By the age of 16, a Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg, who once decided to skip classes for the protest, managed to become a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, the “person of the year” according to GQ, to speak in Davos and in the British Parliament, to meet with Barack Obama and the Pope.

All this is contrary to an incurable mental disorder. Although Thunberg herself believes that her diagnosis only helps her in her childhood struggle to attract the attention of politicians, businessmen and parliamentarians around the world to climate change issues.

A year ago, almost no one knew about her. Now she is called the most influential teenager. We will tell you how a 16-year-old schoolgirl became a symbol and inspirer of eco-movement.

On September 23, the UN Climate Change Summit will be held in New York. The organizers invited 16-year-old Greta to speak at the event, and the girl gladly accepted the offer. Public speaking has long become a familiar thing for a schoolgirl. The difficulty was to figure out how to get to the US from Europe.

Thunberg basically does not fly on airplanes: they, in her opinion, cause too much harm to the environment. The only alternative way is by water. Help was offered by Pierre Casiraghi, grandson of the thirteenth prince of Monaco Rainier III and actress Grace Kelly, and Boris Herrmann, the owner of an unusual racing yacht.

The 18-meter Malizia II is one of the fastest sailing yachts on the planet. The ship is equipped with solar panels and underwater turbines that generate electricity on board. There is no toilet on the yacht: in return - an ordinary bucket. There is no kitchen either. Nowhere to sleep. To drink, you will have to use a salt water desalter.

Greta sailed from British Plymouth on August 14th. Traveling to America should take about two weeks. Her movements can be monitored on an interactive map; according to her, more than two and a half thousand kilometers remained before New York.

16-year-old Thunberg has never had to live in such conditions. Before the trip, she admitted that she was a little nervous. “I don’t know how difficult the trip can be: will there be seasickness, will I get homesick or just scared of something,” Greta said.

Before leaving, she told reporters that she would definitely miss her two dogs - Labradors Roxy and Moses. Greta took many books with her: now she is reading “Hush” by Susan Kane, a book about introverts - the same as herself.

Walking school for the sake of climate

A year ago, Greta Thunberg decided to skip classes at school. Instead of lessons, she came to the building of the Swedish parliament and sat down with a banner on the pavement in front of the entrance.

On the leaflets that she soon began to hand out to passers-by, it was written: "I do this because you adults do not care about my future." From this began Greta's ecoactivism. Many schoolchildren and students all over the world liked the idea of skipping classes, who began to massively join the Swedish schoolgirl's protest.

Thunberg herself unexpected popularity was not easy. During her speech at the Ted Talks conference, Greta said that she was seriously ill at age 11: doctors diagnosed her with depression, the girl stopped eating and talking. According to her, in two months she lost 10 kilograms, and only after that the doctors discovered that Greta had Asperger syndrome, as well as obsessive-compulsive disorder and selective mutism.

Asperger Syndrome is a congenital and incurable mental disorder, a form of autism. The disorder affects a person's communication skills. The classic obsessive-compulsive disorder assumes that a person has obsessive thoughts that cause anxiety, and in order to get rid of it, a person performs certain repetitive actions. One of the most striking examples is the fear of infection or dirt: in this case, a person can constantly wash their hands. Selective mutism is manifested as a person’s inability to talk in individual situations. A child with selective mutism can, for example, communicate well with his family, but not talk at school.

Thunberg herself summarizes her diagnoses in this way: "Simply put, this means that I speak only when I consider it necessary."

“For people with an autism spectrum disorder, the world is divided into black and white. We don’t really know how to lie. And we usually don’t like playing social games that you like so much. I think we autistic are much more normal, and everyone else, on the contrary, is strange. Especially when it comes to the environmental crisis, "says Greta.

The schoolgirl herself admits: she sees no room for compromise on climate change. In the world in which Greta lives, there is no place for “shades of gray”: if scientists agree that emissions should be reduced, then they need to be reduced.

Greta's parents admit that their dedication to environmental issues has become a way for her daughter to live, no less. True, they are not very happy that their daughter is skipping classes.

“She must be at school – we cannot support her decision [to skip classes]. But we respect her desire to defend her position. She can either sit at home and be very unhappy, or protest and be happy,” said her father Svante Thunberg.

He admits that Greta made the whole family change their lifestyle. Before his daughter began to read books on climate change, Svante, according to him, did not know anything about this problem.

The media love to write about the fact that young Greta influenced the family so much that Malena Hernman, even under the influence of her daughter, even completed her career as an opera singer: such work involves frequent flights that harm the environment. Svante Thunberg is accompanied by his daughter on all her trips around the world.

Totalitarian Confidence

Attempts by opponents to criticize the 16-year-old Greta almost always led to the fact that a large number of her supporters and eco-activists stood up for the girl on a united front. The most famous case occurred with the participation of Australian journalist and columnist Andrew Bolt, who called Thunberg "the most influential teenager."

In his column for Herald Sun, he wrote that “he’s never seen such a young girl with so many mental disorders that so many adults would perceive as a guru.”

 “Thunberg has a very rare quality - absolute confidence. She does not doubt one iota and does not make the slightest compromise. This allows her supporters who have any doubts to relax, relying on her totalitarian confidence,” writes Bolt - If you believe the book her mother wrote when Thunberg was 11 years old, she didn’t eat anything for two months. For years she suffered from depression until she was finally diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, high-functioning autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Her strong from Fucking climate change is not surprising for a person with disorders that exacerbate this fear. "

Not only activists, but also many media outlets called the Bolt column deeply offensive.

Greta herself answered the journalist on Twitter: “I am really“ deeply concerned ”(in the original, Greta uses the words “deeply disturbed”, which can also describe a person with serious mental disabilities, as Bolt himself called her) the fact that these campaigns hate will never end because we children turn to science. Where are the adults? "

The journalist in his column wondered why so many adults, including politicians, top managers, and even the pope, were so enthusiastic about a young girl.

Indeed, the pope shook Greta's hand, congratulated the girl and advised her to "continue to work." Thunberg and Michael Gove, the British Minister for the Environment, listened attentively, who admitted that thanks to Greta and other activists, he realized that "it’s time to act."

Greta herself choosily approaches the choice of interlocutors. When reporters asked her if she would meet with Donald Trump in the US, she called such an opportunity a waste of time.

