Stuck in a bad relationship? Spot the warning signs with a 'red flag radar'
The 'Red Flag Radar: Relationship Self-Assessment', a free guide developed by Online Psychologists Australia, was released in June to help people recognise negative relationship patterns.
"If you've ever found yourself googling questions like, 'Am I being manipulated?', 'Is my relationship toxic, or just intense?', 'Why is it so hard to leave?'...you're not alone," the guide said.
"So many people quietly search for answers, trying to make sense of pain they can't always name.
"While Google can give definitions, not all the answers are online. Sometimes the truth reveals itself only when you pause, reflect, and honestly listen to your own inner voice."
Sarah Richardson, the CEO of Online Psychologists Australia's parent company, Healthbright, said the guide takes readers through the warning signs of controlling, critical and gaslighting behaviours.
She said it also provided resources for planning a safe exit from the relationship.
Around one in five Australians have reported experiencing physical, sexual, family or domestic violence since the age of 15, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Personal Safety Survey 2021-2022.
Recent crime data from NSW showed that domestic violence and sexual assaults were surging in regional areas, with some parts recording a spike of up to 24 per cent over two years.
Despite the scale of the issue, reporting remains low, with less than 40 per cent of victims seeking advice or support, according to the Red Flag Radar guide.
This was due, in part, to "a little-understood psychological response" known as trauma bonding, where victims form deep emotional attachments to their abusers, the guide said.
"When you are bonded through a trauma, it's because someone has criticised you, it's because someone is being manipulative towards you, and you don't really know how to get away from that person," Ms Richardson said.
"So you are bonded to them through the trauma that they are creating."
The behaviour was often followed by "regret and affection" from the partner.
It may be very difficult for victims to identify, and even harder to escape, she said.
"The signs of trauma bonding and toxic dynamics aren't always obvious, especially when love, fear, and hope are tangled together," the guide said.
"Healing begins when you stop looking for permission to trust your instincts and start honouring what you already feel."
Support is available for those who may be distressed:
Spotting signs of manipulation, coercive control and trauma bonding in relationships has become a little easier with the development of a new therapy platform.
The 'Red Flag Radar: Relationship Self-Assessment', a free guide developed by Online Psychologists Australia, was released in June to help people recognise negative relationship patterns.
"If you've ever found yourself googling questions like, 'Am I being manipulated?', 'Is my relationship toxic, or just intense?', 'Why is it so hard to leave?'...you're not alone," the guide said.
"So many people quietly search for answers, trying to make sense of pain they can't always name.
"While Google can give definitions, not all the answers are online. Sometimes the truth reveals itself only when you pause, reflect, and honestly listen to your own inner voice."
Sarah Richardson, the CEO of Online Psychologists Australia's parent company, Healthbright, said the guide takes readers through the warning signs of controlling, critical and gaslighting behaviours.
She said it also provided resources for planning a safe exit from the relationship.
Around one in five Australians have reported experiencing physical, sexual, family or domestic violence since the age of 15, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Personal Safety Survey 2021-2022.
Recent crime data from NSW showed that domestic violence and sexual assaults were surging in regional areas, with some parts recording a spike of up to 24 per cent over two years.
Despite the scale of the issue, reporting remains low, with less than 40 per cent of victims seeking advice or support, according to the Red Flag Radar guide.
This was due, in part, to "a little-understood psychological response" known as trauma bonding, where victims form deep emotional attachments to their abusers, the guide said.
"When you are bonded through a trauma, it's because someone has criticised you, it's because someone is being manipulative towards you, and you don't really know how to get away from that person," Ms Richardson said.
"So you are bonded to them through the trauma that they are creating."
The behaviour was often followed by "regret and affection" from the partner.
It may be very difficult for victims to identify, and even harder to escape, she said.
"The signs of trauma bonding and toxic dynamics aren't always obvious, especially when love, fear, and hope are tangled together," the guide said.
"Healing begins when you stop looking for permission to trust your instincts and start honouring what you already feel."
Support is available for those who may be distressed:
Spotting signs of manipulation, coercive control and trauma bonding in relationships has become a little easier with the development of a new therapy platform.
The 'Red Flag Radar: Relationship Self-Assessment', a free guide developed by Online Psychologists Australia, was released in June to help people recognise negative relationship patterns.
"If you've ever found yourself googling questions like, 'Am I being manipulated?', 'Is my relationship toxic, or just intense?', 'Why is it so hard to leave?'...you're not alone," the guide said.
"So many people quietly search for answers, trying to make sense of pain they can't always name.
"While Google can give definitions, not all the answers are online. Sometimes the truth reveals itself only when you pause, reflect, and honestly listen to your own inner voice."
Sarah Richardson, the CEO of Online Psychologists Australia's parent company, Healthbright, said the guide takes readers through the warning signs of controlling, critical and gaslighting behaviours.
She said it also provided resources for planning a safe exit from the relationship.
Around one in five Australians have reported experiencing physical, sexual, family or domestic violence since the age of 15, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Personal Safety Survey 2021-2022.
Recent crime data from NSW showed that domestic violence and sexual assaults were surging in regional areas, with some parts recording a spike of up to 24 per cent over two years.
