ITV’s Dr Amir Khan has shared his shift work health advice

A GP has issued a stark warning about working patterns, claiming humans are “not designed” for a particular type of schedule. According to the medical professional, shift work can have serious consequences for both physical wellbeing.

During a recent episode of his podcast No Appointment Necessary, Doctor Amir Khan offered guidance for those working shifts. Dr Amir, who is widely recognised from his appearances on ITV, stated: “Our bodies are not evolved to do shift work.

“Shift work is a modern thing that’s been thrust upon us – part of capitalism that has been thrust upon us that sees us more as functional units, rather than actual human beings.” He outlined how the human body isn’t built to cope with the irregular nature of shift patterns.

“So there is no easy answer to shift work, your body’s not designed to do shift work, your body’s not designed to stay up all night one week and then work days the next week,” he added. “You know I did a year and a half of A&E and I was doing shift work and I was trying to get sleep where I can but it is hard.”

Among his recommendations was getting rest “when you can”. He explained: “And I genuinely do not have the answer to that apart from sleeping when you can. It is always better to get into a rhythm and some people really like working nights and then sleeping through the day and having the day to do the stuff that they might want to do as well later on.” He ideally suggested maintaining consistent shift patterns.

Dr Amir explained: “If you can work consistently one shift for a period of time where your body can get into a rhythm that is better than switching and changing all the time but natural daylight, if you’re missing that that has its benefits as well.

“So it’s pros and cons, the long and short of it is, we’re not designed to do shift work.” The video’s caption on the podcast’s Instagram post stated: “Shift work might be normal… but it’s not natural.

“Dr Amir Khan explains why constantly switching between nights and days can seriously affect your body, sleep and health.”

The health dangers

His guidance is backed up by experts at UCLA Health in the United States. On its website, the organisation highlighted that shift work can have a “long-term” effect on health and wellbeing.

They stated: “The biggest health challenge facing shift workers is the interruption of circadian rhythm – your body’s physical, mental and behavioural processes that follow a 24-hour cycle. Circadian rhythms are influenced mainly by light and darkness.

“Shift work – especially at night – often disturbs the body’s systems regulated by circadian rhythm, including the sleep/wake cycle. The more years you work a shift schedule, the higher your risk of chronic health issues.”

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These health problems include:

• Cancer
• Cardiovascular disease
• Gastrointestinal disorders
• Mental health disorders
• Metabolic disorders such as obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes

UCLA stated: “According to research, night-shift workers are three times more likely to suffer from a shift-related sleep disorder than people who work a day shift. Recognising the signs and getting treatment for a sleep disorder may help you avoid associated physical and mental health issues.”

What action to take

The UCLA team suggested that shift workers should concentrate on the following:

• Eating habits: consume high-quality, whole food wherever possible, and avoid eating between midnight and 6am to maintain typical eating patterns.
• Sleeping better: implement sleep strategies tailored for shift workers that suit your personal needs, work schedule and home circumstances
• Maintaining relationships: Share at least one meal with your family each day. Set aside time every week to connect with friends, either face-to-face or through video chat

“With filming just underway on season four of The White Lotus, it had become apparent that the character which [White Lotus showrunner] Mike White created for Helena Bonham Carter did not align once on set,” a spokesperson said at the time.

“The role has subsequently been rethought, is being rewritten and will be recast in the coming weeks.”

Asked if he had any insight about his co-star and fellow Brit’s exit on the TV Baftas red carpet, Steve told Deadline: “That was… I mean… that was… it sort of like… it just went in a different direction.”

“Sometimes you find that something isn’t working the way you want it to, in terms of, like, the character, and the sort of dynamic of the whole story,” he continued. “So that was just a mutual decision.”

He added that the “whole part was rewritten from scratch” when Oscar winner Laura Dern joined the cast.

Last week, Variety published a piece claiming that Mike White had originally intended for Helena to play a “washed-out star who is chasing a comeback”.

Citing undisclosed “sources”, Variety’s article alleged that the Harry Potter star left The White Lotus due to “creative differences”, notably Mike White wanting her to play the character in a more “boisterous” way.

