Accidents happen each and every day, yet accidents happening within the workplace are incredibly common. There are now an estimated one million workplace injuries that take place in the UK each and every year. This is a shockingly high figure and what makes this figure even more alarming, is that the majority of these injuries could have been easily avoided.

Regardless of the recent enhancements within health and safety of the workplace, workplace claims are still substantial. With so many health and safety courses, manuals, check-lists and regulations now being implemented into the workplace, it’s surprising that there are still continuous mishaps taking place at work.

Regardless of the industry you work in, accidents still happen. So, whether you’re a painter, an accountant or a shop assistant, it’s essential to stay cautious at all times, especially if you feel that the right steps haven’t been implemented to ensure your safety. You’ll be surprised at the amount of incidents that occur within the work place, be it on a building site, within an office or on a shop floor, so be vigilant and make sure to discuss any possible hazards with your employer.

It’s vital to remember that it’s not just your employers responsibility to keep you safe, it’s also your responsibility to follow health and safety guidelines effectively, for example, if you work with heavy machinery, it’s essential that you adhere to safety precautions.

Your manager has a legal obligation to uphold a basic level of health and safety within the work place in order to safeguard their staff. Unfortunately many people end up suffering as a result of their employer’s or colleague’s negligence. It’s crucial that the level of risk in any work environment is minimised as much as possible through use of risk assessments. Yet if you have still suffered as a result of a work based accident, it is certainly worth exploring a possible claim. By doing so, you could find you’re liable to gain compensation.

Of course, Doctors are only human and make mistakes just like any other person, particularly if working long hours and under extreme work pressures, however some Doctors do let their private life interfere with their work life, causing unnecessary distraction and possible errors. As a Doctor a short lapse of concentration could result in a terrible outcome, more so than in any other occupation.

Illness does not always take form in the way in which is it written within a medical text book. There are many uncommon illnesses as well as health conditions that are hidden or that occur unexpectedly. In the scenario of something going wrong, it can be hard for the patient and their loved ones to accept the outcome, especially when you put your health in the hands of a professional, as you expect them to do their absolute best.

If you’ve been involved in a situation of Medical Negligence, what do you do next? You need to consider just what it is you’re hoping to achieve in this situation. Perhaps you’re looking for a more in-depth explanation of what went wrong or you may want an apology? In other cases, loved ones may be looking for compensation. No matter on the result you wish to receive Medical Negligence Claims UK can help you to acquire the outcome and justice you deserve.

Medical cases unfortunately can take a long time to go to court and can cost substantial amounts, due to needing proof that the Doctor or medical staff were negligent as well as needing proof of the harm that was caused as a result of the negligence. However, in particular cases, there is great need to seek financial compensation, particularly if a child is left without a parent or if the patient needs expensive treatment as a result of negligence.

In order to be efficient in your claim for Medical Negligence, your initial action should be to put your complaint into written form and to state the negligence that took place, the outcome of the negligence as well as the result in which you wish to receive. It may be worth discussing these factors with medical staff, in order for them to talk through your complaint with you.

Critical Illness Cover can be utilised to protect your family and loved ones and can be taken out in the form of a level plan, which you can choose to suit your situation. A critical illness level plan runs over a specific period of time, as decided when taken out initially, where the sum assured remains the same over the term you take out. In order to protect your family and loved ones, the plan offers a lump sum payment, that could be used to make up for lost income during your critical illness. This particular form of Critical Illness Cover can provide protection if you have an interest only mortgage.

There is an alternative choice to a Critical Illness level plan, where the plan is provided on a decreasing basis. This works differently to the level plan and is the ideal option for repayment mortgages.

When deciding upon a Critical Illness Cover, the cost can vary dependant on your circumstances. Certain criteria needs to be taken into account in order to calculate your payments, these include; your health, age, occupation and whether you’re a smoker or not. If you’re a smoker, you’ll find this will have a dramatic effect on the premiums you pay each month.

