The Health News – 05 January 2016
Overview:
• Current government recommendations for 30 minutes of exercise five times a week could be met in less than half that time, according to a study involving researchers at Perth’s Curtin University. The study found that doing nine 60-second sprints followed by two minutes of recovery could be as beneficial as 45 minutes of jogging.
• The Solomon Islands is working to contain an [sic] diarrhoea outbreak that’s spread to six provinces and affected more than 2 and a half thousand people. The Ministry of Health is yet to declare a nationwide alert but health workers are concerned because left untreated, diarrhoea can be deadly, particularly for children.
• WA nurses will not demand hefty pay rises from the Government but will take action to protect conditions, the union says, as the deadline to thrash out a new three-year pay deal looms.
News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 5th January 2016. Read by Rebecca Foster. Health News
Current government recommendations for 30 minutes of exercise five times a week could be met in less than half that time, according to a study involving researchers at Perth’s Curtin University.
The study found that doing nine 60-second sprints followed by two minutes of recovery could be as beneficial as 45 minutes of jogging.
Associate Professor Cecilie Thogersen-Ntoumani said the benefits of shorter, high-intensity sessions had already been established in laboratory studies.
“Our study was one of the first to look at whether it works in a real-life setting,” she said.
…
“We implemented a randomised control trial with 90 participants overall taking part in either moderate-intensity training or high-intensity condition training over 10 weeks.”
The researchers found there was similar benefit experienced by both groups … in terms of fitness outcomes and cardio-metabolic improvement.
One group did moderate exercise for 30 to 45 minutes five times a week, and the high-intensity groups did just three sessions a week of 25 minutes.
“What we found, interestingly, was that there was a better adherence in those who did the high-intensity training,” …[the Professor said].
“A big barrier to exercise is lack of time, whether perceived or actual. That could explain that difference.”
…
The significance of the research is that it widens the options available to people who are looking to improve their fitness, the professor said.
But, she said, there was still more work to be done to understand what motivated people to exercise.
She said most people quit fitness programs around the six-month mark.
“There are a lot of reasons why people drop out of exercise, but one of them is the quality of people’s motivation,” she said.
Feelings of guilt about over-eating at Christmas or making a New Year’s resolution to lose weight did not keep people motivated very long, she explained.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-04/kids-under-5-make-up-70-per-cent-of-those-affected/7066336
The Solomon Islands is working to contain an [sic] diarrhoea outbreak that’s spread to six provinces and affected more than 2 and a half thousand people.
The Ministry of Health is yet to declare a nationwide alert but health workers are concerned because left untreated, diarrhoea can be deadly, particularly for children.
In June 2014, more than a dozen children died in Solomon Islands after suffering from extreme diarrhoea.
UNICEF Pacific’s Dr Karen Allen says health officials are working hard to bring the outbreak under control.
WA nurses will not demand hefty pay rises from the Government but will take action to protect conditions, the union says, as the deadline to thrash out a new three-year pay deal looms.
The current enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) expires on June 30 and negotiations will soon commence on the next EBA, which starts on July 1.
After threatening to strike on the eve of the 2013 state election, nurses secured a 14 per cent pay rise.
The State Government partly blames the generous increase for health costs blowing out by 8 per cent this financial year, forcing it to shed the equivalent of 1,163 positions.
… Health Minister Kim Hames said WA doctors and nurses were currently being paid 10 to 20 per cent more than their Victorian counterparts and said the difference could not be sustained.
Mr Olson rejected the Health Minister’s assertion that WA nurses were paid significantly more than their interstate counterparts.
Dr Hames, who is expected to be replaced as Health Minister in three months, said nurses would not be offered anything more than the Government’s wages policy allows, which caps increases to the rate of inflation.
Perth’s CPI was revised down in last month’s mid year review, from 2.25 per cent to 1.5 per cent.