Despite the scale of the issue, reporting remains low, with less than 40 per cent of victims seeking advice or support, according to the Red Flag Radar guide.
This was due, in part, to "a little-understood psychological response" known as trauma bonding, where victims form deep emotional attachments to their abusers, the guide said.
"When you are bonded through a trauma, it's because someone has criticised you, it's because someone is being manipulative towards you, and you don't really know how to get away from that person," Ms Richardson said.
"So you are bonded to them through the trauma that they are creating."
The behaviour was often followed by "regret and affection" from the partner.
It may be very difficult for victims to identify, and even harder to escape, she said.
"The signs of trauma bonding and toxic dynamics aren't always obvious, especially when love, fear, and hope are tangled together," the guide said.
"Healing begins when you stop looking for permission to trust your instincts and start honouring what you already feel."
Support is available for those who may be distressed:
Spotting signs of manipulation, coercive control and trauma bonding in relationships has become a little easier with the development of a new therapy platform.
The 'Red Flag Radar: Relationship Self-Assessment', a free guide developed by Online Psychologists Australia, was released in June to help people recognise negative relationship patterns.
"If you've ever found yourself googling questions like, 'Am I being manipulated?', 'Is my relationship toxic, or just intense?', 'Why is it so hard to leave?'...you're not alone," the guide said.
"So many people quietly search for answers, trying to make sense of pain they can't always name.
"While Google can give definitions, not all the answers are online. Sometimes the truth reveals itself only when you pause, reflect, and honestly listen to your own inner voice."
Sarah Richardson, the CEO of Online Psychologists Australia's parent company, Healthbright, said the guide takes readers through the warning signs of controlling, critical and gaslighting behaviours.
She said it also provided resources for planning a safe exit from the relationship.
Around one in five Australians have reported experiencing physical, sexual, family or domestic violence since the age of 15, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Personal Safety Survey 2021-2022.
Recent crime data from NSW showed that domestic violence and sexual assaults were surging in regional areas, with some parts recording a spike of up to 24 per cent over two years.
Despite the scale of the issue, reporting remains low, with less than 40 per cent of victims seeking advice or support, according to the Red Flag Radar guide.
This was due, in part, to "a little-understood psychological response" known as trauma bonding, where victims form deep emotional attachments to their abusers, the guide said.
"When you are bonded through a trauma, it's because someone has criticised you, it's because someone is being manipulative towards you, and you don't really know how to get away from that person," Ms Richardson said.
"So you are bonded to them through the trauma that they are creating."
The behaviour was often followed by "regret and affection" from the partner.
It may be very difficult for victims to identify, and even harder to escape, she said.
"The signs of trauma bonding and toxic dynamics aren't always obvious, especially when love, fear, and hope are tangled together," the guide said.
"Healing begins when you stop looking for permission to trust your instincts and start honouring what you already feel."
Support is available for those who may be distressed:
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The Advertiser
an hour ago
- The Advertiser
Emergency departments are bursting. Why don't we use the workforce who can prevent this?
We cannot continue to delude ourselves: the health and health care of our population is less than it could and should be. There are alarming rates of obesity and diabetes; faltering immunisation rates; great difficulty in the regions accessing a doctor's appointment, even for urgent matters; nurses and doctors labouring under increasing emergency department presentations; and bed-block for want of community placement for the elderly and those with disabilities. The highly visible issues of long waiting times and staff shortages in the hospital system are linked to less visible failures at the prevention and primary care end of the healthcare system. The current model of healthcare is not working for Australians, and despite governments at federal and state level giving strong public commitments to prioritising primary healthcare, there is yet to be a harnessing of the skill and expertise of our nursing profession - a profession making up 54 per cent of the health workforce. While pharmacists have successfully lobbied for greater access to service provision, nurses are still perceived to be an adjunct to doctors, rather than a collegial health provider in their own right. Is it that the public have a long-outdated understanding of nursing and the capability of the modern nurse? Is it that medicine/doctors have so successfully captured the centre ground? Or both? I recently directed a project for renewing the global definitions of a nurse and nursing for the International Council of Nurses (ICN). While the old definitions tended to focus narrowly on hospital care and jobs, the renewed definitions have a greater emphasis on the nurse as having a much broader role in healthy communities and illness prevention. They emphasise the scientific knowledge, ethical standards, therapeutic relationships and compassion that underpins all nursing, but go further to explain the role nurses play in shaping policy, and in healthcare innovation, in disaster response, and in population health. The issue is that patients are unable to reap the benefits of the advanced skills and knowledge of nurse because of funding roadblocks and antiquated regulations that mean the structure of the primary health care system is stuck in the past. So, what needs to be done? We need to provide better access and payment systems for nurses to deliver the holistic care of patients for which they are educated - to manage chronic disease; to ensure immunisations are current; to provide health checks and to provide aged care that maximises capability. We need to reduce our reliance on fee-for-service medicine - Medicare Benefits Schedule rebates - and fund primary healthcare differently to enable patients to access nurses. Nurses must be better supported to help people to manage their conditions, such as diabetes, or chronic wounds, working with GPs and specialists both directly and via the increasingly digital patient management options available. We need to look at regulations that hinder nurses from delivering safe and quality care in their communities. This very year, we have seen the