Feelgood 03-02-2011

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Feelgood

Friday, March 2, 2012

Picture: iStockphoto

TERAPROOF:User:irenefeighanDate:29/02/2012Time:17:14:16Edition:02/03/2012FeelgoodXH0203Page:1

Dressing down

Would you put a padded bra on this girl?

We give the latest update on the controversy surrounding provocative clothing for children: 8, 9

BLIND DATE

What happened when Katrina met Brian: 5

WORK RULES

Five women on being at the top of their healthcare careers: 10, 11

FIRST BITES

Expert tips on how to wean your baby onto solid foods: 12

TERAPROOF:User:irenefeighanDate:29/02/2012Time:17:34:42Edition:02/03/2012FeelgoodXH0203Page:2

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2 News front Kate O’Reilly WHAT’S ON ■ OVER 50S: The sixth annual Senior Times Over 50s Show takes place at Cork City Hall tomorrow from 11am to 6pm and on Sunday from 11am to 5.30pm. This year’s event will include health consultations, free hearing tests courtesy of Specsavers, Q&A with finance expert Jill Kerby and gardening clinics with Gerry Daly. Trace your roots in the new genealogy section and if you had a relative who served in the First World War, the Western Front Association, which has opened up a Cork office, will also be there. Admission is €5 but free tickets are available by logging on to www.seniortimes.ie ■ FREE TALK: Psychologist Fergus Heffernan will be in Cork next week to give a talk entitled Manage Your Life by Managing Your Mind – how to tap into your mind’s power so you can enjoy your life to the fullest. This free event will take place on at 7pm on Thursday, March 8, at Ballynoe Community Centre (near Conna) and will be followed by refreshments and entertainment. Further details from 087-7766813.

■ KETTLEBELL EVENT: On Saturday, March 10, SwingFit Munster Kettlebells — which specialises in fitness training using these weights — will host the first Kettlebell competition in Cork from 9am to 5pm at K2C Martial Arts Centre, Blackpool, Cork. The competition is open to Kettlebell sport athletes of all levels and will feature three separate events with entry costing €10 per event.

All proceeds go to Cork Simon Community. Registration, at www.swingfit.ie, closes tomorrow.

■ BIKE CHALLENGE: The Blazing Bikers Motorcycling Club are taking to the Scottish highlands during the May Bank Holiday weekend in a bid to raise funds for people who are blind or vision impaired. The Scottish Challenge, in aid of Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind and the NCBI, is the brainchild of guide dog owner Billy Shanahan from Thurles, Co Tipperary. The four-day 1,200km round trip will take place from May 4 to 7, travelling from Belfast to Cairnryan, Glasgow, Inverness and back through some of Scotland’s most beautiful countryside. It costs €550 per biker and €350 per pillion sharing to participate in the event. The cost includes ferry crossings and three nights B&B and evening meals.

For more details please contact Katriona on 087-4106861 or email blazingbikers@gmail.com before March 30.

■ FAMILY DAY: Lifetime Lab will host a family fun Engineering Open Day tomorrow from 11am to 4pm. Admission is free and children and adults can enjoy a series of stands and activities which will help them discover more about the many different types of engineering. Activities for this Engineers Week event will include programming Lego robots, construction challenges, snap circuits, engineering trails, launching water rockets and face painting. Lifetime Lab is located in the old Cork City Waterworks buildings on the Lee Road. Contact 021-4941500 or visit www.lifetimelab.ie ■ Items for inclusion in this column can be sent to koreilly8@gmail.com

FeelgoodMag

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FeelgoodMag

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Broadcaster is one of 150 people in Ireland who are diagnosed with thyroid cancer each year. Arlene Harris reports

Sile’s plight L

AST weekend, broadcaster Sile Seoige revealed the shocking reason for her lack of presence on the airwaves — she is recovering from thyroid cancer.

In an interview with the Sunday Independent, Seoige said the operation she had in September, and the treatment she is undertaking, would return her to full health.

“I am on medication for the rest of my life, and while I’m back at work and love it, it will take some time before I’m fully recovered,” she said. “In my heart and soul, I believe I will beat this.”

Aged 32, the Galway woman is young to have contracted the condition. It is more common in women than men, but is relatively rare, with 150 cases diagnosed each year in Ireland. Grainne O’Rourke, of the Irish Cancer Society, says the number of detected cases is rising. “Thyroid cancer is a rare cancer which affects people who are middle-aged or older,” she says. “It seems to be getting more common in recent years and doctors believe this is because new technology lets them find small thyroid cancers that were harder to find before.

“This type of cancer occurs when cells in your thyroid gland, at the base of your neck, change and start to grow in an abnormal way. A group of these cells can form a tumour, and if a malignant tumour is not treated it will affect how your thyroid works.”

POSITIVE ATTITUDE: Sile Seoige says: “In my heart and soul, I believe I will beat this.” Picture: VIPIRELAND.COM Symptoms may be vague at first, because thyroid cancer grows slowly.

These can include: ■ A painless lump in your neck, which gradually gets bigger.

■ Difficulty in swallowing or breathing.

■ Changes to your voice, including hoarseness.

The exact cause of thyroid cancer in most people is unknown. Some risk factors can increase your chance of developing it.

These include: ■ Certain benign thyroid conditions.

These are not cancer but include an enlarged thyroid (goitre), thyroid nodules (adenomas) or an inflamed thyroid (thyroiditis).

■ A poor diet with large amounts of butter, cheese and meat.

■ If you eat very little iodine-rich foods, you are at risk.

■ If you have been exposed to radiation, you can develop thyroid cancer many years later. For example, this happened to people who lived near the nuclear plant at Chernobyl in the Ukraine, after it exploded in 1986.

■ If you had radiotherapy as a child, you may be more at risk in later life of developing thyroid cancer.

■ If you have a faulty gene, known as RET gene, it may cause medullary thyroid cancer.

“An overactive or underactive thyroid does not increase your risk of developing thyroid cancer,” says O’Rourke.

But if you think you may be at risk, first talk to your family doctor about your concerns. He or she may advise you to visit a specialist.

■ For more information, visit www.cancer.ie or call 1800 200 700

HEALTH NOTES SHINING SUPPORT: An Award for Outstanding Contribution is presented by Eamon O’Donovan, chairman Shine Centre, to Donal Clancy, Managing Director of Quinn Healthcare for their support of the Autism Jigsaw Seminar held in Cork October 2011. Also pictured is is Diane Haly Buckley, Shine Centre.

Tonight’s free ‘first Friday’ event at Blackrock Castle observatory, at 6pm, will include family workshops in association with the Cork Electronics Industry Association, exploring how we use electricity. There will also be stargazing with BCO astronomers and a lecture ‘Nothing Matters’, with author Ronald Green, at 8pm.

On Sunday, there are free HAM radio workshops in the afternoon, as part of ‘engineers’ week’. On Mar 9, you can build and launch your own rocket, with free workshops every half hour from 3.30pm to 5.30pm, as part of CIT ‘innovation week.’ Details on 021-4357917; www.bco.ie

Picture: Gerard McCarthy

There will be a free open evening for people who want to become life coaches or learn coaching skills, on Tuesday, Mar 6 at 6.30pm in the River Lee Hotel, Western Rd, Cork.

The next diploma in executive and life coaching, which gives participants a FETAC level six qualification, starts on Mar 25. Email cork@positivesuccessgroup.com or call 1890-253134.

per book. To register your location and receive a starter pack, see www.bringabookbuyabook.ie or phone 01-8840200. All funds go to St Michael’s House.

St Michael’s House, one of Ireland’s largest community-based services for children and adults with an intellectual disability, has launched its 2012 ‘bring a book, buy a book’ campaign, which runs until Mar 8. Volunteers contribute their second-hand books and purchase books donated by their colleagues, fellow students, friends or family at a cost of €2

The first emergency plan for childcare providers addresses planning and response for a range of childcare emergencies. The toolkit includes a simple, step-by-step booklet and poster to help providers plan and prepare for unexpected events. For further information, visit www.galwaychildcare.com or contact your local childcare committee.

www.irishexaminer.com www.irishexaminer.com

www.irishexaminer.com feelgood@examiner.ie

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

Clarification ■ In last week’s article about the possible link between vitamin D deficiency and MS, we referred to milligrams instead of micrograms. The scientific recommendations for healthy eating guidelines in Ireland published by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland in 2011 recommend that everyone under 50 should take a daily vitamin D supplement of 5 micrograms per day and that those over 50 should take 10 micrograms.

Editorial: 021 4802 292

Advertising: 021 4802 265

TERAPROOF:User:jaycarcioneDate:29/02/2012Time:16:49:39Edition:02/03/2012FeelgoodXH0203Page:3

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In profile

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THE SHAPE I'M IN

Derek Davis

Larger than life R

TÉ presenter Derek Davis is one of the 190,000 people in Ireland affected by diabetes. It was a shock, says the veteran broadcaster, when he was diagnosed 20 years ago.

“I’d gone for a medical to get mortgage protection and life insurance, so I’d had a very extensive check-up. I’d been working flat out. I was working with RTÉ six, seven days a week and I had three young children. If somebody were to ask me ‘are you a bit tired?’. I’d have said ‘yeah, most of the time’. But I put it down to all I had on. I wasn’t suffering from leg cramps, though I’d get very thirsty late in the evening,” he says.

But Derek, 63, who had an uncle who became diabetic in his 80s, says well-managed diabetes is not the end of the world. While 67% of people with diabetes have experienced hypoglycaemia — low blood-sugar episode — while exercising, and 55% have had one while working, Derek has never had a hypo (an episode of low blood sugar). “I’m a stable diabetic. My blood sugar doesn’t shoot up or down unless there’s a reason. Regularity around eating is the friend of the diabetic.”

What shape are you in?

Spherical. When is anybody happy with their shape? I’d love to be a healthy young Adonis, but self-indulgence has put paid to that.

Do you have any health concerns?

I think that before 40 you think about living, after 40 you think about dying. If you get a cramp in the leg or a pain in the back, you wonder ‘is that the heart?’. If there’s an advantage to having diabetes, it’s that you’re so well-monitored. A properly diagnosed, treated and controlled diabetic can enjoy greater longevity than someone of the same age who doesn’t have diabetes, simply because we’re so extremely well-monitored.

I’d love to halve my weight — take away even about one-third of the body mass. I have the hair — I’d love a waistline.

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What trait do you least like in others?

Meanness — I hate a meanie. I understand when somebody can’t do something, but the cunning-smart Irish who try to take advantage I despise.

What trait do you least like in yourself?

Well, I make a living out of my gregariousness. I should ask my wife what’s my most irritating characteristic.

Do you pray?

No.

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What would cheer up your day?

Good company.

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Helen O’Callaghan

DIABETES SHOCK: Derek Davis was diagnosed 20 years ago, although tiredness was his only symptom at the time.

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What are your healthiest eating habits?

I mostly have porridge for breakfast. I’d have the odd cooked breakfast at weekends. I have a very low sugar intake and I’ve always been a fairly moderate drinker. I have a huge disdain for drunkenness.

What’s your guiltiest pleasure?

Chips — I find a portion of skinny fries very hard to resist. I like pâté de foie gras, but in very small amounts.

What would keep you awake at night?

At this stage, I’m quite fatalistic about my own life. I can pay my bills. I own my house. My wife and children enjoy good health. If any of my sons had a problem, I’d share in their stress.

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How do you relax?

I fish and I boat. I have a small cruiser that used to be in Kinsale — now it’s on the Shannon. I fly-fish. Twelve months of the year, weather-permitting, I’d be casting a fly.

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?

The great raconteur Peter Ustinov and the author Patrick O’Brien, whom I regard as a great historical novelist.

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What’s your favourite smell?

Probably the whiff of a good brandy.

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When did you last cry?

I think when Jonathan Philbin Bowman was killed. He used to come to me to get advice about his contracts. We got on very well. I have sons myself and I know how precious they are.

What would you change about your appearance?

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FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

TERAPROOF:User:markevansDate:29/02/2012Time:18:17:44Edition:02/03/2012FeelgoodXH0203Page:4

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Facing life’s challenges David Rock is just 33 years old and has Parkinson’s disease. But the Dubliner is determined the disease will not limit him, Helen O’Callaghan reports

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Staying up to par

D

avid Rock walked up and down in front of the Mater Hospital-based neurologist after he’d done some stretches and moved his hand in particular ways as the doctor requested, and then he sat waiting for a diagnosis.

The then 21-year-old Dubliner wanted answers. He wondered about the tremor he’d had in his left hand since secondary school — a keen golfer, it was affecting his game and it got worse when he was nervous.

For the neurologist — having taken a full medical history and reviewed David’s symptoms — the diagnosis was clear: the young man had Parkinson’s disease (PD), a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that impairs motor skills and speech. About 8,000 people in Ireland have PD, the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s disease. Only about 5% of people diagnosed with Parkinson’s are aged under 40, so the diagnosis should have come as a shock to David, now 33. Yet, in a strange way, it didn’t.

“I had a feeling it was Parkinson’s. My granddad had it. A couple of members at the golf club where I worked had it too. And the tremor had been there so long. I didn’t know much about it though. I didn’t realise I was very young to have it. I assumed it was a common thing.”

PD is characterised by four chief motor disturbances: ■ Resting tremor — usually appears first in one limb, with disease progression may spread to all four limbs; ■ Muscle rigidity; ■ Automatic, unconscious movements such as eye blinking, swallowing, changing position and spontaneous emotional expression can be affected; ■ Postural instability (gait disturbance) occurs in later stages of the disease.

“Three of the four motor symptoms must be present to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s.

Only 70% of people with the disease have a tremor, even though — in the public mind — that’s the most commonly associated feature of Parkinson’s,” says Alison Cashell, Parkinson’s nurse with the Parkinson’s Association of Ireland.

Parkinson’s involves a slow, steady decline, over 10, 20, 30, 40 years. Non-motor symptoms — changes in sense of smell and taste, constipation, sleep disturbance and depression – can be the first sign of PD. “We see retrospectively that people will often have a history of these symptoms three to five years prior to diagnosis,” says Cashell.

For David Rock, not knowing the course his illness will take is particularly tough. “I could lose my speech or become bent over.

Chances are — with young-onset Parkinson’s — I will develop most, if not all, of the symptoms before the end of my life.

“When I was diagnosed the not knowing really stuck in my head. With this disease, it’s

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a lot of trial and error. You find a medication that works and stick with it until it stops working and then you move to something stronger.

“I can’t control what’s going to happen in the future. If I just sat there thinking about it, it’d get me down. All I can do is take my meds, get plenty of exercise and rest. After that I just have to take it as it comes.”

David is training to become a professional golfer with the Professional Golfers’ Association. The Finglas-based man married Celine in August 2010. He already has a 10-year-old daughter, Ava, from a previous relationship and he and Celine had a daughter, Amelia, recently.

“Celine and I got together in 2008. It’s a big thing to get involved with someone with Parkinson’s. It’s not a case of ‘this might happen’ — it will happen. I felt it would be unfair if I didn’t tell her straightaway, so I told her about my condition pretty much immediately. She appreciated that. It didn’t affect our relationship. She comes to my medical appointments with me and has the opportunity to ask questions.”

David is all too aware that his condition has deteriorated since diagnosis 12 years ago. “The tremor has progressed into both arms and legs. I’ve found a medication that controls the tremor very well. I get very tired no matter how much I sleep. My throat gets extremely dry. It can be hard to get motivated.”

While David learned very early on from medics the physical implications of having Parkinson’s, the full financial impact of having a neurodegenerative disease took a while to sink in.

“You go for a job interview. PD symptoms come on more when you’re sitting — I’ll start shaking a bit more. Interviewers automatically think I’m nervous so I have to make this decision, whether to tell them or not. Having the disease has a massive effect financially. People diagnosed at an older age already have a mortgage in place. Celine and I were lucky around the mortgage — we were upfront about my condition and we both had good jobs. [David worked in a golf retail unit, Celine is a manager with Paddy Power]. We just got lucky. But getting a pension or life insurance is pretty much impossible for me. If something happened to me, Celine wouldn’t have anything to fall back on.”

David acknowledges that PD will set limits. But he’s adamant he’s not going to give in or give up. “My family and my golf are my main priorities. I want to be a professional golfer and I want to teach people golf. I want to make sure things are ok for my wife and my children. I will never use Parkinson’s as an excuse for not achieving my goals.”

5

Blind date: Week 4

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A couple may match on paper but the reality check is the first date, says our dating coach Avril Mulcahy

No plans to meet again

AVRIL’S VIEW Based on the profiles sent to me, this match should have been a closed case and mission accomplished. Katrina was looking for a guy aged 41 to 50 years, who would put a smile on her face. Brian was looking for someone intelligent, independent and a good conversationalist. He also loved children, and, as Katrina has a 10-year-old son, this partnership showed all the signs of a great match. However, it was clear, even though they are the same age, there was no connection or chemistry, either initially or during the date — and they were poles apart.

Chemistry is the all-important ingredient that’s needed to make a first date successful. If it is not given time to develop, there will be no match. Brian had been out of the dating scene for some time and even though he was very friendly and polite, he treated the night more like an investigative enquiry than a first date.

The conversation centred around proverbial non-first-date topics — opinions on human rights, politics and religion. This is not the place for topics of this sort and conversation should have been kept light and of a positive nature.

Katrina and Brian genuinely want a partner. It is clear they are not right for each other. Both need to use their blind date as a stepping stone — the feedback should help them take more control of their dating lives, revaluate what they are looking for in a partner, and get back out on the singletons’ scene. ● www.singlelista.ie

NO SPARK: Brian O’Neill and Katrina O’Brien failed to hit it off on their blind date and won’t be seeing each other again.

Picture: Maura Hickey

EARLY DIAGNOSIS: David Rock was told he had Parkinson’s disease when he was 21 years old. The diagnosis did not come as a surprise, his granddad also had it. Picture: Maura Hickey

■ Noticing the symptoms ■ PD occurs for no known reason, but researchers find associated factors: ■ Environmental — living downstream from a paper mill or in an area where certain pesticides are used ■ Lifestyle — ‘typical’ person with PD will be non risk-taking, non-smoking, doesn’t drink coffee, doesn’t drive fast ■ Genetic — usually associated with young onset PD and usually presents in the 20s or 30s. Accounts for about five percent of all cases.

■ There is no diagnostic test for PD — diagnosis is made on clinical examination and reviewing a full medical history.

■ Average age of onset: approximately 60 years. Usually occurs in people over age 50. Ratio of male to female sufferers: 2:1.

■ No ‘one size fits all’ approach to disease

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

management. Treatment’s generally multi-disciplinary — can include physiotherapy, nutrition management and holistic treatments to manage stress, as well as medication. PD involves loss of the chemical dopamine — this helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centres and also helps regulate movement and emotional responses.

“Some medications for Parkinson’s will mimic dopamine (is a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centres), some will replace it and others will trick the brain into thinking dopamine’s available when it isn’t,” says Alison Cashell, Parkinson’s nurse. ● For more info, contact Parkinson’s Association of Ireland — 01-8722234 or visit www.parkinsons.ie. You can also call freephone number 1800-359359, Monday to Friday, 9am-9pm.

BRIAN O’NEILL

Plans to meet again? No.

First impressions: I don’t think I have a type of ideal woman. However, on first impressions, Katrina wouldn’t be someone I’d usually go for. But I was happy to have a nice night out.

KATRINA O’BRIEN

Conversation: We covered a lot of topics — politics, human rights, religion even immigration. She talked a lot more but I asked her opinion on plenty of things so that was natural. She didn’t really ask me much other than what I worked at.

Connection: No, I can safely say there was no connection. We engaged in what you would call ‘normal’ conversation mostly, like in a train station with a stranger — nothing exciting. There were a few awkward moments due to completely different opinions on certain topics.

Did you kiss? No.

First impressions: Well, he was dressed in jeans and a jumper. I was dressed for a date in a designer dress and pearls. He looked casual and comfortable. Even though he was friendly and polite, he didn’t look my type at all.

Conversation: At the start, we talked about day-to-day stuff. However, he kept asking me questions. I found the conversation more like a quiz at times and not a proper two-way conversation.

Connection: There was no connection whatsoever from the beginning. I found the whole conversation really draining.

Did you kiss? No. Would you do anything differently? I don’t think I would’ve dressed up as much if I’d known he was going to dress so casually.

Would you do anything differently? No. Even though we are the same age, we were worlds apart. It did give me a push though to get myself out into the dating scene again after nearly ten years out of it. I hadn’t been on a date in years. If I can go on a date with a complete stranger who was polar opposite to me, I can go on a date with anyone.

What happened at the end of the night? We went our separate ways.

What happened at the end of the night? We politely said goodbye. I knew there was no chance of seeing her again.

Plans to meet again? No. We never swapped numbers.

Rate the date out often: 2/10. While it was a novel experience, we really had nothing in common and I found some of her opinions on social matters very different to mine.

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Rate the date out of ten: 2/10. The food was exquisite, that is, when I was able to eat it without all the questions.

● The date was sponsored by: The Chophouse, 2 Shelbourne Road, Dublin 4 Contact details: www.thechophouse.ie, info@thechophouse.ie, 01-6602390.

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

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Facing life’s challenges David Rock is just 33 years old and has Parkinson’s disease. But the Dubliner is determined the disease will not limit him, Helen O’Callaghan reports

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Staying up to par

D

avid Rock walked up and down in front of the Mater Hospital-based neurologist after he’d done some stretches and moved his hand in particular ways as the doctor requested, and then he sat waiting for a diagnosis.

The then 21-year-old Dubliner wanted answers. He wondered about the tremor he’d had in his left hand since secondary school — a keen golfer, it was affecting his game and it got worse when he was nervous.

For the neurologist — having taken a full medical history and reviewed David’s symptoms — the diagnosis was clear: the young man had Parkinson’s disease (PD), a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that impairs motor skills and speech. About 8,000 people in Ireland have PD, the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s disease. Only about 5% of people diagnosed with Parkinson’s are aged under 40, so the diagnosis should have come as a shock to David, now 33. Yet, in a strange way, it didn’t.

“I had a feeling it was Parkinson’s. My granddad had it. A couple of members at the golf club where I worked had it too. And the tremor had been there so long. I didn’t know much about it though. I didn’t realise I was very young to have it. I assumed it was a common thing.”

PD is characterised by four chief motor disturbances: ■ Resting tremor — usually appears first in one limb, with disease progression may spread to all four limbs; ■ Muscle rigidity; ■ Automatic, unconscious movements such as eye blinking, swallowing, changing position and spontaneous emotional expression can be affected; ■ Postural instability (gait disturbance) occurs in later stages of the disease.

“Three of the four motor symptoms must be present to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s.

Only 70% of people with the disease have a tremor, even though — in the public mind — that’s the most commonly associated feature of Parkinson’s,” says Alison Cashell, Parkinson’s nurse with the Parkinson’s Association of Ireland.

Parkinson’s involves a slow, steady decline, over 10, 20, 30, 40 years. Non-motor symptoms — changes in sense of smell and taste, constipation, sleep disturbance and depression – can be the first sign of PD. “We see retrospectively that people will often have a history of these symptoms three to five years prior to diagnosis,” says Cashell.

For David Rock, not knowing the course his illness will take is particularly tough. “I could lose my speech or become bent over.

Chances are — with young-onset Parkinson’s — I will develop most, if not all, of the symptoms before the end of my life.

“When I was diagnosed the not knowing really stuck in my head. With this disease, it’s

Feelgood

a lot of trial and error. You find a medication that works and stick with it until it stops working and then you move to something stronger.

“I can’t control what’s going to happen in the future. If I just sat there thinking about it, it’d get me down. All I can do is take my meds, get plenty of exercise and rest. After that I just have to take it as it comes.”

David is training to become a professional golfer with the Professional Golfers’ Association. The Finglas-based man married Celine in August 2010. He already has a 10-year-old daughter, Ava, from a previous relationship and he and Celine had a daughter, Amelia, recently.

“Celine and I got together in 2008. It’s a big thing to get involved with someone with Parkinson’s. It’s not a case of ‘this might happen’ — it will happen. I felt it would be unfair if I didn’t tell her straightaway, so I told her about my condition pretty much immediately. She appreciated that. It didn’t affect our relationship. She comes to my medical appointments with me and has the opportunity to ask questions.”

David is all too aware that his condition has deteriorated since diagnosis 12 years ago. “The tremor has progressed into both arms and legs. I’ve found a medication that controls the tremor very well. I get very tired no matter how much I sleep. My throat gets extremely dry. It can be hard to get motivated.”

While David learned very early on from medics the physical implications of having Parkinson’s, the full financial impact of having a neurodegenerative disease took a while to sink in.

“You go for a job interview. PD symptoms come on more when you’re sitting — I’ll start shaking a bit more. Interviewers automatically think I’m nervous so I have to make this decision, whether to tell them or not. Having the disease has a massive effect financially. People diagnosed at an older age already have a mortgage in place. Celine and I were lucky around the mortgage — we were upfront about my condition and we both had good jobs. [David worked in a golf retail unit, Celine is a manager with Paddy Power]. We just got lucky. But getting a pension or life insurance is pretty much impossible for me. If something happened to me, Celine wouldn’t have anything to fall back on.”

David acknowledges that PD will set limits. But he’s adamant he’s not going to give in or give up. “My family and my golf are my main priorities. I want to be a professional golfer and I want to teach people golf. I want to make sure things are ok for my wife and my children. I will never use Parkinson’s as an excuse for not achieving my goals.”

5

Blind date: Week 4

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A couple may match on paper but the reality check is the first date, says our dating coach Avril Mulcahy

No plans to meet again

AVRIL’S VIEW Based on the profiles sent to me, this match should have been a closed case and mission accomplished. Katrina was looking for a guy aged 41 to 50 years, who would put a smile on her face. Brian was looking for someone intelligent, independent and a good conversationalist. He also loved children, and, as Katrina has a 10-year-old son, this partnership showed all the signs of a great match. However, it was clear, even though they are the same age, there was no connection or chemistry, either initially or during the date — and they were poles apart.

Chemistry is the all-important ingredient that’s needed to make a first date successful. If it is not given time to develop, there will be no match. Brian had been out of the dating scene for some time and even though he was very friendly and polite, he treated the night more like an investigative enquiry than a first date.

The conversation centred around proverbial non-first-date topics — opinions on human rights, politics and religion. This is not the place for topics of this sort and conversation should have been kept light and of a positive nature.

