to work. For instance, people with long COVID require <a href="https://ahha.asn.au/publication/health-policy-issue-briefs/deeble-issues-brief-no-40-managing-long-term-health">coordinated care</a> across a range of different health services and specialties. Recent data from the UK’s <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/prevalenceofongoingsymptomsfollowingcoronaviruscovid19infectionintheuk/2december2021">Office for National Statistics</a> indicate that around 1.2 million people reported long COVID symptoms in the four weeks to the end of October. The UK health secretary <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/sajid-javid-long-covid-nhs-b1934861.html">said he was alarmed</a> at the growing scale of this problem for the National Health Service. Indeed, attempts to provide long COVID care through specialised hospital-based clinics in the UK and elsewhere have led to <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/long-queues-for-long-covid-clinics-jk8jr7tt6">long waiting times and uneven access</a>. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436524/original/file-20211209-23-1lleiea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436524/original/file-20211209-23-1lleiea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="Exhausted health worker leaning on hospital wall holding cup of coffee" /></a> Health systems will be under strain, particularly if health workers are struggling with long COVID. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-tired-exhausted-nurse-doctor-having-1698233623" class="source">Shutterstock</a> By contrast, Australia needs to <a href="https://ahha.asn.au/publication/health-policy-issue-briefs/deeble-issues-brief-no-40-managing-long-term-health">focus urgently on</a> identifying and counting long COVID. It also needs to establish mechanisms to coordinate care for long COVID by mobilising resources across the community and private sectors, not just public hospitals. Meeting the emerging needs of people with long COVID represents an additional burden on health-care systems <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/215/11/entering-australias-third-year-covid-19">already battered</a> by COVID and rapidly rising backlogs of care for other conditions. If health-care workers are <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33830208/">particularly at risk</a> of long COVID as some people claim, this will further stretch health systems as they take time out to recover or leave the workforce. Beyond health care, long COVID again highlights weaknesses which were made clear early in the COVID-19 pandemic, but which have not yet been remedied. COVID-19 has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/datablog/2021/oct/12/delta-deaths-expose-australias-great-disadvantage-divide">more severely affected</a> those who are socially and economically disadvantaged, and who rely on insecure employment. We expect long COVID to continue to be over-represented in this already disadvantaged population. <h2>Avoiding COVID-19 in the first place</h2> While societies around the world grapple with addressing the types of disadvantage the pandemic has exposed, there are several steps individual people can take to minimise their risk of long COVID. Obviously, this means minimising your risk of COVID-19 in the first place. This means vaccination, mask wearing where appropriate, and complying with other public health measures. Meanwhile, if you test positive for COVID-19, isolate early, rest and do not return to work until you have fully recovered.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168662/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/martin-hensher-856597">Martin Hensher</a>, Associate Professor of Health Systems Financing & Organisation, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mary-rose-angeles-1274581">Mary Rose Angeles</a>, Associate Research Fellow, Health System Financing and Sustainability, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-calculated-the-impact-of-long-covid-as-australia-opens-up-even-without-omicron-were-worried-168662">original article</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Caring

We need to design housing for Indigenous communities that can withstand the impacts of climate change

