:00:00. > :00:20.Now on BBC News, it's time for Health Check.
:00:21. > :00:29.Welcome to Health Check, your monthly dose of local health
:00:30. > :00:35.stories. This month, we are taking a moment to look at the value of rest
:00:36. > :00:41.to our health. Coming up... How hibernating lemurs could hold the
:00:42. > :00:45.key to a longer and healthier life. Pampering for women in Kenya, which
:00:46. > :00:50.also helps to keep them healthy. Add reassurance for parents in
:00:51. > :00:58.Japan, or read about radiation after Fukushima.
:00:59. > :01:01.Rest used to be prescribed for patients with tuberculosis long
:01:02. > :01:05.before antibiotics came along, and now some strains of the disease are
:01:06. > :01:09.becoming resistant to the drugs and can thrive in crowded places, like
:01:10. > :01:15.prisons. South Africa has one of the highest rate of infection in the
:01:16. > :01:18.world. But we went to a prison in Cape Town to see a new screening
:01:19. > :01:24.programme that is trying to spot TV early.
:01:25. > :01:30.-- TB. The scenic site of Cape Town. At hidden within this rugged
:01:31. > :01:34.landscape is this prison, a maximum security penitentiary and a hotbed
:01:35. > :01:39.of infections. Particularly tuberculosis, or TB. This airborne
:01:40. > :01:44.infectious disease is a leading cause of death in South Africa.
:01:45. > :01:47.Crowded conditions inside prisons like these provide the perfect
:01:48. > :01:54.environment for the disease to spread. This man has been an inmate
:01:55. > :02:00.at the prison for one year. He was diagnosed with TB two months into
:02:01. > :02:08.his sentence. 50 people are inside the cell. The Indo -- windows are
:02:09. > :02:17.open. It is called in the night. The bed was full of people. When I
:02:18. > :02:21.checked, I did get TB in prison. Inmate numbers are currently at four
:02:22. > :02:26.times the prison's capacity. These cramped conditions, combined with
:02:27. > :02:32.high rates of HIV among inmates, mean TB infections are two to five
:02:33. > :02:37.times higher in prisons than the general population. The prisons are
:02:38. > :02:41.overcrowded in our country. It is just really difficult for us to
:02:42. > :02:47.control TB. Because we have to wait for the person to start coughing and
:02:48. > :02:50.feeling ill, start getting ill. You don't know how many others are
:02:51. > :02:58.already infected. Until recently little was in place in prisons like
:02:59. > :03:01.this to stop the spread of TB. But practical measures like improved
:03:02. > :03:04.infection control and X-ray screening and rapid testing of the
:03:05. > :03:10.prison itself has reduced the spread. Those who are incarcerated
:03:11. > :03:15.must be screened twice during their period of incarceration and when
:03:16. > :03:21.they exit the prison they must be screened also. This is one of seven
:03:22. > :03:25.prisons in South Africa with facilities on site to screen inmates
:03:26. > :03:34.as required. Including the diagnosis of multidrug resistant TB. By August
:03:35. > :03:39.2015 more than 500,000 prisoners had been screened nationwide and 6% of
:03:40. > :03:44.them were diagnosed with TB. Prison health services are now seeing a
:03:45. > :03:49.difference amongst inmates. They are more informed, they are happier,
:03:50. > :03:53.they are more healthy. We get less complaints of other minor illnesses
:03:54. > :03:59.because of the screening as well. They are just much better and
:04:00. > :04:03.healthier. Once diagnosed, treatment is started immediately. Because once
:04:04. > :04:08.inmates are on treatment they are no longer infectious to those around
:04:09. > :04:12.them. Families of prisoners are also being offered screening and
:04:13. > :04:19.treatment services. To prevent the spread of TB outside in the
:04:20. > :04:22.community. And, back inside Pollsmoor, inmates are getting cured
:04:23. > :04:31.and the spread of new infections is being curbed to staff, the prisoners
:04:32. > :04:34.and their families. That -- now, breast is a topic I've
:04:35. > :04:38.been giving a lot of thought to over the last year and I should declare
:04:39. > :04:43.an interest. I am part of a group of scientists and artists based in
:04:44. > :04:49.London and we are exploring the topic of breast. Doctor Felicity
:04:50. > :04:53.from Durham university is leading the project. Do we know what rest
:04:54. > :04:59.is? That the starting point of our enquiries because there's no
:05:00. > :05:04.universally accepted understanding of what rest is for the body and
:05:05. > :05:06.mind. Does it mean different things to different people? It mean
:05:07. > :05:11.different things, it means different things in different languages and
:05:12. > :05:16.across time periods, what it has meant is different. And also what
:05:17. > :05:20.people do to rest is variable. Some people tell us that seemingly very
:05:21. > :05:24.active things, like mining, or cycling, are for them very restful
:05:25. > :05:30.whereas other people have a much more in mobile relationship to being
:05:31. > :05:33.at rest. Do you get a sense these days that resting at all is
:05:34. > :05:39.sometimes seen as being a bit lazy and doing nothing is not allowed?