Katrina and Brian genuinely want a partner. It is clear they are not right for each other. Both need to use their blind date as a stepping stone — the feedback should help them take more control of their dating lives, revaluate what they are looking for in a partner, and get back out on the singletons’ scene. ● www.singlelista.ie

NO SPARK: Brian O’Neill and Katrina O’Brien failed to hit it off on their blind date and won’t be seeing each other again.

Picture: Maura Hickey

EARLY DIAGNOSIS: David Rock was told he had Parkinson’s disease when he was 21 years old. The diagnosis did not come as a surprise, his granddad also had it. Picture: Maura Hickey

■ Noticing the symptoms ■ PD occurs for no known reason, but researchers find associated factors: ■ Environmental — living downstream from a paper mill or in an area where certain pesticides are used ■ Lifestyle — ‘typical’ person with PD will be non risk-taking, non-smoking, doesn’t drink coffee, doesn’t drive fast ■ Genetic — usually associated with young onset PD and usually presents in the 20s or 30s. Accounts for about five percent of all cases.

■ There is no diagnostic test for PD — diagnosis is made on clinical examination and reviewing a full medical history.

■ Average age of onset: approximately 60 years. Usually occurs in people over age 50. Ratio of male to female sufferers: 2:1.

■ No ‘one size fits all’ approach to disease

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

management. Treatment’s generally multi-disciplinary — can include physiotherapy, nutrition management and holistic treatments to manage stress, as well as medication. PD involves loss of the chemical dopamine — this helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centres and also helps regulate movement and emotional responses.

“Some medications for Parkinson’s will mimic dopamine (is a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centres), some will replace it and others will trick the brain into thinking dopamine’s available when it isn’t,” says Alison Cashell, Parkinson’s nurse. ● For more info, contact Parkinson’s Association of Ireland — 01-8722234 or visit www.parkinsons.ie. You can also call freephone number 1800-359359, Monday to Friday, 9am-9pm.

BRIAN O’NEILL

Plans to meet again? No.

First impressions: I don’t think I have a type of ideal woman. However, on first impressions, Katrina wouldn’t be someone I’d usually go for. But I was happy to have a nice night out.

KATRINA O’BRIEN

Conversation: We covered a lot of topics — politics, human rights, religion even immigration. She talked a lot more but I asked her opinion on plenty of things so that was natural. She didn’t really ask me much other than what I worked at.

Connection: No, I can safely say there was no connection. We engaged in what you would call ‘normal’ conversation mostly, like in a train station with a stranger — nothing exciting. There were a few awkward moments due to completely different opinions on certain topics.

Did you kiss? No.

First impressions: Well, he was dressed in jeans and a jumper. I was dressed for a date in a designer dress and pearls. He looked casual and comfortable. Even though he was friendly and polite, he didn’t look my type at all.

Conversation: At the start, we talked about day-to-day stuff. However, he kept asking me questions. I found the conversation more like a quiz at times and not a proper two-way conversation.

Connection: There was no connection whatsoever from the beginning. I found the whole conversation really draining.

Did you kiss? No. Would you do anything differently? I don’t think I would’ve dressed up as much if I’d known he was going to dress so casually.

Would you do anything differently? No. Even though we are the same age, we were worlds apart. It did give me a push though to get myself out into the dating scene again after nearly ten years out of it. I hadn’t been on a date in years. If I can go on a date with a complete stranger who was polar opposite to me, I can go on a date with anyone.

What happened at the end of the night? We went our separate ways.

What happened at the end of the night? We politely said goodbye. I knew there was no chance of seeing her again.

Plans to meet again? No. We never swapped numbers.

Rate the date out often: 2/10. While it was a novel experience, we really had nothing in common and I found some of her opinions on social matters very different to mine.

Feelgood

Rate the date out of ten: 2/10. The food was exquisite, that is, when I was able to eat it without all the questions.

● The date was sponsored by: The Chophouse, 2 Shelbourne Road, Dublin 4 Contact details: www.thechophouse.ie, info@thechophouse.ie, 01-6602390.

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

Zone:XH

6 Medical matters

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Q

My son is studying for his Leaving Certificate. He has put himself under a lot of pressure to do well. Before Christmas he developed a sceptic throat which was treated with an antibiotic. But this week he is ill with another sore throat. Before we go to the GP is there another way of tackling his poor health?

Dr Julius Parker is a GP with HSF Health Plan’s free 24 GP advice line.

For more information visit www.hsf.ie or lo-call 1890 451 451

If you have a question about your health email it to feelgood@examiner.ie or send a letter to: Feelgood Irish Examiner City Quarter Lapps Quay Cork

A. First of all, I would try not to be over worried about two episodes of throat infections; upper respiratory tract infections; coughs, colds, and sore throats, are always more common during the winter season and classrooms are the ideal place to catch the latest bug.

That said, there is a lot you can do to encourage your son to stay healthy. Persuasion not pressure is key. Eating healthily means not skipping breakfast, and not snacking throughout the day.

Offer fruit and vegetables as a routine part of meals at home, and try and make sure the whole family eats together when possible.

Eating properly helps your concentration and energy levels, so does exercise and sport.

Your son may already enjoy this, and if he does, encourage him.

If not, taking a break will help his studies.

Most experts do not recommend more than one hour’s revision without a break.

Make sure he has a water bottle at his desk or in his room and an adequate light source when he’s working.

It’s also essential to get a good night’s sleep, between seven to nine hours is recommended.

A combination of these approaches should mean your son will feel healthy and motivated to do well.

Q. For the past two months I’ve been unable to sleep through the night. I am careful not to take any caffeine or alcohol after 6pm and go to bed at around 11.30pm. However, it takes hours before I fall asleep. I wake about 5am and can’t get back to sleep. The lack of sleep is beginning to affect my mood and work performance.

A. It’s really frustrating not to be able to sleep properly, especially if this is unusual for

NEWS UPDATE

TERAPROOF:User:jaycarcioneDate:29/02/2012Time:16:49:55Edition:02/03/2012FeelgoodXH0203Page:6

ALMOST one in seven couples expecting same-sex twins are given the wrong information about whether their offspring are identical, research suggests.

Expectant parents can end up misinformed about their unborn children during ultrasound scans carried out during pregnancy.

Data from more than 1,500 families with same-sex twins born in 2007 in England and Wales was gathered for the study, published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. It found that 1,302 parents had been told if their twins were identical based on whether there were one or two placentas visible during antenatal scans.

It is commonly believed that identical twins share one placenta, even though evidence suggests 25% to 30% of identical twins have two placentas.

Researchers from University College London (UCL) took DNA samples from the babies to discover whether the predictions had been correct.

Overall, 651 twin pairs were found to be identical and 621 were non-identical.

Of the 1,302 parents, 191 (15%)

you. It is also a common problem and you need to sit down and think through the possible causes. Most of us find it hard to sleep if we’re worrying about someone or something; money, work or a family member in difficulties or being unwell can affect us all and it’s been a tough few years for Ireland.

Occasionally, regular medication can cause sleep problems, you should check with your pharmacist or doctor. If you have other illnesses, could these be affecting your sleep?

You’re quite right to cut out caffeine and alcohol for several hours before bedtime. You should also avoid eating late and significant exercise close to bedtime. Other questions your GP may ask about include whether your bed is comfortable, and if you are being disturbed by noise or lights from outside.

Working shifts can also disrupt your normal sleep pattern.

Tackling sleep problems needs a consistent

TWO’S COMPANY: Ultrasounds aren’t always reliable in predicting if twins are identical.

Picture: iStock were misinformed about whether their child was identical. As many as 27.5% of parents of identical twins mistakenly believed their twins were non-identical, while 2% of parents of non-identical twins mistakenly believed their twins were identical.

In total, 38% of parents said they were told after an antenatal scan that their twins shared a placenta and were therefore identical, while 62% of parents were told their twins were non-identical as they had two placentas.

approach. Your GP will consider whether you might have another illness of anxiety or depression. Keeping a sleep diary can help pinpoint what is disturbing your sleep. Many people also find it useful to develop a regular bedtime routine with fixed times for going to bed and getting up. Avoid sleeping in, or sleeping in the day, even if you feel tired. If you really can’t sleep and find yourself lying awake worrying, it’s better to get up.

WELL READ: Taking regular breaks from study is recommended.

NOTE: The information contained in Dr Julius Parker’s column is not a substitute for medical advice. Always consult a doctor first

K

Catherine Shanahan MUM’S WORLD ■ Since writing this column Catherine has given birth to a baby boy.

Feelgood

ILLER is such a versatile little word. It can describe someone who takes a life, or a predatory whale, or it can be slang for something with formidable impact like a killer smile, killer looks, killer heels. But when I say the last week of pregnancy’s a killer I mean it only in the sense of something extremely difficult to deal with.

The stage I’m at, 44 days in a cramped glass box above the Thames with David Blaine sounds attractive. It matters not a jot what position I adopt — the discomfort is unending whether I sit, stand, kneel, lie down or squat.

Cutting toenails is like taking a blind taste test. The only thing that stands between me and losing a digit is the bluntness of my scissors. I can’t bend in the middle. I can’t pick up anything from ground level. I dropped my purse at the supermarket check-out and stood there, helpless, until some kind gentleman retrieved it. I don’t remember this kind of pressure last time. Maybe it’s on foot of two caesareans and the strain on the scar is less tolerable. There are times I feel like an old woman, unable to straighten, shuffling from one room to another, bowed by the weight in my pelvis. “Better out than in,” I think, and at this stage, it surely must be, regardless of the demands of a new baby.

I dread a third caesarean because I know exactly what’s ahead of me. Trying to drag yourself out of bed with an abdomen as tightly stitched as a facelift is not pleasant.

On my last visit to the hospital, the doctor asked if I fancied an end to procreating by way of tubal ligation. She caught me on the hop. The question was so casual she might just as well have asked “Would you like chips with that?”. I declined at the time, but in retrospect, having my tubes tied by way of a side order to a caesarean is starting to sound like not such a bad suggestion.

This time, I am definitely done — it will not be a case of famous last words.

Having more than replaced ourselves, myself and the Other Half will have done our duty for the future of the human race.

Physically, I would say I’m a shadow of my former self but for the two stone extra weight. The doctor reassures me number three will not be a lightweight. Again I think, “Better out than in”, as I count down the days to when I can lift my weight out of a chair without someone shouting, “Call William O’Brien, we hear he has the crane on standby.”

And so reader, a temporary farewell until April next, when all going well, this column should be back in the saddle again.

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

I can’t bend in the middle. I can’t pick up anything from ground level. I dropped my purse at the supermarket check-out and stood there, helpless, until some kind gentleman retrieved it

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Psychology

XH - V1

We need to step out of our comfort zone and not hide our love of learning and spirit of adventure

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S

PRING — the time of teeming possibilities — does not happen all at once, it slowly reveals its mantle of leaf, flower, colour, fertility, song and passion. So it is for us — our awakening to our true nature doesn’t happen all at once … we become.

It can take a long time. Sometimes we can get stuck in the dark and cold of the winter of our discontent and, sadly, not emerge into the warmth and aliveness of spring.

Spring beckons us with its emergence, growth, possibilities, beauty, freshness and, particularly, beginnings and newness.

In his final book, Benedictus, the poet and philosopher, John O’Donohue, writes insightfully on beginnings: “Sometimes the greatest challenge is to actually begin; there is something deep in us that conspires to remain within safe boundaries, to stay the same.”

How accurate John is when he speaks of staying in our comfort zone and not daring to step out of that protective box. But what a tragedy ‘to stay the same’, to not emerge like the spring blossom in all its newness, freshness and beauty.

Seneca, the ancient sage, puts it equally eloquently: “It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.”

How is that what is in our nature — daredevilness, natural curiosity, love of learning, eagerness to know, adventuresomeness — can become buried under an avalanche of fear, doubt and uncertainty. What a loss to ourselves, others and the world when the creative and intelligent vibrancy of our lives becomes dormant — goes into hibernation — but does not awaken in springtime.

Each one of us needs to examine our story and discover what we put away of our true nature, all of which patiently awaits the magic touch of the courage to dare to unlock those endless possibilities. Belief, encouragement, support, compassion, celebration are some of the qualities that warm the hard earth of hidden hurts, fears and doubts. There is an old Irish saying ‘a good beginning is half the work’, but there is a hidden truth that needs resolution before ‘a good beginning’ can be made and that is that ‘the hardest work is to begin’.

The Socratic call to ‘know yourself ’ is as urgent today as it was thousands of years ago. We put too much emphasis on the external world and little on knowing our true selves.

The other aspect of spring that thrills me is its newness, which reminds me of the uniqueness of the individual.

Martin Buber, the wonderful German philosopher, writes: “Every person born into this world represents something new, something that never existed before, something original and unique. It is the duty of every person… to know and consider… that there has never been anyone like him in the world, for if there had been someone like him, there would have been no need for him to be in the world. Every single person is a new thing in this world and is called upon to fulfil his particularity in this world. Every person’s foremost task is the actualisation of his unique, unprecedented and never-recurring potentialities, and not the repetition of something that another, be it even the greatest, has already achieved”.

Let the presence of spring be the catalyst to saying ‘yes’ to

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the unique being that is each one of us, and let the fertility of each of our never-recurring potentialities shine through for the benefit of all.

I will finish with yet another quote from another favourite author of mine, John Welwood, in his book Perfect Love, Imperfect Relationships: “When life belongs to you and you belong to life, you are set free from hunger and fear. You experience the essential dignity and nobility or your existence, which does not depend on anyone else’s approval or validation. In this deep sense of union with love, you realise you are not wounded, have never been wounded, and cannot be wounded.”

What we are is hidden.

Dr Tony Humphreys is a clinical psychologist, author, national and international speaker. His book hose Life Are You Living is relevant to today’s article.

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

The

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8 Cover story

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Taking a stand

With concern growing over the sexualisation of clothes for young children, a code of conduct may address the problem, Áilín Quinlan reports

FEAR AND CLOTHING T

HE young girl teetering along the city pavement with her parents couldn’t have been more than eight or nine.Yet there she was on a cold winter Saturday dressed in a crop-top, short skimpy jacket, skin-tight leggings and struggling to walk in 2-inch stilettoes. Given what I’d just seen in the high-street shops, it came as no surprise.

With a keen eye on the pre-teen market, some stores now have special lingerie stands for children from nine years of age, boasting matching bra-and-knicker sets. Outer-wear on sale includes shortie-shorts with leopard-skin belts for 10-year-olds, skimpy sleeveless glittery cocktail-style dresses and tiny micro-minis aimed at eight-year-olds.

Our kids are growing up faster than ever — and the merchandisers can’t get enough of it.

The trend even has its own marketing term — KGOY, or Kids Getting Older Younger.

Of course it’s not confined to the clothes racks. The sexualisation of childhood is mirrored in the music children listen to, the TV and videos they watch and the toys they play with from an early age.

Take Rihanna — a huge hit among the tweens and early teens demographic. The lyrics in Talk That Talk is enough to set most parents’ hair on end: “I be trying to chill, b–ches wanna f–k me, every Every little city I go, f–k me/ Give it to me baby, I want it all night, Give it to me baby.”

Add all of this to the sultry pictures of 10-year-old Thylane Blondeau posing on a leopard-print quilt in heavy make-up and gold stilettos for a Vogue photo-shoot last summer and it’s not surprising that Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald wants to introduce a voluntary code of good practice on the retailing of children’s clothes.

Although there is already a lot of self-monitoring and good practice amongst Irish retailers where children’s clothes are concerned, according to Stephen Lynam, director of Retail Ireland, the group representing retailers, something concrete is needed, the minister believes.

Ireland’s biggest clothes retailers will be involved in drawing up the code, which will be based on a British code of good practice introduced last year by the British Retail Consortium. Under the code, which Lynam says will cover the vast majority of well-known children’s clothing retailers in this country, provocative garments, such as padded bras for girls under 10, skimpy swimwear and clothes carrying suggestive logos or slogans, are likely to be outlawed: “The purpose of the code is to have everyone on the same page so that if someone feels it has been breached the code can be consulted and a decision made,” he says.

Minister Fitzgerald expects to incorporate the code into a New National Children’s Strategy which is scheduled for publication before the end of the year.

“This would be a code of good practice,” she explains, adding that she is asking retailers to “do what has been done in other places” such as the UK Responsible Retailing Guide, as regards clothes for the under-12s.

Feelgood

Dolls reflect women not children

They wear skimpy outfits to fit in with other girls According to 11-year-old Eris Gormley, right, there should be choices in the market for girls of her age who have different tastes.

“I think clothes for girls are nowhere near good enough. They’re really skimpy and I don’t think they look good.

“I think that girls who wear very short skirts can end up looking like hookers. A lot of girls my age do wear very short skirts and short-shorts and they wear crop-tops, even in the autumn, and they don’t look good for their age.

“They think they have to wear skimpy clothes to fit in with other girls. Sometimes I’d wear a short dress — but I’d have leggings under it and maybe a cardigan over it for a special occasion. “I don’t like pink, and I think it’s strange to watch girls wearing pink all the time.

“We don’t have a school uniform at my school and a lot of the girls wear pink every day. I like blue and black.

“There should be different clothes for girls — I sometimes buy boy’s clothes because they’re warmer and more suitable for the weather and they don’t show loads of skin.”

Picture: Thinkstock

“I will ask them to consider basic guidelines for the retailing of children’s wear to show an awareness of the issues.

“I think both parents and children have a right to a childhood space that is protected and gives them time to develop at their own pace.

Responsible retailing should look at what kind of styling is appropriate for the under 12s.

“It’s about styling, marketing and fabrics.

Some logos are inappropriately suggestive for young children. “We should differentiate between children’s lingerie and that for adults.

You’re really looking at good practice — for example, fabrics that are sheer and without lining are not appropriate for young kids.”

This, she acknowledges, is something that retailers must decide on in relation to childrenswear.

Mother-of-three Eileen Gormley is no stranger to the shocks of the shelves. “I am concerned about the very short skirts and the tops which have low necklines and cutaway backs and slogans that are inappropriate.

I

“I see a lot of these when I go shopping with my daughter Eris,” she says, adding that the 11-year-old often ends up buying stuff in the boys’ section.

“She says boys clothes cover her better, are stronger quality and she can play in them. I’ve seen girls of her age wearing clothes which are inappropriate, such as belly tops. But it’s what’s in the shops.”

When she recently went shopping for a party dress for her youngest daughter, Eileen was taken aback by what was on offer.

“There was nothing in her age-group that was appropriate. There were lots of very short skimpy dresses showing a lot of flesh. They were short, revealing and not appropriate for her age, sleeveless, with low necklines. They had silver and sequins and were more like an adult cocktail dress than a party dress for an 11-year-old.

“I felt the only way she could wear these appropriately was with leggings and a long sleeved black t-shirt.

“This is Ireland. It’s cold. We don’t have the weather for skimpy clothes. I worry about the marketing pressure to make girls look sexy and I hate taking my girls shopping because of what’s out there. It makes me uncomfortable.

“It’s hard to find things for a child who goes outside and plays a lot. I think the clothes aren’t designed for children who go out and play — they’re designed for sitting around watching TV.” With three daughters — the other two are aged 15 and 14 — Eileen has learned to compromise. “I’ll let them get a dress which I think is too short — but I insist that they wear it with black tights to take the bare look off it.

But when I see something inappropriate I say, ‘we’re not buying that’. They might buy a pair of shorts but they wear them over thick tights and I can live with that.”

When asked recently, Dunnes Stores and New Look did not respond to a query as to whether it had a policy on children’s clothes, but a spokeswoman for Penneys said Primark

TOO SHORT: Eris Gormley, in one of her own outfits, says too many girls wear pink and clothes are too short for their age.

Picture:Maura Hickey

took great care to ensure that all its childrenswear products were appropriate in every respect. “For example, the company met Reg Bailey, chief executive of the Mothers’ Union (an international Christian charity supporting families of all faiths), and contributed to his report in Britain (Letting Children be Children, the Bailey Review of Commercialisation and Sexualisation of Childhood, published Jun 6, 2011), and the company fully supports its findings. Primark is a responsible retailer that takes great care to ensure its products are attractive and appropriate.”

Also a Marks & Spencer spokesperson said: “We want to offer clothing that parents are happy to buy and kids are happy to wear. We are totally committed to ensuring our clothing offer is age appropriate and subscribe to the BRC Guidelines for all our kidswear products.

We also continue to be proud supporters of the Mumsnet Let Girls be Girls campaign.”

Says Minister Fitzgerald: “I’d have great faith in the common sense of parents, but some-

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

t starts with the toys, believes psychologist Patricia Murray. Years ago, little girls got dolls which were either babies or ‘little girl’ reflections of themselves.

These dolls, she says, ‘mirrored’ the child who played with them, and emphasised their difference from adults.

“Bratz dolls are older-girl dolls. Barbie has the physical attributes of a woman,” says Murray. “Most little girls aged five or six up to ten, do not have the physical attributes of fully-grown women — yet we’re giving them these dolls and telling them it reflects them.”

But, asks Murray, why should a little girl even need to be putting a bra top on a grown-up doll? It’s disparaging of childhood, she says.

“They are getting subconscious messages that childhood is not important, that what is important is growing up and wearing these kinds of shoes and clothes.

Remember, she says, boys who play with Bob the Builder or Postman Pat want to be Bob the Builder or Postman Pat — the same goes for little girls who play with provocatively dressed dolls.

“The toys we give get into the minds of the children. Unfortunately, we are giving girls dolls which are racy ladies — and they’re thinking: ‘That’s what I want to be’.

“Mothers have to take responsibility

for the images of women that they give their children. It starts with the toys. Toys have huge impact.”

And from toys, to clothes. “When dressing-up is how they dress, and when their wardrobe is not about comfortable functional clothes for childhood activities, and when little girls are dressing like night-club party-girls — who is bringing them to the racks where they get these clothes? In the end it comes down to parents.

“Whatever you give a child sends a message,” she says. However, she points out, other factors also contribute to the development of a child’s attitude.

“Factors such as how the mother behaves in terms of how she treats other women or men will have an impact, or how she dresses herself, what she considers to be important in life and what behaviour she promotes and encourages for boys and girls — does she, for example, promote assertive behaviour equally among boys and girls?”

times parents can be intimidated by marketing and by peer group pressure — it’s pester power and that has a very significant influence on how parents spend their money.

“We have research that parents feel pressurised by the retail industry and need help in standing up to it,” she says.

A lot of parents feel on their own, in this area, and would experience doubt about some of the children’s clothes currently on sale, she says.

“I feel it’s reasonable to ask for responsible guidelines,” she says, adding that if parents feel a product is inappropriate they should say it to staff in the shop.

Some mothers feel the fashion industry is openly competing with them, says Orla O’Connor head of policy at the National Women’s Council.

“There is concern among mothers and women about the way the fashion and advertising industries are sexualising young girls and targeting products at children —

DOLLS POWER: Why should little girls be presented with a doll with the attributes of grown up woman?

for example bras and very skimpy tops.”

Mothers say they feel they’re competing with the fashion industry in trying to explain to children why they will not buy certain products for their children, says O’Connor.

A voluntary code of good practice is probably a good start in terms of getting a message to the fashion industry that this is not appropriate, she says, but it’s important to ramp up public awareness of the problem.

“The issue needs to be discussed because it is about empowering parents and the voluntary code will help parents.”

People should complain to the shops if they see something on sale that they feel is inappropriate, she emphasises. “This is an opportune time for shoppers to express disapproval about garments they feel are inappropriate because in the current climate retailers are listening very carefully to their customers.”

9

IN THE SHOPS

by Aoife Dowling

I

TOOK to the high street shops to check out what’s available for pre-teens on the clothes rails. Most had a range of clothing you would expect for that age group — pretty dresses, funky t-shirts and jeans graced the shelves.

While a lot of the clothing for pre-teens were age appropriate and conservative there was also a variety of skintight clothing.

New Look, Penneys, Dunnes Stores and Marks & Spencer all have a range of skintight leggings and jeans. However, some of the items in New Look and Penneys may not pass the code of practice with hot pants and crop tops for children as young as nine.

Although there was an absence of vulgar and seductive slogans on t-shirts that YOUNG LOOK: Bra caused controversy in and pants set for previous years — pre-teens, €4, Playboy logos, for example — there is a Dunnes Stores. trend of skintight clothing in the pre-teen department. Penneys has a wide range of short shorts and clingy neon leggings, while New Look has a variety of tops displaying the midriff and shirts that tie around the bellybutton.

Low-cut shirts and high-cut skirts have been all the rage in teenage fashion magazines and clothing stores for a while, from my experience on the high street, the trend is targeting children younger and younger.

PENNEYS The popular low-cost clothing store has a wide range of tween clothing. Hot pants, leggings and skin-tight jeans featured on the rails of the 9 to 13-year-old section.

Hot pants were available in an array of colours from bleach white to deep red.

Leggings came in neon shades with bright pink taking a prominent spot on the rails.

The most surprising items available for tweens were underwear sets which have support bras and matching underwear. The store, however, finds a balance by stocking a wide range of t-shirts and jumpers with animals and cute designs.

DUNNES STORES The tween section in Dunnes was a little more conservative. While they did have leggings and skintight jeans on display, they also had printed t-shirts, cardigans and knitted jumpers. But while hot pants and crop tops weren’t donning the shelves, Dunnes did have a range of underwear sets for 9 to 12-year-olds.

NEW LOOK Although New Look is considered a shop for teenagers and young adults, it now has a pre-teen section, however, the clothes in this department are almost identical to the ones for young adults, just in smaller sizes.

I found crop tops for children as young as nine, along with sleeveless shirts that display the midriff. Similarly to Penneys, underwear sets in a variety of colours and styles are stocked for the pre-teens. The neon tube tops for ages 9-12 stood out.

MARKS & SPENCER Marks and Spencer has a wide range of pre-teen clothing, the most diverse of the stores I encountered. Hot pants and skintight clothing were absent, but sequences were in. Tops and dress filled with gold and black sequences took prominence in the tween section. It also has flashy dresses with a section of polka dot ’50s inspired dresses and skirts.

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8 Cover story

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Taking a stand

With concern growing over the sexualisation of clothes for young children, a code of conduct may address the problem, Áilín Quinlan reports

FEAR AND CLOTHING T

HE young girl teetering along the city pavement with her parents couldn’t have been more than eight or nine.Yet there she was on a cold winter Saturday dressed in a crop-top, short skimpy jacket, skin-tight leggings and struggling to walk in 2-inch stilettoes. Given what I’d just seen in the high-street shops, it came as no surprise.

