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Okay.

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One of Michaels greatest passions
has always been

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the extraordinary secrets
of how our bodies work.

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Okay. Yeah, that s good.

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He spent several months
with the production team.

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travelling far and wide

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for this brand new series
on the human body.

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Just look.

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The family and I are delighted
to introduce it to you.

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Michael even persuaded me

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to participate,

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tipping him upside down.

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Blimey.

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As well as filling his ice bath

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All in the name of science.

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Right.

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And I'm sure he would
have enjoyed the program.

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We're heading off
on an extraordinary journey

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We're heading off
around the human body.

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around the human body.

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And if you give us
a little chuckle...

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MICHAEL CHUCKLES

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'Have you ever wondered

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'why we get creaky joints?'

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'Does your body hold the power
to stop cancer from multiplying?'

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How do you remember to breathe?

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HE INHALES DEEPLY,
EXHALES

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'I'll be tracking down answers
to lots of burning questions.'

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HE EXCLAIMS,
LAUGHS

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I feel quite a strong desire
to urinate.

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But don't.
LAUGHING: OK.

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'From what exactly
is in our farts...'

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This device, which we colloquially
refer to as the Thunder Funnel...

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MICHAEL LAUGHS

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'..to how long we take
to digest our food...'

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Are you wearing it every night?
Absolutely.

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'..I'll show you how we can all
live healthier, longer lives.'

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This is one of

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for a very long time.

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'And I put my body to the test...'
Hey.

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'..to help you at home...'
Oh!

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'..understand yours.'

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That's stuck.

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Get ready to see yourself...

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..in a whole new light.

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'This time...'

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My 66-year-old hips
still get me from A to B.

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'But as we get older,
the risks that a simple fall

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'will lead
to breaking a bone increases,

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'so what can we do to keep
our bones stronger as we age?'

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It's rather brilliant, isn't it?
Oh, it's an engineering miracle.

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'If you've ever felt

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'like your handwriting
isn't as neat as it used to be,

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'or maybe you feel shakier
than you did when you were younger,

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'you're not alone.

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are affected by tremors.

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'For the first time,
our cameras follow

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'a pioneering brain surgery,
giving real hope.'

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isn't he? Yeah.

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'And almost every five minutes,
somebody's life changes forever

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'as their brain suffers a stroke.'

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I always think
you're only one blood clot away

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from a life-changing event.

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'So I try out an ingenious new way

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In this series, we'll explore
the wonders of the human body,

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how it adapts and changes
to the countless challenges

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it often faces.

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Around a quarter
of all deaths in the UK

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are linked
to cardiovascular problems.

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To avoid becoming part
of those statistics,

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I'm about to take a close look

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at one of our most vital organs -
the heart.

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The heart is
a powerful muscular pump,

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roughly the size of your fist,

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constantly at work,
pushing blood around your body.

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And when the heart fails,

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it can happen suddenly,
without warning.

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Well, I'm in Oxford
to try out a brand-new test,

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which was developed here

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and which claims to be able
to predict heart problems

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long before you have any symptoms.

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I am feeling a little bit nervous.

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I know I'm an increased risk,

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but when I do the test,

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that's gonna tell me
just what the risk is,

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what they're gonna find out.

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'Like many others, I've lost
loved ones to heart failure,

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'including my dad,
who died when he was just 74.

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'That's only eight years older
than I am now.

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'Before I had the test,
Professor Antoniadis,

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'who leads the team here
at Oxford University,

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'explains what makes this test
such a breakthrough.'

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This is a brand-new technology,
and essentially, what it does,

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it looks into the fat
that surrounds the heart vessels,

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and by analysing the fat,

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we can tell whether the arteries
themselves are inflamed.

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And these are the arteries that
will give the heart attacks. Wow.

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So you're peering into the future,

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with a greater degree of accuracy,
you hope? Yes.

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You ready?
Yes.

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Painless.

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'First, a special dye
is injected into my blood

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'so that my arteries will show up
on the CT scan.'

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Very smooth.

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You're gonna move in and out
three or four times in total.

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We'll get you to breathe in
and hold your breath each time.

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AUTOMATED VOICE: 'Please breathe in
and hold your breath.

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'Start breathing again.'

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Like your other organs,

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your heart needs a constant supply
of fresh blood,

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which it gets
from the coronary arteries

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that wrap around
the outside of your heart.

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By the age of 50, the walls of

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to a build-up of fatty deposits,
called plaque.

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You can think of this

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as a bit like the pipes
in your house getting clogged up.

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The build-up can make it harder
for blood to flow through,

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and this can increase the risk
of heart attack.

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The main artery...

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'of dangerous changes
in my arteries.'

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yeah. Mm.

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'And worryingly,
they've found several places

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'where my arteries
are starting to get clogged up.'

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Yes.

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'Plaques can be prone to rupture,

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'whether fatty or hardened ones,
known as calcified plaques.

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'What I'm looking at
is a ticking time bomb,

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'a potential heart attack
coming down the line.'

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So, these little nodules,
which are plaque,

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if one of those ruptured,
it would kill me, yes?

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Yes, that's correct.

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MICHAEL
EXHALES DEEPLY

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Right. Calm.

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'As many as one in two of us

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'can develop plaques
without symptoms.

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'By using it, the Oxford team
will soon be able to tell

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'just how high my risk really is.'

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400 miles further north,
on the Fife coast,

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Thomas Black knows
just how devastating it is

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when a vital organ goes wrong.

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In Thomas's case, it's his brain
which is not working as it should.

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the roots because I'm shaking.

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71-year-old Thomas has had
his life turned upside down

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by a condition
called essential tremor.

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It's ten times more common
than Parkinson's

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and is more likely to affect people
over the age of 65.

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It's all the little things
that you never think about,

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like working zips
or brushing your teeth.

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Essential tremor makes
daily activities for Thomas,

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and others like him,
almost impossible.

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I was in my mid-40s,

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and I first noticed
quite shaky right hand.

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And then my mid-50s,

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both hands were much shakier,
and my head was shaking,

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and it just got worse
and worse and worse after that.

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We were showing this

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Brings back memories.

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48-and-a-half years ago.
SHE CHUCKLES

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Nice to look back.
It's nice to see hair!

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SHE LAUGHS

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Janet has been by Thomas's side,
watching helplessly,

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as his symptoms have got worse.

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Tom was quite good at sort of not

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Erm...

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You know,
like putting a key in the lock,

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had to adapt the way he could eat.

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The mugs were getting bigger
for his soup with less soup.

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The same for the coffees.

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to stop the tremor.

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They are now pinning their hopes on

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Decisions had to be made.
I had to go through various tests.

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Today's the big day,
and Thomas has been admitted

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to Ninewells Hospital and
Medical School for the operation.

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Quite sore, but I'll be fine.

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Neurologist Dr Tom Gilbertson is

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It's one of very few treatments

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to a chronic disease
that's otherwise uncontrollable.

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OK, Thomas, I'm just gonna
move these pins forward slightly.

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Mm-hm.

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It's just for me to know where
to put the local anaesthetic in.

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With a head brace fitted
to help reduce his shakes,

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Thomas is about to have
a form of brain surgery

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that involves no actual cutting.

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Instead,
a powerful beam of ultrasound waves

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will be focussed on part

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It's not without risk.

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If the beam strays even a fraction,

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it could leave Thomas
with loss of speech or paralysis.

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It's fine.
NURSE: Perfect.

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Coming up, how does your body
fight back when cancer strikes?

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I planned and paid for my funeral.

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With the growing cold-water craze,

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what are the health benefits
and what are the risks?

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I'll reveal three surprising things

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about your heart
that could save your life.

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When you exercise
on a regular basis,

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you actually grow a whole lot
of new blood vessels.

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And I find out
my own heart attack risk.

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I've got slightly sweaty palms.
I must admit, I'm quite anxious.

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'I've just had a new test
that can accurately predict

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'your heart attack risk
long before it happens.'

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We're looking to whether there
are narrowings in your arteries

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plaques, as you call them,
atherosclerotic plaques,

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which may break in the future,
causing a heart attack.

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'Worryingly, they've told me that

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'I do have
these life-threatening plaques.'

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If one of those ruptured,
it would kill me.

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Yes. That's correct.

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MICHAEL EXHALES

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We all have a protective layer of
fat on the outside of our arteries,

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and this outer fatty layer
can reveal

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where an artery has become inflamed
on the inside,

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making it more susceptible
to rupture.

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If picked up in time,
you might be prescribed medication

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to try and reverse
some of these changes.

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'A healthy diet and at least 20
minutes of moderate exercise a day

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'is also beneficial,
whatever your age.

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'So, what about my arteries?

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'Is the damage still reversible?'

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OK, moment of truth.
I've got slightly sweaty palms.

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I must admit, I'm quite anxious.
This is your heart.

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Around an inflamed area, the fat

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The blue colour that you see here
means that is water.

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Blue essentially means

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Exactly. So, these are the plaques
that we have seen earlier

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in the main artery.

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You can see that in this area,

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there is a little bit
of inflammation. Yeah.

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But overall to me,

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it looks like
a pretty much non-inflamed artery.

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OK. So, I'm looking at this figure.
That's the one that's jumping out.

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So, this is your absolute risk...
Yeah.

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..to have a fatal cardiac event
over the next eight years. OK.

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Anything below 5% considers to be
low risk.

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Now, you are 5.9.

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It means that you are just about
where you should be.

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So another way of looking at this
is saying

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I have a 94% chance
of making it to 74,

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and therefore a 94% chance
of beating my dad.

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Exactly.
That's a very good way to put it.

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It's not perfect.
No.

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So there's still some risk.

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Yeah. I'm not gonna go away and eat
cream buns. Don't worry. Exactly.

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You can't imagine
how relieved I feel,

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I was awake
last night thinking about it.

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So, you need to try
a little bit harder.

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Bring this down.
But you are nearly there.

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'Exercise and a healthy diet
can help.

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'People in my position
may also be prescribed statins.'

250
00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:01,480
Wow. I'm almost faint with relief.

251
00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:06,000
I'm gonna give you a hug because
I was really, really worried,

252
00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:07,160
I have to say.

253
00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:08,280
Ah!

254
00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:14,920
Well, that was stressful
but also reassuring.

255
00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:17,440
And at least I know now that
it's unlikely

256
00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:19,640
I will go the same way as my dad,

257
00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:24,200
And I guess
what it shows as well is

258
00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:26,480
that if you look
after this remarkable organ,

259
00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:30,720
it will go on looking after you,
hopefully for a long time to come.

260
00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:35,360
You can cut your heart attack risk
by as much as 30%

261
00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:37,720
by eating less junk food

262
00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:41,600
and more healthy fats,
like oily fish and nuts.

263
00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:46,040
Getting your cholesterol checked
is also a good idea.

264
00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:52,520
And of course, if you're at all
concerned, do go and see your GP.

265
00:14:55,760 --> 00:15:00,160
In the UK, heart disease is still
one of the leading causes of death.

266
00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:02,680
But there is
another life-threatening condition

267
00:15:02,680 --> 00:15:07,080
which one in two of us will face

268
00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:10,800
Throughout our lives, the cells
that make up our body divide,

269
00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:14,280
they grow, and then they die
in a very controlled way.

270
00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:23,480
Sometimes, the mechanisms to stop
cells growing are faulty,

271
00:15:23,480 --> 00:15:28,000
to grow in an uncontrolled way.

272
00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:31,080
In fact, one of the things that
your body fears above all else

273
00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:33,920
are rogue cells
that are out of control.

274
00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:37,640
So if rogue cells arise
that try to grow

275
00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:40,160
in a way that your body
doesn't want them to,

276
00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:44,560
then the body has lots
of different ways to destroy them.

277
00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:47,240
But sometimes,
rogue cells are able to evade

278
00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:50,000
all the attempts
that are made to destroy them.

279
00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:53,120
ECHOING: They escape, they grow.
They become cancer.

280
00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:57,560
Different cancers multiply
at different rates.

281
00:15:57,560 --> 00:16:00,280
Most breast and bowel cancers,
for example,

282
00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:02,640
seem to grow relatively slowly.

283
00:16:02,640 --> 00:16:05,000
But if you have
a cancer of your blood cells,

284
00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:07,360
then symptoms can appear
more suddenly,

285
00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:09,840
and the cancer may spread
more rapidly.

286
00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:20,680
In this series, we meet people
with extraordinary stories to share

287
00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:23,440
that shed new light
on how our bodies work.

288
00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:28,960
In Dorset, 76-year-old Alan Peters
has been diagnosed

289
00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:32,760
with a type of blood cancer
called a lymphoma.

290
00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:37,320
It's lymphoma, stage 4B cancer.

291
00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:41,120
They said that
there wasn't really a great deal

292
00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:43,480
that they could do to cure me.

293
00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:47,280
Alan is grateful to have lived
a full life.

294
00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:49,960
For 30 odd years,
I was a policeman in London,

295
00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:53,240
and I was lucky enough to work
with the Princess of Wales

296
00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:56,000
for nine years
as a personal protection officer.

297
00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:04,040
But after Alan retired,
he noticed worrying symptoms.

298
00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:05,640
I thought it was COVID.

299
00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:08,000
I went to the doctor
two or three times,

300
00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:11,000
and eventually,
they sent me for a scan.

301
00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:14,280
That's when we discovered
there was a large lump.

302
00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:20,320
Just about that time was when
you turned up from Ukraine.

303
00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:24,720
To hear this news about you,
I was absolutely upset.

304
00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:28,360
I decided straight away,
we have to stay to help you.

305
00:17:28,360 --> 00:17:31,520
Alan offered a home
to Olena and her family,

306
00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:35,840
and the support she offered
in return was a huge blessing.

307
00:17:35,840 --> 00:17:37,120
I had written myself off,

308
00:17:37,120 --> 00:17:39,480
in as much as
I wasn't gonna last much longer,

309
00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:43,720
and, as you know,
I planned and paid for my funeral.

310
00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:47,240
Cara. Cara.

311
00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:52,840
But then Alan was thrown a lifeline

312
00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:57,360
approach known as CAR-T therapy.

313
00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:06,280
After several rounds
of the new therapy,

314
00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:08,640
Alan is going
back to Southampton to find out

315
00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:11,160
if the treatment
has been successful.

316
00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:13,720
This is my sixth or seventh scan.

317
00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:18,040
Being diagnosed with cancer
can be not just physically,

318
00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:20,520
but also emotionally devastating.

319
00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:23,200
And for Alan,
it's been a nerve-wracking wait.

320
00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:26,520
I'm just a little bit tense
because it's an important one.

321
00:18:26,520 --> 00:18:29,280
CAR-T therapy is a way of boosting

322
00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:31,760
the body's immune system
to attack the cancer,

323
00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:36,400
and it's being further developed
by Professor Xian Lim.

324
00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:39,200
Cancer cells are
unfortunately sneaky,

325
00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:43,000
and they can hide
from the immune system...

326
00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:44,760
so the immune system needs help.

327
00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:54,320
We all have special immune cells
called T cells.

328
00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:57,000
Their job is to defend your body.

329
00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:02,120
But cancers can hide from them.

330
00:19:02,120 --> 00:19:04,560
So scientists take
the patient's T cells,

331
00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:07,160
modify them in the lab
then re-inject them.

332
00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:11,920
These new cells,
nicknamed CAR-T cells,

333
00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:16,480
now have the ability to track down
cancer cells and destroy them.

334
00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:26,440
Sadly, this approach
isn't for everyone.

335
00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:28,040
But has it worked for Alan?

336
00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:30,960
Complete remission.

337
00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:33,320
No sign of any disease whatsoever.

338
00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:35,000
Yes!
MAN: Well done.

339
00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:38,760
That's good.

340
00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:42,480
I was trying to keep
a miserable face, watching,

341
00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:45,440
watching you lot go,
"Whoa, what's...?"

342
00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:51,320
These scan images of Alan
before he started the new therapy,

343
00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:56,200
compared with his most recent scan,
shows something remarkable.

344
00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:58,560
Alan's body,
once riddled with tumours,

345
00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:00,760
now appears cancer-free.

346
00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:07,840
Important to remember -
never give up.

347
00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:09,640
I never did give up.

348
00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:12,440
I was just prepared. There's
a big, there's a big difference.

349
00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:17,320
Thanks to breakthrough treatments,

350
00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:20,440
we're now six times more likely
to survive cancer

351
00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:21,960
than we were 40 years ago.

352
00:20:25,040 --> 00:20:31,240
to undergo a radical new treatment.

353
00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:34,280
Everything is riding
on what happens today.

354
00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:37,760
Will he finally get relief
from the debilitating tremors

355
00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:40,160
that are ruining his life?

356
00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:45,200
We're trying play some music
for him in the, er...

357
00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:46,560
There you go, that's you all set.

358
00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:48,440
Our cameras
have been given rare access

359
00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:52,320
to follow this ground-breaking
procedure step by step.

360
00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:56,240
of damage to healthy brain tissue,

361
00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:58,680
he will have to remain awake
the whole time.

362
00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:01,080
If he develops slurring speech,

363
00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:04,360
we know we're too far
outside of the target.

364
00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:07,440
Then we have to adjust
our treatment.

365
00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:11,440
The team is about to use

366
00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:14,840
a high-powered ultrasound beam
on Thomas's brain.

367
00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:17,200
See how he goes here.

368
00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:20,800
They need to zap
a tiny cluster of cells

369
00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:24,360
in a part of Thomas's brain
called the thalamus.

370
00:21:24,360 --> 00:21:27,840
By doing this, they hope to create
a sort of circuit breaker,

371
00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:31,480
which will stop his brain sending
out too many confusing messages.

372
00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:39,080
When you decide to move, your brain
sends signals to your muscles.

373
00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:40,440
At any one moment,

374
00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,880
there are billions of signals
buzzing around your head.

375
00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:47,480
Normally, your brain can filter out
the information you don't need,

376
00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:49,560
but if you have essential tremor,

377
00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:53,960
this filter doesn't seem to work
and the signals get confused.

378
00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:57,440
And that could be what's causing
Thomas's uncontrollable shaking.

379
00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:04,920
Thomas's shakes are so bad

380
00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:08,720
that even trying to draw
a simple spiral is impossible.

381
00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:18,800
So, at the moment, they're
just doing some baseline tests,

382
00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:23,200
and as you can see, just how,
you know, difficult it is for him.

383
00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:26,160
How bad is that
on a score of sort of one to ten?

384
00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:27,760
Erm, it's probably ten.

385
00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:29,240
It's pretty bad. Yeah.
Yeah.

386
00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:31,520
And how quickly do you think
he will improve?

387
00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:34,800
Fingers crossed.

388
00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:37,520
Yeah, exactly.
It's all about fingers crossed.

389
00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:39,880
We'll know
in the next half an hour or so

390
00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:42,080
whether we've got a treatment
here or not. OK.

391
00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:46,840
If the beam strays even a fraction,

392
00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:49,720
Thomas could end up
with brain damage.

393
00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:51,600
A half millimetre.

394
00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:54,120
Move medial
with a half millimetre move.

395
00:22:54,120 --> 00:22:58,920
It takes huge skill and experience
to get it right.

396
00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:00,720
How far do we push this

397
00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:04,080
before we start to cause

398
00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:13,440
I mean,
that's very, very impressive,

399
00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,440
he was kind of doing that.

400
00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:24,200
And it's still moving a little bit,
but much better.

401
00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:26,920
It's still a way to go.

402
00:23:31,120 --> 00:23:34,160
'Thomas has already regained
some control.'

403
00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:35,280
Wow.

404
00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:38,200
So, that is a remarkable progress,
considering, you know,

405
00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:40,600
a very short time ago...

406
00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:43,720
he was only able to make
sort of dabbing motions on there.

407
00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:47,320
And now he's actually, you know,
beginning to track the circle.

408
00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:52,320
We're making some progress here.
Would you agree? Yes.

409
00:23:54,360 --> 00:23:58,680
'After five rounds of ultrasound,
I can see a clear improvement.'

410
00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:03,160
isn't he? Yeah.

411
00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:06,600
This is probably one of

412
00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:07,880
for a very long time -

413
00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:11,880
the progression
from that end to that end.

414
00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:14,240
They weigh up whether doing more

415
00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:16,840
could reduce Thomas's tremors
even further.

416
00:24:20,360 --> 00:24:24,320
But after his seventh blast,
Thomas has a bad reaction.

417
00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:25,960
MACHINE BEEPS

418
00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:34,720
Everything stops while
the team assesses what's happened.

419
00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:42,200
'Still to come...'

420
00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:46,240
Have you ever wondered

421
00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:50,560
'I'll reveal the surprising science
behind how we swallow.'

422
00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:51,600
HE YELPS

423
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:57,400
'Every year, thousands of people in

424
00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:00,440
What are the health benefits
and what are the risks?

425
00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:05,400
'And why exactly do our bones
get weaker as we age?'

426
00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:10,000
And that's what happens at breaks,
you get micro microfractures.

427
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:12,560
Bones break at any age,

428
00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:16,880
but after women go through
the menopause or men turn 65,

429
00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:20,560
we become

430
00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:23,600
To find out more,
I'm off to see Professor Sue Black

431
00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:26,880
from the University of Oxford,
who clearly loves her subject.

432
00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:30,200
Hello. I am loving your collection.
Thank you.

433
00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:32,640
There's nothing not to love...
About bones.

434
00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:35,320
Once you start to study bones,
it gets in your system.

435
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:37,280
So, isn't that just amazing?

436
00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:41,320
It's not just the face, it's
the opening into your gut system.

437
00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:44,240
It's the opening
into your respiratory system.

438
00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:46,000
It's your visual system.

439
00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:50,000
And then, of course, inside here,
this is just a great big box

440
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:53,280
to protect the most delicate thing
you can imagine,

441
00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:54,480
which is the brain inside.

442
00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:55,720
Yeah.
It really does.

443
00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:57,360
How many bones are there
in the human body?

444
00:25:57,360 --> 00:25:58,560
Oh, I have no idea.

445
00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:01,200
And the reason I've no idea is
because nobody agrees. OK.

446
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:03,880
So, some people will say
there's 206,

447
00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:07,080
some say there's 212 -
unless you're a child.

448
00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:09,440
And in a child,
there are more than that

449
00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:11,880
because bits of them
haven't fused together yet.

450
00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:16,360
'On the outside, a bone looks like
it's completely solid.

451
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:23,000
But when we look at bone cells
under a microscope,

452
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:25,200
it becomes clear
just how alive it is.

453
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:30,480
Here, we can see cells
whose job it is to build new bone.

454
00:26:34,360 --> 00:26:36,720
So it's rather brilliant, isn't it?
Oh, it's incredible.

455
00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:39,080
I mean, it's an engineering,
you know, miracle.

456
00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:42,560
'Sadly, however,
the miracle sometimes falls apart.'

457
00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:45,680
Why, when we get older,
do our bones get more brittle?

458
00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:50,960
who get to a postmenopausal level,

459
00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:53,320
and that's when
osteoporosis kicks in.

460
00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:57,000
Oestrogen as a hormone acts
as a protector to bone.

461
00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:03,840
'Osteoporosis affects one
in five women and one in 20 men.

462
00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:07,480
'But why? Sue shows me exactly
what happens to your bones

463
00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:09,680
'when you get osteoporosis.'

464
00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:17,040
And you can see ends. You can see

465
00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:18,760
And that's what happens at breaks.

466
00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:20,800
Right.
You get micro fractures.

467
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:24,760
And sometimes, they'll heal,
and sometimes, they won't.

468
00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:26,720
So, if you have more
and more micro fractures,

469
00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:29,360
you will get to a point
where it's no longer a structure

470
00:27:29,360 --> 00:27:32,240
that can withstand the forces
that are going through it,

471
00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:34,520
and then you get
a catastrophic failure.

472
00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:36,040
What can you do to prevent that?

473
00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:42,800
then the amount of calcium
that you take into your diet

474
00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:43,960
is really important.

475
00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:47,160
And we know
that if you exercise regularly

476
00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:51,480
and at an appropriate level,

477
00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:54,560
Bones just continue to respond to

478
00:27:54,560 --> 00:27:55,640
They do. They do.

479
00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:00,880
'To prevent brittle bones, you need
plenty of calcium, vitamin D,

480
00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:04,240
'and weight-bearing exercises,
like running or dancing.

481
00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:14,560
They help to protect
our delicate internal organs,

482
00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:18,440
and they provide our bodies
with structure and with shape.