government insist that nurse practitioners providing telehealth care to remote and marginalised communities be subject to the same rules as general practitioners, many of whom would be working in more stable urban communities. Nurse practitioner-led practice is further marginalised by the rule that "MyMedicare" funding can only be accessed if the program is led by a GP. The $8.5-billion injection to Medicare that preceded this year's election campaign was a massive injection into primary health care, to be sure. But increasing bulk billing rates is not going to address the issues of poorly managed chronic disease in our community, which in turn leads to acute exacerbations of illnesses that themselves lead to unplanned visits to hospital emergency departments. We may well need targeted investment in hospitals, but if we prioritise that over the complex but necessary, innovation that is needed to improve our primary healthcare system, we are effectively giving up on the support our communities need to live their lives as healthily and as well as possible. This is not professional posturing, as even Professor Fiona Stanley recently said, "the last thing we need is more doctors and more hospitals. We need to invest in social supports, early intervention, community-led programs." These are areas for which nurses are educated and eager to enhance. Far from replacing general practice, this is about working across multidisciplinary teams to enhance and complement existing primary healthcare services. Nor is it about fragmentation of care. It is not possible to fragment care that doesn't exist. It is about strengthening nursing's presence within primary healthcare practices and having multidisciplinary caring arrangements, including with nurse-led clinics in primary health networks. It is about giving access to care where little to no care exists and delivering care where the people live. We nurses have known and written and argued for many years about who ought to be at the centre of healthcare. It should not be a health professional or any one profession: it must be about people-centred care, which is a cornerstone of the new nursing definitions. At the moment, it is not happening, and individuals, communities and our hospitals are paying the price. It's time for change, and nurses must be considered an important part of the effort. We cannot continue to delude ourselves: the health and health care of our population is less than it could and should be. There are alarming rates of obesity and diabetes; faltering immunisation rates; great difficulty in the regions accessing a doctor's appointment, even for urgent matters; nurses and doctors labouring under increasing emergency department presentations; and bed-block for want of community placement for the elderly and those with disabilities. The highly visible issues of long waiting times and staff shortages in the hospital system are linked to less visible failures at the prevention and primary care end of the healthcare system. The current model of healthcare is not working for Australians, and despite governments at federal and state level giving strong public commitments to prioritising primary healthcare, there is yet to be a harnessing of the skill and expertise of our nursing profession - a profession making up 54 per cent of the health workforce. While pharmacists have successfully lobbied for greater access to service provision, nurses are still perceived to be an adjunct to doctors, rather than a collegial health provider in their own right. Is it that the public have a long-outdated understanding of nursing and the capability of the modern nurse? Is it that medicine/doctors have so successfully captured the centre ground? Or both? I recently directed a project for renewing the global definitions of a nurse and nursing for the International Council of Nurses (ICN). While the old definitions tended to focus narrowly on hospital care and jobs, the renewed definitions have a greater emphasis on the nurse as having a much broader role in healthy communities and illness prevention. They emphasise the scientific knowledge, ethical standards, therapeutic relationships and compassion that underpins all nursing, but go further to explain the role nurses play in shaping policy, and in healthcare innovation, in disaster response, and in population health. The issue is that patients are unable to reap the benefits of the advanced skills and knowledge of nurse because of funding roadblocks and antiquated regulations that mean the structure of the primary health care system is stuck in the past. So, what needs to be done? We need to provide better access and payment systems for nurses to deliver the holistic care of patients for which they are educated - to manage chronic disease; to ensure immunisations are current; to provide health checks and to provide aged care that maximises capability. We need to reduce our reliance on fee-for-service medicine - Medicare Benefits Schedule rebates - and fund primary healthcare differently to enable patients to access nurses. Nurses must be better supported to help people to manage their conditions, such as diabetes, or chronic wounds, working with GPs and specialists both directly and via the increasingly digital patient management options available. We need to look at regulations that hinder nurses from delivering safe and quality care in their communities. This very year, we have seen the government insist that nurse practitioners providing telehealth care to remote and marginalised communities be subject to the same rules as general practitioners, many of whom would be working in more stable urban communities. Nurse practitioner-led practice is further marginalised by the rule that "MyMedicare" funding can only be accessed if the program is led by a GP. The $8.5-billion injection to Medicare that preceded this year's election campaign was a massive injection into primary health care, to be sure. But increasing bulk billing rates is not going to address the issues of poorly managed chronic disease in our community, which in turn leads to acute exacerbations of illnesses that themselves lead to unplanned visits to hospital emergency departments. We may well need targeted investment in hospitals, but if we prioritise that over the complex but necessary, innovation that is needed to improve our primary healthcare system, we are effectively giving up on the support our communities need to live their lives as healthily and as well as possible. This is not professional posturing, as even Professor Fiona Stanley recently said, "the last thing we need is more doctors and more hospitals. We need to invest in social supports, early intervention, community-led programs." These are areas for which nurses are educated and eager to enhance. Far from replacing general practice, this is about working across multidisciplinary teams to enhance and complement existing primary healthcare services. Nor is it about