#027 ᐧ 21 July 2024

Happy Sunday POPhealth readers!

I sure hope it’s Sunday by the time this issue drops. The busy summer season has begun for me, and after some pretty awesome stuff this week, I’m basking in the glow of love and creativity.

First off, I saw the insanely incredible Fuerza Bruta at the Roundhouse in London on Wednesday with my lovely ex-MadeBravers and forever pals Anna & Aaron. I don’t think I have all the words to describe how good this show is. Restoring-faith-in-humanity-good. It’s an aerial and dance show from Argentina and the level of creativity, the raw emotion, and the skill of these performers is mesmerising. So, this is my public service announcement: if you can go, go! It looks like it’s running until at least early September, so plenty of time. And if you do go, hit me up, I’d love to know what you thought.

Next, I had a blast at the On The Beach Festival in Brighton this past Friday. Bicep was the headline DJ set and dancing on those pebbles was a bit hilarious. I was enjoying it so much, that I didn’t get the video of their classic track Glue… sometimes you’ve just gotta be present in the moment and say no to making content. But the internet never lets us down, does it? So, here is a video I found so that  we can relive it together:

@tiktok.brighton

Bicep at Brighton’s On The Beach Festival 2024 Follow for more events and ideas for things to do in Brighton #brighton #tiktokbrighton #b... See more

Well it was the IRL stuff that has kept me inspired this week, but shall we have a look at what else has caught my attention? No deep dives this week, there’s a Power Rangers marathon happening in this house, and I’m struggling to keep my eyes off the TV… so let’s jump in.

🔎 If you subscribe to Neil Perkins’ Only Dead Fish, you may have already seen his dive into ‘the three types of problems’ - simple, complicated and complex. If you don’t, take a look. It’s a great read and a healthy reminder of how to assess and define the problems in front of you. And some useful questions to help lean on your own experience, to confidently tackle them.

🤖 Of all the things I thought I’d ever write about… a civil servant robot has been reported as committing suicide, in South Korea. The robot, nicknamed Robot Supervisor, worked a regular shift at Gumi City Council and is reported to have thrown itself down a 2-metre staircase. While I don’t buy into the idea of a robot having any sort of emotional breakdown, I do find this sci-fi-esque story a fascinating preview of where culture could be heading. Especially with Korea being the world’s number one adopter of robotics, where else could it start!?

♀️ Pain Built-In from the Copenhagen Institute of Future Studies’ Foresight newsletter is an excellent, 12-minute dive into the historical and systemic bias in women’s health care - from the pain gap, and the ONLY answer being related to hormones and the reproductive system to the significance of underfunding. The article goes on to discuss the potential problems of alternatives and femtech that look to address these gaps:

Give this one a read and let me know what you think. I’ll be referencing this in a few projects to come!

🚀 OK, this is far from healthcare, but I could not resist sharing this crazy partnership between Monzo and Greggs. And to launch the partnership? An ATM dispensing sausage rolls - what else? 

🤵 I hadn’t come across the term Concierge Medicine until I’d read this article (I’m hardly the audience). It means paying some form of cash retainer to a clinic, in exchange for a certain set of services, amenities, and access. Or to put it bluntly, rich people paying for more time and quicker access to healthcare. The piece dives into the trending shift in these types of services - dubbed the new concierge model - which totally lean into the longevity trend, and includes services such as full body MRIs in healthy people to catch disease early, cancer screening blood tests, and cold plunging, to name a few. There’s a great wrap-up that looks at the why - from COVIDs impact on our health consciousness, overstretched services, burnt-out docs, and of course the influence of social media trends and health hacks.

🦠 New research suggests that children with autism carry unique gut flora. I’m excited to see progress in this area, for a more objective diagnostic tool. Current processes are slow and rely on parents describing their child's behaviour and a professional's observations. And of course, children will display varying degrees of symptoms. It’s not cut and dry, more research is needed to convince the sceptics, who argue the relationship goes the other way - that autistic children are more likely to be “fussy eaters,” changing the makeup of their microbiome.

👩‍⚕️ Fancy yourself as a budding healthcare creator? Check out the YouTube Health Creator Community's upcoming programme aimed at helping health organisations and healthcare professionals to grow their YouTube channels. I love that this initiative is helping to counteract health misinformation and making high-quality health information available to everyone.

💵 This super interesting crowdfunder popped up in my feed a couple of weeks ago - a brand new way of looking at revolutionising mental health care to be more accessible via a gift card model. Mentwell is currently established in Australia, and through the crowdfunding campaign, the company is looking to expand its efforts into the UK and US.

How does it work? Treatment gift cards are available to cover therapy sessions, meditation and to other  self-care services. Mentwell has primary target has been via companies to offer cards to their employees, whilst mental health service providers can join the Mentwell directory to promote their business.

🐜 And finally… ants have been caught on camera amputating the legs of nest mates to save their lives! How incredible is that!?  According to the article in the NYT the insects seem to know which injuries to treat as they engage in a behavior that seems almost human.

Wowza, pretty much the whole day has passed since I sat down to write. Our busy house always means it’s never a single writing session. I was grateful for the Sunday Roast break in between (thanks TP), and an un-traumatic bedtime… wish I could say the same about bath time with the little ones.

What plans have you got coming up over the next couple of weeks? I’d love to hear about them. The family is heading to We Are Love festival next weekend, and then I have a week off work for the school summer holidays, where I’ll take the boys up to Les-tah (Leicester) to see the family.

As always please do me a favour and share POPhealth with a colleague or friend. Especially if you’ve been inspired by the content today. I’m always so grateful for your support.

That does it for today.

Until next time ✌️

EML