19/12/2015 Health Check

Now on BBC News, it's time for Health Check.

Welcome to Health Check, your monthly dose of local health

stories. This month, we are taking a moment to look at the value of rest

to our health. Coming up... How hibernating lemurs could hold the

key to a longer and healthier life. Pampering for women in Kenya, which

also helps to keep them healthy. Add reassurance for parents in

Japan, or read about radiation after Fukushima.

Rest used to be prescribed for patients with tuberculosis long

before antibiotics came along, and now some strains of the disease are

becoming resistant to the drugs and can thrive in crowded places, like

prisons. South Africa has one of the highest rate of infection in the

world. But we went to a prison in Cape Town to see a new screening

programme that is trying to spot TV early.

-- TB. The scenic site of Cape Town. At hidden within this rugged

landscape is this prison, a maximum security penitentiary and a hotbed

of infections. Particularly tuberculosis, or TB. This airborne

infectious disease is a leading cause of death in South Africa.

Crowded conditions inside prisons like these provide the perfect

environment for the disease to spread. This man has been an inmate

at the prison for one year. He was diagnosed with TB two months into

his sentence. 50 people are inside the cell. The Indo -- windows are

open. It is called in the night. The bed was full of people. When I

checked, I did get TB in prison. Inmate numbers are currently at four

times the prison's capacity. These cramped conditions, combined with

high rates of HIV among inmates, mean TB infections are two to five

times higher in prisons than the general population. The prisons are

overcrowded in our country. It is just really difficult for us to

control TB. Because we have to wait for the person to start coughing and

feeling ill, start getting ill. You don't know how many others are

already infected. Until recently little was in place in prisons like

this to stop the spread of TB. But practical measures like improved

infection control and X-ray screening and rapid testing of the

prison itself has reduced the spread. Those who are incarcerated

must be screened twice during their period of incarceration and when

they exit the prison they must be screened also. This is one of seven

prisons in South Africa with facilities on site to screen inmates

as required. Including the diagnosis of multidrug resistant TB. By August

2015 more than 500,000 prisoners had been screened nationwide and 6% of

them were diagnosed with TB. Prison health services are now seeing a

difference amongst inmates. They are more informed, they are happier,

they are more healthy. We get less complaints of other minor illnesses

because of the screening as well. They are just much better and

healthier. Once diagnosed, treatment is started immediately. Because once

inmates are on treatment they are no longer infectious to those around

them. Families of prisoners are also being offered screening and

treatment services. To prevent the spread of TB outside in the

community. And, back inside Pollsmoor, inmates are getting cured

and the spread of new infections is being curbed to staff, the prisoners

and their families. That -- now, breast is a topic I've

been giving a lot of thought to over the last year and I should declare

an interest. I am part of a group of scientists and artists based in

London and we are exploring the topic of breast. Doctor Felicity

from Durham university is leading the project. Do we know what rest

is? That the starting point of our enquiries because there's no

universally accepted understanding of what rest is for the body and

mind. Does it mean different things to different people? It mean

different things, it means different things in different languages and

across time periods, what it has meant is different. And also what

people do to rest is variable. Some people tell us that seemingly very

active things, like mining, or cycling, are for them very restful

whereas other people have a much more in mobile relationship to being

at rest. Do you get a sense these days that resting at all is

sometimes seen as being a bit lazy and doing nothing is not allowed?

There's something interesting going on at the moment, because in some

ways I think people are being encouraged to let their mind wander,

because there is a sense of creativity of allowing rest for

activities and thoughts to emerge. But on the other hand I think there

is still an incredible sense that to feel at rest risks being seen as not

working hard enough, not being busy enough, not being productive enough.

So I think it's a curious moment that we are living in. We tend to

think resting the body as being something that is good for us, but

how much do we know about the mind being at rest? About a decade ago

new techniques in your imaging began to show that actually the mind at

rest is an enormously active and busy mind, showing lots of

co-ordinated patterns of activity. So we think we are thinking about

nothing, but there's a lot going on? Huge amount going on and lots of

energy used by the brain at rest. We have our minds drift onto other

things at different times, mind wandering is nothing new, is it? It

isn't. Our mediaeval historian has been telling us a lot about monks,

who are of course meant to be focusing on God, are actually very

at risk of having their minds being led astray into areas and topics

very inappropriate for a devotional practices. And so there are many

models and techniques in mediaeval texts that help us understand mind

wandering. We have been developing a huge online survey called the Rest

Test. How is it going? Very well. There are two part of the survey.