fragmentation of care. It is not possible to fragment care that doesn't exist. It is about strengthening nursing's presence within primary healthcare practices and having multidisciplinary caring arrangements, including with nurse-led clinics in primary health networks. It is about giving access to care where little to no care exists and delivering care where the people live. We nurses have known and written and argued for many years about who ought to be at the centre of healthcare. It should not be a health professional or any one profession: it must be about people-centred care, which is a cornerstone of the new nursing definitions. At the moment, it is not happening, and individuals, communities and our hospitals are paying the price. It's time for change, and nurses must be considered an important part of the effort. We cannot continue to delude ourselves: the health and health care of our population is less than it could and should be. There are alarming rates of obesity and diabetes; faltering immunisation rates; great difficulty in the regions accessing a doctor's appointment, even for urgent matters; nurses and doctors labouring under increasing emergency department presentations; and bed-block for want of community placement for the elderly and those with disabilities. The highly visible issues of long waiting times and staff shortages in the hospital system are linked to less visible failures at the prevention and primary care end of the healthcare system. The current model of healthcare is not working for Australians, and despite governments at federal and state level giving strong public commitments to prioritising primary healthcare, there is yet to be a harnessing of the skill and expertise of our nursing profession - a profession making up 54 per cent of the health workforce. While pharmacists have successfully lobbied for greater access to service provision, nurses are still perceived to be an adjunct to doctors, rather than a collegial health provider in their own right. Is it that the public have a long-outdated understanding of nursing and the capability of the modern nurse? Is it that medicine/doctors have so successfully captured the centre ground? Or both? I recently directed a project for renewing the global definitions of a nurse and nursing for the International Council of Nurses (ICN). While the old definitions tended to focus narrowly on hospital care and jobs, the renewed definitions have a greater emphasis on the nurse as having a much broader role in healthy communities and illness prevention. They emphasise the scientific knowledge, ethical standards, therapeutic relationships and compassion that underpins all nursing, but go further to explain the role nurses play in shaping policy, and in healthcare innovation, in disaster response, and in population health. The issue is that patients are unable to reap the benefits of the advanced skills and knowledge of nurse because of funding roadblocks and antiquated regulations that mean the structure of the primary health care system is stuck in the past. So, what needs to be done? We need to provide better access and payment systems for nurses to deliver the holistic care of patients for which they are educated - to manage chronic disease; to ensure immunisations are current; to provide health checks and to provide aged care that maximises capability. We need to reduce our reliance on fee-for-service medicine - Medicare Benefits Schedule rebates - and fund primary healthcare differently to enable patients to access nurses. Nurses must be better supported to help people to manage their conditions, such as diabetes, or chronic wounds, working with GPs and specialists both directly and via the increasingly digital patient management options available. We need to look at regulations that hinder nurses from delivering safe and quality care in their communities. This very year, we have seen the government insist that nurse practitioners providing telehealth care to remote and marginalised communities be subject to the same rules as general practitioners, many of whom would be working in more stable urban communities. Nurse practitioner-led practice is further marginalised by the rule that "MyMedicare" funding can only be accessed if the program is led by a GP. The $8.5-billion injection to Medicare that preceded this year's election campaign was a massive injection into primary health care, to be sure. But increasing bulk billing rates is not going to address the issues of poorly managed chronic disease in our community, which in turn leads to acute exacerbations of illnesses that themselves lead to unplanned visits to hospital emergency departments. We may well need targeted investment in hospitals, but if we prioritise that over the complex but necessary, innovation that is needed to improve our primary healthcare system, we are effectively giving up on the support our communities need to live their lives as healthily and as well as possible. This is not professional posturing, as even Professor Fiona Stanley recently said, "the last thing we need is more doctors and more hospitals. We need to invest in social supports, early intervention, community-led programs." These are areas for which nurses are educated and eager to enhance. Far from replacing general practice, this is about working across multidisciplinary teams to enhance and complement existing primary healthcare services. Nor is it about fragmentation of care. It is not possible to fragment care that doesn't exist. It is about strengthening nursing's presence within primary healthcare practices and having multidisciplinary caring arrangements, including with nurse-led clinics in primary health networks. It is about giving access to care where little to no care exists and delivering care where the people live. We nurses have known and written and argued for many years about who ought to be at the centre of healthcare. It should not be a health professional or any one profession: it must be about people-centred care, which is a cornerstone of the new nursing definitions. At the moment, it is not happening, and individuals, communities and our hospitals are paying the price. It's time for change, and nurses must be considered an important part of the effort. We cannot continue to delude ourselves: the health and health care of our population is less than it could and should be. There are alarming rates of obesity and diabetes; faltering immunisation rates; great difficulty in the regions accessing a doctor's appointment, even for urgent matters; nurses and doctors labouring under increasing emergency department presentations; and bed-block for want of community placement for the elderly and those with disabilities. The highly visible issues of long waiting times and staff shortages in the hospital system are linked to less visible failures at the prevention and primary care end of the healthcare system. The current model of healthcare is not working