<a href="https://library.sprep.org/sites/default/files/5_23.pdf">Remote Indigenous communities</a> in Australia will experience the impacts of climate change disproportionately to the rest of the country. Take the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in northwest South Australia, where maximum temperatures are increasing. The summer periods of sustained high temperatures are starting earlier and lasting longer. A rapidly warming planet provides a significant challenge to design, deliver, and maintain habitable housing across Australia. Yet, few analyses consider Indigenous housing and climate change together. A new report, <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/368">Sustainable Indigenous Housing in Regional and Remote Australia</a>, fills this gap. <h2>Exploring sustainable housing for First Nations communities</h2> This new report examines the role of housing in remote and regional communities, given the increasing pressures of climate change. It shows existing and new housing can and should be better maintained for these communities. We found that Indigenous-run tenancy management is part of the solution. In Gunnedah, we partnered with <a href="https://www.gunidagunyah.com.au/">Gunida Gunyah Aboriginal Corporation</a>, an Aboriginal community housing provider in New South Wales. The houses that Gunida Gunyah manage vary in age and quality, which all housing organisations must negotiate as they assume responsibility for ongoing maintenance. Unfortunately the legacies of inadequate construction in housing do not belong to the past. What is built or refurbished today could haunt residents for decades. So, will attempts to revive old housing using existing national construction guidelines be enough to ensure future habitability? We used simulation software to understand the impact of climate change, especially of increasing heat, on Indigenous housing. This software considered the effectiveness of strategies for refurbishing existing housing to improve thermal performance and energy efficiency. This simulation was modelled for Australia’s tropical, dry, and hot/mild climate zones. After 366 simulations, our results showed modifying or refurbishing existing housing and even building new homes to meet recommended standards are not adequate measures for current or future climate changes. Even if existing housing was improved or new housing was built to current national construction code standards, at best, benefits will be short term. Further, whether houses are old or new, crowding is a critical limitation for “thermal comfort” - the technical term for not too hot, not too cold. So, even if housing was greatly improved on the design front, crowding would cancel out the benefits. The solution is a combination of better design and construction standards, increased housing and restorative work on existing housing, with well-funded repair and maintenance programs to ensure ongoing function. <h2>Basic housing needs are not being met</h2> As <a href="https://www.healthabitat.com/">Healthabitat</a> has long demonstrated, basic needs for householders, such as the ability to wash themselves, wash clothes and bedding, and store and prepare food, requires things to work inside and outside the house. <a href="https://www.healthabitat.com/review-closing-the-gap-10-and-20-year-review-of-housing-for-health-data/">Decades of data</a> shows the impact of restoring function to health hardware (washing facilities, safe food storage systems, and so on) and reveals the key reasons for housing dysfunction are poor original construction and inadequate repairs and maintenance. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-23/nt-government-amends-countersuit-public-housing-santa-teresa/10550350">Some governments</a> respond to evidence of poor maintenance by claiming that the rent they can collect is not enough to cover the expenses involved, or that the record-keeping systems for showing what needs to be repaired are at fault, especially in remote areas. However, our case material from the APY Lands shows the holy grail of proactive and planned maintenance of housing is perfectly doable and can generate savings. A preventive maintenance program is economical. It minimises major hardware failures, bundles work orders (so more is fixed in less time) and reduces travel costs. By spending three-quarters of its maintenance budget for APY Lands housing on planned works, and working closely with the Indigenous community-controlled <a href="https://www.nganampahealth.com.au/">Nganampa Health Council</a>, Housing SA keeps repair and maintenance travel expenses for APY Lands housing to <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/sites/default/files/documents/2021-11/PES-368-Sustainable%20Indigenous%20housing%20in%20regional%20and%20remote%20Australia.pdf">under 11%</a>. This contrasts with <a href="https://parliament.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/706683/TP-5-1.pdf">national research</a> revealing travel costs consume up to 96% of per-unit costs for emergency repairs in Indigenous housing, leaving only 11% to 37% of budgets for planned repairs and maintenance. Greater national funding is needed for better housing designs, related construction and ongoing maintenance work to provide year-round seasonal comfort and protection, and to alleviate crowding in residences. Australia could lead the way in meeting these needs, but first the policy challenge to meet housing, health, heat, and climate change together must be openly acknowledged. This is the path to achieve climate mitigation rather than forced migrations. Housing, health, maintenance, and climate must be thought about together, to enable people to stay on or near their Country and sites of connection now and into the future.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171203/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/tess-lea-445805">Tess Lea</a>, Professor, Anthropology and Cultural Studies, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/arianna-brambilla-1287711">Arianna Brambilla</a>, Lecturer in Architecture, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/john-singer-1287708">John Singer</a>, CEO of Nganampa Health Council, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/indigenous-knowledge-4846">Indigenous Knowledge</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/liam-grealy-391597">Liam Grealy</a>, Research fellow, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-to-design-housing-for-indigenous-communities-that-can-withstand-the-impacts-of-climate-change-171203">original article</a>.

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EXCLUSIVE: Masterchef’s Sarah Todd shares impact of her mum’s breast cancer diagnosis