With a keen eye on the pre-teen market, some stores now have special lingerie stands for children from nine years of age, boasting matching bra-and-knicker sets. Outer-wear on sale includes shortie-shorts with leopard-skin belts for 10-year-olds, skimpy sleeveless glittery cocktail-style dresses and tiny micro-minis aimed at eight-year-olds.

Our kids are growing up faster than ever — and the merchandisers can’t get enough of it.

The trend even has its own marketing term — KGOY, or Kids Getting Older Younger.

Of course it’s not confined to the clothes racks. The sexualisation of childhood is mirrored in the music children listen to, the TV and videos they watch and the toys they play with from an early age.

Take Rihanna — a huge hit among the tweens and early teens demographic. The lyrics in Talk That Talk is enough to set most parents’ hair on end: “I be trying to chill, b–ches wanna f–k me, every Every little city I go, f–k me/ Give it to me baby, I want it all night, Give it to me baby.”

Add all of this to the sultry pictures of 10-year-old Thylane Blondeau posing on a leopard-print quilt in heavy make-up and gold stilettos for a Vogue photo-shoot last summer and it’s not surprising that Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald wants to introduce a voluntary code of good practice on the retailing of children’s clothes.

Although there is already a lot of self-monitoring and good practice amongst Irish retailers where children’s clothes are concerned, according to Stephen Lynam, director of Retail Ireland, the group representing retailers, something concrete is needed, the minister believes.

Ireland’s biggest clothes retailers will be involved in drawing up the code, which will be based on a British code of good practice introduced last year by the British Retail Consortium. Under the code, which Lynam says will cover the vast majority of well-known children’s clothing retailers in this country, provocative garments, such as padded bras for girls under 10, skimpy swimwear and clothes carrying suggestive logos or slogans, are likely to be outlawed: “The purpose of the code is to have everyone on the same page so that if someone feels it has been breached the code can be consulted and a decision made,” he says.

Minister Fitzgerald expects to incorporate the code into a New National Children’s Strategy which is scheduled for publication before the end of the year.

“This would be a code of good practice,” she explains, adding that she is asking retailers to “do what has been done in other places” such as the UK Responsible Retailing Guide, as regards clothes for the under-12s.

Feelgood

Dolls reflect women not children

They wear skimpy outfits to fit in with other girls According to 11-year-old Eris Gormley, right, there should be choices in the market for girls of her age who have different tastes.

“I think clothes for girls are nowhere near good enough. They’re really skimpy and I don’t think they look good.

“I think that girls who wear very short skirts can end up looking like hookers. A lot of girls my age do wear very short skirts and short-shorts and they wear crop-tops, even in the autumn, and they don’t look good for their age.

“They think they have to wear skimpy clothes to fit in with other girls. Sometimes I’d wear a short dress — but I’d have leggings under it and maybe a cardigan over it for a special occasion. “I don’t like pink, and I think it’s strange to watch girls wearing pink all the time.

“We don’t have a school uniform at my school and a lot of the girls wear pink every day. I like blue and black.

“There should be different clothes for girls — I sometimes buy boy’s clothes because they’re warmer and more suitable for the weather and they don’t show loads of skin.”

Picture: Thinkstock

“I will ask them to consider basic guidelines for the retailing of children’s wear to show an awareness of the issues.

“I think both parents and children have a right to a childhood space that is protected and gives them time to develop at their own pace.

Responsible retailing should look at what kind of styling is appropriate for the under 12s.

“It’s about styling, marketing and fabrics.

Some logos are inappropriately suggestive for young children. “We should differentiate between children’s lingerie and that for adults.

You’re really looking at good practice — for example, fabrics that are sheer and without lining are not appropriate for young kids.”

This, she acknowledges, is something that retailers must decide on in relation to childrenswear.

Mother-of-three Eileen Gormley is no stranger to the shocks of the shelves. “I am concerned about the very short skirts and the tops which have low necklines and cutaway backs and slogans that are inappropriate.

I

“I see a lot of these when I go shopping with my daughter Eris,” she says, adding that the 11-year-old often ends up buying stuff in the boys’ section.

“She says boys clothes cover her better, are stronger quality and she can play in them. I’ve seen girls of her age wearing clothes which are inappropriate, such as belly tops. But it’s what’s in the shops.”

When she recently went shopping for a party dress for her youngest daughter, Eileen was taken aback by what was on offer.

“There was nothing in her age-group that was appropriate. There were lots of very short skimpy dresses showing a lot of flesh. They were short, revealing and not appropriate for her age, sleeveless, with low necklines. They had silver and sequins and were more like an adult cocktail dress than a party dress for an 11-year-old.

“I felt the only way she could wear these appropriately was with leggings and a long sleeved black t-shirt.

“This is Ireland. It’s cold. We don’t have the weather for skimpy clothes. I worry about the marketing pressure to make girls look sexy and I hate taking my girls shopping because of what’s out there. It makes me uncomfortable.

“It’s hard to find things for a child who goes outside and plays a lot. I think the clothes aren’t designed for children who go out and play — they’re designed for sitting around watching TV.” With three daughters — the other two are aged 15 and 14 — Eileen has learned to compromise. “I’ll let them get a dress which I think is too short — but I insist that they wear it with black tights to take the bare look off it.

But when I see something inappropriate I say, ‘we’re not buying that’. They might buy a pair of shorts but they wear them over thick tights and I can live with that.”

When asked recently, Dunnes Stores and New Look did not respond to a query as to whether it had a policy on children’s clothes, but a spokeswoman for Penneys said Primark

TOO SHORT: Eris Gormley, in one of her own outfits, says too many girls wear pink and clothes are too short for their age.

Picture:Maura Hickey

took great care to ensure that all its childrenswear products were appropriate in every respect. “For example, the company met Reg Bailey, chief executive of the Mothers’ Union (an international Christian charity supporting families of all faiths), and contributed to his report in Britain (Letting Children be Children, the Bailey Review of Commercialisation and Sexualisation of Childhood, published Jun 6, 2011), and the company fully supports its findings. Primark is a responsible retailer that takes great care to ensure its products are attractive and appropriate.”

Also a Marks & Spencer spokesperson said: “We want to offer clothing that parents are happy to buy and kids are happy to wear. We are totally committed to ensuring our clothing offer is age appropriate and subscribe to the BRC Guidelines for all our kidswear products.

We also continue to be proud supporters of the Mumsnet Let Girls be Girls campaign.”

Says Minister Fitzgerald: “I’d have great faith in the common sense of parents, but some-

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

t starts with the toys, believes psychologist Patricia Murray. Years ago, little girls got dolls which were either babies or ‘little girl’ reflections of themselves.

These dolls, she says, ‘mirrored’ the child who played with them, and emphasised their difference from adults.

“Bratz dolls are older-girl dolls. Barbie has the physical attributes of a woman,” says Murray. “Most little girls aged five or six up to ten, do not have the physical attributes of fully-grown women — yet we’re giving them these dolls and telling them it reflects them.”

But, asks Murray, why should a little girl even need to be putting a bra top on a grown-up doll? It’s disparaging of childhood, she says.

“They are getting subconscious messages that childhood is not important, that what is important is growing up and wearing these kinds of shoes and clothes.

Remember, she says, boys who play with Bob the Builder or Postman Pat want to be Bob the Builder or Postman Pat — the same goes for little girls who play with provocatively dressed dolls.

“The toys we give get into the minds of the children. Unfortunately, we are giving girls dolls which are racy ladies — and they’re thinking: ‘That’s what I want to be’.

“Mothers have to take responsibility

for the images of women that they give their children. It starts with the toys. Toys have huge impact.”

And from toys, to clothes. “When dressing-up is how they dress, and when their wardrobe is not about comfortable functional clothes for childhood activities, and when little girls are dressing like night-club party-girls — who is bringing them to the racks where they get these clothes? In the end it comes down to parents.

“Whatever you give a child sends a message,” she says. However, she points out, other factors also contribute to the development of a child’s attitude.

“Factors such as how the mother behaves in terms of how she treats other women or men will have an impact, or how she dresses herself, what she considers to be important in life and what behaviour she promotes and encourages for boys and girls — does she, for example, promote assertive behaviour equally among boys and girls?”

times parents can be intimidated by marketing and by peer group pressure — it’s pester power and that has a very significant influence on how parents spend their money.

“We have research that parents feel pressurised by the retail industry and need help in standing up to it,” she says.

A lot of parents feel on their own, in this area, and would experience doubt about some of the children’s clothes currently on sale, she says.

“I feel it’s reasonable to ask for responsible guidelines,” she says, adding that if parents feel a product is inappropriate they should say it to staff in the shop.

Some mothers feel the fashion industry is openly competing with them, says Orla O’Connor head of policy at the National Women’s Council.

“There is concern among mothers and women about the way the fashion and advertising industries are sexualising young girls and targeting products at children —

DOLLS POWER: Why should little girls be presented with a doll with the attributes of grown up woman?

for example bras and very skimpy tops.”

Mothers say they feel they’re competing with the fashion industry in trying to explain to children why they will not buy certain products for their children, says O’Connor.

A voluntary code of good practice is probably a good start in terms of getting a message to the fashion industry that this is not appropriate, she says, but it’s important to ramp up public awareness of the problem.

“The issue needs to be discussed because it is about empowering parents and the voluntary code will help parents.”

People should complain to the shops if they see something on sale that they feel is inappropriate, she emphasises. “This is an opportune time for shoppers to express disapproval about garments they feel are inappropriate because in the current climate retailers are listening very carefully to their customers.”

9

IN THE SHOPS

by Aoife Dowling

I

TOOK to the high street shops to check out what’s available for pre-teens on the clothes rails. Most had a range of clothing you would expect for that age group — pretty dresses, funky t-shirts and jeans graced the shelves.

While a lot of the clothing for pre-teens were age appropriate and conservative there was also a variety of skintight clothing.

New Look, Penneys, Dunnes Stores and Marks & Spencer all have a range of skintight leggings and jeans. However, some of the items in New Look and Penneys may not pass the code of practice with hot pants and crop tops for children as young as nine.

Although there was an absence of vulgar and seductive slogans on t-shirts that YOUNG LOOK: Bra caused controversy in and pants set for previous years — pre-teens, €4, Playboy logos, for example — there is a Dunnes Stores. trend of skintight clothing in the pre-teen department. Penneys has a wide range of short shorts and clingy neon leggings, while New Look has a variety of tops displaying the midriff and shirts that tie around the bellybutton.

Low-cut shirts and high-cut skirts have been all the rage in teenage fashion magazines and clothing stores for a while, from my experience on the high street, the trend is targeting children younger and younger.

PENNEYS The popular low-cost clothing store has a wide range of tween clothing. Hot pants, leggings and skin-tight jeans featured on the rails of the 9 to 13-year-old section.

Hot pants were available in an array of colours from bleach white to deep red.

Leggings came in neon shades with bright pink taking a prominent spot on the rails.

The most surprising items available for tweens were underwear sets which have support bras and matching underwear. The store, however, finds a balance by stocking a wide range of t-shirts and jumpers with animals and cute designs.

DUNNES STORES The tween section in Dunnes was a little more conservative. While they did have leggings and skintight jeans on display, they also had printed t-shirts, cardigans and knitted jumpers. But while hot pants and crop tops weren’t donning the shelves, Dunnes did have a range of underwear sets for 9 to 12-year-olds.

NEW LOOK Although New Look is considered a shop for teenagers and young adults, it now has a pre-teen section, however, the clothes in this department are almost identical to the ones for young adults, just in smaller sizes.

I found crop tops for children as young as nine, along with sleeveless shirts that display the midriff. Similarly to Penneys, underwear sets in a variety of colours and styles are stocked for the pre-teens. The neon tube tops for ages 9-12 stood out.

MARKS & SPENCER Marks and Spencer has a wide range of pre-teen clothing, the most diverse of the stores I encountered. Hot pants and skintight clothing were absent, but sequences were in. Tops and dress filled with gold and black sequences took prominence in the tween section. It also has flashy dresses with a section of polka dot ’50s inspired dresses and skirts.

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10 The female line

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To mark International Women’s Day next Thursday, Helen O’Callaghan talks to five high-ranking women in the healthcare profession about their role models and whether gender matters in getting ahead in the workplace Head of the national cochlear implant programme in Beaumont Hospital, Laura Viani performed the first cochlear implant procedure in Ireland in 1995 — as a result, many children went from being sign-language dependent to integrating into mainstream school.

Ms Viani was appointed first woman surgeon in otolaryngology (ENT — ear, nose, throat) in Ireland in 1992. Mum to Dylan, 17, she’s a council member of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

What do you feel prevents women progressing in their careers?

“If I’d had five children, it mightn’t have been quite so easy to run a national programme.

“It’s much more difficult to get ahead with your career if you’re going through pregnancies, and therefore not at work for long periods. Women may also opt not to choose careers in surgery because they know they’ll be on call a lot.”

Name women you admire?

“I deal mostly with hearing-impaired children — many of them have other disabilities, too. I really admire the mothers of these children — I see the amount of work they put into bringing their children to multiple appointments.”

Feelgood

UP FRONT INSPIRING MUM: Dr Mary Gray who chairs the Irish Medical Organisation’s GP Committee admires her mother, Nora, for her consistency and positive outlook.

Picture:Don MacMonagle

As a woman, what do you bring to your professional role?

“As a mother, I can empathise with other mothers.

The children who come to our unit have to attend a lot of appointments. You understand the difficulty of trying to juggle everything.”

Do you feel gender makes a difference when it comes to getting key career roles?

“I don’t play on the feminist thing. Having worked in the world of men, I’ve always found them fine. Most people were very supportive to me as a woman surgeon. Sometimes, people say women aren’t helpful to other women. I didn’t find that — I found the nursing staff in Beaumont very helpful, for example.

“When I was seven months pregnant, I travelled around England looking for staff for the cochlear implant programme. I had my son in Oct 1994 and I did the first implant five months later. I had a very supportive husband. We’re both surgeons, so we had to have a childminder living with us.”

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MOTHER OF ALL JOBS: Laura Viani was first woman surgeon in otolaryngology (ENT — ear, nose, throat) in Ireland.

Picture: Maxwell Photography

POSITIVE VIEW: Dr Shirley McQuade admires her elderly patients’ attitude to life. Picture: Maura Hickey

TOP JOB: Dr Rhona Mahony is CEO of the National Maternity Hospital. Picture: Mark Maxwell

Dr Shirley McQuade, Dublin Well Woman medical director since 1997, is single and doesn’t have children. She will be 50 this year.

Master of the National Maternity Hospital at Holles Street since Jan 1, Dr Rhona Mahony, 41, is the first female master of a Dublin maternity hospital. She has four children, aged from 13 to five.

As a woman, what do you bring to your professional role?

“I’ve helped create a clinic atmosphere where women feel comfortable discussing very personal issues. I was also instrumental in developing a computer system for use during clinic consultations. Having data going back to 2001 allows us see trends — for example, in contraceptive use over the last decade or the fall-off in HRT prescribing.”

Do you feel gender makes a difference when it comes to getting key career roles?

“I’ve seen many female patients as their career progresses through their 20s, 30s and 40s. They speak about interviewing panels being mostly male. The panel may not consider itself biased but — when choosing between two people with similar qualifications — there may be a tendency to choose the applicant they’re most like. You identify with the person you’re hiring and women can feel excluded.

Recently appointed Professor of Primary Healthcare (Research) at UL’s Graduate Entry Medical School, Anne MacFarlane, 40, is the first woman professor in this discipline in Ireland. Her children are aged 12, nine and six.

FLEXIBLE APPROACH: Anne MacFarlane has had flexibility in her work opportunities while also being a mother to three children. Picture: Press 22 FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

“Gender didn’t make a difference in my case.

Go to a professional meeting on women’s health issues and most people attending will invariably be women.”

What do you feel prevents women progressing in their careers?

“I see very career-oriented women in their 30s. Either because there isn’t much promotional activity going on or they’ve seen their bonuses disappear — particularly with the economic downturn — they begin thinking ‘now’s a good time to start a family’. They take up to a year off work and when they return their focus is on adjusting work around family life. They don’t seem to have great expectations that their partner’s going to get involved in a shared care situation when it comes to child-minding.”

Name women you admire?

“Some of my women patients are in their late 70s and early 80s. As a group, I admire them.

Many have health problems and perhaps not many financial resources but they’ve gone through life and come out the other end.

They’ve just kept going.”

As a woman, what do you bring to your professional role?

“My own experience as a woman and mother means I can really identify with people’s experience of accessing appropriate healthcare. I’m strong on mediation and pay a lot of attention to relationships.”

Do you feel gender makes a difference when it comes to getting key career roles?

As a woman, what do you bring to your professional role?

“Holles Street’s the busiest maternity hospital in Europe, with up to 10,000 babies a year born there, so my role’s very challenging. It’s also a huge privilege to contribute at this level to an institution that has been at the heart of our society for over 100 years. I don’t see my role in terms of gender. It’s about being a good obstetrician and — as hospital CEO — my role’s very much to facilitate staff to do their best job. For this, I need a huge range of skills.”

Do you feel gender makes a difference when it comes to getting key career roles?

“No sensible organisation will entrust its corporation on the basis of gender. It’s about the job applicant having the ability. In Holles Street, we’re increasingly seeing

“It’s difficult sometimes dealing with ideas about what a woman can or can’t do, should or shouldn’t do, with her life and abilities. I’ve had to deal with that at times in my personal and professional circles. For me, the ideal from a feminist perspective is that women can have choices and equal opportunities.

“There are challenges around being a working mother, like finding affordable, quality childcare.

Feelgood

As a woman, what do you bring to your professional role?

“Many problems we meet in general practice are in women’s health. As a woman, I have particular empathy for those. In my IMO role, I incline towards a team and consensus approach rather than being didactic. As leaders, women tend to work from underneath up rather than from the top down. While this approach can appear to be slower, it’s reportedly a very productive style of leadership.”

What do you feel prevents women progressing in their careers?

“The erroneous perception that part-time workers are of lesser value than full-time workers — this affects women more than men — plus a level of intolerance to children in the workplace. I’d like to see workplaces more accepting of the value of children and having more crèches — with sick bays within them.”

What do you feel prevents women progressing in their careers?

“Career and reproductive life don’t always go peaceably in tandem. Some careers allow you step in and out — others don’t. Your career might be taking off just as you’re having a family — there can be conflict between the two goals.”

Name women you admire?

“I hugely admire our two women presidents. It was delightfully progressive to see effective women presidents in place for so long. I admire my mum, Nora Gray, for her consistency and constantly positive outlook.”

Name women you admire?

“Brilliant, bright women like Mary McAleese and Mary Robinson, who contributed so much to families and to human rights. I also love Miriam O’Callaghan — she has a serious intellect . I’d also include my life-long friend, Catriona Edwards.”

What do you feel prevents women progressing in their careers?

A GP since 1985, Dr Mary Gray chairs the Irish Medical Organisation’s GP Committee and was first senior lecturer in Health Law & Ethics at UL Medical School. Aged 53, her daughter, Jenny is 27.

Do you feel gender makes a difference when it comes to getting key career roles?

“A medical career is time-consuming. In the early phase of working life, women spend proportionately less time than men at work because they devote more time to family.

Once children reach school-going age, women return and may well get to the top of their field later. There’s a negative perception of women in healthcare who job-share. Yet research finds when two people do one job, each is more productive than one person alone doing the job.

“Personally, I didn’t face difficulties — perhaps because I’ve been self-employed most of my working life.”

women appointed to consultancy roles. Of course, women have to apply for these jobs and sometimes they don’t — I was the first woman in Holles Street to apply to be master. I’ve never felt discriminated against. I’d be the first to admit there were times when the children were small that it was difficult to keep everything going on the career front, when I was firing on all cylinders at home as well.”

“My husband and I were fortunate — we both have flexibility in our work. I occasionally work from home and I’ve often had flexi-time options — going into work early and getting home by mid-afternoon. My husband is self-employed so we’ve been able to be very available for the children.”

11

“A woman needs to rely on three things for career progression — support, determination and opportunity. It’s not always possible to have all three.

“I’ve had a lot of support and determination but there weren’t too many opportunities. I’m a social scientist, working in medical schools, and there haven’t been many opportunities for senior-level roles. This has to do with the discipline I’m in rather than with gender.”

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

Name women you admire?

“I look up to my mother, Nora Murphy.

She managed a busy household of five children for a long time. She’s a supreme mediator.

“She was able and caring around managing dynamics in a family. She cared for my grandfather in our home for 17 years when we were all young. I learned a lot of my skills from her.”

TERAPROOF:User:irenefeighanDate:29/02/2012Time:16:27:54Edition:02/03/2012FeelgoodXH0203Page:10

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10 The female line

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To mark International Women’s Day next Thursday, Helen O’Callaghan talks to five high-ranking women in the healthcare profession about their role models and whether gender matters in getting ahead in the workplace Head of the national cochlear implant programme in Beaumont Hospital, Laura Viani performed the first cochlear implant procedure in Ireland in 1995 — as a result, many children went from being sign-language dependent to integrating into mainstream school.

Ms Viani was appointed first woman surgeon in otolaryngology (ENT — ear, nose, throat) in Ireland in 1992. Mum to Dylan, 17, she’s a council member of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

What do you feel prevents women progressing in their careers?

“If I’d had five children, it mightn’t have been quite so easy to run a national programme.

“It’s much more difficult to get ahead with your career if you’re going through pregnancies, and therefore not at work for long periods. Women may also opt not to choose careers in surgery because they know they’ll be on call a lot.”

Name women you admire?

“I deal mostly with hearing-impaired children — many of them have other disabilities, too. I really admire the mothers of these children — I see the amount of work they put into bringing their children to multiple appointments.”

Feelgood

UP FRONT INSPIRING MUM: Dr Mary Gray who chairs the Irish Medical Organisation’s GP Committee admires her mother, Nora, for her consistency and positive outlook.

Picture:Don MacMonagle

As a woman, what do you bring to your professional role?

“As a mother, I can empathise with other mothers.

The children who come to our unit have to attend a lot of appointments. You understand the difficulty of trying to juggle everything.”

Do you feel gender makes a difference when it comes to getting key career roles?

“I don’t play on the feminist thing. Having worked in the world of men, I’ve always found them fine. Most people were very supportive to me as a woman surgeon. Sometimes, people say women aren’t helpful to other women. I didn’t find that — I found the nursing staff in Beaumont very helpful, for example.

“When I was seven months pregnant, I travelled around England looking for staff for the cochlear implant programme. I had my son in Oct 1994 and I did the first implant five months later. I had a very supportive husband. We’re both surgeons, so we had to have a childminder living with us.”

XH - V2

MOTHER OF ALL JOBS: Laura Viani was first woman surgeon in otolaryngology (ENT — ear, nose, throat) in Ireland.

Picture: Maxwell Photography

POSITIVE VIEW: Dr Shirley McQuade admires her elderly patients’ attitude to life. Picture: Maura Hickey

TOP JOB: Dr Rhona Mahony is CEO of the National Maternity Hospital. Picture: Mark Maxwell

Dr Shirley McQuade, Dublin Well Woman medical director since 1997, is single and doesn’t have children. She will be 50 this year.

Master of the National Maternity Hospital at Holles Street since Jan 1, Dr Rhona Mahony, 41, is the first female master of a Dublin maternity hospital. She has four children, aged from 13 to five.

As a woman, what do you bring to your professional role?

“I’ve helped create a clinic atmosphere where women feel comfortable discussing very personal issues. I was also instrumental in developing a computer system for use during clinic consultations. Having data going back to 2001 allows us see trends — for example, in contraceptive use over the last decade or the fall-off in HRT prescribing.”

Do you feel gender makes a difference when it comes to getting key career roles?

“I’ve seen many female patients as their career progresses through their 20s, 30s and 40s. They speak about interviewing panels being mostly male. The panel may not consider itself biased but — when choosing between two people with similar qualifications — there may be a tendency to choose the applicant they’re most like. You identify with the person you’re hiring and women can feel excluded.

Recently appointed Professor of Primary Healthcare (Research) at UL’s Graduate Entry Medical School, Anne MacFarlane, 40, is the first woman professor in this discipline in Ireland. Her children are aged 12, nine and six.

FLEXIBLE APPROACH: Anne MacFarlane has had flexibility in her work opportunities while also being a mother to three children. Picture: Press 22 FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

“Gender didn’t make a difference in my case.

Go to a professional meeting on women’s health issues and most people attending will invariably be women.”

What do you feel prevents women progressing in their careers?

“I see very career-oriented women in their 30s. Either because there isn’t much promotional activity going on or they’ve seen their bonuses disappear — particularly with the economic downturn — they begin thinking ‘now’s a good time to start a family’. They take up to a year off work and when they return their focus is on adjusting work around family life. They don’t seem to have great expectations that their partner’s going to get involved in a shared care situation when it comes to child-minding.”

Name women you admire?

“Some of my women patients are in their late 70s and early 80s. As a group, I admire them.

Many have health problems and perhaps not many financial resources but they’ve gone through life and come out the other end.

They’ve just kept going.”

As a woman, what do you bring to your professional role?

“My own experience as a woman and mother means I can really identify with people’s experience of accessing appropriate healthcare. I’m strong on mediation and pay a lot of attention to relationships.”

Do you feel gender makes a difference when it comes to getting key career roles?

As a woman, what do you bring to your professional role?

“Holles Street’s the busiest maternity hospital in Europe, with up to 10,000 babies a year born there, so my role’s very challenging. It’s also a huge privilege to contribute at this level to an institution that has been at the heart of our society for over 100 years. I don’t see my role in terms of gender. It’s about being a good obstetrician and — as hospital CEO — my role’s very much to facilitate staff to do their best job. For this, I need a huge range of skills.”

Do you feel gender makes a difference when it comes to getting key career roles?

“No sensible organisation will entrust its corporation on the basis of gender. It’s about the job applicant having the ability. In Holles Street, we’re increasingly seeing

“It’s difficult sometimes dealing with ideas about what a woman can or can’t do, should or shouldn’t do, with her life and abilities. I’ve had to deal with that at times in my personal and professional circles. For me, the ideal from a feminist perspective is that women can have choices and equal opportunities.