If you’re in a relationship, there’s a further choice available for you to take out, which is joint Critical Illness Cover. This is generally a more cost effective choice as it can work out cheaper than taking out a plan singularly. The way in which is usually works is the plan will pay if one of the two suffer from a critical illness, usually the first to be affected by critical illness.

As with anything, you will find that Critical Illness Cover varies greatly dependant on the company you go to. It is worth thinking about the illness cover you wish to be covered against before taking out a plan. Many people opt for around forty possible illnesses, however you can choose more or less, the decision is yours to make. Cancer, stroke and heart attack are of the most common in claims made through the use of a Critical Illness Cover. So, if you’re looking for peace of mind or have a history of a particular illness and want to be covered, then Critical Illness Cover could be the option for you!

One of the keys to longevity is learning to relax, and if your idea of a holiday is getting away from it all to recharge your batteries then Michaela Olexova from Baoli has put together a list that might tempt you to start packing.

From yoga breaks, fitness retreats to wellbeing escapes, there are hundreds of operators that promise to take you to new destinations across sun lit Europe and recommend inspirational programs to improve your physical and mental wellbeing. To help you with your search of a wellbeing holiday that best suits your nature and fitness level, we have found five wellbeing escapes that deliver it all – gorgeous locations, excellent teachers, delicious healthy food, time to relax and recharge, not to mention a personal service and attention.

If yoga or meditation is your thing then Hazur Vadisi on Turkey’s ‘Turquoise Coast’ might be just want you are looking for. Famous for its warm hospitality, delicious vegetarian food and beautiful natural location Hazur Vadisi runs retreats throughout the year. To forget everyday worries and relax, you should find your way to the popular Czech resort of St. Katerina where you will be spoilt for choice with a variety of wellbeing packages and therapies for both body and mind.

The world class health experts from in:spa’s promise that you will come home fitter, lighter and tighter after a week luxury detox holiday set at the boutique hotel in Andalusia.

And if you would like to extend summer till September then pick one of the following two mountains escapes: fitscape’s personal fitness and training sessions will boost your energy in the Italian Dolomites, while KiYoga run by the popular yoga teacher Kirsty Norton ensures a heightened sense of your wellbeing at a luxury chalet in the French Alps.

More information on these, and more, at www.thebaoli.com

The risk of blood clots and DVT’s are well publicized in relation to air travel, but what you may not be aware of is that just prolonged sitting around at home or the office can also be potentially life threatening – particularly for women.

New research published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) shows that although the greatest risk factor for deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is surgery, most people associate it with long-haul flights and the Pill but they could be tragically mistaken. The amount of time spent sitting every day – wherever you are – means you could be putting yourself at risk of developing potentially life-threatening blood clots.

This study was done in the USA, and found that women who sat for a long time every day had double or even triple the risk of a dangerous blood clot in the lungs.
While the women most at risk had sat for more than 41 hours a week (on top of their work hours), the research is the first to prove a sedentary lifestyle increases the dangers.

DVT is caused when the wall of a blood vessel is damaged through injury, such as a broken bone or surgery, or if the blood clots more easily than normal as a result of medication or genetics. They fact here though is that it can also be triggered by the blood flow slowing down considerably — such as when you’re immobile for a long time through lying or sitting down.

What Can Help?
First of all realistically monitor how much time you do spend sitting down and reduce it in simple ways. First of all bin the TV remote and get up to change channels, if you work at a desk or on a computer get up every hour and just move around for five minutes. If you have the choice of stairs or a lift, use the stairs for at least part of the way.