for Australians, and despite governments at federal and state level giving strong public commitments to prioritising primary healthcare, there is yet to be a harnessing of the skill and expertise of our nursing profession - a profession making up 54 per cent of the health workforce. While pharmacists have successfully lobbied for greater access to service provision, nurses are still perceived to be an adjunct to doctors, rather than a collegial health provider in their own right. Is it that the public have a long-outdated understanding of nursing and the capability of the modern nurse? Is it that medicine/doctors have so successfully captured the centre ground? Or both? I recently directed a project for renewing the global definitions of a nurse and nursing for the International Council of Nurses (ICN). While the old definitions tended to focus narrowly on hospital care and jobs, the renewed definitions have a greater emphasis on the nurse as having a much broader role in healthy communities and illness prevention. They emphasise the scientific knowledge, ethical standards, therapeutic relationships and compassion that underpins all nursing, but go further to explain the role nurses play in shaping policy, and in healthcare innovation, in disaster response, and in population health. The issue is that patients are unable to reap the benefits of the advanced skills and knowledge of nurse because of funding roadblocks and antiquated regulations that mean the structure of the primary health care system is stuck in the past. So, what needs to be done? We need to provide better access and payment systems for nurses to deliver the holistic care of patients for which they are educated - to manage chronic disease; to ensure immunisations are current; to provide health checks and to provide aged care that maximises capability. We need to reduce our reliance on fee-for-service medicine - Medicare Benefits Schedule rebates - and fund primary healthcare differently to enable patients to access nurses. Nurses must be better supported to help people to manage their conditions, such as diabetes, or chronic wounds, working with GPs and specialists both directly and via the increasingly digital patient management options available. We need to look at regulations that hinder nurses from delivering safe and quality care in their communities. This very year, we have seen the government insist that nurse practitioners providing telehealth care to remote and marginalised communities be subject to the same rules as general practitioners, many of whom would be working in more stable urban communities. Nurse practitioner-led practice is further marginalised by the rule that "MyMedicare" funding can only be accessed if the program is led by a GP. The $8.5-billion injection to Medicare that preceded this year's election campaign was a massive injection into primary health care, to be sure. But increasing bulk billing rates is not going to address the issues of poorly managed chronic disease in our community, which in turn leads to acute exacerbations of illnesses that themselves lead to unplanned visits to hospital emergency departments. We may well need targeted investment in hospitals, but if we prioritise that over the complex but necessary, innovation that is needed to improve our primary healthcare system, we are effectively giving up on the support our communities need to live their lives as healthily and as well as possible. This is not professional posturing, as even Professor Fiona Stanley recently said, "the last thing we need is more doctors and more hospitals. We need to invest in social supports, early intervention, community-led programs." These are areas for which nurses are educated and eager to enhance. Far from replacing general practice, this is about working across multidisciplinary teams to enhance and complement existing primary healthcare services. Nor is it about fragmentation of care. It is not possible to fragment care that doesn't exist. It is about strengthening nursing's presence within primary healthcare practices and having multidisciplinary caring arrangements, including with nurse-led clinics in primary health networks. It is about giving access to care where little to no care exists and delivering care where the people live. We nurses have known and written and argued for many years about who ought to be at the centre of healthcare. It should not be a health professional or any one profession: it must be about people-centred care, which is a cornerstone of the new nursing definitions. At the moment, it is not happening, and individuals, communities and our hospitals are paying the price. It's time for change, and nurses must be considered an important part of the effort.
The Advertiser
17 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Vaping attitudes changing, but addiction lingers for some
Ben, not his real name, did not think that trying a vape as a teenager would lead to years of fighting a nicotine addiction. "I wish I'd never had nicotine, it's like a door and once you open it, you can't close it. It's always in the back of your mind," Ben, now aged 20, said. The university student said he was never warned about the health impacts of e-cigarettes, which Cancer Council ACT says include delayed brain development, seizures, poisoning, insomnia and mood changes. University of Sydney research, funded by Cancer Council, said while vaping increased rapidly among young people from 2019, that trend may be slowing or even reversing. The federal government banned the import of disposable vapes in 2024. It is only legal to buy low-dose nicotine e-cigarettes from a pharmacy. Cancer Council ACT said, "data from the ACT General Health Survey tells us that around two-thirds of young people have tried vaping, but over one in three are either not taking it up, or have already quit". While vapes are still sold illegally by many Canberra shopfronts, including tobacconists, bottle shops, convenience stores, petrol stations and news agencies, their reputation among young people may be changing. "Vapes have a bad rep," Ben said. "There's a big stereotype on people who use vapes that you're weird or that you're childish." Generation Vape study lead author Associate Professor Becky Freeman said most young Australians have never used nicotine products. "We're increasingly hearing young people saying that they're embarrassed that they vape, they don't want to be vaping, and the realities of addiction are beginning to rear their heads," Dr Freeman said. Health authorities are concerned that e-cigarettes are a gateway to tobacco. Ben said people switch from vapes to cigarettes because they have to smoke them less frequently. A July 2025 Generation Vape report said fewer Australian teens, aged 14 to 17, were smoking. Only 6 per cent had tried a cigarette. Now Ben and his mates have ditched vapes in favour of nicotine pouches, also referred to as Zyns (a popular brand) or upperdeckies. They