“There are challenges around being a working mother, like finding affordable, quality childcare.

Feelgood

As a woman, what do you bring to your professional role?

“Many problems we meet in general practice are in women’s health. As a woman, I have particular empathy for those. In my IMO role, I incline towards a team and consensus approach rather than being didactic. As leaders, women tend to work from underneath up rather than from the top down. While this approach can appear to be slower, it’s reportedly a very productive style of leadership.”

What do you feel prevents women progressing in their careers?

“The erroneous perception that part-time workers are of lesser value than full-time workers — this affects women more than men — plus a level of intolerance to children in the workplace. I’d like to see workplaces more accepting of the value of children and having more crèches — with sick bays within them.”

What do you feel prevents women progressing in their careers?

“Career and reproductive life don’t always go peaceably in tandem. Some careers allow you step in and out — others don’t. Your career might be taking off just as you’re having a family — there can be conflict between the two goals.”

Name women you admire?

“I hugely admire our two women presidents. It was delightfully progressive to see effective women presidents in place for so long. I admire my mum, Nora Gray, for her consistency and constantly positive outlook.”

Name women you admire?

“Brilliant, bright women like Mary McAleese and Mary Robinson, who contributed so much to families and to human rights. I also love Miriam O’Callaghan — she has a serious intellect . I’d also include my life-long friend, Catriona Edwards.”

What do you feel prevents women progressing in their careers?

A GP since 1985, Dr Mary Gray chairs the Irish Medical Organisation’s GP Committee and was first senior lecturer in Health Law & Ethics at UL Medical School. Aged 53, her daughter, Jenny is 27.

Do you feel gender makes a difference when it comes to getting key career roles?

“A medical career is time-consuming. In the early phase of working life, women spend proportionately less time than men at work because they devote more time to family.

Once children reach school-going age, women return and may well get to the top of their field later. There’s a negative perception of women in healthcare who job-share. Yet research finds when two people do one job, each is more productive than one person alone doing the job.

“Personally, I didn’t face difficulties — perhaps because I’ve been self-employed most of my working life.”

women appointed to consultancy roles. Of course, women have to apply for these jobs and sometimes they don’t — I was the first woman in Holles Street to apply to be master. I’ve never felt discriminated against. I’d be the first to admit there were times when the children were small that it was difficult to keep everything going on the career front, when I was firing on all cylinders at home as well.”

“My husband and I were fortunate — we both have flexibility in our work. I occasionally work from home and I’ve often had flexi-time options — going into work early and getting home by mid-afternoon. My husband is self-employed so we’ve been able to be very available for the children.”

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“A woman needs to rely on three things for career progression — support, determination and opportunity. It’s not always possible to have all three.

“I’ve had a lot of support and determination but there weren’t too many opportunities. I’m a social scientist, working in medical schools, and there haven’t been many opportunities for senior-level roles. This has to do with the discipline I’m in rather than with gender.”

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Name women you admire?

“I look up to my mother, Nora Murphy.

She managed a busy household of five children for a long time. She’s a supreme mediator.

“She was able and caring around managing dynamics in a family. She cared for my grandfather in our home for 17 years when we were all young. I learned a lot of my skills from her.”

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Healthy food

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Mushy please...

Roz Crowley

I

N infancy good habits can be formed just as easily as bad. Once weaned from the breast or bottle, what and how young babies are fed can influence their food choices for the rest of their lives.

Children have now become too accustomed to over-salty, over-sweet foods and often don’t like the idea of foods which need to be chewed.

They don’t bother with lumpy food, not enjoying the great textures of barely cooked vegetables, and preferring meat minced to within an inch of its life.

The good news is that Irish mothers like to prepare their baby’s food and believe it’s healthier for them. While it is easy to open a jar or packet, research sponsored by SuperValu in conjunction with eumom.ie — an Irish pregnancy and parenting community support website — found that 86% of Irish mothers were preparing meals for their babies themselves, cooking and liquidising it to freeze in small portions.

SuperValu consultant dietician Sarah Keogh, pictured, is happy with this statistic and has a list of tips for mothers at baby weaning stage.

1. Don’t try solids too soon. Four months is considered the earliest that the baby’s gut is well enough developed.

2. Initially introduce the baby to the spoon with a little food on it. It’s not so much about nourishment, but more about enjoying the experience. Try just a little in the middle of the day, ideally half an hour before their feed is due so they are not over hungry.

3. Sit the baby up straight to help with swallowing. Hold the spoon up to the mouth and let the baby suck the food off it.

4. Make the first feed the texture of milk — rice is ideal or a little cooked apple.

51. Don’t worry if the baby doesn’t appear to like any food in the beginning. Go back with more another day. There is plenty of time for them to get accustomed to new experiences. At this stage milk is still their prime source of nutrients.

Feelgood

Recent research shows that 86% of Irish mothers are preparing meals for their babies themselves, cooking and liquidising them to freeze in small portions 6. Vary tastes and textures soon. Every few weeks, don’t be afraid to add a few lumps so they get to almost chew it. It’s good exercise for their jaw and tongue which helps with speech. Many parents are nervous about texture, but persist. The baby needs different experiences.

7. Stick to meal times. Babies don’t need snacks and it’s a bad habit to get into. If they appear to be hungry, increase the quantity at mealtimes. This is important to communicate to grandparents and other carers, including

those at crèches who might be tempted to give them food outside mealtimes.

8. Make children part of your dining experience, sitting them in their high chair at the table, even if it’s not their mealtime. They will learn to use a knife and fork by watching you and also how you enjoy eating, talking and socialising.

9. Don’t be afraid to allow babies to make a mess while eating. You don’t have to clean their faces with every mouthful. Allow them

Recipes for allergy-friendly food Allergy-friendly cooking is more a necessity than a luxury for those who are intolerant of wheat, gluten, yeast, egg, dairy and soya.

The book The Intolerant Gourmet focuses on what can be enjoyed, instead of what cannot be, with delicious, seasonally divided recipes using ingredients such as gluten-free pasta, rice noodles and quinoa for savoury dishes and gluten-free flour for

pastry to make classics such as pecan pie, treacle tart with custard, banana bread.

There are easy recipes for a crusty white loaf and rye soda bread. Beautifully produced in hardback, the author Pippa Kendrick is a food writer who became ill with complications stemming from undiagnosed food allergies. Published by Harper Collins £20 (about €24).

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

to mess with food, feeling the texture of a banana, a raw carrot, a piece of apple. Judge which texture is right for them at the time.

10. Let them smell their food and enjoy each part of the dining experience. Babies love to eat so unless they have been ill will enjoy a variety of tastes. They will enjoy sweet foods particularly, to get the balance right, make sure they get plenty of savoury too. Children will vary their intake from day to day so don’t worry if they have a slow day. Go with the flow and trust your instincts.

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Dining out can be tough for coeliacs, particularly with so many flour-rich sauces on menus.

A treat is ahead with a coeliac-friendly Indian banquet to be held by chef Claire O’Brien, who is herself coeliac.

Supper on the Farm takes place on Saturday, March 10, at Thompson’s Farm, Carrigaline, Co Cork.

For more information call 086-2339519.

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Male Male health health 13

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The heart to run Ireland ...

A LAN Corcoran will run 35 marathons in 35 consecutive days starting on May 27, to raise funds for the Irish Heart Foundation’s Act FAST campaign, the National Rehabilitation Centre, and the Football Village of Hope charity.

“I’ll consider it a failure if I run the marathons and don’t raise the money,” says the 21-year-old, who is studying town planning in Dublin Institute of Technology.

Alan has a personal reason to become the first man to run a lap of Ireland in 917 miles straight. His dad, former FAI president Milo Corcoran, had a stroke in Mar 2011.

“That was a shock, because the stroke came out of nowhere,” says Alan, who is from Waterford. “I had been home the week before my dad had the stroke and there were no signs. I wasn’t aware of what a stroke was, so I looked it up on the internet after my mum rang me, and rang her back to check how he really was.”

Every year in Ireland, 10,000 strokes occur, and one in five people will have a stroke in their lifetime, according to the Irish Heart Foundation.

Today, Alan’s dad, Milo, has returned to driving with just a slight numbness remaining, down one side. Like many stroke sur-

Deirdre O'Flynn

STEP ABOVE: Alan Corcoran, with his father Milo who had a stroke last year, will run 35 marathons in 35 days to raise funds for charities.

MOSTLY MEN

vivors, Milo endured months of rehabilitation to go from wheelchair to walking frame to independent mobility.

“He was determined to get his independence back but it was a big shock for me to see him, when I came home after my exams,” Alan says.

Alan’s marathon challenge will start on May 27 and, by the first day of the European Championships in Poland on June 8, he will have run 286 miles. “I’ll finish off with the Viking marathon in Waterford,” says Alan, who will have support from friends and welcomes any runners who want to accompany him any day.

“I’m following a particular training programme. I’ve met the wall during training and I’m just going to have to get used to it and push through it. Raising funds for the charities will be a great incentive.”

Alan’s first supporter was Republic of Ire-

Picture: David Maher

land manager, Giovanni Trapattoni.

“I admire the dedication of Alan Corcoran to run 35 marathons in 35 days to complete a lap of Ireland. It is an incredible test of en-

It’s easy to get tested Footballers support for sex infections brain-injury drive “Get tested, get treated and get on with your life”, is the message from the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) to Irish men as part of a Men Engage campaign to encourage men to take responsibility for their sexual health. Three YouTube videos have been put up by the IFPA to help break down the barriers when it comes to accessing sexual health services.

The three videos focus on sexually transmitted infections, contraception and crisis pregnancy and can be viewed on

TAKE 1

www.ifpa.ie.

“The vast majority of sexually transmitted infections have no symptoms, so in most cases, the only way to know if you have a sexually transmitted infection is to get tested,” says Dr Caitriona Henchion, IFPA medical director. “Testing is quick and painless. Being diagnosed with most sexually transmitted disease is not a cause for panic. You will be treated quicker than you would be for a sore throat. For example, the treatment for chlamydia is four tablets in one day.”

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STAYING ACTIVE: The Seven Seas Active 55 range is designed to maintain flexible joints, and fitness, in the over-55s. It contains cod liver oil, a source of omega-3 fatty acids, which slow the progress of cartilage destruction, reduce inflammation of the joints and ease pain. Active 55 contains glucosamine, a building block of cartilage, tendons and ligaments. Glucosamine is formed in the body, but as we age it is harder to produce. The range contains chondroitin to support healthy cartilage.

Prices start at €4.25 for Active 55 original liquid; the Active 55 max strength dual pack costs €19.95; www.sevenseas.ie, or phone 1850-681012.

Feelgood

Dublin football players and Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) Ireland ambassadors, Michael Darragh Macauley and Rory O’Carroll, are supporting the ‘bake for brain injury’ campaign, which will take place during Brain Awareness Week, Mar 5 — 11. An estimated 13,000 people are affected by an ABI each year in Ireland. Men are three times more likely than women to acquire a brain injury, and young men between the ages of 16 and 25 are at high risk.

“It only takes seconds for your life to change drasti-

cally, that is definitely something we need to be aware of, and try to remember,” said Michael Darragh Macauley.

The campaign encourages people to bake and donate much-needed funds online at www.abiireland.ie.

ABI Ireland provides vital support services to enable people with ABI to maximise their abilities.

ABI Ireland also raises awareness around concussion in sport.

durance and fitness,” he says. ● To help raise funds with Alan, log on to www.35marathonman.ie

DId you know...

Farmers are up to 10 times more likely to be killed at work (Source: Health and Safety Authority, Ireland)

GOAL SETTER: Michael Darragh Macauley is supporting the ‘bake for brain injury’ campaign.

Senior supplements

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LOWER CHOLESTEROL: Plant sterols are natural substances which studies have shown can lower cholesterol by 8-15%.

Zerochol is a natural plant sterol supplement, and is suitable for people who need to balance their blood cholesterol levels, in combination with a healthy diet. The plant sterols present in Zerochol can reduce the absorption of cholesterol from your intestines. Zerochol is available from pharmacies and health stores, €24.99 (60 tablets); www.zerochol.ie.

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VITAMIN BOOST: Quest 50 Plus Once A Day is a multi-vitamin and mineral formula which includes iron, zinc and vitamin D, specifically formulated for the over-50s. The quick-release, easy-to-swallow tablet is designed to release nutrients in 30 minutes and can be taken with smaller meals, helping older people meet their nutrient requirements, particularly where diet or digestion are compromised, or when people feel unwell or are convalescing. Quest 50 Plus Once A Day costs €8.99 for 30 tablets from pharmacies and health stores.

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

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JOINT FORMULA: The manufacturers of new Joint Factor Plus says it combines the cartilage building properties of glucosamine with a number of natural nutrient combinations to offer a product that supports joint mobility, healthy cartilage, bones, muscles and connective tissue. The formula includes Vitamins C and D, nettle leaf, avocado and soybean. It costs €19.99 for 90 capsules.

Another supplement useful for joint health is Udo’s Oil, a blend of Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs), including Omega 3.

According to Irish distributors, Naturalife, regular users of Udo’s report a reduction of joint pain and muscle stiffness. For further details on either of these supplements, see www.naturalife.ie.

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14

Beauty

Emily O’Sullivan

It’s back to basics.

A barely there ‘nude’ look dominates the catwalks this season

T

HE beauty industry produces crazy stuff — bat-winged false eyelashes, turquoise lip gloss, yellow eyeliner. These are just some of the sample from the spring/summer collections that have landed on my desk. Seriously, yellow eyeliner, who could be bothered?

We wear make-up to look better. Yes, you want to make a statement with red lippy or go retro with liquid eyeliner, but few of us would be seen dead in yellow eyeliner.

Which is where one of autumn’s biggest beauty stories steps in — nudes.

Nudes sound like the kind of beauty story that puts you to sleep. But it’s not as dullsville as you might think. Nude make-up this year is about a super-healthy, fresh aesthetic — it’s about accentuating your best assets instead of loading your eyes and skin with a litany of products — it’s about paring back, about restraint. It’s also an easy look to do, if you’re not the world’s best eyeshadow blender.

The minimalist make-up theme of spring’s catwalk shows emphasises a barely perceptible amount of make-up. Yes, nudes or neutrals, whatever you want to call them, appear ever year in spring and summer, but whereas before it’s been about creamy tones and pale browns, this year it’s about hardly anything at all.

As simple as that sounds, it works. It makes sense — it feels like a breath of fresh air. I’ve had a barely-there make-up look for the last few days, and while I need to occasionally compensate with a slightly pinky lip gloss, or a swipe of mascara, it has made me feel, and even look, a little lighter, maybe younger and hopefully healthier.

Plus, once you’ve perfected the nude basics, you can shake it up a little with an orange lipstick, or a swipe of royal blue liquid liner

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The news on...

Staying neutral

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WOMEN’S FUNDRAISING SOAP IT’S International Women’s Day on Mar 8, and this year to celebrate French beauty company L’Occitane has launched a Women’s Day Soap, with a pretty good story behind it. The soap is a joint development between a woman called Barkissa from Burkina Faso in West Africa and the Nununa soap factory. L’Occitane helped Barkissa, who made soaps to help her family, to set up business by providing materials and helping her with training. Now 100% of the proceeds of the Women’s Day Soap will go to the L’Occitane Foundation, which helps build literacy centres in Burkina Faso. The soap is made of 53% shea butter and costs just €5.

Take three...

NUDE NAIL POLISH

OUT OF SIGHT: Neutrals are usually creamy tones and pale browns, but this year they are ‘about hardly anything at all’.

Picture: Thinkstock

across the eye. Start with your skin. If you don’t have a perfect base, then the nude look is on a downward trajectory. Look at any of the shots from the catwalk shows — Burberry Porsum, Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein — and what you notice first is the model’s skin, because there’s no heavy eye make-up to distract you.

If you’re going for this look, invest in a skin-perfecting product. There are tons of them, from Clarins classic beauty flash balm, €35.58, to Estee Lauder’s face primer plus illuminating base, €28.

Older skins benefit more from the slightly heavier, putty-style texture of products such as Clarins’ instant smooth-perfecting touch, €26.43, or Lancôme’s effet miracle bare skin perfection primer, €32, (as they even out skin tone as well as minimising fine lines), while younger skin tones will get a kick out of Benefit’s ‘That Gal,’ €30, or Bourjois flower perfection translucent smoothing primer, €13.20.

You don’t want to go for anything super-shiny, so, after applying a light sheer base, such as Max Factor’s second skin foundation, €21.50, or the even lighter Xperience weightless foundation, €19.95, dust on a lit-

tle translucent powder. Favourites are Clinique’s classic super-powder double face powder, €27, which is great for a matte look, but if you prefer a little edge, then try Mac’s lovely beauty powder, with a barely perceptible shimmer. Don’t forget to finish with a blush, but opt for a very pale soft pink or apricot.

Eye-wise, think simple. This is a great look, because it relies on buying no new products, a perfect recession solution. To get this look, I smooth a bit of powder all over the lid just to minimise redness and blotch.

It’s amazing how this small simple act can immediately make you look less tired and ruddy.

If you feel that’s too flat, then you can go for a nude with a very slight shimmer and apply it all over the eye. Finish up with a slick of black mascara (or you could go catwalk and leave the mascara off, too).

With the lips, nudes are big news, but they can look wishy washy when you’re wearing them with equally neutral make-up. There are tons of nude lipsticks out this season, but you do need to be careful with them to minimise the Dusty Springfield look. Glosses work much better for this look, or opt for something with a slightly pink sheen.

money or the effort, but if you like trying out a good few different make-up looks then Naked2 is a perfect choice with all its browny, cream nude shades — a good choice, no matter what your skin colour happens to be.

is a good range of neutrals, with plenty of options.

YES, nude is big with nails too, which is no surprise because we’ve had nails of every hue from charcoal to aqua over the last few years. Well, now it’s nude again.

But forget about a return to the French manicure of yesteryear. This year’s nudes are very simple, pale or maybe with a shot of pink if you’re feeling a little feisty.

Essie Brooch the Subject, €10.75. A soft pale beige, this is described by Essie as a ‘creamy cashmere’ and it does make us think of snug, cosy knitwear. It also has an element of skin-coloured tights about it, but don’t let that put you off — it’s really very nice.

Jessica Nails Stripped Naked, €9.95.

More traditional than Essie’s nude shade, this is a classic nudey pink that is very pretty to wear. It’s not going to win you any awards for originality, but it’s delicate and flattering and really rather lovely.

Nails Inc Porchester Square, €16.75. A very pale mushroom tone, I am loving this shade for spring — it’s perfect.

STUFF WE LIKE Max Factor Second Skin Foundation, €21.50. This does exactly what a foundation should: covers up your imperfections without sitting too heavily on the skin — and giving a matte effect without looking cakey. If you’re going for this one, you’ll only need the tiniest dab of powder afterwards to tone down any shiny areas.

Urban Decay Naked2, €40.40. It’s the second Naked palette from Urban Decay and has got lots to offer. Sure, sometimes palettes this size aren’t worth the

Feelgood

Bobbi Brown Ultra Nude Eye Palette, €47.

Bobbi Brown comes out with new palettes twice a year, sometimes more, and they are generally very good indeed with the emphasis on flattering, wearable shades rather than very directional looks. This

Chanel Ombre Essentielle in No42 Lotus, €26. A very neutral eye colour, this Lotus shade has a silky and slightly shimmery effect on the eyelid that seems to instantly give a more awake, more luminous effect to the skin.

It’s a great choice, and lasts a very long time.

Mac Tinted Lipgloss in Fresh Air, €17. This very light lipgloss works brilliantly with the nude look. It also works a treat with smokey eyes. It has a very slight shimmer and a very neutral

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

colour with an edge of pink. Because the colour is so light, you do need to reapply frequently.

Clinique Superpowder Double FacePowder, €27.

This is a classic powder — I’ve been using it since I was in my early 20s and I find that it’s very versatile.

It’s a good one to use if you’re not a huge fan of foundation.

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Natural health

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Q

Megan Sheppard Do you have a question for Megan Sheppard?

Email it to feelgood@examiner.ie or send a letter to Feelgood Irish Examiner City Quarter Lapps Quay Cork

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I had a miscarriage at 9½ weeks in Feb 2009 (the baby developed to about 7 weeks). I gave birth to a healthy baby in Aug 2010 — I was in Australia/New Zealand for four weeks in very early pregnancy and got lots of sunshine. I had a second miscarriage at 11½ weeks in Sept 2011 (the baby measured 9½ weeks). My blood tests were normal except for my vitamin D3 levels which are at 35.

I am currently six weeks pregnant and worried. While my GP has recommended 800 IUs daily of D3, I have read online that I need to be taking at least 4,000 IUs to prevent recurrent miscarriage. Studies have shown this level is safe in pregnant women from 12 weeks on, but my fear is that I won’t even get to the 12 weeks without it. However, as D3 is fat soluble is it possible I will do more harm than good?

A. Given your past experiences with miscarriages, it is difficult not to question absolutely everything that you put into or onto your body when you are pregnant. I am very pleased to hear that you have had one full-term healthy baby, and it is interesting that this was following time in Australia and New Zealand where it is far easier to get your stores of vitamin D. While the recommendation of 800IUs is double the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) for this nutrient, it is still far below what you would produce following a mere 20-30 minutes in the sunshine (estimated at around 10,000IU). So the 4,000IU you are considering isn’t even half of that which you were likely getting in early pregnancy with your healthy baby.

Ideally, you want your serum levels of D3 to be somewhere between 50-70ng/mL, so you are definitely on the low side. There has been a lot of research done on vitamin D deficiency within the last five years, since a lack of this particular hormone has been implicated in so many conditions. What the research has shown is that around 95% of pregnant women have less than 50ng/mL of vitamin D. This indicates that their actual stores of vitamin D are worryingly low, and that their daily intake of this vitamin (the women who participated in all of the studies were all taking a vitamin supplement which provided the recommended 400IUs of D3) was being rapidly used up without adding to the stores.

None of the studies have shown that vitamin D3 supplementation of 4,000-6,000IUs have presented any risk to the developing foetus. In fact, the lower RDA amount is more likely to cause problems in both the mother and the growing baby.

It also worth noting that adequate vitamin D3 levels also help to prevent pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, vaginal infection, and improve the outcomes in terms of birth

Picture: Getty Images

Low vitamin D is linked with miscarriage, so it does make sense to take the 4,000IU, which is considered to be a safe dose of vitamin D3 weight, mental health, and immune functioning.

Low vitamin D is linked with miscarriage, so it does make sense to take the 4,000IU, which is considered to be a safe dose of vitamin D3 (no recorded toxicity levels up to supplementation of 10,000IU daily). I will stress that you need to make sure that you choose a D3 supplement, rather than the plant sourced D2, which can have negative effects in larger doses.

Q. I have battled with haemorrhoids on and off since I first got them during pregnancy over 30 years ago. When I have them, it makes my life miserable. I have tried various creams to the pharmacy, which sometimes work and sometimes seem to have no effect. Is there anything that I can do to get rid of these for good?

A. Unfortunately, haemorrhoids are often par for the course when it comes to pregnancy and childbirth. The pressure of carrying the baby, constipation, diarrhoea, and the pushing during labour often causes the veins to swell excessively both internally and externally. In some cases, women aren’t even aware that they have developed haemorrhoids until they experience bleeding along

with a bowel movement; in more severe cases, there is no mistaking the itching, burning, and bruised sensation of internal or external haemorrhoids/piles.

One of the simplest ways to ensure that your colon functions smoothly, and to reduce the pressure on enlarged and distended veins in the lower bowel, is to use a soluble fibre such as psyllium. Using psyllium husks helps to stimulate the movement of waste throughout the colon without straining, allowing the haemorrhoids to heal naturally.

Fibre is a great way to ensure that the colon is able to function efficiently without exerting any pressure on already swollen veins, enabling them to heal naturally. Take 1-2 tablespoons of psyllium husks/hulls each day mixed well in a large glass of water, and drink it immediately. You can add juice if you don’t like the bland taste.

For topical relief for haemorrhoids, you can use Nelson’s H+Care (formerly known as Haemorrhoid Relief Cream), a cream for the symptomatic relief of external haemorrhoids containing homeopathic preparations of horse chestnut, calendula, witchhazel, and peony. H+Care costs €7 for a 30g tube.

Nelson’s also make H+Care soothing wipes for use in the toilet as a moist and soothing alternative to toilet paper.

■ NOTE: The information contained above is not a substitute for medical advice. Always consult a doctor first.

Megan puts the spotlight on:

W

ITH typical symptoms, including hot flushes, night sweats, fatigue, insomnia, memory loss, headaches, mood swings, breast tenderness, weight gain, vaginal dryness, bladder problems, bloating, osteoporosis, decreased libido, and changes in skin, hair, teeth and nails — menopause can turn life as you know it upside down.

It is more likely that a woman will get only a few of these symptoms at any one time, and some lucky women experience no obvious changes other than freedom from the monthly menstruation. But there are also some women for whom menopause is a nightmare.

HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) is an area of great debate for many women who are either approaching or

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experiencing menopause. With the promise of restored libido, improved complexion, and a means to end hot flushes, night sweats, irritability and depression, HRT has been welcomed by menopausal women and the medical profession alike.

However, long-term use of HRT has been shown to increase the risk of breast cancer and blood clots. While this has prompted many women to discontinue the treatment, a number have found a decrease in bone density after stopping HRT. Fortunately, there are many natural alternatives to assist women to adjust to the hor-

Menopause, naturally monal changes associated with menopause safely. In the past I have recommended Meno-Herbs 2, which has every herb on the menopausal woman’s wish list, but it is no longer available in the Ireland. There is another supplement with a fabulous synergistic herbal combination, called Sage Complex (made by FoodScience of Vermont). It contains wild yam, dong quai, red clover, agnus castus, sage leaf, Siberian ginseng, pomegranate extract, hops, kudzu, and fenugreek — quite the combination to help with hormonal balance, bone density, gland support, adrenal support, stress reduction, reproductive tone, hot flushes and night

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

sweats, and maintain oestrogen levels.

There are lifestyle changes which can help reduce the likelihood of experiencing detrimental menopausal symptoms. Ensure your diet is high in wholefoods, preferably organic. Keep a reasonable level of fitness. Get a good night’s sleep — easier said than done if night sweats are a problem, which is where sage tea or sage extract (salvia officinalis) helps immensely.