483
00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:22,000
It is impossible to imagine
human life without them.

484
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:26,800
Weight-bearing exercises are a

485
00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:29,520
but other forms of exercise,
like having a swim,

486
00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:31,320
also come with benefits.

487
00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:34,520
Up on the Ayrshire coast,

488
00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:38,400
they love a particularly bracing
form of swimming.

489
00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:42,440
"What am I doing? It's freezing."

490
00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:45,160
This group
are just some of the millions

491
00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:47,800
who, every year,
embrace cold water swimming.

492
00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:51,360
Liberating. Absolutely liberating.

493
00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:52,720
THEY CHEER

494
00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:58,760
That's nature's magic.
HE LAUGHS

495
00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:03,400
Before they went in, our swimmers
measured their skin temperature

496
00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:05,400
using a thermal camera.

497
00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:08,440
Red is hot, and blue is cold.

498
00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:12,200
Their skin started off
at around 22 degrees,

499
00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:16,880
but after just 15 minutes immersed
in the chilly Firth of Clyde,

500
00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:20,520
our thermal camera reveals
their skin temperature has dropped

501
00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:23,560
to ten degrees -
almost as low as the sea.

502
00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:30,160
We hear a lot
about cold water swimming,

503
00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:32,000
but what actually goes on
inside your body

504
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:34,440
when you go into cold water?

505
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:37,520
What are the health benefits,
and what are the risks?

506
00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:46,200
Back down south,

507
00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:48,560
with the temperature
still less than tropical,

508
00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:52,800
physiologist professor Mike Tipton
wants to put me to the test.

509
00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:56,080
Hi, Mike.
Nice to see you.

510
00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:57,880
I feel a bit of a fraud,
I must admit,

511
00:29:57,880 --> 00:29:59,600
because I've got all this on
at the moment.

512
00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:02,680
It'll still work for you

513
00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:05,040
OK. We don't mind people
wearing wet suits,

514
00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:06,400
if that's the way
they're gonna start.

515
00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:09,680
What I do is I go straight in.
I assume that's probably all wrong.

516
00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:12,920
Yeah. When you actually get to
the point of going into the water,

517
00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:16,360
you go in slowly because we want

518
00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:17,400
MICHAEL GASPS
Yeah.

519
00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:20,600
Gasping and hyperventilation
and a big workload on your heart.

520
00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:22,440
You're a tropical animal.

521
00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:25,800
You want to be in 28-degree air,
doing not very much.

522
00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:28,520
And you're taking that body and
plunging it into 12-degree water.

523
00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:29,640
It's a stress.

524
00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:32,040
I think it's probably about time
that I actually went in.

525
00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:33,920
You gonna join me?
No.

526
00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:35,040
THEY LAUGH

527
00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:43,880
MIKE CHUCKLES

528
00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:47,400
your breathing under control

529
00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:49,360
before you launch into anything.

530
00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:52,880
Ooh-hoo-hoo-hoo!

531
00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:55,880
It's when you do that.
When it gets to the nether regions.

532
00:30:59,960 --> 00:31:01,040
Whoo!

533
00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:04,200
The hands are quite...

534
00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:06,480
And that's because
there's no blood flow there.

535
00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:10,200
Look, if I just pinch your back of

536
00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:11,960
The refill time is really long

537
00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:14,920
because your body's shut down
the blood flow to the extremities

538
00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:16,520
to keep your brain and your heart

539
00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:18,720
and your central critical organs
warm.

540
00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:25,160
Cos I feel
quite a strong desire to urinate,

541
00:31:25,160 --> 00:31:26,960
Yeah.

542
00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:29,520
It's because you've shut down
the blood flow to the skin.

543
00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:32,840
All of that's gone centrally,
increased central pressure,

544
00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:35,240
and your body starts to try
and off-load that fluid

545
00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:36,880
by producing urine.
OK.

546
00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:39,360
But don't.
LAUGHING: OK.

547
00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:42,160
So, apart from wanting
to have a wee,

548
00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:44,920
what happens to our bodies
when we swim in cold water?

549
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:48,000
Your arteries narrow,

550
00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:51,320
so your heart suddenly has to work
much harder pumping blood.

551
00:31:51,320 --> 00:31:53,960
This is why cold water swimming
isn't recommended

552
00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:55,680
for anyone with a heart condition.

553
00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:01,440
So that is a potential risk.
But what are the benefits?

554
00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:03,840
The cold also triggers
the release of hormones,

555
00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:07,320
which speed up your metabolic rate
and may boost your mood.

556
00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:10,640
I'm feeling fairly vigorous,
must admit.

557
00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:12,560
But a good thing is
I've got a smile on my face.

558
00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:15,400
I'm actually feeling quite,
you know, cheerful about it. Yeah.

559
00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:18,360
So, one of the big pluses
that people always report is

560
00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:19,560
for their mental health.

561
00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:21,920
We've had the benefit
of you being alert,

562
00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:23,800
awakened, because
that's the cold-shock response

563
00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:25,720
just pouring stress hormones
into the system.

564
00:32:25,720 --> 00:32:28,080
The other thing we hear
quite a lot about

565
00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:30,040
is in terms of immune function.
Yeah.

566
00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:33,320
And so you'll have people saying,

567
00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:35,680
"Since I've done
open-water swimming,

568
00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:37,960
"since I've done wild swimming,
I haven't had a cold."

569
00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:38,960
Jury's out on that.

570
00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:43,600
There's not really been a very
carefully controlled study. Yeah.

571
00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:47,440
'But how long do you need?'
Two or three minutes.

572
00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:50,520
Get that cold-shock response, get

573
00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:52,160
And then get out.
And then get out.

574
00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:57,440
If you are a novice, it's best
to join a swimming group...

575
00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:01,320
or try something more gentle,
like a cold shower.

576
00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:03,840
I wash in warm water,
then switch to cold

577
00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:06,200
and stand there
for about 40 seconds.

578
00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:08,640
Others prefer a dip
in a chilly bath.

579
00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:12,320
And speaking of chilly baths...

580
00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:18,640
..have you ever wondered how much
saliva or spit you produce?

581
00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:21,800
Well, it's about one litre a day,

582
00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:25,800
and that would be enough -
over the course of three months -

583
00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:29,160
to fill a bath this size.

584
00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:31,640
And in fact, over a lifetime,

585
00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:36,000
you would be able to fill
around 320 bathfuls.

586
00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:41,640
So, why do we need to produce
so much saliva?

587
00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:48,400
Well, amongst other things,

588
00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:51,080
producing saliva helps us
to swallow -

589
00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:54,440
something we do as much
as 500 times a day.

590
00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:59,120
I've agreed to have a camera put
somewhere uncomfortable

591
00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:01,800
to get a proper look
at how it all works.

592
00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:06,480
I'm in the capable hands
of consultant Suzanne Slade.

593
00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:08,400
Hi. Good to see you.
Hi. Come on in.

594
00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:09,880
Thank you.
Come and have a seat.

595
00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:12,160
Gonna have a peer down my throat,
are you?

596
00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:14,440
And... don't worry.

597
00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:19,080
through your nose.

598
00:34:19,080 --> 00:34:20,560
There's a camera on the end here?

599
00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:22,920
So, it's going to light
everything up on the inside.

600
00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:25,280
HE GROANS,
SUZANNE CHUCKLES

601
00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:27,120
Right, so... Here we go.
OK. I'm gonna be brave.

602
00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:28,760
Just breathing in and out.

603
00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:33,320
So, we're just heading
along the floor of the nose now.

604
00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:36,040
We're gonna be very, very gentle.
Ooh, that's weird.

605
00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:38,240
We're almost there.
SQUELCHING

606
00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:45,640
down into your voice box.

607
00:34:45,640 --> 00:34:48,360
Ahh.
Absolutely fantastic.

608
00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:52,360
then we see the vocal cords
tapping together.

609
00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:55,000
Hee-hee-hee-hee.

610
00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:59,320
So, this is really the opening
to both my breathing

611
00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:03,640
and also to my food, if you like.

612
00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:06,120
You want to eat and drink,

613
00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:09,360
to go down into your lungs.

614
00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:12,320
Absolutely. So, in the centre
of your throat here,

615
00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:14,680
we're seeing the entrance
to the lungs.

616
00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:17,680
If you were to... This is a bit
crude, but if you were to belch,

617
00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:19,320
we might actually see the...
Yeah.

618
00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:20,480
Oh, there we go.

619
00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:22,840
The opening of your food pipe.

620
00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:24,400
Are you happy to take a bite
of banana? Yeah.

621
00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:29,440
So... And we can see...
see the base of the tongue,

622
00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:31,280
which is at the bottom
of the screen. Mm-hm.

623
00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:33,840
And that's you just chewing,
getting that banana ready.

624
00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:37,280
and then - boop - it's gone.

625
00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:39,640
There's a little structure
called the epiglottis,

626
00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:41,280
and that flips back
and almost puts a lid

627
00:35:41,280 --> 00:35:43,640
on the entrance to your windpipe.

628
00:35:43,640 --> 00:35:48,200
'Your epiglottis flips back
and forth every time you swallow.

629
00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:51,920
'This tiny flap of cartilage
allows you to safely swallow

630
00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:54,360
'and breathe
without having to think about it.'

631
00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:55,920
If you had a swallowing problem,

632
00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:57,840
if you'd had a stroke
or something like that,

633
00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:00,560
then dealing with the saliva
can be a huge issue.

634
00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:02,240
If you're not swallowing,

635
00:36:02,240 --> 00:36:04,640
then it can just trickle down
into the larynx

636
00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:06,160
and then into your lungs.

637
00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:09,040
Very fine balancing act, isn't it?
It absolutely is.

638
00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:11,400
I think I need to have it out now.
SLURPING

639
00:36:12,960 --> 00:36:14,440
Ah!

640
00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:15,720
Oh.
Well done. Well done.

641
00:36:15,720 --> 00:36:17,160
Huge amount of snot.

642
00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:18,800
Thank you for this.
I probably need more.

643
00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:20,200
SUZANNE CHUCKLES

644
00:36:21,240 --> 00:36:23,600
Swallowing is a complex process.

645
00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:25,360
Under direction from your brain,

646
00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:27,720
your throat muscles
must all work together -

647
00:36:27,720 --> 00:36:30,320
which is why swallowing
can sometimes be affected

648
00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:32,520
by problems
with your nervous system.

649
00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:41,200
Back in Dundee, the operation
to treat Thomas's essential tremor,

650
00:36:41,200 --> 00:36:44,960
caused by malfunctioning circuits
in his brain and nervous system,

651
00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:46,480
has reached a critical point.

652
00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:48,600
It was going really, really well,

653
00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:50,560
and they were hoping
to push it further.

654
00:36:50,560 --> 00:36:53,480
But in the moment, Tom is being
violently sick in there.

655
00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:54,800
Everyone's kind of gathered.

656
00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:02,880
'Before that happened, the team
managed to successfully bombard

657
00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:06,800
'a tiny area in his brain
with ultrasound waves,

658
00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:10,440
'and the impact of that
on his tremor has been dramatic.'

659
00:37:12,760 --> 00:37:16,240
You pleased?

660
00:37:16,240 --> 00:37:18,800
Oh, it's... it's amazing.

661
00:37:18,800 --> 00:37:21,400
It's stressful,
but you're so pleased.

662
00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:23,680
I'm just shaking from the...
MICHAEL CHUCKLES

663
00:37:23,680 --> 00:37:25,960
..the experience.

664
00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:28,760
I'm so grateful to everybody.

665
00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:36,360
Amazingly, later that afternoon,
Thomas is up and about.

666
00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:38,960
'I noticed a change right away.'

667
00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:43,280
It's improved far, far more
than I thought it would.

668
00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:47,600
a life-changing difference.

669
00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:56,520
I haven't been able to drink
with my right hand for years.

670
00:37:56,520 --> 00:38:00,840
Previously, that would have been
down my chin and onto my jersey.

671
00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:04,480
And that is no problem at all now.

672
00:38:06,560 --> 00:38:09,600
I would say.

673
00:38:11,640 --> 00:38:14,680
What I've seen today
is absolutely astonishing.

674
00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:21,880
and, by doing that,
give Tom his life back

675
00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:24,160
is absolutely mind-boggling.

676
00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:25,400
'Coming up...

677
00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:28,520
'What causes deadly blood clots
to form in your heart?'

678
00:38:28,520 --> 00:38:30,440
Your heart is a wonderful organ.

679
00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:33,720
The electrical system

680
00:38:33,720 --> 00:38:35,280
until it goes wrong.

681
00:38:35,280 --> 00:38:39,120
'I take a test to see
if I'm at risk of having a stroke

682
00:38:39,120 --> 00:38:41,440
'in a most unlikely location.'

683
00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:42,520
Nervous at all?

684
00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:44,120
Yes.

685
00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:47,200
'And you have enough blood vessels
in your body

686
00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:50,840
'to stretch from Land's End
to John O'Groats - true or false?

687
00:38:52,880 --> 00:38:55,480
Right. That's my heart, yeah?
This is your heart...

688
00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:58,360
'Seeing the fatty plaques
in my coronary arteries,

689
00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:00,320
'the vessels that supply blood
to my heart,

690
00:39:00,320 --> 00:39:03,960
'hammered home just how important
it is to protect those arteries.

691
00:39:05,200 --> 00:39:07,840
'But coronary arteries
are just one part

692
00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:10,360
'of a vast circulatory system.'

693
00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:13,800
If you were to take all

694
00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:16,280
how far do you think
they would stretch?

695
00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:22,000
Once around the track? Twice?

696
00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:31,280
No. The average human body contains
60,000 miles of blood vessels,

697
00:39:31,280 --> 00:39:35,120
or about 240,000 times
round this track.

698
00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:38,680
That is like travelling
from Land's End to John O'Groats

699
00:39:38,680 --> 00:39:41,200
more than 70 times.

700
00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:43,560
And if any
of those major blood vessels

701
00:39:43,560 --> 00:39:46,480
gets damaged,
you could have a stroke.

702
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:50,880
To find out more,

703
00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:53,560
If you could be inside your heart
when it pumps,

704
00:39:53,560 --> 00:39:56,200
it would feel something like this.

705
00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:11,720
Every second of every day,

706
00:40:11,720 --> 00:40:14,440
your heart beats away
to its own rhythm.

707
00:40:14,440 --> 00:40:17,280
And as you speed up -
or indeed, slow down -

708
00:40:17,280 --> 00:40:20,080
your heart does likewise without
you having to think about it.

709
00:40:23,600 --> 00:40:25,400
Those changes are driven

710
00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:28,320
by a small cluster
of specialised cells

711
00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:30,320
which send electrical signals

712
00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:32,120
to the different chambers
of your heart,

713
00:40:32,120 --> 00:40:34,880
making them beat
in a coordinated way.

714
00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:42,320
But sometimes,
the signalling becomes faulty.

715
00:40:48,760 --> 00:40:51,040
If the heart starts
to beat erratically,

716
00:40:51,040 --> 00:40:52,440
then it's known as arrhythmia.

717
00:40:52,440 --> 00:40:55,920
is atrial fibrillation,

718
00:40:55,920 --> 00:40:57,800
otherwise known as AF.

719
00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:01,240
Now, this is a serious condition,
and it needs to be detected early.

720
00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:04,960
If your heart isn't pumping
as it should,

721
00:41:04,960 --> 00:41:07,560
blood can hang around
inside the heart too long,

722
00:41:07,560 --> 00:41:09,880
and dangerous clots form.

723
00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:15,680
If a clot breaks off, travels
to the brain and blocks blood flow,

724
00:41:15,680 --> 00:41:17,320
that can cause a stroke.

725
00:41:25,440 --> 00:41:28,120
Here in Liverpool,
they're working on a novel way

726
00:41:28,120 --> 00:41:29,960
to detect
those dangerous arrhythmias

727
00:41:29,960 --> 00:41:31,840
and prevent strokes.

728
00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:35,040
I'm off to try it out with
the help from some of the locals.

729
00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:40,400
Hello, everyone.
ALL: Hello.

730
00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:42,600
So, you're all here to see
how good your hearts are.

731
00:41:43,840 --> 00:41:46,120
'Just how common is
atrial fibrillation?

732
00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:51,280
Professor Ian Jones
is an expert in cardiology.

733
00:41:51,280 --> 00:41:55,600
The incidence of AF is only 1.5%,
roughly, in the population.

734
00:41:55,600 --> 00:41:57,080
As you get older, it increases,

735
00:41:57,080 --> 00:41:59,520
so the older population would be
more likely to pick that up.

736
00:41:59,520 --> 00:42:03,200
'Ian and his team have come up
with a novel way

737
00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:06,720
'to detect
undiagnosed atrial fibrillation.

738
00:42:06,720 --> 00:42:09,680
'Enter the humble shopping trolley.

739
00:42:12,840 --> 00:42:15,200
'But these are
no ordinary shopping trolleys.

740
00:42:15,200 --> 00:42:18,480
'Hidden in their handles is
a simple yet powerful bit of tech.'

741
00:42:23,120 --> 00:42:27,200
So, the sensor inside the middle
of the handle is an ECG sensor,

742
00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:29,560
so it will measure
the person's heartbeat,

743
00:42:29,560 --> 00:42:31,840
their heart rhythm,
over a period of one minute.

744
00:42:31,840 --> 00:42:34,560
it will record it.

745
00:42:34,560 --> 00:42:36,920
So, just push the trolley
around as you would do normally.

746
00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:38,440
Nervous at all?
Yes.

747
00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:39,920
LAUGHTER

748
00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:45,280
'Will the trolleys detect
dodgy heartbeats in our group

749
00:42:45,280 --> 00:42:46,800
'or in me?'

750
00:42:48,120 --> 00:42:51,360
So, the way this works is
I'm just strolling around,

751
00:42:51,360 --> 00:42:53,720
but I'm also gripping
this metal handle.

752
00:42:53,720 --> 00:42:56,000
And what it's doing is
essentially measuring

753
00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:02,680
'Lights on the trolley turn red
if you have an abnormal heartbeat.'

754
00:43:02,680 --> 00:43:04,720
I'm hoping it's gonna be green.

755
00:43:04,720 --> 00:43:06,160
And there it goes.

756
00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:08,760
They're coming round now.

757
00:43:08,760 --> 00:43:11,120
Be interesting to see
whose light is flashing what.

758
00:43:11,120 --> 00:43:13,000
Hey. Hi, there.
Hello.

759
00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:16,160
OK, so you are green.
Wahey. Well done.

760
00:43:16,160 --> 00:43:18,200
So, are you green as well?
I am.

761
00:43:18,200 --> 00:43:20,680
Marvellous. Hi.
Hello.

762
00:43:20,680 --> 00:43:24,440
Right, so, what do we see?
Green. OK. Coming by.

763
00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:28,080
I am green.
You are green. Marvellous.

764
00:43:29,480 --> 00:43:33,880
'Ian has already conducted a study
involving over 2,000 people

765
00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:38,880
'which found 59 new cases
of unsuspected cardiac arrhythmia,

766
00:43:38,880 --> 00:43:43,360
'suggesting this ingenious idea
really could save lives.'

767
00:43:43,360 --> 00:43:45,680
Do you think it's a good idea,
bad idea? Is it a bit invasive?

768
00:43:45,680 --> 00:43:47,120
I think it's brilliant.

769
00:43:47,120 --> 00:43:48,960
It's not taking any time
out of your day

770
00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:51,320
that you wouldn't be spending
anyway.

771
00:43:51,320 --> 00:43:55,720
Also, what we're talking about
preventing here is strokes. Yeah.

772
00:43:55,720 --> 00:43:57,680
And strokes are
devastating conditions.

773
00:43:57,680 --> 00:43:59,720
I always think
you're only one blood clot away

774
00:43:59,720 --> 00:44:01,920
from a life-changing event.
Good motto.

775
00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:07,560
As well as atrial fibrillation,

776
00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:11,120
another very common cause of stroke
is having high blood pressure.

777
00:44:11,120 --> 00:44:14,280
So, if you haven't had it done
recently, do get yourself tested.

778
00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:18,240
Your heart is a wonderful organ.

779
00:44:18,240 --> 00:44:19,960
The electrical system
which drives it

780
00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:23,360
is also remarkable -
until it goes wrong.

781
00:44:23,360 --> 00:44:26,640
Then you're probably gonna be
grateful to people like Ian,

782
00:44:26,640 --> 00:44:29,480
who are devising ingenious ways
to detect it,

783
00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:31,840
and others who are finding
better ways to treat it.

784
00:44:31,840 --> 00:44:36,160
'And here's another surprising way
to protect your heart -

785
00:44:36,160 --> 00:44:37,720
'brush and floss.

786
00:44:37,720 --> 00:44:41,040
'Bacteria in the mouth that cause
gum disease have been linked

787
00:44:41,040 --> 00:44:43,400
'to an increased risk
of heart problems.

788
00:44:43,400 --> 00:44:46,960
'So to help your heart,
take care of your teeth.'

789
00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:49,440
There's still
so much more to discover

790
00:44:53,720 --> 00:44:55,440
Plus the head of her femur.

791
00:44:55,440 --> 00:44:57,160
Next time...

792
00:44:57,160 --> 00:45:00,080
One in ten of us will need
a new hip at some point.

793
00:45:00,080 --> 00:45:03,400
We film a fascinating
hip replacement operation.

794
00:45:03,400 --> 00:45:05,760
Was she in a lot of pain?
Agony.

795
00:45:05,760 --> 00:45:10,200
People often complain about stress,
but it can be a good thing.

796
00:45:10,200 --> 00:45:12,840
To explore what stress really does
to your body,

797
00:45:12,840 --> 00:45:14,600
I go way out of my comfort zone.

798
00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:16,960
I am feeling sort of panic.

799
00:45:16,960 --> 00:45:20,760
and I reveal three things
you at home can do

800
00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:24,480
to reduce your blood pressure
without needing to join a gym.

801
00:45:24,480 --> 00:45:26,840
This is a real thigh-burner.

802
00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:09,000
Okay.

803
00:46:10,200 --> 00:46:13,320
One of Michael's greatest passions

804
00:46:13,320 --> 00:46:16,520
has always been to reveal
the extraordinary secrets

805
00:46:16,520 --> 00:46:18,520
of how our bodies work.

806
00:46:18,520 --> 00:46:21,400
MAN: Brilliant. Thank you.
MICHAEL: Yeah, that's good.

807
00:46:21,400 --> 00:46:24,080
He spent several months
with the production team...

808
00:46:24,080 --> 00:46:25,720
OK, yeah, a couple more.

809
00:46:27,720 --> 00:46:32,600
..travelling far and wide for this
brand-new series on the human body.

810
00:46:32,600 --> 00:46:33,560
Just look.

811
00:46:34,960 --> 00:46:38,160
The family and I are delighted
to introduce it to you.

812
00:46:38,160 --> 00:46:39,600
You sit down there.

813
00:46:39,600 --> 00:46:42,560
'Michael even persuaded me
to participate...'

814
00:46:42,560 --> 00:46:44,920
LAUGHTER

815
00:46:44,920 --> 00:46:47,200
'..tipping him upside down...'
Blimey.

816
00:46:47,200 --> 00:46:48,600
LAUGHTER

817
00:46:48,600 --> 00:46:50,960
'..as well as
filling his ice bath...'

818
00:46:50,960 --> 00:46:54,880
Go for it. Great.
'..all in the name of science.'

819
00:46:54,880 --> 00:46:58,560
And I'm sure
he would have enjoyed the programme.

820
00:46:58,560 --> 00:47:00,080
HE LAUGHS

821
00:47:09,200 --> 00:47:11,840
We're heading off
on an extraordinary journey

822
00:47:11,840 --> 00:47:13,560
around the human body.

823
00:47:14,720 --> 00:47:16,200
And if you give us
a little chuckle...

824
00:47:16,200 --> 00:47:17,800
HE CHUCKLES

825
00:47:17,800 --> 00:47:22,560
Have you ever wondered
why we get creaky joints?

826
00:47:22,560 --> 00:47:25,880
Does your body hold the power
to stop cancer from multiplying?

827
00:47:28,160 --> 00:47:30,640
How do you remember to breathe?

828
00:47:32,640 --> 00:47:36,960
'I'll be tracking down answers
to lots of burning questions.'

829
00:47:36,960 --> 00:47:38,480
HE EXCLAIMS

830
00:47:38,480 --> 00:47:40,480
I feel quite a strong desire
to urinate.

