PCOS Relief
Around The World – Yahoo! News UK
It shines light on a trend by health authorities and large corporations to dangle money or vouchers to people who quit smoking, lose weight, practise safe sex or take vital medications.
The idea is to provide a carrot for a healthier lifestyle. And when someone becomes healthier, that also has indirect rewards for the community as a whole, in terms of better work productivity and lower medical costs.
At first sight, some of these incentives seem astonishing. Pregnant women in the county of Essex were offered food vouchers worth 20 pounds if they stopped smoking for a week; 40 pounds if they kept off cigarettes for four weeks, and another 40 pounds after a year.
In Varallo, Italy, authorities offered the equivalent of 67 dollars to overweight residents if they achieved a target weight, rising to 268 dollars if they sustained the goal for five months and 670 dollars for 12 months.
In Tanzania, men and women aged 15-30 were offered the equivalent of 45 dollars if they regularly tested negative for a sexually-transmitted disease. In East London, psychotic patients were offered between five and 15 pounds for getting an injection of antipsychotic drugs.
Should doctors be getting involved in this kind of scheme? After all, every mother-to-be knows — or should know — that smoking in pregnancy is terribly damaging to her baby. Giving up cigarettes should be a matter of conscience and maternal responsibility, shouldn’t it? And paying people to lose weight — isn’t that rewarding gluttony, and taking the nanny state into the zone of the absurd?
The focus of the BMJ paper was on whether these incentives actually work, and if the published evidence is a guide. Its answer is a qualified ‘No’.
The investigators found no evidence to prove that a typical smoking-cessation or weight-loss bonus was more effective than classic methods when monitored over six months or a year. But, put enough money on the table, and there was a better chance of success, they found. A large (unnamed) organisation did well by offering employees up to 750 dollars if they quit smoking for a year, and some weight-loss incentives were quite effective if the sum being offered was more than 1.2 percent of the individual’s income.
Does everyone have a price for giving up guilty pleasures? If so, what’s yours?
In this blog, reporters and editors for global news wire AFP blog
about the news they report and the challenges they face covering events
from Baghdad to Beijing, the White House to Darfur. Richard Ingham is AFP’s Health & Science Editor.
@ r symons: With a BMI of 75 you can change your diet to drinking only water and eating only ice and celery, and you would probably have enough stored energy to keep your heart beating and your lungs breathing till 2011. But I'm guessing you like the tasty foods that are loaded with energy, so you can put 2 and 2 together and guess where that is gonna end?
Isn't it funny how Fat people strive to justify their obesity?? – They like to blame Syndromes or Genetics!
You only have to look in their Kitchens and Refrigerators to see the heaps of junk food they consume.
Giving fatties, smokers,etc. financial rewards is not a good idea! “Let them eat doughnuts”!
With so much excersise needed to be done perhaps harness people to the national grid and reward them for the power they can return
Don,t people feel ashamed of being fat? I,d hate to get into bed with a fat lump of @#$%
@klubber1uk: Just read about PCOS and PWS on Wikipedia. You are fooling yourself to try and blame obesity on these syndromes. These syndromes at best can be blamed for an abnormal apetite. After that it comes down to you deciding to ignore the evidence (your obese body) and keep on following the appetite even though the stored energy of fat on your body cleary tells you you don't need to consume anymore energy. Even though the hormonal effects of what ever syndrome tell you you're hungry, you must look at the physical eveidence presented to you by a scale, BMI or mirror and realize the difference between a craving and the body's need for energy.
cakes r treats, sweets r treats, chocalate is a treat, proper dinners thgree times a day is not a treat but a way of life so why the @#$% do people like to get fat on gorging on cakes chocalate and sweets
In my country food is too expensive. I have tried out many healthy slimming/losing weight schemes. IT worked. But so many times, i gain weight after about a year or so. Its all due not to bad eating habits, but because food here is expensive (in mauritius. And to top all that, i have thyroid problems. SO you see, not at all times fat people are “greedy”.
Oh dear. Has it taken them this long to catch up on the idea of positive reinforcement? If they bothered to talk to folk who clicker train dogs or horses or dolphins for that matter, maybe they'd learn not only can incentives work, but HOW to get them to work. Basically, unless the reward is something the client wants, is delivered at the right time, and is basically big enough to motivate the desired behaviour, guess what? you get limited or bad results. A lot of research has already been done in this field–possibly it might be sensible to consult with animal behaviourists and modify the same principles for people.
Might just be easier to ban @#$%s, cheap booze, and 7p Tescos Value Gloopy swiss rolls though. The chaos would be entertaining and those of us with a criminal bent could make a fortune racketeering Victoria Sponges and Lemon Curd Meringue Cakes to the desperate masses
r.symons1 and tottonfemale40-love to get in touch with both of you, good idea we could support each other, our problems sound similar. How to get initial contact details safely is a different matter though, any suggestions?
Has any one thought of sending these folk who eat and drink to excess a cold turkey environment? As for smokers, well the same treatment as well. OK I know that such a proposal would bring down a raging torrent of protest, but stupid people need to realise the folly of their ways.
Please sign in to add your comments.
Does anyone here know/have PCOS ?
I'm 17 female, and recently diagnosed with PCOS.. can you help me understand what exactly is going on with my body !?!
I know the symptoms are:
- weight gain
- excess androgens –male hormones–
- acne
- trouble sleeping
- etc.
But I'm not sure if the whole infertility thing would happen to me, or if I should be worried. There is a possiblility that I could get ovarian cancer and diabetes, but for some reason I'm not concerned. My inability to carry children is affecting my mother more than me, because I don't think I would be a great mother. Any advice !?!
I'm also feeling really depressed and tired, are these symptoms or conditions with the disease, or am I just over reacting !?! Starting to gain weight, which is making me depressed.
Other articles you might like;
- Comment on The Best Bacterial Vaginosis Treatments Reviewed by Arizer
- Comment on Bacterial Vaginosis Herbal Remedy by herbal
- Comment on 3 Days To Permanent Bacterial Vaginosis Relief Review by Bitter Melon Capsules
- Comment on Stop Bacterial Vaginosis by Vaginose Bacterienne
- Comment on Home Remedies For Bacterial Vaginosis – Natural Treatment For Bv by 700R4 Transmission
Tags: Pcos Symptoms, Pcos Syndrome