But not all politicians were happy with Greta's initiatives. Former British Prime Minister Teresa May said that school strikes by her supporters increase the burden on teachers, and the protesters themselves "spent their time in vain." May as a whole had a positive attitude towards the interest of schoolchildren in environmental problems, but emphasized that it is better to first get an education and become professionals to help solve problems at a different level.

To people with depersonalization syndrome, the world seems unreal, two-dimensional, as if in a fog. Every hundredth suffers from this disorder, but despite this, British doctors are not taught to work with such patients, experts say.

“Connections that you consider valuable lose their original meaning. You know that you love your family. But the fact is that you are more aware of it with the mind, rather than feeling it,” Sarah tells.

Sarah is an actress; she constantly tries on various images and reproduces other people's emotions. But in reality, for most of her conscious life, she is emotionally paralyzed and unable to experience any feelings.

The reason for this is a poorly understood mental disorder called depersonalization.

In Sarah, the syndrome manifested itself three times. This first happened when she was preparing for the final exams.

The main sign of depersonalization is the feeling that a person is losing a physical connection with the world around him and his own body.

It is believed that this is how the protective mechanism manifests itself, when during stress or a serious shock, consciousness is disconnected from reality. Some drugs, such as marijuana, can cause the same effect.

For people with depersonalization syndrome, the world can change in a second.

"It was an unexpected switch. Everything around seemed alien and even frightening. Suddenly, the apartment and other places where you used to be, become a movie set for you, and all your things - scenery," says Sarah.

Other patients talk about the feeling that they are outside their body, that it does not belong to them, and the world around it seems two-dimensional and flat.

With Sarah, this happened during the second episode.

"I read, there was a book in my hands. And suddenly my hands began to look like a picture in which two hands were painted. There was a feeling that the real world and my perception of it did not coincide."

The frustration that Sarah suffers with is not uncommon. Three independent studies have proven that it is found in one out of a hundred people.

Experts say the disorder has long been recognized as a medical condition. It is as common as obsessive-compulsive disorder or schizophrenia.

Some untreated patients may suffer depersonalization symptoms throughout their lives. And, nevertheless, not all doctors know what it is.

A doctor who recently completed his studies and himself suffers from this disorder, said that depersonalization was not told either in the medical school or in continuing education courses for therapists.

He admitted that he at least twice made the wrong diagnosis to his patients. According to him, he will be very surprised if it turns out that at least one of his colleagues has heard about this syndrome.

Sarah says that in her life she encountered at least 20 specialists who had no idea what she was talking about. Among them are consultants, therapists, district psychiatrists and doctors.

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) in London said that psychological health was a key element in the extended training of doctors.

The institute added that the study of more complex psychological problems is still under development.

The Royal College of Psychiatry emphasized the need to make sure that these disorders are properly studied.

Poor diagnosis is only part of the problem, another difficulty is access to treatment.

In the UK there is only one specialized clinic. Its resources are limited, only 80 patients per year can be admitted there. Despite the fact that 650 thousand people can potentially suffer from this disease.

To get to this medical center for free, a referral from a local doctor is required. And even if the patient is diagnosed with depersonalization, treatment will have to wait several months or longer.

After a year of waiting in line, Sarah decided that the only way out was to pay for treatment on her own.

“I had panic attacks all the time. It's really scary. I knew it was a crisis,” she says.

Adults only

A specialized center for patients with depersonalization syndrome operates at Maudsley Hospital in south London. However, for patients under 18 years of age there are restrictions; the center only deals with the treatment of adults.

Often the disease occurs precisely in adolescence. Dr. Elaine Hunter, who heads the center, is worried that she has to refuse help to children and adolescents.

“Sometimes deeply depressed and frightened fifteen-year-old patients come to us, but we have nothing to offer them,” she says.

In one of the adult patients of the center, the syndrome developed at the age of 13. For two years she could not leave the house, a day she experienced ten panic attacks caused by the disorder.

At the beginning of treatment, she did not even recognize her own parents.

Dr. Hunter hopes that over time, the right treatment will be available to minor patients.

She believes that treatment should be organized in each area. Doctors at local psychological care centers should undergo special training, then disseminate information to other specialists.

Hunter has developed a technique for cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) specifically for patients with depersonalization. She believes that doctors who already have experience in conversational psychotherapy can easily get hold of her.

Dr. Ashley, a patient of Dr. Hunter, says she was skeptical at first about this technique, but after a while she felt a huge difference.

“[Before CBT] I looked at my own hands or other parts of the body and it seemed to me that they were not mine. I looked at myself in the mirror and did not understand that it was me,” Sarah explains.

“I couldn’t eat and sleep, because of stress I lost weight up to 42 kg. Now I still have some symptoms, but I can quickly deal with them,” she continues.

There is treatment, but it is difficult to get it.

According to Dr. Hunter, it is necessary to correct the situation in which patients are forced to seek out information about their disorder on the Internet, and then explain to the doctor what is at stake. Instead, on the contrary, the doctor told the patient about his illness.

Surgical mask has long been a mandatory attribute of any viral epidemic.

This is especially noticeable in China, where a new coronavirus is now rampant. In some Chinese cities, including Shanghai, masks began to be in such high demand that they began to be missed.

In addition, the Chinese wear masks as well as protection against air pollution.

Although there is evidence that masks can save from viruses transmitted by direct contact, doctors are very skeptical about their ability to protect against viruses that spread by airborne droplets.

Surgical masks first began to be used in hospitals at the end of the 18th century, but the population began to wear them only in 1919.

"Standard surgical masks cannot be an effective means of protecting populations from viruses or bacteria transmitted by airborne droplets," said Dr. David Carrington of St. George's Hospital at the University of London in an interview. According to him, such masks do not have a special filter, do not fit snugly to the face and leave eyes unprotected.

Nevertheless, they reduce the risk of airborne droplets and contact household infections.

According to a study conducted in the Australian state of New South Wales in 2016, an average person touches his face 23 times per hour.

 “In one of the carefully conducted in-hospital studies, a medical mask proved to be as effective in protecting against a viral infection as a professional respirator,” admits Jonathan Ball, a professor of molecular virology at the University of Nottingham.

Respirators are equipped with a special air filter and are specifically designed to protect against potentially hazardous particles in the air.

“However, when it comes to the effectiveness of masks for the population, the statistics here are not so convincing, because it’s very difficult to be masked for a long time,” adds Ball

It’s far more efficient to “use simple hygiene rules,” Dr. Connor Bamford of the Institute of Experimental Medicine at the University of Queens in Belfast echoes.