Sage Complex is available from health stores and Victoria Health, (www.victoriahealth.com; 00-44-1733 709100) where 90 vegecaps cost €28.50. Menosan is a herbal supplement with 100% fresh organic sage extracted into tablet form; take one tablet, twice daily — €12.55 for 60.

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FREE

CONSULTATIO N AVAILABLE

Call 021 427 2027

to reserve your free consultation with one of our treatment experts at Urban Escape Day Spa, The River Lee Hotel, Western Road, Cork or visit www.strawberrylaserlipo.ie

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FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

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Friday, March 2, 2012

Picture: iStockphoto

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Dressing down

Would you put a padded bra on this girl?

We give the latest update on the controversy surrounding provocative clothing for children: 8, 9

BLIND DATE

What happened when Katrina met Brian: 5

WORK RULES

Five women on being at the top of their healthcare careers: 10, 11

FIRST BITES

Expert tips on how to wean your baby onto solid foods: 12

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2 News front Kate O’Reilly WHAT’S ON ■ OVER 50S: The sixth annual Senior Times Over 50s Show takes place at Cork City Hall tomorrow from 11am to 6pm and on Sunday from 11am to 5.30pm. This year’s event will include health consultations, free hearing tests courtesy of Specsavers, Q&A with finance expert Jill Kerby and gardening clinics with Gerry Daly. Trace your roots in the new genealogy section and if you had a relative who served in the First World War, the Western Front Association, which has opened up a Cork office, will also be there. Admission is €5 but free tickets are available by logging on to www.seniortimes.ie ■ FREE TALK: Psychologist Fergus Heffernan will be in Cork next week to give a talk entitled Manage Your Life by Managing Your Mind – how to tap into your mind’s power so you can enjoy your life to the fullest. This free event will take place on at 7pm on Thursday, March 8, at Ballynoe Community Centre (near Conna) and will be followed by refreshments and entertainment. Further details from 087-7766813.

■ KETTLEBELL EVENT: On Saturday, March 10, SwingFit Munster Kettlebells — which specialises in fitness training using these weights — will host the first Kettlebell competition in Cork from 9am to 5pm at K2C Martial Arts Centre, Blackpool, Cork. The competition is open to Kettlebell sport athletes of all levels and will feature three separate events with entry costing €10 per event.

All proceeds go to Cork Simon Community. Registration, at www.swingfit.ie, closes tomorrow.

■ BIKE CHALLENGE: The Blazing Bikers Motorcycling Club are taking to the Scottish highlands during the May Bank Holiday weekend in a bid to raise funds for people who are blind or vision impaired. The Scottish Challenge, in aid of Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind and the NCBI, is the brainchild of guide dog owner Billy Shanahan from Thurles, Co Tipperary. The four-day 1,200km round trip will take place from May 4 to 7, travelling from Belfast to Cairnryan, Glasgow, Inverness and back through some of Scotland’s most beautiful countryside. It costs €550 per biker and €350 per pillion sharing to participate in the event. The cost includes ferry crossings and three nights B&B and evening meals.

For more details please contact Katriona on 087-4106861 or email blazingbikers@gmail.com before March 30.

■ FAMILY DAY: Lifetime Lab will host a family fun Engineering Open Day tomorrow from 11am to 4pm. Admission is free and children and adults can enjoy a series of stands and activities which will help them discover more about the many different types of engineering. Activities for this Engineers Week event will include programming Lego robots, construction challenges, snap circuits, engineering trails, launching water rockets and face painting. Lifetime Lab is located in the old Cork City Waterworks buildings on the Lee Road. Contact 021-4941500 or visit www.lifetimelab.ie ■ Items for inclusion in this column can be sent to koreilly8@gmail.com

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Broadcaster is one of 150 people in Ireland who are diagnosed with thyroid cancer each year. Arlene Harris reports

Sile’s plight L

AST weekend, broadcaster Sile Seoige revealed the shocking reason for her lack of presence on the airwaves — she is recovering from thyroid cancer.

In an interview with the Sunday Independent, Seoige said the operation she had in September, and the treatment she is undertaking, would return her to full health.

“I am on medication for the rest of my life, and while I’m back at work and love it, it will take some time before I’m fully recovered,” she said. “In my heart and soul, I believe I will beat this.”

Aged 32, the Galway woman is young to have contracted the condition. It is more common in women than men, but is relatively rare, with 150 cases diagnosed each year in Ireland. Grainne O’Rourke, of the Irish Cancer Society, says the number of detected cases is rising. “Thyroid cancer is a rare cancer which affects people who are middle-aged or older,” she says. “It seems to be getting more common in recent years and doctors believe this is because new technology lets them find small thyroid cancers that were harder to find before.

“This type of cancer occurs when cells in your thyroid gland, at the base of your neck, change and start to grow in an abnormal way. A group of these cells can form a tumour, and if a malignant tumour is not treated it will affect how your thyroid works.”

POSITIVE ATTITUDE: Sile Seoige says: “In my heart and soul, I believe I will beat this.” Picture: VIPIRELAND.COM Symptoms may be vague at first, because thyroid cancer grows slowly.

These can include: ■ A painless lump in your neck, which gradually gets bigger.

■ Difficulty in swallowing or breathing.

■ Changes to your voice, including hoarseness.

The exact cause of thyroid cancer in most people is unknown. Some risk factors can increase your chance of developing it.

These include: ■ Certain benign thyroid conditions.

These are not cancer but include an enlarged thyroid (goitre), thyroid nodules (adenomas) or an inflamed thyroid (thyroiditis).

■ A poor diet with large amounts of butter, cheese and meat.

■ If you eat very little iodine-rich foods, you are at risk.

■ If you have been exposed to radiation, you can develop thyroid cancer many years later. For example, this happened to people who lived near the nuclear plant at Chernobyl in the Ukraine, after it exploded in 1986.

■ If you had radiotherapy as a child, you may be more at risk in later life of developing thyroid cancer.

■ If you have a faulty gene, known as RET gene, it may cause medullary thyroid cancer.

“An overactive or underactive thyroid does not increase your risk of developing thyroid cancer,” says O’Rourke.

But if you think you may be at risk, first talk to your family doctor about your concerns. He or she may advise you to visit a specialist.

■ For more information, visit www.cancer.ie or call 1800 200 700

HEALTH NOTES SHINING SUPPORT: An Award for Outstanding Contribution is presented by Eamon O’Donovan, chairman Shine Centre, to Donal Clancy, Managing Director of Quinn Healthcare for their support of the Autism Jigsaw Seminar held in Cork October 2011. Also pictured is is Diane Haly Buckley, Shine Centre.

Tonight’s free ‘first Friday’ event at Blackrock Castle observatory, at 6pm, will include family workshops in association with the Cork Electronics Industry Association, exploring how we use electricity. There will also be stargazing with BCO astronomers and a lecture ‘Nothing Matters’, with author Ronald Green, at 8pm.

On Sunday, there are free HAM radio workshops in the afternoon, as part of ‘engineers’ week’. On Mar 9, you can build and launch your own rocket, with free workshops every half hour from 3.30pm to 5.30pm, as part of CIT ‘innovation week.’ Details on 021-4357917; www.bco.ie

Picture: Gerard McCarthy

There will be a free open evening for people who want to become life coaches or learn coaching skills, on Tuesday, Mar 6 at 6.30pm in the River Lee Hotel, Western Rd, Cork.

The next diploma in executive and life coaching, which gives participants a FETAC level six qualification, starts on Mar 25. Email cork@positivesuccessgroup.com or call 1890-253134.

per book. To register your location and receive a starter pack, see www.bringabookbuyabook.ie or phone 01-8840200. All funds go to St Michael’s House.

St Michael’s House, one of Ireland’s largest community-based services for children and adults with an intellectual disability, has launched its 2012 ‘bring a book, buy a book’ campaign, which runs until Mar 8. Volunteers contribute their second-hand books and purchase books donated by their colleagues, fellow students, friends or family at a cost of €2

The first emergency plan for childcare providers addresses planning and response for a range of childcare emergencies. The toolkit includes a simple, step-by-step booklet and poster to help providers plan and prepare for unexpected events. For further information, visit www.galwaychildcare.com or contact your local childcare committee.

www.irishexaminer.com www.irishexaminer.com

www.irishexaminer.com feelgood@examiner.ie

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

Clarification ■ In last week’s article about the possible link between vitamin D deficiency and MS, we referred to milligrams instead of micrograms. The scientific recommendations for healthy eating guidelines in Ireland published by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland in 2011 recommend that everyone under 50 should take a daily vitamin D supplement of 5 micrograms per day and that those over 50 should take 10 micrograms.

Editorial: 021 4802 292

Advertising: 021 4802 265

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In profile

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THE SHAPE I'M IN

Derek Davis

Larger than life R

TÉ presenter Derek Davis is one of the 190,000 people in Ireland affected by diabetes. It was a shock, says the veteran broadcaster, when he was diagnosed 20 years ago.

“I’d gone for a medical to get mortgage protection and life insurance, so I’d had a very extensive check-up. I’d been working flat out. I was working with RTÉ six, seven days a week and I had three young children. If somebody were to ask me ‘are you a bit tired?’. I’d have said ‘yeah, most of the time’. But I put it down to all I had on. I wasn’t suffering from leg cramps, though I’d get very thirsty late in the evening,” he says.

But Derek, 63, who had an uncle who became diabetic in his 80s, says well-managed diabetes is not the end of the world. While 67% of people with diabetes have experienced hypoglycaemia — low blood-sugar episode — while exercising, and 55% have had one while working, Derek has never had a hypo (an episode of low blood sugar). “I’m a stable diabetic. My blood sugar doesn’t shoot up or down unless there’s a reason. Regularity around eating is the friend of the diabetic.”

What shape are you in?

Spherical. When is anybody happy with their shape? I’d love to be a healthy young Adonis, but self-indulgence has put paid to that.

Do you have any health concerns?

I think that before 40 you think about living, after 40 you think about dying. If you get a cramp in the leg or a pain in the back, you wonder ‘is that the heart?’. If there’s an advantage to having diabetes, it’s that you’re so well-monitored. A properly diagnosed, treated and controlled diabetic can enjoy greater longevity than someone of the same age who doesn’t have diabetes, simply because we’re so extremely well-monitored.

I’d love to halve my weight — take away even about one-third of the body mass. I have the hair — I’d love a waistline.

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What trait do you least like in others?

Meanness — I hate a meanie. I understand when somebody can’t do something, but the cunning-smart Irish who try to take advantage I despise.

What trait do you least like in yourself?

Well, I make a living out of my gregariousness. I should ask my wife what’s my most irritating characteristic.

Do you pray?

No.

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What would cheer up your day?

Good company.

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Helen O’Callaghan

DIABETES SHOCK: Derek Davis was diagnosed 20 years ago, although tiredness was his only symptom at the time.

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What are your healthiest eating habits?

I mostly have porridge for breakfast. I’d have the odd cooked breakfast at weekends. I have a very low sugar intake and I’ve always been a fairly moderate drinker. I have a huge disdain for drunkenness.

What’s your guiltiest pleasure?

Chips — I find a portion of skinny fries very hard to resist. I like pâté de foie gras, but in very small amounts.

What would keep you awake at night?

At this stage, I’m quite fatalistic about my own life. I can pay my bills. I own my house. My wife and children enjoy good health. If any of my sons had a problem, I’d share in their stress.

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How do you relax?

I fish and I boat. I have a small cruiser that used to be in Kinsale — now it’s on the Shannon. I fly-fish. Twelve months of the year, weather-permitting, I’d be casting a fly.

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?

The great raconteur Peter Ustinov and the author Patrick O’Brien, whom I regard as a great historical novelist.

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What’s your favourite smell?

Probably the whiff of a good brandy.

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When did you last cry?

I think when Jonathan Philbin Bowman was killed. He used to come to me to get advice about his contracts. We got on very well. I have sons myself and I know how precious they are.

What would you change about your appearance?

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FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

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Facing life’s challenges David Rock is just 33 years old and has Parkinson’s disease. But the Dubliner is determined the disease will not limit him, Helen O’Callaghan reports

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Staying up to par

D

avid Rock walked up and down in front of the Mater Hospital-based neurologist after he’d done some stretches and moved his hand in particular ways as the doctor requested, and then he sat waiting for a diagnosis.

The then 21-year-old Dubliner wanted answers. He wondered about the tremor he’d had in his left hand since secondary school — a keen golfer, it was affecting his game and it got worse when he was nervous.

For the neurologist — having taken a full medical history and reviewed David’s symptoms — the diagnosis was clear: the young man had Parkinson’s disease (PD), a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that impairs motor skills and speech. About 8,000 people in Ireland have PD, the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s disease. Only about 5% of people diagnosed with Parkinson’s are aged under 40, so the diagnosis should have come as a shock to David, now 33. Yet, in a strange way, it didn’t.

“I had a feeling it was Parkinson’s. My granddad had it. A couple of members at the golf club where I worked had it too. And the tremor had been there so long. I didn’t know much about it though. I didn’t realise I was very young to have it. I assumed it was a common thing.”

PD is characterised by four chief motor disturbances: ■ Resting tremor — usually appears first in one limb, with disease progression may spread to all four limbs; ■ Muscle rigidity; ■ Automatic, unconscious movements such as eye blinking, swallowing, changing position and spontaneous emotional expression can be affected; ■ Postural instability (gait disturbance) occurs in later stages of the disease.

“Three of the four motor symptoms must be present to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s.

Only 70% of people with the disease have a tremor, even though — in the public mind — that’s the most commonly associated feature of Parkinson’s,” says Alison Cashell, Parkinson’s nurse with the Parkinson’s Association of Ireland.

Parkinson’s involves a slow, steady decline, over 10, 20, 30, 40 years. Non-motor symptoms — changes in sense of smell and taste, constipation, sleep disturbance and depression – can be the first sign of PD. “We see retrospectively that people will often have a history of these symptoms three to five years prior to diagnosis,” says Cashell.

For David Rock, not knowing the course his illness will take is particularly tough. “I could lose my speech or become bent over.

Chances are — with young-onset Parkinson’s — I will develop most, if not all, of the symptoms before the end of my life.

“When I was diagnosed the not knowing really stuck in my head. With this disease, it’s

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a lot of trial and error. You find a medication that works and stick with it until it stops working and then you move to something stronger.

“I can’t control what’s going to happen in the future. If I just sat there thinking about it, it’d get me down. All I can do is take my meds, get plenty of exercise and rest. After that I just have to take it as it comes.”

David is training to become a professional golfer with the Professional Golfers’ Association. The Finglas-based man married Celine in August 2010. He already has a 10-year-old daughter, Ava, from a previous relationship and he and Celine had a daughter, Amelia, recently.

“Celine and I got together in 2008. It’s a big thing to get involved with someone with Parkinson’s. It’s not a case of ‘this might happen’ — it will happen. I felt it would be unfair if I didn’t tell her straightaway, so I told her about my condition pretty much immediately. She appreciated that. It didn’t affect our relationship. She comes to my medical appointments with me and has the opportunity to ask questions.”

David is all too aware that his condition has deteriorated since diagnosis 12 years ago. “The tremor has progressed into both arms and legs. I’ve found a medication that controls the tremor very well. I get very tired no matter how much I sleep. My throat gets extremely dry. It can be hard to get motivated.”

While David learned very early on from medics the physical implications of having Parkinson’s, the full financial impact of having a neurodegenerative disease took a while to sink in.

“You go for a job interview. PD symptoms come on more when you’re sitting — I’ll start shaking a bit more. Interviewers automatically think I’m nervous so I have to make this decision, whether to tell them or not. Having the disease has a massive effect financially. People diagnosed at an older age already have a mortgage in place. Celine and I were lucky around the mortgage — we were upfront about my condition and we both had good jobs. [David worked in a golf retail unit, Celine is a manager with Paddy Power]. We just got lucky. But getting a pension or life insurance is pretty much impossible for me. If something happened to me, Celine wouldn’t have anything to fall back on.”

David acknowledges that PD will set limits. But he’s adamant he’s not going to give in or give up. “My family and my golf are my main priorities. I want to be a professional golfer and I want to teach people golf. I want to make sure things are ok for my wife and my children. I will never use Parkinson’s as an excuse for not achieving my goals.”

5

Blind date: Week 4

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A couple may match on paper but the reality check is the first date, says our dating coach Avril Mulcahy

No plans to meet again

AVRIL’S VIEW Based on the profiles sent to me, this match should have been a closed case and mission accomplished. Katrina was looking for a guy aged 41 to 50 years, who would put a smile on her face. Brian was looking for someone intelligent, independent and a good conversationalist. He also loved children, and, as Katrina has a 10-year-old son, this partnership showed all the signs of a great match. However, it was clear, even though they are the same age, there was no connection or chemistry, either initially or during the date — and they were poles apart.

Chemistry is the all-important ingredient that’s needed to make a first date successful. If it is not given time to develop, there will be no match. Brian had been out of the dating scene for some time and even though he was very friendly and polite, he treated the night more like an investigative enquiry than a first date.

The conversation centred around proverbial non-first-date topics — opinions on human rights, politics and religion. This is not the place for topics of this sort and conversation should have been kept light and of a positive nature.

Katrina and Brian genuinely want a partner. It is clear they are not right for each other. Both need to use their blind date as a stepping stone — the feedback should help them take more control of their dating lives, revaluate what they are looking for in a partner, and get back out on the singletons’ scene. ● www.singlelista.ie

NO SPARK: Brian O’Neill and Katrina O’Brien failed to hit it off on their blind date and won’t be seeing each other again.

Picture: Maura Hickey

EARLY DIAGNOSIS: David Rock was told he had Parkinson’s disease when he was 21 years old. The diagnosis did not come as a surprise, his granddad also had it. Picture: Maura Hickey

■ Noticing the symptoms ■ PD occurs for no known reason, but researchers find associated factors: ■ Environmental — living downstream from a paper mill or in an area where certain pesticides are used ■ Lifestyle — ‘typical’ person with PD will be non risk-taking, non-smoking, doesn’t drink coffee, doesn’t drive fast ■ Genetic — usually associated with young onset PD and usually presents in the 20s or 30s. Accounts for about five percent of all cases.

■ There is no diagnostic test for PD — diagnosis is made on clinical examination and reviewing a full medical history.

■ Average age of onset: approximately 60 years. Usually occurs in people over age 50. Ratio of male to female sufferers: 2:1.

■ No ‘one size fits all’ approach to disease

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

management. Treatment’s generally multi-disciplinary — can include physiotherapy, nutrition management and holistic treatments to manage stress, as well as medication. PD involves loss of the chemical dopamine — this helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centres and also helps regulate movement and emotional responses.

“Some medications for Parkinson’s will mimic dopamine (is a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centres), some will replace it and others will trick the brain into thinking dopamine’s available when it isn’t,” says Alison Cashell, Parkinson’s nurse. ● For more info, contact Parkinson’s Association of Ireland — 01-8722234 or visit www.parkinsons.ie. You can also call freephone number 1800-359359, Monday to Friday, 9am-9pm.

BRIAN O’NEILL

Plans to meet again? No.

First impressions: I don’t think I have a type of ideal woman. However, on first impressions, Katrina wouldn’t be someone I’d usually go for. But I was happy to have a nice night out.

KATRINA O’BRIEN

Conversation: We covered a lot of topics — politics, human rights, religion even immigration. She talked a lot more but I asked her opinion on plenty of things so that was natural. She didn’t really ask me much other than what I worked at.

Connection: No, I can safely say there was no connection. We engaged in what you would call ‘normal’ conversation mostly, like in a train station with a stranger — nothing exciting. There were a few awkward moments due to completely different opinions on certain topics.

Did you kiss? No.

First impressions: Well, he was dressed in jeans and a jumper. I was dressed for a date in a designer dress and pearls. He looked casual and comfortable. Even though he was friendly and polite, he didn’t look my type at all.

Conversation: At the start, we talked about day-to-day stuff. However, he kept asking me questions. I found the conversation more like a quiz at times and not a proper two-way conversation.

Connection: There was no connection whatsoever from the beginning. I found the whole conversation really draining.

Did you kiss? No. Would you do anything differently? I don’t think I would’ve dressed up as much if I’d known he was going to dress so casually.

Would you do anything differently? No. Even though we are the same age, we were worlds apart. It did give me a push though to get myself out into the dating scene again after nearly ten years out of it. I hadn’t been on a date in years. If I can go on a date with a complete stranger who was polar opposite to me, I can go on a date with anyone.

What happened at the end of the night? We went our separate ways.

What happened at the end of the night? We politely said goodbye. I knew there was no chance of seeing her again.

Plans to meet again? No. We never swapped numbers.

Rate the date out often: 2/10. While it was a novel experience, we really had nothing in common and I found some of her opinions on social matters very different to mine.

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Rate the date out of ten: 2/10. The food was exquisite, that is, when I was able to eat it without all the questions.

● The date was sponsored by: The Chophouse, 2 Shelbourne Road, Dublin 4 Contact details: www.thechophouse.ie, info@thechophouse.ie, 01-6602390.

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Facing life’s challenges David Rock is just 33 years old and has Parkinson’s disease. But the Dubliner is determined the disease will not limit him, Helen O’Callaghan reports

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Staying up to par

D

avid Rock walked up and down in front of the Mater Hospital-based neurologist after he’d done some stretches and moved his hand in particular ways as the doctor requested, and then he sat waiting for a diagnosis.

The then 21-year-old Dubliner wanted answers. He wondered about the tremor he’d had in his left hand since secondary school — a keen golfer, it was affecting his game and it got worse when he was nervous.

For the neurologist — having taken a full medical history and reviewed David’s symptoms — the diagnosis was clear: the young man had Parkinson’s disease (PD), a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that impairs motor skills and speech. About 8,000 people in Ireland have PD, the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s disease. Only about 5% of people diagnosed with Parkinson’s are aged under 40, so the diagnosis should have come as a shock to David, now 33. Yet, in a strange way, it didn’t.

“I had a feeling it was Parkinson’s. My granddad had it. A couple of members at the golf club where I worked had it too. And the tremor had been there so long. I didn’t know much about it though. I didn’t realise I was very young to have it. I assumed it was a common thing.”

PD is characterised by four chief motor disturbances: ■ Resting tremor — usually appears first in one limb, with disease progression may spread to all four limbs; ■ Muscle rigidity; ■ Automatic, unconscious movements such as eye blinking, swallowing, changing position and spontaneous emotional expression can be affected; ■ Postural instability (gait disturbance) occurs in later stages of the disease.

“Three of the four motor symptoms must be present to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s.

Only 70% of people with the disease have a tremor, even though — in the public mind — that’s the most commonly associated feature of Parkinson’s,” says Alison Cashell, Parkinson’s nurse with the Parkinson’s Association of Ireland.

Parkinson’s involves a slow, steady decline, over 10, 20, 30, 40 years. Non-motor symptoms — changes in sense of smell and taste, constipation, sleep disturbance and depression – can be the first sign of PD. “We see retrospectively that people will often have a history of these symptoms three to five years prior to diagnosis,” says Cashell.

For David Rock, not knowing the course his illness will take is particularly tough. “I could lose my speech or become bent over.

Chances are — with young-onset Parkinson’s — I will develop most, if not all, of the symptoms before the end of my life.

“When I was diagnosed the not knowing really stuck in my head. With this disease, it’s

Feelgood

a lot of trial and error. You find a medication that works and stick with it until it stops working and then you move to something stronger.

“I can’t control what’s going to happen in the future. If I just sat there thinking about it, it’d get me down. All I can do is take my meds, get plenty of exercise and rest. After that I just have to take it as it comes.”

David is training to become a professional golfer with the Professional Golfers’ Association. The Finglas-based man married Celine in August 2010. He already has a 10-year-old daughter, Ava, from a previous relationship and he and Celine had a daughter, Amelia, recently.

“Celine and I got together in 2008. It’s a big thing to get involved with someone with Parkinson’s. It’s not a case of ‘this might happen’ — it will happen. I felt it would be unfair if I didn’t tell her straightaway, so I told her about my condition pretty much immediately. She appreciated that. It didn’t affect our relationship. She comes to my medical appointments with me and has the opportunity to ask questions.”

David is all too aware that his condition has deteriorated since diagnosis 12 years ago. “The tremor has progressed into both arms and legs. I’ve found a medication that controls the tremor very well. I get very tired no matter how much I sleep. My throat gets extremely dry. It can be hard to get motivated.”

While David learned very early on from medics the physical implications of having Parkinson’s, the full financial impact of having a neurodegenerative disease took a while to sink in.

“You go for a job interview. PD symptoms come on more when you’re sitting — I’ll start shaking a bit more. Interviewers automatically think I’m nervous so I have to make this decision, whether to tell them or not. Having the disease has a massive effect financially. People diagnosed at an older age already have a mortgage in place. Celine and I were lucky around the mortgage — we were upfront about my condition and we both had good jobs. [David worked in a golf retail unit, Celine is a manager with Paddy Power]. We just got lucky. But getting a pension or life insurance is pretty much impossible for me. If something happened to me, Celine wouldn’t have anything to fall back on.”

David acknowledges that PD will set limits. But he’s adamant he’s not going to give in or give up. “My family and my golf are my main priorities. I want to be a professional golfer and I want to teach people golf. I want to make sure things are ok for my wife and my children. I will never use Parkinson’s as an excuse for not achieving my goals.”

5

Blind date: Week 4

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A couple may match on paper but the reality check is the first date, says our dating coach Avril Mulcahy

No plans to meet again

AVRIL’S VIEW Based on the profiles sent to me, this match should have been a closed case and mission accomplished. Katrina was looking for a guy aged 41 to 50 years, who would put a smile on her face. Brian was looking for someone intelligent, independent and a good conversationalist. He also loved children, and, as Katrina has a 10-year-old son, this partnership showed all the signs of a great match. However, it was clear, even though they are the same age, there was no connection or chemistry, either initially or during the date — and they were poles apart.

Chemistry is the all-important ingredient that’s needed to make a first date successful. If it is not given time to develop, there will be no match. Brian had been out of the dating scene for some time and even though he was very friendly and polite, he treated the night more like an investigative enquiry than a first date.

The conversation centred around proverbial non-first-date topics — opinions on human rights, politics and religion. This is not the place for topics of this sort and conversation should have been kept light and of a positive nature.

