Health & Wellbeing

Smokers across the West Midlands are being urged to take part in Stoptober – the mass quitting challenge from Public Health England starting on 1^st October – and join the nearly 15 million people across the country who have already quit.  The smoking rate across the West Midlands has fallen by 2.6% over the past four years to 15.7%. Last year, over 21,000 people signed up to Stoptober in the region.

The consequences of living with an often devastating brain injury have been brought to life in a new book which will have its Birmingham launch at the offices of Clarke Willmott LLP as part of the firm’s annual Brain Injury Conference on 29 September. Life After Encephalitis is the culmination of three years’ work for Dr Ava Easton, chief executive of The Encephalitis Society, and provides a unique insight into the experiences of those affected by the condition, showing how listening to patients and their families can help us understand how they make sense of what has happened to them.

Fight for Sight, the UK’s main eye research charity, is calling on members of the local community to show their support for National Eye Health Week by signing up to Feast your Eyes and hosting a dinner in the dark. The seventh annual National Eye Health Week (NEHW) is set to take place between 19 and 25 September and is designed to promote the importance of eye health and the need for regular sight tests for all.

New data from Public Health England (PHE) reveals 433,000 people the West Midlands aged over 16 had diabetes in 2015, nearly 9.4% of the population in this area. The new Diabetes Prevalence Model, produced by PHE’s National Cardiovascular Intelligence Network (NCVIN), estimates the number of cases of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes in England over 20 years to 2035.

A pub is the latest location to house a defibrillator in a village in Solihull after a library installed a life-saving device recently.The Bulls Head in Barston is the first pub in the borough to have a life-saving piece of kit. The defibrillator was provided by West Midlands Ambulance Service who trained staff and locals in basic life support and how to use the device last month. In July, Meriden Library became the first location in the village to house a defibrillator.

WV Active Bilston – Bert Williams has put in place a revised studio pool timetable for public swimming while work is being done to repair the damaged ceiling in its main pool. Customers are also being urged to use the main pool at WV Active Central as an alternative. Specialist contractors are being brought in to repair damage to the ceiling of the main pool at WV Active Bilston - Bert Williams caused by a leak from the showers on the floor above.

Affecting much more than your weight and health, a growing understanding of how what you put into your body shows on your face is expanding the importance of digestive health. In the battle against bags, wrinkles and adult acne, Health and Fitness Travel, the leading experts in tailor-made healthy holidays worldwide, takes a look at the premature ageing effects of sugar, wine, dairy and gluten, and where to make diet changes at nutrition-friendly retreats around the world.

Eleven brave patients from Birmingham Children’s Hospital are the stars of a brand new city centre photography exhibition, intended to bolster the hospital’s fundraising efforts to build the UK’s first Rare Diseases Centre for children. The exhibition, titled Stars of Steelhouse Lane, will be in Victoria Square until Friday 30 September and stars the following patients, all of who are living with a rare or undiagnosed condition:

A disabled sports fan from the West Midlands has hit-out at unfit venues that force her to sit away from friends and family at live matches.  Harriet Butler, 24, took part in a UK-wide survey for Muscular Dystrophy UK Trailblazers – a 700 strong network of young disabled people. Ahead of this week’s Paralympics, the charity’s Move the goalposts report reveals a worrying picture of local disabled fans frustrated and isolated from the sports they love.

More than just a headache, migraine is a neurological condition with an enormous impact on all those affected, including their future potential. Of those respondents still at school, 50% said that their migraine attacks had prevented them from sitting an exam!

People are being encouraged to put their best foot forward, enjoy the late summer sunshine and improve their health and wellbeing by taking part in a national charity campaign. Cancer Research UK is encouraging people to Walk All Over Cancer by completing 10,000 steps per day through September – and raising vital funds for continuing research into a cure for the deadly condition.

National deafblind charity, Sense, is to host an accessible sports evening at the Queen Alexandra College in Birmingham for young people with sight and hearing impairment and those with complex needs on Thursday September 15^th. The event, which has been timed to coincide with the Paralympics, is free to attend and open to anyone aged 11-25 with a visual or hearing impairment.

A Birmingham woman is taking part in Alzheimer’s Society’s Memory Walk at Cannon Hill Park to remember her brother whom died this year. Maggie, 61, from Smith’s Wood, will be attending Cannon Hill Park’s Memory Walk on Sunday 11th September with her husband, son and five grandchildren. Over 3200 people have registered and the event promises to be the biggest ever in Birmingham.

On the recent International Overdose Awareness Day, leading drugs Charity Change, Grow, Live (CGL), wants to promote the message that death from overdose is preventable if antidote drug, naloxone is used within a short period following an overdose.  Naloxone, the leading antidote for any opiate overdose, works by temporarily blocking the effects of drug overdose and rapidly reversing a reduced breathing rate (known as respiratory depression) when caused by an opioid overdose.

Organisations in Wolverhampton will be seeking to break the taboo around mental health as the city marks World Suicide Prevention Day with a week-long programme of events. The City of Wolverhampton Council is organising a series of activities and are encouraging people to help raise awareness of the importance of good mental health and wellbeing – while also helping to tackle some of the stigma which surrounds the issue.

New research from Churchill Home Insurance reveals half of parents with children aged under 14 allows them to drink alcohol at home despite guidance from the Chief Medical Officer that they shouldn't do so until they're at least 15 years old and even then rarely and never more than once a week.  More than one in ten (11 per cent) parents with children aged five to seven  allows them to drink alcohol in the home, while some even let them drink every day.