Tonight on The Checkup ` Gareth learns to act fast. Strokes can happen at any age, at any time. Sam drills down on a modern problem. Fingers crossed for low acidity. Yes. And turmeric ` is it everything it's cracked up to be? Any digest problem, turmeric very help to the tummy. But first, I have my ear to the ground. (LIGHT, UPBEAT MUSIC) Everywhere you look these days, people are listening to their favourite music, podcasts, talking to friends or watching the latest YouTube clips, but are we in danger of losing all this? One in 10 New Zealanders used to suffer from hearing loss. Now it's one in six. It's usual for us to lose a little hearing as we age, and this loss is often gradual. Sounds may become distorted or muffled, and it may be difficult to understand people when they talk, and some of you may even need to keep turning up the volume on the telly. Noise-induced hearing loss is when permanent damage is caused by exposure to high volumes, and there's a growing concern that the volume setting on our personal devices and the use of headphones and earbuds is increasing the danger. But to understand what's damaging, we have to know what scale we're working with. This crazy-looking thing is a decibel meter, and it measures the volume or intensity of sound. I'm gonna use it to discover just how loud everyday sounds are. (CLOCK TICKS) QUIETLY: Shhh. Whisper. Casual conversation. 'A scream.' (YELLS) (MOTOR STARTS UP) 'At 85 decibels...' LOUDLY: That's the equivalent of standing next to a running lawnmower. City traffic can be even louder. (JACKHAMMER BUZZES) The pain threshold for our ears is around 130 decibels ` the same volume as a jackhammer. But where do our personal music players fit in? Audiologist Dr David Welch is wired for sound and knows why we like to turn up the volume. What volume do most phones or MP3 players reach? Well, it's a tricky question. There's the phone itself ` the device; there's the particular track you're playing; and there's the types of earbuds or headphones you're listening through. Loud noises cause hearing loss by damaging our stereocilia ` tiny hairs that sit in bundles in our inner ear. When soundwaves make these tiny hairs vibrate, a chemical message is sent through to the nerves to be interpreted by the brain. Over time, sounds that are too loud can damage these hair cell bundles, and the information can't be passed along to the brain. Sadly, these tiny hair cells don't regenerate. How long does it take to get hearing damage? Some sounds are so loud they'll destroy your ear immediately ` an explosion or a gunshot. Other sounds, it's more about the continuous exposure to the sound. Music is a good example. And so if the sound levels are high ` any sound above... well, really, about 70 decibels, which is not much louder than we're talking now, if you're exposed to that over hours and hours and hours, days, your ears will start to become exhausted, and when they start to become exhausted, are more likely to get damaged. The other main factor is the length of time. There's a trade-off between level and time. If you double the level, you've got half the available listening time. World Health Organization data from middle- and high-income countries indicates almost half of those aged between 12 and 35 were blasting their ears with dangerously high levels of sound from their listening devices. Roughly 40% were doing the same at concerts and entertainment venues. So, why do we listen to loud music? We found there were three main components. The first one was about our ears and our auditory systems generally. They're very adaptive. Think of walking into a nightclub from a quiet street. It's like, 'Oh!' And then, quite swiftly, your ears adapt. But, of course, our ears are still getting damaged. It's just that it starts to feel all right. The second one is... a conditioning. So every time there's a party, every time there's some sort of celebration, people tend to play loud music. And so we just start to associate the loudness of the music with fun. And so even if we're on our own, we start to get that sort of fun experience. There's another one ` and this one fascinates me ` it's a feeling of toughness. If you listen to your music really loud, it also activates the emotional centres in our brain. They're almost like a fear response. And so you'd have this subconscious sort of (GRUNTS), and then you'd immediately control yourself, and you'd feel like you do whenever you overcome fear ` you feel tough. David suggests keeping our volume down to about 70 to 80% of its maximum, and in loud environments, reduce your exposure time and increase your distance from the noise. If you can't do this, protect your ears with properly-fitted earplugs or earmuffs. I'm keen to play my favourite ABBA songs right into my old age, and if that