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Our Health & Wellbeing This month’s main article is written by Jennifer Morecroft, our local dentist. Thanks to Jennifer for her expertise and insights this month. Why Gum Health Matters to Your General Health        We often think of oral health as being separate from general health. However, evidence increasingly suggests that the two are closely connected. While gum disease primarily affects the tissues supporting our teeth, the associated inflammation may have wider effects on general health. Periodontal disease (gum disease) is extremely common. Initially, the gums become inflamed (gingivitis) and may appear red and swollen, or bleed…

Our Health & Wellbeing This month’s main article about dementia is written by Axbridge and Wedmore Medical Practice.  Dementia – Some Good News and Things We Can Do to Reduce Our Risk We often hear worrying headlines about dementia and the growing number of people living with the condition. However, there is some genuinely encouraging news. Research published in the Journal of America Medical Association in 2025 by Eric Stallard suggests that the story may be more positive than we sometimes hear. Although the number of people with dementia is increasing, largely because we are living longer and there are…

Firstly, thank you to Pauline Heslop and Sue Parsons for their Health & Wellbeing article in the August edition – very useful, and interesting! Preparing for post summer! As I write this, we are ‘enjoying’ a very warm summer, but we know this heat will not last and we will need to prepare ourselves for the cold and wet of autumn and winter! And with the change of weather comes the onset of different health challenges, one of them being seasonal flu. According to Patient.info ‘Getting the flu vaccine (also called the flu jab or flu shot) is a safe…

Inspired by the summer of sport? It’s been quite the summer of sport with the football world cup and Commonwealth Games drawing to a close. So what next? The legacy of such large sporting events has led researchers to study their ‘inspirational effects’ – the process through which individuals are inspired to get more active themselves. Being active is really important for our physical health, whatever our age or stage of life. The top-class athletes we have been watching this summer may well be younger, fitter and healthier than us, but we can still be inspired by them, whatever our…

Take the test(s) ! It sometimes feels like there is not much which can’t be measured or tested these days. In terms of our health there are a range of tests which are invaluable in finding early indications of disease or ill health. Some of these we can instigate off our own bat and can sometimes be free.  Here are just a few for you to consider whether they would help you understand your body more fully and take any action to make things better. Hearing Both Boots the chemist and Specsavers offer free preliminary hearing tests and offer advice on…

Health ‘facts’ or ‘fantasies’? We all want to be as healthy as possible for as long as possible, so it’s tempting to try out a supplement or a new exercise regime or run a marathon. How do we know which ones to try and which to avoid? What about these claims from adverts on YouTube – ‘red root can improve your vision by clearing blockages in blood flow to your retina’.  ‘Tai chi walking, 9 minutes a day can help you be stronger, lighter, younger’.  Creatine seems to be a popular supplement at the moment and not just for elite…

"Controlling Hypertension Together!" As you will know by now I am always very keen on promoting things we can do as a community and how we can support each other. So I was very heartened to see that this is the theme for this year’s  World Hypertension Day on May 17. According to the World Health Organisation, the aims of the day are to promote increased awareness of high blood pressure and accuracy in blood pressure measurement. We can do that!  Find out more.... We all know we need to have ‘blood pressure’ to keep our blood pumping around our…

Then, now and the future of cancer.  There can be very few adults who have not been directly affected by cancer, either personally or with family and friends. According to Patient.info, ‘Cancer occurs when cells become abnormal and multiply out of control. According to Wikipedia and other sources we have about 37 trillion cells in our body, 20-30 billion cells die each day and need replacing, resulting in about 10 quadrillion cell divisions in an average lifespan! It is therefore not surprising that sometimes things don’t quite go as planned, resulting in abnormal cells being produced. Thankfully our bodies usually…

I spy with my little eye something beginning with ‘s’ - sunshine! I hope it’s not wishful thinking as I write this in January but I think I see a glimmer as we head towards Spring! So there’s no better time than now to think about keeping our eyes as healthy as possible so we can see the emerging green shoots and vibrant flowers of Spring. According to Patient.info our eyes ‘deserve a long term plan’. There are some factors which can increase our risk of eye conditions which are beyond our control, eg genetics, ethnicity and age, however there is…

Warmth in Winter!   February is often one of the coldest months of the year, so we all need to find some warmth to comfort us. Staying in our own homes to keep warm is a tempting way to achieve this, but this may not be good for our overall health. It’s hard to believe, but according to information in Patient.info, research has shown that ‘Reduced social contact, being alone, isolation and feelings of loneliness are associated with reduced quality of life’.  This risk is equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day and having an alcohol use disorder. https://patient.info/doctor/mental-health/social-isolation-how-to-help-patients-be-less-lonely  An…