Dr Rob Hicks

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Family planning – watch the webTV show and join the debate


The Government are calling for wider access to GPs, 7 days per week. A new survey due to be released on

Family planning and parental support

Family planning and parental support

17th June is set to reveal that parents would prefer their son or daughter to have greater access to contraceptives from a pharmacist , rather than having to make an appointment with a GP.

As a parent the topic of how to approach sex education can be a mine field. Whose responsibility is it? Is it yours, your child’s school or do you actually find yourself hoping an older sibling will sit them down to discuss the birds and the bees?

Do you worry about unplanned pregnancies when it comes to your daughter? Are you concerned that sex education is inadequate at school, but struggle to strike a balance between arming your children with the information they need? Do you feel unconformable talking about contraceptive options? Should pharmacists be able to supply directly more contraceptive options as an alternative to making an appointment with a GP?

Log in and join our panel debate where we will have a range of views on the best way to tackle sex education with your children.

Simon Heffer, Konnie Huq, Dr Rob Hicks, Natika Halil (Chief Executive, Family Planning Association) and Richard Thomas (editor Pharmacy Magazine) join us live online Wednesday 17th June at 10.00.

Click here to submit questions before the show


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Sleep Disorders, Fatigue and Relaxation – read our interview with Dr Rob Hicks

Dr Rob Hicks on sleep disorders

Dr Rob Hicks on sleep disorders

Over the last week or so we have been publishing interviews with Dr Rob Hicks on the subject of sleep and related issues. The first , which you can read here, looked at the relationship between diabetes and sleep. The second deals with some of the issues surrounding sleep routines for younger children!

In this interview with Dr Hicks we explore sleep disorders, fatigue and relaxation. Vital to such conditions and multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia among others.

PatienTalk.Org: Ok and moving on from there how would you describe or what is sleep apnoea?

Dr Hicks: Well sleep apnoea is a situation which is often associated with snoring. It is a situation where many, many times in the night for short very periods of time the person stops breathing so a bed partner may notice that the person has temporarily stopped breathing for micro seconds and then the person themselves has a bit of a cough or a bit of a deep breath and they may wake up or they may roll over and go back to sleep. One of the problems with obstructive sleep apnoea is actually that it leaves a person not just tired the following day and at greater risk of accidents but it can actually put somebody’s blood pressure up so it is a contributing factor to heart disease and indeed strokes.

PatienTalk.Org:- Are there other major sleep disorders?

Dr Hicks: Well the main sleep disorder that we come across in general practice is insomnia. A lack of good, refreshing sleep and the underlying cause of that can be a physical problem. It might be arthritis causing pain. It might be a side effect of medication that is being taken for a health problem. It might be noise. It might be too much light. It might be an uncomfy bed or it might actually be an awful lot of worry and that is why the “Good night everyone” campaign from Dunelm is working towards trying to help people find the best way for them as an individual and for them as a family to get a good night sleep and so they can work up refreshed in the morning ready to face the challenges of the day.

PatienTalk.Org: I’ve noticed that you have mentioned fatigue and insomnia go hand in hand. Why do you think that is?

Dr Hicks: What we understand by the process of sleep is it’s a way of regenerating and repairing the body. It’s certainly a time where memories are laid down. It’s a time where basically we give the body a chance to get ready for the next day but if you’re not getting an adequate amount of sleep, and the amount of sleep people need varies from individual to individual so for example for adults it ranges on average 7 – 9 hours a night. For someone in a school, a child in school it’s about 10 hours. For somebody in pre-school so before the age you go to school it’s about 10 – 12 hours. If you are not getting adequate amounts of rest and relaxation than a knock on effect is your body is going to be exhausted.

PatienTalk.Org: Finally, can you suggest any relaxation techniques to help you get to sleep?

Dr Hicks: There are lots of good relaxation techniques. There is deep breathing exercises. There is stretching exercises. There is meditation, visualisation lots of different ways of helping the body relax and unwind and get to sleep but the important thing is that an individual person finds something that is relevant and works for them because it’s not a case of one size fits all. Sometimes you have to try a few things before you come across the one that really works for you as an individual.

PatienTalk.Org: Thank you very much for your time Dr Rob Hicks.

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Children, Insomnia and Sleep – some advice from Dr Rob Hicks on getting the best night’s rest for your child!


Dr Rob Hicks on Children and Sleep

Dr Rob Hicks on Children and Sleep

Just before Easter we were lucky enough to conduct a wide-ranging interview with Dr Rob Hicks on the subject of sleep. We covered the whole area of diabetes and sleep in a previous post which you can read here.

Today we would like to share with you Dr Hicks’ suggestions on how to get the best night’s sleep for your child.