When travelling try to drive no more than two hours without a break, even if you just pull into a car park and walk round it for a few minutes. By air, it is not now frowned on to get up and walk round the plane, though your way may not always be clear it is worth the effort to avoid the duty free carts or if stuck in your seat try tensing and releasing the muscles in your buttocks, legs and feet. By curling or pressing the toes down, which causes the muscles to contract and squeeze on the leg veins, helps to pump the blood along. Another way to help move blood to the heart is to wear compression stockings, which put gentle pressure on the leg muscles as studies in healthy people have shown that wearing compression stockings minimizes the risk of developing DVT after long flights. Avoid socks, or knee highs for women that have very tight elastic bands at the top and do not sit with your legs crossed for long periods of time, which constricts the veins.

Keep the fluid flowing:
Sorry, not alcohol but you need to drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration as this causes blood vessels to narrow and blood to thicken, increasing the risk for DVT. Reducing alcohol and coffee consumption, which both contribute to dehydration, is also recommended.

If water is not your thing there is also a new fruit juice which has been proven to benefit blood circulation. Sirco™contains a tasteless tomato extract, Fruitflow®, that has been scientifically proven to have heart and circulation health benefits because in several clinical trials it has been shown to help maintain a healthy blood circulation by preventing the “clumping” of blood platelets which can lead to blood clots. The blood platelet smoothing action of Sirco™ takes effect within 1 ½ to 3 hours from drinking it and lasts up to 18 hours and is suggested as a natural alternative to a daily aspirin that many people take for this action. It fits well into the healthy Mediterranean diet eithos and comes in two 100% pure fruit juices mixes; Pomegranate/Orange and Blueberry/Apple.

You should find it in your supermarket or local health store or go to www.sircoheart.com

I sometimes think that true love is the ability to sleep through the gentle whistle, or grinding gears of your partner’s snores, but if it gets too much for you there is a new solution that might help.

Asonor® is a new anti–snoring product that has already successfully helped 75% of snorers in Europe, and was recently ranked no.1 in an independent user test by a Scandinavian health magazine. I don’t know if Swedes are heavy duty snorers, but given that apparently 1 in 4 of us snore (yes, us too, ladies) and that a recent survey found that 1 in 5 couples sleep in separate bedrooms because of it any help is welcome! As it also seems that 57% of people think that snoring has caused arguments or tension in their relationship, and snoring has also been linked to health problems such as obesity, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disorders there is no reason to delay in tackling it.

Asonor® directly targets the primary cause of snoring, which of course is the throat. It works by delivering a gentle stream of solution via the nasal passage to lubricate the soft palate and lightly tighten the musculature of the throat. By targeting the primary cause of snoring, rather than staying in the nose like other spray snoring remedies, asonor® also significantly reduces interference with breathing.

Sadly, this is not a one off solution, to really tame the snore(r) asonor® should be taken consistently, in each nostril every night before bedtime until the desired effect is obtained, normally within two weeks.

If you can’t find it in your local chemist, go online to http://www.asonor.co.uk

If what summer means to you is stocking up on giant boxes of tissues and avoiding going out of doors, then there is a hidden factor that you may not be aware of. It seems that many allergy sufferers are also dehydrated, so that no matter how much water they drink they suffer from dry skin and a parched mouth.

Generally we are dehydrated as a nation, despite all those water bottles so ostentatiously displayed on desks and in gym bags. Studies estimate that 75% of us are prone to the ill health effects associated with chronic dehydration,. But what has that to do with your allergies? Well, allergies are caused by a histamine reaction in the bodyand histamine is an important neurotransmitter that primarily regulates thirst mechanism for increased water intake. It also establishes a system of water rationing for the available water in the drought-stricken body.”

When the body is dehydrated, histamine production increases significantly as its primary job is to make sure that the available water in the body is preserved for the most vital functions. It is the ‘drought mechanism’ if you like, and it creates a chain of events that affects numerous functions in the body, including the suppression of antibody production. This means that the body will simply not be as well equipped to deal with unhealthy invaders, such as pollen and other antigens.

That’s why during summer, when pollen season is in full swing, our eyes are invaded with the pollen agents, and the dehydrated body lacks the antibodies to adequately neutralize the pollen. So in response, the tear-producing glands of the eyes work overtime to wash the pollen away from the delicate membranes.

