Hungry? How To Beat Cravings

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The Science of Hunger, And How To Sate It

This is Dr. David Ludwig. That’s not a typo; he’s a doctor both ways—MD and PhD.

Henceforth we’ll just say “Dr. Ludwig”, though! He’s a professor in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and director of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center.

His research focuses on the effects of diet on hormones, metabolism, and body weight, and he’s one of the foremost experts when it comes to carbohydrates, glycemic load, and obesity.

Why are we putting on weight? What are we getting wrong?

Contrary to popular belief, Dr. Ludwig says, weight gain is not caused by a lack of exercise. In fact, people tend to overestimate how many calories are burned by exercise.

A spoonful of sugar may make the medicine go down, but it also contains 60 calories, and that’d take about 1,500 steps for the average person to burn off. Let’s put this another way:

If you walk 10,000 steps per day, that will burn off 400 calories. Still think you can exercise away that ice cream sundae or plate of fries?

Wait, this is interesting and all, but what does this have to do with hunger?

Why we get hungry

Two important things:

  • All that exercise makes us hungry, because the more we exercise, the more the body speeds up our metabolism accordingly.
  • Empty calories don’t just add weight themselves, they also make us hungrier

What are empty calories, and why do they make us hungrier?

Empty calories are calories that are relatively devoid of other nutrition. This especially means simple sugars (especially refined sugar), white flour and white flour products (quick-release starches), and processed seed oils (e.g. canola, sunflower, and friends).

They zip straight into our bloodstream, and our body sends out an army of insulin to deal with the blood sugar spike. And… that backfires.

Imagine a person whose house is a terrible mess, and they have a date coming over in half an hour.

They’re going to zoom around tidying, but they’re going to stuff things out of sight as quickly and easily as possible, rather than, say, sit down and Marie Kondo the place.

But superficially, they got the job done really quickly!

Insulin does similarly when overwhelmed by a blood sugar spike like that.

So, it stores everything as fat as quickly as possible, and whew, the pancreas needs a break now after all that exertion, and the blood is nice and free from blood sugars.

Wait, the blood is what now?

The body notices the low blood sugar levels, and it also knows you just stored fat so you must be preparing for starvation, and now the low blood sugar levels indicate starvation is upon us. Quick, we must find food if we want to survive! So it sends a hunger signal to make sure you don’t let the body starve.

You make a quick snack, and the cycle repeats.

Dr. Ludwig’s solution:

First, we need to break out of that cycle, and that includes calming down our insulin response (and thus rebuilding our insulin sensitivity, as our bodies will have become desensitized, after the equivalent of an air-raid siren every 40 minutes or so).

How to do that?

First, cut out the really bad things that we mentioned above.

Next: cut healthy carbs too—we’re talking unprocessed grains here, legumes as well, and also starchy vegetables (root vegetables etc). Don’t worry, this will be just for a short while.

The trick here is that we are resensitizing our bodies to insulin.

Keep this up for even just a week, and then gradually reintroduce the healthier carbs. Unprocessed grains are better than root vegetables, as are legumes.

You’re not going to reintroduce the sugars, white flour, canola oil, etc. You don’t have to be a puritan, and if you go to a restaurant you won’t undo all your work if you have a small portion of fries. But it’s not going to be a part of your general diet.

Other tips from Dr. Ludwig:

  • Get plenty of high-quality protein—it’s good for you and suppresses your appetite
  • Shop for success—make sure you keep your kitchen stocked with healthy easy snack food
  • Nuts, cacao nibs, and healthy seeds will be your best friends and allies here
  • Make things easy—buy pre-chopped vegetables, for example, so when you’re hungry, you don’t have to wait longer (and work more) to eat something healthy
  • Do what you can to reduce stress, and also eat mindfully (that means paying attention to each mouthful, rather than wolfing something down while multitasking)

If you’d like to know more about Dr. Ludwig and his work, you can check out his website for coaching, recipes, meal plans, his blog, and other resources!

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  • Beyond Guarding Against Dementia

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    When Age’s Brain-Changes Come Knocking

    A woman guarding in a red dress.

