Health Check

How art and gardening has saved some people’s mental health during the pandemic. Claudia visits the most wonderful allotment to find out how one community in the UK has benefited.Nightmares and how people with psychosis can be plagued and even traumatised by bad dreams, but that there is a way of dealing with them. Plus, can kindness help you live a long life and evidence on whether dogs feel jealous! Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Erika Wright(Picture: Close up of women planting salad seedlings. Photo credit: Betsie Van der Meer/Getty Images.)

When was the last time you did something really kind for someone or someone else did something really kind for you? Claudia Hammond and guests are looking at the place of kindness in today’s world, asking what it really means, what happens in our brains when we act kindly and whether there can ever be a role for it in the cut-throat worlds of business and politics. She hears what kindness means to people in Kenya, Chile and in the UK. And with many aspects of kindness remaining under-researched, with your help Claudia and Robin Banerjee, Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Sussex, are asking you to fill in the gaps by taking part in the Kindness Test.Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Erika Wright

Trials have shown that cocktails of antibodies are effective against Covid, and one called Ronapreve has just been approved for use in the UK, following in the footsteps of Japan and the US. Claudia Hammond talks to Penny Ward, Professor of Pharmaceutical Medicine at Kings College, London, about how these monoclonal antibodies work and where they are best used, given that they are very expensive. The UN Refugee Agency and the International Organisation for Migration have called on governments to ensure that everyone is included in vaccination plans, including refugees and internally displaced people. Samara Linton reports on how undocumented migrants, in South East Asia and in the UK, are getting vaccinated against Covid. The increased heat we are experiencing with climate change is causing deaths in people with underlying health conditions. Professor Kristie Ebi of the University of Washington tells Claudia about what we can do to keep cool, in particular in places without air conditioning. And family doctor Graham Easton comments on these stories and discusses the relationship between Covid and heat. Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Deborah Cohen (Picture: Computer illustration of the release of monoclonal antibodies. Credit: Nanoclustering/Science Photo Library/Getty Images.)

The adventurer and ultra-runner Alex Staniforth talks about his survival on Everest following the devastating Nepalese earthquake in 2015. Rachel Manning from Buckingham University considers why we do or don’t intervene in risky situations and in everyday life. And Patrick Tissington from Warwick University draws on the stories behind those awarded the Victoria or George Cross for bravery to suggest some of the best ways to manage our fear in allowing us to be more courageous. The programme is presented by Claudia Hammond and recorded at the Cheltenham Science Festival in June 2021. Image: Rock climber clinging to a cliff Credit: gregepperson/Getty ImagesPresenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Adrian Washbourne

Claudia Hammond and her studio guest global health journalist Sarah Boseley discuss the health impact of the fires that are raging in many places including Southern Europe and the US. Lizzie Crouch reports on the longer term physical and mental effects of fires on people who experienced them in Colorado last year. Two reports, from the Netherlands and the US, are published this week that highlight the lack of women in drug trials for heart disease. Heart disease is often thought to be more common in men than women but that isn’t the case and new drugs need to be tested on women as well as on men. As the Olympics comes to an end Claudia talks to Adrian Bauman, Emeritus Professor of Global Health at the University of Sydney, about if there is any legacy for the general public in terms of increased exercise and fitness. He has just published a paper in The Lancet exploring this question – and the answer is a no. And Sarah Boseley and Claudia discuss the case of Marburg Disease in Guinea, the first to be reported in West Africa. Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Deborah Cohen(Picture: People run away from a forest fire in the Milas district of Muğla province, Turkey on 3rd August 2021. Photo credit: Ali Balli/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.)

USA gymnast Simone Biles won Olympic bronze but withdrew from earlier events due to ‘The twisties’ and resulting mental health issues. Family Doctor Graham Easton looks at the evidence for what causes this condition.Childhood myopia: A new study finds an increase in childhood short-sightedness during the pandemic. Lead author Jason C. S. Yam explains the potential impact of lockdowns on eye health by increasing close work on screens and decreasing outside activity.Cannabis and vomiting: Alison van Diggelen reports on an under recognised condition, Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome [CHS] where users of marijuana get bouts of vomiting, nausea, and severe abdominal pain that can need hospitalisation. It mostly impacts long term users though some younger people who smoke concentrates only a few times a week have had it too. Severe weight loss and the dehydration caused by vomiting can have long term impacts on the heart, liver and kidneys even causing death in extreme cases. Oxygen monitoring: Updated guidance showing that pulse oximeters – a device designed to measure early signs of a dangerous drop in oxygen - works less well in people with darker skin.Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Erika Wright(Picture: Simone Biles of Team United States competes in the Women's Balance Beam Final on day eleven of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo, Japan. Photo credit: Jamie Squire/Getty Images.)