The histamine reaction and suppression of antibodies are just two of the many ways the body adapts to dehydration and although dehydration is not the only cause of allergies, it can be the primary cause. And the good news is that you can easily remedy it.

It can take time to fully rehydrate your body, but keep going as in the beginning a parched body – like dry ground – does not absorb all the water but it just runs out and away. It may seem like you are forever running to the loo in the early stages, but be persistent with your water intake and this will regulate as your starts to absorb and utilize the water better at the cellular level.

Top Water Retention Tips
1. Drink water – obvious but true – and plain, not carbonated. Not soft drinks or teas and coffees, but plain water.

2. Check the amount you drink, and the recommendation to rehydrate a dehydrated body, which is at least 1.5-2litres a day and during exercise or hot weather, you should increase your water intake significantly.

3. Don’t guess, but measure and record your water intake and that may be easier by setting out a number of bottles a day, or using a litre measuring jug and keeping track of how often you fill it. .

4. Filter your drinking water at source, at the tap, or in a filter jug or use reputable bottled water from a guaranteed source.

5. Little and often is best so make sure you drink regularly throughout the day as your body can only absorb about 12 to 16 ounces of water a time. The most important time to drink water is first thing in the morning so drink a large glass then, and add some fresh lemon juice to a detox start to the day. After breakfast have another large glass and try not to drink with meals, but in between so that you do not to dilute your digestive juices.

6. Unless you have high blood pressure, it can also help to add sea salt to drinking water because your more frequent urination means you are losing sodium. Not processed salt, and about a quarter teaspoon per litre will be plenty.. Salt itself is a natural antihistamine and if you add in a multimineral supplement then you will ensure proper electrolyte balance.

We all look forward to our holidays and start thinking in advance about what to pack, what to wear, what we did with the sun tan lotion and so on. What we don’t often think about is that we also need to prepare or bodies to cope with the stress of travel, time zones and changes in climate, temperature and local food and drink.

Happily someone has thought of it and with the Advanced Nutrition Programme made it easy for you to have a happy, healthy holiday.

So what do you need to do to prepare for that all important break? Well there are steps you can take to protect yourself from the inside and with this in mind leading nutrition expert Patrick Holford has formulated an Advanced Nutrition Programme which includes a new Travel Pack that contains a two months supply of three supplements specifically formulated to help safeguard nutrient intake, support immunity and aid digestion.

If anyone says that they don’t get stressed over all the details and planning that go into organizing a trip, then they are exceptional, and it is certainly true that going on a trip, whether for business or pleasure, can place greater demand on our nutrient levels, and eating different foods – however pleasurable – can adversely affect our digestive system.

In addition, the dehydrating effects of flying, greater exposure to infection and the increase in incidences of norovirus can also take their toll on your body.

The handy Travel Pack covers all these areas and contains:

Probiotics – 75g of powder that contains three strains of beneficial bacteria which support healthy digestion and maintain a healthy gut flora balance, especially when under attack by holiday bugs. Take ¼ teaspoon in water, juice or sprinkled on cereals.

Skin Vitality – 60 capsules containing a broad spectrum multi-nutrient that contains a wide range of easily-absorbed vitamins, minerals and plant extracts to help maintain your energy levels. Take one a day with a meal.

Skin Vit C – 60 capsules to help support your immune system and ward off any colds while travelling. Vitamin C and bioflavinoids, hesperidin, rose hip and rutin help defend against skin ageing. Take one a day with a meal.

Personally, I start my programme a week before I travel so I have a reserve to build on, particularly with the probiotics as my stomach is my most vulnerable area. Simple tips to maximize your holiday health include drinking plenty of water as dehydration can lead to headaches, dizziness and dry skin and cutting back on alcoholic and caffeinated drinks when you fly so you arrive looking and feeling fresh.