    This is Dr. Amy Friday. She’s a psychologist, specializing in geropsychology and neuropsychological assessments.

    In other words, she helps people optimize their aging experience, particularly in the context of brain changes as we get older.

    What does she want us to know?

    First: be not afraid

    Ominous first words, but the fact is, there’s a lot to find scary about the prospect of memory loss, dementia, and death.

    However, as she points out:

    • Death will come for us all sooner or later, barring technology as yet unknown
    • Dementia can be avoided, or at least stalled, or at least worked around
    • Memory loss, as per the above, can be avoided/stalled/managed

    We’ve written a little on these topics too:

    Managing Your Mortality

    …or if the death is not yours:

    Bereavement & Managing Grief

    As for avoiding dementia, the below-linked feature is about Alzheimer’s in particular (which accounts for more than half of all cases of dementia), but the advice goes for most of the other kinds too:

    How To Reduce Your Alzheimer’s Risk

    And finally, about memory loss specifically:

    How To Boost Your Memory Immediately (Without Supplements)

    this one is especially about cementing into one’s brain the kinds of memories that people most fear losing with age. People don’t worry about forgetting their PIN codes; they worry about forgetting their cherished memories with loved ones. So, if that’s important to you, do consider checking out this one!

    What is that about managing or working around the symptoms?

    If we’re missing a limb, we (usually) get a prosthetic, and/or learn how to operate without that limb.

    If we’re missing sight or hearing, partially or fully, there are disability aids for those kinds of things too (glasses are a disability aid! Something being very common does not make it not a disability; you literally have less of an ability—in this case, the ability to see), and/or we learn how to operate with our different (or missing) sense.

    Dr. Friday makes the case for this being the same with memory loss, dementia, and other age-related symptoms (reduced focus, increased mental fatigue, etc):

    ❝We are all screwed up. Here’s my flavor … what’s yours? This is a favorite saying of mine, because we ARE all screwed up in one way or another, and when we acknowledge it we can feel closer in our screwed-up-edness.

    We are all experiencing “normal aging,” so that tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon that starts in our thirties and slowly gets worse is REAL. But what if you’re having more problems than normal aging? Is it time to throw in the towel and hide? I’m hoping that there is a group of people who say HELL NO to that idea.

    Let’s use lessons from research and clinical practice to help all of us work around our weaknesses, and capitalize on our strengths.  ❞

    ~ Dr. Amy Friday

    Examples of this might include:

    • Writing down the things most important to you (a short list of information and/or statements that you feel define you and what matters most to you), so that you can read it later
    • Making sure you have support (partner, family, friends, etc) who are on the same page about this topic—and thus will actually support you and advocate for you, instead of arguing about what is in your best interest without consulting you.
    • Labelling stuff around the house, so that you get less confused about what is what and where it is
    • Having a named go-to advocate that you can call / ask to be called, if you are in trouble somewhere and need help that you can rely on
    • Getting a specialized, simpler bank account; hiring an accountant if relevant and practicable.

    The thing is, we all want to keep control. Sometimes we can do that! Sometimes we can’t, and if we’re going to lose some aspect of control, it’ll generally go a lot better if we do it on our own terms, so that we ourselves can look out for future-us in our planning.

    Want to know more?

    You might enjoy her blog, which includes also links to her many videos on the topic, including such items as:

    For the rest, see:

    This Beautiful Brain | The Science Of Brain Health

    Enjoy!

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  • Meditation That You’ll Actually Enjoy

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    Meditation That You’ll Actually Enjoy

    We previously wrote about…

    No-Frills, Evidence-Based Mindfulness

    this is a great primer, by the way, for the science and simplicity of mindfulness, along with the simplest mindfulness meditation to get you going.

    Today, we’re going to have some fun with meditation.

    First: The Problem

    Once the usefulness and health benefits of meditation have been established, often people want to meditate, but complain they don’t have the time.

    But that’s not the real reason, though, is it?

    Let’s face it, a basic meditation can give benefits within two minutes. Or within two breaths, for that matter. So, it’s not really for a lack of time.