means I need to soften the volume a little or shorten my listening time, so be it, because it's a price I'm willing to pay. If it gets absorbed at all, it might not stay around long enough to do any good. I looked at him, and his whole face had gone to one side, and I heard 'F-A-S`T'. L'Oreal Paris introduces... Rouge Signature. Matte colour ink. Less texture, more colour. Less effort, more elegance. All day matte - bare lip sensation. Rouge Signature, the first matte colour ink by L'Oreal Paris. We're worth it. (LIGHT MUSIC) Lattes, toothpaste, chocolate bars, alcoholic shots ` you name it, and turmeric is most likely being added to it. Growing up, turmeric was an everyday household ingredient. We used it to add colour and taste in a lot of our curries, and my grandmother would swear by its anti-aging properties. But is turmeric the modern-day miracle it's made out to be? Its alleged health benefits have become a great selling point for all types of products. It has been hailed the king of spices, the new kale, nature's wonder drug, a magic bullet, with claims it can tackle Alzheimer's, diabetes, cancer, baldness, migraines, you name it. (CHIME RINGS) So, should we be chowing down on turmeric big time? Chef Nandasiri Alwis, who has been running his Sri Lankan restaurant for 10 years, certainly thinks so. That looks amazing, smells amazing. Ah, beautiful. (CHUCKLES) So, there's a lot of turmeric in there? Yeah. Normally, this one, main ingredient's turmeric. Mm-hm. That's the flavour and the colour ` yellow colour. Like my grandma, chef Nandasiri uses turmeric in all sorts of ways. Before we start cooking or we start housework or anything, we use the turmeric water, and we spray it everywhere for killing bacteria and germs. Any digest problem, then turmeric very help to the tummy and our immune system slowly develop when we eat the turmeric. (LIGHT, CHEERFUL MUSIC) Ooh! Ooh, yes. (CHUCKLES) It's good? Do you want to try it? Yeah, yeah. That's delicious, yeah. Mmm. (GENTLE MUSIC) Turmeric is a member of the ginger family. The yellow pigment comes from curcuminoids ` the active compounds in turmeric. It's the main active agent, curcumin, that has so many excited. Curcumin is reported to have powerful anti-inflammatory effects and to be a strong antioxidant, but the conditions need to be right. One of the main concerns of turmeric is that the curcumin has poor absorption, fast metabolism and rapid elimination from the body. And what that means is if it gets absorbed at all, it might not stay around long enough to do any good. A 2015 review of thousands of curcumin research papers found no conclusive evidence of its therapeutic effectiveness for any particular condition. That's not going to stop true believers, like my grandma, who maintain that eating turmeric with fats will help with curcumin absorption. (LIGHT, UPBEAT MUSIC) There's also some evidence that black pepper does the same, and a curry just happens to tick all those boxes. (LIGHT MUSIC CONTINUES) There may yet be some undiscovered health benefits of turmeric. In the meantime, its flavour and colour are probably enough reason to keep it in your diet. (JAUNTY, UPBEAT MUSIC) Getting a medical degree is really hard work. It takes a lot of time and costs a lot of money. I'm not trying to do myself out of a job, but it turns out you don't have to be a doctor to save someone's life. And that's especially true when it comes to strokes. A stroke is a brain attack. It means the normal blood flow to the brain is interrupted. This could be caused by one of two things ` a blockage of blood flow or bleeding into the brain. When the blood fails to deliver oxygen, cells in the affected part of the brain can start to die. This can affect the person's vision, their balance, the way they think and their memory. It's a common perception that strokes only occur in the elderly. However, it can happen to anyone, at any age, at any time. If you think someone is having a stroke, there are four key signs to look out for. Face ` is their face drooping on one side? Arm ` can they raise both arms? Speech ` can they speak? If so, is there slurring? Take action ` time is critical. If in any doubt, call 111 immediately. WOMAN: Have you seen the pohutakawa coming...? MAN: This one's gonna come out really big. Tony Herbert was on a dream holiday in Bruges, when his wife, Angela, noticed the sudden onset of some disturbing symptoms. I saw him trying to lift his leg up and down and up and down, in the movement, and I saw he couldn't get his leg into his shortie pyjamas. And I looked at him, and his whole face had gone to one side. And I heard 'F-A-S-T' in my head, like as if somebody had shouted it at me, and I said, 'Look at me. 