831
00:47:40,480 --> 00:47:42,000
But don't.
LAUGHING: OK.

832
00:47:42,000 --> 00:47:44,360
'From what exactly is
in our farts...'

833
00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:46,760
So, this device,
which we colloquially refer to

834
00:47:46,760 --> 00:47:49,120
as the thunder funnel...
That's great.

835
00:47:49,120 --> 00:47:51,600
'..to how long we take
to digest our food...'

836
00:47:51,600 --> 00:47:53,880
Are you wearing it overnight?
Absolutely.

837
00:47:55,480 --> 00:47:58,360
'..I'll show you how we can all live
healthier, longer lives.'

838
00:47:59,880 --> 00:48:02,240
This is one of the most impressive
things I've seen

839
00:48:02,240 --> 00:48:03,840
for a very long time.

840
00:48:03,840 --> 00:48:06,760
'And I put my body to the test...'
Hey!

841
00:48:06,760 --> 00:48:10,440
'..to help you at home
understand yours.'

842
00:48:12,640 --> 00:48:15,440
STRAINED: I'm stuck.
Get ready to see yourself...

843
00:48:15,440 --> 00:48:18,680
Ooh!
..in a whole new light.

844
00:48:26,920 --> 00:48:31,520
This time, we go behind the scenes
at Britain's biggest blood factory

845
00:48:31,520 --> 00:48:35,560
to find out why blood
is such a wonder of the human body.

846
00:48:35,560 --> 00:48:40,240
There's about 26 trillion red cells
in your body. Oh, wow.

847
00:48:40,240 --> 00:48:43,000
At this factory, they work 24/7

848
00:48:43,000 --> 00:48:45,520
to ensure that if you
ever have to have a transfusion,

849
00:48:45,520 --> 00:48:47,480
you get the blood you need.

850
00:48:47,480 --> 00:48:50,560
I'll find out how we can
reduce our blood pressure

851
00:48:50,560 --> 00:48:53,400
without needing
stretchy exercise wear

852
00:48:53,400 --> 00:48:55,360
or joining an expensive gym.

853
00:48:55,360 --> 00:48:58,200
This is a real thigh-burner.

854
00:48:58,200 --> 00:49:03,080
Plus, a bodily function we all do
as many as 15 times a day.

855
00:49:03,080 --> 00:49:04,560
HE FARTS

856
00:49:04,560 --> 00:49:07,160
But what is it about breaking wind

857
00:49:07,160 --> 00:49:10,960
that makes you feel
you need to blame the dog?

858
00:49:10,960 --> 00:49:14,120
Wonders Of The Human Body
tackles the burning questions

859
00:49:14,120 --> 00:49:16,440
that you might have
about your own body.

860
00:49:21,640 --> 00:49:25,080
I'm starting out by looking
for answers to a silent killer

861
00:49:25,080 --> 00:49:28,400
which is incredibly common
but often missed.

862
00:49:30,120 --> 00:49:32,320
I'm talking about
high blood pressure.

863
00:49:35,800 --> 00:49:39,440
Your heart is there
to drive blood around your body.

864
00:49:39,440 --> 00:49:41,920
This powerful muscle pumps away,

865
00:49:41,920 --> 00:49:44,800
and blood pressure
is the force of the blood

866
00:49:44,800 --> 00:49:47,400
pushing against
the walls of the vessels.

867
00:49:47,400 --> 00:49:50,560
Your blood pressure is a measure
of the pressure on your arteries

868
00:49:50,560 --> 00:49:53,320
when your heart contracts
and when it relaxes.

869
00:49:54,720 --> 00:49:57,240
That's why it's two numbers.

870
00:49:57,240 --> 00:50:00,120
The pressure is highest
when your heart is contracting

871
00:50:00,120 --> 00:50:02,320
and lowest when it's relaxing.

872
00:50:03,720 --> 00:50:05,480
Everyone is different,

873
00:50:05,480 --> 00:50:10,320
but a healthy blood pressure
should be less than 120/80.

874
00:50:13,680 --> 00:50:17,920
More than half of Brits over 65
have unhealthy blood pressure.

875
00:50:22,760 --> 00:50:24,680
To illustrate what's going wrong,

876
00:50:24,680 --> 00:50:27,320
I'm going to need a really big pump.

877
00:50:37,480 --> 00:50:41,880
Well, imagine this hose over here
is an artery,

878
00:50:41,880 --> 00:50:44,760
and the engine over there
is the heart.

879
00:50:44,760 --> 00:50:49,400
Now the heart is working
to pump blood through this hose

880
00:50:49,400 --> 00:50:51,200
to the hungry organs of the body...

881
00:50:52,480 --> 00:50:54,360
OK, lads, keep going.

882
00:50:56,720 --> 00:51:01,040
..which is fine if your arteries
are nice and supple.

883
00:51:01,040 --> 00:51:03,880
The trouble is that as we get older,

884
00:51:03,880 --> 00:51:08,400
these arteries
tend to become stiffer and narrower,

885
00:51:08,400 --> 00:51:11,560
and that means
that you need even more pressure...

886
00:51:13,200 --> 00:51:15,160
..so your heart has to pump harder.

887
00:51:16,400 --> 00:51:20,080
All that extra pressure
puts strain on the heart,

888
00:51:20,080 --> 00:51:23,080
and it also damages
the lining of the arteries.

889
00:51:25,560 --> 00:51:27,640
Even if you feel fine,

890
00:51:27,640 --> 00:51:30,560
it is important that you get your
blood pressure checked regularly,

891
00:51:30,560 --> 00:51:32,760
especially if you're over 50.

892
00:51:34,000 --> 00:51:36,640
High blood pressure
is known as the silent killer

893
00:51:36,640 --> 00:51:38,400
because it often
comes without symptoms,

894
00:51:38,400 --> 00:51:40,680
and unless you've got
a machine like this,

895
00:51:40,680 --> 00:51:42,760
you're not going to know you have it

896
00:51:42,760 --> 00:51:45,320
until perhaps you have
a heart attack or stroke.

897
00:51:45,320 --> 00:51:47,600
I feel particularly strongly
about this

898
00:51:47,600 --> 00:51:49,400
because I have several close friends

899
00:51:49,400 --> 00:51:53,000
who've died as a result
of untreated high blood pressure.

900
00:51:56,800 --> 00:51:59,600
Luckily, there's simple exercises
you can do at home

901
00:51:59,600 --> 00:52:01,360
which can reduce blood pressure.

902
00:52:01,360 --> 00:52:04,880
OK, so, this is the plank.

903
00:52:04,880 --> 00:52:06,880
The idea is you go
up on your elbows,

904
00:52:06,880 --> 00:52:10,880
keep your body straight and
hold this for as long as you can,

905
00:52:10,880 --> 00:52:13,640
ideally for up to two minutes,
which, I can assure you,

906
00:52:13,640 --> 00:52:16,080
is a long time
if you're doing the plank.

907
00:52:16,080 --> 00:52:19,360
Isometric exercises
where you tighten your muscles

908
00:52:19,360 --> 00:52:22,920
but don't actually move them,
like the plank or the wall sit,

909
00:52:22,920 --> 00:52:26,320
can help reduce blood pressure
in the comfort of your own home.

910
00:52:27,520 --> 00:52:29,200
So, this is the wall.

911
00:52:29,200 --> 00:52:31,480
You put your legs out about 2ft,

912
00:52:31,480 --> 00:52:34,520
and this is a real thigh-burner.

913
00:52:34,520 --> 00:52:37,640
Well,
maybe "comfort" was the wrong word.

914
00:52:37,640 --> 00:52:41,160
The idea is you try and hold it
for about 20 to 30 seconds,

915
00:52:41,160 --> 00:52:44,640
you have a breather and you go and
do it again another couple of times.

916
00:52:47,800 --> 00:52:51,480
Now, this is a surprising one,
and it's particularly suitable

917
00:52:51,480 --> 00:52:53,840
if you can't do
more conventional exercise.

918
00:52:53,840 --> 00:52:56,920
Now, what you have to do
is you have to grip this thing,

919
00:52:56,920 --> 00:52:59,280
and the idea is you squeeze it,

920
00:52:59,280 --> 00:53:01,640
and then you hold it
for a couple of minutes,

921
00:53:01,640 --> 00:53:03,120
and you do it again
a couple more times.

922
00:53:03,120 --> 00:53:06,000
And you try and do this
about three times a week.

923
00:53:06,000 --> 00:53:09,200
You can get hold
of these grip strengtheners

924
00:53:09,200 --> 00:53:10,600
pretty easily online.

925
00:53:11,880 --> 00:53:14,360
So, how exactly
do these sorts of exercises

926
00:53:14,360 --> 00:53:16,080
help reduce blood pressure?

927
00:53:18,960 --> 00:53:22,000
Inside your muscles,
you have a network of blood vessels.

928
00:53:24,920 --> 00:53:27,520
When you hold an exercise pose,

929
00:53:27,520 --> 00:53:29,840
the muscles
squeeze your blood vessels.

930
00:53:31,800 --> 00:53:34,160
Then when you stop squeezing,

931
00:53:34,160 --> 00:53:37,840
the sudden rush of blood
expands your vessels again.

932
00:53:37,840 --> 00:53:40,240
Repeating this on a regular basis

933
00:53:40,240 --> 00:53:42,600
makes your blood vessels
more supple,

934
00:53:42,600 --> 00:53:44,960
and because
they are now more supple,

935
00:53:44,960 --> 00:53:46,680
this helps
lower your blood pressure.

936
00:53:48,200 --> 00:53:49,760
It really is impressive,

937
00:53:49,760 --> 00:53:51,720
the way that these
relatively simple exercises

938
00:53:51,720 --> 00:53:53,600
can bring your blood pressure down.

939
00:53:53,600 --> 00:53:56,680
And it also shows
how remarkable your body is

940
00:53:56,680 --> 00:54:00,160
that it can self-repair
if you give it the chance.

941
00:54:01,480 --> 00:54:03,920
Don't panic if you get
an occasional high reading.

942
00:54:03,920 --> 00:54:07,800
Many things affect blood pressure,
such as poor sleep or stress.

943
00:54:07,800 --> 00:54:10,320
And as well as helping
lower blood pressure,

944
00:54:10,320 --> 00:54:13,600
daily exercise
is also very good for your joints.

945
00:54:14,760 --> 00:54:19,080
Every hop, skip or jump
I have made or will ever make

946
00:54:19,080 --> 00:54:21,040
is thanks to my hips.

947
00:54:22,280 --> 00:54:25,560
I want to find out more
about these remarkable bones.

948
00:54:25,560 --> 00:54:28,080
Our hips start out
strong and mobile,

949
00:54:28,080 --> 00:54:30,960
but the sad fact is
that one in ten of us

950
00:54:30,960 --> 00:54:33,240
will eventually need
hip replacement surgery,

951
00:54:33,240 --> 00:54:36,160
so can we reverse our hip destiny?

952
00:54:43,840 --> 00:54:46,920
To keep working efficiently,
our hip joints rely on

953
00:54:46,920 --> 00:54:50,520
the most slippery natural substance
ever discovered.

954
00:54:50,520 --> 00:54:52,360
HE CHUCKLES

955
00:54:53,600 --> 00:54:56,760
Not ice - but cartilage.

956
00:54:56,760 --> 00:55:01,600
Cartilage is amazingly flexible
and also acts as a shock absorber.

957
00:55:01,600 --> 00:55:03,680
It doesn't have a nerve supply,

958
00:55:03,680 --> 00:55:06,600
so it's ideal
for wherever two bones meet,

959
00:55:06,600 --> 00:55:08,800
preventing them
rubbing against each other.

960
00:55:10,640 --> 00:55:15,040
This ice is very slippery, which is
why I'm walking with caution,

961
00:55:15,040 --> 00:55:18,880
but cartilage is actually
five times more slippery than ice.

962
00:55:20,240 --> 00:55:21,920
Super slippy cartilage

963
00:55:21,920 --> 00:55:24,200
plus a watery lubricant
made by your blood

964
00:55:24,200 --> 00:55:26,440
helps your joints move with ease.

965
00:55:28,800 --> 00:55:31,800
But we certainly notice
when it goes wrong.

966
00:55:31,800 --> 00:55:34,920
In Middlesex, there's someone
who knows all too well

967
00:55:34,920 --> 00:55:37,120
the agony
that hip problems can bring.

968
00:55:38,560 --> 00:55:41,040
It's just constant pain
throughout the day. Er...

969
00:55:42,360 --> 00:55:44,720
Getting in and out of the car
is difficult.

970
00:55:44,720 --> 00:55:49,680
Just doing housework, gardening, er,
can be extremely difficult.

971
00:55:51,040 --> 00:55:53,080
43-year-old Claire Hayward

972
00:55:53,080 --> 00:55:56,320
has been admitted
for an urgent hip replacement.

973
00:55:56,320 --> 00:55:58,000
She has osteoarthritis,

974
00:55:58,000 --> 00:56:00,440
a condition where the cartilage
in her hip joint

975
00:56:00,440 --> 00:56:02,440
has largely disintegrated,

976
00:56:02,440 --> 00:56:05,960
leaving the bones to rub
against each other and wear away.

977
00:56:07,360 --> 00:56:09,400
Consultant's just told me
this morning,

978
00:56:09,400 --> 00:56:11,760
it looks like my left hip
is about to collapse

979
00:56:11,760 --> 00:56:14,000
because the bone
has worn away that much.

980
00:56:15,440 --> 00:56:17,520
It's osteoarthritis.

981
00:56:17,520 --> 00:56:21,160
I've had trouble throughout
my whole life with my hips.

982
00:56:22,440 --> 00:56:24,840
Today, I'm feeling
a little bit overwhelmed.

983
00:56:24,840 --> 00:56:26,080
Feeling quite emotional

984
00:56:26,080 --> 00:56:28,920
because I'm looking forward
to actually being pain-free.

985
00:56:28,920 --> 00:56:32,200
And I worry about my kids.
I just worry, you know.

986
00:56:32,200 --> 00:56:35,040
Hopefully, I'm gonna be OK,
there's no complications

987
00:56:35,040 --> 00:56:37,360
and I can get home
within the next couple of days.

988
00:56:38,520 --> 00:56:43,000
Osteoarthritis can be inherited
or the result of injury or overuse.

989
00:56:43,000 --> 00:56:45,280
Once the cartilage
has disintegrated,

990
00:56:45,280 --> 00:56:47,920
your best bet is a new hip.

991
00:56:47,920 --> 00:56:49,680
And a pair of eight gloves for me,
please.

992
00:56:51,240 --> 00:56:54,920
At the Royal National
Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore,

993
00:56:54,920 --> 00:56:58,840
they are hoping a new kind
of hip surgery pioneered here

994
00:56:58,840 --> 00:57:01,720
will help change Claire's life.

995
00:57:01,720 --> 00:57:04,080
I am looking forward to this.

996
00:57:04,080 --> 00:57:08,520
It's been a long time since
I've seen an orthopaedic operation,

997
00:57:08,520 --> 00:57:12,520
and I imagine it has changed
a great deal in that time.

998
00:57:12,520 --> 00:57:14,160
Just pull it down at the front.

999
00:57:19,560 --> 00:57:21,200
Coming up...

1000
00:57:21,200 --> 00:57:25,760
An extraordinary ability most of us
have no idea we possess.

1001
00:57:25,760 --> 00:57:29,400
I get to the bottom
of what's really in our farts.

1002
00:57:29,400 --> 00:57:33,720
Now, farting may not sound like one
of the wonders of the human body,

1003
00:57:33,720 --> 00:57:36,000
but it is a fascinating subject

1004
00:57:36,000 --> 00:57:38,360
and one I'm going to explore further

1005
00:57:38,360 --> 00:57:42,080
with the help
of this portable gas monitor.

1006
00:57:42,080 --> 00:57:44,920
And blood. What exactly is in it?

1007
00:57:44,920 --> 00:57:49,760
So, there you go.
A lovely drop of fresh blood.

1008
00:57:53,040 --> 00:57:56,760
I'm not normally a heavy drinker,
but for the sake of this programme,

1009
00:57:56,760 --> 00:57:59,120
I thought I would pop
into a local pub.

1010
00:58:00,880 --> 00:58:03,840
Afternoon.
Brilliant.

1011
00:58:03,840 --> 00:58:07,560
Could I get a pint of your best,
please?

1012
00:58:07,560 --> 00:58:09,400
Lovely.

1013
00:58:11,760 --> 00:58:13,720
And could I get another pint,
please?

1014
00:58:13,720 --> 00:58:16,080
Fantastic. Thank you.

1015
00:58:16,080 --> 00:58:18,360
And could I get another pint,
please?

1016
00:58:18,360 --> 00:58:19,440
Could I get another pint?

1017
00:58:19,440 --> 00:58:21,640
And I would like one more pint,
please.

1018
00:58:26,600 --> 00:58:30,000
Have you ever wondered how much
blood there is in the human body?

1019
00:58:30,000 --> 00:58:32,920
Well, it comes to around 5l,

1020
00:58:32,920 --> 00:58:35,800
which is about nine pints.

1021
00:58:37,680 --> 00:58:42,000
Many of us give blood
just under a pint at a time,

1022
00:58:42,000 --> 00:58:43,760
but what's in blood that makes it

1023
00:58:43,760 --> 00:58:46,080
such a precious
and life-saving liquid?

1024
00:58:47,280 --> 00:58:48,840
We're heading to Bristol

1025
00:58:48,840 --> 00:58:52,040
and one of the biggest blood
processing plants in the world.

1026
00:59:01,760 --> 00:59:04,120
A regular blood donor,
Meshach Snape,

1027
00:59:04,120 --> 00:59:07,160
has already given
an impressive 30 pints.

1028
00:59:09,520 --> 00:59:11,480
My older sister
was always donating blood.

1029
00:59:11,480 --> 00:59:13,760
So from seeing her doing it
all the time,

1030
00:59:13,760 --> 00:59:15,680
she encouraged me to start doing it,

1031
00:59:15,680 --> 00:59:17,480
and from then,
I haven't looked back.

1032
00:59:17,480 --> 00:59:20,160
And today,
he's getting inside the factory

1033
00:59:20,160 --> 00:59:23,440
to find out first-hand
what happens to the blood we donate.

1034
00:59:23,440 --> 00:59:26,600
It's almost like... like you're in
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.

1035
00:59:26,600 --> 00:59:28,320
Obviously,
there's nothing you can eat.

1036
00:59:28,320 --> 00:59:29,400
It's just amazing.

1037
00:59:30,560 --> 00:59:34,960
Blood doctor Liz
is leading his tour.

1038
00:59:34,960 --> 00:59:38,000
An amazing, amazing facility,
this is. Yeah.

1039
00:59:38,000 --> 00:59:40,680
So, all the blood from Midlands
and the South West

1040
00:59:40,680 --> 00:59:43,120
comes into this unit.
Yeah.

1041
00:59:43,120 --> 00:59:46,520
So your donation will come into
this unit to be processed. Yeah.

1042
00:59:47,640 --> 00:59:49,960
Once the precious
donated blood arrives,

1043
00:59:49,960 --> 00:59:52,320
it is carefully separated out

1044
00:59:52,320 --> 00:59:54,640
into different component parts
by machines.

1045
00:59:55,920 --> 00:59:57,400
As you might expect,

1046
00:59:57,400 --> 01:00:00,640
almost half of your blood
is made up of red blood cells,

1047
01:00:00,640 --> 01:00:05,000
essential for delivering oxygen
everywhere our body's needed.

1048
01:00:05,000 --> 01:00:06,920
The rest is plasma,

1049
01:00:06,920 --> 01:00:09,920
a fluid that is crucial
for health and longevity.

1050
01:00:09,920 --> 01:00:13,680
As well as carrying white cells
that fight infection and disease,

1051
01:00:13,680 --> 01:00:15,800
your plasma transports platelets

1052
01:00:15,800 --> 01:00:18,000
that are essential
for blood clotting.

1053
01:00:20,360 --> 01:00:24,240
Plasma is great because we can
make it into a product

1054
01:00:24,240 --> 01:00:26,240
we give to people who are bleeding.

1055
01:00:26,240 --> 01:00:28,080
It can help stop them bleeding.
OK.

1056
01:00:28,080 --> 01:00:30,480
It also contains antibodies,

1057
01:00:30,480 --> 01:00:35,200
and that can be used for people
who don't have a good immune system

1058
01:00:35,200 --> 01:00:37,840
and can help them fight infections.

1059
01:00:37,840 --> 01:00:39,120
OK.

1060
01:00:40,360 --> 01:00:43,640
This place is impressive,
but so is the fact that your body

1061
01:00:43,640 --> 01:00:46,640
can churn out new blood cells
at an extraordinary rate.

1062
01:00:48,280 --> 01:00:50,320
And you're making between

1063
01:00:50,320 --> 01:00:53,680
two and three million red cells
a second.

1064
01:00:53,680 --> 01:00:57,600
That's why you can donate blood
and your body kind of...

1065
01:00:57,600 --> 01:01:00,040
Replenishes it.
..replenishes it and makes more.

1066
01:01:00,040 --> 01:01:04,360
Every precious donation
helps places like this one

1067
01:01:04,360 --> 01:01:06,480
do their life-saving work.

1068
01:01:06,480 --> 01:01:09,840
All those different parts means
that we can save up to three lives

1069
01:01:09,840 --> 01:01:10,960
with each donation.

1070
01:01:10,960 --> 01:01:13,040
OK.

1071
01:01:13,040 --> 01:01:15,400
I want to give blood until...
until I can't no more.

1072
01:01:15,400 --> 01:01:16,960
I'm just gonna carry on
giving blood,

1073
01:01:16,960 --> 01:01:19,760
hopefully encourage others
to give blood.

1074
01:01:19,760 --> 01:01:23,240
'There's no other pint
quite like it. Cheers.

1075
01:01:29,320 --> 01:01:32,920
'Back in Stanmore,
43-year-old Claire is hoping to have

1076
01:01:32,920 --> 01:01:36,000
'her life transformed later today.

1077
01:01:36,000 --> 01:01:40,320
'Leading the surgical team at the
Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital

1078
01:01:40,320 --> 01:01:42,840
'is Professor Alistair Hart.'

1079
01:01:42,840 --> 01:01:44,880
So, can you tell me about Claire?

1080
01:01:44,880 --> 01:01:49,920
She is a young lady, considering
the average age of patients

1081
01:01:49,920 --> 01:01:51,520
that we give hip replacement to.

1082
01:01:51,520 --> 01:01:55,200
In the UK,
the average age is about 67.

1083
01:01:55,200 --> 01:01:58,160
'Alistair shows me
what can happen when hip joints

1084
01:01:58,160 --> 01:02:02,840
'like Claire's lose their
protective coating of cartilage.'

1085
01:02:02,840 --> 01:02:07,160
Here. This is what can go wrong.
Slightly more unusual.

1086
01:02:07,160 --> 01:02:08,960
So, in this hip...

1087
01:02:08,960 --> 01:02:12,200
SQUEAKS

1088
01:02:12,200 --> 01:02:14,840
..the cartilage has worn off,

1089
01:02:14,840 --> 01:02:17,560
and you've got bone rubbing
against bone.

1090
01:02:17,560 --> 01:02:19,760
Right.
That's what's causing squeaking.

1091
01:02:21,200 --> 01:02:23,920
Ooh! Wow. Was she in a lot of pain?

1092
01:02:23,920 --> 01:02:25,440
Agony. Yeah.

1093
01:02:27,400 --> 01:02:30,440
To save her from further pain
and disability,

1094
01:02:30,440 --> 01:02:34,200
Alastair will remove the damaged
head of Claire's thighbone

1095
01:02:34,200 --> 01:02:36,920
and fit an artificial implant.

1096
01:02:36,920 --> 01:02:40,720
It's proved extremely hard
to mimic a human hip

1097
01:02:40,720 --> 01:02:45,440
because it's such an extraordinary
bit of biological engineering.

1098
01:02:45,440 --> 01:02:48,320
So, second patient, Claire.
Are you happy?

1099
01:02:49,640 --> 01:02:51,720
Good. Thanks a lot.

1100
01:02:51,720 --> 01:02:56,040
Most artificial hips fail
after 25 years.

1101
01:02:56,040 --> 01:02:58,400
Often because it's so very hard

1102
01:02:58,400 --> 01:03:01,800
to achieve a design and fit
that's precise.