The first is shorter and allows people to define what rest means to

them and tell us about how they do rest. And give us a little bit of

information about themselves, their health histories. The second part is

more extensive and it demands filling out various psychological

scales, so that we get a greater sense of the kind of person that you

are, that we can then link to what you told us in the first past. The

survey has been already answered by over 18,000 people from all over the

world, countries like India, Barbados, even someone in Vanuatu

has sent there a, which is fantastic. What will you do with

this information? We will be able to look at lots of relationships across

those things. Work, illness, breast. Then, ultimately, we might found

eight things that we aren't expecting. -- Agro to. It might be

people working fewer hours, but in a more unpredictable way who are less

rested, then those working long hours. Ultimately we might be able

to figure out new ways to encourage people to find new ways to rest. It

is amazing how many people are taking part already. If you want to

take part in the Rest Test yourself you can go online and fill in the

survey. The results will be out in 2016, but you can get immediate

feedback on what everyone else in the world is saying about rest and

how much they are getting compared with you. Thanks, Felicity.

Well, if you have a moment to yourself then a bit of pampering can

do a world of good. Taking time out of a busy schedule to have a long

soak in the bath or perhaps getting your hair cut can help you destress

or boost self-esteem. Now one clinic in Nairobi is using pedicure is to

tempt people into attending health screening lessons.

I have a dinner date. A treat for women like Anne.. A pedicure, a time

to be pampered and catch your breath and it is pretty high up on the list

of treats for many Kenyan women. I do a pedicure once a month and the

reason for me is to look beautiful and to feel relaxed. But this

pampering session is also about keeping healthy. It is being paid

for by the medical clinic that she visits. We have a voucher programme

where we offer free pedicure is for women coming for screening. The

types of screening we offer are for antenatal mothers, antenatal care

screening, cancer screening and ultrasound for the antenatal

mothers. Most people, especially women, consider hospital when they

are sick. What we have found that we want to encourage them to come even

when they are not sick, just to protect their health and that of

their loved ones. Kenyan health campaigns are often quite dry and

factual. So this clinic tried another approach. We have been

trying since we first started to try to increase people's health in its.

-- healthiness. We racked up rent and wondered what women already care

about and beauty is a fact. -- racked our brains. We wanted to tap

into that desire to be beautiful to drive Penda healthcare. A woman can

come and get her antenatal screening, Pap smear or ultrasound.

After her appointment she gets a voucher which she can redeem at one

of the few handpick salons was spy and get her nails done. I come here

to the antenatal clinic and I will be coming again after the baby is

born, because they give us free services, free pedicure, because

especially when you are pregnant you can't reach your toes. I like the

pedicure because it makes you relax, for the legs of a pregnant woman. So

far the incentives seems to be working, with the number of patients

rising sympathy -- scheme started in July. This project has been running

for five months and we have seen an increase from 12% to 20% in

preventative healthcare. We started off slowly, but the project has

gradually peaked and we measure the rate of success by the returning

patients. Meaning that patients who come back after the first visit and

bringing their family and friends. At the end of the day, they also

look good, because they get a pedicure. The clinic says the

pedicure cost them about $4 a session and only about half of those

given the voucher is actually go on to redeem them. The cost to the

clinic of helping people to look after themselves better is pretty

low. Today we are looking at the state of

rest. A state which means very different things to different

people. If I want to do something restful, like garden or go for a run

if I want to rest my mind, today I've brought my crochet with me

because I find that the most restful thing of all.

What are you making? A blanket. One day it will be a whole blanket.

You find that restful? Definitely. There's something about

using your hands and the repetitive nature of it and the fact that it is

quite hard not too hard, you don't need to concentrate too much. If you

look at the psychological literature, there is a state known

as the low, which is when people become completely absorbed in what

they're doing and they don't notice time passing, what's going on around

them and people might get that from painting or gardening, whatever it

is that really absorbs you. And there is evidence that this is good

for people's mental health. It stops illuminating about things going on

and stops you worrying. What do you find restful?

It is interesting you say that because that sounds meditative. The

thing that's good for me is hot you go. One of the things is called

hatha flow. Use that, you use your physical body at your brain is given

a chance to rest because it is automatic. I feel great. I brain

switches off, my body switches off and it is ultimate rest and

relaxation. But you look like you've got a lot to keep you busy over the

winter night! This will keep me going for some

time. I've been on it for years. Great. Hibernation is the ultimate

extreme resting state. Like bears and bees, a type of Lima put its

hibernation into suspended animation. Scientists have been

studying them to see if a better understanding of their hibernation

can help us with some serious diseases in humans. -- lemurs. As we

report from North Carolina, it could also help with long-distance spaced

rubble. -- travel. Serra around 100 species of Lima, in

all shapes and sizes. But one of them does something rather special.