:05:40. > :05:42.There's something interesting going on at the moment, because in some
:05:43. > :05:46.ways I think people are being encouraged to let their mind wander,
:05:47. > :05:51.because there is a sense of creativity of allowing rest for
:05:52. > :05:55.activities and thoughts to emerge. But on the other hand I think there
:05:56. > :06:02.is still an incredible sense that to feel at rest risks being seen as not
:06:03. > :06:05.working hard enough, not being busy enough, not being productive enough.
:06:06. > :06:09.So I think it's a curious moment that we are living in. We tend to
:06:10. > :06:13.think resting the body as being something that is good for us, but
:06:14. > :06:17.how much do we know about the mind being at rest? About a decade ago
:06:18. > :06:21.new techniques in your imaging began to show that actually the mind at
:06:22. > :06:26.rest is an enormously active and busy mind, showing lots of
:06:27. > :06:30.co-ordinated patterns of activity. So we think we are thinking about
:06:31. > :06:35.nothing, but there's a lot going on? Huge amount going on and lots of
:06:36. > :06:38.energy used by the brain at rest. We have our minds drift onto other
:06:39. > :06:43.things at different times, mind wandering is nothing new, is it? It
:06:44. > :06:48.isn't. Our mediaeval historian has been telling us a lot about monks,
:06:49. > :06:52.who are of course meant to be focusing on God, are actually very
:06:53. > :06:57.at risk of having their minds being led astray into areas and topics
:06:58. > :07:04.very inappropriate for a devotional practices. And so there are many
:07:05. > :07:08.models and techniques in mediaeval texts that help us understand mind
:07:09. > :07:15.wandering. We have been developing a huge online survey called the Rest
:07:16. > :07:19.Test. How is it going? Very well. There are two part of the survey.
:07:20. > :07:23.The first is shorter and allows people to define what rest means to
:07:24. > :07:27.them and tell us about how they do rest. And give us a little bit of
:07:28. > :07:32.information about themselves, their health histories. The second part is
:07:33. > :07:35.more extensive and it demands filling out various psychological
:07:36. > :07:40.scales, so that we get a greater sense of the kind of person that you
:07:41. > :07:45.are, that we can then link to what you told us in the first past. The
:07:46. > :07:50.survey has been already answered by over 18,000 people from all over the
:07:51. > :07:53.world, countries like India, Barbados, even someone in Vanuatu
:07:54. > :07:58.has sent there a, which is fantastic. What will you do with
:07:59. > :08:05.this information? We will be able to look at lots of relationships across
:08:06. > :08:07.those things. Work, illness, breast. Then, ultimately, we might found
:08:08. > :08:13.eight things that we aren't expecting. -- Agro to. It might be
:08:14. > :08:17.people working fewer hours, but in a more unpredictable way who are less
:08:18. > :08:22.rested, then those working long hours. Ultimately we might be able
:08:23. > :08:27.to figure out new ways to encourage people to find new ways to rest. It
:08:28. > :08:31.is amazing how many people are taking part already. If you want to
:08:32. > :08:35.take part in the Rest Test yourself you can go online and fill in the
:08:36. > :08:39.survey. The results will be out in 2016, but you can get immediate
:08:40. > :08:42.feedback on what everyone else in the world is saying about rest and
:08:43. > :08:51.how much they are getting compared with you. Thanks, Felicity.