are similar to snus, but do not contain tobacco and come in flavours like cherry, mint, citrus, coffee and cola. "It was a lot better for me because there was no smoke involved, it was just nicotine," Ben said. "It's the cheaper and safest way." Cancer Council said 950 per cent more pouches were seized at the Australian border in 2023 than in the previous two years. "Nicotine pouches usually contain very high levels of nicotine. Alongside damage to the mouth, they are mostly linked to the symptoms of excessive nicotine use," Cancer Council ACT said. "For young people, nicotine changes the way the brain matures, and can affect learning, memory, and attention long term, as well as making young people more susceptible to other drugs of addiction later in life." Dr Freeman claimed the pouches were another marketing ploy by Big Tobacco to addict young people. "There is no evidence that pouches are an effective way to quit smoking or vaping. We do have lots of other evidence-based ways to help people quit," she said. Ben said he has about eight 20mg pouches a day, which is eight times stronger than the strongest vape bought legally and without a prescription. Only 2 per cent of 14 to 17-year-olds surveyed for the latest Generation Vape report said they had tried a pouch. Ben, who graduated in 2023, wishes the private high school he attended in the ACT had taught him that vaping, not just smoking cigarettes, was unhealthy. "They didn't advocate against it," he said. "They just said, 'If you do it and we catch you, you're f---ed, don't do it at school'. There was no message about health." Cancer Council ACT said their research suggested smoking and vaping education was a bigger focus for Canberra schools in 2025 than in 2023. The Association of Independent Schools of the ACT said education around alcohol and other drugs is a key part of the Australian curriculum, which all schools follow. Ben, not his real name, did not think that trying a vape as a teenager would lead to years of fighting a nicotine addiction. "I wish I'd never had nicotine, it's like a door and once you open it, you can't close it. It's always in the back of your mind," Ben, now aged 20, said. The university student said he was never warned about the health impacts of e-cigarettes, which Cancer Council ACT says include delayed brain development, seizures, poisoning, insomnia and mood changes. University of Sydney research, funded by Cancer Council, said while vaping increased rapidly among young people from 2019, that trend may be slowing or even reversing. The federal government banned the import of disposable vapes in 2024. It is only legal to buy low-dose nicotine e-cigarettes from a pharmacy. Cancer Council ACT said, "data from the ACT General Health Survey tells us that around two-thirds of young people have tried vaping, but over one in three are either not taking it up, or have already quit". While vapes are still sold illegally by many Canberra shopfronts, including tobacconists, bottle shops, convenience stores, petrol stations and news agencies, their reputation among young people may be changing. "Vapes have a bad rep," Ben said. "There's a big stereotype on people who use vapes that you're weird or that you're childish." Generation Vape study lead author Associate Professor Becky Freeman said most young Australians have never used nicotine products. "We're increasingly hearing young people saying that they're embarrassed that they vape, they don't want to be vaping, and the realities of addiction are beginning to rear their heads," Dr Freeman said. Health authorities are concerned that e-cigarettes are a gateway to tobacco. Ben said people switch from vapes to cigarettes because they have to smoke them less frequently. A July 2025 Generation Vape report said fewer Australian teens, aged 14 to 17, were smoking. Only 6 per cent had tried a cigarette. Now Ben and his mates have ditched vapes in favour of nicotine pouches, also referred to as Zyns (a popular brand) or upperdeckies. They are similar to snus, but do not contain tobacco and come in flavours like cherry, mint, citrus, coffee and cola. "It was a lot better for me because there was no smoke involved, it was just nicotine," Ben said. "It's the cheaper and safest way." Cancer Council said 950 per cent more pouches were seized at the Australian border in 2023 than in the previous two years. "Nicotine pouches usually contain very high levels of nicotine. Alongside damage to the mouth, they are mostly linked to the symptoms of excessive nicotine use," Cancer Council ACT said. "For young people, nicotine changes the way the brain matures, and can affect learning, memory, and attention long term, as well as making young people more susceptible to other drugs of addiction later in life." Dr Freeman claimed the pouches were another marketing ploy by Big Tobacco to addict young people. "There is no evidence that pouches are an effective way to quit smoking or vaping. We do have lots of other evidence-based ways to help people quit," she said. Ben said he has about eight 20mg pouches a day, which is eight times stronger than the strongest vape bought legally and without a prescription. Only 2 per cent of 14 to 17-year-olds surveyed for the latest Generation Vape report said they had tried a pouch. Ben, who graduated in 2023, wishes the private high school he attended in the ACT had taught him that vaping, not just smoking cigarettes, was unhealthy. "They didn't advocate against it," he said. "They just said, 'If you do it and we catch you, you're f---ed, don't do it at school'. There was no message about health." Cancer Council ACT said their research suggested smoking and vaping education was a bigger focus for Canberra schools in 2025 than in 2023. The Association of Independent Schools of the ACT said education around alcohol and other drugs is a key part of the Australian curriculum, which all schools follow. Ben, not his real name, did not think that trying a vape as a teenager would lead to years of fighting a nicotine addiction. "I wish I'd never had nicotine, it's like a door and once you open it, you can't close it. It's always in the back of your mind," Ben, now aged 20, said. The university student said he was never warned about the health impacts of e-cigarettes, which Cancer Council ACT says include delayed brain development, seizures, poisoning, insomnia and mood changes. University of Sydney research, funded by Cancer Council, said while vaping increased rapidly among young people from 2019, that trend may be slowing or even reversing. The federal government banned the import of disposable vapes in 2024. It is only legal to buy low-dose nicotine e-cigarettes from a pharmacy. Cancer Council ACT said, "data from the ACT General Health Survey tells us that around two-thirds of young people have tried vaping, but over one in three are either not taking it up, or have already quit". While vapes are still sold illegally by many Canberra