LIZ JONES: What was the point of the Myla thongs, being waxed, getting my nails polished and my hair dyed? I've come to a shocking realisation
'Do you think you are capable of feeling joy?'
The question has been posed by my new therapist, Bianca Best, who has just written a bestseller, Big Impact Without Burnout. The book talks about boundaries, managing anxiety and how women, especially, stretch themselves too thin.
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Daily Mail
13 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
People are just realizing what it means if you keep waking up at the same time in the middle of the night
Waking up at the same time each night can send you into a panic and leave you wondering why but the real reason is more surprising than just a racing mind. A good night's sleep is crucial for daily life, yet waking up suddenly during the night or early morning - typically 3 to 4am - is surprisingly common, with one US study finding that 35.5 percent of people reported jolting awake more than three times a week, as reported by Many restless sleepers believe their nightly wake-ups are caused by an overactive mind - reliving embarrassing memories from the past or simply overthinking - and often aren't sure whether they should seek help. 'As a cognitive therapist, I sometimes joke that the only good thing about 3am waking is that it gives us all a vivid example of catastrophizing,' Greg Murray, a sleep expert, wrote in an article published by The Conversation. 'Waking and worrying at 3am is very understandable and very human,' he added. However, the reason behind this phenomenon isn't rooted in anxiety or the stress that often creeps in during the quiet, dark hours of the night. Instead, the collective experience of a 3am wake-up call is intricately tied to how our bodies function on a day-to-day basis. Murray, the Director of the Centre for Mental Health at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, tied the strange phenomenon to our body's neurobiology and hormonal rhythms. During a normal night's sleep, our neurobiology - the study of our nervous system's structure, function, and development - typically hits a critical turning point between 3am to 4am. Around this time, our core body temperature begins to rise, sleep pressure eases since we've already rested, melatonin - the sleep hormone - has peaked, and cortisol - the stress hormone - starts increasing, gearing the body up to wake and face the day ahead. This experience surprisingly happens without outside signals - like bright light peering through our bedroom windows - as our bodies are built to predict both sunrise and sunset thanks to our natural circadian rhythm. However, rising cortisol levels can play a key part in whether or not you fully wake up during the wee-hours of the night, as it mainly helps regulate your body's response to stress, The Cleveland Clinic explained. This stress hormone plays a massive role in making you feel on high alert and 'triggers the release of glucose (sugar) from your liver', giving your body a quick burst of energy during stressful moments. Simply put, if you're more stressed than usual, your body likely releases more cortisol during the night - leading to those abrupt, middle-of-the-night wake-ups. Although about one in three people report jolting awake in the middle of the night, the truth is we all wake up several times - we're just not usually aware of it until stress comes to play. According to Murray, when sleep is going well, 'we are simply unaware of these awakenings'. But with added stress, there's a good chance those brief wake-up moments turn into fully self-aware moments. Stress can also cause hypervigilance - feeling anxious or on edge about being awake during the night - which often leads to insomnia. External supports are also missing in the depths of night - no social connections or cultural comforts. 'With none of our human skills and capital, we are left alone in the dark with our thoughts,' Murray explained. 'So the mind is partly right when it concludes the problems it's generated are unsolvable - at 3am, most problems literally would be.' Once the sun rises, familiar sounds, smells, and sensations help put things in perspective. Problems that felt overwhelming just hours earlier suddenly seem much smaller, and people often wonder why they couldn't calm themselves down the night before. 'The truth is, our mind isn't really looking for a solution at 3am,' Murray wrote. 'We might think we are problem solving by mentally working over issues at this hour, but this isn't really problem solving; it's problem solving's evil twin - worry,' he added. The revelation stunned people across the internet, many of whom had long believed they were alone in their mysterious, late-night awakenings. 'So true. Reading this at 4am,' one user wrote to Facebook. Another added: 'My 4am issue is finally explained.' 'The Bain of my life,' a third chimed in. 'Interesting read.' 'I don't know about fears and shortcomings, but my brain goes off in all directions when I awake in the middle of the night,' wrote another. Joining into the conversation, another user wrote: 'These might be the answers to my waking most nights.' So, for those who wake up at the same time every night, the big question remains: What do you do about it? 'Buddhism has a strong position on this type of mental activity: the self is a fiction, and that fiction is the source of all distress,' Murray explained. As a helpful tip, Murray recommended practicing Buddhist-informed mindfulness during the day to manage stress - making it easier to use the same technique during those quiet, restless hours at night. If all else fails, traditional cognitive behavioral therapy advice can help - getting out of bed, turning on a dim light and cracking open a book to distract your mind and ease back into sleep. 'One last tip,' Murray wrote. 'It's important to convince yourself (during daylight hours) that you want to avoid catastrophic thinking.'