1103
01:03:01,800 --> 01:03:05,640
That'll need to come up
a little bit.

1104
01:03:05,640 --> 01:03:07,680
'Amongst other things,
Alastair and the team use

1105
01:03:07,680 --> 01:03:11,040
'a plastic 3D-printed model
which helps him decide

1106
01:03:11,040 --> 01:03:14,680
'exactly where to cut Claire's bone.

1107
01:03:14,680 --> 01:03:17,960
'Positioning her new hip implant
precisely

1108
01:03:17,960 --> 01:03:20,160
'should ensure it lasts longer.'

1109
01:03:22,680 --> 01:03:27,400
And we're now going into the hip
joint itself, into the capsule.

1110
01:03:27,400 --> 01:03:30,560
So step one will be the removal
of the head of the femur, will it?

1111
01:03:30,560 --> 01:03:31,680
Yes.

1112
01:03:31,680 --> 01:03:34,600
'Alastair shows me
the plastic model he's made

1113
01:03:34,600 --> 01:03:37,280
'of Claire's existing thigh bone.'

1114
01:03:37,280 --> 01:03:38,760
These are unique to this lady.

1115
01:03:38,760 --> 01:03:41,760
OK. That's the top
of her thigh bone, femur.

1116
01:03:41,760 --> 01:03:45,280
OK. It's really knackered, isn't it?
Yeah, it's very distorted.

1117
01:03:47,840 --> 01:03:50,360
These are unique...

1118
01:03:50,360 --> 01:03:55,440
and this piece fits very nicely...

1119
01:03:55,440 --> 01:03:58,360
OK. ..showing us
exactly where to make the cut.

1120
01:03:58,360 --> 01:04:01,640
OK. And the previous method
generally involves

1121
01:04:01,640 --> 01:04:05,120
an orthopaedic surgeon
using their finger.

1122
01:04:05,120 --> 01:04:06,800
Yes.
And very approximate.

1123
01:04:06,800 --> 01:04:09,600
And you've got to be right
within degrees, this one.

1124
01:04:09,600 --> 01:04:10,760
Wow.

1125
01:04:10,760 --> 01:04:12,760
These can come out.

1126
01:04:12,760 --> 01:04:18,160
What those 3D models allow him to do
is to align the bits up perfectly,

1127
01:04:18,160 --> 01:04:22,680
and that means that there's much
less chance that this hip will fail.

1128
01:04:24,520 --> 01:04:27,080
So, this is the moment of truth.
Right. Yep.

1129
01:04:27,080 --> 01:04:29,440
So...
That's the 3D model.

1130
01:04:29,440 --> 01:04:33,760
Will this guide actually fit
onto the patient's?

1131
01:04:33,760 --> 01:04:35,240
Yep. OK.

1132
01:04:35,240 --> 01:04:38,480
'If this doesn't work,
and the artificial hip fails,

1133
01:04:38,480 --> 01:04:42,120
'Claire will be in terrible pain
all over again.'

1134
01:04:47,360 --> 01:04:50,360
The next stopping point
on our journey around our bodies

1135
01:04:50,360 --> 01:04:52,960
is truly eye-opening.

1136
01:04:52,960 --> 01:04:57,280
The human eye is another wonderful
example of biological engineering.

1137
01:04:57,280 --> 01:04:59,720
Sight is so important to us

1138
01:04:59,720 --> 01:05:02,080
that more than half
the surface of our brains,

1139
01:05:02,080 --> 01:05:07,320
the cortex, is dedicated to
processing visual information.

1140
01:05:07,320 --> 01:05:09,880
But even if we are without vision,

1141
01:05:09,880 --> 01:05:13,520
we can still draw on
a hidden superpower.

1142
01:05:17,480 --> 01:05:20,440
Anybody who loses vision
in the way that I did,

1143
01:05:20,440 --> 01:05:24,160
very suddenly and very quickly,
is it's incredibly difficult.

1144
01:05:24,160 --> 01:05:26,520
Jayne Hyde-Dryden lost her sight

1145
01:05:26,520 --> 01:05:30,040
in her 40s after she developed
a condition called glaucoma,

1146
01:05:30,040 --> 01:05:33,240
which caused damage
to her optic nerves.

1147
01:05:33,240 --> 01:05:35,720
I remember
sitting in my living room,

1148
01:05:35,720 --> 01:05:38,800
not really being able to move
around my house properly,

1149
01:05:38,800 --> 01:05:42,640
not being able to stand up from
the chair and move to the door.

1150
01:05:42,640 --> 01:05:48,200
And I just felt very, very alone
in this... in this dark world.

1151
01:05:53,680 --> 01:05:56,320
Jane is now totally blind,

1152
01:05:56,320 --> 01:06:00,960
but her world has been opened up
by a startling new skill,

1153
01:06:00,960 --> 01:06:04,280
something we usually associate
with bats or dolphins.

1154
01:06:04,280 --> 01:06:06,160
Echolocation.

1155
01:06:06,160 --> 01:06:08,600
CLICKING

1156
01:06:11,960 --> 01:06:15,080
Echolocation has
absolutely transformed my life.

1157
01:06:15,080 --> 01:06:19,960
It basically involves the tongue
hitting the roof of the mouth.

1158
01:06:19,960 --> 01:06:21,320
CLICKING

1159
01:06:23,120 --> 01:06:28,240
The sound travels to the object
and back to my ears.

1160
01:06:33,960 --> 01:06:37,840
If an echo comes back quickly,
the object is close.

1161
01:06:37,840 --> 01:06:42,320
If it takes longer,
the object is further away.

1162
01:06:42,320 --> 01:06:45,520
And then what happens is something
magical in the brain happens

1163
01:06:45,520 --> 01:06:49,960
where the sound
is transferred into an image.

1164
01:06:49,960 --> 01:06:53,640
I use echolocation every single day.

1165
01:06:55,640 --> 01:06:58,320
The idea you can be trained
to see using sound

1166
01:06:58,320 --> 01:07:01,200
is extraordinary,
but Jayne's living proof.

1167
01:07:02,840 --> 01:07:06,640
I sense things throughout my
entire body when I'm walking around,

1168
01:07:06,640 --> 01:07:08,840
which sounds a bit odd
and a bit weird.

1169
01:07:10,760 --> 01:07:15,480
But I can determine if something
is hard or if it's soft,

1170
01:07:15,480 --> 01:07:17,280
how high it is.

1171
01:07:17,280 --> 01:07:19,680
I can see different textures.

1172
01:07:19,680 --> 01:07:22,040
PEDESTRIAN CROSSING BEEPS,
BELL TOLLS

1173
01:07:22,040 --> 01:07:23,920
I tend to take real note
of my environment.

1174
01:07:29,800 --> 01:07:32,680
Jayne was taught how to echolocate

1175
01:07:32,680 --> 01:07:36,160
by Doctor Lore Thaler
at Durham University.

1176
01:07:36,160 --> 01:07:40,600
Amazingly, apparently anyone
can do it if they learn how.

1177
01:07:43,040 --> 01:07:45,520
So, we have an object
in front of you.

1178
01:07:45,520 --> 01:07:48,640
It's a plank shape,
so it can be vertically

1179
01:07:48,640 --> 01:07:50,280
or it could be horizontal.

1180
01:07:50,280 --> 01:07:52,920
So your task is to echolocate it

1181
01:07:52,920 --> 01:07:55,200
and then tell us
which orientation it is.

1182
01:07:55,200 --> 01:07:56,280
All right.

1183
01:07:56,280 --> 01:07:59,040
CLICKING

1184
01:08:04,720 --> 01:08:06,280
That's right. Horizontal.
Yeah.

1185
01:08:06,280 --> 01:08:09,320
After five years of training,

1186
01:08:09,320 --> 01:08:12,600
Jayne now gets it right
about nine out of ten times.

1187
01:08:16,440 --> 01:08:18,800
When I echolocate with something,

1188
01:08:18,800 --> 01:08:21,600
am I using the same,
similar part of the brain

1189
01:08:21,600 --> 01:08:23,880
to someone
who's looking at something?

1190
01:08:23,880 --> 01:08:25,160
Yes, that seems to be.

1191
01:08:25,160 --> 01:08:27,480
Yeah.
That is just so cool, isn't it?

1192
01:08:27,480 --> 01:08:28,680
Yeah.

1193
01:08:28,680 --> 01:08:31,920
Laura has shown that as well
as the visually impaired,

1194
01:08:31,920 --> 01:08:34,960
sighted people
can also learn to echolocate

1195
01:08:34,960 --> 01:08:37,920
if they practise hard enough.

1196
01:08:39,920 --> 01:08:44,480
What was amazing also that
the people who are blind got better,

1197
01:08:44,480 --> 01:08:46,280
but also
the people who were sighted,

1198
01:08:46,280 --> 01:08:48,280
everyone got better.

1199
01:08:48,280 --> 01:08:51,000
I think it's just so cool
that everyone has the ability

1200
01:08:51,000 --> 01:08:52,600
to learn this technique.

1201
01:08:57,760 --> 01:08:59,960
CLICKING

1202
01:09:01,800 --> 01:09:05,440
And actually, everyone does
echolocation naturally,

1203
01:09:05,440 --> 01:09:07,040
I would suspect.

1204
01:09:07,040 --> 01:09:08,920
So there will have been times,
I'm sure,

1205
01:09:08,920 --> 01:09:11,720
when people have gone to the toilet
in the middle of the night

1206
01:09:11,720 --> 01:09:14,520
and they have stopped

1207
01:09:14,520 --> 01:09:17,880
because they know they're going
to walk into the door frame.

1208
01:09:17,880 --> 01:09:22,600
That is your in-built passive
echolocation working overtime.

1209
01:09:24,640 --> 01:09:30,200
For me, I'm really proud to be able
to just move with freedom.

1210
01:09:36,400 --> 01:09:38,440
For all of us, sighted or not,

1211
01:09:38,440 --> 01:09:43,400
the world can at times feel like
it's designed to stress us out.

1212
01:09:43,400 --> 01:09:45,920
And long-term chronic stress
has been blamed

1213
01:09:45,920 --> 01:09:48,000
for a host of serious conditions,

1214
01:09:48,000 --> 01:09:51,640
from heart disease to depression
and even Alzheimer's.

1215
01:09:51,640 --> 01:09:55,880
But being stressed is not always
a bad thing.

1216
01:09:59,200 --> 01:10:01,840
'To help explore
our body's response to stress

1217
01:10:01,840 --> 01:10:05,440
'and find out
what we can do about it...'

1218
01:10:05,440 --> 01:10:07,920
I felt a little frisson of fear
there.

1219
01:10:07,920 --> 01:10:12,400
'..I put myself
in a very unnatural situation.'

1220
01:10:12,400 --> 01:10:14,840
I'm halfway up a crag.

1221
01:10:14,840 --> 01:10:17,760
There's quite a long way down,
but there's an awful long way up,

1222
01:10:17,760 --> 01:10:19,360
and this is the hard bit.

1223
01:10:23,400 --> 01:10:27,840
The classical fight-or-flight
response is of such interest to us

1224
01:10:27,840 --> 01:10:30,200
because from
an evolutionary perspective,

1225
01:10:30,200 --> 01:10:33,720
it's perhaps what allows us
as a species to have survived,

1226
01:10:33,720 --> 01:10:36,760
but we also experience it every day.

1227
01:10:36,760 --> 01:10:40,800
You go into an interview or an exam
or you have stress at work.

1228
01:10:40,800 --> 01:10:43,320
It's the same response.
It's a stress response.

1229
01:10:43,320 --> 01:10:48,000
'Coming up... I find out what stress
is and how to overcome it,

1230
01:10:48,000 --> 01:10:51,760
'if I can summon up
enough courage to keep climbing.

1231
01:10:51,760 --> 01:10:54,520
'Talk about a cliff-hanger.

1232
01:10:54,520 --> 01:10:55,960
'Plus...'
EXCLAIMS

1233
01:10:55,960 --> 01:10:57,720
'..I explore
the extraordinary science

1234
01:10:57,720 --> 01:11:00,480
'behind how we get around
on two feet.'

1235
01:11:00,480 --> 01:11:01,760
Woo-hoo!

1236
01:11:03,320 --> 01:11:05,880
It is incredibly windy in here.

1237
01:11:05,880 --> 01:11:10,280
That is appropriate because
I'm about to introduce you

1238
01:11:10,280 --> 01:11:14,680
to one of the wonders of the human
body that we don't often talk about.

1239
01:11:14,680 --> 01:11:17,600
'Did you know
that women may fart more than men?'

1240
01:11:17,600 --> 01:11:20,400
Thank you very much.
Over and done. You won.

1241
01:11:20,400 --> 01:11:21,920
That's the head of her femur.

1242
01:11:21,920 --> 01:11:24,680
'And will a new approach
to hip replacement surgery

1243
01:11:24,680 --> 01:11:26,880
'give Claire her life back?'

1244
01:11:27,680 --> 01:11:30,760
MICHAEL MOSLEY: 'We're in Snowdonia,
where I'm on a mission

1245
01:11:30,760 --> 01:11:34,240
'to learn more about
what stress does to our bodies.

1246
01:11:34,240 --> 01:11:38,560
'To do that, I'm putting myself
through a very stressful experience,

1247
01:11:38,560 --> 01:11:40,360
'almost 100m up.'

1248
01:11:40,360 --> 01:11:42,720
God!
HE LAUGHS

1249
01:11:42,720 --> 01:11:45,040
Sorry, that's my hands.
Yeah, cold.

1250
01:11:45,040 --> 01:11:46,360
You all right?

1251
01:11:46,360 --> 01:11:48,840
'30 minutes earlier, I was rigged
with a heart rate monitor

1252
01:11:48,840 --> 01:11:50,840
'by Jamie Macdonald,

1253
01:11:50,840 --> 01:11:53,120
'who is professor of sport
and exercise science

1254
01:11:53,120 --> 01:11:54,360
'at Bangor University.'

1255
01:11:54,360 --> 01:11:56,720
What it allows us to do

1256
01:11:56,720 --> 01:12:00,280
is just get a visual picture
of what's happening to you

1257
01:12:00,280 --> 01:12:03,680
as you respond to
this fight-or-flight response. OK.

1258
01:12:03,680 --> 01:12:07,760
'I'm expecting the monitor will show
I am way outside my comfort zone,

1259
01:12:07,760 --> 01:12:10,240
'unlike Jamie's colleague,
Professor Tim Woodman,

1260
01:12:10,240 --> 01:12:12,640
'who's an experienced climber.'

1261
01:12:12,640 --> 01:12:15,000
There you go.
I think he's doing very well.

1262
01:12:15,000 --> 01:12:17,840
Well, he's obviously
a little bit anxious.

1263
01:12:17,840 --> 01:12:21,080
It's interesting. I'm definitely
feeling uncomfortable now.

1264
01:12:24,920 --> 01:12:28,520
So, the green line here
is Michael's heart rate response.

1265
01:12:28,520 --> 01:12:33,080
And the orange line is Tim,
who's climbing right next to him.

1266
01:12:33,080 --> 01:12:35,680
And that really does look
quite vertical, doesn't it?

1267
01:12:35,680 --> 01:12:38,640
It's starting to get
a bit more steep, isn't it? Yeah.

1268
01:12:38,640 --> 01:12:40,080
And what's interesting here

1269
01:12:40,080 --> 01:12:42,920
is that they're doing
the same amount of physical work,

1270
01:12:42,920 --> 01:12:45,120
yet Michael's response
is much greater.

1271
01:12:48,640 --> 01:12:51,960
'I do exercise regularly,
but the amount my heart is racing

1272
01:12:51,960 --> 01:12:56,280
'is a clear sign
of my stress response in action.'

1273
01:12:56,280 --> 01:12:57,400
Jesus!

1274
01:13:01,720 --> 01:13:03,480
OK. Blimey.

1275
01:13:03,480 --> 01:13:05,160
Well done.

1276
01:13:07,120 --> 01:13:13,200
So, now Michael's overcome
that initial anxiety,

1277
01:13:13,200 --> 01:13:15,880
he needs to continue to be ready
for activity.

1278
01:13:15,880 --> 01:13:17,600
Oh.
That's it.

1279
01:13:17,600 --> 01:13:21,040
There's this amazing hormone
called cortisol,

1280
01:13:21,040 --> 01:13:23,640
and cortisol is known
as the stress hormone.

1281
01:13:26,800 --> 01:13:29,360
So, the cortisol will keep
his heart rate high.

1282
01:13:29,360 --> 01:13:31,800
It will trigger his blood flow
to different parts of the body,

1283
01:13:31,800 --> 01:13:33,040
the muscles, the brain.

1284
01:13:33,040 --> 01:13:35,400
And we're going
to monitor that later

1285
01:13:35,400 --> 01:13:38,360
when we measure the cortisol
in his saliva.

1286
01:13:38,360 --> 01:13:41,640
I've got my cortisol swab here,
and I'm just going to feel my mouth.

1287
01:13:41,640 --> 01:13:43,960
Can you time me? Timing you
for two minutes, starting now.

1288
01:13:43,960 --> 01:13:46,000
Two minutes, yeah.

1289
01:13:46,000 --> 01:13:49,160
OK, that's it for the...
OK.

1290
01:13:49,160 --> 01:13:52,560
OK, it'll be interesting to see
what the result of that is.

1291
01:13:52,560 --> 01:13:54,400
I'd be astonished
if I'm not a bit stressed.

1292
01:13:56,520 --> 01:14:00,400
Most of us have heard
of the stress hormone cortisol,

1293
01:14:00,400 --> 01:14:03,320
but how exactly does it work?

1294
01:14:04,880 --> 01:14:07,240
When you're stressed,
your brain sends a signal

1295
01:14:07,240 --> 01:14:10,320
to glands near your kidneys,
telling them to release cortisol

1296
01:14:10,320 --> 01:14:12,760
into your bloodstream.

1297
01:14:12,760 --> 01:14:14,440
That's normal.

1298
01:14:14,440 --> 01:14:19,120
But if levels rise and stay high,
that can be bad news.

1299
01:14:19,120 --> 01:14:24,560
Too much exposure to cortisol can
disrupt the body's normal processes.

1300
01:14:26,600 --> 01:14:28,960
And that,
in turn, can increase your risk

1301
01:14:28,960 --> 01:14:32,680
of serious health problems, such
as high blood pressure and diabetes.

1302
01:14:34,640 --> 01:14:37,040
Coming up. Oh, a bit...

1303
01:14:37,040 --> 01:14:39,960
So, I am feeling sort of panic.

1304
01:14:44,560 --> 01:14:47,640
But I overcome my fear
and make it to the top,

1305
01:14:47,640 --> 01:14:50,200
and the view was well worth it.

1306
01:14:55,360 --> 01:14:57,720
I'm no mountain goat,
that's for sure.

1307
01:14:57,720 --> 01:14:59,800
With my ordeal finally over,

1308
01:14:59,800 --> 01:15:02,760
it's time to regroup with Jamie
at the bottom.

1309
01:15:02,760 --> 01:15:06,400
Hi there.
Oh, blimey, that was hard.

1310
01:15:06,400 --> 01:15:10,800
The test reveals that my cortisol
was a whopping three times

1311
01:15:10,800 --> 01:15:14,160
the expected level, and the effects
can hang around for a few hours,

1312
01:15:14,160 --> 01:15:16,440
so I'll probably have elevated
blood pressure

1313
01:15:16,440 --> 01:15:18,800
even after my heart rate comes down.

1314
01:15:18,800 --> 01:15:21,800
But the odd thing is,
I also quite enjoyed it.

1315
01:15:21,800 --> 01:15:24,720
I have to say, from a just purely
personal point of view,

1316
01:15:24,720 --> 01:15:27,080
feeling half way up,

1317
01:15:27,080 --> 01:15:28,960
never, ever, ever
want to do this again.

1318
01:15:28,960 --> 01:15:30,400
By the top, I was thinking,

1319
01:15:30,400 --> 01:15:32,040
"Actually, yeah,
I could do this again."

1320
01:15:32,040 --> 01:15:33,280
HE LAUGHS
That's great.

1321
01:15:36,600 --> 01:15:39,600
A short, stressful challenge
like mountain climbing

1322
01:15:39,600 --> 01:15:41,400
can give us a feel-good buzz,

1323
01:15:41,400 --> 01:15:44,960
but chronic stress
is really bad for us.

1324
01:15:44,960 --> 01:15:47,960
Fortunately, there are
some easy things you can do

1325
01:15:47,960 --> 01:15:53,000
to manage chronic stress and help
improve your health and longevity.

1326
01:15:53,000 --> 01:15:57,920
Having a good laugh
will reduce cortisol levels.

1327
01:15:57,920 --> 01:16:01,560
Getting active and also practising
deep breathing is especially good

1328
01:16:01,560 --> 01:16:04,640
for calming your nervous system.

1329
01:16:04,640 --> 01:16:08,120
And a dose of fresh air,
preferably somewhere green,

1330
01:16:08,120 --> 01:16:10,880
is always good for stress.

1331
01:16:17,040 --> 01:16:20,320
In Stanmore, mum-of-two Claire,
has been admitted

1332
01:16:20,320 --> 01:16:23,600
for what she hopes
will be life-changing surgery.

1333
01:16:23,600 --> 01:16:27,680
A leading orthopaedic surgeon,
Alastair Hart,

1334
01:16:27,680 --> 01:16:30,680
is at the critical stage
of the operation.

1335
01:16:30,680 --> 01:16:34,160
So this is the moment of truth.
Right, yep.

1336
01:16:34,160 --> 01:16:37,480
'Earlier, he made a plastic model
designed to test how well

1337
01:16:37,480 --> 01:16:41,800
'the real hip implant will fit
when he puts it into Claire's body.'

1338
01:16:41,800 --> 01:16:43,200
So, let's see.

1339
01:16:43,200 --> 01:16:46,560
It's very like, erm, Lego.

1340
01:16:46,560 --> 01:16:48,920
And that fits very nicely to me.

1341
01:16:48,920 --> 01:16:53,320
Yeah. It looks beautiful.
It looks... That's very solid.

1342
01:16:53,320 --> 01:16:55,760
'The plastic template
can now be put aside.

1343
01:16:55,760 --> 01:16:58,480
'It has done its job,
showing Alistair

1344
01:16:58,480 --> 01:17:01,280
'exactly where he needs
to cut through bone.'

1345
01:17:03,120 --> 01:17:05,600
So that shows you
exactly where you got to cut.

1346
01:17:05,600 --> 01:17:08,240
Make the cut.
Here we go.

1347
01:17:08,240 --> 01:17:09,640
DRILLING

1348
01:17:12,040 --> 01:17:14,920
So you just cut through the bone?

1349
01:17:14,920 --> 01:17:17,200
So it's got absolutely
no cartilage here at all.

1350
01:17:17,200 --> 01:17:19,560
So this should be nice and soft.

1351
01:17:22,040 --> 01:17:23,560
And it's rock hard.
Yeah.

1352
01:17:23,560 --> 01:17:26,880
And she's been walking on that
and is a very painful joint. Yeah.

1353
01:17:29,400 --> 01:17:31,680
'Claire's new custom-built
artificial hip

1354
01:17:31,680 --> 01:17:33,400
'is now ready to be fitted.'

1355
01:17:33,400 --> 01:17:35,280
So that's a short, right?

1356
01:17:39,320 --> 01:17:41,600
'And just over an hour
after starting,

1357
01:17:41,600 --> 01:17:43,680
'Claire's new hip is in place.'

1358
01:17:43,680 --> 01:17:47,440
So that's her new hip articulation.
Brilliant.

1359
01:17:47,440 --> 01:17:50,880
And within a day or two,
she's going to be up and about.

1360
01:17:50,880 --> 01:17:52,880
She'll be walking tomorrow morning,
yeah.

1361
01:17:52,880 --> 01:17:55,560
Maybe later this evening,
if she's keen. Yeah.

1362
01:17:58,040 --> 01:18:00,240
Right.
I think the operation is done.

1363
01:18:01,400 --> 01:18:05,280
'Only time will tell if Claire's
new hip will be a success.'

1364
01:18:05,280 --> 01:18:07,720
Good day's work. Yes.
I've changed my shirt.

1365
01:18:12,320 --> 01:18:15,920
If you experience discomfort
in your hips or your lower back,

1366
01:18:15,920 --> 01:18:19,240
it could be down to how you walk.

1367
01:18:20,520 --> 01:18:24,160
No-one really knows why humans
first started walking upright,

1368
01:18:24,160 --> 01:18:28,680
but with an erect posture
came back problems.