:08:52. > :08:54.Well, if you have a moment to yourself then a bit of pampering can
:08:55. > :08:58.do a world of good. Taking time out of a busy schedule to have a long
:08:59. > :09:03.soak in the bath or perhaps getting your hair cut can help you destress
:09:04. > :09:09.or boost self-esteem. Now one clinic in Nairobi is using pedicure is to
:09:10. > :09:18.tempt people into attending health screening lessons.
:09:19. > :09:24.I have a dinner date. A treat for women like Anne.. A pedicure, a time
:09:25. > :09:28.to be pampered and catch your breath and it is pretty high up on the list
:09:29. > :09:37.of treats for many Kenyan women. I do a pedicure once a month and the
:09:38. > :09:39.reason for me is to look beautiful and to feel relaxed. But this
:09:40. > :09:44.pampering session is also about keeping healthy. It is being paid
:09:45. > :09:51.for by the medical clinic that she visits. We have a voucher programme
:09:52. > :09:54.where we offer free pedicure is for women coming for screening. The
:09:55. > :10:02.types of screening we offer are for antenatal mothers, antenatal care
:10:03. > :10:07.screening, cancer screening and ultrasound for the antenatal
:10:08. > :10:11.mothers. Most people, especially women, consider hospital when they
:10:12. > :10:14.are sick. What we have found that we want to encourage them to come even
:10:15. > :10:19.when they are not sick, just to protect their health and that of
:10:20. > :10:22.their loved ones. Kenyan health campaigns are often quite dry and
:10:23. > :10:28.factual. So this clinic tried another approach. We have been
:10:29. > :10:34.trying since we first started to try to increase people's health in its.
:10:35. > :10:39.-- healthiness. We racked up rent and wondered what women already care
:10:40. > :10:43.about and beauty is a fact. -- racked our brains. We wanted to tap
:10:44. > :10:47.into that desire to be beautiful to drive Penda healthcare. A woman can
:10:48. > :10:52.come and get her antenatal screening, Pap smear or ultrasound.
:10:53. > :10:56.After her appointment she gets a voucher which she can redeem at one
:10:57. > :11:02.of the few handpick salons was spy and get her nails done. I come here
:11:03. > :11:07.to the antenatal clinic and I will be coming again after the baby is
:11:08. > :11:14.born, because they give us free services, free pedicure, because
:11:15. > :11:21.especially when you are pregnant you can't reach your toes. I like the
:11:22. > :11:26.pedicure because it makes you relax, for the legs of a pregnant woman. So
:11:27. > :11:30.far the incentives seems to be working, with the number of patients
:11:31. > :11:35.rising sympathy -- scheme started in July. This project has been running
:11:36. > :11:38.for five months and we have seen an increase from 12% to 20% in
:11:39. > :11:45.preventative healthcare. We started off slowly, but the project has
:11:46. > :11:48.gradually peaked and we measure the rate of success by the returning
:11:49. > :11:54.patients. Meaning that patients who come back after the first visit and
:11:55. > :11:58.bringing their family and friends. At the end of the day, they also
:11:59. > :12:06.look good, because they get a pedicure. The clinic says the
:12:07. > :12:09.pedicure cost them about $4 a session and only about half of those
:12:10. > :12:13.given the voucher is actually go on to redeem them. The cost to the
:12:14. > :12:14.clinic of helping people to look after themselves better is pretty
:12:15. > :12:25.low. Today we are looking at the state of
:12:26. > :12:29.rest. A state which means very different things to different
:12:30. > :12:34.people. If I want to do something restful, like garden or go for a run
:12:35. > :12:37.if I want to rest my mind, today I've brought my crochet with me
:12:38. > :12:41.because I find that the most restful thing of all.
:12:42. > :12:45.What are you making? A blanket. One day it will be a whole blanket.