1) Chewing gum

2) Popcorn

3) Dragonfruit

4) Apples

5) Pears

The fan-favourite character, played by Alison King, has been notably absent following her wedding to new wife, Lisa Connor-Swain

Coronation Street fans have issued a demand around Carla Connor-Swain following her ‘disappearance’ after her latest wedding in the long-running show.

The fan-favourite character, played by Alison King, will officially mark 20 years since she arrived in Weatherfield later this year, and it would be fair to say that Carla hasn’t had much luck over those two decades when it comes to matters of the heart.

That being said, things have been looking up as last month in the ITV soap, Carla was seen marrying DS Lisa Swain. But pointed out on-screen, this isn’t Carla’s first rodeo as the Underworld factory boss had been married five times before, twice of those times to the same person – we’re looking at you, Peter Barlow!

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But as Corrie viewers know, there was almost a hitch, as at first, the nuptials appeared to be off due to a flood, caused by Carl Webster, at the Chariot Square Hotel. But after some words of encouragement from Ryan Connor, Lisa formed a plan.

After convincing a disappointed Carla to ditch her duvet day, they headed to the hotel, and upon their arrival, Lisa surprised her wife-to-be by revealing that their wedding was going ahead, with Lisa’s daughter, Betsy, Carla’s nephew, Ryan, and her father-figure, Roy Cropper, as their witnesses.

Once pronounced as wives, there was another surprise waiting as Sally Metcalfe activated the Underworld security alarm, forcing Carla to head into work, despite getting married, but upon her entry, everyone was waiting, having come together for a wedding reception, which even took Lisa by surprise, and the newlyweds were able to celebrate.

The big day made Corrie history, as it’s the first time two women have successfully tied the knot in Weatherfield. But it seems Corrie fans are slightly disappointed to see Mrs Carla Connor-Swain absent from screens, while DS Lisa Connor-Swain is busy trying to pin down Theo Silverton’s killer.

@TheConnorSwains said: “Carla marrying Lisa & becoming Carla Connor-Swain only to immediately disappear from our screens! What #Corrie giveth with one hand they snatched away with the other. Bring back Carla Connor-Swain, I wanna see her ‘Ooo damn I have a wife era’. #Swarla.” @carlasmayhem cried: “Please I thought we got Carla back this week.”

@swoosh286 shared: “Where’s wifey? Yet another day with no sighting of Carla Connor-Swain! Yeah Lise, I’m fed up too! #swarla.” @MrsGodwin1993 added: “Can’t wait to see Carla back but now as Carla Connor-Swain #Swarla #Corrie #carlaconnor.”

The hit travel competition show returned to screens last month, seeing new pairs travelling more than 12,000km across Europe and Asia.

So far, the pairs have travelled across countries, including Italy, Greece, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

The final destination brings them to the shores of Lake Khovsgol in northern Mongolia, where the first to cross the finish line will snap up the £20,000 reward.

However, viewers of Race Across The World are facing a slight shift in schedule this week, as the BBC makes room for Eurovision.

Race Across The World faces a major schedule change this week

Since it started last month, Race Across The World has been airing episodes every Thursday at 8pm.

However, this week, the BBC has brought the show forward by a day, with the penultimate episode now airing on Wednesday, May 13th at 8pm.

The move comes as the BBC prepares to air the second round of the semi-finals at the Eurovision Song Contest.

The upcoming episode of Race Across The World will see the pairs take on their eighth and final country, Mongolia.

It’s not just Race Across The World that is being moved to its usual spot, as MasterChef will not air on its normal Thursday spot.

Instead, the cooking show will air on Friday, May 15 this week, to also make way for Eurovision.

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When is Eurovision 2026?

The Eurovision 2026 semi-finals will be broadcast on May 12 and 14, with the grand final taking place on May 16 at Vienna’s Wiener Stadthalle.

UK viewers can watch all shows live on BBC One and iPlayer, or listen on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds, with the coverage beginning on TV at 8pm.

Have you been watching Race Across The World? Let us know who you want to see win in the comments.

Fresh from finishing as the top British woman at the 2026 London Marathon, Eilish took part in a panel session with youngsters.

