By Dr David Delvin

Well, the festive season is on us again. And most people - whatever their age are going to devote themselves to having a great time with their family and friends.

Obviously, this is very good. Nearly everyone benefits from the rest and relaxation and sheer fun which is associated with the various festivals that take place at this time of year. (Being a Celt, my favourite is New Year's Eve)

But there is a bit of a down side. As a doctor, I'm all too well aware that a heck of a lot of the population, particularly over 50s, find the party season all too much for them. Result: they become ill.

Why are the over 50s particularly vulnerable? It's because their physical resistance isn't quite what it was. They can't stand up to excesses in the same way as younger people can. And when I say 'excesses', I mean:

· Late nights
· Tiring Parties
· Family strains
· Too much of the wrong food
· Alcohol
· Smoking (yours or someone else's)

Lets look at these things one by one.

Click here to go back to the top of the page.

Late Nights: Over the Christmas / New Year holidays, people do of course tend to stay up much later than they do the rest of the year. For instance, at Hogmanay in Scotland half the population wont go to bed till about 2am. (Fortunately, next day is always a holiday!).

Now that's fine when you're 25. Your body has lots of physical reserves, and you can even go all night without sleep if you want to. But at 55 or 65, it's a different thing. You may be strong and fit, but your body doesn't have the same 'reservoir' of strength that once enabled you to boogy on through the early hours.

Also, your 'body clock' has become more set in it's ways than it used to be. Therefore, if you stay up much beyond midnight, your nervous system soon starts saying: 'Oy! It's time for bed!'

Now the odd late night at a party doesn't matter very much. But if you're over 50, it's a good idea to avoid having TOO MANY of them. And it's also a very good idea to make sure that you can 'sleep in' next morning!

So if you're going to a late-night party this winter, I'd suggest that when you finally fall into bed you should pull down the blinds, switch off the phone and resolve not to wake up before 11am.

Having a solid eight hours' sleep is an excellent way of protecting yourself against fatigue and stress. It also helps protect you against winter infections, like colds and coughs.

Click here to go back to the top of the page.

Tiring Parties: When I was young, I could go to three parties a day, and not turn a hair. It's not like that now!

Like most people over 50, I find that going to a party is quite tiring, even if they don't go on until late at night. Factors, which tend to make today's parties quite exhausting include:

Sheer tiredness in your legs! Today's social gathering tends to be 'all-standing' affairs. People move around the room with a glass in their hands, never taking the weight off their feet.

That's fine if you're 30, but no so good if you're 60, especially if the circulation in your calves isn't quite what it was. Remedy: if you go to a tiring party and your knees or your hips or your varicose veins are 'playing up', then sit down! If you park yourself on a sofa, you'll be surprised at how many people come and sit next to you for a chat.

Click here to go back to the top of the page.

Noise: Parties are often terribly noisy these days, aren't they? This is exhausting and not good for the ears. Remedy: stand well away from the Hi-Fi. And take frequent breaks outside.

Family Strains: My wife (who is an Agony Aunt) gets masses of letters at this time of year from people who are distraught about the strain of family gatherings.

Seriously, the basic idea of getting the whole family together for a really wonderful reunion is often a good one. But quite frequently, it all ends in tears, especially if the gathering is over-fuelled by alcohol. From bitter experience of some of the disasters I've seen, I would advise you to be particularly wary about insisting that various reluctant relatives must come to your house and meet all the family members who they haven't seen for ages.

After all, this is a notorious time of year for long-standing grudges to be bought out into the open. No wonder that last January I treated a woman who'd had a nervous breakdown, as a result of a misguided attempted to bring her warring sons together for Christmas.

Click here to go back to the top of the page.

Too much of the wrong food: As you get older, your stomach gets a bit more reluctant to deal with culinary excesses! So the big, extravagant blow-out that didn't trouble your digestion when you were 20 could these days make you feel quite ill - or even put you in hospital.

So if you're at a big celebration this month, don't give in to the hostess who keeps pressing you to have 'just one more helping'. Eat what you feel comfortable with, taking care to avoid over-distending your tummy. And, most importantly, if you're offered grub that you can't stand, please don't feel that (out of politeness) you have to eat it. You may regret it.

Anyway, these days so many people are on special diets that you should find it perfectly acceptable to just say 'I'm sorry, on medical advice, I have to decline'.

Foods which are particularly likely to cause digestive problems in the over-50s include:

· Rich cheeses - like Stilton.
· Game (which may also provoke gout!)
· Heavy patès.
· Anything which has masses of fat in it.
· Anything with seeds in.
· Drinks with a lot of fizz in them.

Obviously, practically any food is OK in moderation. But getting stuck into ten mince pies is a short-cut to indigestion!

A note for cooks. On the home cooking front, do please beware of the biggest 'health' trap of the party season, the undercooked bird. Every winter, hundreds of people go down with food poisoning after eating turkey or some other item of poultry.