shopfronts, including tobacconists, bottle shops, convenience stores, petrol stations and news agencies, their reputation among young people may be changing. "Vapes have a bad rep," Ben said. "There's a big stereotype on people who use vapes that you're weird or that you're childish." Generation Vape study lead author Associate Professor Becky Freeman said most young Australians have never used nicotine products. "We're increasingly hearing young people saying that they're embarrassed that they vape, they don't want to be vaping, and the realities of addiction are beginning to rear their heads," Dr Freeman said. Health authorities are concerned that e-cigarettes are a gateway to tobacco. Ben said people switch from vapes to cigarettes because they have to smoke them less frequently. A July 2025 Generation Vape report said fewer Australian teens, aged 14 to 17, were smoking. Only 6 per cent had tried a cigarette. Now Ben and his mates have ditched vapes in favour of nicotine pouches, also referred to as Zyns (a popular brand) or upperdeckies. They are similar to snus, but do not contain tobacco and come in flavours like cherry, mint, citrus, coffee and cola. "It was a lot better for me because there was no smoke involved, it was just nicotine," Ben said. "It's the cheaper and safest way." Cancer Council said 950 per cent more pouches were seized at the Australian border in 2023 than in the previous two years. "Nicotine pouches usually contain very high levels of nicotine. Alongside damage to the mouth, they are mostly linked to the symptoms of excessive nicotine use," Cancer Council ACT said. "For young people, nicotine changes the way the brain matures, and can affect learning, memory, and attention long term, as well as making young people more susceptible to other drugs of addiction later in life." Dr Freeman claimed the pouches were another marketing ploy by Big Tobacco to addict young people. "There is no evidence that pouches are an effective way to quit smoking or vaping. We do have lots of other evidence-based ways to help people quit," she said. Ben said he has about eight 20mg pouches a day, which is eight times stronger than the strongest vape bought legally and without a prescription. Only 2 per cent of 14 to 17-year-olds surveyed for the latest Generation Vape report said they had tried a pouch. Ben, who graduated in 2023, wishes the private high school he attended in the ACT had taught him that vaping, not just smoking cigarettes, was unhealthy. "They didn't advocate against it," he said. "They just said, 'If you do it and we catch you, you're f---ed, don't do it at school'. There was no message about health." Cancer Council ACT said their research suggested smoking and vaping education was a bigger focus for Canberra schools in 2025 than in 2023. The Association of Independent Schools of the ACT said education around alcohol and other drugs is a key part of the Australian curriculum, which all schools follow. Ben, not his real name, did not think that trying a vape as a teenager would lead to years of fighting a nicotine addiction. "I wish I'd never had nicotine, it's like a door and once you open it, you can't close it. It's always in the back of your mind," Ben, now aged 20, said. The university student said he was never warned about the health impacts of e-cigarettes, which Cancer Council ACT says include delayed brain development, seizures, poisoning, insomnia and mood changes. University of Sydney research, funded by Cancer Council, said while vaping increased rapidly among young people from 2019, that trend may be slowing or even reversing. The federal government banned the import of disposable vapes in 2024. It is only legal to buy low-dose nicotine e-cigarettes from a pharmacy. Cancer Council ACT said, "data from the ACT General Health Survey tells us that around two-thirds of young people have tried vaping, but over one in three are either not taking it up, or have already quit". While vapes are still sold illegally by many Canberra shopfronts, including tobacconists, bottle shops, convenience stores, petrol stations and news agencies, their reputation among young people may be changing. "Vapes have a bad rep," Ben said. "There's a big stereotype on people who use vapes that you're weird or that you're childish." Generation Vape study lead author Associate Professor Becky Freeman said most young Australians have never used nicotine products. "We're increasingly hearing young people saying that they're embarrassed that they vape, they don't want to be vaping, and the realities of addiction are beginning to rear their heads," Dr Freeman said. Health authorities are concerned that e-cigarettes are a gateway to tobacco. Ben said people switch from vapes to cigarettes because they have to smoke them less frequently. A July 2025 Generation Vape report said fewer Australian teens, aged 14 to 17, were smoking. Only 6 per cent had tried a cigarette. Now Ben and his mates have ditched vapes in favour of nicotine pouches, also referred to as Zyns (a popular brand) or upperdeckies. They are similar to snus, but do not contain tobacco and come in flavours like cherry, mint, citrus, coffee and cola. "It was a lot better for me because there was no smoke involved, it was just nicotine," Ben said. "It's the cheaper and safest way." Cancer Council said 950 per cent more pouches were seized at the Australian border in 2023 than in the previous two years. "Nicotine pouches usually contain very high levels of nicotine. Alongside damage to the mouth, they are mostly linked to the symptoms of excessive nicotine use," Cancer Council ACT said. "For young people, nicotine changes the way the brain matures, and can affect learning, memory, and attention long term, as well as making young people more susceptible to other drugs of addiction later in life." Dr Freeman claimed the pouches were another marketing ploy by Big Tobacco to addict young people. "There is no evidence that pouches are an effective way to quit smoking or vaping. We do have lots of other evidence-based ways to help people quit," she said. Ben said he has about eight 20mg pouches a day, which is eight times stronger than the strongest vape bought legally and without a prescription. Only 2 per cent of 14 to 17-year-olds surveyed for the latest Generation Vape report said they had tried a pouch. Ben, who graduated in 2023, wishes the private high school he attended in the ACT had taught him that vaping, not just smoking cigarettes, was unhealthy. "They didn't advocate against it," he said. "They just said, 'If you do it and we catch you, you're f---ed, don't do it at school'. There was no message about health." Cancer Council ACT said their research suggested smoking and vaping education was a bigger focus for Canberra schools in 2025 than in 2023. The Association of Independent Schools of the ACT said education around alcohol and other drugs is a key part of the Australian curriculum, which all schools follow.