1369
01:18:28,680 --> 01:18:31,080
Here at the Edinburgh Centre
for robotics,

1370
01:18:31,080 --> 01:18:34,360
they're studying exactly how
we manage to get around on two feet,

1371
01:18:34,360 --> 01:18:37,360
with the long-term goal
of helping those who can't.

1372
01:18:37,360 --> 01:18:39,360
And they are doing this

1373
01:18:39,360 --> 01:18:42,960
with the help of some
very unusual lab assistants.

1374
01:18:42,960 --> 01:18:45,160
Ooh, very good.

1375
01:18:46,480 --> 01:18:49,800
It reminds me
of teaching my children to walk.

1376
01:18:49,800 --> 01:18:54,400
Basically, you have to grab them
just as they're about to keel over.

1377
01:18:54,400 --> 01:18:56,880
Whoa! There we go.

1378
01:18:56,880 --> 01:19:00,560
Professor Sethu Vijayakumar
is leading the team,

1379
01:19:00,560 --> 01:19:03,160
and today, I'm his guinea pig.

1380
01:19:03,160 --> 01:19:07,200
We're gonna try running
some walking tests on you.

1381
01:19:07,200 --> 01:19:11,760
We don't normally think that much
about how we walk, we just do it,

1382
01:19:11,760 --> 01:19:16,160
so I'll be intrigued to see what
the researchers make of my walking.

1383
01:19:16,160 --> 01:19:17,800
OK. What do you think?
You're looking good.

1384
01:19:17,800 --> 01:19:20,440
Looking good?
Thank you very much. OK.

1385
01:19:20,440 --> 01:19:23,360
On the treadmill,
cameras track sensors

1386
01:19:23,360 --> 01:19:27,600
which are attached to my body
to record my exact movements.

1387
01:19:28,840 --> 01:19:33,160
We actually can see you
in real time on the screen.

1388
01:19:33,160 --> 01:19:35,880
The skeleton of you walking.

1389
01:19:35,880 --> 01:19:39,680
When humans walk,
we tend to walk by falling forward.

1390
01:19:39,680 --> 01:19:40,760
Yeah, OK.

1391
01:19:42,520 --> 01:19:46,520
If you look carefully, you can see
I'm always off-balance,

1392
01:19:46,520 --> 01:19:48,600
slightly tipping forward.

1393
01:19:48,600 --> 01:19:51,880
But what's amazing
is my body constantly senses

1394
01:19:51,880 --> 01:19:56,200
the ground beneath me, allowing me
to respond to changing terrain...

1395
01:19:56,200 --> 01:19:57,080
EXCLAIMS

1396
01:19:57,080 --> 01:19:58,840
..without needing to think about it.

1397
01:19:58,840 --> 01:20:00,720
I did not expect it to do that.

1398
01:20:00,720 --> 01:20:05,040
So how does your body manage
to react so well to surprise?

1399
01:20:05,040 --> 01:20:06,120
Whoo!

1400
01:20:06,120 --> 01:20:09,040
Now, I was able to correct myself
almost immediately on that.

1401
01:20:09,040 --> 01:20:12,640
You get an unexpected event,
like a push,

1402
01:20:12,640 --> 01:20:16,440
then your automatic part kicks in

1403
01:20:16,440 --> 01:20:19,440
where it prevents you
from falling over.

1404
01:20:21,800 --> 01:20:25,360
The secret to this lies
in something called your reflex arc.

1405
01:20:25,360 --> 01:20:28,520
When your legs start to stumble,
nerve signals travel

1406
01:20:28,520 --> 01:20:32,400
to your spinal cord, and messages
then go straight back to your legs,

1407
01:20:32,400 --> 01:20:35,320
telling them how to correct
your balance.

1408
01:20:35,320 --> 01:20:36,960
For the sake of speed,

1409
01:20:36,960 --> 01:20:39,440
your reflexes actually bypass
your brain.

1410
01:20:41,320 --> 01:20:44,240
'Walking, of course,
is very good for us.'

1411
01:20:44,240 --> 01:20:47,160
If everyone did
at least 15 minutes a day,

1412
01:20:47,160 --> 01:20:51,480
as many as one in ten
premature deaths could be prevented.

1413
01:20:51,480 --> 01:20:53,200
EXCLAIMS

1414
01:20:57,120 --> 01:21:00,040
Our bodies
have evolved to walk upright,

1415
01:21:00,040 --> 01:21:02,720
helped by large muscles in the bum,

1416
01:21:02,720 --> 01:21:05,280
the aptly named gluteus maximus,

1417
01:21:05,280 --> 01:21:11,080
by our Achilles tendons, and
even by the arches in our feet.

1418
01:21:14,000 --> 01:21:17,520
Of course, cardio workouts
that you can do sitting down

1419
01:21:17,520 --> 01:21:20,320
will also provide health benefits.

1420
01:21:22,880 --> 01:21:25,240
Whoa! Weird.

1421
01:21:25,240 --> 01:21:27,840
Sethu also wants to use
the research being done here

1422
01:21:27,840 --> 01:21:30,200
to help people regain mobility.

1423
01:21:30,200 --> 01:21:34,720
This is a small step for me
but a giant step for mankind.

1424
01:21:34,720 --> 01:21:37,000
Hey, I love the noise.
I have to say.

1425
01:21:37,000 --> 01:21:38,600
MECHANICAL WHIR

1426
01:21:39,920 --> 01:21:44,240
This is an exoskeleton,
a wearable robot.

1427
01:21:44,240 --> 01:21:45,840
So just gently.

1428
01:21:45,840 --> 01:21:47,600
HE LAUGHS

1429
01:21:47,600 --> 01:21:49,240
That is very weird.

1430
01:21:49,240 --> 01:21:52,400
There's part of me which is quite
confident that I can probably...

1431
01:21:52,400 --> 01:21:53,760
Da-da-da!

1432
01:21:53,760 --> 01:21:57,320
I can't dance, but
I can absolutely move. Turn. Yeah.

1433
01:22:00,800 --> 01:22:03,600
The exoskeleton can support itself.

1434
01:22:03,600 --> 01:22:07,120
And let's say you are somebody
with a disability

1435
01:22:07,120 --> 01:22:09,600
and you didn't have the force
to actually move your legs,

1436
01:22:09,600 --> 01:22:12,080
then this exoskeleton
could kick in at that point

1437
01:22:12,080 --> 01:22:15,640
and assist you such that you feel
like you're walking normally.

1438
01:22:15,640 --> 01:22:18,000
For many people,
that would be a big thing.

1439
01:22:18,000 --> 01:22:19,880
Absolutely.
Absolutely.

1440
01:22:19,880 --> 01:22:22,080
OK, I'm feeling confident.
Yeah.

1441
01:22:23,320 --> 01:22:25,680
For people who've had an injury,

1442
01:22:25,680 --> 01:22:28,320
a stroke,
or a condition like Parkinson's,

1443
01:22:28,320 --> 01:22:32,000
exoskeletons like this one
could one day support them

1444
01:22:32,000 --> 01:22:33,880
as they learn to walk again.

1445
01:22:33,880 --> 01:22:36,320
How long do you think before people

1446
01:22:36,320 --> 01:22:39,240
are gonna start wearing these
in a more routine way?

1447
01:22:39,240 --> 01:22:41,520
I think it's going to be
at least five to ten years.

1448
01:22:41,520 --> 01:22:44,160
'That's a long time to wait.

1449
01:22:44,160 --> 01:22:48,480
'But in the meantime, I can promise
you they're a lot of fun.'

1450
01:22:48,480 --> 01:22:49,640
No. It's cool.

1451
01:22:49,640 --> 01:22:53,880
So now I know what it feels like
to be a cyborg.

1452
01:22:55,720 --> 01:22:58,880
Time to move on from something
incredibly high tech

1453
01:22:58,880 --> 01:23:02,240
to something that's far more
down to Earth.

1454
01:23:02,240 --> 01:23:04,040
Ooh!

1455
01:23:04,040 --> 01:23:06,600
It is incredibly windy in here.

1456
01:23:06,600 --> 01:23:11,000
That is appropriate,
because I'm about to introduce you

1457
01:23:11,000 --> 01:23:13,280
to one of the wonders
of the human body

1458
01:23:13,280 --> 01:23:16,360
that we don't often talk about...

1459
01:23:16,360 --> 01:23:18,760
and that is breaking wind.

1460
01:23:20,560 --> 01:23:24,520
So, what is it
that happens when we fart?

1461
01:23:24,520 --> 01:23:28,520
And what is in those farts?

1462
01:23:28,520 --> 01:23:30,720
Whoo!

1463
01:23:34,360 --> 01:23:38,440
At least this is an experiment
that I can do at home.

1464
01:23:38,440 --> 01:23:41,400
'I'm trying to produce a fart
to see what's in it.'

1465
01:23:41,400 --> 01:23:42,720
Nope.

1466
01:23:42,720 --> 01:23:47,160
While we wait, here are
some fabulous farty facts.

1467
01:23:47,160 --> 01:23:52,000
So, on average, we produce
up to a litre of gas a day.

1468
01:23:53,760 --> 01:23:58,200
And then, of course, we release it.
We know these numbers

1469
01:23:58,200 --> 01:24:01,520
because scientists have studied
this serious subject

1470
01:24:01,520 --> 01:24:04,320
by putting tubes
up people's rectums.

1471
01:24:10,760 --> 01:24:13,360
Studies have also shown
that the average person farts

1472
01:24:13,360 --> 01:24:18,240
up to 15 times a day,
which, over a year, really adds up.

1473
01:24:20,600 --> 01:24:23,600
Now, this is
about 300 litres of gas,

1474
01:24:23,600 --> 01:24:27,000
which is roughly the amount
you produce every year.

1475
01:24:28,680 --> 01:24:32,320
Chances are, you or someone
uncomfortably close to you

1476
01:24:32,320 --> 01:24:35,360
is likely to break wind
at least once

1477
01:24:35,360 --> 01:24:37,120
before the end of this programme.

1478
01:24:37,120 --> 01:24:38,680
DOG WHINES

1479
01:24:40,640 --> 01:24:42,200
FARTS

1480
01:24:42,200 --> 01:24:46,600
Coming up, has Claire's pioneering
hip surgery been a success,

1481
01:24:46,600 --> 01:24:50,560
and will she soon be pain-free
for the first time in years?

1482
01:24:50,560 --> 01:24:53,680
I'll reveal the different gases
that make up your farts.

1483
01:24:53,680 --> 01:24:56,200
You have some methane,
so you're one of the lucky ones

1484
01:24:56,200 --> 01:24:57,880
that have some methane.
Woo-hoo!

1485
01:24:57,880 --> 01:25:00,840
And just how flammable are farts?

1486
01:25:00,840 --> 01:25:04,720
I urge you, do not try this at home.

1487
01:25:09,560 --> 01:25:12,640
MICHAEL MOSLEY:
Our journey round the human body

1488
01:25:12,640 --> 01:25:17,560
has taken us
from the top to the bottom.

1489
01:25:17,560 --> 01:25:21,120
I've come to Loughborough University
to meet Professor Jim Reynolds.

1490
01:25:21,120 --> 01:25:25,920
Jim has kindly offered to use his
considerable scientific expertise

1491
01:25:25,920 --> 01:25:28,840
to capture and test my farts.

1492
01:25:30,040 --> 01:25:31,440
Hi, Jim.

1493
01:25:31,440 --> 01:25:32,600
Ah, morning, Michael.

1494
01:25:32,600 --> 01:25:35,840
Now, I gather you've been putting
something together to help collect

1495
01:25:35,840 --> 01:25:37,760
and analyse my farts, yep?

1496
01:25:37,760 --> 01:25:39,240
That's correct, Michael.

1497
01:25:39,240 --> 01:25:42,200
So, this device,
which we colloquially refer to

1498
01:25:42,200 --> 01:25:45,560
as the Thunder Funnel...
Ha-ha, that's great! OK.

1499
01:25:45,560 --> 01:25:47,400
Yeah.
You might not want to sniff that.

1500
01:25:47,400 --> 01:25:48,600
LAUGHS

1501
01:25:48,600 --> 01:25:49,800
So, this is a small pump.

1502
01:25:49,800 --> 01:25:52,160
This will extract the gas,

1503
01:25:52,160 --> 01:25:53,920
and it will measure
how much gas is released.

1504
01:25:53,920 --> 01:25:56,200
OK. Have you done this yourself?
No comment.

1505
01:25:56,200 --> 01:25:57,000
LAUGHS

1506
01:25:57,000 --> 01:25:58,880
OK, so, I'm assuming what happens

1507
01:25:58,880 --> 01:26:01,640
is you just kind of lift
that end, will you?

1508
01:26:01,640 --> 01:26:03,520
That's correct. Place it there.

1509
01:26:03,520 --> 01:26:07,200
Yeah. We switch the pump on
and then open the valve.

1510
01:26:07,200 --> 01:26:10,640
And there we go.
Brilliant. Fart in a bag.

1511
01:26:11,960 --> 01:26:15,400
With the Thunder Funnel in place,
it's now just a waiting game.

1512
01:26:19,720 --> 01:26:22,160
FARTS

1513
01:26:22,160 --> 01:26:24,720
There she blows!

1514
01:26:24,720 --> 01:26:27,000
Woo-hoo! Result!

1515
01:26:27,000 --> 01:26:28,800
Now that my wind's been captured,

1516
01:26:28,800 --> 01:26:31,480
the team will analyse
exactly what is in it.

1517
01:26:31,480 --> 01:26:34,040
Which for me, at least,
is quite exciting.

1518
01:26:34,040 --> 01:26:37,320
Chemist Mickella Dawkins
will do the analysis.

1519
01:26:37,320 --> 01:26:38,720
I have an offering for you.

1520
01:26:38,720 --> 01:26:40,360
Thank you very much.
That's quite a lot.

1521
01:26:40,360 --> 01:26:42,240
So, what are you expecting to find?

1522
01:26:42,240 --> 01:26:45,120
So, I'm going to find out
what's in your farts.

1523
01:26:45,120 --> 01:26:46,600
And we're gonna use this machine,

1524
01:26:46,600 --> 01:26:48,880
which is called
a gas chromatographer.

1525
01:26:48,880 --> 01:26:50,080
It separates out the gases

1526
01:26:50,080 --> 01:26:52,440
and tells me
what's in your fart, basically.

1527
01:26:52,440 --> 01:26:54,040
It's results time, that was fast.
Yeah.

1528
01:26:54,040 --> 01:26:55,360
SHE LAUGHS

1529
01:26:55,360 --> 01:26:57,560
Fantastic.
So, let's it bring up here.

1530
01:26:59,480 --> 01:27:01,160
So, this is you.
So, this is me.

1531
01:27:01,160 --> 01:27:04,280
Yeah. So, first of all,
most of it, as you can see, is air.

1532
01:27:04,280 --> 01:27:06,880
So we have
quite a lot of nitrogen

1533
01:27:06,880 --> 01:27:10,320
and also carbon dioxide, which
we find in the air around us.

1534
01:27:11,640 --> 01:27:14,280
'Most of the gas we release
through our bottoms

1535
01:27:14,280 --> 01:27:17,240
'is just air we swallowed earlier.'

1536
01:27:17,240 --> 01:27:19,600
But it's not all hot air.

1537
01:27:19,600 --> 01:27:23,360
Around 100 trillion bacteria
live in your intestine.

1538
01:27:23,360 --> 01:27:27,280
They help to break down food
and release gas while they do it.

1539
01:27:29,880 --> 01:27:32,480
The gut bacteria
are obviously doing something.

1540
01:27:32,480 --> 01:27:35,080
Yes, which is why we have
the hydrogen coming through,

1541
01:27:35,080 --> 01:27:37,440
which we find
in everybody's farts.

1542
01:27:37,440 --> 01:27:39,440
The thing which
produces a lot of the smell. Yes.

1543
01:27:39,440 --> 01:27:41,840
And which we are incredibly
sensitive to... Definitely.

1544
01:27:41,840 --> 01:27:43,200
..is hydrogen sulphide.
Yes.

1545
01:27:43,200 --> 01:27:46,040
And where would you normally
encounter it in the real world?

1546
01:27:46,040 --> 01:27:47,800
So, rotten food.

1547
01:27:47,800 --> 01:27:51,720
Ah, OK, so, really, what
it's measuring is rot, decay,

1548
01:27:51,720 --> 01:27:54,880
something which is dangerous, and
that's why it's so important to us.

1549
01:27:54,880 --> 01:27:56,360
We can test for it.

1550
01:27:56,360 --> 01:27:58,640
So we can use something
called lead acetate paper

1551
01:27:58,640 --> 01:28:00,680
and squeeze your gases over it.

1552
01:28:00,680 --> 01:28:01,920
Marvellous.

1553
01:28:01,920 --> 01:28:05,240
It should go brown, browny-black
colour if there is enough in there.

1554
01:28:05,240 --> 01:28:07,120
Yeah.
OK.

1555
01:28:07,120 --> 01:28:10,800
So the moment of truth,
are my farts smelly?

1556
01:28:13,160 --> 01:28:15,440
Not at all brown. Not at all brown.
So good news.

1557
01:28:15,440 --> 01:28:17,800
Instant woo-hoo! Hey!

1558
01:28:17,800 --> 01:28:19,720
I may be producing farts,
but they're not smelly.

1559
01:28:19,720 --> 01:28:21,040
LAUGHS

1560
01:28:21,040 --> 01:28:23,840
Have you analysed yours?
No. Not yet.

1561
01:28:23,840 --> 01:28:24,960
Not yet. Brilliant.

1562
01:28:27,240 --> 01:28:29,240
So there you have it.

1563
01:28:29,240 --> 01:28:32,720
Many of the gases coming out
of your rear end...

1564
01:28:32,720 --> 01:28:33,840
FARTS

1565
01:28:33,840 --> 01:28:36,040
..come from air
you've swallowed earlier.

1566
01:28:38,400 --> 01:28:43,000
Your gut bacteria make hydrogen
and pong-y hydrogen sulphide.

1567
01:28:43,000 --> 01:28:46,120
But for most people,
it's there in such tiny quantities,

1568
01:28:46,120 --> 01:28:49,000
it barely registers.

1569
01:28:49,000 --> 01:28:51,960
Despite the fact
your nose is super-sharp

1570
01:28:51,960 --> 01:28:55,320
at picking up every last drop of it.

1571
01:28:55,320 --> 01:29:00,280
And there's another gas that
some of us produce. Methane.

1572
01:29:06,200 --> 01:29:09,840
I've just captured some methane gas
inside these soapy bubbles.

1573
01:29:11,880 --> 01:29:14,080
Let's see what happens
when I light it.

1574
01:29:21,960 --> 01:29:23,840
Whoa! That was magical.

1575
01:29:23,840 --> 01:29:27,400
Now, as you can see,
methane is incredibly flammable.

1576
01:29:27,400 --> 01:29:31,040
It is a gas produced in your gut,
and not all of us do so.

1577
01:29:31,040 --> 01:29:34,120
In fact, only around one
in four people produce methane.

1578
01:29:34,120 --> 01:29:36,160
And obviously,
some people on the internet

1579
01:29:36,160 --> 01:29:38,520
are busy trying
to light their farts.

1580
01:29:38,520 --> 01:29:42,760
I would strongly recommend
you don't do that.

1581
01:29:45,120 --> 01:29:49,520
Whether or not you produce methane
is down to your genes, your diet,

1582
01:29:49,520 --> 01:29:52,800
and your own individual mix
of gut bacteria.

1583
01:29:56,480 --> 01:29:58,960
When I first started looking
into the subject of farts,

1584
01:29:58,960 --> 01:30:02,160
I had no idea it was going to be
quite as interesting as it is.

1585
01:30:02,160 --> 01:30:04,640
But on the whole,
the fact that we fart, well,

1586
01:30:04,640 --> 01:30:08,520
that is just entirely human
and nothing to be ashamed about.

1587
01:30:17,360 --> 01:30:21,680
Remember Claire, who we followed
having a pioneering hip replacement?

1588
01:30:21,680 --> 01:30:23,920
Here she is ten weeks later.

1589
01:30:25,680 --> 01:30:28,920
There's no pain. I used
to get pain doing this machine,

1590
01:30:28,920 --> 01:30:32,080
but now, it feels great.

1591
01:30:32,080 --> 01:30:35,840
Here's hoping that the cutting-edge
surgical techniques we saw earlier

1592
01:30:35,840 --> 01:30:38,720
will keep her and others like her

1593
01:30:38,720 --> 01:30:41,600
pain-free and mobile
for decades to come.

1594
01:30:41,600 --> 01:30:43,960
The human body is full of surprises,

1595
01:30:43,960 --> 01:30:48,200
and what's exciting is there is
so much more to learn.

1596
01:30:50,000 --> 01:30:52,480
How do you remember to breathe?

1597
01:30:52,480 --> 01:30:53,640
INHALES

1598
01:30:55,440 --> 01:30:57,240
STEADY BEEPING

1599
01:30:57,240 --> 01:31:03,160
Respiratory diseases are one of
the main causes of death in the UK.

1600
01:31:03,160 --> 01:31:05,840
We follow the
extraordinary story of Clifford,

1601
01:31:05,840 --> 01:31:10,440
who is undergoing
pioneering lung surgery.

1602
01:31:10,440 --> 01:31:12,880
I don't know what to expect.

1603
01:31:12,880 --> 01:31:14,240
SHOOTING

1604
01:31:14,240 --> 01:31:16,760
Wahey! One down, a billion to go.

1605
01:31:16,760 --> 01:31:21,080
How exactly does your body react
to invading viruses like the flu?

1606
01:31:21,080 --> 01:31:23,040
And the last drop now.

1607
01:31:26,200 --> 01:31:29,600
And I reveal three things
you can do to keep your brain

1608
01:31:29,600 --> 01:31:32,320
in peak condition as you age.

1609
01:31:32,320 --> 01:31:34,520
Whoa!

1610
01:32:15,000 --> 01:32:17,000
Okay.

1611
01:32:18,200 --> 01:32:21,960
'One of Michael's greatest passions
has always been

1612
01:32:21,960 --> 01:32:26,400
'to reveal the extraordinary secrets
of how our bodies work.'

1613
01:32:26,400 --> 01:32:28,360
Brilliant. Thank you.

1614
01:32:28,360 --> 01:32:30,000
MAN: Yeah. That's good.

1615
01:32:30,000 --> 01:32:32,280
'He spent several months
with a production team...'

1616
01:32:32,280 --> 01:32:34,120
OK, yeah, a couple more.

1617
01:32:35,640 --> 01:32:40,600
'..travelling far and wide for this
brand new series on the human body.'

1618
01:32:40,600 --> 01:32:42,960
Just look.

1619
01:32:42,960 --> 01:32:46,000
'The family and I are delighted
to introduce it to you.'

1620
01:32:46,000 --> 01:32:47,520
What I want you to do
is sit down there.

1621
01:32:47,520 --> 01:32:50,560
'Michael even persuaded me
to participate...'

1622
01:32:50,560 --> 01:32:54,240
THEY LAUGH
'..tipping him upside down...'

1623
01:32:54,240 --> 01:32:56,600
Blimey!
THEY LAUGH

1624
01:32:56,600 --> 01:32:58,960
'..as well as
filling his ice bath...'

1625
01:32:58,960 --> 01:33:01,640
Go for it.
'..all in the name of science.'

1626
01:33:01,640 --> 01:33:03,480
Great.

1627
01:33:03,480 --> 01:33:06,480
'And I'm sure he would
have enjoyed the programme.'

1628
01:33:06,480 --> 01:33:08,000
HE LAUGHS

1629
01:33:16,240 --> 01:33:19,760
We're heading off
on an extraordinary journey

1630
01:33:19,760 --> 01:33:21,480
around the human body.

1631
01:33:22,640 --> 01:33:24,120
And if you give us
a little chuckle...

1632
01:33:24,120 --> 01:33:25,720
HE CHUCKLES

1633
01:33:25,720 --> 01:33:29,440
'Have you ever wondered
why we get creaky joints?'

1634
01:33:29,440 --> 01:33:31,080
CREAKS

1635
01:33:31,080 --> 01:33:33,800
'Does your body hold the power
to stop cancer from multiplying?'

1636
01:33:36,160 --> 01:33:39,200
How do you remember to breathe?
BREATHES DEEPLY

1637
01:33:41,280 --> 01:33:44,840
'I'll be tracking down answers
to lots of burning questions...'