Lanarkshire school pupils were put through their paces by four-time Olympian and Commonwealth champion Eilish McColgan during a sport science outreach visit organised by University of the West of Scotland (UWS) last week.

The event, which took place at Strathaven Academy on Friday, May 8, aimed to inspire youngsters, teachers and the wider public by showcasing the breadth and impact of sport and exercise science.

Arranged in collaboration with the Chartered Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (CASES), the UK professional body for sport and exercise sciences, Eilish’s visit was part of a prize won by sixth-year pupil Ross Munro for his successful poster competition entry on inclusion in disability sport last year.

Ross is a keen runner and is a member of local running club Strathaven Striders. As part of his prize, Ross was given the opportunity to select an athlete to visit his school and deliver a specialist athlete-development workshop, with Ross choosing Eilish.

Fresh from finishing as the top British woman at the 2026 London Marathon, Eilish took part in a panel session with pupils, who were given the chance to ask the record-breaking Scottish long-distance runner questions relating to her life and her sport. She was asked about how she juggled sport with her studies, who inspires her, how often she trains and how to get started in sport.

The visit also included practical sessions, with Eilish leading pupils through her own go-to warm up, as well as challenging the students to try out different running paces measured by UWS’s sport science equipment.

Pupils also had the chance to try boccia – a target ball sport similar to bowls, which is often played by athletes with various physical disabilities affecting motor skills. The sport had inspired Ross’s winning poster when he got to experience boccia during a visit to UWS last year, so he wanted his fellow pupils to learn more about it.

Discussing her time at the school, Eilish said: “It’s been fantastic to be here. The pupils asked great questions, and it’s been a lot of fun – I can tell the school is very engaged in sport. I was asked my best piece of advice for young people who are interested in pursuing a career in sport and that would be to join a local club. The qualities and values you learn from sport are so valuable through many stages of life.”

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University of the West of Scotland is the only Scottish University to be part of CASES’ national Outreach Hub initiative. The Hub network enables higher education institutions to engage local communities through events like these, as well as school visits, public talks, webinars, and hands-on learning experiences.

Dr Hayley McEwan, CASES, senior lecturer in psychology of sport and co-lead of the UWS Outreach Hub, said: “Being able to offer a taste of sport science to school pupils has been a rewarding experience for everyone involved over the past few years, and now for one of the pupils to win the national poster competition as part of the visit and bring a world class athlete to Strathaven is remarkable. I particularly love that Ross chose a female role model in Eilish McColgan – she is relatable and inspiring to all.”

Chris Love, principal teacher of physical education at Strathaven Academy, said: “We are incredibly proud of Ross for his outstanding achievement, which has brought the inspiring presence of Eilish McColgan to Strathaven Academy. This is a momentous occasion for our entire school community, and we extend our sincere thanks, not only to Eilish but to the University of the West of Scotland for their partnership and dedication to fostering these connections, providing our young people with a firsthand look at what can be achieved through perseverance and talent.”

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Competition winner Ross Munro said: “Inclusion in sport is extremely important me and I want to see it become more accessible for all, which is what inspired my winning poster. It’s incredible to host this event today at my school and I want to thank everyone who helped make it happen, including Eilish for coming all this way.

“Sport is important to me and I have always been involved in some way. I run, play golf and I was golf captain at my club. For me, I want to build on that in the local community and I’m passionate about getting as many people involved in sport as possible. I start university soon and look forward to joining sports clubs and societies there – it was interesting to listen to Eilish talk about the importance and benefits of being part of a sports club.”

You can find out more about the sports courses available at University of the West of Scotland here. Find out more about CASES here.

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Researchers at MIT have suggested that rice seeds can hear the sound of rain, according to a new study. MIT calls it “the first direct evidence that plant seeds and seedlings can sense sounds in nature”. Perhaps surprisingly, the effects reported in this new study are not as radical as they may appear.

Playing music to your plants may sound eccentric, but a few previous studies have found it has some effect. For example, a 2024 study found bok choi grew better to classical music but less well to rock and roll. Nor is this an isolated phenomenon. Sound can have a range of effects on plant behaviour.