With <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.breastcancertrials.org.au/breast-cancer" target="_blank">one in seven</a> Australian women receiving a breast cancer diagnosis in their lifetime, many of us know someone who has been affected. After her mum was diagnosed with the disease on her 50th birthday, celebrity chef and MasterChef alumni <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/sarahtodd/?hl=en" target="_blank">Sarah Todd</a> found out firsthand how the diagnosis can turn the lives of individuals and their families upside down. <img style="width: 500px; height:281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7844710/sarah-todd1.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/e1edef836a8f4d8b8b75be19a9577334" /> Sarah and her mum at the Australian Open. Image: Supplied Since then, Sarah has become passionate about raising awareness and funds for breast cancer clinical trials. She has also partnered with Breast Cancer Trials to encourage Aussies to raise money to help develop treatments and cures for the disease. Sarah sat down with OverSixty to chat about her mum’s diagnosis, her passion for cancer research, and how others can get involved. O60: Your passion for research into breast cancer clinical trials comes from your own experience after your mum was diagnosed thirteen years ago. Could you tell us a bit more about that time and how that passion came about? When Mum was diagnosed with breast cancer, there was no hesitation in starting her treatment. It was Mum's positive mindset combined with the specialised treatment she received that assisted her recovery. It is not until you or someone you love must fight for their life that you realise how vital the Breast Cancer Trials are. I am incredibly grateful, and it is through these trials, new treatments are developed to improve recovery rates. <img style="width: 500px; height:281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7844711/sarah-todd2.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/dd12b61cdd4340b1b07ff0009f2fa3c0" /> Sarah’s mum and aunty. Image: Supplied O60: What are your hopes for breast cancer research in the next ten years? Through breast cancer research, I hope that the incidence of breast cancer will decrease to the extent that the focus will be on prevention strategies. After seeing someone battle through chemotherapy, I hope that treatment will become less invasive. O60: You have teamed up with the Breast Cancer Trials ahead of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, can you tell us a bit about how people can get involved? Depending on your excitement levels, you can either get involved by rolling up your sleeves and taking part in the 3 course challenge or you can simply donate to any of the participants. O60: The 3 Course Challenge is all about getting people cooking and raising money, what is your go-to recipe for when friends and family are coming over? There is nothing quite like the flavours and aromas of Indian cuisine. At least once a week, you will find a fish curry simmering away in my kitchen. I will be sharing this recipe with the 3 Course Challenge participants. Once they learn how easy this fragrant, light, flavoursome curry is, it will become a regular in their household as well. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CUCGZonhdlG/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CUCGZonhdlG/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by SARAH TODD (@sarahtodd)</a> </div> </blockquote> The <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.3coursechallenge.com.au/main-homepage" target="_blank">3 Course Challenge</a>, hosted by the Breast Cancer Trials, is encouraging food lovers to get cooking - or support other cooks - to raise funds for research in breast cancer treatments. The challenge runs from August until November and calls on foodies to whip up a three-course Indian meal. Those who raise more than $150 will get a chance to learn how to make three delicious courses from Sarah Todd over livestream. Image: Supplied

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The impact of lockdowns on Australia’s youth

Social isolation resulting from lockdowns, a lack of hope for the future and fear of the virus are fuelling anxiety and depression among Australian children and teenagers at alarming rates. Mental Health problems in young people The <a href="https://www.ranzcp.org/membership/faculties-sections-and-networks/youth-mental-health">Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP)</a> recently reported that emergency hospital visits from children and teenagers with mental health problems has risen between 25 and 40 percent across Australia since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and shows no signs of abating. The numbers are backed up by a survey of 25,000 teenagers by Mission Australia, which shows a significant rise in anxiety and depression, especially among teenage girls. These young people are facing a myriad of problems from rising tensions in families, parents under financial pressures. The rise in <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/criminal/offences/assault/domestic-violence/">domestic violence offences</a> during lockdowns has been so pronounced it has <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/a-shadow-pandemic-covid-leads-to-rise-in-domestic-violence-offences/">been called a ‘shadow pandemic’</a>. Young people have been forced into isolation through homeschooling, and online trolling and bullying, <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/beware-of-covid-19-scams/">along with other cyber crimes</a> are on the rise. Online offences are increasing Trolling, cyber bullying and <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/what-is-the-offence-of-sextortion-in-new-south-wales/">online sex offences</a> have jumped by 30 per cent in the past six months, as the pandemic forces more of us to work and play and socialise online. Nearly 12,000 URLs with offensive online content – most commonly child sexual abuse – were reported to the Office of the eSafety Commissioner this year – 30 per cent more than in the first half of 2020. Child abuse material shared online has nearly doubled since the start of the pandemic, with 21,000 notifications flagged to the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation in 2020. <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/federal-government-seeks-greater-control-over-online-content/">The Federal Parliament passed new laws against online abuse</a> earlier this year, but will not be in effect until early 2022. The legislation will give the eSafety Commissioner rapid website-blocking power to respond to ‘crisis events’, for example, the Christchurch shooting, by requesting internet service providers block access to terrorist and extreme violent content for a limited time period. The legislation also aims to include online games such as Fortnite and Call of Duty, which will be under the same regulations set out for social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, forcing them to erase bullying messages to children or threats to adults within 24 hours. Corporations who fail to comply with the laws will face fines of up to $555,000. Adults who post “seriously harmful content’’ online – such as death threats, menacing messages or revenge porn – will risk fines of up to $110,000. Bleak future ahead But there’s a general feeling of hopelessness being reported too, particularly by older teens who’ve had final years of schooling, university, travel plans, apprenticeships and jobs interrupted. This is a time these young people should be enjoying themselves, making plans, looking forward to their lives ahead. But the mental health experts say many are finding it difficult to imagine and consider a life beyond the uncertainty presented by Covid. These are <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-mental-health/">the very real side effects of extended lock downs </a>that need to be considered beyond the economic balance sheets. Health professionals have stated they’re worried people are delaying non-urgent medical check-ups for fear of contracting Covid in public places, teachers have said that despite online learning options, student outcomes are not always what they should be. The list goes on. In the past couple of weeks as Covid case numbers rise, it has become clear that the Berejiklian Government’s lockdown strategy is not working as planned to combat the latest Delta outbreak. Are the lockdowns actually working? One option the NSW Government is said to be considering is keeping South-Western Sydney in lockdown because it appears to be the hotspot of the city’s infections while, at the same time, opening up the remainder of Sydney in an effort to revive economic activity. But this is likely to be met with great resistance and controversy considering the severe criticism <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/heavy-handed-covid-policing-the-discriminatory-sweep-of-southwestern-sydney/">the State Government has already faced over the its Covid-management style</a>. Those in Western Sydney have been very vocal about feeling repressed by what they perceive is the “authoritarian rule” of police presence on the streets. The social evidence keeps stacking up – <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/tough-new-covid-restrictions-for-greater-sydney/">extended lockdowns</a> are a big price to pay and our politicians need to find alternatives to managing the pandemic, as soon as possible. Written by Sonia Hickey. Republished by <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/the-impact-of-lockdowns-on-australias-youth/" target="_blank">Sydney Criminal Lawyers. </a>

