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Many men diagnosed with prostate cancer experience poor mental health, we need to support them better

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Every 12 months greater than 24,000 men from Australia have been diagnosed with prostate cancer, making it essentially the most commonly diagnosed cancer amongst men in Australia.

Despite the high survival rate – about 96% men diagnosed with prostate cancer will survive at the least five years – prostate cancer can have a major impact on a person’s psychological well-being. This can apply to all stages of the disease, including diagnosis, treatment and follow-up.

Anxiety indicators, depression and suicide are higher amongst men with prostate cancer than in the final population.

In our last examinationWe wanted to understand the dimensions and timing of mental health problems in men with prostate cancer. Our findings suggest we need to offer them more support, earlier.

What we found

We analysed data on 13,693 men diagnosed with prostate cancer in South Australia between 2012 and 2020. We analysed data from the Prostate Cancer Registry, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and the Medicare Benefits Schedule.

Using these data, we tracked prescription medication (comparable to antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications) and use of mental health services (comparable to visits to a GP and psychiatrist) five years before and five years after a prostate cancer diagnosis.

We found that the proportion of men using antidepressants or anti-anxiety medications increased from 34.5% five years before diagnosis to 40.3% five years later. Some 10.2% used mental health services five years before, compared with 12.1% five years later. Visits to a GP for mental health services were essentially the most common, increasing from 7.8% to 10.6%.

The most important increase in using medications and health services for mental illness occurred across the time of prostate cancer diagnosis. Around 15% of men began taking antidepressants or anti-anxiety medications on the time of diagnosis, while 6.4% sought help from mental health services for the primary time.

We checked out medications and use of mental health services.
PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock

Interestingly, the true impact of a prostate cancer diagnosis on men’s mental health is probably going to be underestimated in our study. We only checked out Medicare-subsidized mental health services, but some men may use mental health services privately or through community services. And after all, some men with mental health problems may not seek help in any respect.

Men could also be less likely to seek help

Our research suggests that men tend to take medication somewhat than seek help from mental health services. This may reflect a preference for medication, however it can also be due to limited availability of services or stigma associated with receiving help.

Studies show that many cancer patients reluctant to seek help due to mental health problems.

Evidence on general help-seeking behaviour suggests that men could also be much more less likely seek support than women. Whether it’s the stigma associated with mental health or the fear of being perceived as weak, only one quarter of men say they’d seek help from a mental health skilled in the event that they were experiencing personal or emotional problems.

A healthcare worker talks to a wheelchair-bound patient in a hospital.
More than 24,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in Australia every year.
Author: Halfpoint/Shutterstock

Early intervention is vital

Given the trends in medication and mental health service use we observed in our study, men appear to be most susceptible to psychological problems across the time of prostate cancer diagnosis. This vulnerability could also be due to the stress of the cancer diagnosis, treatment decisions, and concerns concerning the future.

Therefore, it might be worthwhile to include mental health screening in routine prostate cancer diagnostic processes. Early diagnosis mental health problems It is significant to prepare the bottom for timely interventions and support that may significantly improve mental well-being.

Rather than waiting for men to actively seek mental health support after being diagnosed with prostate cancer, we must be offering those detected through prostate cancer screening support at diagnosis and throughout treatment.

What do we need to do?

Psychological problems are some of the ceaselessly reported unmet needs of men with prostate cancer.

Improving access to mental health care may include increasing annual sessions Medicare-subsidized mental health services and providing broader access to family doctor-provided mental health care plans for men with prostate cancer.

Initiatives comparable to consulting services offered by Prostate Cancer Foundation Australia and Cancer Counciland the appointment of nurses specializing in prostate cancer treatment may very well be expanded.

It would even be value expanding telemedicine services. They are a crucial option in cases where cost or distance may make accessing mental health services difficult for some prostate cancer patients.

Ultimately, we need to normalize discussions about mental health to ensure men with prostate cancer have every opportunity to express their struggles and get the support they need.

This is very essential given the big selection of effects that mental health problems have on an individual’s quality of life, health resultsand the general burden on the healthcare system.