For example, some flowers use the pitch of an insect’s buzz to determine whether they will release their pollen. Both arabidopsis (thale cress) and tobacco plants produce higher levels of toxins, such as nicotine, in response to the sound of caterpillars chewing on neighbouring plants. There have also been reports that notes from a synthesiser can increase seed germination and seedling growth in mung beans, cucumber and rice.

Many people think of plants as nice-looking greens. Essential for clean air, yes, but simple organisms. A step change in research is shaking up the way scientists think about plants: they are far more complex and more like us than you might imagine. This blossoming field of science is too delightful to do it justice in one or two stories.
This article is part of a series, Plant Curious, exploring scientific studies that challenge the way you view plantlife.

In contrast to previous experiments using electronic tones from a speaker, the MIT researchers instead tested the effect of a natural sound upon rice germination: the fall of rain. Rice can grow in soil or under water, and the researchers started by measuring the sound made by raindrops falling onto shallow puddles similar to the paddies they sowed seed in. The volume of sound waves created by drops landing on water was incredibly loud, equivalent to someone shouting straight into your ear, but mostly at frequencies too low or too high for a human to hear.

They then poured simulated rain on some of the pools containing rice and compared their rate of sprouting with seeds in still water. They found that although water droplets imitating light rain had little effect, heavier rain increased germination, and the heaviest by more than 30%.

They also picked up on an important clue from a previous study about how the rice might be detecting the sound. A 2002 study found that mutant arabidopsis plants which can’t make starch didn’t respond to vibration in the same way that normal arabidopsis do.

Sound waves are just vibrating energy travelling through a gas, liquid or solid that make objects, such as the eardrum membranes we use to hear, shake as they pass. Sound is one way we detect vibrations. The MIT researchers theorised that perhaps plants needed to be able to make starch to detect sound.

This drew their attention to structures called statoliths, from the Greek for “standing stone”. Plant cells that can detect gravity each contain several statoliths filled with highly dense starch which sink through the cell. As they fall, the statoliths brush against other structures in the cell and come to rest pressing on its bottom, telling the plant which way is down.

To test their theory, the researchers modelled the effect of the recorded sound upon statoliths in the rice seeds. They found that the rain sounds could make the statoliths bounce up from the bottom of the cell like beads on a drum. Light rain would have little effect, but as the rain sound got heavier the statoliths jumped higher and faster, matching the stimulation of germination.

It also seemed that the layer of statoliths in the bottom of the cell would behave almost like a liquid, similar to the balls in a children’s ball pit, and that the sound energy would stir this “liquid” and help spread chemical messages to the rest of the plant.

The mutant arabidopsis from the previous study probably couldn’t sense vibrations because they can’t make the starch that their statoliths need to work. This suggests that that statoliths may be one way that plants “hear”.

Although there is now little doubt among scientists that plants can detect and respond to sounds, is this really hearing or is a mind needed to perceive the signal? Plants don’t have a nervous system and centralised brain like humans and most other animals. There has, however, been a lively debate amongst scientists about whether plants demonstrate some type of intelligence or not.

Observations of plant behaviour that appears intelligent include a 2017 study in which pea roots seemed to follow the sound of water through a simple maze, and 2016 research that claimed pea shoots learned that they would find light if they followed the direction of wind from a fan.

Scientists have observed electrical signals in plants of a similar type to those in our nerves, even if they are not carried by specialised structures like our nervous system. In many cases we don’t know what they do, but this may be because plants often respond in ways that aren’t obvious to us.

For example, electrical signals are used to trigger Venus flytraps to close and then crush their prey. They are also used in Mimosa pudica (also known as shyplants) which rapidly close their leaves when touched. Perhaps a more delocalised type of intelligence is possible.

And there may be other factors at play. Hearing may require an organism that is conscious to sound. There are many definitions of consciousness. But mother and daughter scientists Lynn Margulis and Dorian Sagan have argued that at its most fundamental, consciousness is simply an awareness of the world outside the organism. If so, this is surely something that all species must possess if they are to respond to their environment and survive, even if it varies in complexity and nature.

Maybe the world of a rice seedling is too different to ours for us to understand, but it may not be too much of a stretch to say that they hear the sound or rain.

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