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
US experts fear all vaccines at risk as Trump officials target mRNA jabs
As top US health officials turn against some mRNA vaccines, experts fear for the country's preparedness for the next pandemic and worry that other vaccines will be targeted next. Donald Trump's administration recently canceled a $766m award to Moderna on the research and development of H5N1 bird flu vaccines, and officials have announced new restrictions and regulations for Covid mRNA vaccines – actions that signal a move away from the breakthrough technology. These changes add to other vaccine-related shakeups at health agencies, including layoffs and resignations of top vaccine officials and the abrupt termination of HIV vaccine research. On Monday, Robert F Kennedy Jr, secretary of health and human services, announced he was disbanding the independent advisory committee on vaccines for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 'I think mRNA vaccines are particularly at risk, although I think all vaccines are at risk,' said Paul Offit, professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. 'I think that this administration will do everything it can to make vaccines less available, less affordable and more feared.' Messenger RNA, or mRNA, vaccines heralded a major breakthrough in battling the Covid pandemic, building on three decades of scientific work and earning a Nobel prize. The Covid vaccines, some of which were co-developed by US government scientists, were taken by millions of people around the globe, and international scientists and officials closely monitored their side effects and effectiveness. mRNA vaccines and therapeutics show promise for treating or preventing certain cancers, rare conditions and infectious diseases – including, potentially, the next pandemic, experts said. 'We don't know what the next pandemic virus is going to be,' said Jennifer Nuzzo, professor of epidemiology and director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health. With mRNA, she said, 'you can pivot faster when you find a new virus to make a vaccine that's tailored to that virus'. The mRNA vaccines also don't need to be incubated in eggs, which is time-consuming and potentially difficult if there are egg shortages from bird flu outbreaks. In 2009, the US didn't have enough vaccines to battle the swine flu pandemic, Nuzzo said. 'It seems like we're determined to repeat those mistakes.' Despite their promise, mRNA vaccines have been plagued by misinformation. Some skeptics believe the vaccines affect fertility or cause birth defects, though research shows no link – and, in fact, studies show that the vaccines reduce these risks by preventing infections with Covid, which can be especially dangerous to pregnant people and newborns. Because mRNA sounds similar to DNA, some people mistakenly think it interferes with their genes. Conspiracy theorists also claim the vaccine causes people to die suddenly, or that the shots implant microchips or impart 5G connectivity. Meghan McCain recently endorsed, in a now-deleted social media post, an unregulated supplement company's 'spike detox' for those who 'regret' getting vaccinated. Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, called the mRNA Covid shots the 'deadliest vaccine ever made,' incorrectly claiming the vaccines cause more illnesses and deaths than they prevent. Kennedy rose to greater prominence through the pandemic as previously fringe conspiracies about vaccines began dominating more mainstream narratives. 'Anti-vaccine sentiment goes back to the first days of vaccines in the 1700 and 1800s,' said John Moore, professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College. 'It's been a perpetual theme in society for 200-plus years, but it has been turbocharged by the Covid pandemic.' Some states are now considering laws against mRNA vaccines, and US health officials have taken several steps to limit Covid shots in recent weeks. Officials with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced plans to limit boosters to older people and those with certain health conditions, as well as plans to conduct placebo-controlled clinical trials again. The CDC removed the vaccination recommendation for pregnant people and softened the recommendation for children's shots. About 165,000 Americans were hospitalized and 40,000 died in the previous year because of Covid, the CDC said at an April meeting. About 6,700 of those hospitalizations were among children, especially young children, and 152 children died from Covid in that time, the data showed. About 5% of children under five are vaccinated against Covid – rates much lower than other age groups. 'That's why, if you look at the numbers of hospitalizations and deaths for children now, especially young children less than four years old, it's really not much different than the beginning of this pandemic,' Offit said. There's also 'extensive evidence' for benefits to pregnant people and their babies, he said. While the FDA recently approved Moderna's 'next generation' Covid vaccine, which was even more effective that their current shot in clinical trials, the agency limited the new shot only for older adults and for people aged 12 to 64 with health conditions putting them at higher risk. The FDA also announced new requirements for mRNA Covid vaccine makers to add additional warnings about the risks of myocarditis, or heart inflammation, based on data the FDA has not made public. During the Biden administration, Moderna received two awards totaling $766m to develop potential bird flu vaccines. Despite the changeover in administrations, Moderna's work continued as normal – until February, when health officials said in an article that the funding was being reviewed. Moderna hadn't received any notification of this review, which recently culminated in having the funding cancelled. Halting the H5N1 vaccine research, which was in phase 3 trials, leaves the US vulnerable in a potential flu pandemic, Nuzzo said. It also means other countries could build upon US investments to procure the vaccines for themselves. mRNA has shown promise in treating pancreatic cancer and other cancers, as well as rare conditions and hard-to-treat infectious diseases. Moderna, for instance, is working on vaccines for melanoma, lung cancer, norovirus, flu, and CMV, or cytomegalovirus, a fairly common infection that can cause lasting health problems for infants. The company also has an RSV vaccine, currently approved for older adults, that could be expanded for other age groups. But those efforts could be hampered by the administration's moves against mRNA and terminations of vaccine scientists and independent advisors who offer vaccine recommendations. 'We don't want to see kids kicked out of school because a 12-year-old girl is not getting her fifth Covid booster shot,' Marty Makary, head of the FDA, said in a recent interview. Yet no states require Covid vaccination for school attendance. Pushing back against mandates is a common tactic from anti-vaccine activists working to dismantle all vaccine mandates, Offit said. In addition to claiming the Covid vaccines are deadly, Kennedy has 'also said no vaccine is beneficial', he said. Kennedy recently unveiled a sweeping and controversial $50m research project on autism, including an autism research database. If that effort somehow links autism to vaccines – despite decades of studies showing no connection – it could open lawmakers up to lawsuits, Offit said. 'He could manipulate the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program,' Offit said. If Kennedy adds autism to the compensable list of injuries, 'it would break the program'. That would mean the people who experience very rare severe side effects from vaccines may then face challenges getting compensated. And it could prompt vaccine makers to stop producing routine childhood immunizations because of legal liability. 'It's a fragile market,' Offit said. Kennedy 'is an anti-vaccine activist, science denialist and conspiracy theorist', he continued. 'I think that he will continue this onslaught against vaccines.'
