Life and Leisure

IN BRIEF (Page 19)

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-15 07:53

Hong Kong hypochondria

More than one of every 10 Hong Kong adults is a hypochondriac who wrongly believes he or she is suffering from a serious illness, a survey released on Monday shows.

Researchers at the Chinese University estimated that 570,000, or 11 percent of all Hong Kong adults, suffer from some form of hypochondria or chronic abnormal anxiety.

Sufferers get trapped in a "vicious spiral" in which anxiety over imagined illnesses makes them unable to cope with normal work and office situations, researchers say.

Adults aged 45 to 54 are the most prone to hypochondria, and about a third of hypochondriacs suffer sleeping problems and 27 percent suffer fatigue, the survey of 3,000 people finds.

Some hypochondriacs take their imagined symptoms from one doctor to another to try to confirm they are suffering from serious illnesses, such as cancer, researchers say.

"Hypochondriacal behavior can cause significant disturbance to daily life," says Professor Lee Sing, director of the university's Mood Disorders Center, which conducted the survey.

Depressed doctors more suicidal

Doctors are more likely to commit suicide than the average population, with women in the profession facing more than double the risk, while male doctors have a 25 percent higher rate.

The research was commissioned by Beyond Blue, an institute funded by the Australian government, that studies depression and devises strategies to deal with it.

Melbourne-based Beyond Blue's Michael Baigent says his findings confirmed the notion that doctors were careless about their own health.

Professor Baigent also finds that doctors are often competitive and so are reluctant to admit that they have weaknesses.

"They think that because they diagnose conditions in other people, they can diagnose it accurately in themselves," he says. "Doctors feel that being depressed themselves is a sign of weakness, but when it comes to their patients they see it as just an illness like any other illness."

Small muscles key to strong back

Strong, well-developed muscles alone will not prevent back pain. What a healthy back needs are muscles that are capable of positioning and securing the spinal column, according to Professor Ingo Froboese from the Center for Health at the German Sport High School in Cologne.

The human body has about 640 muscles, of which 150 are directly linked to the spinal column.

"The most important muscles for a healthy spinal column and back are not just the large muscles visible on the outside, but also the tiny muscles deep inside the body located directly beside the vertebrae," says Froboese.

The task of these so-called deep back muscles is to move, guide and secure the spinal column.

"They don't need to be especially strong. Their strength lies in their ability to finely coordinate their work." They are trained through small rotating movements that cause involuntary tension in the muscles.

One form of exercise is to spread your shoulders back, stand with slightly bent knees and lay your arms at your sides. Next, raise your lower arms until they are 90 degrees to your body. Then, keeping your elbows beside your body, make quick chopping movements with your lower arms for about 20 seconds.

Chlorinated pools up cancer risk

Swimming in chlorinated pools can cause an increased risk of cancer in bathers, Spanish researchers say.

Researchers from the Barcelona-based Center of Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL) and Research Institute Hospital del Mar study changes in indicators of mutagenicity - permanent mutation of the DNA - among a group of swimmers in an indoor chlorinated pool.

"The evidence of genotoxic effects were observed in 49 healthy adults after swimming for 40 minutes in a chlorinated indoor pool," CREAL says in a statement.

Researchers found indicators of an increase in cancer risk in healthy subjects as well as potential respiratory effects from the chlorine used as a disinfectant, the statement says.

The co-director of CREAL, Manolis Kogevinas, says the findings should not put people off swimming.

"The positive health impacts of swimming can be increased by reducing the levels of these chemicals," he says, suggesting the problems caused by a reduction in levels of disinfectant could be offset if swimmers showered before taking a dip, wore bathing caps and refrained from urinating.

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