This article was originally published on : theconversation.com
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Health and Wellness

Runner dedicates New York City Marathon to preventing gun violence

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Like the 50,000 other individuals who lined the starting line of the New York City Marathon on November 3, Trevon Bosley of Chicago was prepared to push his body to the limit over the 26.2-mile distance. Unlike them though Bosley dedicated his run to deceased relations and preventing the gun violence that took their lives.

Bosley’s cousin, Vincent Avant, was shot to death on a street near his family’s home in 2005, according to NBC News.

Then in 2021, Bosley’s brother, 18-year-old Terrell, was fatally shot outside the Lights of Zion Church in Chicago’s West Pullman neighborhood.

“It really shook up everything in the family,” Bosley told NBC News. The family stopped celebrating holidays and even listening to music. “We only started to find relief through preventive measures.”

Bosley was a mentor for the Chicago organization Bold Resistance Against Violence Everywhere (BRAVE), which organizes talent shows, basketball tournaments and other programs. This work led him to meet with victims of the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting, where he shared stories about his group members’ experiences with gun violence in Chicago.

The Parkland school shooting ultimately led to the creation of March For Our Lives, a gun violence advocacy group founded by youth survivors of the shooting, of which Bosley is now co-chair.

Bosley told NBC News that to help him cope with the aftermath of his brother’s death, he took up running.

“I needed something to calm me down and take my mind off it,” he said. “I’ve heard people say that they find running relaxing and that it helps them.” Bosley said that running frequently “really started to clear my head and it just had a positive effect on me.”

Bosley participated within the New York City Marathon as a part of a bunch of runners representing Team Inspire, a bunch of 26 runners with various levels of marathon experience facilitated by the marathon organizing group, New York Road Runners.

While his thoughts were on his brother in the course of the race, his pre-race thoughts were also on Chicago, which has develop into embedded within the national imagination as a spot where gun violence is rampant.

Although gun violence has declined in recent times, Bosley said gun violence in Chicago is due to “many problems,” including an absence of funding for education for the town’s youth, an absence of workforce programs and an influx of weapons from friendly nations weapons.

“Indiana is only a 15-minute drive,” Bosley told NBC News. “So we have all these other issues that we’re trying to reduce in our community, and now we’re dealing with a flood of guns. This has caused the gun violence we see in Chicago.”

According to a 2022 research paper published in , Chicago is one among the cities where social violence interventionists are used.

In 2022, the town spent $50 million on these programs along side the $5 billion national commitment for community violence intervention programs under President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act.


This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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Health and Wellness

Tyler Lepley and Miracle Watts are engaged!

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One of the web’s hottest couples, Miracle Watts and Tyler Lepley, 37, are about to begin planning their wedding. Watts shared her engagement photo on Instagram, and the post has since gained nearly half one million likes.

The actress and social media personality captioned the photo with an engagement ring. The photo shows a white heart-shaped garland of flowers with the words “Will you marry me” in the center. Lepley smiled as he knelt on one knee, holding his future wife’s ring finger. The stars wore all black of their engagement photo and looked dazzling and joyful.

This engagement may come as a surprise to some fans, considering Miracle recently gained popularity after asking a matter about how long it should take a person to marry a girl during Q&A on her YouTube canal.

“I have a question. Do you think it is disrespectful for a man not to marry a woman after being with her for a certain number of years if they both agree to it? marriage is something they need?” she asked in a YouTube video.

Answering her own query, Watts replied, “Yes. I do. Yes, and we’re getting near that time… Better get your act together.

Lepley told a social media commenter on the time that the engagement was “closer than you think” and lower than six months later he popped the query. The actor has actually pulled himself together and is doing all the things in his power to make the matter official.

The engaged couple met on the set of P-Valley in 2021 and since then they’ve been like two cents in a pod. Over the years, we have seen them share glimpses of their love, whether it was Tyler washing Miracle’s braids, vacationing in Bermuda, or popping up at a club.

They now even have a tangible piece of their love; the couple gave birth to their first child together, a boy named Xi Leì Lepley, in October 2022.

The actor also has two children, Leo and Jade, together with his ex April King.

Congratulations to the couple and we will not wait to see their story unfold live!