Katrina and Brian genuinely want a partner. It is clear they are not right for each other. Both need to use their blind date as a stepping stone — the feedback should help them take more control of their dating lives, revaluate what they are looking for in a partner, and get back out on the singletons’ scene. ● www.singlelista.ie

NO SPARK: Brian O’Neill and Katrina O’Brien failed to hit it off on their blind date and won’t be seeing each other again.

Picture: Maura Hickey

EARLY DIAGNOSIS: David Rock was told he had Parkinson’s disease when he was 21 years old. The diagnosis did not come as a surprise, his granddad also had it. Picture: Maura Hickey

■ Noticing the symptoms ■ PD occurs for no known reason, but researchers find associated factors: ■ Environmental — living downstream from a paper mill or in an area where certain pesticides are used ■ Lifestyle — ‘typical’ person with PD will be non risk-taking, non-smoking, doesn’t drink coffee, doesn’t drive fast ■ Genetic — usually associated with young onset PD and usually presents in the 20s or 30s. Accounts for about five percent of all cases.

■ There is no diagnostic test for PD — diagnosis is made on clinical examination and reviewing a full medical history.

■ Average age of onset: approximately 60 years. Usually occurs in people over age 50. Ratio of male to female sufferers: 2:1.

■ No ‘one size fits all’ approach to disease

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

management. Treatment’s generally multi-disciplinary — can include physiotherapy, nutrition management and holistic treatments to manage stress, as well as medication. PD involves loss of the chemical dopamine — this helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centres and also helps regulate movement and emotional responses.

“Some medications for Parkinson’s will mimic dopamine (is a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centres), some will replace it and others will trick the brain into thinking dopamine’s available when it isn’t,” says Alison Cashell, Parkinson’s nurse. ● For more info, contact Parkinson’s Association of Ireland — 01-8722234 or visit www.parkinsons.ie. You can also call freephone number 1800-359359, Monday to Friday, 9am-9pm.

BRIAN O’NEILL

Plans to meet again? No.

First impressions: I don’t think I have a type of ideal woman. However, on first impressions, Katrina wouldn’t be someone I’d usually go for. But I was happy to have a nice night out.

KATRINA O’BRIEN

Conversation: We covered a lot of topics — politics, human rights, religion even immigration. She talked a lot more but I asked her opinion on plenty of things so that was natural. She didn’t really ask me much other than what I worked at.

Connection: No, I can safely say there was no connection. We engaged in what you would call ‘normal’ conversation mostly, like in a train station with a stranger — nothing exciting. There were a few awkward moments due to completely different opinions on certain topics.

Did you kiss? No.

First impressions: Well, he was dressed in jeans and a jumper. I was dressed for a date in a designer dress and pearls. He looked casual and comfortable. Even though he was friendly and polite, he didn’t look my type at all.

Conversation: At the start, we talked about day-to-day stuff. However, he kept asking me questions. I found the conversation more like a quiz at times and not a proper two-way conversation.

Connection: There was no connection whatsoever from the beginning. I found the whole conversation really draining.

Did you kiss? No. Would you do anything differently? I don’t think I would’ve dressed up as much if I’d known he was going to dress so casually.

Would you do anything differently? No. Even though we are the same age, we were worlds apart. It did give me a push though to get myself out into the dating scene again after nearly ten years out of it. I hadn’t been on a date in years. If I can go on a date with a complete stranger who was polar opposite to me, I can go on a date with anyone.

What happened at the end of the night? We went our separate ways.

What happened at the end of the night? We politely said goodbye. I knew there was no chance of seeing her again.

Plans to meet again? No. We never swapped numbers.

Rate the date out often: 2/10. While it was a novel experience, we really had nothing in common and I found some of her opinions on social matters very different to mine.

Feelgood

Rate the date out of ten: 2/10. The food was exquisite, that is, when I was able to eat it without all the questions.

● The date was sponsored by: The Chophouse, 2 Shelbourne Road, Dublin 4 Contact details: www.thechophouse.ie, info@thechophouse.ie, 01-6602390.

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

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6 Medical matters

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Q

My son is studying for his Leaving Certificate. He has put himself under a lot of pressure to do well. Before Christmas he developed a sceptic throat which was treated with an antibiotic. But this week he is ill with another sore throat. Before we go to the GP is there another way of tackling his poor health?

Dr Julius Parker is a GP with HSF Health Plan’s free 24 GP advice line.

For more information visit www.hsf.ie or lo-call 1890 451 451

If you have a question about your health email it to feelgood@examiner.ie or send a letter to: Feelgood Irish Examiner City Quarter Lapps Quay Cork

A. First of all, I would try not to be over worried about two episodes of throat infections; upper respiratory tract infections; coughs, colds, and sore throats, are always more common during the winter season and classrooms are the ideal place to catch the latest bug.

That said, there is a lot you can do to encourage your son to stay healthy. Persuasion not pressure is key. Eating healthily means not skipping breakfast, and not snacking throughout the day.

Offer fruit and vegetables as a routine part of meals at home, and try and make sure the whole family eats together when possible.

Eating properly helps your concentration and energy levels, so does exercise and sport.

Your son may already enjoy this, and if he does, encourage him.

If not, taking a break will help his studies.

Most experts do not recommend more than one hour’s revision without a break.

Make sure he has a water bottle at his desk or in his room and an adequate light source when he’s working.

It’s also essential to get a good night’s sleep, between seven to nine hours is recommended.

A combination of these approaches should mean your son will feel healthy and motivated to do well.

Q. For the past two months I’ve been unable to sleep through the night. I am careful not to take any caffeine or alcohol after 6pm and go to bed at around 11.30pm. However, it takes hours before I fall asleep. I wake about 5am and can’t get back to sleep. The lack of sleep is beginning to affect my mood and work performance.

A. It’s really frustrating not to be able to sleep properly, especially if this is unusual for

NEWS UPDATE

TERAPROOF:User:jaycarcioneDate:29/02/2012Time:16:49:55Edition:02/03/2012FeelgoodXH0203Page:6

ALMOST one in seven couples expecting same-sex twins are given the wrong information about whether their offspring are identical, research suggests.

Expectant parents can end up misinformed about their unborn children during ultrasound scans carried out during pregnancy.

Data from more than 1,500 families with same-sex twins born in 2007 in England and Wales was gathered for the study, published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. It found that 1,302 parents had been told if their twins were identical based on whether there were one or two placentas visible during antenatal scans.

It is commonly believed that identical twins share one placenta, even though evidence suggests 25% to 30% of identical twins have two placentas.

Researchers from University College London (UCL) took DNA samples from the babies to discover whether the predictions had been correct.

Overall, 651 twin pairs were found to be identical and 621 were non-identical.

Of the 1,302 parents, 191 (15%)

you. It is also a common problem and you need to sit down and think through the possible causes. Most of us find it hard to sleep if we’re worrying about someone or something; money, work or a family member in difficulties or being unwell can affect us all and it’s been a tough few years for Ireland.

Occasionally, regular medication can cause sleep problems, you should check with your pharmacist or doctor. If you have other illnesses, could these be affecting your sleep?

You’re quite right to cut out caffeine and alcohol for several hours before bedtime. You should also avoid eating late and significant exercise close to bedtime. Other questions your GP may ask about include whether your bed is comfortable, and if you are being disturbed by noise or lights from outside.

Working shifts can also disrupt your normal sleep pattern.

Tackling sleep problems needs a consistent

TWO’S COMPANY: Ultrasounds aren’t always reliable in predicting if twins are identical.

Picture: iStock were misinformed about whether their child was identical. As many as 27.5% of parents of identical twins mistakenly believed their twins were non-identical, while 2% of parents of non-identical twins mistakenly believed their twins were identical.

In total, 38% of parents said they were told after an antenatal scan that their twins shared a placenta and were therefore identical, while 62% of parents were told their twins were non-identical as they had two placentas.

approach. Your GP will consider whether you might have another illness of anxiety or depression. Keeping a sleep diary can help pinpoint what is disturbing your sleep. Many people also find it useful to develop a regular bedtime routine with fixed times for going to bed and getting up. Avoid sleeping in, or sleeping in the day, even if you feel tired. If you really can’t sleep and find yourself lying awake worrying, it’s better to get up.

WELL READ: Taking regular breaks from study is recommended.

NOTE: The information contained in Dr Julius Parker’s column is not a substitute for medical advice. Always consult a doctor first

K

Catherine Shanahan MUM’S WORLD ■ Since writing this column Catherine has given birth to a baby boy.

Feelgood

ILLER is such a versatile little word. It can describe someone who takes a life, or a predatory whale, or it can be slang for something with formidable impact like a killer smile, killer looks, killer heels. But when I say the last week of pregnancy’s a killer I mean it only in the sense of something extremely difficult to deal with.

The stage I’m at, 44 days in a cramped glass box above the Thames with David Blaine sounds attractive. It matters not a jot what position I adopt — the discomfort is unending whether I sit, stand, kneel, lie down or squat.

Cutting toenails is like taking a blind taste test. The only thing that stands between me and losing a digit is the bluntness of my scissors. I can’t bend in the middle. I can’t pick up anything from ground level. I dropped my purse at the supermarket check-out and stood there, helpless, until some kind gentleman retrieved it. I don’t remember this kind of pressure last time. Maybe it’s on foot of two caesareans and the strain on the scar is less tolerable. There are times I feel like an old woman, unable to straighten, shuffling from one room to another, bowed by the weight in my pelvis. “Better out than in,” I think, and at this stage, it surely must be, regardless of the demands of a new baby.

I dread a third caesarean because I know exactly what’s ahead of me. Trying to drag yourself out of bed with an abdomen as tightly stitched as a facelift is not pleasant.

On my last visit to the hospital, the doctor asked if I fancied an end to procreating by way of tubal ligation. She caught me on the hop. The question was so casual she might just as well have asked “Would you like chips with that?”. I declined at the time, but in retrospect, having my tubes tied by way of a side order to a caesarean is starting to sound like not such a bad suggestion.

This time, I am definitely done — it will not be a case of famous last words.

Having more than replaced ourselves, myself and the Other Half will have done our duty for the future of the human race.

Physically, I would say I’m a shadow of my former self but for the two stone extra weight. The doctor reassures me number three will not be a lightweight. Again I think, “Better out than in”, as I count down the days to when I can lift my weight out of a chair without someone shouting, “Call William O’Brien, we hear he has the crane on standby.”

And so reader, a temporary farewell until April next, when all going well, this column should be back in the saddle again.

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

I can’t bend in the middle. I can’t pick up anything from ground level. I dropped my purse at the supermarket check-out and stood there, helpless, until some kind gentleman retrieved it

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Zone:XH

Psychology

XH - V1

We need to step out of our comfort zone and not hide our love of learning and spirit of adventure

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S

PRING — the time of teeming possibilities — does not happen all at once, it slowly reveals its mantle of leaf, flower, colour, fertility, song and passion. So it is for us — our awakening to our true nature doesn’t happen all at once … we become.

It can take a long time. Sometimes we can get stuck in the dark and cold of the winter of our discontent and, sadly, not emerge into the warmth and aliveness of spring.

Spring beckons us with its emergence, growth, possibilities, beauty, freshness and, particularly, beginnings and newness.

In his final book, Benedictus, the poet and philosopher, John O’Donohue, writes insightfully on beginnings: “Sometimes the greatest challenge is to actually begin; there is something deep in us that conspires to remain within safe boundaries, to stay the same.”

How accurate John is when he speaks of staying in our comfort zone and not daring to step out of that protective box. But what a tragedy ‘to stay the same’, to not emerge like the spring blossom in all its newness, freshness and beauty.

Seneca, the ancient sage, puts it equally eloquently: “It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.”

How is that what is in our nature — daredevilness, natural curiosity, love of learning, eagerness to know, adventuresomeness — can become buried under an avalanche of fear, doubt and uncertainty. What a loss to ourselves, others and the world when the creative and intelligent vibrancy of our lives becomes dormant — goes into hibernation — but does not awaken in springtime.

Each one of us needs to examine our story and discover what we put away of our true nature, all of which patiently awaits the magic touch of the courage to dare to unlock those endless possibilities. Belief, encouragement, support, compassion, celebration are some of the qualities that warm the hard earth of hidden hurts, fears and doubts. There is an old Irish saying ‘a good beginning is half the work’, but there is a hidden truth that needs resolution before ‘a good beginning’ can be made and that is that ‘the hardest work is to begin’.

The Socratic call to ‘know yourself ’ is as urgent today as it was thousands of years ago. We put too much emphasis on the external world and little on knowing our true selves.

The other aspect of spring that thrills me is its newness, which reminds me of the uniqueness of the individual.

Martin Buber, the wonderful German philosopher, writes: “Every person born into this world represents something new, something that never existed before, something original and unique. It is the duty of every person… to know and consider… that there has never been anyone like him in the world, for if there had been someone like him, there would have been no need for him to be in the world. Every single person is a new thing in this world and is called upon to fulfil his particularity in this world. Every person’s foremost task is the actualisation of his unique, unprecedented and never-recurring potentialities, and not the repetition of something that another, be it even the greatest, has already achieved”.

Let the presence of spring be the catalyst to saying ‘yes’ to

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the unique being that is each one of us, and let the fertility of each of our never-recurring potentialities shine through for the benefit of all.

I will finish with yet another quote from another favourite author of mine, John Welwood, in his book Perfect Love, Imperfect Relationships: “When life belongs to you and you belong to life, you are set free from hunger and fear. You experience the essential dignity and nobility or your existence, which does not depend on anyone else’s approval or validation. In this deep sense of union with love, you realise you are not wounded, have never been wounded, and cannot be wounded.”

What we are is hidden.

Dr Tony Humphreys is a clinical psychologist, author, national and international speaker. His book hose Life Are You Living is relevant to today’s article.

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

The

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8 Cover story

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Taking a stand

With concern growing over the sexualisation of clothes for young children, a code of conduct may address the problem, Áilín Quinlan reports

FEAR AND CLOTHING T

HE young girl teetering along the city pavement with her parents couldn’t have been more than eight or nine.Yet there she was on a cold winter Saturday dressed in a crop-top, short skimpy jacket, skin-tight leggings and struggling to walk in 2-inch stilettoes. Given what I’d just seen in the high-street shops, it came as no surprise.

With a keen eye on the pre-teen market, some stores now have special lingerie stands for children from nine years of age, boasting matching bra-and-knicker sets. Outer-wear on sale includes shortie-shorts with leopard-skin belts for 10-year-olds, skimpy sleeveless glittery cocktail-style dresses and tiny micro-minis aimed at eight-year-olds.

Our kids are growing up faster than ever — and the merchandisers can’t get enough of it.

The trend even has its own marketing term — KGOY, or Kids Getting Older Younger.

Of course it’s not confined to the clothes racks. The sexualisation of childhood is mirrored in the music children listen to, the TV and videos they watch and the toys they play with from an early age.

Take Rihanna — a huge hit among the tweens and early teens demographic. The lyrics in Talk That Talk is enough to set most parents’ hair on end: “I be trying to chill, b–ches wanna f–k me, every Every little city I go, f–k me/ Give it to me baby, I want it all night, Give it to me baby.”

Add all of this to the sultry pictures of 10-year-old Thylane Blondeau posing on a leopard-print quilt in heavy make-up and gold stilettos for a Vogue photo-shoot last summer and it’s not surprising that Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald wants to introduce a voluntary code of good practice on the retailing of children’s clothes.

Although there is already a lot of self-monitoring and good practice amongst Irish retailers where children’s clothes are concerned, according to Stephen Lynam, director of Retail Ireland, the group representing retailers, something concrete is needed, the minister believes.

Ireland’s biggest clothes retailers will be involved in drawing up the code, which will be based on a British code of good practice introduced last year by the British Retail Consortium. Under the code, which Lynam says will cover the vast majority of well-known children’s clothing retailers in this country, provocative garments, such as padded bras for girls under 10, skimpy swimwear and clothes carrying suggestive logos or slogans, are likely to be outlawed: “The purpose of the code is to have everyone on the same page so that if someone feels it has been breached the code can be consulted and a decision made,” he says.

Minister Fitzgerald expects to incorporate the code into a New National Children’s Strategy which is scheduled for publication before the end of the year.

“This would be a code of good practice,” she explains, adding that she is asking retailers to “do what has been done in other places” such as the UK Responsible Retailing Guide, as regards clothes for the under-12s.

Feelgood

Dolls reflect women not children

They wear skimpy outfits to fit in with other girls According to 11-year-old Eris Gormley, right, there should be choices in the market for girls of her age who have different tastes.

“I think clothes for girls are nowhere near good enough. They’re really skimpy and I don’t think they look good.

“I think that girls who wear very short skirts can end up looking like hookers. A lot of girls my age do wear very short skirts and short-shorts and they wear crop-tops, even in the autumn, and they don’t look good for their age.

“They think they have to wear skimpy clothes to fit in with other girls. Sometimes I’d wear a short dress — but I’d have leggings under it and maybe a cardigan over it for a special occasion. “I don’t like pink, and I think it’s strange to watch girls wearing pink all the time.

“We don’t have a school uniform at my school and a lot of the girls wear pink every day. I like blue and black.

“There should be different clothes for girls — I sometimes buy boy’s clothes because they’re warmer and more suitable for the weather and they don’t show loads of skin.”

Picture: Thinkstock

“I will ask them to consider basic guidelines for the retailing of children’s wear to show an awareness of the issues.

“I think both parents and children have a right to a childhood space that is protected and gives them time to develop at their own pace.

Responsible retailing should look at what kind of styling is appropriate for the under 12s.

“It’s about styling, marketing and fabrics.

Some logos are inappropriately suggestive for young children. “We should differentiate between children’s lingerie and that for adults.

You’re really looking at good practice — for example, fabrics that are sheer and without lining are not appropriate for young kids.”

This, she acknowledges, is something that retailers must decide on in relation to childrenswear.

Mother-of-three Eileen Gormley is no stranger to the shocks of the shelves. “I am concerned about the very short skirts and the tops which have low necklines and cutaway backs and slogans that are inappropriate.

I

“I see a lot of these when I go shopping with my daughter Eris,” she says, adding that the 11-year-old often ends up buying stuff in the boys’ section.

“She says boys clothes cover her better, are stronger quality and she can play in them. I’ve seen girls of her age wearing clothes which are inappropriate, such as belly tops. But it’s what’s in the shops.”

When she recently went shopping for a party dress for her youngest daughter, Eileen was taken aback by what was on offer.

“There was nothing in her age-group that was appropriate. There were lots of very short skimpy dresses showing a lot of flesh. They were short, revealing and not appropriate for her age, sleeveless, with low necklines. They had silver and sequins and were more like an adult cocktail dress than a party dress for an 11-year-old.

“I felt the only way she could wear these appropriately was with leggings and a long sleeved black t-shirt.

“This is Ireland. It’s cold. We don’t have the weather for skimpy clothes. I worry about the marketing pressure to make girls look sexy and I hate taking my girls shopping because of what’s out there. It makes me uncomfortable.

“It’s hard to find things for a child who goes outside and plays a lot. I think the clothes aren’t designed for children who go out and play — they’re designed for sitting around watching TV.” With three daughters — the other two are aged 15 and 14 — Eileen has learned to compromise. “I’ll let them get a dress which I think is too short — but I insist that they wear it with black tights to take the bare look off it.

But when I see something inappropriate I say, ‘we’re not buying that’. They might buy a pair of shorts but they wear them over thick tights and I can live with that.”

When asked recently, Dunnes Stores and New Look did not respond to a query as to whether it had a policy on children’s clothes, but a spokeswoman for Penneys said Primark

TOO SHORT: Eris Gormley, in one of her own outfits, says too many girls wear pink and clothes are too short for their age.

Picture:Maura Hickey

took great care to ensure that all its childrenswear products were appropriate in every respect. “For example, the company met Reg Bailey, chief executive of the Mothers’ Union (an international Christian charity supporting families of all faiths), and contributed to his report in Britain (Letting Children be Children, the Bailey Review of Commercialisation and Sexualisation of Childhood, published Jun 6, 2011), and the company fully supports its findings. Primark is a responsible retailer that takes great care to ensure its products are attractive and appropriate.”

Also a Marks & Spencer spokesperson said: “We want to offer clothing that parents are happy to buy and kids are happy to wear. We are totally committed to ensuring our clothing offer is age appropriate and subscribe to the BRC Guidelines for all our kidswear products.

We also continue to be proud supporters of the Mumsnet Let Girls be Girls campaign.”

Says Minister Fitzgerald: “I’d have great faith in the common sense of parents, but some-

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

t starts with the toys, believes psychologist Patricia Murray. Years ago, little girls got dolls which were either babies or ‘little girl’ reflections of themselves.

These dolls, she says, ‘mirrored’ the child who played with them, and emphasised their difference from adults.

“Bratz dolls are older-girl dolls. Barbie has the physical attributes of a woman,” says Murray. “Most little girls aged five or six up to ten, do not have the physical attributes of fully-grown women — yet we’re giving them these dolls and telling them it reflects them.”

But, asks Murray, why should a little girl even need to be putting a bra top on a grown-up doll? It’s disparaging of childhood, she says.

“They are getting subconscious messages that childhood is not important, that what is important is growing up and wearing these kinds of shoes and clothes.

Remember, she says, boys who play with Bob the Builder or Postman Pat want to be Bob the Builder or Postman Pat — the same goes for little girls who play with provocatively dressed dolls.

“The toys we give get into the minds of the children. Unfortunately, we are giving girls dolls which are racy ladies — and they’re thinking: ‘That’s what I want to be’.

“Mothers have to take responsibility

for the images of women that they give their children. It starts with the toys. Toys have huge impact.”

And from toys, to clothes. “When dressing-up is how they dress, and when their wardrobe is not about comfortable functional clothes for childhood activities, and when little girls are dressing like night-club party-girls — who is bringing them to the racks where they get these clothes? In the end it comes down to parents.

“Whatever you give a child sends a message,” she says. However, she points out, other factors also contribute to the development of a child’s attitude.

“Factors such as how the mother behaves in terms of how she treats other women or men will have an impact, or how she dresses herself, what she considers to be important in life and what behaviour she promotes and encourages for boys and girls — does she, for example, promote assertive behaviour equally among boys and girls?”

times parents can be intimidated by marketing and by peer group pressure — it’s pester power and that has a very significant influence on how parents spend their money.

“We have research that parents feel pressurised by the retail industry and need help in standing up to it,” she says.

A lot of parents feel on their own, in this area, and would experience doubt about some of the children’s clothes currently on sale, she says.

“I feel it’s reasonable to ask for responsible guidelines,” she says, adding that if parents feel a product is inappropriate they should say it to staff in the shop.

Some mothers feel the fashion industry is openly competing with them, says Orla O’Connor head of policy at the National Women’s Council.

“There is concern among mothers and women about the way the fashion and advertising industries are sexualising young girls and targeting products at children —

DOLLS POWER: Why should little girls be presented with a doll with the attributes of grown up woman?

for example bras and very skimpy tops.”

Mothers say they feel they’re competing with the fashion industry in trying to explain to children why they will not buy certain products for their children, says O’Connor.

A voluntary code of good practice is probably a good start in terms of getting a message to the fashion industry that this is not appropriate, she says, but it’s important to ramp up public awareness of the problem.

“The issue needs to be discussed because it is about empowering parents and the voluntary code will help parents.”

People should complain to the shops if they see something on sale that they feel is inappropriate, she emphasises. “This is an opportune time for shoppers to express disapproval about garments they feel are inappropriate because in the current climate retailers are listening very carefully to their customers.”

9

IN THE SHOPS

by Aoife Dowling

I

TOOK to the high street shops to check out what’s available for pre-teens on the clothes rails. Most had a range of clothing you would expect for that age group — pretty dresses, funky t-shirts and jeans graced the shelves.

While a lot of the clothing for pre-teens were age appropriate and conservative there was also a variety of skintight clothing.

New Look, Penneys, Dunnes Stores and Marks & Spencer all have a range of skintight leggings and jeans. However, some of the items in New Look and Penneys may not pass the code of practice with hot pants and crop tops for children as young as nine.

Although there was an absence of vulgar and seductive slogans on t-shirts that YOUNG LOOK: Bra caused controversy in and pants set for previous years — pre-teens, €4, Playboy logos, for example — there is a Dunnes Stores. trend of skintight clothing in the pre-teen department. Penneys has a wide range of short shorts and clingy neon leggings, while New Look has a variety of tops displaying the midriff and shirts that tie around the bellybutton.

Low-cut shirts and high-cut skirts have been all the rage in teenage fashion magazines and clothing stores for a while, from my experience on the high street, the trend is targeting children younger and younger.

PENNEYS The popular low-cost clothing store has a wide range of tween clothing. Hot pants, leggings and skin-tight jeans featured on the rails of the 9 to 13-year-old section.

Hot pants were available in an array of colours from bleach white to deep red.

Leggings came in neon shades with bright pink taking a prominent spot on the rails.

The most surprising items available for tweens were underwear sets which have support bras and matching underwear. The store, however, finds a balance by stocking a wide range of t-shirts and jumpers with animals and cute designs.

DUNNES STORES The tween section in Dunnes was a little more conservative. While they did have leggings and skintight jeans on display, they also had printed t-shirts, cardigans and knitted jumpers. But while hot pants and crop tops weren’t donning the shelves, Dunnes did have a range of underwear sets for 9 to 12-year-olds.

NEW LOOK Although New Look is considered a shop for teenagers and young adults, it now has a pre-teen section, however, the clothes in this department are almost identical to the ones for young adults, just in smaller sizes.

I found crop tops for children as young as nine, along with sleeveless shirts that display the midriff. Similarly to Penneys, underwear sets in a variety of colours and styles are stocked for the pre-teens. The neon tube tops for ages 9-12 stood out.

MARKS & SPENCER Marks and Spencer has a wide range of pre-teen clothing, the most diverse of the stores I encountered. Hot pants and skintight clothing were absent, but sequences were in. Tops and dress filled with gold and black sequences took prominence in the tween section. It also has flashy dresses with a section of polka dot ’50s inspired dresses and skirts.

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8 Cover story

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Taking a stand

With concern growing over the sexualisation of clothes for young children, a code of conduct may address the problem, Áilín Quinlan reports

FEAR AND CLOTHING T

HE young girl teetering along the city pavement with her parents couldn’t have been more than eight or nine.Yet there she was on a cold winter Saturday dressed in a crop-top, short skimpy jacket, skin-tight leggings and struggling to walk in 2-inch stilettoes. Given what I’d just seen in the high-street shops, it came as no surprise.