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
What Father's Day is really like as a disabled dad
The marketing people would have us believe Father's Day is about 'active dad'. He's there with the kids running around, kicking a ball about, giving piggy back rides, fooling around at the park. And that was me. I embraced the role, even though all that activity didn't prevent the development of, ahem, a bona fide dad bod. Until that is, l I had an uncomfortably close encounter with a cement truck. Fun fact: the padding offered no protection. My first thought when it hit was that my children (one born, one on the way) would be left without a father. I had almost no contact with mine growing up. I had no relationship with him. I didn't want to leave my children in the same place. It was a horrifying thought, on top of the physical agony and the fear of death. Nightmare number two was this: Am I wearing the loud and obnoxious purple boxers that came as part a three pack? It is a universal truth that if you buy three packs of boxers, one will be horrible. Would the ghouls hanging around to watch the show see them when they pulled me out, put me on a stretcher and started the first aid? Fortunately, no. Turns out mine were a utilitarian black. The icky purple ones have since been binned. Coming out the other side and learning to live with disability inevitably changed my most important job, and thus the day celebrating it. Kicking a ball about? Not going to happen with a paralysed right leg. Pushing a swing? Same thing. Another painful truth is that I not only missed my daughter's birth, I missed out on a lot the other stuff in the early days while I was busy trying to coax my body into doing things it didn't want to do – like walking. I can manage a little. But I'm bad at it, I need a pair of sticks and I still manage to fall over and break bones a lot. So, I use a wheelchair most of the time. The new, disabled dad bod inevitably complicated things. I never used to mind my kids jumping on me before. But dad 2.0 was apt to scream loudly when this happened. That's before we get onto the subject of PTSD, panic attacks out in public and the like. One of the women who witnessed the infamous Orkney Island shooting, of a waiter in an Indian restaurant, described it like this in Amazon's documentary: 'You don't move on from trauma. You just live around it.' Very true. Even when mine had been addressed (well mostly, I still periodically see a therapist), trips out – one of the joys of parenting – became massively more complicated because of the extra level of planning required. No longer could we just jump on the tube and go somewhere on a sunny day, or indeed on any day. First we had to check that our destination was accessible. Then we had to assess the route to see if it was even possible to get there. Then we had to work timings out and what medication we would need to take with us. Londoners often like to grouse about the capital's public transport system, but they are spoiled compared to much of the rest of the country. Unless you're disabled, of course. Transport for London – TFL – has become an expletive in our house, believe me. My wife actually got very good at the planning part. So when I took my daughter to see Taylor Swift, she handled the logistics. If there was a degree in disability science, she'd get a double first without having to extend herself. But I still find the lack of spontaneity frustrating. There were a few compensations. Using the disabled queue at theme parks is kind of handy. But even that's a mixed blessing, as I realised when I heard a mother's venomous hiss about me being one of 'those special people' at Peppa Pig World. I wanted to wheel up to her and tell her I'd happily trade my position in the queue for a properly working body that didn't torture me. But we made do with one my wife's patented 'teacher glares'. You don't want to be on the receiving end, believe me. My wife often gets more angry about the crap I have to deal with than I do. Disabled dad survival tip: having a tiger partner makes life, and parenting, a lot easier. Oh, and try Legoland. It's another favourite family venue, but the people there seem a lot nicer. The wheelchair did sometimes come in handy on trips when our children were younger, because you can sling a rucksack over the back and you can also put a tired and grouchy child on the operator. A 'daddy ride' used to cheer my daughter up. It cheered me up. It helped get me fit, too. 'Active dad' – just on wheels. And that's what I became. I even ended up taking the sports wheelchair I used for playing basketball into school to give a talk about keeping fit while disabled. I seemed to get cool points for doing that, partly because I let my children's friends have a spin. Sports wheelchairs are fast – and a lot of fun. Plus, all that activity means that today's 'dad bod' is less dad bod than it was. Working from home – for I joined the revolution long before the pandemic hit – also meant I saw a lot more of my kids when they were young than most fathers get too. A rare an unequivocal plus. And it has given them a perspective that others don't have. My daughter, in particular, doesn't like it when she sees me getting grief. She has a keen sense of justice. What's fair, and what's not. So Father's Day? It is still a bit different. It always will be. But we've learned to work with it. You adapt, because you have to – but also because it's worth it.
