Wellness….what does it mean to you?

I’ve wrestled with trying to understand what health is – in fact, I often challenge doctors I teach to come up with a definition of health which makes no reference to disease or illness. Sure, WHO’s definition does say that health is more than the “mere absence” of disease, but that still doesn’t quite capture [...]

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Shades of grey

Like most people, I enjoy a lovely blue sky, but the other day there I looked out of my window and flickering shimmer of silver caught my eye. When I looked more closely it was a flock of birds whose wings were catching the bright sun. The white of their feathers was such a dramatic [...]

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Stories and genes…..how we are made

Although I get a genuine thrill out of scientific discoveries about how the body works, it’s never quite enough for me. I’m always aware of something else. It’s partly that knowledge that a complex whole human being is so much more than the sum of his or her parts. But it’s also the knowledge that [...]

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Statistics, statistics….

I really enjoyed an Editorial in the Guardian about the unreliability of statistics – here’s the phrase which really made me laugh -
Research in 2005 suggested that only 36% of people think official statistics are accurate
I don’t know, what do you think……..do you believe it?

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Another kind of growth?

The main news programme on the BBC tonight had the word RECESSION plastered behind the newsreaders for virtually the entire duration of the programme. Got me thinking about what on earth’s going on in our “global economy”. It seems the economic system we are all living with is designed around the concept of growth. Technically, [...]

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Metaphors for education

I just stumbled across this quote and I liked it so much I thought I’d share it -
We are to regard the mind not as a piece of iron to be laid upon the anvil and hammered into any shape, nor as a block of marble in which we are to find the statute by [...]

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First snow

When I came home this evening (October 21st) I noticed snow on top of Ben Ledi – first snow of the season!

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Chair of NICE criticises “evidence”

Sir Michael Rawlins, Chair of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, has recently criticised our use of RCTs (Randomised Clinical Trials). This particular type of research study is promoted by many decision makers as a “gold standard” but Sir Michael listed a number of objections to this practice. He gave examples of situations [...]

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Rain

The other day I looked out of my consulting room window and saw the rain pouring down in the garden

I took a wander outside and photographed the effects of the rain on different surfaces. Here it is on wood -

Here it is on stone -

And here it is on leaves -

beautiful, huh?

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Happiness, wellbeing, love……

The “self-help” industry has been around for many years, but it seems to be growing ever larger. There are countless books, websites and courses on this subject. However, it’s hard to find anything which takes a fresh angle on the subject. One change is that increasingly the explicit language used is about “happiness” or “wellbeing”. [...]

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