I always travel with herbal teabags: valerian and chamomile to aid sleep, and antioxidant-rich green tea as it reduces the inflammation and damage associated with sunburn as well as boosting the immune system.

The Travel Pack costs £42.25 for two months supply and you can order at www.advancednutritionprogramme.com by clicking on products, then wellbeing and then packs.

As someone to whom the word exercise brings on a strong sense of faintness, unless it is dancing, walking or chasing the cat round the room, there is a case to be made apparently for reassessing what we think of as beneficial exercise.

The idea that exercise is good for us is constantly pummeled into our brains by the medical community, by health coaches and by the mass media – and indeed by my good self. Now it seems that while certain types of exercise can certainly be beneficial in context, placing too much emphasis on formal exercise may be highlighting the wrong issue and contributing to long term health problems–because it`s movement rather than exercise that has the most dramatic impact on our health.

Let me ask you a question: who is more sedentary, the person who exercises for one hour several times per week or the one who never exercises at all? You are all probably chorusing that of course it must be the second person, but it may not be the case at all when other factors are taken into account.

It is more important how much you move during your everyday life than how often you exercise. Why is that? Because how much time you spend sitting adversely affects your health far more than how much time you spend doing formal exercise. If you spend several hours a day sitting (in front of the tv, at a desk, commuting, at restaurants and so on), it can negatively impact your health–even if you exercise regularly. Basically, regular exercise is not enough to counteract an otherwise sedentary lifestyle.

5 Simple Changes To Help You Get Moving
There has been an enormous shift in how sedentary our lives are. We once had a lifestyle that included plenty of movement but the last 20-30 years has seen us shift so that the majority of our day is spent sitting down. Desk work is far more common than it used to be; commuting for at least an hour every day is not uncommon; and activities that used to require movement now require much less of it. Think how much bending and stretching was involved in washing clothes for instance which machines now have mostly taken away from us.

So instead of going to the gym, you just need to incorporate more daily movement and it is much easier than you think. Try some, or all, of these ideas:

1. Get a portable phone and walk round while you talk. If you have a fixed phone then stand up and talk and shift your weight from foot to foot.
2. At work make sure you take frequent breaks to just walk down the corridor, get some water, or walk up and down the stairs.
3. Watching TV all night? Don’t sit there during the commercial breaks and try to get up and walk around for about five minutes during each hour..
4. Wherever you can, don’t use a lift or elevator in a store or at a station but use the stairs instead. .
5. At the supermarket, don’t park as near to the door as you can, but aim for the very furthest spot away from the entrance. It’s a small thing, but can make a big difference to your overall movement.

What you are aiming for is to be unconsciously moving more instead of unconsciously sitting more–and you will both look and feel better as a result.

In the US there has been a great outcry against the naked body X-ray scanners recently introduced into American airports as a counter terrorism measure. The transport safety authority (TSA) has always claimed that they were safe, but this has been greatly disputed by many in the health media and now it seems also by authorities who certainly seem to know what they are talking about.

It appears that TSA faked its safety data on its X-ray airport scanners in order to deceive the public about the safety of such devices. The evidence has emerged thanks to the revelations of a letter signed by five professors from the University of California, San Francisco and Arizona State University. The letter reveals:

• To this day, there has been no credible scientific testing of the TSA’s naked body scanners. The claimed “safety” of the technology by the TSA is based on rigged tests.

• The testing that did take place was done on a custom combination of spare parts rigged by the manufacturer of the machines (Rapidscan) and didn’t even use the actual machines installed in airports.

• The names of the researchers who conducted the radiation tests at Rapidscan have been kept secret. This means the researchers are not available for scientific questioning of any kind, and there has been no opportunity to even ask whether they are qualified to conduct such tests.

Further, none of the Rapidscan tests have been available to be subjected to peer review. They are quite literally secret tests using secret techniques engineered by secret researchers. We the People apparently have no right to see the data, nor the methodology, nor even the names of the researchers who supposedly carried out these safety tests.

