By Amy Fallon
Our round-up of the health headlines on Tuesday 26 April
There's nothing like returning to your job from a post-Easter break to read about the anxieties caused by work. The Daily Mail reports, in a timely way, on the 'most stressful and least stressful' careers.
Good news if you work in the healthcare field: it makes up five of the 10 spots in the list of least stressful jobs, in a survey conducted by online employment website CareerCast. Audiologists have the least to worry about, the research found. You can't say the same about commercial pilots, who topped the 2011 'stress list' followed by, some hacks might say bizarrely, public relations officers.
Of course those still on holidays can't completely relax. 'Package holiday hygiene' could leave you 'fighting for your life', the Mail warns. It points to the case of 13-year-old Bradie Perkins from Leicestershire, diagnosed with the potentially deadly E.coli bacteria after a family holiday in Turkey.
In other Mail news, scientists may have now discovered why painkillers like aspirin and ibuprofen 'may stop happy pills working'. Research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that aspirin, ibuprofen, paracetamol and some other popular painkillers appeared to make serotonin uptake inhibitors less effective.
'Is depression actually good for you?' the Independent asks. Among the research it mentions is a Dutch study suggesting that people seemed to cope better with life's trials after depression, with an improvement in psychological health, social and leisure activities, occupational performance and general health. Psychiatrist and author Dr Paul Keedwell from Cardiff University argues that depression can benefit us by 'putting the brakes on' and removing us from scenarios leading to extreme stress.
While most of us are probably happy that spring has sprung, an early start to the pollen season and higher than normal levels of pollution has forced the Telegraph to issue a hay fever warning. The British Lung Foundation advises allergy sufferers to use spray aerosols, antihistamines and inhalers to control the problem.
Spotted a story we've missed? Let us know in the comments and we'll update the digest throughout the day...
Daily Digest