:12:46. > :12:49.You find that restful? Definitely. There's something about
:12:50. > :12:55.using your hands and the repetitive nature of it and the fact that it is
:12:56. > :12:57.quite hard not too hard, you don't need to concentrate too much. If you
:12:58. > :13:02.look at the psychological literature, there is a state known
:13:03. > :13:04.as the low, which is when people become completely absorbed in what
:13:05. > :13:08.they're doing and they don't notice time passing, what's going on around
:13:09. > :13:12.them and people might get that from painting or gardening, whatever it
:13:13. > :13:16.is that really absorbs you. And there is evidence that this is good
:13:17. > :13:19.for people's mental health. It stops illuminating about things going on
:13:20. > :13:25.and stops you worrying. What do you find restful?
:13:26. > :13:28.It is interesting you say that because that sounds meditative. The
:13:29. > :13:34.thing that's good for me is hot you go. One of the things is called
:13:35. > :13:37.hatha flow. Use that, you use your physical body at your brain is given
:13:38. > :13:41.a chance to rest because it is automatic. I feel great. I brain
:13:42. > :13:47.switches off, my body switches off and it is ultimate rest and
:13:48. > :13:49.relaxation. But you look like you've got a lot to keep you busy over the
:13:50. > :13:55.winter night! This will keep me going for some
:13:56. > :14:01.time. I've been on it for years. Great. Hibernation is the ultimate
:14:02. > :14:08.extreme resting state. Like bears and bees, a type of Lima put its
:14:09. > :14:11.hibernation into suspended animation. Scientists have been
:14:12. > :14:13.studying them to see if a better understanding of their hibernation
:14:14. > :14:19.can help us with some serious diseases in humans. -- lemurs. As we
:14:20. > :14:20.report from North Carolina, it could also help with long-distance spaced
:14:21. > :14:35.rubble. -- travel. Serra around 100 species of Lima, in
:14:36. > :14:43.all shapes and sizes. But one of them does something rather special.
:14:44. > :14:48.. These are the only primates that go into a period of suspended
:14:49. > :14:54.animation for 34 hours or more -- lemur. Small animals usually live
:14:55. > :15:01.for a short amount of time, but hibernation possibly helps these
:15:02. > :15:05.live longer. Now, the research is here are carefully studying them to
:15:06. > :15:07.find out the mechanisms behind their hibernation, and looking to see
:15:08. > :15:12.whether this knowledge could be applied to humans in the future. In
:15:13. > :15:17.hibernation, the metabolism of an animal slows right down, and that
:15:18. > :15:22.can be the key to a longer life. What we think happens with that sort
:15:23. > :15:30.of metabolism is that the cells don't burn up energy and they don't
:15:31. > :15:34.create waste and they don't die as rapidly. At a cellular level it is
:15:35. > :15:38.extending life, it is sort of a suspended animation. That would
:15:39. > :15:45.explain why these small animals that are similar, a rat or a squirrel
:15:46. > :15:53.might live five years, dwarf tailed lemurs could live upto 30 years.
:15:54. > :15:57.Suspended animation could slow down the human body, allowing doctors to
:15:58. > :16:01.improve treatments for people with serious medical conditions, and one
:16:02. > :16:06.day it could even help us with long distance space travel. With
:16:07. > :16:11.understanding how a primate can hibernate, what causes them to go
:16:12. > :16:17.into hibernation, we still don't know. Is it temperature, food
:16:18. > :16:23.restriction, like restriction, is a genetic cause that we can turn on
:16:24. > :16:28.and off? These are all questions that we are looking at and trying to
:16:29. > :16:35.understand. Hibernation is widespread in nature, from fish to
:16:36. > :16:40.bears. Studying this in a primate could give us clues into how to
:16:41. > :16:43.apply it to humans. So, although this may sound like science fiction,
:16:44. > :16:52.it could actually be the science of our future.