"If you cover your nose and mouth while sneezing, wash your hands, do not stick unwashed hands in your mouth, then your chances of catching a viral respiratory disease will decrease," he assures.

The UK Ministry of Health gives several tips on how to protect yourself from infection:

• Try not to touch your nose and eyes as much as possible.
• Use warm water and soap to regularly wash and clean your hands.
• Workout and try to live a healthy life.

"Although there is a perception that a surgical mask can be beneficial, there is little evidence of its benefits outside hospitals," said Dr. Jake Dunning, a spokesman for the government organization Public Health England.

According to him, if you want the mask to help, you need to wear it correctly, often change it and safely dispose of it. In general, it would be better for people to pay more attention not to masks, but to personal hygiene, for a start - wash their hands more often, the expert says.

At what point does a useful thing like exercise become a bad habit? And do smartphone apps do that?

Valerie Stefan runs between the trees, the leaves rustle under her feet. On a morning run, the girl looks focused and at the same time peaceful.

“When I run, I have a feeling that I’m climbing some peaks,” says an amateur athlete. “I’m becoming faster, stronger, it’s like a series of small victories.”

Valerie started running 10 years ago for a general recovery. First, she took part in the race for 5 kilometers, then 10, and then in the marathon. She began to wake up much earlier than usual to have time to practice, and very soon the sport began to prevail over all other aspects of life.

“I began to realize that training controls me, and not vice versa. And this control quickly grew into an obsessive state,” Valerie admits. “This began to affect my work, my family, everything else. Over time, my sports became then unhealthy. "

The stronger Valerie became dependent on sports, the more she moved away from family and friends.

"My lifestyle has ruined my relationships with many people. They just didn't understand why I needed to train so much. I seemed a little nuts to them."

To be late for meetings, reschedule them and cancel them altogether became the norm for Valerie. She made appointments with friends on the courts for playing squash or in the pool, and allowed herself to relax only when she met the daily norm of physical activity.

"They thought that I just avoided meeting, but it wasn’t. I really wanted to see friends, but before meeting them I had to exercise, otherwise I would be tormented with guilt. All the time I had to find a compromise."

Obsession with sports has not only affected relationships with friends.

"I never had a rest; I didn’t want to spend time at home. All I wanted to do was show that I am a superman and I am in full control of the situation. I couldn’t let anyone see how hard it was for me emotionally."

For many years, Valerie forced her body and mind to the limit of possibilities, and eventually plunged into depression. She urgently needed rest and recovery, and she took four months off from work.

Psychologists say that excessive passion for sports is a kind of behavioral dependence: a person is driven by an obsession that can seriously ruin his life.

According to statistics, 3% of ordinary people and about 10% of professional and semi-professional runners are affected by this disorder.

The most vulnerable psychologists consider amateur athletes such as Valerie, who at some point reach the extreme point of internal tension and begin to desperately seek a way out.

"Often people who come to our clinic experience a breakdown in relationships, are in a state of anxiety and depression. You start working with them and suddenly you realize that sports are the fault," says psychologist Chetna Kang from London Priory Hospital.

According to the expert, this is still not a very common phenomenon, but there are more and more such cases.

What is exercise addiction

According to psychiatrists, excessive enthusiasm for workout and health can lead to exercise addiction. It may have one or more of the following characteristics.

• Fitness apps can exacerbate the situation by fueling a person’s obsession, especially if he is obsessed with achievements in sports and perfectionism. The ability to share information on social networks makes sports something public and adds an element of competition. This, in turn, can create a number of serious problems for people with a vulnerable psyche.
• There is no single medical term for this condition. This area has not been sufficiently studied, and experts use different definitions: dependence on exercises, compulsive exercises, compulsory exercises;
• Usually playing sports is beneficial to the mental state of a person. This is a good way to deal with anxiety attacks and with a mild form of depression. However, excessive exercise has exactly the opposite effect;

Symptoms of physical overload include so-called stress fractures, tendonitis, and decreased immunity.

Women have an increased risk of menstrual failure, osteoporosis, and eating disorders. In men, there is a decrease in sexual desire (libido).

Martin Turner is a sports psychologist from the University of Manchester Metropolitan. For 10 years he has been working with athletes, studying their characteristics and, according to him, regularly meets people obsessed with their sports identity.

"They are forming the idea that their success in the sports field reflects their overall viability:" I am good at sports, so I’m worth something; I’m bad at sports, so I’m not worth anything, ”says the expert.

“Running is part of what you are. If you're not running, then who are you?” Martin Turner explains to the logic of his patients.

Turner's studies show that such irrational inferences are a result of dependence on exercise, depression, anxiety, and burnout.

Firstly, such a way of thinking harms, but does not help in a person’s desire to achieve general well-being and harmony.

Secondly, it is motivation based on guilt and designed for a short time, when people run in order not to feel guilty, and not for their own sake.

And thirdly, such conclusions are not true. In order to live and to represent something, a person needs to breathe, eat, drink and sleep. Running is not such a necessity.

Exit search

Refusing adrenaline and endorphins that occur during exercise can be very difficult.

Valerie attempts to reduce physical activity were very difficult. This was reflected in her general condition, adding anxiety. According to her, she was in a vicious circle.

“I’m very uneasy when I can’t train. I can’t sleep, I have headaches. In days without sports, I feel like in prison, in a trap,” Valerie says.

It is especially difficult to reduce loads when there is such a variety of sports applications and technologies as Strava, Garmin, FitBit and others around.

“I like applications. I use them every day, I control my pace, the amount of training, I monitor how I progress,” says the young woman.

“You can get a lot of positive feedback, see how you yourself are getting better, follow what your friends are doing. But if the marathon and my friends are on the nose doing more preparatory training than I do, I get stressed and try to catch up with them” - admits Valerie.

Such access to information only exacerbates the obsession with sports, and prevents a person from returning to normal, Martin Turner believes.

"Constant measurements are like an injection to increase self-esteem. The problem is that applications stick out user’s failures - you didn’t work out as well as last time; your result is worse than your friend’s. A person is in constant competition with others, everything time is result oriented, ”Turner said.