With a keen eye on the pre-teen market, some stores now have special lingerie stands for children from nine years of age, boasting matching bra-and-knicker sets. Outer-wear on sale includes shortie-shorts with leopard-skin belts for 10-year-olds, skimpy sleeveless glittery cocktail-style dresses and tiny micro-minis aimed at eight-year-olds.

Our kids are growing up faster than ever — and the merchandisers can’t get enough of it.

The trend even has its own marketing term — KGOY, or Kids Getting Older Younger.

Of course it’s not confined to the clothes racks. The sexualisation of childhood is mirrored in the music children listen to, the TV and videos they watch and the toys they play with from an early age.

Take Rihanna — a huge hit among the tweens and early teens demographic. The lyrics in Talk That Talk is enough to set most parents’ hair on end: “I be trying to chill, b–ches wanna f–k me, every Every little city I go, f–k me/ Give it to me baby, I want it all night, Give it to me baby.”

Add all of this to the sultry pictures of 10-year-old Thylane Blondeau posing on a leopard-print quilt in heavy make-up and gold stilettos for a Vogue photo-shoot last summer and it’s not surprising that Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald wants to introduce a voluntary code of good practice on the retailing of children’s clothes.

Although there is already a lot of self-monitoring and good practice amongst Irish retailers where children’s clothes are concerned, according to Stephen Lynam, director of Retail Ireland, the group representing retailers, something concrete is needed, the minister believes.

Ireland’s biggest clothes retailers will be involved in drawing up the code, which will be based on a British code of good practice introduced last year by the British Retail Consortium. Under the code, which Lynam says will cover the vast majority of well-known children’s clothing retailers in this country, provocative garments, such as padded bras for girls under 10, skimpy swimwear and clothes carrying suggestive logos or slogans, are likely to be outlawed: “The purpose of the code is to have everyone on the same page so that if someone feels it has been breached the code can be consulted and a decision made,” he says.

Minister Fitzgerald expects to incorporate the code into a New National Children’s Strategy which is scheduled for publication before the end of the year.

“This would be a code of good practice,” she explains, adding that she is asking retailers to “do what has been done in other places” such as the UK Responsible Retailing Guide, as regards clothes for the under-12s.

Feelgood

Dolls reflect women not children

They wear skimpy outfits to fit in with other girls According to 11-year-old Eris Gormley, right, there should be choices in the market for girls of her age who have different tastes.

“I think clothes for girls are nowhere near good enough. They’re really skimpy and I don’t think they look good.

“I think that girls who wear very short skirts can end up looking like hookers. A lot of girls my age do wear very short skirts and short-shorts and they wear crop-tops, even in the autumn, and they don’t look good for their age.

“They think they have to wear skimpy clothes to fit in with other girls. Sometimes I’d wear a short dress — but I’d have leggings under it and maybe a cardigan over it for a special occasion. “I don’t like pink, and I think it’s strange to watch girls wearing pink all the time.

“We don’t have a school uniform at my school and a lot of the girls wear pink every day. I like blue and black.

“There should be different clothes for girls — I sometimes buy boy’s clothes because they’re warmer and more suitable for the weather and they don’t show loads of skin.”

Picture: Thinkstock

“I will ask them to consider basic guidelines for the retailing of children’s wear to show an awareness of the issues.

“I think both parents and children have a right to a childhood space that is protected and gives them time to develop at their own pace.

Responsible retailing should look at what kind of styling is appropriate for the under 12s.

“It’s about styling, marketing and fabrics.

Some logos are inappropriately suggestive for young children. “We should differentiate between children’s lingerie and that for adults.

You’re really looking at good practice — for example, fabrics that are sheer and without lining are not appropriate for young kids.”

This, she acknowledges, is something that retailers must decide on in relation to childrenswear.

Mother-of-three Eileen Gormley is no stranger to the shocks of the shelves. “I am concerned about the very short skirts and the tops which have low necklines and cutaway backs and slogans that are inappropriate.

I

“I see a lot of these when I go shopping with my daughter Eris,” she says, adding that the 11-year-old often ends up buying stuff in the boys’ section.

“She says boys clothes cover her better, are stronger quality and she can play in them. I’ve seen girls of her age wearing clothes which are inappropriate, such as belly tops. But it’s what’s in the shops.”

When she recently went shopping for a party dress for her youngest daughter, Eileen was taken aback by what was on offer.

“There was nothing in her age-group that was appropriate. There were lots of very short skimpy dresses showing a lot of flesh. They were short, revealing and not appropriate for her age, sleeveless, with low necklines. They had silver and sequins and were more like an adult cocktail dress than a party dress for an 11-year-old.

“I felt the only way she could wear these appropriately was with leggings and a long sleeved black t-shirt.

“This is Ireland. It’s cold. We don’t have the weather for skimpy clothes. I worry about the marketing pressure to make girls look sexy and I hate taking my girls shopping because of what’s out there. It makes me uncomfortable.

“It’s hard to find things for a child who goes outside and plays a lot. I think the clothes aren’t designed for children who go out and play — they’re designed for sitting around watching TV.” With three daughters — the other two are aged 15 and 14 — Eileen has learned to compromise. “I’ll let them get a dress which I think is too short — but I insist that they wear it with black tights to take the bare look off it.

But when I see something inappropriate I say, ‘we’re not buying that’. They might buy a pair of shorts but they wear them over thick tights and I can live with that.”

When asked recently, Dunnes Stores and New Look did not respond to a query as to whether it had a policy on children’s clothes, but a spokeswoman for Penneys said Primark

TOO SHORT: Eris Gormley, in one of her own outfits, says too many girls wear pink and clothes are too short for their age.

Picture:Maura Hickey

took great care to ensure that all its childrenswear products were appropriate in every respect. “For example, the company met Reg Bailey, chief executive of the Mothers’ Union (an international Christian charity supporting families of all faiths), and contributed to his report in Britain (Letting Children be Children, the Bailey Review of Commercialisation and Sexualisation of Childhood, published Jun 6, 2011), and the company fully supports its findings. Primark is a responsible retailer that takes great care to ensure its products are attractive and appropriate.”

Also a Marks & Spencer spokesperson said: “We want to offer clothing that parents are happy to buy and kids are happy to wear. We are totally committed to ensuring our clothing offer is age appropriate and subscribe to the BRC Guidelines for all our kidswear products.

We also continue to be proud supporters of the Mumsnet Let Girls be Girls campaign.”

Says Minister Fitzgerald: “I’d have great faith in the common sense of parents, but some-

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

t starts with the toys, believes psychologist Patricia Murray. Years ago, little girls got dolls which were either babies or ‘little girl’ reflections of themselves.

These dolls, she says, ‘mirrored’ the child who played with them, and emphasised their difference from adults.

“Bratz dolls are older-girl dolls. Barbie has the physical attributes of a woman,” says Murray. “Most little girls aged five or six up to ten, do not have the physical attributes of fully-grown women — yet we’re giving them these dolls and telling them it reflects them.”

But, asks Murray, why should a little girl even need to be putting a bra top on a grown-up doll? It’s disparaging of childhood, she says.

“They are getting subconscious messages that childhood is not important, that what is important is growing up and wearing these kinds of shoes and clothes.

Remember, she says, boys who play with Bob the Builder or Postman Pat want to be Bob the Builder or Postman Pat — the same goes for little girls who play with provocatively dressed dolls.

“The toys we give get into the minds of the children. Unfortunately, we are giving girls dolls which are racy ladies — and they’re thinking: ‘That’s what I want to be’.

“Mothers have to take responsibility

for the images of women that they give their children. It starts with the toys. Toys have huge impact.”

And from toys, to clothes. “When dressing-up is how they dress, and when their wardrobe is not about comfortable functional clothes for childhood activities, and when little girls are dressing like night-club party-girls — who is bringing them to the racks where they get these clothes? In the end it comes down to parents.

“Whatever you give a child sends a message,” she says. However, she points out, other factors also contribute to the development of a child’s attitude.

“Factors such as how the mother behaves in terms of how she treats other women or men will have an impact, or how she dresses herself, what she considers to be important in life and what behaviour she promotes and encourages for boys and girls — does she, for example, promote assertive behaviour equally among boys and girls?”

times parents can be intimidated by marketing and by peer group pressure — it’s pester power and that has a very significant influence on how parents spend their money.

“We have research that parents feel pressurised by the retail industry and need help in standing up to it,” she says.

A lot of parents feel on their own, in this area, and would experience doubt about some of the children’s clothes currently on sale, she says.

“I feel it’s reasonable to ask for responsible guidelines,” she says, adding that if parents feel a product is inappropriate they should say it to staff in the shop.

Some mothers feel the fashion industry is openly competing with them, says Orla O’Connor head of policy at the National Women’s Council.

“There is concern among mothers and women about the way the fashion and advertising industries are sexualising young girls and targeting products at children —

DOLLS POWER: Why should little girls be presented with a doll with the attributes of grown up woman?

for example bras and very skimpy tops.”

Mothers say they feel they’re competing with the fashion industry in trying to explain to children why they will not buy certain products for their children, says O’Connor.

A voluntary code of good practice is probably a good start in terms of getting a message to the fashion industry that this is not appropriate, she says, but it’s important to ramp up public awareness of the problem.

“The issue needs to be discussed because it is about empowering parents and the voluntary code will help parents.”

People should complain to the shops if they see something on sale that they feel is inappropriate, she emphasises. “This is an opportune time for shoppers to express disapproval about garments they feel are inappropriate because in the current climate retailers are listening very carefully to their customers.”

9

IN THE SHOPS

by Aoife Dowling

I

TOOK to the high street shops to check out what’s available for pre-teens on the clothes rails. Most had a range of clothing you would expect for that age group — pretty dresses, funky t-shirts and jeans graced the shelves.

While a lot of the clothing for pre-teens were age appropriate and conservative there was also a variety of skintight clothing.

New Look, Penneys, Dunnes Stores and Marks & Spencer all have a range of skintight leggings and jeans. However, some of the items in New Look and Penneys may not pass the code of practice with hot pants and crop tops for children as young as nine.

Although there was an absence of vulgar and seductive slogans on t-shirts that YOUNG LOOK: Bra caused controversy in and pants set for previous years — pre-teens, €4, Playboy logos, for example — there is a Dunnes Stores. trend of skintight clothing in the pre-teen department. Penneys has a wide range of short shorts and clingy neon leggings, while New Look has a variety of tops displaying the midriff and shirts that tie around the bellybutton.

Low-cut shirts and high-cut skirts have been all the rage in teenage fashion magazines and clothing stores for a while, from my experience on the high street, the trend is targeting children younger and younger.

PENNEYS The popular low-cost clothing store has a wide range of tween clothing. Hot pants, leggings and skin-tight jeans featured on the rails of the 9 to 13-year-old section.

Hot pants were available in an array of colours from bleach white to deep red.

Leggings came in neon shades with bright pink taking a prominent spot on the rails.

The most surprising items available for tweens were underwear sets which have support bras and matching underwear. The store, however, finds a balance by stocking a wide range of t-shirts and jumpers with animals and cute designs.

DUNNES STORES The tween section in Dunnes was a little more conservative. While they did have leggings and skintight jeans on display, they also had printed t-shirts, cardigans and knitted jumpers. But while hot pants and crop tops weren’t donning the shelves, Dunnes did have a range of underwear sets for 9 to 12-year-olds.

NEW LOOK Although New Look is considered a shop for teenagers and young adults, it now has a pre-teen section, however, the clothes in this department are almost identical to the ones for young adults, just in smaller sizes.

I found crop tops for children as young as nine, along with sleeveless shirts that display the midriff. Similarly to Penneys, underwear sets in a variety of colours and styles are stocked for the pre-teens. The neon tube tops for ages 9-12 stood out.

MARKS & SPENCER Marks and Spencer has a wide range of pre-teen clothing, the most diverse of the stores I encountered. Hot pants and skintight clothing were absent, but sequences were in. Tops and dress filled with gold and black sequences took prominence in the tween section. It also has flashy dresses with a section of polka dot ’50s inspired dresses and skirts.

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10 The female line

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To mark International Women’s Day next Thursday, Helen O’Callaghan talks to five high-ranking women in the healthcare profession about their role models and whether gender matters in getting ahead in the workplace Head of the national cochlear implant programme in Beaumont Hospital, Laura Viani performed the first cochlear implant procedure in Ireland in 1995 — as a result, many children went from being sign-language dependent to integrating into mainstream school.

Ms Viani was appointed first woman surgeon in otolaryngology (ENT — ear, nose, throat) in Ireland in 1992. Mum to Dylan, 17, she’s a council member of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

What do you feel prevents women progressing in their careers?

“If I’d had five children, it mightn’t have been quite so easy to run a national programme.

“It’s much more difficult to get ahead with your career if you’re going through pregnancies, and therefore not at work for long periods. Women may also opt not to choose careers in surgery because they know they’ll be on call a lot.”

Name women you admire?

“I deal mostly with hearing-impaired children — many of them have other disabilities, too. I really admire the mothers of these children — I see the amount of work they put into bringing their children to multiple appointments.”

Feelgood

UP FRONT INSPIRING MUM: Dr Mary Gray who chairs the Irish Medical Organisation’s GP Committee admires her mother, Nora, for her consistency and positive outlook.

Picture:Don MacMonagle

As a woman, what do you bring to your professional role?

“As a mother, I can empathise with other mothers.

The children who come to our unit have to attend a lot of appointments. You understand the difficulty of trying to juggle everything.”

Do you feel gender makes a difference when it comes to getting key career roles?

“I don’t play on the feminist thing. Having worked in the world of men, I’ve always found them fine. Most people were very supportive to me as a woman surgeon. Sometimes, people say women aren’t helpful to other women. I didn’t find that — I found the nursing staff in Beaumont very helpful, for example.

“When I was seven months pregnant, I travelled around England looking for staff for the cochlear implant programme. I had my son in Oct 1994 and I did the first implant five months later. I had a very supportive husband. We’re both surgeons, so we had to have a childminder living with us.”

XH - V2

MOTHER OF ALL JOBS: Laura Viani was first woman surgeon in otolaryngology (ENT — ear, nose, throat) in Ireland.

Picture: Maxwell Photography

POSITIVE VIEW: Dr Shirley McQuade admires her elderly patients’ attitude to life. Picture: Maura Hickey

TOP JOB: Dr Rhona Mahony is CEO of the National Maternity Hospital. Picture: Mark Maxwell

Dr Shirley McQuade, Dublin Well Woman medical director since 1997, is single and doesn’t have children. She will be 50 this year.

Master of the National Maternity Hospital at Holles Street since Jan 1, Dr Rhona Mahony, 41, is the first female master of a Dublin maternity hospital. She has four children, aged from 13 to five.

As a woman, what do you bring to your professional role?

“I’ve helped create a clinic atmosphere where women feel comfortable discussing very personal issues. I was also instrumental in developing a computer system for use during clinic consultations. Having data going back to 2001 allows us see trends — for example, in contraceptive use over the last decade or the fall-off in HRT prescribing.”

Do you feel gender makes a difference when it comes to getting key career roles?

“I’ve seen many female patients as their career progresses through their 20s, 30s and 40s. They speak about interviewing panels being mostly male. The panel may not consider itself biased but — when choosing between two people with similar qualifications — there may be a tendency to choose the applicant they’re most like. You identify with the person you’re hiring and women can feel excluded.

Recently appointed Professor of Primary Healthcare (Research) at UL’s Graduate Entry Medical School, Anne MacFarlane, 40, is the first woman professor in this discipline in Ireland. Her children are aged 12, nine and six.

FLEXIBLE APPROACH: Anne MacFarlane has had flexibility in her work opportunities while also being a mother to three children. Picture: Press 22 FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

“Gender didn’t make a difference in my case.

Go to a professional meeting on women’s health issues and most people attending will invariably be women.”

What do you feel prevents women progressing in their careers?

“I see very career-oriented women in their 30s. Either because there isn’t much promotional activity going on or they’ve seen their bonuses disappear — particularly with the economic downturn — they begin thinking ‘now’s a good time to start a family’. They take up to a year off work and when they return their focus is on adjusting work around family life. They don’t seem to have great expectations that their partner’s going to get involved in a shared care situation when it comes to child-minding.”

Name women you admire?

“Some of my women patients are in their late 70s and early 80s. As a group, I admire them.

Many have health problems and perhaps not many financial resources but they’ve gone through life and come out the other end.

They’ve just kept going.”

As a woman, what do you bring to your professional role?

“My own experience as a woman and mother means I can really identify with people’s experience of accessing appropriate healthcare. I’m strong on mediation and pay a lot of attention to relationships.”

Do you feel gender makes a difference when it comes to getting key career roles?

As a woman, what do you bring to your professional role?

“Holles Street’s the busiest maternity hospital in Europe, with up to 10,000 babies a year born there, so my role’s very challenging. It’s also a huge privilege to contribute at this level to an institution that has been at the heart of our society for over 100 years. I don’t see my role in terms of gender. It’s about being a good obstetrician and — as hospital CEO — my role’s very much to facilitate staff to do their best job. For this, I need a huge range of skills.”

Do you feel gender makes a difference when it comes to getting key career roles?

“No sensible organisation will entrust its corporation on the basis of gender. It’s about the job applicant having the ability. In Holles Street, we’re increasingly seeing

“It’s difficult sometimes dealing with ideas about what a woman can or can’t do, should or shouldn’t do, with her life and abilities. I’ve had to deal with that at times in my personal and professional circles. For me, the ideal from a feminist perspective is that women can have choices and equal opportunities.

“There are challenges around being a working mother, like finding affordable, quality childcare.

Feelgood

As a woman, what do you bring to your professional role?

“Many problems we meet in general practice are in women’s health. As a woman, I have particular empathy for those. In my IMO role, I incline towards a team and consensus approach rather than being didactic. As leaders, women tend to work from underneath up rather than from the top down. While this approach can appear to be slower, it’s reportedly a very productive style of leadership.”

What do you feel prevents women progressing in their careers?

“The erroneous perception that part-time workers are of lesser value than full-time workers — this affects women more than men — plus a level of intolerance to children in the workplace. I’d like to see workplaces more accepting of the value of children and having more crèches — with sick bays within them.”

What do you feel prevents women progressing in their careers?

“Career and reproductive life don’t always go peaceably in tandem. Some careers allow you step in and out — others don’t. Your career might be taking off just as you’re having a family — there can be conflict between the two goals.”

Name women you admire?

“I hugely admire our two women presidents. It was delightfully progressive to see effective women presidents in place for so long. I admire my mum, Nora Gray, for her consistency and constantly positive outlook.”

Name women you admire?

“Brilliant, bright women like Mary McAleese and Mary Robinson, who contributed so much to families and to human rights. I also love Miriam O’Callaghan — she has a serious intellect . I’d also include my life-long friend, Catriona Edwards.”

What do you feel prevents women progressing in their careers?

A GP since 1985, Dr Mary Gray chairs the Irish Medical Organisation’s GP Committee and was first senior lecturer in Health Law & Ethics at UL Medical School. Aged 53, her daughter, Jenny is 27.

Do you feel gender makes a difference when it comes to getting key career roles?

“A medical career is time-consuming. In the early phase of working life, women spend proportionately less time than men at work because they devote more time to family.

Once children reach school-going age, women return and may well get to the top of their field later. There’s a negative perception of women in healthcare who job-share. Yet research finds when two people do one job, each is more productive than one person alone doing the job.

“Personally, I didn’t face difficulties — perhaps because I’ve been self-employed most of my working life.”

women appointed to consultancy roles. Of course, women have to apply for these jobs and sometimes they don’t — I was the first woman in Holles Street to apply to be master. I’ve never felt discriminated against. I’d be the first to admit there were times when the children were small that it was difficult to keep everything going on the career front, when I was firing on all cylinders at home as well.”

“My husband and I were fortunate — we both have flexibility in our work. I occasionally work from home and I’ve often had flexi-time options — going into work early and getting home by mid-afternoon. My husband is self-employed so we’ve been able to be very available for the children.”

11

“A woman needs to rely on three things for career progression — support, determination and opportunity. It’s not always possible to have all three.

“I’ve had a lot of support and determination but there weren’t too many opportunities. I’m a social scientist, working in medical schools, and there haven’t been many opportunities for senior-level roles. This has to do with the discipline I’m in rather than with gender.”

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

Name women you admire?

“I look up to my mother, Nora Murphy.

She managed a busy household of five children for a long time. She’s a supreme mediator.

“She was able and caring around managing dynamics in a family. She cared for my grandfather in our home for 17 years when we were all young. I learned a lot of my skills from her.”

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10 The female line

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To mark International Women’s Day next Thursday, Helen O’Callaghan talks to five high-ranking women in the healthcare profession about their role models and whether gender matters in getting ahead in the workplace Head of the national cochlear implant programme in Beaumont Hospital, Laura Viani performed the first cochlear implant procedure in Ireland in 1995 — as a result, many children went from being sign-language dependent to integrating into mainstream school.

Ms Viani was appointed first woman surgeon in otolaryngology (ENT — ear, nose, throat) in Ireland in 1992. Mum to Dylan, 17, she’s a council member of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

What do you feel prevents women progressing in their careers?

“If I’d had five children, it mightn’t have been quite so easy to run a national programme.

“It’s much more difficult to get ahead with your career if you’re going through pregnancies, and therefore not at work for long periods. Women may also opt not to choose careers in surgery because they know they’ll be on call a lot.”

Name women you admire?

“I deal mostly with hearing-impaired children — many of them have other disabilities, too. I really admire the mothers of these children — I see the amount of work they put into bringing their children to multiple appointments.”

Feelgood

UP FRONT INSPIRING MUM: Dr Mary Gray who chairs the Irish Medical Organisation’s GP Committee admires her mother, Nora, for her consistency and positive outlook.

Picture:Don MacMonagle

As a woman, what do you bring to your professional role?

“As a mother, I can empathise with other mothers.

The children who come to our unit have to attend a lot of appointments. You understand the difficulty of trying to juggle everything.”

Do you feel gender makes a difference when it comes to getting key career roles?

“I don’t play on the feminist thing. Having worked in the world of men, I’ve always found them fine. Most people were very supportive to me as a woman surgeon. Sometimes, people say women aren’t helpful to other women. I didn’t find that — I found the nursing staff in Beaumont very helpful, for example.

“When I was seven months pregnant, I travelled around England looking for staff for the cochlear implant programme. I had my son in Oct 1994 and I did the first implant five months later. I had a very supportive husband. We’re both surgeons, so we had to have a childminder living with us.”

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MOTHER OF ALL JOBS: Laura Viani was first woman surgeon in otolaryngology (ENT — ear, nose, throat) in Ireland.

Picture: Maxwell Photography

POSITIVE VIEW: Dr Shirley McQuade admires her elderly patients’ attitude to life. Picture: Maura Hickey

TOP JOB: Dr Rhona Mahony is CEO of the National Maternity Hospital. Picture: Mark Maxwell

Dr Shirley McQuade, Dublin Well Woman medical director since 1997, is single and doesn’t have children. She will be 50 this year.

Master of the National Maternity Hospital at Holles Street since Jan 1, Dr Rhona Mahony, 41, is the first female master of a Dublin maternity hospital. She has four children, aged from 13 to five.

As a woman, what do you bring to your professional role?

“I’ve helped create a clinic atmosphere where women feel comfortable discussing very personal issues. I was also instrumental in developing a computer system for use during clinic consultations. Having data going back to 2001 allows us see trends — for example, in contraceptive use over the last decade or the fall-off in HRT prescribing.”

Do you feel gender makes a difference when it comes to getting key career roles?

“I’ve seen many female patients as their career progresses through their 20s, 30s and 40s. They speak about interviewing panels being mostly male. The panel may not consider itself biased but — when choosing between two people with similar qualifications — there may be a tendency to choose the applicant they’re most like. You identify with the person you’re hiring and women can feel excluded.

Recently appointed Professor of Primary Healthcare (Research) at UL’s Graduate Entry Medical School, Anne MacFarlane, 40, is the first woman professor in this discipline in Ireland. Her children are aged 12, nine and six.

FLEXIBLE APPROACH: Anne MacFarlane has had flexibility in her work opportunities while also being a mother to three children. Picture: Press 22 FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

“Gender didn’t make a difference in my case.

Go to a professional meeting on women’s health issues and most people attending will invariably be women.”

What do you feel prevents women progressing in their careers?

“I see very career-oriented women in their 30s. Either because there isn’t much promotional activity going on or they’ve seen their bonuses disappear — particularly with the economic downturn — they begin thinking ‘now’s a good time to start a family’. They take up to a year off work and when they return their focus is on adjusting work around family life. They don’t seem to have great expectations that their partner’s going to get involved in a shared care situation when it comes to child-minding.”

Name women you admire?

“Some of my women patients are in their late 70s and early 80s. As a group, I admire them.

Many have health problems and perhaps not many financial resources but they’ve gone through life and come out the other end.

They’ve just kept going.”

As a woman, what do you bring to your professional role?

“My own experience as a woman and mother means I can really identify with people’s experience of accessing appropriate healthcare. I’m strong on mediation and pay a lot of attention to relationships.”

Do you feel gender makes a difference when it comes to getting key career roles?

As a woman, what do you bring to your professional role?

“Holles Street’s the busiest maternity hospital in Europe, with up to 10,000 babies a year born there, so my role’s very challenging. It’s also a huge privilege to contribute at this level to an institution that has been at the heart of our society for over 100 years. I don’t see my role in terms of gender. It’s about being a good obstetrician and — as hospital CEO — my role’s very much to facilitate staff to do their best job. For this, I need a huge range of skills.”

Do you feel gender makes a difference when it comes to getting key career roles?

“No sensible organisation will entrust its corporation on the basis of gender. It’s about the job applicant having the ability. In Holles Street, we’re increasingly seeing

“It’s difficult sometimes dealing with ideas about what a woman can or can’t do, should or shouldn’t do, with her life and abilities. I’ve had to deal with that at times in my personal and professional circles. For me, the ideal from a feminist perspective is that women can have choices and equal opportunities.

“There are challenges around being a working mother, like finding affordable, quality childcare.

Feelgood

As a woman, what do you bring to your professional role?