    The real reason is because it doesn’t feel productive, and it’s not fun. For us to feel motivated to do a thing, usually we need at least one or the other. And even if we know it really is productive, it not feeling that way will hobble us.

    So instead, let us make things a little more fun, with…

    Meditation games!

    As it turns out, there are good kinds of meditation with which one can have a little fun.

    Catch the next thought

    A common feature of many meditative practices is the experience of having fewer, or ideally no, thoughts.

    But it’s hard to enact a negative, and thoughts keep coming.

    So instead, make yourself comfortable, settle in, and lie in wait for thoughts. When one comes along, pounce on it in your mind. And then release it, and wait for the next.

    At first, your thoughts may be coming thick and fast, but soon, you’ll find the pauses between them lengthening, and you have moments of contented not-knowing of what the next thought will be before it comes along.

    This state of relaxed, ready alertness, calm and receptive, is exactly what we’re hoping to find here. But don’t worry about that while you’re busy lying in wait for the next wild thought to come along

    Counting breaths

    Many meditative practices involve focus on one’s breath. But it’s easy for attention to wander!

    This game is a simple one. Count your breaths, not trying to change your rate of breathing at all, just letting it be, and see how high you can get before you lose count.

    Breathing in and out, once, counts as one breath, by the way.

    You may find that your rate of breathing naturally slows while you’re doing this. That’s fine; let it. It’ll add to the challenge of the game, because before long there will be lengthy pauses between each number.

    If you lose count, just start again, and see if you can beat your high score.

    This meditation game is an excellent exercise to build for sustained focus, while also improving the quality of breathing (as a side-effect of merely paying attention to it).

    Hot spot, cold spot

    The above two meditation games were drawn from Japanese and Chinese meditative practices, zen and qigong respectively; this one’s from an Indian meditative practice, yoga nidra. But for now, just approach it with a sense of playful curiosity, for best results.

    Make yourself comfortable, lying on your back, arms by your sides.

    Take a moment first to pay attention to each part of your body from head to toe, and release any tension that you may be holding along the way.

    First part: mentally scan your body for where it feels warmest, or most active, or most wanting of attention (for example if there is pain, or an itch, or some other sensation); that’s your “hot spot” for the moment.

    Second part: mentally scan your body for where it feels coolest, or most inert, or almost like it’s not a part of your body at all; that’s your “cold spot” for the moment.

    Now, see if you can flip them. Whether you can or can’t, notice if your “hot spot” or “cold spot” moves, or if you can move them consciously.

    This meditation game is a great exercise to strengthen interoception and somatic awareness in general—essential for being able to “listen to your body”!

    Closing thoughts

    All three practices above have very serious reasons and great benefits, but make sure you don’t skip enjoyment of the fun aspects!

    Being “young at heart” is, in part, to do with the ability to enjoy—literally, to take joy in—the little things in life.

    With that in mind, all we have left to say here is…

    Enjoy!

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  • People with dementia aren’t currently eligible for voluntary assisted dying. Should they be?

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    Dementia is the second leading cause of death for Australians aged over 65. More than 421,000 Australians currently live with dementia and this figure is expected to almost double in the next 30 years.

    There is ongoing public discussion about whether dementia should be a qualifying illness under Australian voluntary assisted dying laws. Voluntary assisted dying is now lawful in all six states, but is not available for a person living with dementia.

    The Australian Capital Territory has begun debating its voluntary assisted dying bill in parliament but the government has ruled out access for dementia. Its view is that a person should retain decision-making capacity throughout the process. But the bill includes a requirement to revisit the issue in three years.

    The Northern Territory is also considering reform and has invited views on access to voluntary assisted dying for dementia.

    Several public figures have also entered the debate. Most recently, former Australian Chief Scientist, Ian Chubb, called for the law to be widened to allow access.

    Others argue permitting voluntary assisted dying for dementia would present unacceptable risks to this vulnerable group.

    Inside Creative House/Shutterstock

    Australian laws exclude access for dementia

    Current Australian voluntary assisted dying laws exclude access for people who seek to qualify because they have dementia.

    In New South Wales, the law specifically states this.

