Dementia will touch the lives of almost every Australian at some time in their life, either as a person with dementia or as a family member or carer. We investigate the latest evidence on what causes dementia. Tonic TV | T-S154 | S06Ep07
This segment focuses on the astounding statistics about the chances of developing debilitating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from common medical emergencies. With Karen Carey. Tonic TV | T-S152 | S05E06
Honey: an ancient remedy making a comeback. One of the most ancient treatments for infections – especially on the skin where a lot of our microbiome lives – is honey. Research is showing this isn’t a myth, honey really does have remarkable properties. Casey Beros...
Snoring keeps your partner awake all night and means they’re grumpy in the morning – but could snoring be causing more problems when it comes to your health? Casey Beros heads to the Baker IDI Institute in Melbourne to find out about the link between snoring and a...
three part series on anxiety – an incredibly common psychological problem that often goes unrecognised and untreated. This week we look at the time in life when anxiety often begins and is missed – in childhood. We meet a young boy who suffers from anxiety...
Picking the one very best exercise for your body is almost impossible. There are cardio exercises, strength exercises and more so it’s like comparing oranges and apples. However research from the US has suggested ‘the burpee’ is one of the most effective exercises for...
Depression is very common – a high percentage of us will experience it at some point in our lives. It often presents in adolescence, and the trouble with that is that it can be difficult to decipher between normal teenage angst and a depressive illness, making...
The future of immunisation: Immunisation is our most potent weapon for protecting and improving public health. With more infections threatening wide spread illness, what can we expect from immunisations in the future? Tonic TV |T-S002 |S02E06
High blood pressure is one of the most potent risk factors around, causing heart disease and in particular stroke. Getting yours down and keeping it there is really important, and there are various ways to do that – Norman has some tips and tricks to help. Tonic TV...
Tonic investigates popular mineral supplement selenium – worth it or waste of time? Australians have some of the most expensive urine in the world due to the vast amounts of supplements we consume, from herbs to vitamins to minerals. The question is, are they saving...
Teeth whitening products: safe or scary? There’s no end to the things some of us will do to ourselves to look good, and we can be easily tempted into the desire for a fresh set of pearly whites. Have you ever wondered what it is they put on your teeth to whiten them?...
One of the best and most natural ways to lift your mood if you’re feeling depressed is to take regular exercise. In fact, exercise is thought to prevent depression in the first place. The question though is what kind is best, which is what a group of British...
Cholesterol as a risk factor for heart disease, is it all it’s cracked up to be? When you think of the risk factors for heart disease, the first that probably comes to mind after smoking is saturated fat in your diet. Doctors nag you about it all the time and...
Chronic fatigue is a mysterious condition. Rather than simply being knackered, something many of us are familiar with, sufferers experience a disabling level of fatigue that’s present on most days and stays with them for months and even years. It’s often associated...
A sense of fairness is considered by many to be crucially important to how we govern our lives and make decisions. Some people call this a sense of social justice, and research has found that humans are hard wired with it, and have discovered the area of the brain in...
Who would’ve thought that addiction to substances like nicotine, heroin and alcohol could have similarities to an extreme anxiety disorder like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD? That’s the finding from fascinating research at Johns Hopkins University School of...
Rich considers pop-cultural affliction FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out. It comes from our desire to belong to a group. Surprisingly, this isn’t built on insecurities, but on our survival instinct. Tonic TV | T-S045 | S02E07
Bipolar disorder is one of the most misunderstood and least recognised mental illnesses. It comes in various forms but at its core is a cycling between deep and dark depression and elated moods or even outrageous and flamboyant behaviour. There’s a belief that the...
Part two of our three part series on anxiety – childhood Last week on Tonic we started a three part series on anxiety – an incredibly common psychological problem that often goes unrecognised and untreated. This week we look at the time in life when anxiety...
Getting off your bum at work and moving around can make an enormous difference to your health and wellbeing and can help burn an extra 700 calories a day – which over time can add up to several kilos lost. For those of us with busy desk-bound jobs though, getting up...
Having a suntan used to be considered the sign of a healthy glow, evidence of time spent outdoors being active or the remnants of a recent sun filled holiday. But as we’ve come to understand, the damage caused by UVA and UVB rays can be not only irreversible and...
Scientists at the MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston, Texas have developed a drug that targets fat cells in the same way cancer treatments target cancer cells. Dr Norman Swan reports.
Being obese can have a number of harmful effects on your body – from cholesterol problems to diabetes right through to things like strain on the joints and osteoarthritis, but what about the brain? Research from the University of California suggests the amount of...
Norman speaks with Dr Lee Ritterband, one of the creators of an exciting and experimental online intervention for insomnia that forms part of Tonic’s real world insomnia trial. Tonic TV | T-S072| S01E10
A staggering one in two of us will have a mental illness sometime in our lives. For most people that means anxiety or depression but a significant proportion will have severe mental illness. Many of those people have children, so how does their condition affect the...
We’re well aware of the health consequences of smoking, so it’s surprising to think that so many people are still lighting up. Smoke free laws are one strategy aimed at minimising smoking in public places to reduce the impact on our health – but do...
One of the commonest procedures performed around the world is called stenting. It’s where doctors open up a blocked artery in the heart by inserting a slither of metal into the artery to keep it open. However, there are allegations that far too many stents are being...
There’s more to stuttering than just physical symptoms and a decreased ability to communicate. Professor Luc De Nil, a world expert in speech pathology from the University of Toronto explains the underlying psychology of why people suffer from stutters and how it...
Diagnosing Alzheimer’s earlier, new tests and what they mean for the public There are a lot of conditions that cause memory loss, but Alzheimer’s is probably the one that worry people most. There’ve been recent developments in testing, but is the ability to diagnose...
Research from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm has given us another reason to not let those added kilos creep on over the years – being overweight or obese in midlife can increase your risk of dementia in later life. Casey sits down with world expert Professor...
Tonic’s Consumer Affairs reporter Karen Carey speaks to Dr Simon Towler, former Chief Medical Officer WA, about how doctors and patients can help reduce the need for blood transfusions when they undergo surgery. Our limited blood supplies are precious, so could...
Can the vitamins and minerals you get through food as a child affect your brain as an adult? Researchers at the University of California have looked at the development of young brains and found that iron can play a significant role in creating healthy adult brains....
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was an elixir of youth? We already know that things like exercise and a low calorie diet can keep us looking and feeling younger longer, but research at the world famous Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota has found the biological...
