An alternative to exercise?
A weekly training session with whole body electronic muscle stimulation (WB-EMS) can reduce cardiovascular disease risk in healthy adults. WB-EMS sends impulses to muscles via electrodes, simultaneously engaging more muscles than with traditional workouts. It also prompts a more complete muscle contraction, which uses more muscle fibres. The study’s full name is Physical training augmented with whole body muscle stimulation favourably impacts cardiovascular biomarkers in healthy adults.
Source: International Journal of Cardiology
Meet Gen Beta
Taking over from Gen Alpha, babies born between 2025 and 2039 will be the start a new generation referred to as Gen Beta. Experts suggest that these children will grow up entrenched in smart devices, artificial intelligence and be even more tech friendly than their predecessors. They’ll live into the 22nd century facing issues such as climate change, global population distribution, rapid urbanization and sustainability expectations.
Source: USA TODAY
Oxford’s climate cafes
Breaking the silence on the climate issues, UK’s Rebecca Nestor’s helps facilitate sessions for up to twelve people from diverse multi-generational backgrounds. Allowing for free- flowing conversations that connect and provide ‘community solace’. Nestor’s cafes are heart opening without talk about climate action, science or government polity. Partnership with Common Ground Cafe’s run monthly on either Saturdays or Sundays, and provide a supportive space for attendees without pressure to act. Numbers are limited but no registration is required.
Source: BBC
Time to stop sharenting?
A practice that skyrocketed during the pandemic, ‘sharenting’ describes parenting influencers, and others, who gone over the top to sharing intimate details of their child’s ‘inch-stones’ and lives on-line. Some experts are calling for end to this trend suggesting that many of the elaborate scenarios presented are unrealistic and create a ‘culture of comparison’ that is hard for everyday parents to live up to. Others talk of the need to stop given the barrage of negative, disturbing or in some cases, illegal scenarios that have led to police investigations.
Source: CBC
‘Baby wearing’ warnings
A bereaved British father and a coroner have called for a mandatory standardised test for baby carriers after a James, a six-week-old, baby boy died while his mother was carrying him around the house. The inquest heard that, after breastfeeding, James fell asleep and slumped into a position where he suffocated. Usual safety warnings have guidance about slings being too tight but few, if any, make parents aware of having the sling too loose which allows babies to slump, suggests the grief-stricken father.
Source: LBC
Change at lightning speed
As the healthcare industry moves into 2025. It won’t be easy. Regulatory hurdles and workforce shortages may delay implementation of new technologies like AI and robotics—despite increasing demand suggests Dr. Abdelghany, CEO of Fakeeh University Hospital in Dubai. Other experts talk of the cost of transformative change that brings with it high costs, the challenge of figuring out which new technologies to embrace and ongoing need to suddenly upskill staff.
Source: The National