And there is nothing worse if a person’s self-esteem depends on his achievements in sports, the psychologist adds: “If my application tells me that my results have deteriorated, and I myself believe that failure in sports makes me a failure in life, then the dependence on judgments from parties is becoming a real problem. "

Audrey Livingstone, UK triathlon coach, says mobile apps and a variety of sensors that you can put on have led some athletes to train unhealthy to exercise.

“Some people don’t get any pleasure from what they do, because they will pay too much attention to what others do,” the trainer says. “I tell them that they should improve their own results, concentrate only on what they do "

You must act very carefully.

"I reduce their burdens, then send them to recover for a week. They don’t like it, it seems wrong, many find it difficult to accept. They just don’t understand why they need to rest periodically," Livingstone says.

The way to a normal life

As with any other addiction, getting out of a vicious circle and starting to reborn is a very long and complicated process. Martin Turner believes that the first step is to understand the scheme.

"Athletes must understand their thoughts, motives and beliefs and begin to fight with them," - said the expert.

"You have to be realistic and you need flexibility. Tell yourself:" If I do not work out today - it’s bad, but it’s not the worst thing in the world. And I did not become a worthless loser just because I decided to do without training today. "Such thoughts are more relevant to reality and do less harm."

For Valerie, a return to a healthy balance between exercise and relaxation is an ongoing struggle. She is supported by loved ones, and she believes that she is on the right track.

“It takes a lot of time to understand that you are addicted. The main thing is to let the situation go in time, give up obsessive ideas, stop controlling everything around, tell yourself you don’t have to be perfect,” says Valerie Stefan.

In the middle of a dazzling white room, a translucent plastic sarcophagus gleams with matte sides. There, inside, a just-saved world and a pretty battered superhero are assembled in parts of nanorobots.

This is what the medicine of the future looks like in the presentation of the scriptwriters of Hollywood fantastic action films and TV shows - from Star Wars to The Fifth Element.

Of course, we are still far from collecting patients at the molecular level of smart cameras. But some idea of the direction in which modern medicine is moving and what types of treatment may become available in the near future could be obtained in Finland, where the world's largest startup festival SLUSH was held.

Of the more than three thousand companies that presented their innovative ideas at the forum in Helsinki, a good quarter was somehow related to health and medicine: from smart sleep trackers and other accessories that allow you to monitor your diet and daily routine, to interactive computer games for rehabilitation of children with serious illnesses and personal healthy lifestyle trainers based on artificial intelligence.

And some of the developments in the coming years can fundamentally change our ideas about medicine.

Print me a new heart

One of the most fantastically sounding developments is the Finnish startup Brinter (bio - printer), which offers 3D-printing of living tissue from stem cells.

“Ink” for a bioprinter looks like a viscous gel, from which a three-dimensional cell structure is first printed, explains one of the founders of startup Tomi Kalpio. Then the patient takes samples of skin cells, reprograms them - and turns them into stem cells, filling out the printed matrix.

The result is living tissue of any desired organ. Moreover, with the DNA of the patient himself, so that when transplanted, the body will not perceive it as foreign and reject it.

“We print life. Layer after layer,” says Calpio. This is the official slogan of the company.

So far, “brinter” prints tissues mainly for medical research and is not able, say, to print a working donor kidney - or any other organ as a whole. Before that, according to the Finnish doctor, another five years.

However, maybe much less - the technology is developing very quickly, and similar developments are in other countries.

Moreover, the 3D Bioprinting Solution laboratory has just conducted an experiment on printing living tissue in space in microgravity. The results — human cartilage and mouse thyroid tissue — will be delivered soon.

In February, the Americans are going to send their bioprinter to the ISS. But, as Yussef Hesuani, managing partner of 3D Bioprinting Solutions, promises, "when the American printer is launched, we will publish our materials."

Life without swelling and injury

Probably, each of us happened to tuck a leg or dislocate a finger. In addition to pain, the indispensable symptoms of such an injury are inflammation and swelling of the damaged organ.

They not only cause a lot of practical inconvenience (such as the inability to wear the usual shoes on a swollen leg), but also greatly lengthen the healing process, since they interfere with normal blood circulation.

An elastic bandage or fixing bandage only compresses blood vessels even more - inflammation does not go away, pain also.

American Jackson Corley figured out how to solve this problem using semiconductors, which he weaves into fabric dressings.

Under the influence of body temperature, they release negatively charged ions, which activate molecular vibration, increasing blood circulation. Blood brings oxygen and nutrients to the affected area, relieving swelling and inflammation and speeding up the healing process several times. So, you can do without pills.

 “A stretched ankle can heal for five to six weeks. With my dressing, it can take up to a week,” Corley says, showing the photos. “Symptoms of lymphostasis are removed in three hours. Postoperative edema in eight hours."

Eliminating edema will help relieve symptoms of arthritis, arthrosis, and some autoimmune diseases, he assures. In this case, the bandage should not even press - just wrap the damaged organ.

Sky in your pocket

Chronic lack of sleep, long hops or short daylight hours can significantly affect the level of hormones in our body and contribute to the development of depression.

Our biological clock is upset - and as a result, sensations become dull, drowsiness develops, and reactions slow down.

Numerous studies show : to get out of this state and return to normal, we only need a couple of tens of minutes of morning sunlight. It naturally “resets” the biological clock, inhibiting the production of melatonin, the main hormone that regulates the circadian rhythm.

But where to get the morning sunlight exactly when it is needed - for example, after an exhaustingly long flight?

There he is. The portable device of an Austrian startup weighs literally 50 grams (100 grams - together with a charging case), easily fits in your pocket and is called Pocket Sky, that is, "The sky is in your pocket."

It does not need to be worn constantly. To suppress the production of melatonin and reset the internal clock, just put on “glasses” for 15-20 minutes. For example, in the morning, if you did not get enough sleep. Or, conversely, in the evening - before the night shift.

“In the European Union alone, 42 million people periodically work at night. The problem with such work is not only disruption of the sleep schedule, it also has much more serious long-term consequences: increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, all sorts of addictions, and so on. "- says one of the developers of the device, Hans-Jörg Hummer." There are not many ways to reduce this risk, and the use of blue light is recognized as the most effective. "

Now the Austrians are working on the development of a mobile application that will track and take into account your individual factors - age, gender, “lark” you or “owl”, how much you sleep - and give specific advice: when, how much and what kind of light your body for the most effective work.

