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Coke, cannabis and condoms – enough to make you ‘glow’ or ‘perspire’

By Laura Passi

Our roundup of health news headlines on Friday 8 October.

As usual, for a Friday, there is the spate of drug-related stories.

''Legal highs' chosen over street cocaine' says The Independent. This is apparently due to drug takers being fed up with poor quality cocaine.

But as The Metro quite rightly highlights, legal doesn't mean safe. It quotes Peter Kelsey, a team leader for Lifeline, a group which helps drug users in Redcar and Cleveland, as saying: ‘People hear the word legal and they think it's safe. It's anything but. With legal highs, there have been lots of reports of different side effects like people committing suicide or becoming paranoid because of mephedrone binges.'

And The Daily Mail runs with ‘Now cannabis ruins 10 young lives each day' , detailing information from a report which shows that young people needing treatment for mental or other serious problems caused by smoking cannabis has rocketed by a third.

Scientists have 'discovered' that men perspire while ‘women really do just glow'. Apparently it's because women need to work harder to build up a sweat. But before gloating begins The Daily Telegraph points out ‘this may make men look less cool than women in the gym, it is actually means their bodies are working more effectively.'

The study coordinator Dr Yoshimitsu Inoue explains that is could be an adaptation. ‘Women generally have less body fluid than men and may become dehydrated more easily,' he says. 'Therefore the lower sweat loss in women may be an adaptation strategy that attaches importance to survival in a hot environment, while the higher sweat rate in men may be a strategy for greater efficiency of action or labour.'

After the first week of the Commonwealth games, some toilets systems are blocked. The Metro reports the response of a cleaner: ‘We are not responsible for this crisis – they are. The people in the rooms should not have stuffed condoms down the loo.' Indeed the toilets have been clogged by the non-biodegradable contraceptives. In fact, ‘athletes and officials were provided with 8,000 free condoms in vending machines in the residential village. About half were used in the first three days of the event.'

daily digest


          

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