GM Me!

Today it seems that we're on the fringe of a revolution. One that finally proves the old saying "an apple a day kee-" oh - scratch that - how about "a purple tomato a day keeps cancer at bay"? Yes, it seems that the evil scientists at Castle Genepool have developed a genetically modified tomato that they believe could prolong the life of a cancer patient or, hopefully, raise an individual's resistance to cancer. It's been developed using the DNA of a snap dragon flowers, apparently this means they now contain more anti-oxidants (molecules that prevent oxidations that can lead to damaged cells), it also means that they're a deep shade of purple. Freaky. So far it's only been tested on mice, hold on animal rights it seems to have done some good, it's prolonged the life of cancerous rats and it's hoped a similar reaction will occur within humans. Interestingly, experts in the field seem to be hoping this will boost the credibility of genetic modification and enlighten people's attitude towards it. Personally I think what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, and as long as there's no Willy Wonka incidents i.e. people growing large and purple... I'm all for it.

Where is my mind?

First of all an apology for the shameful neglecting of this blog, my time management is in need of a review.

Eleven days ago on October 10 it was World Mental Health Day. Mental health is often overlooked as an attribute of what most people regard as "health", people believe that as long as they're not incapacitated on their sick bed then they are healthy - this isn't always the case though.
WMHD is an annual effort to raise awareness of mental health; to help those with mental conditions to come to terms with it, to educate the general public about mental health and, perhaps most importantly, how to ensure your own mental well-being in an effort to sustain good mental health.
Good mental health can be maintained by a good cognitive process, namely a positive and realistic view of yourself and the world around you. Obviously everyone is different, and different types of personality will deal with certain stressors in different ways. For instance if someone performs badly at a test a negative way of thinking would be "I'm rubbish at tests." This is not healthy as it begins a negative cycle that can have a detrimental affect on someone's state of mind, it is because of cycles like this that people develop depression. A far more constructive way of thinking would be "I didn't do so well this time, but I know where to focus my attention next time."

This is only a very brief introduction to mental health issues, a taster if you will. I'll try to do a post follow-up with links to sites with more information than what I've given here, as well as expand on just what WMHD is all about and about how depression has recently become an issue of severity in society.

Not a diagnosis

Health is something which affects us all, whether it be a cold, a flu epidemic, the condition of our local health service or that niggling concern about your daily carb intake.
But just what is health? What is healthy? The fact is that there are many different answers, all of which I'm sorry to say I won't be addressing here. Over the coming weeks (and maybe beyond) I'll be looking into these