    In the other states, this occurs through a combination of the eligibility criteria: a person whose dementia is so advanced that they are likely to die within the 12 month timeframe would be highly unlikely to retain the necessary decision-making capacity to request voluntary assisted dying.

    This does not mean people who have dementia cannot access voluntary assisted dying if they also have a terminal illness. For example, a person who retains decision-making capacity in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease with terminal cancer may access voluntary assisted dying.

    What happens internationally?

    Voluntary assisted dying laws in some other countries allow access for people living with dementia.

    One mechanism, used in the Netherlands, is through advance directives or advance requests. This means a person can specify in advance the conditions under which they would want to have voluntary assisted dying when they no longer have decision-making capacity. This approach depends on the person’s family identifying when those conditions have been satisfied, generally in consultation with the person’s doctor.

    Another approach to accessing voluntary assisted dying is to allow a person with dementia to choose to access it while they still have capacity. This involves regularly assessing capacity so that just before the person is predicted to lose the ability to make a decision about voluntary assisted dying, they can seek assistance to die. In Canada, this has been referred to as the “ten minutes to midnight” approach.

    But these approaches have challenges

    International experience reveals these approaches have limitations. For advance directives, it can be difficult to specify the conditions for activating the advance directive accurately. It also requires a family member to initiate this with the doctor. Evidence also shows doctors are reluctant to act on advance directives.

    Particularly challenging are scenarios where a person with dementia who requested voluntary assisted dying in an advance directive later appears happy and content, or no longer expresses a desire to access voluntary assisted dying.

    Older man looks confused
    What if the person changes their mind? Jokiewalker/Shutterstock

    Allowing access for people with dementia who retain decision-making capacity also has practical problems. Despite regular assessments, a person may lose capacity in between them, meaning they miss the window before midnight to choose voluntary assisted dying. These capacity assessments can also be very complex.

    Also, under this approach, a person is required to make such a decision at an early stage in their illness and may lose years of otherwise enjoyable life.

    Some also argue that regardless of the approach taken, allowing access to voluntary assisted dying would involve unacceptable risks to a vulnerable group.

    More thought is needed before changing our laws

    There is public demand to allow access to voluntary assisted dying for dementia in Australia. The mandatory reviews of voluntary assisted dying legislation present an opportunity to consider such reform. These reviews generally happen after three to five years, and in some states they will occur regularly.

    The scope of these reviews can vary and sometimes governments may not wish to consider changes to the legislation. But the Queensland review “must include a review of the eligibility criteria”. And the ACT bill requires the review to consider “advanced care planning”.

    Both reviews would require consideration of who is able to access voluntary assisted dying, which opens the door for people living with dementia. This is particularly so for the ACT review, as advance care planning means allowing people to request voluntary assisted dying in the future when they have lost capacity.

    Holding hands
    The legislation undergoes a mandatory review. Jenny Sturm/Shutterstock

    This is a complex issue, and more thinking is needed about whether this public desire for voluntary assisted dying for dementia should be implemented. And, if so, how the practice could occur safely, and in a way that is acceptable to the health professionals who will be asked to provide it.

    This will require a careful review of existing international models and their practical implementation as well as what would be feasible and appropriate in Australia.

    Any future law reform should be evidence-based and draw on the views of people living with dementia, their family caregivers, and the health professionals who would be relied on to support these decisions.

    Ben White, Professor of End-of-Life Law and Regulation, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology; Casey Haining, Research Fellow, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology; Lindy Willmott, Professor of Law, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland University of Technology, and Rachel Feeney, Postdoctoral research fellow, Queensland University of Technology

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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  • Eat All You Want (But Wisely)
  • Dr. Patrick Walsh’s Guide to Surviving Prostate Cancer – by Dr. Patrick Walsh & Janet Farrar Worthington

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Prostate cancer is not glamorous or fun, and neither is this book.

    Nevertheless, it’s a disease that affects 12% of men in general, and 60% of men aged 60+, with that percentage climbing every year after that.

    So, if you have a prostate or love someone who has one, this book is worthwhile reading—yes, even as a preventative.

