You plan to move to the Philippines? Wollen Sie auf den Philippinen leben?

There are REALLY TONS of websites telling us how, why, maybe why not and when you'll be able to move to the Philippines. I only love to tell and explain some things "between the lines". Enjoy reading, be informed, have fun and be entertained too!

Ja, es gibt tonnenweise Webseiten, die Ihnen sagen wie, warum, vielleicht warum nicht und wann Sie am besten auf die Philippinen auswandern könnten. Ich möchte Ihnen in Zukunft "zwischen den Zeilen" einige zusätzlichen Dinge berichten und erzählen. Viel Spass beim Lesen und Gute Unterhaltung!


Visitors of germanexpatinthephilippines/Besucher dieser Webseite.Ich liebe meine Flaggensammlung!

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Showing posts with label Illness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Illness. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Are LED lights making us ill?

My column in Mindanao Daily and BusinessWeek Mindanao

HAVE MY SAY


OVER the last decade, much of Europe and the US have changed the way they illuminate city and town streets. Not only there, also in the Philippines. And while checking my monthly electric bill, I followed many councils and local governments having replaced high-energy sodium bulbs (the warmer, yellow ones) with energy-saving LED bulbs (with a blue light emitting diode, which can feel harsh in comparison).

As well as street lights, most of us are exposed to blue light through smartphones, computers, TVs, and in the home.

Only an hour ago, I came across a short BBC-article written by Lucy Jones saying that earlier this year, the World Journal of Biological Psychiatry published a paper by a group of prominent psychiatrists that warned of the potential effects of LED lighting on mental illness.

It raised concerns about the influence of blue light on sleep, other circadian-mediated symptoms, use of digital healthcare apps and devices, and the higher sensitivity of teenagers to blue light. Indeed, using my tablet while already in bed during nighttime gave me some problems in getting to sleep.Or does my brain making a fool on me?

“My concern about LED lighting followed from a larger, earlier concern about the relationship between light exposure and the occurrence of manic and mixed symptoms in bipolar disorder,” said John Gottlieb, Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago and an author of the paper.

“I had already clearly seen that supplemental light exposure - in the form of bright light therapy - was extremely helpful to patients with depression. What I was slower to realize was that excess and poorly-timed light exposure could have adverse effects on manic states and the sleep-wake cycle,” he said.

And here we are: the paper has implications for the treatment of mental illness. If a person is prescribed a self-monitoring app, and instructed to use their smartphone to document mood changes, for example, and they do this before bed, it could have an adverse effect on their sleep, circadian rhythms and health.

“Because they are ubiquitous, smartphones represent the larger public health hazard,” said Gottlieb. “Streetlights, though, are not benign and together with the entire set of nocturnal lighting for entertainment, traffic, reading, etc contribute to the phenomena of light pollution, which we are becoming increasingly sensitised to.”

As BBC-Lucy Jones explained in her article: studies of the impact of blue light on healthy adults show it inhibits Melatonin secretion which disrupts sleep and can affect quality of life, physical and mental health and susceptibility to illness. Previous studies of sleep disorders in children and adolescents show a clear and consistent relationship between sleep disorders and frequency of digital device usage.

Currently, the British National Sleep Foundation guidelines suggest not using technology 30 minutes before bed and removing technology for the bedroom. I’ll try to follow the advise. However, there are currently no specific guidelines for people with an underlying mental illness or sensitivity to circadian disruption. We should give it a try, though I remember several decades ago, when we got the advise banning all electric alarm-clocks, radios and TV from our bedrooms.

As LED technology has rapidly spread across the globe, the focus has been on the visual element and the energy-saving element. Now, scientists, health professionals and the LED industry are working to minimize the blue light in LEDs and create customizable lights that won’t harm those suffering from psychiatric disorders.


Saturday, January 8, 2011

The Forgotten (?) Illness AIDS (in the Philippines)

The topic AIDS has been, is and will be always remain a hot potato. AIDS doesn't know any special season, but it seems to have been forgotten. Especially distressing is till, for many fellow the condemnation and ignorance about condoms - the one and only sure HIV-AIDS protection as has been proven many times.

For many people the saying still seems to be: "AIDS - doesn't matter!" What a fatal attraction who continue playing Russian roulette. Here in the Philippines - and worldwide.

I am not very comfortable with figures when it comes to "official numbers" of the Philippines. They said, since 1984 the Philippines registered 5,364 HIV and AIDS cases. I am pretty sure that these numbers never show the reality. 

Since 2004 the last figures showed the number of new infections hitting one record after the other. in several countries AIDS tests for willing married couples are still required by law.  So far so good, but how about most of the new infection cases involving heterosexual men, gays, or those men who force prostitutes to have unsafe sex without condoms? How about drug users, who spread the AIDS virus by using dirty injection needles?

The latest registry in the Philippines (and I carefully agree!) said most of the individuals, about 90 percent of them, were males and the most number of infections cme at the productive age group between 20 to 29 years old. And, sexual contact was the most common made fir HIV transmission. Worldwide immigration authorities require HIV/AIDS tests several times in different intervals before entering the country and/or before a continuation of immigration permanent status documents processing. I experience it for myself in 1999 when moving to the Philippines. Nowadays one can't find such requirements any more. 

Dr. Edsel Salvana, associate professor on the infectious disease section of the University of the Philippines (UP), Manila said, the Philippines could be facing an "epidemic" HIV/AIDS cases as numbers continue to rise while newly-infected individuals are even getting younger.

Chasteness and chastity seem to become more and more foreign words. Ask the young generation and don't wonder if you'll mostly hear a plucky laughter.

AIDS doesn't matter? What a fatal attraction!