Perth Now
a day ago
- Perth Now
Expert reveals secrets to flawless sleep
A new report has revealed the extent of Australia's silent sleep epidemic, with one expert offering simple fixes for the nation's most common sleeping difficulties. The Great Aussie Wake-Up, commissioned by Holiday Inn Express, found that 91 per cent of Australians struggle to fall or stay asleep in a typical week, and 93 per cent regularly wake up too early. Sleep expert Olivia Arezzolo said the research showed the issue had progressed from a problem to a crisis. But she said three core controllable elements could be implemented to form the foundation for good sleep. 'When you look at the biomechanics of the circadian rhythm, there are key factors which control it,' she said. An increase in stress hormone cortisol is a common side effect of sleep problems. Supplied Credit: Supplied 'Light is one, eating is another, and temperature is another. Before adding the nice-to-haves, you need to get the essentials right first.' In terms of food, Ms Arezzolo stressed the importance of having breakfast and warned against all too common late night snacking. 'I think a really big factor which is often overlooked, is there's this massive growth in intermittent fasting,' she said. 'It's one of the biggest trends of 2025 and this is meaning that a lot of Gen Z, but also just overall Aussies, are skipping breakfast. 'The stat from the Holiday Inn research was that 76 per cent of Aussies are losing part of their morning routine and one in four are not eating breakfast. 'Breakfast is absolutely critical for circadian rhythm alignment. I'm sure you've heard that term with reference to light and temperature, but eating is also a regulator of the circadian rhythm. 'It essentially anchors the body clock. So in order to fall asleep with ease in the evening, we need to be having breakfast within the first hour of being awake.' Ms Arezzolo says missing the first meal of the day can set you up for sleep failure. Supplied Credit: Supplied Ms Arezzolo said you ideally want three hours in between your last meal of the day and bedtime. For coffee it was a minimum of eight hours. 'I have a 2pm absolute latest cut-off time (for coffee), but ideally, you want nothing after 12 o'clock, especially if you're struggling to sleep.' For light Ms Arezzolo recommended getting 20 minutes of light within 30 minutes of waking and staying away from blue light producing screens close to bedtime. 'Like eating, light is a factor controlling the circadian rhythm. 'Essentially, if you're exposed to blue light in the evening, then you have the suppression of melatonin, which is your key sleep hormone to fall and stay asleep. 'This is akin to having a coffee before bed. As soon as you have that blue light enter your eyes, you have the biological signals to remain alert and awake.' Another key finding of the report was an overreliance on the snooze button with more than half (52 per cent) of Australians hitting snooze every morning. Gen Z were among the worst offenders, with a massive 70 per cent regularly hitting the button – and one in ten tapping snooze at least 120 times a month. Sleep expert Olivia Arezzolo said light, food, temperature and exercise form the cornerstones of good sleep. Supplied Credit: Supplied 'When you're hitting the snooze button regularly, every time the alarm goes off, you get a spike in your stress hormone cortisol,' Ms Arezzolo said. 'Too much cortisol leads to chronic states of anxiety, burnout, having that 'wired but tired feeling', being unable to sleep, and particularly 3am wakings. 'You're essentially setting your nervous system up to be on overdrive from the moment you wake up simply by pressing the snooze button, not just once, but multiple times. So that one is definitely alarming. Pardon the pun.' Ms Arezzolo said in the course of her regular life, people are constantly asking her to fix their sleep however they tend to focus on alternative aids rather than focusing on the essentials. 'I'm like, 'okay, but tell me about your mornings and tell me about your evenings. What are you doing just before you're waking up and just before you're going to sleep? What are you doing just when you're waking up? Do you have the foundations right'? And nine times out of 10, they don't. 'You can't overlook these and then just pick and choose which sleep strategies you want to employ because you prefer that. It doesn't work like that. It's biology. 'Circadian rhythm is controlled by light, temperature and eating. So you have to get these things right.' Following the research, Holiday Inn are offering guests free hot breakfast across each of their locations.
