Where are they?

Thank you for having me on to talk about this very important subject.

I feel road deaths, if it comes to your door, it's just the most devastating thing.

And also serious road injury, which can have a life changing effect on people.

North of the county generally is where we're finding that most of the accidents are occurring.

There's a really bad stretch of road there going into Carlingford.

And several accidents happening there.

OK, so where are the main areas, Michelle, that these safety upgrades need to be made?

So what is it about having bad sleep that would make pain worse?

Yeah.

So sleep in itself is, is really important for recovery, okay? So at night when we sleep, our brain is...

maybe seems asleep, but it's actually not asleep, and it's actually clearing waste, if you like, from our brains that sort of builds up during the day and can aggravate inflammatory processes and pain processing through the brain and the spinal cord.

So it really is an act of clearing out, if you like, unwanted substances that can exacerbate that pain experience.

But in addition to the sort of biology of it, I suppose, is the behavioral psychosocial part of it.

And again, most of us can relate to not sleeping great and feeling a bit crap the next day, or mood's not great, bit disinterested in doing things.

Ah, shame.

So what is it about having bad sleep that would make pain worse?

Yeah.

So sleep in itself is, is really important for recovery, okay? So at night when we sleep, our brain is, maybe seems asleep, but it's actually not asleep, and it's actually clearing waste, if you like, from our brains that sort of builds up during the day and can aggravate inflammatory processes and pain processing through the brain and the spinal cord.

So it really is an act of clearing out, if you like, unwanted substances that can exacerbate that pain experience.

But in addition to the sort of biology of it, I suppose, is the behavioral psychosocial part of it.

And again, most of us can relate to not sleeping great and feeling a bit crap the next day, or mood's not great, bit disinterested in doing things.

Ah, shame.

Because right now, [laughs] even though it sounds a lot, you know, to, to that, when you say to somebody 2,000 people, that's a lot.

So how many people did you study and was it a mixture of men and women with chronic pain?

Good question.

So there was about 2,000 all up.

And yes, there was a mixture between men and women.

And there is a variation around the types of chronic musculoskeletal conditions they have.

As you know, there's a number of them.

So it was quite mixed in that sense.

But if you had the ideal amount of money, what would your next step in researching this further?

I always thought seaweed could be actually very beneficial for us.

Yeah, so did I, but I think an article that I read in The Guardian recently about a large amount of seaweed on Brittany Beach resulted in some deaths, and it was kind of ignored for a while, but upon investigation then it found that the seaweed, once alive, was okay, but when it was dying and rotting, it released a toxic chemical, And that caused the deaths of some horses, some people and some wild boars, actually, as well.

So now they have a plan to remove that while the seaweed is kind of live and washed up.

And I just raised it with the council because I know last year we had an incident where there was a blanket collapse.

of this seaweed that was very unusual that came in along our shore, started on Black Rock and it came down as far as Clarehead and Termanfechan Beach and it rotted over the summer and it was an awful noxious smell off it.

But if it is something that is dangerous, I want us to make sure that we are testing it and ensure that it is being removed before it can cause any danger to people.

Okay, now

No, definitely