New research on Covid vaccination in prisons. Plus can financial incentives like free tuition or free cruises encourage people to get the jab? Samara Linton reports on some surprising examples, while Professor Stephen Higgins reviews the evidence. And does the use of words like "provider" or "customer" subtly change healthcare? Claudia's guest is Matt Fox, Professor of Global Health Epidemiology at Boston University.Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Erika Wright(Picture: Prisoners at the La Modelo Correctional Facility wait to receive a Covid-19 vaccination administered by medical workers in Bogota, Colombia in July 2021. Photo credit: Juancho Torres/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.)

A really intriguing finding on flu vaccines - that they might offer some protection not just against flu, but against the most serious effects of Covid-19 – even though it is of course a completely different virus. Claudia Hammond talks to Dr Devinder Singh who led the research using anonymous medical records from countries including Singapore, Germany, Italy and Israel, which medical researchers can use.Summer viruses And why are some countries in the middle of the summertime, seeing a surge of infections with viruses usually found in winter? In the northern hemisphere there are fears that we’ll see a surge of cases of flu next winter – a twindemic. Why is that? And is this something that will follow the seasons around the world? We hear from Lorna and her daughter Willow on Willow’s persistent cough and from Dr Michelle Jacobs who’s a consultant in paediatric and adult emergency medicine at Watford General Hospital in the UK on concerns of RSV and viral wheeze, and Tracy Hussell, professor in immunology at the University of Manchester on children’s long-term immunity especially for babies who are seeing all these infections for the first time.Downs Syndrome and Covid-19 There’s new research just published in the British Medical Journal looking at how both adults and children with Downs Syndrome have been affected if they contract Covid. Some countries such as India are prioritising vaccination against Covid-19 for adults with Downs Syndrome. University College London’s Professor Monica Lakhanpaul’s work has been instrumental in helping clinics to start vaccinating people in India. And in the UK it’s just been announced that children with Downs Syndrome will be able to get vaccinated, which isn’t the case for all children. Monica explains the relevance of the research and her work in highlighting the issue.Image: Vaccine bottles in a row Credit: Helder Faria/Getty ImagesPresenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Erika Wright

Claudia Hammond presents three stories where people have helped someone who’s going through mental health difficulties. Dale had spent his childhood playing basketball at an elite level, and when his career stalled he became depressed. A chance meeting with Mike, a customer in the mobile phone shop where Dale was working, has turned his life around. Poppy was going through a very tough time when she was 16, but a teacher at her college called Sophie Durant was determined to give her the chance to talk if she wanted to. Poppy is now about to start to study dance at university. Adam’s teenage daughter Megan knew she suffered from food allergies and was always careful with her diet. One evening five years ago, she had a take-away at a friend’s house. They warned the restaurant about her allergies, but she suffered a severe anaphylactic shock and on New Year’s Day she died. Adam has found great support from a group in the UK for men who’ve been bereaved called StrongMen. It’s never easy to know what to say to a friend or relative who has mental health problems without risking making things worse. Clinical psychologist Linda Blair gives tips on how to handle these conversations.Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Pam Rutherford(Picture: A couple hiking in the Austrian mountains. Photo credit: Westend61/Getty Images.)

The lambda variant of coronavirus, first seen in Peru and Chile, has now spread to 27 other countries and new research just out suggests it’s better than other variants at escaping the antibodies produced by the CoronaVac vaccine that’s widely used in Latin America. The WHO does only currently classify it as a variant of interest and not a variant of concern. Ricardo Soto Rifo from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Chile, Santiago who conducted this new research explains his findings.A charity in the UK called Ovacome has long run in person support groups for women with ovarian cancer. And now women who live miles apart, but share similar experiences have got to know each other very well, online, during the pandemic. To find out what happens in these meetings, Health Check dropped in, on Zoom, to listen in to Gill, Gillian, Siobhan, Allyson and Jo.Dr Per Block, a research lecturer at the University of Oxford, has been investigating whether moods are contagious and crucially whether we pick on up good moods or bad moods more easily. The results of his study with teenage members of choirs and orchestras who were away on tour together have just been published in the journal Emotion. He tells Claudia what he found. Claudia’s studio guest is family doctor, Ann Robinson, who talks about new research into diet and migraines and whether a David Beckham style plastic boot or a traditional plaster cast is the best treatment for a broken ankle.Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Erika Wright and Paula McGrath(Picture: A woman receives her first dose of the CoronaVac vaccine during a door-to-door vaccination day against Covid-19 on 03 July 2021 in a rural area of the Jerusalén municipality, Cundinamarca Department, Colombia. Credit: Guillermo Legaria/Getty Images.)