1638
01:33:44,840 --> 01:33:46,400
HIGH-PITCHED LAUGHTER

1639
01:33:46,400 --> 01:33:48,400
I feel quite a strong desire
to urinate.

1640
01:33:48,400 --> 01:33:49,920
But don't.
OK.

1641
01:33:49,920 --> 01:33:52,280
'..from what exactly
is in our farts...'

1642
01:33:52,280 --> 01:33:54,680
So, this device,
which we colloquially refer to

1643
01:33:54,680 --> 01:33:56,160
as the Thunder Funnel...

1644
01:33:56,160 --> 01:33:57,760
MICHAEL LAUGHS
That's great.

1645
01:33:57,760 --> 01:34:00,160
'..to how long we take
to digest our food.'

1646
01:34:00,160 --> 01:34:03,400
CLARE: Are you wearing it overnight?
Absolutely.

1647
01:34:03,400 --> 01:34:06,360
'I'll show you how we can all live
healthier, longer lives.'

1648
01:34:06,360 --> 01:34:07,800
MONITOR BEEPS

1649
01:34:07,800 --> 01:34:10,160
This is one of the most
impressive things

1650
01:34:10,160 --> 01:34:12,280
I've seen for a very long time.

1651
01:34:12,280 --> 01:34:14,680
'And I put my body to the test...'
Hey.

1652
01:34:14,680 --> 01:34:16,960
'..to help you at home...'
Oh!

1653
01:34:16,960 --> 01:34:18,360
'..understand yours.'

1654
01:34:20,480 --> 01:34:21,560
That's stuck.

1655
01:34:21,560 --> 01:34:23,920
Get ready to see yourself...

1656
01:34:23,920 --> 01:34:25,200
Ooh!

1657
01:34:25,200 --> 01:34:26,600
..in a whole new light.

1658
01:34:35,000 --> 01:34:36,520
'This time...'

1659
01:34:36,520 --> 01:34:39,440
What is the best way
of improving your brain health?

1660
01:34:39,440 --> 01:34:42,640
Is it crosswords?
Is it Sudoku?

1661
01:34:42,640 --> 01:34:45,440
It's something that's going on
in here.

1662
01:34:45,440 --> 01:34:46,880
'I'm thrown in at the deep end,

1663
01:34:46,880 --> 01:34:51,280
'trying out a surprisingly enjoyable
way to keep our brains young.'

1664
01:34:51,280 --> 01:34:53,920
We love it. It's an energy
that you cannae explain.

1665
01:34:53,920 --> 01:34:58,320
'Can you stave off muscle weakness
as you get older?'

1666
01:34:58,320 --> 01:35:01,080
I just get a buzz,
particularly competing.

1667
01:35:01,080 --> 01:35:03,480
'Staying active well into our 70s

1668
01:35:03,480 --> 01:35:06,280
'is more achievable
than we might think.

1669
01:35:06,280 --> 01:35:08,880
'And...
with one in five of us

1670
01:35:08,880 --> 01:35:11,280
'likely to develop
breathing problems at some point,

1671
01:35:11,280 --> 01:35:15,680
'our cameras follow surgeons
as they battle against the clock

1672
01:35:15,680 --> 01:35:18,440
'to perform a pioneering
lung treatment.'

1673
01:35:18,440 --> 01:35:22,840
SURGEON: We've only got
a safety window of 20 or so minutes

1674
01:35:22,840 --> 01:35:24,560
before there will be
irreversible damage.

1675
01:35:25,960 --> 01:35:28,840
We're heading out
on another extraordinary journey

1676
01:35:28,840 --> 01:35:31,840
around the wonders of your body.

1677
01:35:31,840 --> 01:35:35,280
'First, something
our bodies just can't avoid.

1678
01:35:35,280 --> 01:35:39,680
'Every year, hundreds of thousands
of Brits come down with the flu.

1679
01:35:39,680 --> 01:35:42,040
'The viruses that cause it
are released

1680
01:35:42,040 --> 01:35:44,560
'when someone who's infected
coughs or sneezes.

1681
01:35:45,720 --> 01:35:48,240
'So, how does your body
try to prevent being invaded

1682
01:35:48,240 --> 01:35:50,080
'by these invisible microbes?'

1683
01:35:52,240 --> 01:35:56,560
Our body has lots of defences
to try and prevent those microbes

1684
01:35:56,560 --> 01:35:57,920
from getting inside.

1685
01:35:57,920 --> 01:36:00,520
Now, my face, for example,
has quite a few holes in it.

1686
01:36:00,520 --> 01:36:02,240
My nose, my mouth.

1687
01:36:02,240 --> 01:36:05,680
If we have a look inside my nose,
we see lots of hairs.

1688
01:36:08,040 --> 01:36:11,400
Tiny particles carrying microbes
get trapped by the hairs,

1689
01:36:11,400 --> 01:36:14,800
and later, what happens is
you blow them out into your hanky.

1690
01:36:14,800 --> 01:36:16,160
Or, perhaps, you swallow them

1691
01:36:16,160 --> 01:36:18,520
and they go down
into the acid of your stomach,

1692
01:36:18,520 --> 01:36:21,080
which destroys them. Ingenious.

1693
01:36:22,600 --> 01:36:26,480
But what happens
when harmful microbes like viruses

1694
01:36:26,480 --> 01:36:29,520
get past the first line of defence,

1695
01:36:29,520 --> 01:36:32,240
entering your lungs
and bloodstream?

1696
01:36:32,240 --> 01:36:35,040
As virus particles
begin to multiply,

1697
01:36:35,040 --> 01:36:37,480
your immune system
springs into action.

1698
01:36:37,480 --> 01:36:39,960
It's the start of a battle

1699
01:36:39,960 --> 01:36:42,240
between your body
and the infection.

1700
01:36:42,240 --> 01:36:43,360
SNEEZES

1701
01:36:43,360 --> 01:36:45,320
The flu is more dangerous
for older people

1702
01:36:45,320 --> 01:36:47,920
because your immune system
weakens as you age.

1703
01:36:50,360 --> 01:36:54,200
In this London clinic,
they do something extraordinary.

1704
01:36:55,280 --> 01:36:59,200
The invitingly-named FluCamp
is run by hVIVO,

1705
01:36:59,200 --> 01:37:00,960
who are experts
in clinical trials.'

1706
01:37:00,960 --> 01:37:03,320
Drop two drops in your nose, please.

1707
01:37:03,320 --> 01:37:06,040
Volunteers check in
for a holiday with a difference.

1708
01:37:06,040 --> 01:37:07,440
SCIENTIST: Right nostril, one.

1709
01:37:07,440 --> 01:37:10,600
They're given a dose of flu
high up in the nasal cavity,

1710
01:37:10,600 --> 01:37:13,800
bypassing the nose's
hairy first line of defence.

1711
01:37:13,800 --> 01:37:18,200
EQUIPMENT BEEPS
Left nostril, two, 12:15.

1712
01:37:18,200 --> 01:37:21,520
These volunteers
have already had a flu vaccine.

1713
01:37:21,520 --> 01:37:23,560
SCIENTIST:
Perfect. Thank you very much.

1714
01:37:23,560 --> 01:37:27,000
The team will monitor
how well the vaccine protects

1715
01:37:27,000 --> 01:37:29,400
against this particular
strain of flu.

1716
01:37:30,880 --> 01:37:35,200
This is just day one
of a week-long stay for Mark Gales.

1717
01:37:35,200 --> 01:37:38,960
I just sneezed. Not once, but twice.

1718
01:37:38,960 --> 01:37:43,320
So, are my symptoms starting?
Only time will tell.

1719
01:37:43,320 --> 01:37:45,160
Once inside the body,

1720
01:37:45,160 --> 01:37:48,240
the viruses trigger
our mucus-making machinery

1721
01:37:48,240 --> 01:37:51,200
to go into overdrive.
CLEARS NOSE

1722
01:37:51,200 --> 01:37:53,560
This is your body's way
of trying to trap...

1723
01:37:53,560 --> 01:37:57,200
WHEEZING COUGH
..and clear away any new invaders.

1724
01:37:57,200 --> 01:38:00,600
Becoming blocked up and congested
can be really unpleasant.

1725
01:38:00,600 --> 01:38:02,960
So imagine how you would feel

1726
01:38:02,960 --> 01:38:05,560
if you had a really serious
breathing problem.

1727
01:38:09,480 --> 01:38:13,880
50 miles north in Cambridge,
67-year-old Clifford Young

1728
01:38:13,880 --> 01:38:16,760
has been admitted to hospital
with breathing difficulties.

1729
01:38:16,760 --> 01:38:19,400
Since I almost passed out,

1730
01:38:19,400 --> 01:38:21,760
I realised that something
was seriously wrong.

1731
01:38:21,760 --> 01:38:24,760
I was previously one of the most
fittest person on the planet.

1732
01:38:24,760 --> 01:38:26,240
HE LAUGHS

1733
01:38:26,240 --> 01:38:28,800
MUSIC PLAYS

1734
01:38:28,800 --> 01:38:32,120
I love dancing.
Used to do a lot of Latin dancing.

1735
01:38:32,120 --> 01:38:34,840
Very fast, very active.

1736
01:38:34,840 --> 01:38:37,280
It was very difficult
to get me off the dance floor.

1737
01:38:37,280 --> 01:38:40,720
MAN: And I'd like you
to take a deep breath in.

1738
01:38:40,720 --> 01:38:42,600
All that changed around a year ago,

1739
01:38:42,600 --> 01:38:44,920
when Clifford found
he was struggling to breathe,

1740
01:38:44,920 --> 01:38:48,000
and even passed out a few times.

1741
01:38:48,000 --> 01:38:51,440
Worryingly, a scan revealed
he had clots in the blood vessels

1742
01:38:51,440 --> 01:38:53,560
that provide his lungs with blood.

1743
01:38:53,560 --> 01:38:57,960
This is a life-threatening
condition called pulmonary embolism,

1744
01:38:57,960 --> 01:39:01,240
and it affects as many
as 60,000 Brits each year.

1745
01:39:01,240 --> 01:39:05,400
DEEP BREATHING

1746
01:39:05,400 --> 01:39:07,760
Your lungs supply your blood
with oxygen,

1747
01:39:07,760 --> 01:39:10,240
and do this thanks to
some extraordinary engineering.

1748
01:39:10,240 --> 01:39:12,600
HEARTBEAT THROBS

1749
01:39:12,600 --> 01:39:16,520
Each lung contains
millions of tiny air sacs.

1750
01:39:16,520 --> 01:39:18,440
These delicate structures

1751
01:39:18,440 --> 01:39:21,120
are particularly prone to damage
from smoking,

1752
01:39:21,120 --> 01:39:23,480
as they can't always
repair themselves.

1753
01:39:23,480 --> 01:39:27,920
Each lung contains nearly
half a billion of these air sacs,

1754
01:39:27,920 --> 01:39:30,880
giving them a huge surface area.

1755
01:39:30,880 --> 01:39:34,360
It's here, inside these sacs,
that oxygen is able to pass

1756
01:39:34,360 --> 01:39:38,160
into the lung's vast network
of blood vessels.

1757
01:39:38,160 --> 01:39:42,560
But in Clifford's case, the blood
is struggling to get through.

1758
01:39:42,560 --> 01:39:46,160
That's when they find out there's
clots on both sides of my lungs.

1759
01:39:46,160 --> 01:39:49,880
That's when it really hit me.
I said, "Oh... You're gonna die."

1760
01:39:53,080 --> 01:39:56,000
It's not Clifford's airways
that are blocked,

1761
01:39:56,000 --> 01:39:57,680
but the blood vessels
in his lungs.

1762
01:39:57,680 --> 01:40:00,360
MONITOR BEEPING

1763
01:40:02,480 --> 01:40:05,160
Clifford's only hope
is a radical operation

1764
01:40:05,160 --> 01:40:08,800
performed by senior consultant
David Jenkins

1765
01:40:08,800 --> 01:40:12,040
here at the Royal Papworth
Hospital.

1766
01:40:12,040 --> 01:40:14,400
The patient's had
a pulmonary embolism,

1767
01:40:14,400 --> 01:40:16,760
which is simply a blood clot
to the lung arteries.

1768
01:40:19,520 --> 01:40:22,680
The vast majority of people
with a blood clot in their lungs

1769
01:40:22,680 --> 01:40:26,240
can be treated with blood thinners,
but in Clifford's case,

1770
01:40:26,240 --> 01:40:29,120
the clots have become
immovable masses of tissue

1771
01:40:29,120 --> 01:40:32,680
that are blocking
major blood vessels in his lungs.

1772
01:40:32,680 --> 01:40:36,120
His heart has to work
harder and harder.

1773
01:40:36,120 --> 01:40:40,120
Left untreated,
this would lead to heart failure.

1774
01:40:40,120 --> 01:40:43,920
But removing these clots
is going to be tricky.

1775
01:40:43,920 --> 01:40:46,840
The lungs are relatively
inconveniently located

1776
01:40:46,840 --> 01:40:48,560
in the middle of the chest

1777
01:40:48,560 --> 01:40:51,640
and ordinarily have five litres
of blood per minute

1778
01:40:51,640 --> 01:40:52,760
flowing through them.

1779
01:40:52,760 --> 01:40:55,400
The surgical team
has the technology

1780
01:40:55,400 --> 01:40:58,160
to see exactly where the clots are,

1781
01:40:58,160 --> 01:40:59,760
but to remove them,

1782
01:40:59,760 --> 01:41:04,840
they will need to first remove
all nine pints of Clifford's blood.

1783
01:41:04,840 --> 01:41:08,200
We need to completely empty
the blood vessels of...

1784
01:41:08,200 --> 01:41:10,560
of blood,
so we can see what we're doing.

1785
01:41:10,560 --> 01:41:15,280
But without blood, your brain can't
survive more than five minutes.

1786
01:41:15,280 --> 01:41:18,560
Hello there, Mr Young.
How are you?

1787
01:41:18,560 --> 01:41:20,640
Hi. I'm fine, thanks, Mr Jenkins.

1788
01:41:20,640 --> 01:41:23,840
It's a major,
major event for you tomorrow.

1789
01:41:23,840 --> 01:41:25,560
No, just wake me up.

1790
01:41:25,560 --> 01:41:28,440
CLIFFORD LAUGHS
Yeah, we'll make sure of that. Yeah.

1791
01:41:31,280 --> 01:41:35,240
We've got Clifford Young today.
He's in his mid-60s.

1792
01:41:35,240 --> 01:41:38,000
Symptoms of breathlessness.
Quite a lot of disease.

1793
01:41:39,320 --> 01:41:42,760
As part of Clifford's operation,
his heart will be stopped.

1794
01:41:45,320 --> 01:41:48,000
But the riskiest part
of the whole procedure

1795
01:41:48,000 --> 01:41:50,920
is having the blood
drained from his body.

1796
01:41:52,360 --> 01:41:57,440
Still a bit nervous
how the outcome is gonna be,

1797
01:41:57,440 --> 01:41:58,680
but, hopefully, that...

1798
01:42:00,280 --> 01:42:02,080
I give them my trust.

1799
01:42:04,360 --> 01:42:05,640
The surgeons are prepped,

1800
01:42:05,640 --> 01:42:07,600
and Clifford is taken
to the operating theatre

1801
01:42:07,600 --> 01:42:11,080
for what is set to be
an eight-hour procedure.

1802
01:42:13,000 --> 01:42:16,160
MR JENKINS: And how are you feeling?
I'm feeling fine.

1803
01:42:21,040 --> 01:42:22,800
'Coming up...

1804
01:42:22,800 --> 01:42:26,000
'How do older brains
learn new things?'

1805
01:42:26,000 --> 01:42:27,520
WOMAN: Are you ready to go?
Yep.

1806
01:42:27,520 --> 01:42:29,240
OK. Starting now.

1807
01:42:29,240 --> 01:42:31,520
'I show you ways
to keep your brain sharp,

1808
01:42:31,520 --> 01:42:34,360
'even as we get into older age.'

1809
01:42:34,360 --> 01:42:36,000
All will be revealed shortly, yeah?

1810
01:42:36,000 --> 01:42:38,480
'I swallow a tiny video camera

1811
01:42:38,480 --> 01:42:41,160
'to learn more
about our digestive system.'

1812
01:42:41,160 --> 01:42:42,400
Well, beautiful, isn't it?

1813
01:42:44,000 --> 01:42:46,000
'And I go to war with the flu virus

1814
01:42:46,000 --> 01:42:49,320
'to reveal your body's powerful,
hidden defences.'

1815
01:42:52,920 --> 01:42:56,040
MICHAEL MOSLEY: 'Wherever you live,
whether in the countryside,

1816
01:42:56,040 --> 01:43:00,880
'or in the city, surveys suggest
that as many as one in two of us

1817
01:43:00,880 --> 01:43:05,280
'report problems
with our digestive systems.

1818
01:43:05,280 --> 01:43:08,840
And as we get older,
our struggles can get worse,

1819
01:43:08,840 --> 01:43:11,160
particularly things
like constipation

1820
01:43:11,160 --> 01:43:13,280
and irritable bowel syndrome.

1821
01:43:13,280 --> 01:43:16,600
Most of us will never
get to see inside our guts,

1822
01:43:16,600 --> 01:43:18,480
but I'm about to get that chance.

1823
01:43:21,600 --> 01:43:24,160
I've come to meet Gill Fry,

1824
01:43:24,160 --> 01:43:26,400
an endoscopy nurse
at the London Clinic.

1825
01:43:27,680 --> 01:43:30,120
So, for this test,
you'll need to wear

1826
01:43:30,120 --> 01:43:32,400
this quite wide belt
around your middle.

1827
01:43:32,400 --> 01:43:34,160
So, let's get it comfortable first.

1828
01:43:34,160 --> 01:43:35,840
Over your head.
Yep.

1829
01:43:35,840 --> 01:43:37,560
And then that comes around here.

1830
01:43:39,600 --> 01:43:42,200
'The belt contains a device
that will record video

1831
01:43:42,200 --> 01:43:46,600
'captured by this tiny camera
the size of a pill.

1832
01:43:46,600 --> 01:43:50,120
'It's normally used by doctors
to inspect your gut.'

1833
01:43:50,120 --> 01:43:51,720
What happens to it at the end?

1834
01:43:51,720 --> 01:43:53,760
You may see it
when you go to the loo.

1835
01:43:53,760 --> 01:43:55,040
HE CHUCKLES
You might see it...

1836
01:43:55,040 --> 01:43:57,960
I might hear it go tinkle, tinkle,
as it hits the porcelain. Yes.

1837
01:43:57,960 --> 01:44:00,320
And before you do anything,
if you could take a selfie

1838
01:44:00,320 --> 01:44:02,800
by pointing it slightly the other
way, towards you. Perfect.

1839
01:44:02,800 --> 01:44:06,480
OK. So, the flashing lights
and camera crew are ready.

1840
01:44:06,480 --> 01:44:07,600
SHE LAUGHS
There we go.

1841
01:44:07,600 --> 01:44:09,040
Exactly.
Smile.

1842
01:44:09,040 --> 01:44:11,400
Just take it in your own time.

1843
01:44:11,400 --> 01:44:13,920
Uh-huh. It doesn't matter
which way it goes down.

1844
01:44:15,800 --> 01:44:18,160
It's in your mouth at the moment.

1845
01:44:18,160 --> 01:44:19,880
HE GULPS AND GASPS

1846
01:44:19,880 --> 01:44:21,720
It's going down your oesophagus,

1847
01:44:21,720 --> 01:44:23,440
into your stomach.
HE GULPS AND GASPS

1848
01:44:23,440 --> 01:44:25,800
Oh, there it goes. Blimey.
And we can see that it's...

1849
01:44:25,800 --> 01:44:26,520
Wow.
..in the stomach.

1850
01:44:26,520 --> 01:44:27,960
It's already in the stomach. Wow.

1851
01:44:27,960 --> 01:44:30,600
Yeah. That was fast.
It's just a matter of seconds.

1852
01:44:30,600 --> 01:44:32,440
'The tiny camera is setting off

1853
01:44:32,440 --> 01:44:34,800
'on its incredible voyage
through my guts.'

1854
01:44:34,800 --> 01:44:37,600
Weird, isn't it? To think that
that's going on inside you.

1855
01:44:37,600 --> 01:44:39,960
And my poor stomach's wondering
what it's got here. Yes.

1856
01:44:39,960 --> 01:44:42,320
There's clearly something
it can't digest. That's right.

1857
01:44:42,320 --> 01:44:44,680
'Let's give it
something to look at.'

1858
01:44:44,680 --> 01:44:46,120
I wondered
if I could do a little demo.

1859
01:44:46,120 --> 01:44:50,360
I've got some sweetcorn over there,
so... see if they pop up on camera.

1860
01:44:55,360 --> 01:44:57,040
Oop. Something's happened.

1861
01:44:57,040 --> 01:44:59,400
That's them, I reckon.
The little... Yeah.

1862
01:44:59,400 --> 01:45:01,160
Yeah? They came...
Ooh, that's fast, isn't it?

1863
01:45:01,160 --> 01:45:03,200
Yeah. Very fast.
Got right down there.

1864
01:45:03,200 --> 01:45:06,360
The camera battery should last
at least 12 hours,

1865
01:45:06,360 --> 01:45:10,760
so I'm not expecting it to beam
back pictures of the whole journey,

1866
01:45:10,760 --> 01:45:13,200
as the typical gut transit time
for food

1867
01:45:13,200 --> 01:45:15,160
is around one-to-three days.

1868
01:45:15,160 --> 01:45:17,680
Even longer if you're constipated.

1869
01:45:17,680 --> 01:45:21,760
I would expect the camera to stay
in my stomach for a couple of hours.

1870
01:45:21,760 --> 01:45:25,520
That's typically how long
food spends getting churned up

1871
01:45:25,520 --> 01:45:27,240
by the strong muscles
of the stomach

1872
01:45:27,240 --> 01:45:30,080
and its acidic gastric juices.

1873
01:45:30,080 --> 01:45:33,480
And before you ask,
the reason we don't digest ourselves

1874
01:45:33,480 --> 01:45:37,720
is because the stomach
is lined with acid-proof mucus.

1875
01:45:39,840 --> 01:45:42,680
Surprisingly, women
tend to have longer guts than men,

1876
01:45:42,680 --> 01:45:45,880
probably because
they need to absorb more nutrients

1877
01:45:45,880 --> 01:45:47,520
when pregnant or breast-feeding.

1878
01:45:49,240 --> 01:45:50,760
I'm now heading off home.

1879
01:45:50,760 --> 01:45:53,200
I've got all the kit under this lot,

1880
01:45:53,200 --> 01:45:56,880
and I'll be fascinated
to see what happens next.

1881
01:45:56,880 --> 01:45:59,600
As far as I know,
it's still in the stomach,

1882
01:45:59,600 --> 01:46:03,560
but it should be making its way down
to the small intestine shortly,

1883
01:46:03,560 --> 01:46:06,880
and it'll be interesting to see
what it looks like down there.

1884
01:46:06,880 --> 01:46:09,920
And then, finally, will make its way
to the large intestine.

1885
01:46:09,920 --> 01:46:12,280
It's now been just about an hour,

1886
01:46:12,280 --> 01:46:14,160
so hopefully,
it's well on its way.

1887
01:46:16,640 --> 01:46:20,080
Our guts do much more
than simply digest food.

1888
01:46:20,080 --> 01:46:23,080
They are also home
to trillions of microbes

1889
01:46:23,080 --> 01:46:25,520
that play a critical role
in protecting us

1890
01:46:25,520 --> 01:46:28,440
from all sorts of infections.

1891
01:46:28,440 --> 01:46:31,360
At FluCamp,
volunteer Mark's immune system

1892
01:46:31,360 --> 01:46:34,200
seems to be protecting him
against the flu.

1893
01:46:36,320 --> 01:46:37,680
'But down the years,

1894
01:46:37,680 --> 01:46:40,120
'plenty of others
have not been so lucky.'

1895
01:46:43,320 --> 01:46:45,200
Now, this is very nostalgic.

1896
01:46:45,200 --> 01:46:48,360
It's a photograph of me
with my older brother John,

1897
01:46:48,360 --> 01:46:51,000
and it was taken in 1957.

