Dr Joe Unplugged

Dr Joe Unplugged is your home for open commentary on health, wellbeing and life in the broadest sense. We will explore diet, exercise, sleep and stress amongst other health matters as well as issues that may impact you and your wellbeing in direct or indirect ways....

It’s Christmas!

If Christmas did not exist it would need to be invented. Perfectly timed at the end of the year, it allows for many people worldwide to celebrate in some way, shape or form. This may be the formal religious celebration or simply a catch up with friends and family....

We Need Our Sleep

Human beings spend more time being asleep than anything else. It is estimated that at the turn of the twentieth century the average American slept nine hours each night. By the turn of the twenty first century this figure has dropped to under eight hours. Lack of...
Live Better For Longer

Live Better For Longer

Two interesting pieces recently on longevity caught my eye. It was reported in The Lancet that life expectancy is continuing to increase and that a large number of babies born this century will live to be a century. I was first shown statistics like this in 2003 at an...

Let The Sun Shine

Let The Sun Shine

Without the sun there would be no life on earth. Yet somehow over the last 30 year the sun has become something evil to be feared and avoided at almost all costs. Lets be very clear up front -getting sunburnt is not a good idea and if you do it often enough there is...

H1N1 Vaccination – Why the Rush?

H1N1 Vaccination – Why the Rush?

It is never a good idea to cut corners in life. Whilst it is often easy to justify in the heat of the moment, down the track, the consequences, some predictable, others not will come back to haunt. It is with this in mind that I am increasingly uneasy about the rush...

Stopping To Smoke – Made Easy

Stopping To Smoke – Made Easy

Smoking rates have declined over the last 30 years in many countries particularly the USA and Australia. Most of this has been from people just quitting or going “cold turkey” as it is called. Cigarette consumption does vary considerably around the world . More...

Heart Fitness

Looking after your heart may be easier than you think. And it does not require tablets.

How Diets Mess With Our Minds

You can’t half break a diet. You’re either on one or you’re not. Diets are the heart of restriction and deprivation. These aren’t happy places for our heads to be in.

Unfit Until Screening And Intervention Says Otherwise!

I received a letter from the Federal Government informing me of its new Healthy Start For School “ initiative”. The rationale for this as with most of these schemes is that it will “… help with the early identification of life risk factors and development delays and conditions”. Really? Even if you could understand this double speak it is meaningless.

Maximising Your Potential

It is urgent that professionals and the general population make lifestyle improvements a high priority in their daily agendas and long-term goal setting. As with any venture, there are effective and ineffective strategies

Meaningless Warnings

It is time to push back against meaningless warnings and regulations, which achieve nothing.

Be Healthy With iHealth Coach

Would you like to be healthier? The iHealth Coach app is there to help you. Click here http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ihealth-coach/id449572966

It’s All Done With Mirrors

With more sage skin advice, the world could have been spared the environmental impact of all those poisoned apples in Grimm Fairy Tales. Although nature will, it seems, win in the end. Here is a light hearted look at looking young.

Instead Of Taking Pills – Focus On Being Healthy

Medicines are trialed over relatively short periods of time but can then be taken for five, ten or even twenty years. Trials done over two years will of course not reveal problems that may only arise after five years of use.