:16:53. > :16:56.If, like me, you fancy a little nap after lunch, you might just be
:16:57. > :17:07.hearing the loud ticking off your own body clock. -- of. A daily dose
:17:08. > :17:12.of sleep is pretty much unique to humans. Their daily or circadian
:17:13. > :17:17.rhythm, created by the rising and setting of the sun, keeps our bodies
:17:18. > :17:20.in sync with day and night. Although, some like to get up later
:17:21. > :17:28.than others, behaving more like an owl than a lark. But we are not the
:17:29. > :17:33.only ones with body clocks, animals, Tiriac and fungi have their own
:17:34. > :17:37.versions to regulate their lives. -- bacteria. It is at its strongest in
:17:38. > :17:42.the middle of the night, and our performance dips in this time. In
:17:43. > :17:44.people, the better the rain that influences the hormone system is
:17:45. > :17:51.regulated by light, which comes into the eye. Before an electronic light,
:17:52. > :17:57.this would have only been the sun, so artificial light and the demands
:17:58. > :18:01.of a 24/7 modern life have put this modern system out of kilter, with
:18:02. > :18:05.jetlag or nightshifts. Scientists now believe some conditions can be
:18:06. > :18:09.brought on or made worse by a lack of sleep, so embracing a natural
:18:10. > :18:11.body clock could help to reduce the risk of developing heart disease,
:18:12. > :18:25.diabetes and even cancer. It is nearly five years since the
:18:26. > :18:29.Japanese earthquake and tsunami led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster,
:18:30. > :18:34.but concerns about possible health problems are still high in the minds
:18:35. > :18:38.of parents. So to reassure the public, scientists have designed a
:18:39. > :18:45.special scanner that can measure the amount of radioactive material in
:18:46. > :18:49.children's bodies. The results of two and a half thousand tests have
:18:50. > :18:55.now been released. In 2011, Fukushima became the site
:18:56. > :19:02.of Japan's worst ever nuclear disaster. Almost five years on,
:19:03. > :19:06.towns in the area are starting to recover, but people are worried that
:19:07. > :19:13.the radiation from the disaster is still in the environment.
:19:14. > :19:19.TRANSLATION: We live in Fukushima, so why worry about their future. I
:19:20. > :19:27.come here regularly to get them checked. Radiation damages that DNA
:19:28. > :19:32.in our cells, and that can lead to cancer. But radioactive material is
:19:33. > :19:37.not just found in the environment around us. It can also get lost in
:19:38. > :19:43.the body after eating contaminated food, and cause damage from the
:19:44. > :19:47.inside. It is this internal form of radiation damage that is being
:19:48. > :19:56.measured here in a machine known as a baby scan. It was developed by
:19:57. > :20:02.this professor and his colleagues, as traditional scanners won't work
:20:03. > :20:05.the young children. The machine that is for adults, you have to stand for
:20:06. > :20:11.two minutes, and a baby cannot stand. So we made this baby scan so
:20:12. > :20:24.the baby can be on the bed, and can be measured to very high precision.
:20:25. > :20:29.Between December 2013 and March 2015, almost 3000 children and
:20:30. > :20:36.babies were put into three scanners across the Fukushima region. The
:20:37. > :20:40.result of the scans have just been released. We couldn't find any baby
:20:41. > :20:46.who had detectable level of radiation in their bodies. We knew
:20:47. > :20:51.already that the risk is so low in Fukushima, so making the baby scan
:20:52. > :20:54.was scientifically unnecessary, we thought, but because of the worry of
:20:55. > :21:00.the mothers we decided anyway to make it so we can show the result
:21:01. > :21:08.and talk to mothers. Results are given immediately after children
:21:09. > :21:13.have been scanned. These children have thankfully been given the all
:21:14. > :21:21.clear. It says there is no banality so I am relieved. -- abnormality. I
:21:22. > :21:32.still want to continue the cheque. My. Many people still don't believe
:21:33. > :21:39.that they are contamination free. Perhaps by having access to the baby
:21:40. > :21:47.scan, parents can have the reassurance they need to know that
:21:48. > :21:52.their families safe. That is all we have time for this month, but if you
:21:53. > :21:57.want more on health, you will find it on BBC World News every Wednesday
:21:58. > :21:59.and Saturday, and you can catch Claudia's radio programme on the
:22:00. > :22:07.World Service. You can follow up on all of these by going to the
:22:08. > :22:11.website. Lexmark, tales of health on the move, but if you have any
:22:12. > :22:15.comments or ideas in the meantime, e-mail us. Now, it is goodbye for
:22:16. > :22:34.us. It is ridiculously mild again out
:22:35. > :22:37.there at the moment, The cold air is behind me,
:22:38. > :22:43.coming down from the Arctic We have an area of low pressure
:22:44. > :22:47.bringing rain on Saturday,