Why? Because many such birds contain germs when you buy them from the shop, or supermarket. If you don't cook them through all the way, the germs will survive, and clobber you and yours!

The biggest danger is a frozen bird which hasn't been thoroughly de-frosted. Food poisoning germs may be lurking in it's icy centre, and the area around them is so cold that the heat of cooking will not destroy them. So, defrost all the way through!

Click here to go back to the top of the page.

Too Much Alcohol: Clearly, the party season is the time when people who are usually perfectly sensible have a tendency to drink too much!

Here are a few tips which may help you.

· If you're over 55, alcohol can affect you much more powerfully than it did when you were young;
· You may also get worse hang-overs!
· If you're not used to alcohol, beware of the party-giver who says: 'Oh go on another little drink won't do you any harm'.
· Don't drink on an empty stomach.
· Before you start drinking at a party, it's a good idea to 'line' your stomach with some food, a glass of milk is ideal.
· If you suspect that you've had a little too much, then stop and start drinking lots and lots of water to dilute it.

(Click here to read Dr Delvin's in depth article on Alcohol and its effects)

Click here to go back to the top of the page.

Too much smoking (yours or somebody else's):

Obviously, people like to smoke quite a lot at parties, especially cigars! If you are the smoker, then all I would say is 'Take care - for the sake of your health'.

Smoking more than you usually do can bring on a heart attack, or other circulatory problems. Over the holiday season, it's a good idea to try not to smoke more than you usually do, even if loving relatives are demanding that you try the nice Havanas they've bought you.

Non-smokers can have quite a difficult time at smoky parties, especially if they are contact lens wearers. There's no easy answer to this, except the increasingly common one of getting the smokers to nip outside into the garden when they want a puff!!

Summing Up: Party time can be risky for your health - particularly if you're no longer as young as you were. But with commonsense and moderation, you can still have a great time.

Happy holidays!

Click here to go back to the top of the page.

Q. I use Viagra. Will it be OK to use it after I've had a Christmas drink?
A. Certainly. Although I wouldn't recommend taking a lot of wine (or whatever) before swallowing a Viagra, a glass or two is OK. However, you have to bear in mind that to some extent the alcohol will work against the effect of the Viagra. As Shakespeare rightly said, wine increases the desire, but takes away the performance.

Q. I am going to my grandchildren's (a couple of hundred miles away) for Christmas and New Year. But I am not in the best of health. If I became ill, could I consult a local doctor without paying? Or would I have to 'go privately'?
A. Fortunately, the NHS does provide treatment all over the country. So when you're away from home, you're perfectly entitled to consult a local GP 'for free' if you want to. The doctor doesn't usually mind, as he will get a fee from the NHS for seeing you. The one potential problem is that the doc will not have any access to your medical notes, and will have no idea when medication you're on. So it's always a good idea to take a list of your medication with you.

Q. I am dreading meeting my daughter's third husband when we 'go North' for the New Year celebrations. I'm proposing to take some Valium before I have to face him. But would this be safe with alcohol?
A. No, not really. Valium, also known as 'diazepam', is distinctly dodgy with alcohol. The combination may make you pass out. Rather than using Valium, I think it would be best if you talked over your fears about this bloke before you journey north. He may not be quite as bad as you fear. I hope.

Q. My doctor has just put me on blood pressure-lowering drugs. I thought it would be just a short course. But now my bridge partner has told me that I'll have to stay on them for the rest of my life. Is this true?
A. I'm afraid that when people go on BP drugs, they usually do have to stay on them forever. But it is sometimes possible to get the blood pressure down by natural means, like losing weight, taking more exercise, or using yoga or meditation. If these techniques are successful, then it may be possible to stop taking the drugs.

Q. My family persuaded me to go on that herb called St Johns Wort. It certainly seems to have made me feel better. But could it clash with medically-prescribed drugs?
A. I'm afraid so. St Johns Wort is a traditional herbal remedy for depression. For years doctors ignored it. Then it turned out that it really does have a very good anti-depressant effect. However, a year or two ago it transpired that St Johns Wort could have some pretty nasty interactions with all sorts of medical drugs. The person who can best advise you about this is your local pharmacist. He has access to a lot of computerised information about interactions between medical drugs and herbal products.

Q. Are doctors allowed to order you to take time off work? I'm coming up to retirement shortly, and I need to spend a lot of time in the office over the next few weeks, clearing things up. However, my GP wants to issue me with a 'sickness certificate' for three weeks off work. Do I have to do what he says?
A. No, a doctor's certificate (or sick note) is not a compulsory thing. So if a GP tells you that you should come off work, you don't have to obey him. The only major exception is this. If you have an illness, which might be dangerous to somebody else, like, say, food poisoning, a doctor is entitled to take legal steps to prevent you from working. In your case, I really do feel that you should think carefully about why your GP wants you to take time off. Doctors don't usually advise stopping work unless there's some really good reason for it.

Click here to go back to the top of the page.