The health of University students

Female University students may consume lower amounts of alcohol and illegal substances than their male counterparts but they make more use of tranquillisers and sleeping pills, a study has shown.

The females may also engage in healthier sexual practices and have a stronger social support network but they experience higher levels of academic stress and negative emotions, such as sadness, exhaustion and helplessness, than male students.

These interesting gender disparities, which emerge from the study, are pulled out in Pink magazine, distributed with The Times tomorrow.

The recently published study - the first of its kind in Malta - on the health of Maltese university students, Healthy Students Healthy Lives, also finds that female students experience more emotional abuse.

One of the authors, Carmel Cefai, tells Pink the results regrettably reflect the bad health habits of the Maltese population as a whole and verify the existence of gender disparities in health.

Tomorrow's issue also delves into other health issues, probing the effects of epilepsy on a young girl, and her family's battle to beat it.

Statistics show that about 2,000 Maltese have experienced an unprovoked seizure or been diagnosed with epilepsy. But for about 80 per cent of these seizures can be controlled with modern medicines.

The PrivateEye article offers practical information about how to deal with fits, dispelling the widespread belief that people can swallow their tongues during a seizure - or at any other time.

Health also infiltrates the more glamorous aspect of the magazine. In an interview with the first Bond girl almost 50 years on, Ursula Andress, one of the world's most desired women, tells Pink about her acting-life balance that has always tipped more towards life, and the "luck" that secured her timelessness.

Apart from details about the iconic bikini she wore in the unforgettable scene in the 007 espionage movie Dr No, the 73-year-old encourages women to check their bone density and tackle osteoporosis like she has.

A Maltese woman in the Royal Navy talks about her imminent trip to Afghanistan and the rise of the need to rely on others to cope with stressful lives has called for a look into women who are offering personal assistance and sorting out their busy counterparts.

Sales may be on but denim remains a staple throughout the seasons and touches appear in this month's show-stopping photo shoot; while food, books, relationships, horoscopes, hair and other Bond issues infiltrate the magazine. Published by Allied Newspapers Ltd and printed by Progress Press Ltd, Pink's executive editor is Fiona Galea Debono. It is produced by MediaMaker and designed by Helen Cassar Torreggiani and Joseph Schembri.