No need to treat me. Don't let me get sick

Finnish startup Nightingale aims to completely overturn the traditional healthcare system, completely changing the approach to treatment.

"Now the system is reactive: you got sick - you came to the doctor - they prescribed treatment for you," explains the founder of the company, Teemu Suna.

Based on research by the University of Helsinki and Oxford, Finnish scientists have developed a universal blood test, the results of which show the likelihood of a patient developing certain diseases: from cardiovascular and diabetes - to dementia.

A single blood sampling - about 5 ml - is enough to analyze 220 biological markers. And start prevention before the patient begins to have health problems.

Ideally, for the most effective prophylactic analysis, blood should be donated three to four times a year.

Throughout December, the system will be tested in Finland at the national level. Considering that the test itself is not very expensive, in the long run, budget savings can be decent.

Now the startup is trying to enter the US market, where, according to Teemu Suna, insurance companies are already actively interested in them, who hope to significantly reduce their costs due to the new technology and, accordingly, the cost of services for customers

In Las Vegas hosts the annual m he International Exhibition Consumer Electronics Show Electronics, which come as the world's leading companies and startups to showcase new technological developments.

We have collected new products that seemed the most interesting to us.

1. Electric car from SONY

Sony surprised visitors by showing its own prototype electric car, called the Vision S.

Almost the entire front panel is a panoramic screen. Sensors that recognize the driver and passengers are built into the car. You can control the multimedia system using gestures.

2. Streaming service for smartphones

The streaming service Quibi (short for Quick Bites) talked about the upcoming launch and plans to release short programs. It will work exclusively on smartphones. Thanks to its own video optimization technology, it will be possible to look at the entire screen both horizontally and vertically.

The company plans to break films and programs into small segments of 7-10 minutes. It is assumed that the new service will primarily interest people spending a lot of time in public transport.

3. Assistant Robot

The Walker Robot, created by UBTECH Robotics, is the epitome of modern developments in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence. Representatives of the company claim that he is ready to serve people both at home and, for example, in a store.

With a height of 145 cm and a weight of 77 kg, the robot can grab and carry objects, maintain balance in difficult conditions for movement, and maintain communication.

4. Smart diapers

Soon, babies will be able to put on the Lumi smart diapers made by Pampers. With their help, parents will be able to know exactly the duration of the child’s sleep, the time of feeding and changing diapers. All information will be displayed in a special application.

5. Pillow for snoring

The Korean company Tenminds wants to solve the problem of snoring with the help of the Motion Pillow pillow, which automatically changes the tilt of the sleeping person’s head after hearing the sounds of snoring.

The device has many sensors that monitor the position of the head. The pillow will automatically inflate and deflate to change the sleeping position.

6. Toys for ladies

This year, sex toy manufacturers have returned to the exhibition. One of them - Dame Products - positions itself as a manufacturer of devices for women's sexual health. Most of the manufacturers participating in the exhibition of such products focus on women.

7. Heated razor

GilletteLabs revealed a new heated razor called the Heated Razor. Unlike many other devices presented at the exhibition, you could buy it right away. The gadget can heat up to 43 degrees or up to 50 degrees Celsius. The manufacturer claims that using the device imitates shaving with a hot towel.

8. Electric bike from a backpack

Smacircle LMT showed a folding bike for those who use public transport, but still have to walk some part of the path. The manufacturer claims that it is the smallest electric bike in the world for adults.

The bike is made of carbon fiber and can be folded into a regular backpack. It can accelerate to 32 km / h and drive on a single charge up to 21 km.

9. Self-cleaning cat tray

A tray for cats that knows how to clean itself, introduced iKuddle. The project was funded through crowdfunding and raised more than a million dollars.

The device starts to work after the cat leaves the tray. A smart system cleans the litter and sends it to a special package. The owner can start cleaning himself using the application on the phone.

10. Self-propelled seat

Segway showed a futuristic chair called the S-Pod, which can accelerate to 40 km / h and travel 70 km without recharging. In its appearance, it resembles capsules in which the characters of the WALL-I cartoon moved.

The device is controlled using the joystick on the right side of the case. Segway plans to start selling self-propelled seats in 2021.

11. Flexible screen speaker

The manufacturer of the flexible smartphone FlexPai, Royole, announced the “smart” speaker Mirage Smart Speaker. Its feature is a fully flexible 8-inch AMOLED touchscreen display with a resolution of 1440 × 1920 pixels.

The column also has a built-in 5-megapixel camera, two microphones, Amazon Alexa support and three speakers with a total power of 30 watts. It will go on sale this year at a price of $899.

Some experts say that buying products with a high protein content (and at a higher price) is like letting money down the toilet. Are they right?

How many proteins do we really need? Do they help to lose weight? And to whom do they help?

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Canadian Arctic explorer, ethnographer and writer Villalmur Stefansson decided to eat only meat for five years. Accordingly, his diet in those years consisted of approximately 80% of fats and 20% of proteins.

Twenty years later, in 1928, he repeated the experiment under the supervision of specialists from the famous New York hospital Bellevue, but limited himself to one year.

Stefansson wanted to refute the view that a person cannot survive on meat alone.

But in both experiments he quickly became ill if he ate for some time only lean meat.

He developed the so-called protein poisoning, which was called "rabbit depletion."

Symptoms disappeared when he changed his diet - he began to eat less protein and more fat.

After those experiments, living in New York City and consuming a typical American protein diet with an average protein content, Stefansson began to complain about poor health.

He returned to his diet - with a restriction of carbohydrates and a high content of fats and proteins - and lived on it until 83 years old.

One way or another, his first experiments are one of the few formal scientific proofs that a high-protein diet can be very harmful.

Despite the great popularity of protein nutritional supplements, many of us still do not know exactly how many proteins we need, how to consume them and what threatens them with a deficiency or excess in the body.

Squirrels in the foreground

Over the past twenty years, the level of obesity among the British has doubled, and many are beginning to more consciously approach to nutrition. We replace white bread with black and whole grains, and ordinary milk with skim.

In a marketing show about a healthy lifestyle, squirrels play a major role: supermarket shelves are full of protein bars, protein balls, and protein-enriched everyday foods from cereal flakes to soups.

In 2016, the global market for protein nutritional supplements was approximately $12.4 billion. Obviously, we were convinced that the more protein, the better.

And how many do they need?

However, some experts now say that buying products with a high protein content (and at a higher price) is a waste of money.