    Like many cancers, prostate cancer is easy to treat if caught very early, becomes harder to treat as it goes, and almost impossible to cure if it gets as far as metastasis (i.e., it spread). Like all cancers, it’s better off avoided entirely if possible.

    This book covers all the stages:

    • How to avoid it
    • How to check for it
    • How to “nip it in the bud”
    • Why some might want to delay treatment (!)
    • What options are available afterwards

    This latter is quite extensive, and covers not just surgery, but radiation, thermo- or cryoablation, and hormone therapy.

    And as for surgery, not just “remove the tumor”, but other options like radical prostatectomy, and even orchiectomy. Not many men will choose to have their testicles removed to stop them from feeding the prostate, but the point is that this book is comprehensive.

    It’s asking whenever possible “is there another option?” and exploring all options, with information and without judgment, at each stage.

    The writing style (likely co-author Worthington’s influence; she is an award-winning science-writer) is very “for the layman”, and that’s really helpful in demystifying a lot of what can be quite opaque in the field of oncology.

    Bottom line: absolutely not an enjoyable read, but a potentially lifesaving one, especially given the odds we mentioned up top.

    Click here to check out Dr. Patrick Walsh’s Guide To Surviving Prostate Cancer, and be prepared!

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  • How to Fall Back Asleep After Waking Up in the Middle of the Night

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Dr. Michael Bruce, the Sleep Doctor, addresses a common concern: waking up in the middle of the night and struggling to fall back asleep.

    Understanding the Wake-Up

    Firstly, why are we waking up during the night?

    Waking up between 2 AM and 3 AM is said to be normal, and linked to your core body temperature. As your body core temperature drops, to trigger melatonin release, and then rises again, you get into a lighter stage of sleep. This lighter stage of sleep makes you more prone to waking up.

    Note, there are also some medical conditions (such as sleep apnea) that can cause you to wake up during the night.

    But, what can we do about it? Aside from constantly shifting sleeping position (Should I be sleeping on my back? On my left? Right?)

    Avoid the Clock

    The first step is to resist the urge to check the time. It’s easy to be tempted to have a look at the clock, however, doing so can increase anxiety, making it harder to fall back asleep. As Dr. Bruce says, sleep is like love—the less you chase it, the more it comes.

    It may be useful to point your alarm clock (if you still have one of those) the opposite direction to your bed.

    Embracing Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR)

    Whilst this may not help you fall back asleep, it’s worth pointing out that just lying quietly in the dark without moving still offers rejuvenation. This revujenating stage is called Non-Sleep Deep Rest (otherwise known as NSDR)

    If you’re not familiar with NSDR, check out our overview of Andrew Huberman’s opinions on NSDR here.

    So, you can reassure yourself that whilst you may not be asleep, you are still resting.

    Keep Your Heart Rate Down

    To fall back asleep, it’s best if your heart rate is below 60 bpm. So, Dr. Bruce advises avoiding void getting up unnecessarily, as moving around can elevate your heart rate.

    On a similar vain, he introduces the 4-7-8 breathing technique, which is designed to lower your heart rate. The technique is simple:

    • Breathe in for 4 seconds.
    • Hold for 7 seconds.
    • Exhale for 8 seconds.

    Repeat this cycle gently to calm your body and mind.

    As per any of our Video Breakdowns, we only try to capture the most important pieces of information in text; the rest can be garnered from the video itself:

    Wishing you a thorough night’s rest!

    Do you know any other good videos on sleep? Send them to us via email!

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  • Bushfire smoke affects children differently. Here’s how to protect them

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Bushfires are currently burning in Australian states including Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia. In some areas, fire authorities have warned residents about the presence of smoke.

    Bushfire smoke is harmful to our health. Tiny particles of ash can lodge deep in the lungs.

    Exposure to this type of smoke may worsen existing conditions such as asthma, and induce a range of health effects from irritation of the eyes, nose and throat to changes in the cardiovascular system.

    Public health recommendations during smoke events tend to provide general advice, and don’t often include advice specifically geared at children. But children are not just little adults. They are uniquely vulnerable to environmental hazards such as bushfire smoke for a number of reasons.