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Mothers’ dieting habits and self-talk have profound impact on daughters − 2 psychologists explain how to cultivate healthy behaviors and body image

6 common factors that are impacting your sleep

Cooking (and heating) without gas: what are the impacts of shifting to all-electric homes?

"So traumatic": Michelle Bridges grilled over Biggest Loser's impact

Locking up kids has serious mental health impacts and contributes to further reoffending

A history of head injuries could impact your sense of smell

How the pandemic has impacted retirees

Shifting seasons: using Indigenous knowledge and western science to help address climate change impacts

Impact of Block auction loss on Ronnie and Georgia revealed

COVID-19’s impacts on heart disease will be with us for years to come

Australians’ favourites show Aboriginal art can transcend social divisions and art boundaries

News of war can impact your mental health — here’s how to cope

Concerning impact of long Covid on the brain

Putin’s allies in tears over sanctions impacting luxury homes

Body and mind: Metastatic breast cancer impacts mental health too

Reducing air travel by small amounts each year could level off the climate impact

We calculated the impact of ‘long COVID’ as Australia opens up. Even without Omicron, we’re worried

We need to design housing for Indigenous communities that can withstand the impacts of climate change

EXCLUSIVE: Masterchef’s Sarah Todd shares impact of her mum’s breast cancer diagnosis

The impact of lockdowns on Australia’s youth

Our Partners

News

Shop

Catalogues

Newspaper

Contests

Entertainment

Travel

Health

Lifestyle

Finance

Property

Compare

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Information

Keep up to date

Search

Mothers’ dieting habits and self-talk have profound impact on daughters − 2 psychologists explain how to cultivate healthy behaviors and body image

6 common factors that are impacting your sleep

Cooking (and heating) without gas: what are the impacts of shifting to all-electric homes?

"So traumatic": Michelle Bridges grilled over Biggest Loser's impact

Locking up kids has serious mental health impacts and contributes to further reoffending

A history of head injuries could impact your sense of smell

How the pandemic has impacted retirees

Shifting seasons: using Indigenous knowledge and western science to help address climate change impacts

Impact of Block auction loss on Ronnie and Georgia revealed

COVID-19’s impacts on heart disease will be with us for years to come

Australians’ favourites show Aboriginal art can transcend social divisions and art boundaries

News of war can impact your mental health — here’s how to cope

Concerning impact of long Covid on the brain

Putin’s allies in tears over sanctions impacting luxury homes

Body and mind: Metastatic breast cancer impacts mental health too

Reducing air travel by small amounts each year could level off the climate impact

We calculated the impact of ‘long COVID’ as Australia opens up. Even without Omicron, we’re worried

We need to design housing for Indigenous communities that can withstand the impacts of climate change

EXCLUSIVE: Masterchef’s Sarah Todd shares impact of her mum’s breast cancer diagnosis

The impact of lockdowns on Australia’s youth

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