A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Depression in adulthood twice as likely for children who were abused
Doctors treating people for depression should delve into the childhoods of their patients before prescribing, because a history of mistreatment has a significant impact on their illness and ability to recover, scientists said yesterday.
Researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London who conducted a combined analysis of 26 studies involving more than 23,000 people found that those who suffered maltreatment as children were twice as likely as those who had normal childhoods to develop persistent and recurrent depression. Those who had stressful or abusive childhoods were also less likely to be helped by drug or psychological treatment, the analysis found, suggesting doctors and scientists should look for new kinds of treatments and ways of intervening earlier. The study was published yesterday in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
Londoners won't die without foundation
A luxury UK make-up brand has collaborated with a funeral directors to offer customers a makeover for the afterlife.
Illamasqua, a cult beauty brand that is famed for taking inspiration for its make-up from stage and theatre, particularly the dark and avant-garde, is offering the treatment in conjunction with London-based funeral directors Leverton Sons.
Illamasqua’s make-up artists received specialised training from staff at Leverton Sons in the art of applying make-up to the recently embalmed, so that customers willing to pay for the privilege – upwards of £450 (€510) – can be sent off to greet the boatman in the style to which they had, in this life, become accustomed.
The treatment, which Illamasqua has titled “the Final Act of Self-Expression”, allows customers who pre-plan their funerals to include their lip and eye colours in the list of things to decide – along with, of course, the music, coffin style and whether to play Westlife’s Wind Beneath My Wings or Robbie Williams’s Angels.
The Final Act of Self-Expression is currently only available in the London area from Illamasqua and Leverton Sons.
ROSEMARY Mac CABE
Watching television cuts life expectancy
Watching TV for an average of six hours a day can cut life expectancy by five years, according to new research.
A sedentary lifestyle – as opposed to just not taking enough exercise – increases the risk of dying, particularly from heart attack and stroke.
Watching TV accounts for a large part of people’s sedentary living, but time sitting down and in cars also counts, said researchers writing in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. They warned that watching TV is a public health problem comparable to issues such as smoking and obesity.
Using information from the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study, together with population and death rate data, experts from the University of Queensland calculated lifetime risk from TV watching.
The lifestyle study involved more than 11,000 people over the age of 25, and data was gathered on how much time was spent watching TV or videos/DVDs. It found that, on average, every hour of TV viewed after the age of 25 reduced the viewer’s life expectancy by almost 22 minutes. Around six hours of daily viewing can cut a person’s lifespan by almost five years. “TV viewing time may be associated with a loss of life that is comparable to other major chronic disease risk factors such as physical inactivity and obesity,” the team concluded.