Can massage and reflexology help clients with bladder cancer?

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble, hormone-like vitamin, which means body fat acts as a "sink" by collecting it. If you're overweight or obese, you're therefore likely going to need more vitamin D than a slimmer person -- and the same holds true for people with higher body weights due to muscle mass i.e. amateur and professional athletes. It is common knowledge that obesity and physical inactivity can lead to type 2 diabetes.  But what about your impact does your levels of Vitamin D have?. The Endocrine Society, published details of a study that looked at the vitamin D levels of 118 people with a wide range of weights (from slim to morbidly obese) while taking into account whether they had diabetes.   According to the researchers people who have low levels of vitamin D are more likely to have diabetes, regardless of how much they weighed.  The researches concluded that vitamin D is associated more closely with glucose metabolism (and hence your chance of getting diabetes) than obesity! One Indian study found that vitamin D and calcium supplementation, in combination with exercise, can prevent pre-diabetes from progressing into type 2 diabetes. The study found that for every unit increase in vitamin D levels, the risk of progression to diabetes in people with pre-diabetes went down by 8 percent. In 2013 Taleai, Mohamdi and Adgi found that type 2 diabetics given 50,000 IUs of oral vitamin D3 per week for eight weeks experienced "a meaningful reduction" in fasting plasma glucose and insulin. Other research showing this link includes but is not limited to the following:

• One study involving nearly 5,680 individuals with impaired glucose tolerance showed that vitamin D supplementation increased insulin sensitivity by 54 percent (see https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9516221?dopt=Abstract)
• The mechanisms by which vitamin D reduces insulin resistance include its effect on calcium and phosphorus metabolism and by up regulating the insulin receptor gene (see >> http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cbf.951/abstract)

In our day to day lives, during the times when we are deciding what to eat or whether to watch TV or take a walk, who is more likely to be around us, our family, friends, flat mates or a doctor?  Even for individuals living with a chronic condition who will probably only spend a few hours a year with medical professionals compared to the thousands of waking hours with family and friends. Recently researches discovered that women are more likely to survive breast cancer if they have a strong social network of friends and family, whereas those who are more isolated are twice as likely to die of the disease. University of Pennsylvania have found that good health is more likely if people see fewer doctors and more of their family and friends especially if they get their support and help.  They discovered that people are more likely to make healthier choices - like going for a walk over watching TV if they are around family and friends.  In addition people are more likely to go to the gym if they have someone to go with. Being part of a group e.g. family, friends, book club, tennis club, social group, religious/spiritual practice seems to aid our motivation to be healthier in terms of diet, exercise, smoking or drinking.  This could be because being part of a group enhances your sense of meaning in life, which in turn leads you to better take care of yourself.  Or it could be down to feeling a sense of responsibility towards other or even just wanting to fit in. References D A. Asch, and R Rosin, Engineering Social Incentives for Health, N Engl J Med 2016; 375:2511-2513 Kroenke, C. H., Michael, Y. L., Poole, E. M., Kwan, M. L., Nechuta, S., Leas, E., Caan, B. J., Pierce, J., Shu, X.-O., Zheng, Y. and Chen, W. Y. (2017), Postdiagnosis social networks and breast cancer mortality in the After Breast Cancer Pooling Project. Cancer, 123: 1228–1237. doi:10.1002/cncr.30440 Tarrant, M., Warmoth, K., Code, C., Dean, S., Goodwin, V. A., Stein, K., & Sugavanam, T. (2016). Creating psychological connections between intervention recipients: development and focus group evaluation of a group singing session for people with aphasia. BMJ Open, 6(2), e009652.  

For a while there has been an assumed link between poor sleep and heart disease but it was not understood.  Now fresh evidence suggests that sleep regulates a mechanism that can help to protect arteries from hardening.  Which reinforces the notion that good quality sleep is important for cardiovascular health. Researches studied the development of atherosclerosis - the process through which plaques or fatty deposits build up inside arteries causing them to narrow and stiffen.  They discovered sleep disturbed mice:

• Developed larger plaques in their arteries than mice that slept well.
• Had higher amounts of circulating, inflammatory cells.
• Produced lower amounts of hypocretin - a brain hormone that controls wakefulness.