In many places, generic medicines must have the same active ingredient in the same amount as the original brand. Before you purchase generic medicines, ask your doctor if they are safe and effective. You may notice they differ in size, colour and taste to the original brand. They may also have some different fillers so they are not 100% the same tablet – it should be the drug content that is the same.

You may wonder why the generic versions are cheaper, does this mean they are not as good? The company that invented the original medication will have spent considerable money on creating the medication, testing its safety and applying for patents. Once the patent runs out, other drug companies are free to make the equivalent medication (the generic drugs) without the costs associated with creating the original version. Hence generic versions are cheaper.

In general, most people can safely take generic drugs. However, the generic version may contain inactive substances that you may be allergic to. Not all drugs have cheaper generic versions. Drugs that are not commonly prescribed are unlikely to nor will those drugs with the original patent still active.

As always, talk to your doctor or pharmacist to see if generic brands are right for you.

Are sleep trackers accurate?

Sleep trackers claim to measure the total amount of sleep we have each night; the time spent in different stages of sleep (light, deep and REM); our sleep schedule and provide an overall sleep score.

Sleep trackers rely largely on movement to detect if we are asleep. Most trackers overestimate the duration of sleep because if you lie in bed, it thinks you are asleep. Newer watches have additional technology to measure heart rate, breathing and heart rate variability to estimate sleep stages. A study in 2021 examined 7 sleep trackers and found the devices were fairly accurate at detecting whether we are awake or asleep but not accurate at detecting the different stages of sleep. Another study in 2023 looking at 11 sleep trackers had similar findings – the accuracy of sleep stages falls well short of data from sleep studies conducted in a sleep lab.

So, are sleep trackers helpful or harmful?

For most people, sleep trackers provide some interesting sleep data with minimal effort on our part. Trackers certainly have the capacity to be very helpful if they lead to consistent behavioural change that means we sleep longer and wake up feeling rested and refreshed.

The downside to sleep trackers is that for some people they create a new anxiety about sleep that was not previously there. For example, you wake up in the morning feeling pretty good, reach for your phone and check your sleep data from last night. Your app tells you that your sleep quality was poor and you did not have enough REM sleep. You are now worried about being tired at work. You worry at night time that you might have another poor night’s sleep and so it takes you longer than usual to drift off. And so, begins the worry cycle about sleep. Checking data too often and feeling anxious about sleep is the potentially harmful impact of sleep trackers. If you notice this happening, it is time to take your watch off when you go to bed and rely on how you feel in the morning to know whether you got a good night’s sleep.

Keep it cool

• Cool and cover leftovers and put them in a fridge or freezer within 2 hours (see the 2-hour/4-hour rule below).
• Splitting leftovers into smaller portions aids faster cooling, which prevent bacteria growth. It also helps with portion control and meal planning.
• Always store leftovers at less than 5 degrees Celsius and keep them separate from uncooked foods, such as raw meat.
• Eat leftovers stored in the fridge within 3 days. Cooked rice and pasta should be eaten within 2 days.
• Freeze leftovers for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge and use within 24 hours of defrosting.
• Throw away leftovers if they have been out of the fridge for more than 4 hours.
• For opened canned food leftovers, follow the manufacturer’s directions for storage and use and take the same precautions as you would for fresh food.

Reheat to eat

• Always reheat leftovers to steaming hot (at least 60 degrees Celsius). Reheating leftovers kills harmful bacteria that may have grown since it was cooked.
• Stir microwaved food while heating to ensure it is hot all the way through.
• Never reheat rice and pasta more than once and make sure it is steaming hot.
• Take extra care with takeaway rice. It should be eaten soon after purchasing as some businesses may pre-cook rice and re-heat it before it is served.

The 2-hour/4-hour rule

Temperature control is very important to prevent harmful bacteria from growing in certain types of food. Food poisoning bacteria grow best between temperatures of 5 degrees Celsius and 60 degrees Celsius – also known as the ‘temperature danger zone’.

To minimise your risk of food poisoning, follow the 2-hour/4-hour rule. If your leftover food has been out of the fridge for:

• less than 2 hours – use it now, or put it back in the fridge for later
• between 2 and 4 hours – use it now or throw it out, and
• after 4 hours, throw the food out.