Let's figure it out. Proteins are necessary for the growth and restoration of body cells. Protein food - meat, fish, eggs, dairy products and legumes - in the stomach is split into amino acids and absorbed by the small intestine; then the liver decides which amino acids the body needs. The rest are washed with urine.

Adults whose lifestyle is not particularly active are advised to consume approximately 0.75 g of protein per kilogram of body weight daily.

On average, it is 55 g for men and 45 g for women. They can be obtained from two servings (palm-sized) of foods such as meat, fish, tofu, nuts or legumes.

If there is not enough protein, a person may lose hair, a rash on the skin or lose weight due to loss of muscle mass.

But such side effects are very rare, mainly in those who suffer from eating disorders.

Proteins for Schwarzeneggers

For most of us, proteins are associated with bodybuilding. And there is.

Strength exercises lead to the breakdown of proteins in the muscles. To strengthen muscles, proteins must be renewed.

An amino acid called leucine plays a particularly important role in triggering protein synthesis.

Some experts even believe that if you don’t eat after training with protein-rich foods or special supplements, your muscles will not grow.

Supplement makers are advised to drink a protein shake after exercise - usually based on leucine-rich whey protein, a by-product of cheese production.

Consumers seem to agree. According to a report published in 2017 by research company Mintel, 27% of Britons consume sports nutrition products - such as protein bars and shakes.

This figure rises to 39% among those who exercise more than once a week.

But more than half (63%) of those who consume the mentioned foods cannot say for sure whether they are useful.

Does it help or not?

Studies of how protein supplements help build muscle show mixed results.

In particular, in 2014, scientists analyzed 36 scientific articles on this topic and concluded: protein supplements do not affect lean body mass and muscle strength during the first few weeks of strength training in people who have not previously been involved in sports.

Most people already get most of their recommended daily protein intake from regular foods.

Over time, when your workouts become more intense, supplements can actually help build muscle. However, the authors note that such changes have not been investigated in the long term.

Another study in 2012 says that protein “improves exercise performance, helps restore and increases lean body mass,” but it says: for best results, proteins should be consumed with fast carbohydrates.

Ordinary sweet bars?

And - attention! - if athletes and visitors to gyms benefit from a quick “infusion” of proteins into the body immediately after training, this does not mean that it is necessary to use supplements and shakes.

Most people get most of the recommended daily amount of protein from regular foods, says Kevin Tipton, a physical education teacher at the University of Stirling.

"No supplements are needed. It's a convenient way to get protein, but there's nothing you can’t get from regular food. Protein bars are ordinary sweet bars with a slightly high protein content."

Tipton adds that even for bodybuilders, whey protein and other similar substances are not as important as they are trying to give us.

“The focus is too biased on which supplements to use, but it’s actually more important to go to the gym and train. Other variables, such as sleep, diet and stress level, are also important,” he emphasizes.

Most experts agree with Tipton: Proteins are best obtained from food rather than supplements. But there are certain exceptions - in particular, athletes who find it difficult to achieve their daily goals in protein intake, said Graham Close, a physiology professor at the John Moores University of Liverpool.

"In my opinion, the needs of most of them exceed the recommended daily allowance, and there is evidence for this," he says. In this case, a cocktail may be useful.

Who else needs proteins?

What other demographic group will not prevent additional proteins? To old people. Because with age, we need more proteins to maintain the same muscle mass.

At the same time, older people tend to consume less protein, because their tastes often shift towards sweetness.

Emma Stevenson, a professor of physical education at the University of Newcastle, is trying to negotiate with food producers to increase the protein content of foods that older people often buy, like cookies.

“With age, we need to carefully maintain our muscle mass, because we become weak and less active,” she says.

Close argues that older people should increase their protein intake to 1.2 g per kilogram of body weight.

Can I overeat them?

Fortunately, consuming too many proteins is very difficult. Although the upper limit exists, it is "almost impossible" to achieve, Tipton said.

"Some nutritionists are concerned that a high-protein diet could harm the kidneys and bones, but there is very little evidence for this when it comes to healthy people."

You should not think that "high protein" automatically means healthy food

"Perhaps problems will arise if a person with a diseased kidney will eat a large amount of protein; but any bad consequences are very unlikely."

However, although the proteins themselves are not harmful, protein supplements often contain a significant amount of carbohydrates from the FODMAP group, and they, in turn, cause digestive disorders: bloating, flatulence, pain in the stomach.

Stevenson advises reading the labels on food additives, bars, and balls carefully.

"Often they are very high in calories and contain a huge amount of carbohydrates, often in the form of sugar. You should not think that" high protein content "automatically means healthy food," she says.

Do they help to lose weight?

Proteins have long been associated with weight loss; high-protein and low-carb diets (such as paleo diet or Atkins diet) promise to prolong the feeling of fullness.

People often fail to lose weight because they feel hungry and eat. As shown by studies using MRI, a high-protein breakfast helps to reduce appetite during the day.

There is ample evidence that protein satisfies hunger well, says Alex Johnstone of Aberdeen University. If you are trying to lose weight, it is more important to eat high-protein breakfasts (for example, toast with beans or a milkshake) than to take supplements.

But she does not defend the Atkins diet and found in her study that excluding carbohydrates from the diet negatively affects intestinal health (and we know that a healthy intestine is critical to many aspects of our health and well-being).

Johnstone recommends that overweight people maintain a diet high in protein and moderately high in carbohydrates: 30% protein, 40% carbohydrate, and 30% fat.

For comparison: people without excess weight are recommended to consume an average of 15% protein, 55% carbohydrates and 30% fat.

Of course, you won’t lose weight if you increase your protein intake. An important key to success is eating chicken, other lean meat or fish.

Are there any risks and how to avoid them?

Studies also show that consuming large amounts of animal protein contributes to weight gain, while red meat increases the risk of cancer and heart disease.

However, there are useful non-meat proteins, for example, mycoprotein, a mushroom protein.

On its basis, a meat substitute under the Quorn brand was released in Britain - it contains a lot of not only proteins, but also fiber. Researchers are now studying how this unique combination affects satiety and insulin levels associated with type 2 diabetes.

One research group compared the mycoprotein diet to a chicken diet and found that those who ate Quorn had the same sugar control, but the pancreas was required to produce less insulin.

The risk of consuming excess protein is small. But it’s better not to be seduced by the effectiveness of overpriced foods that offer more protein than we need.