. These are the only primates that go into a period of suspended

animation for 34 hours or more -- lemur. Small animals usually live

for a short amount of time, but hibernation possibly helps these

live longer. Now, the research is here are carefully studying them to

find out the mechanisms behind their hibernation, and looking to see

whether this knowledge could be applied to humans in the future. In

hibernation, the metabolism of an animal slows right down, and that

can be the key to a longer life. What we think happens with that sort

of metabolism is that the cells don't burn up energy and they don't

create waste and they don't die as rapidly. At a cellular level it is

extending life, it is sort of a suspended animation. That would

explain why these small animals that are similar, a rat or a squirrel

might live five years, dwarf tailed lemurs could live upto 30 years.

Suspended animation could slow down the human body, allowing doctors to

improve treatments for people with serious medical conditions, and one

day it could even help us with long distance space travel. With

understanding how a primate can hibernate, what causes them to go

into hibernation, we still don't know. Is it temperature, food

restriction, like restriction, is a genetic cause that we can turn on

and off? These are all questions that we are looking at and trying to

understand. Hibernation is widespread in nature, from fish to

bears. Studying this in a primate could give us clues into how to

apply it to humans. So, although this may sound like science fiction,

it could actually be the science of our future.

If, like me, you fancy a little nap after lunch, you might just be

hearing the loud ticking off your own body clock. -- of. A daily dose

of sleep is pretty much unique to humans. Their daily or circadian

rhythm, created by the rising and setting of the sun, keeps our bodies

in sync with day and night. Although, some like to get up later

than others, behaving more like an owl than a lark. But we are not the

only ones with body clocks, animals, Tiriac and fungi have their own

versions to regulate their lives. -- bacteria. It is at its strongest in

the middle of the night, and our performance dips in this time. In

people, the better the rain that influences the hormone system is

regulated by light, which comes into the eye. Before an electronic light,

this would have only been the sun, so artificial light and the demands

of a 24/7 modern life have put this modern system out of kilter, with

jetlag or nightshifts. Scientists now believe some conditions can be

brought on or made worse by a lack of sleep, so embracing a natural

body clock could help to reduce the risk of developing heart disease,

diabetes and even cancer. It is nearly five years since the

Japanese earthquake and tsunami led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster,

but concerns about possible health problems are still high in the minds

of parents. So to reassure the public, scientists have designed a

special scanner that can measure the amount of radioactive material in

children's bodies. The results of two and a half thousand tests have

now been released. In 2011, Fukushima became the site

of Japan's worst ever nuclear disaster. Almost five years on,

towns in the area are starting to recover, but people are worried that

the radiation from the disaster is still in the environment.

TRANSLATION: We live in Fukushima, so why worry about their future. I

come here regularly to get them checked. Radiation damages that DNA

in our cells, and that can lead to cancer. But radioactive material is

not just found in the environment around us. It can also get lost in

the body after eating contaminated food, and cause damage from the

inside. It is this internal form of radiation damage that is being

measured here in a machine known as a baby scan. It was developed by

this professor and his colleagues, as traditional scanners won't work

the young children. The machine that is for adults, you have to stand for

two minutes, and a baby cannot stand. So we made this baby scan so

the baby can be on the bed, and can be measured to very high precision.

Between December 2013 and March 2015, almost 3000 children and

babies were put into three scanners across the Fukushima region. The

result of the scans have just been released. We couldn't find any baby

who had detectable level of radiation in their bodies. We knew

already that the risk is so low in Fukushima, so making the baby scan

was scientifically unnecessary, we thought, but because of the worry of

the mothers we decided anyway to make it so we can show the result

and talk to mothers. Results are given immediately after children

have been scanned. These children have thankfully been given the all

clear. It says there is no banality so I am relieved. -- abnormality. I

still want to continue the cheque. My. Many people still don't believe

that they are contamination free. Perhaps by having access to the baby

scan, parents can have the reassurance they need to know that

their families safe. That is all we have time for this month, but if you

want more on health, you will find it on BBC World News every Wednesday

and Saturday, and you can catch Claudia's radio programme on the

World Service. You can follow up on all of these by going to the

website. Lexmark, tales of health on the move, but if you have any

comments or ideas in the meantime, e-mail us. Now, it is goodbye for

us. It is ridiculously mild again out

there at the moment, The cold air is behind me,

coming down from the Arctic We have an area of low pressure

bringing rain on Saturday,