    Different physiology, different behaviour

    Children’s lungs are still developing and maturing.

    Airways are smaller in children, especially young children, which is associated with greater rates of particle deposition – when particles settle on the surfaces of the airways.

    Children also breathe more air per kilogram of body weight compared with adults, and therefore inhale more polluted air relative to their size.

    Further, children’s detoxification systems are still developing, so environmental toxins take longer to effectively clear from their bodies.

    Meanwhile, children’s behaviour and habits may expose them to more environmental toxins than adults. For example, they tend to do more physical activity and spend more time outdoors. Higher levels of physical activity lead to more air inhaled per kilogram of body weight.

    Also, a normal and important part of children’s early play is exploring their environment, including by putting things in their mouth. This can result in kids ingesting soil, dust and dirt, which often contain environmental contaminants.

    For these reasons, it’s important to consider the specific needs of children when providing advice on what to do when there’s smoke in the air.

    Keeping our environments healthy

    The Australian government offers recommendations for minimising the health risks from exposure to bushfire smoke. The main advice includes staying indoors and keeping doors and windows closed.

    This is great advice when the smoke is thick outside, but air pollutants may still accumulate inside the home. So it’s important to air your home once the smoke outside starts to clear. Take advantage of wind changes to open up and get air moving out of the house with a cross breeze.

    Kids are natural scientists, so get them involved. For example, you and your child can “rate” the air each hour by looking at a landmark outside your home and rating how clearly you can see it. When you notice the haze is reducing, open up the house and clear the air.

    Because air pollutants settle onto surfaces in our home and into household dust, an easy way to protect kids during smoky periods is to do a daily dust with a wet cloth and vacuum regularly. This will remove pollutants and reduce ingestion by children as they play. Frequent hand washing helps too.

    Healthy bodies and minds

    Research exploring the effects of bushfire smoke exposure on children’s health is sparse. However, during smoke events, we do see an increase in hospital visits for asthma, as well as children reporting irritation to their eyes, nose and throat.

    If your child has asthma or another medical condition, ensure they take any prescribed medications on a regular schedule to keep their condition well controlled. This will minimise the risk of a sudden worsening of their symptoms with bushfire smoke exposure.

    Make sure any action plans for symptom flare-ups are up to date, and ensure you have an adequate supply of in-date medication somewhere easy to locate and access.

    A mother talks to her child who is sitting on a bed.
    Children may be anxious during a bushfire.
    Media_Photos/Shutterstock

    Kids can get worried during bushfires, and fire emergencies have been linked with a reduction in children’s mental health. Stories such as the Birdie’s Tree books can help children understand these events do pass and people help one another in times of difficulty.

    Learning more about air pollution can help too. Our group has a children’s story explaining how air pollution affects our bodies and what can help.

    It’s also important for parents and caregivers not to get too stressed, as children cope better when their parents manage their own anxiety and help their children do the same. Try to strike a balance between being vigilant and staying calm.

    What about masks?

    N95 masks can protect the wearer from fine particles in bushfire smoke, but their use is a bit complicated when it comes to kids. Most young children won’t be able to fit properly into an N95 mask, or won’t tolerate the tight fit for long periods. Also, their smaller airways make it harder for young children to breathe through a mask.

    If you choose to use an N95 mask for your children, it’s best to save them for instances when high-level outdoor exposure is unavoidable, such as if you’re going outside when the smoke is very thick.

    N95 masks should be replaced after around four hours or when they become damp.

    If your child has an existing heart or lung condition, consult their doctor before having them wear an N95 mask.

    Our team is currently recruiting for a study exploring the effects of bushfire smoke in children. If you live in south east Queensland and are interested in participating in the event of a bushfire or hazard reduction burn near your home, please express your interest here.The Conversation

    Dwan Vilcins, Group leader, Environmental Epidemiology, Children’s Health Environment Program, The University of Queensland; Nicholas Osborne, Associate Professor, School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, and Paul D. Robinson, Conjoint Professor in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Child Health Research Centre, The University of Queensland

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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