'Smile.' And he couldn't down one side. And then I said, 'Put your hands up,' and he could only lift one arm. And then I said, 'Speak to me,' and all he could do was make a noise, and I just knew. Angela's instant recognition of the FAST mnemonic would prove to be a lifesaver. The T stands for take action, as time is critical once blood flow to the brain is interrupted. We were exceptionally lucky, I think. Certainly, the feedback from specialists, both in Bruges and back here in Auckland, of the quality of my recovery... The words used were 'spectacular' and 'remarkable'. Tony was in good health when he had his stroke. Doctors now suspect it was brought on by stress, which in turn raised his blood pressure. Maintaining a good blood pressure is by far the single most important thing you can do to prevent a stroke. I've come to Wesley park, where the Stroke Foundation has its big blood pressure van that travels the country testing blood pressure for free. Blood pressure is a measurement of the force that your heart uses to pump blood around your body. When your blood pressure is high, it puts too much stress on the walls of your blood vessels, which increases the risk of both bleeds and blood clots. Failure to detect and control high blood pressure is the single biggest cause of avoidable strokes. The New Zealand Stroke Foundation warns that a person with high blood pressure is up to seven times more likely to have a stroke than someone whose blood pressure is normal or low. Put your right arm in, all the way through, with your palm facing up, and then let your arm go completely relaxed, all right? Just gonna turn the machine on now. Just some nice, easy, deep breaths while you wait. The top number is the systolic, and that's the pressure in your blood vessels when your heart is pumping. And that sits over the diastolic, which is the pressure in your blood vessels when your heart is relaxed between the pumps. With the systolic, you're looking at a number of ideally less than 120, and the diastolic, ideally looking at a number less than 80. Boom! 126/84. Really stoked with that result. Definitely come and get your blood pressure checked with the bus or at your GP. Preventing a stroke is far better than hoping for a cure. So I recommend if you haven't had your blood pressure checked in a while, get on to it. It could save your life. A lot of us are doing healthier lifestyles, but we're still getting bad teeth. We're replacing it with acidic things. My muscle definition was completely lost. I just looked chubby. Plans for the holidays? I'm starting my kitchen renovation. By yourself, unsupervised? I've seen the TV shows. You can do better. With a Gem personal loan you could get someone to do up your kitchen. And with our 'pay it faster' option you could save up to $1,000 in interest just by paying an extra $50 a month. Yeah, course. I just really wanna knock out a wall first. You can do better with Gem, powered by Latitude. Ask today. Meet the Roots family - a family with a serious root problem. Roots? (GASPS) And a magic solution. Let me show you something. Magic Retouch by L'Oreal Paris - three seconds to flawless roots. Three, two, one... Done. Magic Retouch by L'Oreal - because you're worth it. * As the saying goes, when you smile, the whole world smiles with you. That really puts the pressure on our pearly whites. Brushing twice a day, flossing regularly and avoiding sugar should keep them looking tip-top, but does our modern lifestyle demand more? New Zealand dentists are noticing an increase in patients with eroded teeth ` sometimes so bad they need immediate and expensive treatment. The strange thing is these are often people who have had good teeth for years. Something is attacking our teeth, and it's not what you'd expect. I've come to Dr Amar Khosa for the lowdown. We all know that too much sugar is bad for our teeth, but a lot of us are doing healthier lifestyles where we're cutting everything out,... Mm. ...but we're still getting bad teeth. While we're trying our best to replace all these unhealthy things in our lives, we're actually doing damage, without knowing, by replacing it with acidic things. Corrosive culprits can be found in our alternative hydration habits. We've got a bunch of popular bevvies, including some of my favourite healthy options, to see how acidic they are. All right. So, we've got two of our diet sodas here, sparkling water, coffee. Oh, I cannot do without my coffee in the morning. I know, and I think a lot of people think like that. Water with lemon. Yum. We've got a fruit tea. I love the fruit teas. They're good, aren't they? Milk, black tea and kombucha. Great. And good for the gut, the kombucha. Oh, it really is, yes. To sort the healthy from the harmful, we're using test strips. They will turn a bright yellow in highly acidic liquids and pink in less acidic. So, which one is this? This one is a diet