"Some products labeled as" high protein "are actually not, but are quite expensive," says Johnstone.

“Be that as it may, consuming more protein than you need is wasteful. It's like letting money down the toilet.”

We are constantly told about the benefits of diversity in nutrition, but we asked the opposite question: if we still had to survive by eating just one product, which one would help us last longer?

Man is not alive by bread alone - these winged words can be understood literally, because only a month after the start of such an experiment (eating only bread) you will certainly begin to scurvy.

The best diet is one that includes all the variety of foods so you don’t even have to think about whether you get all the necessary micronutrients, from vitamin C and iron to linoleic acid.

Even new-fangled diets, involving the use of only a few foods or the complete exclusion of certain foods from the diet, are usually diverse enough to provide the body with everything necessary.

However, imagine a situation (completely unbelievable) in which we would have to survive, eating only one product.

We probably would like to know which food is more nutritious, and is it possible, for example, to get all the useful substances only from potatoes, only bananas or only from avocados.

Only one thing is known for sure: meat, as well as most fruits and vegetables, will not work for this role.

In meat, there is neither fiber, nor the most important vitamins and minerals.

Fruits and vegetables, on the one hand, are rich in vitamins, but the trouble is they contain very little fat and protein, so even if they are in large quantities, we will not get enough of these nutrients.

In fact, in order to survive, we do not need so much. But this does not mean at all that we can painlessly give up everything in a row.

This means that for those who eat only very lean meat, including rabbit meat, "diarrhea develops within a week, accompanied by headache, weakness, and overall poor health."

Stefansson writes that these people can avoid death from malnutrition only if they include fatty foods in their diet.

In the book of John Krakauer, Into the Wild, it is suggested that it was rabbit hunger that could cause the sad fate of the American traveler Chris McCandless, leading him to death.

It is believed that if a person receives only protein with a small amount of fat and carbohydrates, his liver may simply not cope with an excess of protein.

Adhering to a strict mono-diet is harmful not only because of a lack of nutrients

Nutritionist Jenny Jackson of the University of Glasgow Caledonian believes that compared to meat and most other vegetables, potatoes in this situation are not at all such a bad option as they might seem.

Last year, she wrote an article about Australian Andrew Taylor, who only ate potatoes for a year to lose weight and get used to a healthy lifestyle. His experiment was widely reported in the media.

According to Jackson, from many other starchy foods, potatoes are distinguished by an unusually high content of protein and, as a result, a variety of amino acids.

However, for a person with the same weight as Taylor, even 3 kg of potatoes per day will not be enough to get the recommended amount of protein. In addition, potatoes are low in fat.

Despite the fact that Taylor also consumed sweet potatoes, rich in vitamins A and E, iron and calcium, Jackson notes that he still lacked B vitamins, zinc and other trace elements.

Nevertheless, Taylor managed to live this year without much loss and even noticeably lose weight.

It is worth noting that potatoes quite often become the subject of discussion when it comes to nutrition.

A few years ago, a reader of the Chicago Reader newspaper turned to the author of the column of tips with the question of whether it is possible to survive by eating only milk and potatoes.

He referred to the fact that before the "potato famine" in Ireland, the inhabitants of this country lived on almost one potato.

The journalist Cecil Adams, who was conducting this column at the time, said that he and his assistant made calculations and found that potatoes and milk in large quantities were able to provide the body with almost all the necessary substances, with the exception of molybdenum.

To make up for the lack of the latter, just eat a little oatmeal.

Jackson laughs at this. “So, after all, this is our diet - the diet of the Scots. That is exactly what we ate about a hundred years ago. Potatoes, milk and oatmeal, plus a little cabbage,” she says.

However, adhering to a strict mono-diet is harmful not only because of a lack of nutrients.

Our body is designed to avoid such situations (perhaps because in the end it leads to malnutrition and exhaustion).

The more different vegetables we eat, the better - but why this is so is still unclear

For this there is such a mechanism as sensory-specific saturation: the more specific foods you eat, the worse your body perceives it. But at the same time, he will not mind anything new.

“I call it the“ pudding effect, ”Jackson says.“ For example, you have a tight dinner and you can no longer swallow a bite. And then someone brings the pudding and you pounce on it with appetite.”

There is a danger that, day after day, eating the same product, at some point you simply cannot eat it in an amount sufficient to survive.

Just imagine that you have to eat three kilos of avocado a day.

Moreover, the assumption that adhering to a mono-diet instead of a varied diet can be without harm to health - provided that all vitamins and minerals are ingested, as well as a sufficient number of calories, only seems logical.

Recall using what methods the modern science of nutrition has developed. At the very beginning of the 20th century, scientists excluded certain nutrients from the diet of rats and monitored what they might get sick or die from.

For example, this is how we learned about the existence of vitamins. Such experiments can show what rats will die without, at least in the short term.

However, Jackson believes that with the help of such experiments it is impossible to identify some of the benefits of a varied diet, which are manifested over a longer period of time.

In addition, we must not forget that people are still different from rats.

After analyzing the existing epidemiological data, scientists came to the conclusion that the more different vegetables we eat, the better. But why this is so is still unclear.

For example, there is a possibility that people who do not eat green vegetables are, for some reason, more susceptible to cancer.

“We don’t know for sure what the consequences of the use of this or that product can lead to,” Jackson says.

"We can determine how much essential nutrients we need, but miss out on something important that we don’t even know about."

By reducing your diet to just one ingredient, you can save time and effort, but this is the shortest way to get sick... or just get bored.

“I beg you, go home!” The boss told me. “Everyone complains about you and does not want to get infected with your disgusting virus.”

To my assurances that this is just a cold and that I do not feel so bad, no one paid attention. I had to give up, otherwise I would be taken out of the news department under white hands.

Yes, I did not feel 100%, but I was sure that I was not so sick that I had to spend the whole day under the covers.

Forget about “Brexit”, nothing has split my friends, colleagues and friends in social networks so much as arguing about whether you cannot go to work if you sneeze?

Some said: "For God's sake, pull yourself together, it's just a cold!". Others agreed: "Yes, this is a difficult question." And others asked: "How dare you infect your colleagues! You are an egoist."

I came across a fork where labor laws, ethical principles and public health clash.

Good and bad colds

We face colds everywhere - in a tram, in a supermarket, in the playground. And even if you are not going to never leave the house at all, you will still get infected from someone from her.

