Smoking falls to historic low but challenges remain

The percentage of Australians who smoke has fallen once again, but while the country’s comprehensive tobacco control measures are delivering results, the widespread availability of illegal imports and vapes continues to pose a health hazard.

Tired but wired

Feeling “wired but tired” is not evidence that your body has failed to rest properly but that your brain has become too good at staying alert in a digital world that never really stops.

The five follies of fitness tracking

Fitness trackers promise to help users become fitter, happier and healthier versions of themselves but turning every human experience into data for tech companies to mine isn’t always a good idea for the user.

A stitch in time

Promising health tools that can predict a person’s risk of serious health problems before they happen are rarely being utilised in everyday healthcare, according to new Curtin University research.

Can people catch bird flu?

Bird flu can spread to humans in close contact with infected birds and can cause severe illness but the risk in Australia remains low. H5N1 is still a bird virus, and doesn’t spread easily to humans or between people.

What gets you down?

Depression arises from a mix of biological, psychological and social factors and while science has made some progress in understanding and treating it, the factors driving each person’s experience remain unique.

Mixing up the medicine

New research suggests Australians are skipping doses, taking expired medication and going without groceries to afford medicines prescribed by their doctors because they aren’t covered by Labor’s landmark Cheaper Medicines policy.

Connecting the dots on youth mental illness

If our youth support programs are working, why do mental health disorders among young people continue to rise?

The return of infectious disease

Plummeting vaccination rates and poor regional living conditions are precipitating a return of dangerous infectious diseases to Australia which were virtually extinct for decades.

Behind the smokescreen

Smoking still kills 24,000 Australians every year, but vigorous lobbying and large political donations from the companies which profit from it mean that more stringent public health measures to stamp it out are few and far between.

They can’t hold your genes against you

A new law will stop life insurers from using “protected genetic information” to discriminate against people when underwriting policies or rejecting claims.

Nervous breakthrough

Re-framing “nervous system overload” as chronic stress can help to identify some more affordable, evidence-based ways to cope such as rest, meditation and exercise.