1898
01:46:51,000 --> 01:46:52,880
And just at that time,

1899
01:46:52,880 --> 01:46:55,240
there was an outbreak
of a deadly flu

1900
01:46:55,240 --> 01:46:58,040
which killed up to
four million people worldwide,

1901
01:46:58,040 --> 01:47:00,720
and I was struck down with it.

1902
01:47:00,720 --> 01:47:05,120
But I survived,
largely thanks to my immune system.

1903
01:47:05,120 --> 01:47:08,200
Since then, well,
I've had lots of other infections,

1904
01:47:08,200 --> 01:47:12,600
but my immune system
has always managed to get on top.

1905
01:47:12,600 --> 01:47:15,120
So, how exactly
does the immune system

1906
01:47:15,120 --> 01:47:18,600
help us fight off
deadly infections like viruses?

1907
01:47:20,440 --> 01:47:24,440
'Before I answer that question,
I'm heading off to the flu centre

1908
01:47:24,440 --> 01:47:28,840
'to have a blood test to see what,
if any, immunity I have

1909
01:47:28,840 --> 01:47:32,640
'to the common strains of flu
that are currently circulating.'

1910
01:47:32,640 --> 01:47:34,080
Hi, there.
Hello. Good morning.

1911
01:47:34,080 --> 01:47:35,440
Good morning to you.

1912
01:47:35,440 --> 01:47:37,440
All right. You'd like
to draw my blood, would you?

1913
01:47:37,440 --> 01:47:39,120
Yeah.
I've got good veins.

1914
01:47:41,040 --> 01:47:42,880
'A couple of vials
are expertly drawn

1915
01:47:42,880 --> 01:47:45,320
'by phlebotomist Melonie Ogaribo.'

1916
01:47:46,760 --> 01:47:48,240
Thank you.

1917
01:47:52,320 --> 01:47:55,080
How does our body
react to invaders?

1918
01:47:55,080 --> 01:47:57,680
This white blood cell,
the grey blob,

1919
01:47:57,680 --> 01:48:02,320
is hunting down and engulfing
bacteria, the green blobs.

1920
01:48:02,320 --> 01:48:04,840
And when the body
is infected by a virus,

1921
01:48:04,840 --> 01:48:06,480
it reacts in a similar way.

1922
01:48:08,360 --> 01:48:12,680
'But viruses pose a special
challenge to your immune system

1923
01:48:12,680 --> 01:48:15,920
'cos they can mutate so fast.

1924
01:48:15,920 --> 01:48:19,080
'OK, I want you
to use your imagination here,

1925
01:48:19,080 --> 01:48:22,240
'and picture the inside of your body
as a battlefield.

1926
01:48:22,240 --> 01:48:25,360
'I am a heroic white blood cell,

1927
01:48:25,360 --> 01:48:28,280
'and the red team
are nasty flu viruses.'

1928
01:48:29,600 --> 01:48:32,680
LASER BLASTS

1929
01:48:36,320 --> 01:48:40,160
'My job is to protect
the human body,

1930
01:48:40,160 --> 01:48:42,680
'and I do that by roaming around

1931
01:48:42,680 --> 01:48:45,680
'looking for potentially
dangerous invaders.'

1932
01:48:45,680 --> 01:48:48,920
LASER BLASTS

1933
01:48:50,760 --> 01:48:53,520
'When the body
first encounters a new virus,

1934
01:48:53,520 --> 01:48:55,880
'it really doesn't know what to do.

1935
01:48:55,880 --> 01:49:00,280
'It is only when it's attacked
that it knows how to respond.'

1936
01:49:00,280 --> 01:49:01,640
LASER BLAST,
ELECTRONIC BLEEPING

1937
01:49:01,640 --> 01:49:02,840
Hooray!

1938
01:49:04,440 --> 01:49:07,960
'Chemical signals
now gear up the body for war.'

1939
01:49:07,960 --> 01:49:11,040
Your body is now able
to produce a giant,

1940
01:49:11,040 --> 01:49:12,960
cloned army of killers

1941
01:49:12,960 --> 01:49:18,480
whose only job is to seek out
and destroy that particular virus.

1942
01:49:18,480 --> 01:49:23,280
'Every new virus is a new enemy
for your immune system.

1943
01:49:23,280 --> 01:49:25,680
'But the good news is
it's a fast learner.

1944
01:49:27,400 --> 01:49:31,800
'The immune system remembers what
that particular virus looks like,

1945
01:49:31,800 --> 01:49:33,560
'and the next time
it encounters the virus...'

1946
01:49:33,560 --> 01:49:35,120
QUICK BREATHS

1947
01:49:35,120 --> 01:49:38,240
..we're ready and able
to shoot and destroy it.

1948
01:49:38,240 --> 01:49:41,360
LASER BLAST
Remarkable.

1949
01:49:41,360 --> 01:49:43,560
'So, what have my blood tests
revealed?'

1950
01:49:45,000 --> 01:49:47,640
The results are in,
and it's good news.

1951
01:49:47,640 --> 01:49:52,400
Turns out that I have immunity
to all common forms of flu viruses

1952
01:49:52,400 --> 01:49:56,160
which the FluCamp team
are currently doing tests on,

1953
01:49:56,160 --> 01:49:59,080
and which they predict
are likely to be on the rise.

1954
01:49:59,080 --> 01:50:02,520
And that, in turn,
means that I'm extremely unlikely

1955
01:50:02,520 --> 01:50:04,880
to get flu this winter.

1956
01:50:04,880 --> 01:50:07,440
All thanks to my immune system.
Hurrah!

1957
01:50:08,760 --> 01:50:13,520
Here are three top tips for keeping
your immune system in good shape.

1958
01:50:13,520 --> 01:50:18,080
Get a good night's sleep, as that
is when your body repairs itself.

1959
01:50:18,080 --> 01:50:19,920
Take vitamin D...

1960
01:50:21,200 --> 01:50:25,520
..and exercise, as that increases
the number of immune cells

1961
01:50:25,520 --> 01:50:27,240
circling around your body.

1962
01:50:27,240 --> 01:50:29,600
When it comes to exercise,

1963
01:50:29,600 --> 01:50:32,280
particularly exercise
in the great outdoors,

1964
01:50:32,280 --> 01:50:34,400
we are spoilt for choice.

1965
01:50:34,400 --> 01:50:37,240
Like the hills
of the glorious Lake District.

1966
01:50:40,520 --> 01:50:44,840
I'm Wendy Dodds, aged 72.

1967
01:50:44,840 --> 01:50:47,400
I live in the Lake District,

1968
01:50:47,400 --> 01:50:50,400
and one of my main activities
is fell running.

1969
01:50:51,560 --> 01:50:53,920
Despite being in her 70s,

1970
01:50:53,920 --> 01:50:58,160
Wendy is still able to run long
distances over hills and mountains.

1971
01:51:00,920 --> 01:51:04,000
I just get a buzz,
particularly competing.

1972
01:51:04,000 --> 01:51:08,400
You know, the thrill of sort
of hoping to try, at least,

1973
01:51:08,400 --> 01:51:10,600
to catch one or two
of the folk that are ahead.

1974
01:51:11,960 --> 01:51:16,360
I found that I was performing better
at long distance,

1975
01:51:16,360 --> 01:51:20,600
so, I was never very good
at shorter distances.

1976
01:51:22,000 --> 01:51:24,360
But how did she do what,
let's face it,

1977
01:51:24,360 --> 01:51:27,440
the vast majority of us
would struggle to?

1978
01:51:27,440 --> 01:51:29,120
I had a muscle biopsy done.

1979
01:51:29,120 --> 01:51:31,680
The results showed
that I had approximately

1980
01:51:31,680 --> 01:51:36,320
88% slow fibres in my thigh muscles,

1981
01:51:36,320 --> 01:51:38,240
which is one of the reasons

1982
01:51:38,240 --> 01:51:43,400
that explain why endurance
was much more suited to me.

1983
01:51:43,400 --> 01:51:49,320
So, what are the slow muscle fibres
that Wendy has in such abundance?

1984
01:51:49,320 --> 01:51:52,680
Your muscle's actually made up
of lots of individual muscle fibres

1985
01:51:52,680 --> 01:51:53,960
tightly packed together.

1986
01:51:55,720 --> 01:51:59,760
And these muscle fibres
come in different types.

1987
01:51:59,760 --> 01:52:04,160
One type are called fast twitch
because they contract really fast,

1988
01:52:04,160 --> 01:52:06,360
helping you react
and move at speed.

1989
01:52:08,720 --> 01:52:12,240
This type works for short spells
without needing oxygen,

1990
01:52:12,240 --> 01:52:13,960
but that means they tire quickly.

1991
01:52:17,720 --> 01:52:22,240
We also have another kind of muscle
fibre which is built for endurance.

1992
01:52:22,240 --> 01:52:25,520
It relies on oxygen
from your blood.

1993
01:52:25,520 --> 01:52:27,880
It can keep going for much longer.

1994
01:52:27,880 --> 01:52:30,720
It's called
a slow-twitch muscle fibre.

1995
01:52:30,720 --> 01:52:35,240
Most of us have roughly
50% slow-muscle fibres.

1996
01:52:35,240 --> 01:52:37,080
Wendy has 88%.

1997
01:52:38,960 --> 01:52:42,880
Wendy has maintained her muscle
mass by doing lots of running.

1998
01:52:42,880 --> 01:52:44,600
But what about the rest of us?

1999
01:52:44,600 --> 01:52:47,280
Well, your muscles
need to be stretched and stressed

2000
01:52:47,280 --> 01:52:50,760
to remain strong,
which means as we get older,

2001
01:52:50,760 --> 01:52:53,840
most of us lose
a lot of our fast twitch fibres.

2002
01:52:55,720 --> 01:52:58,280
As we age, we slow down,

2003
01:52:58,280 --> 01:53:02,680
and therefore there's less stress
put on fast fibres,

2004
01:53:02,680 --> 01:53:09,440
so they tend to degenerate at
a greater rate than the slow fibres.

2005
01:53:09,440 --> 01:53:12,920
Fast or slow, after the age of 30,
unless you exercise,

2006
01:53:12,920 --> 01:53:16,680
you can lose up to 5%
of your muscle mass every decade.

2007
01:53:16,680 --> 01:53:19,080
That leads to less mobility

2008
01:53:19,080 --> 01:53:22,600
and an increased risk
of falls and fractures.

2009
01:53:22,600 --> 01:53:25,320
But you can keep your muscles
stronger for longer

2010
01:53:25,320 --> 01:53:27,920
by doing resistance exercises,
running,

2011
01:53:27,920 --> 01:53:31,600
or even just going
for brisk walks before dinner.

2012
01:53:31,600 --> 01:53:32,840
And speaking of dinner,

2013
01:53:32,840 --> 01:53:35,320
I wonder how my little pill camera
is getting on.

2014
01:53:37,240 --> 01:53:39,280
'Something isn't right.

2015
01:53:39,280 --> 01:53:42,840
'I would expect the camera
to be in my intestines by now,

2016
01:53:42,840 --> 01:53:46,200
'but I can see the folds
of my stomach lining,

2017
01:53:46,200 --> 01:53:48,760
'which means
it's still in my stomach.

2018
01:53:48,760 --> 01:53:50,440
'This is very odd.'

2019
01:53:51,600 --> 01:53:52,920
Ooh, that's gross.

2020
01:53:54,200 --> 01:53:56,960
'Maybe it will move on
during the night.'

2021
01:54:00,400 --> 01:54:02,200
Across the country in Cambridge...

2022
01:54:04,320 --> 01:54:06,720
..Clifford is preparing
to have surgery

2023
01:54:06,720 --> 01:54:10,280
to remove deadly clots
from the arteries in his lungs.

2024
01:54:10,280 --> 01:54:12,720
Just rest back.
'How do I feel about the surgery?'

2025
01:54:12,720 --> 01:54:14,560
Erm...

2026
01:54:14,560 --> 01:54:19,800
apprehensive, as anyone can be,
because I don't know what to expect.

2027
01:54:22,160 --> 01:54:25,160
'Probably the only way I would get
back to some sort of normality.'

2028
01:54:26,680 --> 01:54:29,160
I'm not surprised
Clifford is apprehensive

2029
01:54:29,160 --> 01:54:31,520
because this will be
a complex operation

2030
01:54:31,520 --> 01:54:33,840
involving several critical stages.

2031
01:54:36,040 --> 01:54:39,720
Surgeon David Jenkins makes the
first cut, to open up the chest.

2032
01:54:41,080 --> 01:54:43,440
SAW WHIRRS

2033
01:55:02,720 --> 01:55:06,200
MONITOR BEEPING

2034
01:55:06,200 --> 01:55:08,560
MR JENKINS:
See, the heart is beating away,

2035
01:55:08,560 --> 01:55:11,240
and it's... it's not really
disturbed too much by me.

2036
01:55:11,240 --> 01:55:14,760
So, we don't want to irritate
or upset it too much.

2037
01:55:18,320 --> 01:55:20,680
During this
extraordinary procedure,

2038
01:55:20,680 --> 01:55:23,840
the first major step is
to drain Clifford's body of blood,

2039
01:55:23,840 --> 01:55:25,600
so they can find and remove

2040
01:55:25,600 --> 01:55:27,920
the lumpy clots
blocking his arteries.

2041
01:55:30,920 --> 01:55:32,440
And we can put a big pipe in.

2042
01:55:33,800 --> 01:55:35,240
A tube is carefully attached

2043
01:55:35,240 --> 01:55:37,640
to divert the blood
out of his body.

2044
01:55:40,640 --> 01:55:41,800
And that's through to you.

2045
01:55:48,040 --> 01:55:50,600
And all the blood from his body
is coming out now

2046
01:55:50,600 --> 01:55:52,880
and going into the machine.

2047
01:55:52,880 --> 01:55:54,440
Without blood,

2048
01:55:54,440 --> 01:55:57,600
you'd normally suffer brain damage
within five minutes,

2049
01:55:57,600 --> 01:56:02,120
but the team at the Royal Papworth
Hospital have a way round this.

2050
01:56:02,120 --> 01:56:05,640
So we're all set up now
to cool the patient down.

2051
01:56:07,040 --> 01:56:09,400
They're going
to cool Clifford down

2052
01:56:09,400 --> 01:56:12,240
to dramatically reduce
his need for oxygen.

2053
01:56:12,240 --> 01:56:14,600
So, we've cooled to 20 degrees,
yeah?

2054
01:56:14,600 --> 01:56:17,600
The whole patient's body
is almost half what it normally is.

2055
01:56:17,600 --> 01:56:20,080
MONITOR BEEPING

2056
01:56:20,080 --> 01:56:23,200
This will extend the time
Clifford can survive without blood.

2057
01:56:26,720 --> 01:56:28,600
Trickle on plegia, please.

2058
01:56:34,200 --> 01:56:36,160
Clifford's heart has been stopped.

2059
01:56:36,160 --> 01:56:38,720
He's got no blood,
and he's not breathing.

2060
01:56:38,720 --> 01:56:41,440
This is a critical moment.

2061
01:56:41,440 --> 01:56:44,480
The surgical team have reached
one of the most delicate

2062
01:56:44,480 --> 01:56:46,360
and risky stages
of the whole procedure.

2063
01:56:48,000 --> 01:56:54,440
So, we've safely, probably,
got about 20 to 25 minute's time

2064
01:56:54,440 --> 01:56:56,640
before there's irreversible
brain damage.

2065
01:56:58,040 --> 01:57:00,680
So we've gotta work
reasonably quickly.

2066
01:57:06,640 --> 01:57:08,400
Time is very much against me,

2067
01:57:08,400 --> 01:57:12,880
and during that period,
the patient is at big risk.

2068
01:57:12,880 --> 01:57:16,200
So it's that real balance
of operating against the clock.

2069
01:57:21,120 --> 01:57:23,720
Even if David
can grab hold of the clots

2070
01:57:23,720 --> 01:57:26,080
which are blocking
Clifford's arteries,

2071
01:57:26,080 --> 01:57:28,280
there's no guarantee
they will come out easily.

2072
01:57:31,920 --> 01:57:33,240
'Coming up...

2073
01:57:33,240 --> 01:57:37,640
'how does my old brain measure up
against the younger generation?'

2074
01:57:37,640 --> 01:57:39,600
Are you ready to go?
Yeah.

2075
01:57:39,600 --> 01:57:42,880
'I find out if you can teach
an old dog like me new tricks.'

2076
01:57:44,960 --> 01:57:47,440
'Are you ticklish? I am.

2077
01:57:47,440 --> 01:57:51,520
'I'll show you why this is
an unexpected wonder of the body.'

2078
01:57:51,520 --> 01:57:55,160
HE LAUGHS
'And I head to the local butcher...'

2079
01:57:55,160 --> 01:57:58,480
I haven't seen a sausage this long.
HE LAUGHS

2080
01:57:58,480 --> 01:58:00,160
'..to illustrate what it is

2081
01:58:00,160 --> 01:58:02,560
'that makes our guts
so good at their job.'

2082
01:58:08,480 --> 01:58:11,640
MICHAEL MOSLEY: It's been 18 hours
since I swallowed a pill camera

2083
01:58:11,640 --> 01:58:13,160
in my attempts to provide us

2084
01:58:13,160 --> 01:58:17,240
with an inside view
of the digestive system.

2085
01:58:17,240 --> 01:58:19,600
So, how long did it take
the pill cam to get through my body?

2086
01:58:19,600 --> 01:58:24,000
Well, the honest answer is I don't
know because I haven't seen it yet.

2087
01:58:24,000 --> 01:58:26,360
'In the mystery
of the missing pill camera,

2088
01:58:26,360 --> 01:58:29,240
'its last-known whereabouts
are revealed in this footage.

2089
01:58:29,240 --> 01:58:32,160
'It was still in my stomach
when the battery died.'

2090
01:58:33,960 --> 01:58:37,560
'But how long does food normally
take to pass through your body?'

2091
01:58:38,960 --> 01:58:43,880
Well, that typically takes
anywhere between 24 and 72 hours.

2092
01:58:43,880 --> 01:58:46,680
In other words,
around one to three days

2093
01:58:46,680 --> 01:58:49,400
to get from there to there.

2094
01:58:51,160 --> 01:58:54,400
By now, I would have expected
the camera to pass from my stomach

2095
01:58:54,400 --> 01:58:56,680
into my small intestine,
and from there,

2096
01:58:56,680 --> 01:58:58,640
to my large intestine.

2097
01:58:58,640 --> 01:59:00,920
You might think the camera
is moving slowly

2098
01:59:00,920 --> 01:59:02,600
because it's indigestible,

2099
01:59:02,600 --> 01:59:04,960
but it's a myth
that tough foods like meat

2100
01:59:04,960 --> 01:59:07,520
take longer to move through.

2101
01:59:07,520 --> 01:59:10,720
My main concern now is that
at some point, it comes out.

2102
01:59:13,720 --> 01:59:16,320
'While we're waiting
for that to happen,

2103
01:59:16,320 --> 01:59:19,000
'I've come up with a different way
to illustrate

2104
01:59:19,000 --> 01:59:21,920
'just how long and complex
your guts really are.

2105
01:59:21,920 --> 01:59:24,440
'I'm off to the high street
to do a demonstration.'

2106
01:59:26,240 --> 01:59:27,680
Hi, there.
Hello. Hello.

2107
01:59:29,160 --> 01:59:31,520
I've come to make sausages.
Here we go.

2108
01:59:34,760 --> 01:59:37,320
These are the actual intestines
from a hog.

2109
01:59:37,320 --> 01:59:38,640
MICHAEL CHUCKLES
OK. Right.

2110
01:59:38,640 --> 01:59:43,680
So, this is what intestines
actually looks like.

2111
01:59:43,680 --> 01:59:47,200
Human intestine
is around five metres,

2112
01:59:47,200 --> 01:59:49,920
and that is 15 to 20ft long.

2113
01:59:51,440 --> 01:59:54,360
The reason we have such a long gut
is basically

2114
01:59:54,360 --> 01:59:58,240
to extract as much nutrition
as possible out of the food we eat.

2115
02:00:01,080 --> 02:00:02,560
'I'm going to make a sausage

2116
02:00:02,560 --> 02:00:06,440
'roughly the same length
as your intestines.'

2117
02:00:06,440 --> 02:00:08,960
And this kind of uncannily
looks like a human intestine,

2118
02:00:08,960 --> 02:00:10,080
I have to say,

2119
02:00:10,080 --> 02:00:15,600
cos it's about the right width
for the small intestine, certainly.

2120
02:00:15,600 --> 02:00:18,960
'Most of the nutrients,
salt and water we consume

2121
02:00:18,960 --> 02:00:21,320
'are absorbed
in the small intestine.'

2122
02:00:21,320 --> 02:00:25,720
The small intestine is
the first part of your intestines,

2123
02:00:25,720 --> 02:00:28,320
the bit which is next
to the stomach,

2124
02:00:28,320 --> 02:00:30,600
and where most
of the absorption takes place.

2125
02:00:30,600 --> 02:00:32,960
That's why you need so much of it.

2126
02:00:32,960 --> 02:00:35,320
And the large intestine
would be much, much fatter,

2127
02:00:35,320 --> 02:00:38,800
basically about twice as fat,
and it ends up in your bum.

2128
02:00:38,800 --> 02:00:40,240
HE CHUCKLES

2129
02:00:40,240 --> 02:00:43,240
Once upon a time,
before we had cooking,

2130
02:00:43,240 --> 02:00:46,160
our guts were probably
even longer than they are now.

2131
02:00:46,160 --> 02:00:48,520
They've shrunk down a bit
because cooking

2132
02:00:48,520 --> 02:00:51,280
has made it much easier
to absorb nutrients.

2133
02:00:51,280 --> 02:00:55,800
It is amazing to think
that you've got five or six metres

2134
02:00:55,800 --> 02:00:59,280
of this sort of thing
inside your torso,

2135
02:00:59,280 --> 02:01:03,600
and, somehow or other, it all
packs in and keeps on doing its job.

2136
02:01:03,600 --> 02:01:05,320
I think that's really impressive.

2137
02:01:06,960 --> 02:01:10,240
And if we take a really close look,
it's even more impressive.

2138
02:01:11,520 --> 02:01:15,160
The walls of our intestines
are lined with little blobs.

2139
02:01:15,160 --> 02:01:18,480
They're called villi, and there's
billions of them wafting around.

2140
02:01:20,000 --> 02:01:22,360
If we zoom in even closer,

2141
02:01:22,360 --> 02:01:26,040
we can see each one is covered
in its own tiny bumps

2142
02:01:26,040 --> 02:01:27,720
called microvilli.

2143
02:01:27,720 --> 02:01:31,440
All these bumps upon bumps
increase the surface area of the gut

2144
02:01:31,440 --> 02:01:34,200
at least ten times, which, in turn,

2145
02:01:34,200 --> 02:01:37,680
allows us to absorb
more nutrients from our food

2146
02:01:37,680 --> 02:01:40,960
which is critical
to keeping us alive.

2147
02:01:40,960 --> 02:01:43,320
And speaking
of massive surface areas,

2148
02:01:43,320 --> 02:01:47,200
did you know the largest organ
in your body is your skin?

2149
02:01:47,200 --> 02:01:50,200
It contains millions
of sensory receptors

2150
02:01:50,200 --> 02:01:53,360
which alert your brain
to all manner of sensations,

2151
02:01:53,360 --> 02:01:55,120
including feeling ticklish.

2152
02:01:58,520 --> 02:02:02,480
There are apparently two different
types of ticklish sensation.

2153
02:02:02,480 --> 02:02:06,360
There's one called knismesis,
this sort of gentle tickling,

2154
02:02:06,360 --> 02:02:08,640
where you have the small hairs
on your arm,

2155
02:02:08,640 --> 02:02:10,840
and you're slightly caressing them.

2156
02:02:12,680 --> 02:02:15,840
'This type of tickling
is an alarm system.

2157
02:02:15,840 --> 02:02:18,920
'It alerts you to things
that land on your skin

2158
02:02:18,920 --> 02:02:21,920
'like nasty little
blood-sucking insects,

2159
02:02:21,920 --> 02:02:24,360
'so you know to swat them away.

2160
02:02:24,360 --> 02:02:28,960
'It is so sensitive that your hairs
alone can trigger this feeling.

2161
02:02:28,960 --> 02:02:31,240
'The bug doesn't even
have to be on your skin.'

2162
02:02:33,080 --> 02:02:36,840
The second type of tickling
is called gargalesis.