What is perhaps the most worrying aspect is that the final testing report produced from this fabricated testing scenario has been so heavily redacted that “there is no way to repeat any of these measurements,” say the professors. In other words, the testing violates the very first tenant of scientific experimentation which is that all experiments must be repeatable in order to be verified as accurate.

As the professors state in their letter:

“The document is heavily redacted with red stamps over the words and figures. In every case the electric current used which correlates one to one with X-ray dose has been specifically redacted. Thus there is no way to repeat any of these measurements. While the report purports to present the results of objective testing, in fact the JHU APL personnel, who are unnamed anywhere in the document either as experimenters or as authors, were not provided with a machine by Rapiscan. Instead they were invited to the manufacturing site to observe a mock-up of components (spare parts) that were said to be similar to those that are parts of the Rapiscan system. The tests were performed by the manufacturer using the manufacturer’s questionable test procedures.”

Unfortunately, this is not that unusual when national defence is called into question. However with my alternative health hat on I cannot begin to imagine the outcry if a herbal product company claimed that its products cured cancer, and it did all the testing itself, and all the names of the researchers were kept secret, and the methodology was a secret, and the whole document was 50% redacted to protect “proprietary information.”

So is it safe? Well, the dose rates of X-rays being emitted by the Rapidscan machines are actually quite high — comparable to that of CT scans, say the professors. Yes, the dose duration is significantly lower than a CT scan, but the dose intensity is much higher than what you might think. And as anyone who knows a bit about physics and biology will tell you, the real danger from radiation is a high-intensity, short-duration exposure. That’s exactly what the TSA’s backscatter machines produce. Further, the radiation detection device used by Rapidscan to measure the output of the machines — an ion chamber — is incapable of accurately measuring the high-intensity burst of radiation produced by the TSA’s naked body scanners, say the professors.

At the same time, the radiation field measurement device used by the TSA — a Fluke 451 instrument — is incapable of measuring the high dose rates emitted by backscatter machines. The measurement devices, in effect, “max out” and cannot measure the full intensity of the exposure. Thus, the TSA’s claims of “low radiation” are actually fraudulent.
The amount of electrical current applied to the X-ray tubes has been redacted by the TSA (working with John Hopkins). This makes it impossible for third-party scientists to accurately calculate the actual radiation exposure, and it hints at yet more evidence of a total TSA cover-up.

The TSA adamantly refuses to allow independent testing of the radiation levels being emitted by the machines and this is on the basis that “terrorists might be able to circumvent the technology” if anyone is allowed to actually test the machine. For once, I cannot even find a comment to make.

So again, is it safe? Well the actual radiation emitted by the machines is far higher than what the TSA claims according to John Sedat, a professor emeritus in biochemistry and biophysics at UCSF and the primary author of the letter.

He says, “..the best guess of the dose is much, much higher than certainly what the public thinks.” Peter Rez, the physics professor from Arizona State, says that the high-quality images described by the TSA could not be produced with the low levels of radiation being claimed by the TSA. The images, in other words, don’t match up with the TSA’s story. Rez estimates the actual radiation exposure is 45 times higher than what we’ve previously been told.

The TSA refuses to allow independent testing of its machines because it knows what informed readers already know: That if the machines were honestly and accurately tested, they would show far higher levels of radiation exposure than indicated and it would show that the TSA’s body scanners significantly increase the risk of cancer to a population that is already over-irradiated with medical imaging tests such as CT scans and chest X-rays.

There is already a very strong public backlash against these devices in the US and it has reached the point where the state of Texas is about to pass a law that would criminalize TSA agents who attempt to operate these naked x-rays. The TSA has put out a preemptive statement on its blog that claims none of this matters as “States cannot regulate the federal government.” It will certainly be interesting to see what happens and Texas would seem to be the ideal state to challenge this.

If you have any choice in the matter avoid the scanners altogether or go by sea.