This article was originally published on : www.essence.com
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Health and Wellness

Indigenous people are 4 times more likely to die from diabetes. We need to better understand how exercise can help

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It is estimated that just about 1.9 million Australians suffer from diabetes, and the variety of these people is increasing. In the years 2013–2023, the whole variety of people with diabetes in the whole country increased by 32%.

As within the case of a series health conditionsdiabetes disproportionately affects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Indigenous Australians are three times more likely diagnosed with diabetes than non-Indigenous Australians. Are 4.4 times more likely die from this.

Among other things, physical activity plays a very important role in stopping and treating type 2 diabetes. However, our latest study, published within the journal Medical Journal of Australiashows that we do not know enough concerning the role of physical activity in stopping and managing type 2 diabetes in First Nations people.

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a condition wherein it occurs an excessive amount of glucose (sugar) within the blood. There are several types of diabetes, but probably the most common is type 2 diabetes. In people with type 2 diabetesthe body becomes resistant to the motion of insulin – a hormone that regulates blood sugar levels.

Risk aspects for type 2 diabetes include a family history of diabetes, being obese and hypertension.

The high rate of diabetes in indigenous communities is essentially influenced by… social determinants of health. For example, we all know food insecurity disproportionately affects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, particularly in rural and distant communities. This can make it difficult to stick to a healthy food regimen, which in turn affects your overall health.

People in distant indigenous communities in addition they often have poorer access to education and employment opportunities, adequate housing and high-quality health care. All these aspects can contribute to worsening health.

First Nations communities do especially high stakes younger onset type 2 diabetes (often defined as diagnosis before the age of 40).

If diabetes shouldn’t be treated effectively, it can lead to numerous complicationsincluding long-term damage to the guts, kidneys, eyes and feet. Diabetes can affect all elements of an individual’s life, including their life sanity.

People with diabetes need to monitor their blood sugar levels.
Krakenimages.com/Shutterstock

Lifestyle interventions (food regimen and physical activity) are generally really helpful as a part of the treatment plan. for type 2 diabetes.

We wanted to understand how physical activity interventions could help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with diabetes.

Our research

There is powerful evidence that it plays more than simply a task in stopping diabetes exercise is helpful for people already diagnosed type 2 diabetes.

Physical activity is related to lower levels glycated hemoglobin within the blood (an indicator of glucose control), reduced levels of lipids within the blood equivalent to cholesterol, and weight reduction. The evidence suggests a mix aerobic and resistance exercises could also be better than either mode alone.

We reviewed research examining the impact of physical activity interventions and programs on the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes amongst First Nations Australians.

We only found nine studies that investigated physical activity interventions to prevent or manage type 2 diabetes in Indigenous adults.

There is evidence linking physical activity with improved outcomes for Indigenous Australians with type 2 diabetes. However, the worth of the outcomes was affected by weaknesses within the study design and the shortage of Indigenous involvement within the design and conduct of the studies.

A man running along the road.
Exercise is very important in stopping and treating type 2 diabetes.
sutadimages/Shutterstock

The high-quality evidence gap

There are many elements of stopping and managing diabetes that tend to be more difficult for people in First Nations communities, especially those living in rural or distant areas.

Additionally, latest technologies that can help manage diabetes, equivalent to continuous glucose monitorsare often very expensive.

It is incredibly vital what Indigenous Australians with diabetes have access to appropriate support for diabeticseducation and services.

In particular, health, cultural, and socioeconomic differences may impact participation in physical activity. What constitutes realistic exercise opportunities may differ for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people compared to other Australians.

Previous data has shown that Indigenous Australians are less likely to socialize recommendations for physical activity than non-Indigenous Australians.

Factors that will influence physical activity levels amongst First Nations people include access to protected, accessible, family-friendly, and inexpensive places to exercise. These could also be limited in regional and distant communities.



Overall, we found a scarcity of reliable data on whether and what kinds of exercise may profit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with type 2 diabetes.

Given that physical activity is the cornerstone of treatment for type 2 diabetes, we need more rigorous research on this area. These studies should be well designed and culturally appropriate. They must engage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in any respect levels of the research process.

Targeted research will help us discover the perfect ways to increase physical activity and understand its advantages for Indigenous people with type 2 diabetes.

This article was originally published on : theconversation.com
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