Then I thought, why are so many worried then? After all, is this just normal in winter?

“The common cold is a viral disease, and different people react differently to it. Some people feel very bad when they catch a cold,” says Rachel Saff from the Institute for Personnel Development (CIPD).

"If you really feel bad, and your symptoms indicate that you will not be productive at work, then it is better to stay at home. So you will not spread your viruses at work," she continues.

Many viruses cause a cold, but the most common are rhinoviruses.

Professor Martin Marshall, head of the Royal College of General Practitioners, agrees that different people respond differently to colds.

But should we avoid colds at all costs? Don't these viruses strengthen our immune system?

Professor Peter Openshaw, former head of the British Society of Immunology, has been researching this issue for the past 25 years and says that a cold can be beneficial to the general health of the body, but not always.

It turned out that there is a good cold, and there is a bad cold.

“I’ve been trying all my life to figure out which of these viruses are beneficial. Because some of them seem to train the immune system,” he says.

But what about those with weakened immunity?

One of my colleagues told me: "When my mother became seriously ill with cancer, I started to have a pulmonary infection, which I got from a colleague, and I could not visit her for three weeks. I had to hire a nurse."

Although she admits that she could have been infected anywhere, she insists that sitting at a desk opposite a constantly sneezing person is far from the best option.

Professor Marshall. People with colds, especially those who work with sick people, children, and pregnant women, need to consider whether they should go to work sneezing and coughing.

Hayley Johnson, Slater and Gordon's labor law attorney, recalls that for patients suffering from cystic fibrosis who have recently undergone chemotherapy, the consequences of a cold can be extremely serious.

Has the attitude to colds changed in recent years?

Yes, it seems.

The CPID Institute notes that, according to surveys of personnel departments, the number of days people take sick leave on average fell to 5.9 per year, that is, to the lowest level in the last 19 years when the institute began to conduct such surveys.

83% of human resources workers report seeing people sick at work. 63% saw employees go to work, although they were on vacation.

Rachel Saff claims that it all depends on working conditions. "It is known that many people are already struggling with this. They understand that if they spend several days at home, they will expect even more work upon their return."

Haley Johnson says that in recent years, employers have become more closely monitoring the level of illness of their employees, especially when they often stay at home for several days.

In her opinion, companies are trying to reduce costs as much as possible, as a result of which each employee works for one and a half people.

Often, many people think that they simply have to go to work despite their illness.

Does it all depend on the employer?

"If someone has a cold, then we send them home," says Paul Knowles of Acoustic and Engineering Consultants Ltd.

“There are only six of us, and if three cannot work because of the common cold, it will be very difficult for us to fulfill customer orders,” he says.

Mike Cherry, chairman of the Small Business Federation (FSB), encourages small business employees not to be afraid to raise a health issue with their employer.

“9 out of 10 employers provide an opportunity to work in a flexible mode,” he said. “For example, if a person feels bad but is able to do something, it is often easier to let him work from home for the duration of his illness.”

The hardest thing is for freelancers and individual entrepreneurs, Cherry notes.

"The law on compulsory provision of free time does not apply to them, and they have a habit of working no matter what, whatever the consequences," he says.

Can I get fired for a cold?

"In the end, even if employees can get out of bed, this does not mean that they can work," notes Hayley Johnson. “Doctors give help without a problem even in cases where it would seem that we are talking about a patient with only a minor infection.”

"For 10 years of my work as a lawyer, I only once encountered a company that required a certificate in all cases. Almost all companies believe that if a sick person stays home for five days, then everything is in order and a certificate is needed only after this period," she says.

Hayley Johnson offers a simple approach - employers and employees must trust each other.

“An employer can fire a subordinate if he is sure that he is lying. As an example, she described a hypothetical situation when a person called to say that he was ill and stayed at home, and then on social networks posted photos of himself drinking champagne in a bar.

But the fact that the vast majority of employers perceive as true the words of subordinates that they are sick, indicates a high level of trust on both sides.

So what do I understand?

Having examined all aspects of this problem, I came to the conclusion that I was lucky with work and that I should remember: the immunity of some people is lowered.

And if I picked up something contagious, maybe I should be kind to treat myself and others and work from home until everything goes well.

Scientists have discovered a curious evolutionary paradox: men who make an effort to look more attractive and athletic often jeopardize their ability to acquire offspring.

The use of steroids to maintain an athletic figure or anti-baldness can adversely affect fertility. This paradox is called Mossman-Pacey - after the scientists who first described it.

 “I drew attention to the appearance of some men who came to us with complaints about reproductive function: they were hefty, pumped up guys,” says Dr. James Mossman, now an employee of Brown University in the United States.

At that time, he was a graduate student in Sheffield and was working on a dissertation on the abuse of anabolic steroids.

“Such men often resort to steroids in order to build muscle and look like a superman,” the scientist says. “But in fact, they drive themselves into an evolutionary dead end, as their number of living sperm tends to zero.”

Anabolic steroids mimic the effects of the hormone testosterone in the male body, and therefore they are used to increase muscle mass in professional wrestlers.

“The irony is that men spend hours on exercise machines to find attractiveness in the eyes of women, but in fact their ability to conceive is only reduced,” adds Professor Allan Pacey from the University of Sheffield.

Anabolic steroids act on the pituitary gland, giving the impression that the seminal glands are too intense.

Therefore, the pituitary gland reduces the production of two hormones - follitropine FSH and the luteinizing hormone LH, which are most actively involved in sperm production.

Researchers note that a similar mechanism is observed in men who use drugs to combat baldness.

The drug finasteride changes the behavior of testosterone in the body and can reduce the rate of hair loss, however, side effects of its use include impotence and decreased fertility.

"This will surprise you, but I would say that up to 90% of men who take steroids become infertile," says Professor Pacey.

Dr. Mossman believes that these drugs that exploit male vanity actually lead to an evolutionary dead end, as they prevent gene transfer to the next generation.

In his opinion, such behavior, when the desire to attract the opposite sex jeopardizes the ability to reproduce, is unique in the animal world and is inherent only to man.

“The irony is ironic, but those men who have fertility problems need to seriously think about it,” says Professor Pacey.

“Clinics usually keep silent about this, and it doesn’t reach young people that this can be a problem. So a little useful information can save them from a lot of mental suffering afterwards,” the scientist concludes.