HealthAide thoughts of the week, 13th NOv 2019

Pollution And Your Breathing

We are seeing poor air quality in major cities in the world this week. Delhi in India has been struggling with high levels of pollutants. In addition recent bushfires in New South Wales have lead to poor air quality in Sydney, Australia. This can have an impact on people who suffer from lung conditions. A good article by the British Lung Foundation, can be found here. It looks at the effects of pollution on your health.

Also have a look at Atmotube Pro, a product that you can use to monitor the air surrounding you, to work out if it is safe to go out.

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Concussion In Sport

With improved diets and training regimes and the use of cutting edge research in sports science, the performance of elite level athletes has markedly improved. Today your NFL, AFL or rugby players are stronger, more agile and fitter than ever before. As a result, in these contact sports, individuals are taking harder impacts to the body and in particular to the head. Slowly we are becoming aware of concussion and its long term effects, (eg memory problems, sleep disturbance and depression). As a result the way we look after someone who has been concussed is becoming better understood.

If you play a sport professionally, you are often surrounded by a team of experts who will monitor every aspect of your health, including a doctor who can make sure that you recover from a concussion. The problem is, if you enjoy sport but do not play for a professional team, you may not get the right treatment, if you become concussed. This can lead to you returning to your sport too early and putting you at risk of further health issues later in life. 

A useful tool has been developed to help amateur athletes or weekend warriors if they sustain a head injury is ImPACT. How does this work? You perform a test, when you are well that measures different functions of your brain. Should you sustain a head injury, you repeat the test under the guidance of a doctor, to work out the effects of the head injury on your brain. With this information, your doctor can then provide guidance about when you can return to playing the sport that you love. This tool is already being used by professional sports teams, today.

For more information, click here

Blog post written by Dr Khurram Akhter.

Khurram is an experienced primary care physician and a thought leader 
​in the field of digital health.​

Disclaimer: This text does not serve as medical advice or an endorsement of a particular product but serves as an example of how technology can improve healthcare. If you have any questions, seek advice from your doctor. ​