15, October 2014

Want your child to perform better? Starting school late could be the answer

Instead of forcing your teenager to wake up early for school, finding a way to start school late could be a better way to help him/her perform better, researchers believe. Waking up late could only be natural for teenagers as their circadian rhythms – the cycle of sleep and wakefulness – typically begin two hours after those of adults, suggesting that scheduling school time according to adolescence biology could help kids do better.

To test these findings, a multi-million pound research project, funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) in Britain will investigate a variety of ways in which neuroscience might improve teaching and learning. Thousands of 14-16 year-olds are to be given the chance of a lie-in and a later start to the school day to assess the impact on their educational achievement as part of a mass research project. Professor Russell Foster, director of Oxford University’ Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute, and Colin Espie, professor of sleep medicine at the Oxford University, will lead a trial of later school start times, along with a sleep education programme, to assess their impact on teenagers’ educational achievement.

What we are doing in the study is exploring the possibility that if we actually delay the school start time until 10 a.m., instead of 9 a.m. or earlier, that additional hour taken on a daily dose over the course of a year will actually improve learning, performance, attainment and, in the end, school leaving qualifications,’ Espie was quoted as saying. The project will involve 106 schools and almost 32,000 teenagers, The Guardian reported.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

15.10.2014

Public healthcare in India is used by less than 30 percent of the population

The public healthcare system in the country is being used only by less than 30 percent of the population because of lack of diagnostic systems and inadequate supply of drugs, Kerala health and family welfare secretary K. Ellangovan said Tuesday. Ellangovan was inaugurating a training programme for selected healthcare professionals of the health ministry organised by HLL Lifecare Limited here.

He said the training programme is a timely one because public procurement in healthcare is facing many challenges, including the right assessment of the needs and making priorities. Ellangovan also said there has been an eight percent increase in the number out-patients in public hospitals after the government made generic drugs available. ‘This shows the importance of effective procurement in the healthcare sector,’ he said. (Read: Health Minister says UHAM to be world’s largest public health insurance programme)

R. Poornalingam, a former secretary to Government of India, said the procurement of drugs and equipment delivery plays a vital role in deciding the success of healthcare delivery in India, where the allocation are very poor, particularly in states such as Bihar

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

15.10.2014

There are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group; there is less competition