Find out too, why the link between the gut and brain must not be ignored. Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. IBS or irritable bowel syndrome is a common condition that causes recurrent episodes of diarrhoea, constipation, bloating, or abdominal pain. Stress can trigger or worsen it, which is why the link between the gut and brain or what is known as the gut-brain axis must not be ignored in the treatme...
Jun 07, 2023•25 min•Season 1Ep. 107
Find out why stress is not the root cause of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), though it can trigger or worsen IBS. Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. Many people think that stress can cause IBS or irritable bowel syndrome, a common condition that causes recurrent episodes of diarrhoea, constipation, bloating, or abdominal pain. But this is not true. Stress can trigger or worsen IBS, but it is not the ro...
May 16, 2023•22 min•Season 1Ep. 106
Our guest explains the importance of parent-child relationships to build resilience in children. Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. In this episode, Straits Times senior health correspondent Joyce Teo invites educational psychologist Danielle Seah to talk about what parents can do to help build resilience in children. Ms Seah said parents need to spend the time and make the effort to connect and bond w...
May 03, 2023•30 min•Season 1Ep. 105
Find out how the Healthy Ketogenic diet recently developed by Dr Lim Su Lin, a chief dietitian at the National University Hospital, is different from traditional keto diets. Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. Dieting is very challenging for many people. In fact, most people regain the weight they lost, after a year, but what if you need to lose some weight because of your health? Obesity is, after all,...
Apr 18, 2023•28 min•Season 1Ep. 104
Might this miracle drug be the answer to curing obesity? Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. Obesity is a huge and complex problem. It is linked to Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, back pain and so many other health issues. However, there aren’t many anti-obesity medications out there. Wegovy is not just a new prescription drug for those with obesity or high-risk body mass index, ...
Apr 04, 2023•20 min•Season 1Ep. 103
Our expert guests explain how mental health charity Mindset helps recovering patients. Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. Gaining employment can boost the self-esteem of someone who is recovering from a mental illness and facilitate their recovery. But the discrimination against people with mental illnesses may make it difficult for them to find work. The challenges that come with their illnesses may a...
Mar 14, 2023•26 min•Season 1Ep. 102
Our expert guest discusses the importance of early detection. Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. In Singapore, around 2,000-3,000 people have a rare disease. One of them is Hereditary Angioedema or HAE, which is a rare genetic disorder that results in recurrent unprovoked swelling of various sites of the body, including the stomach, genitals or throat. There are about 20 HAE cases in Singapore, and Tan...
Feb 28, 2023•21 min•Season 1Ep. 101
Our expert guest tells you can be proactive before you even reach the age of 65. Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. This is also our 100th episode since the first ST podcast episode was published in mid-2018 featuring then-Health Minister Gan Kim Yong (link further below). Singapore has just launched an updated action plan for successful ageing to help Singaporeans live life to the fullest as they age....
Feb 01, 2023•27 min•Season 1Ep. 100
This question is nuanced, so find out who could benefit from repeated boosters. Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. It has been about three years since the Covid-19 virus was detected here, and Singapore has transitioned to living with it. Bivalent boosters are now available at all Joint Testing and Vaccination Centres, and selected Polyclinics and participating Public Health Preparedness Clinics. The u...
Jan 17, 2023•15 min•Season 1Ep. 99
Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought greater awareness to mental health. Young people, in particular, are more open to talking about their mental health, but if they need to find a listening ear for their stress after office hours or late on Saturday night, where can they find the support? In this episode, ST senior health correspondent Joyce Teo finds out more about a n...
Jan 03, 2023•21 min•Season 1Ep. 98
Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. Come next year, Singapore will launch its major preventive health strategy Healthier SG, which will include free cancer screening for three cancer - colorectal, cervical, and breast cancer. Are these enough? Should you pay to screen for other cancers? Should you pay for a cancer marker test? To answer these questions and more, ST senior health correspondent Joyce Teo ...
Dec 20, 2022•30 min•Season 1Ep. 97
Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. In this episode, find out how to spot stroke symptoms and what happens after a stroke patient gets to the hospital. Stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is restricted. It can be due to the blockage of blood vessels (ischaemic stroke) or bleeding in the brain (haemorrhagic stroke). Data from the latest Singapore Stroke Registry Annual Report, which is for 2020, s...
Dec 06, 2022•23 min•Season 1Ep. 96
Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. In this episode, we look at why you should start insuring yourself against critical illnesses when you are in your 20s or early 30s. Cancer, heart attacks and stroke are three common critical illnesses in Singapore. We are living longer but we may be spending more time in poor health. Looking at government statistics, we can see that in Singapore, cardiovascular disea...
Nov 15, 2022•13 min•Season 1Ep. 95
Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. Organ donation usually takes place after brain death, which is when there is total and irreversible loss of brain function. A patient with brain death cannot breathe on his own, and cannot recover, but his organs may still function for some time as he is supported on a ventilator. This is when conversations on organ donations typically take place. In this episode, ST ...
Nov 01, 2022•24 min•Season 1Ep. 94
Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. Mental health stigma is what happens when a person with a mental illness is seen in a negative light. It can lead to discrimination, as a person may be treated differently because of his or her mental illness. This stigma often stems from a lack of understanding of mental illness. In this episode, ST senior health correspondent Joyce Teo speaks to Ms Porsche Poh, the ...
Oct 18, 2022•16 min•Season 1Ep. 93
Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. Suicide is a complex phenomenon, one that is not yet fully understood. It's why the Institute of Mental Health has embarked on the first psychological autopsy in Singapore, to study to explore and analyse the risk factors for suicide. In this episode, ST senior health correspondent Joyce Teo speaks with Ms Jacqueline Pak. She is 42 and the head of corporate affairs in...