“Many problems we meet in general practice are in women’s health. As a woman, I have particular empathy for those. In my IMO role, I incline towards a team and consensus approach rather than being didactic. As leaders, women tend to work from underneath up rather than from the top down. While this approach can appear to be slower, it’s reportedly a very productive style of leadership.”

What do you feel prevents women progressing in their careers?

“The erroneous perception that part-time workers are of lesser value than full-time workers — this affects women more than men — plus a level of intolerance to children in the workplace. I’d like to see workplaces more accepting of the value of children and having more crèches — with sick bays within them.”

What do you feel prevents women progressing in their careers?

“Career and reproductive life don’t always go peaceably in tandem. Some careers allow you step in and out — others don’t. Your career might be taking off just as you’re having a family — there can be conflict between the two goals.”

Name women you admire?

“I hugely admire our two women presidents. It was delightfully progressive to see effective women presidents in place for so long. I admire my mum, Nora Gray, for her consistency and constantly positive outlook.”

Name women you admire?

“Brilliant, bright women like Mary McAleese and Mary Robinson, who contributed so much to families and to human rights. I also love Miriam O’Callaghan — she has a serious intellect . I’d also include my life-long friend, Catriona Edwards.”

What do you feel prevents women progressing in their careers?

A GP since 1985, Dr Mary Gray chairs the Irish Medical Organisation’s GP Committee and was first senior lecturer in Health Law & Ethics at UL Medical School. Aged 53, her daughter, Jenny is 27.

Do you feel gender makes a difference when it comes to getting key career roles?

“A medical career is time-consuming. In the early phase of working life, women spend proportionately less time than men at work because they devote more time to family.

Once children reach school-going age, women return and may well get to the top of their field later. There’s a negative perception of women in healthcare who job-share. Yet research finds when two people do one job, each is more productive than one person alone doing the job.

“Personally, I didn’t face difficulties — perhaps because I’ve been self-employed most of my working life.”

women appointed to consultancy roles. Of course, women have to apply for these jobs and sometimes they don’t — I was the first woman in Holles Street to apply to be master. I’ve never felt discriminated against. I’d be the first to admit there were times when the children were small that it was difficult to keep everything going on the career front, when I was firing on all cylinders at home as well.”

“My husband and I were fortunate — we both have flexibility in our work. I occasionally work from home and I’ve often had flexi-time options — going into work early and getting home by mid-afternoon. My husband is self-employed so we’ve been able to be very available for the children.”

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“A woman needs to rely on three things for career progression — support, determination and opportunity. It’s not always possible to have all three.

“I’ve had a lot of support and determination but there weren’t too many opportunities. I’m a social scientist, working in medical schools, and there haven’t been many opportunities for senior-level roles. This has to do with the discipline I’m in rather than with gender.”

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Name women you admire?

“I look up to my mother, Nora Murphy.

She managed a busy household of five children for a long time. She’s a supreme mediator.

“She was able and caring around managing dynamics in a family. She cared for my grandfather in our home for 17 years when we were all young. I learned a lot of my skills from her.”

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12

Healthy food

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Mushy please...

Roz Crowley

I

N infancy good habits can be formed just as easily as bad. Once weaned from the breast or bottle, what and how young babies are fed can influence their food choices for the rest of their lives.

Children have now become too accustomed to over-salty, over-sweet foods and often don’t like the idea of foods which need to be chewed.

They don’t bother with lumpy food, not enjoying the great textures of barely cooked vegetables, and preferring meat minced to within an inch of its life.

The good news is that Irish mothers like to prepare their baby’s food and believe it’s healthier for them. While it is easy to open a jar or packet, research sponsored by SuperValu in conjunction with eumom.ie — an Irish pregnancy and parenting community support website — found that 86% of Irish mothers were preparing meals for their babies themselves, cooking and liquidising it to freeze in small portions.

SuperValu consultant dietician Sarah Keogh, pictured, is happy with this statistic and has a list of tips for mothers at baby weaning stage.

1. Don’t try solids too soon. Four months is considered the earliest that the baby’s gut is well enough developed.

2. Initially introduce the baby to the spoon with a little food on it. It’s not so much about nourishment, but more about enjoying the experience. Try just a little in the middle of the day, ideally half an hour before their feed is due so they are not over hungry.

3. Sit the baby up straight to help with swallowing. Hold the spoon up to the mouth and let the baby suck the food off it.

4. Make the first feed the texture of milk — rice is ideal or a little cooked apple.

51. Don’t worry if the baby doesn’t appear to like any food in the beginning. Go back with more another day. There is plenty of time for them to get accustomed to new experiences. At this stage milk is still their prime source of nutrients.

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Recent research shows that 86% of Irish mothers are preparing meals for their babies themselves, cooking and liquidising them to freeze in small portions 6. Vary tastes and textures soon. Every few weeks, don’t be afraid to add a few lumps so they get to almost chew it. It’s good exercise for their jaw and tongue which helps with speech. Many parents are nervous about texture, but persist. The baby needs different experiences.

7. Stick to meal times. Babies don’t need snacks and it’s a bad habit to get into. If they appear to be hungry, increase the quantity at mealtimes. This is important to communicate to grandparents and other carers, including

those at crèches who might be tempted to give them food outside mealtimes.

8. Make children part of your dining experience, sitting them in their high chair at the table, even if it’s not their mealtime. They will learn to use a knife and fork by watching you and also how you enjoy eating, talking and socialising.

9. Don’t be afraid to allow babies to make a mess while eating. You don’t have to clean their faces with every mouthful. Allow them

Recipes for allergy-friendly food Allergy-friendly cooking is more a necessity than a luxury for those who are intolerant of wheat, gluten, yeast, egg, dairy and soya.

The book The Intolerant Gourmet focuses on what can be enjoyed, instead of what cannot be, with delicious, seasonally divided recipes using ingredients such as gluten-free pasta, rice noodles and quinoa for savoury dishes and gluten-free flour for

pastry to make classics such as pecan pie, treacle tart with custard, banana bread.

There are easy recipes for a crusty white loaf and rye soda bread. Beautifully produced in hardback, the author Pippa Kendrick is a food writer who became ill with complications stemming from undiagnosed food allergies. Published by Harper Collins £20 (about €24).

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to mess with food, feeling the texture of a banana, a raw carrot, a piece of apple. Judge which texture is right for them at the time.

10. Let them smell their food and enjoy each part of the dining experience. Babies love to eat so unless they have been ill will enjoy a variety of tastes. They will enjoy sweet foods particularly, to get the balance right, make sure they get plenty of savoury too. Children will vary their intake from day to day so don’t worry if they have a slow day. Go with the flow and trust your instincts.

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Dining out can be tough for coeliacs, particularly with so many flour-rich sauces on menus.

A treat is ahead with a coeliac-friendly Indian banquet to be held by chef Claire O’Brien, who is herself coeliac.

Supper on the Farm takes place on Saturday, March 10, at Thompson’s Farm, Carrigaline, Co Cork.

For more information call 086-2339519.

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Male Male health health 13

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The heart to run Ireland ...

A LAN Corcoran will run 35 marathons in 35 consecutive days starting on May 27, to raise funds for the Irish Heart Foundation’s Act FAST campaign, the National Rehabilitation Centre, and the Football Village of Hope charity.

“I’ll consider it a failure if I run the marathons and don’t raise the money,” says the 21-year-old, who is studying town planning in Dublin Institute of Technology.

Alan has a personal reason to become the first man to run a lap of Ireland in 917 miles straight. His dad, former FAI president Milo Corcoran, had a stroke in Mar 2011.

“That was a shock, because the stroke came out of nowhere,” says Alan, who is from Waterford. “I had been home the week before my dad had the stroke and there were no signs. I wasn’t aware of what a stroke was, so I looked it up on the internet after my mum rang me, and rang her back to check how he really was.”

Every year in Ireland, 10,000 strokes occur, and one in five people will have a stroke in their lifetime, according to the Irish Heart Foundation.

Today, Alan’s dad, Milo, has returned to driving with just a slight numbness remaining, down one side. Like many stroke sur-

Deirdre O'Flynn

STEP ABOVE: Alan Corcoran, with his father Milo who had a stroke last year, will run 35 marathons in 35 days to raise funds for charities.

MOSTLY MEN

vivors, Milo endured months of rehabilitation to go from wheelchair to walking frame to independent mobility.

“He was determined to get his independence back but it was a big shock for me to see him, when I came home after my exams,” Alan says.

Alan’s marathon challenge will start on May 27 and, by the first day of the European Championships in Poland on June 8, he will have run 286 miles. “I’ll finish off with the Viking marathon in Waterford,” says Alan, who will have support from friends and welcomes any runners who want to accompany him any day.

“I’m following a particular training programme. I’ve met the wall during training and I’m just going to have to get used to it and push through it. Raising funds for the charities will be a great incentive.”

Alan’s first supporter was Republic of Ire-

Picture: David Maher

land manager, Giovanni Trapattoni.

“I admire the dedication of Alan Corcoran to run 35 marathons in 35 days to complete a lap of Ireland. It is an incredible test of en-

It’s easy to get tested Footballers support for sex infections brain-injury drive “Get tested, get treated and get on with your life”, is the message from the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) to Irish men as part of a Men Engage campaign to encourage men to take responsibility for their sexual health. Three YouTube videos have been put up by the IFPA to help break down the barriers when it comes to accessing sexual health services.

The three videos focus on sexually transmitted infections, contraception and crisis pregnancy and can be viewed on

TAKE 1

www.ifpa.ie.

“The vast majority of sexually transmitted infections have no symptoms, so in most cases, the only way to know if you have a sexually transmitted infection is to get tested,” says Dr Caitriona Henchion, IFPA medical director. “Testing is quick and painless. Being diagnosed with most sexually transmitted disease is not a cause for panic. You will be treated quicker than you would be for a sore throat. For example, the treatment for chlamydia is four tablets in one day.”

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STAYING ACTIVE: The Seven Seas Active 55 range is designed to maintain flexible joints, and fitness, in the over-55s. It contains cod liver oil, a source of omega-3 fatty acids, which slow the progress of cartilage destruction, reduce inflammation of the joints and ease pain. Active 55 contains glucosamine, a building block of cartilage, tendons and ligaments. Glucosamine is formed in the body, but as we age it is harder to produce. The range contains chondroitin to support healthy cartilage.

Prices start at €4.25 for Active 55 original liquid; the Active 55 max strength dual pack costs €19.95; www.sevenseas.ie, or phone 1850-681012.

Feelgood

Dublin football players and Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) Ireland ambassadors, Michael Darragh Macauley and Rory O’Carroll, are supporting the ‘bake for brain injury’ campaign, which will take place during Brain Awareness Week, Mar 5 — 11. An estimated 13,000 people are affected by an ABI each year in Ireland. Men are three times more likely than women to acquire a brain injury, and young men between the ages of 16 and 25 are at high risk.

“It only takes seconds for your life to change drasti-

cally, that is definitely something we need to be aware of, and try to remember,” said Michael Darragh Macauley.

The campaign encourages people to bake and donate much-needed funds online at www.abiireland.ie.

ABI Ireland provides vital support services to enable people with ABI to maximise their abilities.

ABI Ireland also raises awareness around concussion in sport.

durance and fitness,” he says. ● To help raise funds with Alan, log on to www.35marathonman.ie

DId you know...

Farmers are up to 10 times more likely to be killed at work (Source: Health and Safety Authority, Ireland)

GOAL SETTER: Michael Darragh Macauley is supporting the ‘bake for brain injury’ campaign.

Senior supplements

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LOWER CHOLESTEROL: Plant sterols are natural substances which studies have shown can lower cholesterol by 8-15%.

Zerochol is a natural plant sterol supplement, and is suitable for people who need to balance their blood cholesterol levels, in combination with a healthy diet. The plant sterols present in Zerochol can reduce the absorption of cholesterol from your intestines. Zerochol is available from pharmacies and health stores, €24.99 (60 tablets); www.zerochol.ie.

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VITAMIN BOOST: Quest 50 Plus Once A Day is a multi-vitamin and mineral formula which includes iron, zinc and vitamin D, specifically formulated for the over-50s. The quick-release, easy-to-swallow tablet is designed to release nutrients in 30 minutes and can be taken with smaller meals, helping older people meet their nutrient requirements, particularly where diet or digestion are compromised, or when people feel unwell or are convalescing. Quest 50 Plus Once A Day costs €8.99 for 30 tablets from pharmacies and health stores.

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

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JOINT FORMULA: The manufacturers of new Joint Factor Plus says it combines the cartilage building properties of glucosamine with a number of natural nutrient combinations to offer a product that supports joint mobility, healthy cartilage, bones, muscles and connective tissue. The formula includes Vitamins C and D, nettle leaf, avocado and soybean. It costs €19.99 for 90 capsules.

Another supplement useful for joint health is Udo’s Oil, a blend of Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs), including Omega 3.

According to Irish distributors, Naturalife, regular users of Udo’s report a reduction of joint pain and muscle stiffness. For further details on either of these supplements, see www.naturalife.ie.

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14

Beauty

Emily O’Sullivan

It’s back to basics.

A barely there ‘nude’ look dominates the catwalks this season

T

HE beauty industry produces crazy stuff — bat-winged false eyelashes, turquoise lip gloss, yellow eyeliner. These are just some of the sample from the spring/summer collections that have landed on my desk. Seriously, yellow eyeliner, who could be bothered?

We wear make-up to look better. Yes, you want to make a statement with red lippy or go retro with liquid eyeliner, but few of us would be seen dead in yellow eyeliner.

Which is where one of autumn’s biggest beauty stories steps in — nudes.

Nudes sound like the kind of beauty story that puts you to sleep. But it’s not as dullsville as you might think. Nude make-up this year is about a super-healthy, fresh aesthetic — it’s about accentuating your best assets instead of loading your eyes and skin with a litany of products — it’s about paring back, about restraint. It’s also an easy look to do, if you’re not the world’s best eyeshadow blender.

The minimalist make-up theme of spring’s catwalk shows emphasises a barely perceptible amount of make-up. Yes, nudes or neutrals, whatever you want to call them, appear ever year in spring and summer, but whereas before it’s been about creamy tones and pale browns, this year it’s about hardly anything at all.

As simple as that sounds, it works. It makes sense — it feels like a breath of fresh air. I’ve had a barely-there make-up look for the last few days, and while I need to occasionally compensate with a slightly pinky lip gloss, or a swipe of mascara, it has made me feel, and even look, a little lighter, maybe younger and hopefully healthier.

Plus, once you’ve perfected the nude basics, you can shake it up a little with an orange lipstick, or a swipe of royal blue liquid liner

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The news on...

Staying neutral

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WOMEN’S FUNDRAISING SOAP IT’S International Women’s Day on Mar 8, and this year to celebrate French beauty company L’Occitane has launched a Women’s Day Soap, with a pretty good story behind it. The soap is a joint development between a woman called Barkissa from Burkina Faso in West Africa and the Nununa soap factory. L’Occitane helped Barkissa, who made soaps to help her family, to set up business by providing materials and helping her with training. Now 100% of the proceeds of the Women’s Day Soap will go to the L’Occitane Foundation, which helps build literacy centres in Burkina Faso. The soap is made of 53% shea butter and costs just €5.

Take three...

NUDE NAIL POLISH

OUT OF SIGHT: Neutrals are usually creamy tones and pale browns, but this year they are ‘about hardly anything at all’.

Picture: Thinkstock

across the eye. Start with your skin. If you don’t have a perfect base, then the nude look is on a downward trajectory. Look at any of the shots from the catwalk shows — Burberry Porsum, Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein — and what you notice first is the model’s skin, because there’s no heavy eye make-up to distract you.

If you’re going for this look, invest in a skin-perfecting product. There are tons of them, from Clarins classic beauty flash balm, €35.58, to Estee Lauder’s face primer plus illuminating base, €28.

Older skins benefit more from the slightly heavier, putty-style texture of products such as Clarins’ instant smooth-perfecting touch, €26.43, or Lancôme’s effet miracle bare skin perfection primer, €32, (as they even out skin tone as well as minimising fine lines), while younger skin tones will get a kick out of Benefit’s ‘That Gal,’ €30, or Bourjois flower perfection translucent smoothing primer, €13.20.

You don’t want to go for anything super-shiny, so, after applying a light sheer base, such as Max Factor’s second skin foundation, €21.50, or the even lighter Xperience weightless foundation, €19.95, dust on a lit-

tle translucent powder. Favourites are Clinique’s classic super-powder double face powder, €27, which is great for a matte look, but if you prefer a little edge, then try Mac’s lovely beauty powder, with a barely perceptible shimmer. Don’t forget to finish with a blush, but opt for a very pale soft pink or apricot.

Eye-wise, think simple. This is a great look, because it relies on buying no new products, a perfect recession solution. To get this look, I smooth a bit of powder all over the lid just to minimise redness and blotch.

It’s amazing how this small simple act can immediately make you look less tired and ruddy.

If you feel that’s too flat, then you can go for a nude with a very slight shimmer and apply it all over the eye. Finish up with a slick of black mascara (or you could go catwalk and leave the mascara off, too).

With the lips, nudes are big news, but they can look wishy washy when you’re wearing them with equally neutral make-up. There are tons of nude lipsticks out this season, but you do need to be careful with them to minimise the Dusty Springfield look. Glosses work much better for this look, or opt for something with a slightly pink sheen.

money or the effort, but if you like trying out a good few different make-up looks then Naked2 is a perfect choice with all its browny, cream nude shades — a good choice, no matter what your skin colour happens to be.

is a good range of neutrals, with plenty of options.

YES, nude is big with nails too, which is no surprise because we’ve had nails of every hue from charcoal to aqua over the last few years. Well, now it’s nude again.

But forget about a return to the French manicure of yesteryear. This year’s nudes are very simple, pale or maybe with a shot of pink if you’re feeling a little feisty.

Essie Brooch the Subject, €10.75. A soft pale beige, this is described by Essie as a ‘creamy cashmere’ and it does make us think of snug, cosy knitwear. It also has an element of skin-coloured tights about it, but don’t let that put you off — it’s really very nice.

Jessica Nails Stripped Naked, €9.95.

More traditional than Essie’s nude shade, this is a classic nudey pink that is very pretty to wear. It’s not going to win you any awards for originality, but it’s delicate and flattering and really rather lovely.

Nails Inc Porchester Square, €16.75. A very pale mushroom tone, I am loving this shade for spring — it’s perfect.

STUFF WE LIKE Max Factor Second Skin Foundation, €21.50. This does exactly what a foundation should: covers up your imperfections without sitting too heavily on the skin — and giving a matte effect without looking cakey. If you’re going for this one, you’ll only need the tiniest dab of powder afterwards to tone down any shiny areas.

Urban Decay Naked2, €40.40. It’s the second Naked palette from Urban Decay and has got lots to offer. Sure, sometimes palettes this size aren’t worth the

Feelgood

Bobbi Brown Ultra Nude Eye Palette, €47.

Bobbi Brown comes out with new palettes twice a year, sometimes more, and they are generally very good indeed with the emphasis on flattering, wearable shades rather than very directional looks. This

Chanel Ombre Essentielle in No42 Lotus, €26. A very neutral eye colour, this Lotus shade has a silky and slightly shimmery effect on the eyelid that seems to instantly give a more awake, more luminous effect to the skin.

It’s a great choice, and lasts a very long time.

Mac Tinted Lipgloss in Fresh Air, €17. This very light lipgloss works brilliantly with the nude look. It also works a treat with smokey eyes. It has a very slight shimmer and a very neutral

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

colour with an edge of pink. Because the colour is so light, you do need to reapply frequently.

Clinique Superpowder Double FacePowder, €27.

This is a classic powder — I’ve been using it since I was in my early 20s and I find that it’s very versatile.

It’s a good one to use if you’re not a huge fan of foundation.

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Natural health

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Q

Megan Sheppard Do you have a question for Megan Sheppard?

Email it to feelgood@examiner.ie or send a letter to Feelgood Irish Examiner City Quarter Lapps Quay Cork

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I had a miscarriage at 9½ weeks in Feb 2009 (the baby developed to about 7 weeks). I gave birth to a healthy baby in Aug 2010 — I was in Australia/New Zealand for four weeks in very early pregnancy and got lots of sunshine. I had a second miscarriage at 11½ weeks in Sept 2011 (the baby measured 9½ weeks). My blood tests were normal except for my vitamin D3 levels which are at 35.

I am currently six weeks pregnant and worried. While my GP has recommended 800 IUs daily of D3, I have read online that I need to be taking at least 4,000 IUs to prevent recurrent miscarriage. Studies have shown this level is safe in pregnant women from 12 weeks on, but my fear is that I won’t even get to the 12 weeks without it. However, as D3 is fat soluble is it possible I will do more harm than good?

A. Given your past experiences with miscarriages, it is difficult not to question absolutely everything that you put into or onto your body when you are pregnant. I am very pleased to hear that you have had one full-term healthy baby, and it is interesting that this was following time in Australia and New Zealand where it is far easier to get your stores of vitamin D. While the recommendation of 800IUs is double the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) for this nutrient, it is still far below what you would produce following a mere 20-30 minutes in the sunshine (estimated at around 10,000IU). So the 4,000IU you are considering isn’t even half of that which you were likely getting in early pregnancy with your healthy baby.

Ideally, you want your serum levels of D3 to be somewhere between 50-70ng/mL, so you are definitely on the low side. There has been a lot of research done on vitamin D deficiency within the last five years, since a lack of this particular hormone has been implicated in so many conditions. What the research has shown is that around 95% of pregnant women have less than 50ng/mL of vitamin D. This indicates that their actual stores of vitamin D are worryingly low, and that their daily intake of this vitamin (the women who participated in all of the studies were all taking a vitamin supplement which provided the recommended 400IUs of D3) was being rapidly used up without adding to the stores.

None of the studies have shown that vitamin D3 supplementation of 4,000-6,000IUs have presented any risk to the developing foetus. In fact, the lower RDA amount is more likely to cause problems in both the mother and the growing baby.

It also worth noting that adequate vitamin D3 levels also help to prevent pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, vaginal infection, and improve the outcomes in terms of birth

Picture: Getty Images

Low vitamin D is linked with miscarriage, so it does make sense to take the 4,000IU, which is considered to be a safe dose of vitamin D3 weight, mental health, and immune functioning.

Low vitamin D is linked with miscarriage, so it does make sense to take the 4,000IU, which is considered to be a safe dose of vitamin D3 (no recorded toxicity levels up to supplementation of 10,000IU daily). I will stress that you need to make sure that you choose a D3 supplement, rather than the plant sourced D2, which can have negative effects in larger doses.

Q. I have battled with haemorrhoids on and off since I first got them during pregnancy over 30 years ago. When I have them, it makes my life miserable. I have tried various creams to the pharmacy, which sometimes work and sometimes seem to have no effect. Is there anything that I can do to get rid of these for good?

A. Unfortunately, haemorrhoids are often par for the course when it comes to pregnancy and childbirth. The pressure of carrying the baby, constipation, diarrhoea, and the pushing during labour often causes the veins to swell excessively both internally and externally. In some cases, women aren’t even aware that they have developed haemorrhoids until they experience bleeding along

with a bowel movement; in more severe cases, there is no mistaking the itching, burning, and bruised sensation of internal or external haemorrhoids/piles.

One of the simplest ways to ensure that your colon functions smoothly, and to reduce the pressure on enlarged and distended veins in the lower bowel, is to use a soluble fibre such as psyllium. Using psyllium husks helps to stimulate the movement of waste throughout the colon without straining, allowing the haemorrhoids to heal naturally.

Fibre is a great way to ensure that the colon is able to function efficiently without exerting any pressure on already swollen veins, enabling them to heal naturally. Take 1-2 tablespoons of psyllium husks/hulls each day mixed well in a large glass of water, and drink it immediately. You can add juice if you don’t like the bland taste.

For topical relief for haemorrhoids, you can use Nelson’s H+Care (formerly known as Haemorrhoid Relief Cream), a cream for the symptomatic relief of external haemorrhoids containing homeopathic preparations of horse chestnut, calendula, witchhazel, and peony. H+Care costs €7 for a 30g tube.

Nelson’s also make H+Care soothing wipes for use in the toilet as a moist and soothing alternative to toilet paper.

■ NOTE: The information contained above is not a substitute for medical advice. Always consult a doctor first.

Megan puts the spotlight on:

W

ITH typical symptoms, including hot flushes, night sweats, fatigue, insomnia, memory loss, headaches, mood swings, breast tenderness, weight gain, vaginal dryness, bladder problems, bloating, osteoporosis, decreased libido, and changes in skin, hair, teeth and nails — menopause can turn life as you know it upside down.

It is more likely that a woman will get only a few of these symptoms at any one time, and some lucky women experience no obvious changes other than freedom from the monthly menstruation. But there are also some women for whom menopause is a nightmare.

HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) is an area of great debate for many women who are either approaching or

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experiencing menopause. With the promise of restored libido, improved complexion, and a means to end hot flushes, night sweats, irritability and depression, HRT has been welcomed by menopausal women and the medical profession alike.

However, long-term use of HRT has been shown to increase the risk of breast cancer and blood clots. While this has prompted many women to discontinue the treatment, a number have found a decrease in bone density after stopping HRT. Fortunately, there are many natural alternatives to assist women to adjust to the hor-

Menopause, naturally monal changes associated with menopause safely. In the past I have recommended Meno-Herbs 2, which has every herb on the menopausal woman’s wish list, but it is no longer available in the Ireland. There is another supplement with a fabulous synergistic herbal combination, called Sage Complex (made by FoodScience of Vermont). It contains wild yam, dong quai, red clover, agnus castus, sage leaf, Siberian ginseng, pomegranate extract, hops, kudzu, and fenugreek — quite the combination to help with hormonal balance, bone density, gland support, adrenal support, stress reduction, reproductive tone, hot flushes and night

FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012

sweats, and maintain oestrogen levels.

There are lifestyle changes which can help reduce the likelihood of experiencing detrimental menopausal symptoms. Ensure your diet is high in wholefoods, preferably organic. Keep a reasonable level of fitness. Get a good night’s sleep — easier said than done if night sweats are a problem, which is where sage tea or sage extract (salvia officinalis) helps immensely.

Sage Complex is available from health stores and Victoria Health, (www.victoriahealth.com; 00-44-1733 709100) where 90 vegecaps cost €28.50. Menosan is a herbal supplement with 100% fresh organic sage extracted into tablet form; take one tablet, twice daily — €12.55 for 60.

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