We asked Dr Hicks as to why children often have difficulty getting to sleep. He replied “Well I think the reasons for children are very similar to those that are adults so when you look at the survey results worrying about something was the major cause of not getting a good night sleep and you have to acknowledge that even children worry about things just like adults do although children tend to worry about different things so it might be the fact that they have had an argument with a friend in school or maybe they have stopped being best friends with somebody , maybe they have exams coming up ins school, maybe they are in secondary school and they have very important exams coming up whereas with adults they tend to worry about money, occupation ,work and relationship problems.”


His advice for a good routine was excellent and very straightforward he feels “the routine is very important whether you are a child or an adult and what we talk about is sleep hygiene mechanism so you have to make sure that somebody is going to bed at the same time every night, that they get up every time every morning and that’s the case of whether it’s a work day, a school day or its day that they have off, to make sure that the bedroom is quiet, that its dark, that the bed and pillow is comfy and that is basically conducive to a good night’s sleep.”

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Diabetes and Sleep – Dr Rob Hicks tells us why too little sleep puts us at risk from Diabetes.


Dr Rob Hicks on Diabetes and Sleep

Dr Rob Hicks on Diabetes and Sleep

Recent research has suggested that too little sleeps increases the risk of developing type 2 Diabetes. Indeed 9 in 10 are consistently plagued with disturbed or sleepless nights and almost half say that it was worrying about something that keeps them awake at night – with money being the obvious concern. In fact is sleep is disturbed a person is quite likely to only sleep for four hours.

PatientTalk.Org conducted this interview about sleep and diabetes with TV’s Dr Rob Hicks just before Easter!

We kicked off with asking Rob to tell us a bit about the connection between sleep and diabetes. He replied “The connection is that if you’re suffering with a problem with sleep and so for example you’re not getting enough sleep that there is a link with an increased risk of developing type two diabetes and that’s two fold, one is because people who do not get enough sleep tend to gain weight and that’s often because actually when we are tired we eat more comfort food and we are less active and there’s also been some research recently suggesting for people who are not getting enough sleep on a regular basis this effects just how effective insulin is , it increases something called insulin resistance which is felt to be the most main reason for type two diabetes so this is one of the many reason why we should take a good night’s sleep very seriously indeed. ”


Turning to the prevention of diabetes he shared “Well the important thing about a good night sleep is obviously the following day if you haven’t had a good night’s sleep you feel really tired , not only loss concentration pool but also productivity is likely to be bad but also you switch to move too eating more comfort food which tend to be high in calories and high in saturated fat, your less likely to be active you’re more likely to drink alcohol, that piles on the pounds in weight and the major risk factor for type two Diabetes is gaining weight. ”

Of course a good nights sleep is important for those who have already been diagnosed with diabetes. “A good night’s sleep is good for everybody whether they have got diabetes or not because one of the problems is with not getting a good night’s sleep and certainly the Dunelm sleep survey has highlighted this is that people who are left tired the following day they are more likely to be irritable, they are more likely to adopt unhealthy lifestyles habits that increase blood pressure that increase cholesterol , we know that those factors increase the risk of not just diabetes but also of heart attacks and strokes but also it increases the risk of stress and anxiety and when we are felling stressed again we don’t follow healthy practises so if we want to get the best out of the day look after our emotional and physical well being then it’s very very important to have a good night’s sleep. ”

You can find out about ways of getting more and better sleep to help fight insomnia at our previous blog! Please follow this link https://patienttalk.org/insomnia-busting-some-great-tips-to-help-you-get-more-and-better-sleep/.

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Are you aware of the risks of osteoporosis? Find out how to prevent osteoporosis in our interview with Claire Severgnini of the National Osteoporosis Society


Gary (pictured) shares his osteoporosis experiences in the UK National Osteoporosis Society’s ‘Life with Osteoporosis: The Untold Story’ report

Gary (pictured) shares his osteoporosis experiences in the UK National Osteoporosis Society’s ‘Life with Osteoporosis: The Untold Story’ report

To look more closely at the risks surrounding osteoporosis and the condition in general PatientTalk’s Mason Jones interviewed Claire Severgnini, Chief Executive of the National Osteoporosis Society and Dr Rob Hicks. You can read the interview below!

New research released on World Osteoporosis Day shows that only 3% of all adults surveyed in the UK are aware of the risk of men suffering a fracture due to osteoporosis; and of the 50+ men surveyed, again only 3% correctly estimated the risk.

Almost a quarter of the 2,424 people surveyed perceived the risk to be 1 in 1,000 where in reality the risk is 1 in 5.2 Furthermore, the results show that doctors are not making men aware of the condition, which can result in late diagnosis.

Osteoporosis can lead to painful fractures, disability and even early death, but it can be neglected by doctors during routine consultations. Among the at-risk 50+ men surveyed, 73% said that their doctor had never asked them about their bone health, discussed the risk factors or offered them a bone density scan.