2163
02:02:36,840 --> 02:02:38,760
'It's the one that makes you laugh.'

2164
02:02:38,760 --> 02:02:40,240
There's more pressure,

2165
02:02:40,240 --> 02:02:43,440
and it's applied to the ribs
and other sensitive areas.

2166
02:02:43,440 --> 02:02:46,640
What's interesting about this
is you can't do it to yourself,

2167
02:02:46,640 --> 02:02:50,120
however much I, you know,
squeeze and prod.

2168
02:02:50,120 --> 02:02:53,920
And that seems to be
because there are areas in my brain

2169
02:02:53,920 --> 02:02:57,560
which are linked to motion,
are also sending messages out

2170
02:02:57,560 --> 02:03:00,040
to other parts of my brain
associated with touch,

2171
02:03:00,040 --> 02:03:01,760
and saying, "Don't bother.

2172
02:03:01,760 --> 02:03:04,560
"You don't have to respond
to this at all."

2173
02:03:04,560 --> 02:03:06,920
Right. Nothing going on.

2174
02:03:06,920 --> 02:03:08,840
'My wife Clare
is now going to help out.'

2175
02:03:08,840 --> 02:03:11,720
LAUGHING: So, why is it different
when Clare tickles me?

2176
02:03:11,720 --> 02:03:14,360
Well, it's partly because it's...

2177
02:03:14,360 --> 02:03:16,720
LAUGHS
..completely unexpected.

2178
02:03:16,720 --> 02:03:21,200
And the other odd thing is that
although I'm quite enjoying it,

2179
02:03:21,200 --> 02:03:23,800
there's a part of me that just
kind of wants to bat her away.

2180
02:03:23,800 --> 02:03:25,520
And that seems to be because

2181
02:03:25,520 --> 02:03:27,880
when you get tickled,
particularly unexpectedly,

2182
02:03:27,880 --> 02:03:30,640
it activates an area of the brain
called the hypothalamus.

2183
02:03:30,640 --> 02:03:33,440
That sends out danger signals
to the rest of your brain,

2184
02:03:33,440 --> 02:03:35,040
telling you that someone unexpected

2185
02:03:35,040 --> 02:03:36,800
is doing something
a little bit odd to you.

2186
02:03:36,800 --> 02:03:40,560
They might be about to stick a knife
in your back, so you should be wary.

2187
02:03:40,560 --> 02:03:43,560
On the other hand,
it's also quite funny.

2188
02:03:43,560 --> 02:03:46,080
It makes me laugh.
And that, apparently...

2189
02:03:46,080 --> 02:03:49,520
LAUGHS
..is a sign of submissiveness.

2190
02:03:49,520 --> 02:03:51,800
I am telling Clare
that she's dominant.

2191
02:03:51,800 --> 02:03:53,760
Thank you very much. Over and done.

2192
02:03:53,760 --> 02:03:55,200
You won.
SHE LAUGHS

2193
02:03:55,200 --> 02:03:58,280
So, it turns out there is a lot more
to tickling than you might think.

2194
02:03:59,400 --> 02:04:02,800
'Like the tickle response,
other parts of your nervous system

2195
02:04:02,800 --> 02:04:06,680
'are dominated by the supercomputer
you carry around in your head,

2196
02:04:06,680 --> 02:04:08,640
'your brain.

2197
02:04:08,640 --> 02:04:12,960
'The brain is a remarkable organ
that goes on learning new things

2198
02:04:12,960 --> 02:04:14,760
'even when we get older.'

2199
02:04:18,000 --> 02:04:20,720
LAUGHTER
Whoa-ho!

2200
02:04:20,720 --> 02:04:23,600
'There's a lot of interest
in studying how children learn,

2201
02:04:23,600 --> 02:04:26,320
'which is hard
because they don't keep still.'

2202
02:04:27,640 --> 02:04:28,880
On the seat for me.

2203
02:04:28,880 --> 02:04:31,520
'So, scientists here
at the University of Nottingham

2204
02:04:31,520 --> 02:04:34,560
'have been collaborating
in a marvellous invention,

2205
02:04:34,560 --> 02:04:37,920
'the world's first
wearable brain scanner.

2206
02:04:37,920 --> 02:04:40,720
'And they're
letting me in on the fun.'

2207
02:04:40,720 --> 02:04:42,240
How does that feel?
That's fine.

2208
02:04:42,240 --> 02:04:45,200
Perfect.
Tuck in my ears.

2209
02:04:45,200 --> 02:04:46,840
Yep.
Yep.

2210
02:04:46,840 --> 02:04:50,640
'The idea is to see what happens
in my 66-year-old brain

2211
02:04:50,640 --> 02:04:53,000
'when I try to learn something new.

2212
02:04:53,000 --> 02:04:55,440
'Professor Matt Brookes
is running the show.'

2213
02:04:55,440 --> 02:04:56,600
Hi, there.
Hi, Michael.

2214
02:04:56,600 --> 02:04:57,920
How are you doing?
Fine, thanks.

2215
02:04:57,920 --> 02:05:00,480
So, what we're doing
with this machine

2216
02:05:00,480 --> 02:05:03,800
is we're looking at how
different parts of your brain

2217
02:05:03,800 --> 02:05:05,760
connect to each other.
Oh.

2218
02:05:05,760 --> 02:05:08,720
You're gonna see a series of words
on the screen. OK.

2219
02:05:08,720 --> 02:05:11,920
And when you see a word,
we want you to write it down. OK.

2220
02:05:11,920 --> 02:05:14,280
And with the right hand
cos I'm right handed, yeah?

2221
02:05:14,280 --> 02:05:16,800
Yeah. But then we also want you
to try to do it with your left hand.

2222
02:05:16,800 --> 02:05:20,040
OK.
All will be revealed shortly, yeah?

2223
02:05:20,040 --> 02:05:21,480
Thank you very much. OK.

2224
02:05:21,480 --> 02:05:23,080
Good luck.
Looking forward to it.

2225
02:05:25,000 --> 02:05:27,840
'This revolutionary brain scanner
is already being used

2226
02:05:27,840 --> 02:05:32,480
'to gain insights into conditions
like epilepsy and Alzheimer's.'

2227
02:05:32,480 --> 02:05:34,040
WOMAN: Are you ready to go?
Yep.

2228
02:05:34,040 --> 02:05:35,600
OK. Starting now.

2229
02:05:40,280 --> 02:05:42,840
Are you ready to go
for the left hand? Yep.

2230
02:05:44,360 --> 02:05:47,640
'As far as my brain is concerned,
I'm learning a new skill,

2231
02:05:47,640 --> 02:05:51,400
'and the helmet records my brain
activity while I'm doing it.'

2232
02:05:53,600 --> 02:05:55,880
OK. That's finished.
We're gonna come get you out now.

2233
02:05:58,840 --> 02:06:01,640
I haven't written with my left hand
or even attempted to do so for many,

2234
02:06:01,640 --> 02:06:06,000
many years, so I was impressed
that I could write anything

2235
02:06:06,000 --> 02:06:08,360
even faintly coherent.

2236
02:06:08,360 --> 02:06:10,720
So, what was going on
inside my head?

2237
02:06:13,880 --> 02:06:16,360
You might think
that when you learn something new,

2238
02:06:16,360 --> 02:06:18,040
you grow more brain cells.

2239
02:06:18,040 --> 02:06:20,320
ELECTRICAL FIZZING

2240
02:06:20,320 --> 02:06:21,840
And it's true that we go on

2241
02:06:21,840 --> 02:06:24,440
producing new brain cells
throughout our lives.

2242
02:06:26,360 --> 02:06:28,400
However, it's not the number,

2243
02:06:28,400 --> 02:06:31,480
but how well-connected
your brain cells are

2244
02:06:31,480 --> 02:06:34,000
that makes the difference
to how well we learn.

2245
02:06:35,320 --> 02:06:36,880
But it'll be really,
really interesting

2246
02:06:36,880 --> 02:06:39,240
to see what the results look like.

2247
02:06:39,240 --> 02:06:42,240
I'm assuming this is my brain, yeah?
This is your brain activity.

2248
02:06:42,240 --> 02:06:44,600
OK. This is when you're writing
with your right hand.

2249
02:06:44,600 --> 02:06:48,400
You can see a nice bit of activity
right where it should be. Spot on.

2250
02:06:48,400 --> 02:06:50,840
And it's on the left hemisphere,
isn't it? Left hemisphere.

2251
02:06:50,840 --> 02:06:53,520
Cos I'm writing with my right hand?
Yeah, yeah. Yep, OK.

2252
02:06:53,520 --> 02:06:55,160
So, now if we look
at what was happening

2253
02:06:55,160 --> 02:06:57,720
when you're using your left hand...
Ah.

2254
02:06:57,720 --> 02:07:01,600
So, here we sort of naively think,
"Well, OK, it was over here before.

2255
02:07:01,600 --> 02:07:03,960
"It's gonna be the opposite side."
But it's not.

2256
02:07:03,960 --> 02:07:07,320
Ah. It's both sides
of your brain lighting up.

2257
02:07:08,920 --> 02:07:12,120
'And seeing that
really was a big surprise.'

2258
02:07:12,120 --> 02:07:15,400
What's lovely about it is it's
an absolutely wonderful example

2259
02:07:15,400 --> 02:07:17,800
of the two bits of the brain
working together. Yeah.

2260
02:07:17,800 --> 02:07:19,320
The left hand was much harder.

2261
02:07:19,320 --> 02:07:23,040
And so presumably, at some point
early on in the process,

2262
02:07:23,040 --> 02:07:24,560
the other side of my brain went,

2263
02:07:24,560 --> 02:07:27,600
"OK, I'd better help this bit out."
Yeah.

2264
02:07:27,600 --> 02:07:28,840
That's wonderful.

2265
02:07:28,840 --> 02:07:31,720
It's lovely to do an experiment
like that, and it actually works.

2266
02:07:31,720 --> 02:07:34,080
What's really encouraging
about this new research,

2267
02:07:34,080 --> 02:07:37,280
particularly if you're a bit older,
is it demonstrates

2268
02:07:37,280 --> 02:07:40,360
it's not just the number
of brain cells up there that counts,

2269
02:07:40,360 --> 02:07:43,400
but the richness
of the connections between them.

2270
02:07:43,400 --> 02:07:47,000
And what is so great
about our brilliant brains

2271
02:07:47,000 --> 02:07:50,520
is that we can go on
developing new skills

2272
02:07:50,520 --> 02:07:54,080
and growing new connections
whatever our age.

2273
02:07:55,360 --> 02:07:59,040
And later, I'll reveal
an intriguing way to do just that.

2274
02:08:03,440 --> 02:08:04,800
Back in Cambridge...

2275
02:08:10,080 --> 02:08:13,520
..Clifford's operation
has reached a critical point.

2276
02:08:13,520 --> 02:08:15,800
His blood
has been drained from his body,

2277
02:08:15,800 --> 02:08:17,800
his heart has been stopped,

2278
02:08:17,800 --> 02:08:21,360
and his body has been chilled
to just 20 degrees.

2279
02:08:22,880 --> 02:08:27,200
This procedure is effectively using
medically-induced near-death

2280
02:08:27,200 --> 02:08:28,520
to save his life.

2281
02:08:32,160 --> 02:08:35,640
The next step
is to find and remove the clots.

2282
02:08:37,280 --> 02:08:41,280
MR JENKINS: We've only got
a safety window of 20-or-so minutes

2283
02:08:41,280 --> 02:08:43,840
before there will be
irreversible damage.

2284
02:08:45,520 --> 02:08:46,480
Ah.

2285
02:08:51,920 --> 02:08:54,320
So, that's the clot.

2286
02:08:54,320 --> 02:08:57,800
Octopus of clots
from all the branches.

2287
02:08:59,640 --> 02:09:03,280
If left, these clots,
which have become thick and fibrous,

2288
02:09:03,280 --> 02:09:05,560
could have completely
blocked the vessels

2289
02:09:05,560 --> 02:09:07,360
supplying his lungs with blood.

2290
02:09:09,200 --> 02:09:10,640
That was a bit of a struggle, that.

2291
02:09:12,160 --> 02:09:14,160
So, we finished the dissection
on the right side.

2292
02:09:14,160 --> 02:09:16,720
There was actually
quite a lot of disease.

2293
02:09:16,720 --> 02:09:20,960
And then we'll go and change round
and do the same on the left side.

2294
02:09:22,160 --> 02:09:25,080
Even when Clifford's blood vessels
are clear of clots,

2295
02:09:25,080 --> 02:09:27,080
the operation is far from over.

2296
02:09:27,080 --> 02:09:31,480
Now comes the delicate job
of bringing him back to life.

2297
02:09:31,480 --> 02:09:34,040
Quite pleased
that we found what we expected,

2298
02:09:34,040 --> 02:09:38,080
and we were able to clear
all the major blockages.

2299
02:09:38,080 --> 02:09:40,600
And we were just inside
the 20 minutes.

2300
02:09:43,960 --> 02:09:45,720
Back up slowly, then, thanks.

2301
02:09:47,040 --> 02:09:49,400
After slowly warming Clifford up,

2302
02:09:49,400 --> 02:09:53,640
the next crucial step is to return
his blood back to his body.

2303
02:09:54,800 --> 02:09:58,320
Only then
can they restart his heart.

2304
02:09:58,320 --> 02:10:02,400
David won't relax
until he sees a steady heartbeat.

2305
02:10:02,400 --> 02:10:04,760
That's gone back
to a more regular rhythm now.

2306
02:10:04,760 --> 02:10:07,800
We don't want it
using too much energy.

2307
02:10:07,800 --> 02:10:11,880
And that looks as if it's back
to a relatively regular rhythm.

2308
02:10:11,880 --> 02:10:14,200
So, that's good.
So, all finished, yeah.

2309
02:10:14,200 --> 02:10:16,880
And looking at the pressures

2310
02:10:16,880 --> 02:10:19,160
and the numbers and everything
are looking really good.

2311
02:10:19,160 --> 02:10:21,360
So, very pleased. Yeah.

2312
02:10:22,880 --> 02:10:25,760
So, now what we do
is we lay the specimen out

2313
02:10:25,760 --> 02:10:27,600
to have a look
at what we've cleared.

2314
02:10:27,600 --> 02:10:30,760
This looks very good,
so, yes, very pleased so far.

2315
02:10:32,280 --> 02:10:35,520
When you see what they
had to remove from Clifford's lungs,

2316
02:10:35,520 --> 02:10:36,520
it's staggering.

2317
02:10:39,080 --> 02:10:41,440
And by clearing it,
it's quite satisfying.

2318
02:10:41,440 --> 02:10:43,800
We take it all out,
and then, hopefully,

2319
02:10:43,800 --> 02:10:46,280
the patient goes on
to make a good recovery.

2320
02:10:47,960 --> 02:10:52,200
Clifford's surgery went well and
took just under six hours in total.

2321
02:10:54,200 --> 02:10:55,760
'Coming up...

2322
02:10:55,760 --> 02:10:58,800
'I'll reveal great ways
we can all keep our brains young

2323
02:10:58,800 --> 02:11:01,160
'as we get older.

2324
02:11:01,160 --> 02:11:05,400
'And will Clifford manage to get
back to his old dancing self again?'

2325
02:11:14,920 --> 02:11:18,160
On a clear night,
if you look up into the night sky,

2326
02:11:18,160 --> 02:11:21,320
you can probably see
around 6,000 stars.

2327
02:11:21,320 --> 02:11:23,720
And if you were to come
into an observatory like this one,

2328
02:11:23,720 --> 02:11:26,000
well, you'd see a lot more.

2329
02:11:26,000 --> 02:11:28,400
But just in our galaxy alone,

2330
02:11:28,400 --> 02:11:31,640
there are around
a hundred billion stars,

2331
02:11:31,640 --> 02:11:33,920
which is a huge number.

2332
02:11:33,920 --> 02:11:35,720
But that number is dwarfed

2333
02:11:35,720 --> 02:11:39,440
by the number of brain cells
you have up here.

2334
02:11:44,760 --> 02:11:48,520
Your brain never stops.

2335
02:11:48,520 --> 02:11:51,200
Right now, it's working out
what you can see or hear,

2336
02:11:51,200 --> 02:11:53,400
what you can feel or taste.

2337
02:11:54,680 --> 02:11:58,920
It does that by constantly making
new connections between neurones.

2338
02:12:03,080 --> 02:12:05,360
Earlier,
I promised to show you a great way

2339
02:12:05,360 --> 02:12:07,240
to keep your brain fit as you age,

2340
02:12:07,240 --> 02:12:11,480
and the answer is something
most of us really enjoy doing.

2341
02:12:15,680 --> 02:12:19,920
In a hall in Glasgow, it's time for
a community group's weekly meetup.

2342
02:12:22,840 --> 02:12:27,240
If you take up this hobby, it will
help keep your memory sharp...

2343
02:12:27,240 --> 02:12:29,520
We have to think about it.
We have to practice.

2344
02:12:29,520 --> 02:12:31,040
It is a brain workout.

2345
02:12:31,040 --> 02:12:34,320
..and allow you
to focus on tasks for longer.

2346
02:12:34,320 --> 02:12:37,320
So, what is the best way
of improving your brain health?

2347
02:12:37,320 --> 02:12:39,600
MUSIC: 'One Jump Ahead'
by Trevor Duncan

2348
02:12:39,600 --> 02:12:40,960
It's dancing.

2349
02:12:46,160 --> 02:12:47,560
You get on the dance floor.

2350
02:12:47,560 --> 02:12:49,760
You're inspired
just to shake your booty.

2351
02:12:54,160 --> 02:12:58,080
Oh, it's just great, isn't it?
They are clearly having so much fun.

2352
02:13:00,360 --> 02:13:02,880
Among the swirling and twirling

2353
02:13:02,880 --> 02:13:07,280
is brain expert Dr Louise Nicholls
from the University of Strathclyde,

2354
02:13:07,280 --> 02:13:11,000
and she has some top tips
to keep your brain in good shape.

2355
02:13:13,360 --> 02:13:16,080
SHE LAUGHS,
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

2356
02:13:16,080 --> 02:13:19,160
So, I'm used to the idea that as
you get older, your brain shrinks.

2357
02:13:19,160 --> 02:13:22,360
The evidence is showing that
it's possible to maintain brain size

2358
02:13:22,360 --> 02:13:25,800
and function into older age,
but even to go the other way,

2359
02:13:25,800 --> 02:13:27,280
to actually improve it.
Wow.

2360
02:13:28,640 --> 02:13:31,440
Louise has three tips
to keep your brain young.

2361
02:13:33,280 --> 02:13:35,080
Number one, get active.

2362
02:13:36,680 --> 02:13:41,160
Dancing's a perfect example
because it gets the blood pumping

2363
02:13:41,160 --> 02:13:44,080
which helps the brain in terms
of improving the blood supply,

2364
02:13:44,080 --> 02:13:45,440
the oxygen flow.

2365
02:13:47,080 --> 02:13:49,760
Doing daily crosswords
and puzzles may help a bit,

2366
02:13:49,760 --> 02:13:53,720
but if you really want to improve
your memory and concentration,

2367
02:13:53,720 --> 02:13:57,240
getting more active can produce
results in as little as six months.

2368
02:13:59,600 --> 02:14:04,320
Foxtrotting on to tip number two.
Learn a new skill.

2369
02:14:04,320 --> 02:14:06,120
When people
have learned a new skill,

2370
02:14:06,120 --> 02:14:09,480
after a few months, we see
evidence that the older brain

2371
02:14:09,480 --> 02:14:11,840
actually behaves
more like the younger brain.

2372
02:14:11,840 --> 02:14:16,240
Wow. So, that we're gaining
more connections among cells.

2373
02:14:16,240 --> 02:14:18,600
Amongst, actually,
different brain regions as well.

2374
02:14:22,160 --> 02:14:25,520
We want to keep challenging
ourselves to learn new things.

2375
02:14:28,160 --> 02:14:30,560
If you think about doing
an actual dance routine,

2376
02:14:30,560 --> 02:14:32,080
then you have to learn the steps.

2377
02:14:32,080 --> 02:14:34,640
You have to go quite quickly,
probably.

2378
02:14:34,640 --> 02:14:36,280
New routines are learned over time.

2379
02:14:42,840 --> 02:14:44,920
Learning new routines is hard,

2380
02:14:44,920 --> 02:14:48,920
which is why dancing is far better
than something like a crossword.

2381
02:14:48,920 --> 02:14:51,720
Different parts of the brain
are challenged in multiple ways

2382
02:14:51,720 --> 02:14:53,920
keeping the brain on its toes.

2383
02:14:59,000 --> 02:15:03,000
Pivoting onto tip number three.
Being social.

2384
02:15:03,000 --> 02:15:06,960
Oh, I love it. I love it.
I need it for my mental wellbeing.

2385
02:15:06,960 --> 02:15:11,720
You feel alive. You're part of
a social circle that is wonderful.

2386
02:15:11,720 --> 02:15:12,800
It's the best high.

2387
02:15:14,560 --> 02:15:17,160
It's important,
particularly as we age,

2388
02:15:17,160 --> 02:15:19,920
to maintain and even improve
our social networks.

2389
02:15:19,920 --> 02:15:22,360
These can be important
for our anxiety and stress levels.

2390
02:15:24,920 --> 02:15:28,800
Studies have shown that people
who increase their social circles

2391
02:15:28,800 --> 02:15:31,160
have a lower risk of dementia.

2392
02:15:34,640 --> 02:15:37,720
OK,
old dog going on the dance floor.

2393
02:15:37,720 --> 02:15:39,080
Left, right.
Left, right.

2394
02:15:39,080 --> 02:15:40,720
Left, right, left.
Get them together.

2395
02:15:44,280 --> 02:15:46,600
'But what if dancing
is not for you?'

2396
02:15:46,600 --> 02:15:48,000
Whoa!

2397
02:15:48,000 --> 02:15:52,240
'How about singing with a group
or learning a new sport instead?'

2398
02:15:53,120 --> 02:15:56,480
Your brain is like a muscle.
Use it or lose it.

2399
02:15:56,480 --> 02:16:00,920
That means finding something
which is challenging intellectually,

2400
02:16:00,920 --> 02:16:05,240
which is physically demanding,
and which, above all, is sociable.

2401
02:16:05,240 --> 02:16:06,960
Yay! Keep going.

2402
02:16:10,200 --> 02:16:12,560
Talking of, "Use it or lose it,"

2403
02:16:12,560 --> 02:16:15,800
just three months
since his life-saving lung surgery,

2404
02:16:15,800 --> 02:16:19,640
67-year-old Clifford
is slowly getting his life back.

2405
02:16:19,640 --> 02:16:23,280
CLIFFORD: 'Just to give an update
on my recovery after surgery.'

2406
02:16:24,360 --> 02:16:29,120
And remember, before surgery,
I couldn't do five-minute walk.

2407
02:16:31,120 --> 02:16:35,880
I am back in the gym now,
working out, which is wonderful.

2408
02:16:35,880 --> 02:16:37,080
MUSIC PLAYS

2409
02:16:37,080 --> 02:16:40,080
'What's even better?
He's also back on the dance floor.'

2410
02:16:42,040 --> 02:16:44,320
'I feel 100%.'

2411
02:16:45,720 --> 02:16:49,480
'It just goes to show the body's
amazing ability to recover.'

2412
02:16:54,680 --> 02:16:57,560
I have spent decades
exploring the human body,

2413
02:16:57,560 --> 02:17:00,320
and I'm still amazed
at the way the organs,

2414
02:17:00,320 --> 02:17:03,800
tissues and cells work together
to make us who we are.

2415
02:17:07,000 --> 02:17:10,720
'We've been on an eye-opening
journey around our bodies.

2416
02:17:10,720 --> 02:17:12,800
'We've met some amazing people

2417
02:17:12,800 --> 02:17:15,840
'who have shared
their incredible stories with us

2418
02:17:15,840 --> 02:17:19,040
'to help us all understand
our bodies a bit better,

2419
02:17:19,040 --> 02:17:23,000
'and to demonstrate how we can
all live healthier and longer lives.

2420
02:17:23,000 --> 02:17:25,880
'I have, of course, offered up
my own body for experimentation.'

2421
02:17:25,880 --> 02:17:27,080
Whoo!

2422
02:17:27,080 --> 02:17:30,000
'Above all, remember,
if you take care of your body,

2423
02:17:30,000 --> 02:17:32,200
'it will take care of you.'