soda. And it does take a while to develop. And we've got sparkling water. You see it fizzing, don't you? (CHUCKLES) All right, so, we've got the coffee here, which everyone... ...has in the morning. ...is addicted to at some point. (BOTH CHUCKLE) And the lemon with water. Fruit tea. Fruit teas. Fingers crossed for low acidity. Yes. And we've got milk here. Black tea, which a lot of people start their day with. And... Kombucha. That is a big favourite at the moment. It really is. Yup. So that one will be interesting. All right. So, this is, sort of, our control here, Sam, so you can have a good look at that. Yup. And like I said, the yellower it goes, the more acidic it is. Mm! That's the diet sodas. That one's quite a lot yellower, isn't it? Yeah, that's really impressive. So, acidic. Same with our sparkling water. Oh no! Look at that. Why is that? It's just water with bubbles. Yes, and, well, the bubbles are the problem, cos that's where the acid comes from. To make those bubbles, you've got to have acid, and that causes a lot of damage ` unknowingly. This is our coffee. Aw. So, staying yellow there still. There's definitely no pink in that. Aw, that's disappointing. It is, I know! And this is our lemon with water. You can see how yellow that's gone. Mm. Very acidic. Yes, definitely. Fruit tea here ` same thing. Oh no, Amar. (LAUGHS) I'm sorry to disappoint, Sam. Oh, that's really disappointing. Yeah. We've got milk here. You can see it stayed yellow, but it's still got a little bit of pink in there. Kombucha, same thing ` very, very yellow. Wow! That is really acidic. Mm. For something that's so good for our gut health, it's quite surprising. Mm. And we've got our black tea here, and you can see it's the same thing ` it's gone quite yellow. Yeah. Yeah. With so many drinks erring on the acid side, how can we limit the corrosive contact they'll have with our pearly whites? Use a paper or metal straw. Only have them at meal times. Chew sugar-free gum or have a piece of cheese. There's no doubt acidic drinks are waging war on our teeth, but with a few simple hacks, I feel I'm ready to balance out that battle. (FUNKY, UPBEAT MUSIC) (LIGHT, INTRIGUING MUSIC) We all know that exercise is good for us, and we all know how easy it is to fall off that wagon. People often say to me, 'I used to be fit, 'but when I stopped exercising, it all turned into fat.' Now, if this sounds familiar to you, you're not alone. (RELAXED MUSIC) Three years ago, Josh was an international bodybuilder and had washboard abs The Rock would be envious of. When I was competing, I would train for about four to four and a half hours a day. At the end of 2015, I had an accident on the leg press, and I slipped a disc. It ended up being a prolapsed disc. Josh was advised to stop training so his body could recover. In four months, Josh went from this... to this. My muscle definition was completely lost. I just looked... chubby. Josh isn't the only retired or injured athlete who's gone from fit to flabby. But did his muscles really turn into fat? When you exercise, your muscles grow and build with use. The muscle cells grow larger and stronger. With a lot of use, they may look like this. And with somewhat less use, they may look like this. If you stop using your muscles, your body doesn't see the point in maintaining them, and they will shrink. So if you don't use it, you lose it. When regular people and athletes alike go off their exercise programmes, their muscle-to-fat ratio changes. Less muscle mass means they will notice a higher body fat percentage. My body fat percentage went from about 6% up to about 22%. And where does this fat come from? The same place it always comes from ` an energy surplus, eating more than you are burning. We've got a variety of food here. Is this what you were having on a typical day? Yeah. This was leading into prep for a competition. So, when you got injured, how did your diet change at that time? When I pulled the injury, I felt miserable that I couldn't train, and to honest, I felt like if I'm gonna have a break from training, I'm gonna have a break from it all. Josh not only gave up exercising; he also stopped monitoring his calorie intake. So it went in the complete opposite direction, and I started having all sorts of food that I shouldn't have been having. So, I came away from wholesome foods pretty much altogether, but I moved to comfort foods. (CHUCKLES) Wow. That's a lot. That's definitely, by far, not my biggest day. On one of my biggest days, I would've easily polished off an additional 30 doughnuts. 30? Wow. Yeah. It may seem like your muscle turns into fat when you stop working out, but the human body, no matter how amazing it is, cannot magically turn one type of body tissue into another. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2019