Many people with osteoporosis are living every day in pain and in fear; their lives are shrinking along with their bodies, and they are struggling to hold on to the moments and people they love.4 These are just some of the dramatic findings from the recently commissioned NOS ‘Life with Osteoporosis’ landmark research project.

In fact, in the UK, while only one-third of all hip fractures occur in men, men are in fact twice as likely to die within the first 6 months following injury to their hip when compared with women.

 

JONES -So first of all only 2% of men over 50 are aware of the risk of Osteoporosis, can you tell me why that is and is that something we should be concerned about?

DR HICKS -I think the fact that only 2% and 1 in 50 man over the age of 50 is aware that they too can be affected by Osteoporosis is something that we should be very concerned about, I mean for a long time many people, men and women alike have thought that Osteoporosis is purely a women’s disease but it’s not although its more common in women, men can be affected too and that’s why we want to raise awareness about this condition Osteoporosis which is often known as brittle bone disease because over the age of 50 within the lifetime 1 in 5 men will suffer a fracture related to having brittle fragile bones , it may be in the wrist , it may be in the spine or it may be in the hip and the knock off affect that is not only the fracture painful and inconvenient but many men are left with long term pain, left disabled, they are less independent than they would like to be and sometimes the consequences of those things  a man can become depressed. So we want to raise awareness that men should be thinking about their bones too and off all the different things they can do to look after their bones.

JONES -And obviously people like your selves are trying to do exactly that but should doctors / G.Ps be doing more for that?

DR HICKS -I think this is everybody’s responsibility , I think it’s a team approach so it’s not just the men themselves or the women in their life’s pointing in the direction of Osteoporosis and what it means but also health care professionals and doctors , nurses and pharmacists as well being alert to this fact and I hope that in time we will have the same success over the years that’s already been achieved with making women aware of Osteoporosis so that we won’t need to do surveys about who’s aware within the male community about Osteoporosis because they will be saying , oh I know about that, I’ve had my check up and had a chat with my doctor and I’m taking all the right steps to protect my bones, I’m doing lots of weight bearing exercises , I’m making sure I get calcium and Vitamin D , I’m eliminating the risk factors that increases my chances of Osteoporosis so I’ve stopped smoking, I’m no longer drinking too much alcohol, you know all those sort of things that make Osteoporosis more likely , things that each and every one of us can do to keep our bones strong and healthy.

JONES -And if we do do these things is it fair to say that Osteoporosis is preventable then?

MS SEVERGNINI -Well Osteoporosis itself is often hereditary so it means you are pre disposed to having slightly weaker bones however that said we have actually seen people who have had a bone density scan where you can look at the density of someone’s bones and it might be border line Osteoporosis and through improved diet and improved exercised and a very good conscious effect they have actually improved their bone strength so we know that with peoples bone bank is built up to the age of thirty so a very positive lifestyle in your younger years , good diet , good exercise etc. means that you can actually carry your bone health through  later life and by continuing those habits you give your bones the best chance.

JONES -And are there any particular early symptoms people should watch out for?

MS SEVERGNINI – I mean there are some early clinical symptoms especially in women that we’ve talked about before so an early menopause or sometimes people on cancer treatments and then there are diseases and conditions that can impact on Osteoporosis but unfortunately Osteoporosis is known as the silent disease and people don’t know that they have had it until they have broken their first bone , the issue is is that when that first bone is broken it’s incredibly important to know whether it’s a fragility fracture or something  more trauma based, so if you just brake a bone through bumping into a doorframe or just slipping of a kerb or noting really traumatic that’s not right and therefore we should be investigating and checking for Osteoporosis and see whether or not it was a fragility fracture to avoid them happening again in the future.

JONES -Today is World Osteoporosis Day, where can people go for more information on the subject?

MS SEVERGNINI – Please visit my charity’s website www.nos.org.uk and if anyone is particularly worried about their bone health we do have nurse helpline and that is 0845 4500 230

 

Access the NOS ‘Life with Osteoporosis: the Untold Story’ Report, based on the experiences of 3,228 people living with osteoporosis in the UK – see Gary’s Story (age 56) on page 21 and link to video www.nos.org.uk/page.aspx?pid=1622

 

About the National Osteoporosis Society

The National Osteoporosis Society is the only UK wide charity dedicated to improving the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of osteoporosis and fragility fractures. We want every person over the age of 50 who breaks a bone to be assessed and treated for osteoporosis. The charity was established in 1986 and has since grown into a well-respected national charity with approximately 25,000 members and over 50 members of staff.

www.nos.org.uk

 

About International Osteoporosis Foundation

The International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) is the world’s largest Non-Governmental Organisation dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis and related musculoskeletal diseases. IOF members, including 225 patient, medical and research societies, work together to make bone, joint and muscle health a worldwide health-care priority. www.iofbonehealth.org; www.facebook.com/iofbonehealth; www.twitter.com/iofbonehealth #LoveYour Bones