Oct 05, 2022•31 min•Season 1Ep. 92
Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. A white paper on the new national preventive care strategy known as Healthier SG is out. The Ministry of Health has submitted it to Parliament and it will be debated in October 2022. The plan is to launch it in the second half of 2023, when those aged 60 and above will be invited to enrol with a primary care clinic. In the next two years following that, those aged 40-...
Sep 21, 2022•13 min•Season 1Ep. 91
Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. The Singapore Government is keen to boost support for palliative care to help more end-of-life patients spend their remaining time at home, if they prefer to do so. For every patient who chooses to die in the comfort of his or her own home, there has to be a caregiver willing to provide the care. In the previous two episodes, we covered what palliative care is about, ...
Sep 06, 2022•26 min•Season 1Ep. 90
Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. In Singapore, deaths happen more in hospitals than in the patients' own homes, even though a Lien Foundation survey conducted back in 2014 had found that many people would prefer to die at home, surrounded by loved ones. Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said recently that the government wants to help more people fulfil this wish by boosting palliative care support. Convers...
Aug 16, 2022•12 min•Season 1Ep. 89
Synopsis: This podcast series is based on selected chapters from a book detailing Singapore’s experience battling the Covid-19 pandemic. The book - written by journalists of The Straits Times and edited by ST’s executive editor Sumiko Tan - is titled In This Together: Singapore's Covid-19 Story and is available in major bookstores. Details online: https://www.stbooks.sg/ In this sixth and final instalment, ST's executive editor Sumiko Tan looks at how thousands of Singaporeans celebrated the cou...
Aug 14, 2022•16 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. Palliative care is in the spotlight of late, with the authorities aiming to boost support in the sector to enable more people to make the most of the time they have left. It is an approach that aims to help a person living with a life-threatening illness to cope not only with the physical symptoms, but also other concerns, such as those about the inevitability of deat...
Aug 02, 2022•20 min•Season 1Ep. 88
Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. Bone health is often not the first thing on a person’s mind when it comes to health. However, it is important to prevent weakened bones, particularly in old age, so that we can continue with our everyday activities. As we age, more bone is broken down than is replaced by new bone, and losing too much bone mass can lead to osteoporosis, a disease that causes brittle bo...
Jul 19, 2022•20 min•Season 1Ep. 87
Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. The Institute of Mental Health or IMH is adopting trauma-informed care throughout the organisation. It's an approach that assumes that a person is more likely than not to have experienced a traumatic event. And it seeks to not re-traumatise patients or blame them for their efforts to manage their symptoms. In trauma-informed care, you would ask " What happened to you?...
Jul 05, 2022•21 min•Season 1Ep. 86
Synopsis: This podcast series is based on selected chapters from a book detailing Singapore’s experience battling the Covid-19 pandemic. The book - written by journalists of The Straits Times and edited by ST’s executive editor Sumiko Tan - is titled In This Together: Singapore's Covid-19 Story and is available in major bookstores. Details online: https://www.stbooks.sg/ In this fifth of six instalments, ST's executive editor Sumiko Tan looks back at how the government communicated its Covid 19 ...
Jun 26, 2022•17 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. The Institute of Mental Health (IMH) is adopting trauma-informed care throughout the organisation. It's an approach that assumes that a person is more likely than not to have experienced a traumatic event. And it seeks to not re-traumatise patients or blame them for their efforts to manage their symptoms. In trauma-informed care, you would ask " What happened to you?”...
Jun 14, 2022•21 min•Season 1Ep. 85
Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. Traditionally, the Institute of Mental Health or IMH has focused mainly on taking care of those who are severely ill with mental disorders. Now, it also wants to look at improving the mental health of Singaporeans by helping them manage their stress. We all need to swim and keep afloat in the sea of stress. Is there a way to do it better? Can we avoid sinking into it ...
May 31, 2022•19 min•Season 1Ep. 84
Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. Today, there are countless distractions keeping us up at night and stopping us from having a good night's sleep. Yet, sleep is one of the three pillars of a healthy lifestyle (nutrition and exercise are the other two), and in recent years, there has been much interest in how we can sleep better. But are personal measures enough to improve sleep? This, given he erosion...
May 17, 2022•15 min•Season 1Ep. 83
Synopsis: This podcast series is based on selected chapters from a book, detailing Singapore’s experience battling the Covid-19 pandemic. The book - written by journalists of The Straits Times and edited by ST’s executive editor Sumiko Tan - is titled In This Together: Singapore's Covid-19 Story and is available in major bookstores now. Details online: https://www.stbooks.sg/ In this fourth of six instalments, ST's executive editor Sumiko Tan looks back at the lessons Singapore learnt from fight...
May 08, 2022•18 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. We continue the conversation on sleep in this episode. Sleep is one of the three pillars of a healthy lifestyle and there has been much interest in how we can sleep better in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken up our daily routines, with so many people still working from home. In this episode, ST senior health correspondent Joyce Teo speaks to Professor Mi...
May 03, 2022•15 min•Season 1Ep. 82
Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you. The pandemic may have changed your sleep habits, though sleeping more does not mean that you are sleeping well. So, if you’re one of those about to return to the office and finding it hard to get a good night’s sleep, it’s time to do something about it. Or if you have been struggling to fall asleep even before the pandemic, it is never too late to seek help. In this e...
Apr 20, 2022•25 min•Season 1Ep. 81
