I'M taking my children abroad on holiday for the first time later this year. I'm worried that they might get sore ears during landing and take-off. Do you have any advice on how I can try to prevent this from happening?

The change in air pressure in the cabin as the plane takes off and lands can be painful as your ears adjust. Yawning, swallowing, sucking a boiled sweet or chewing gum can all help. Other tips you could try are listed below.

• Wake up around an hour before landing so that your ears have time to adjust to the descent.

• If you're travelling with a baby, feed them during take-off and landing.

• It's not advisable to fly if you have an ear, nose or sinus infection, as the swelling can cause pain, bleeding or a perforated eardrum. If you have to fly, then ask your GP or pharmacist about decongestants to help reduce the swelling in your ears.

• If you've had any type of ear surgery, check with your GP or specialist before flying.

Why are crash diets bad for you?

Many crash diets encourage people to radically restrict their daily calorie intake, or to miss out entire food groups. Diets like this are not recommended for weight loss because they can slow down your metabolism, prevent you from getting important nutrients and vitamins that your body needs to work properly, reduce your intake of carbohydrates (such as pasta, bread, and rice) that are an essential source of energy and increase your intake of protein and fat. Having too much saturated fat can raise your cholesterol and increase your risk of heart disease and stroke.

When you crash diet, your body uses up its carbohydrate stores (known as glycogen) in the liver and muscles. Because water is stored with glycogen in the body, you’ll lose weight quickly. However, most of this weight loss will be water and muscle. Muscle burns more calories than fat, even when you aren’t doing anything, so losing muscle means your metabolism could slow down.

Your body's response to crash dieting is therefore to reduce the speed at which it burns off calories. This means you're actually slowing down your ability to lose weight.

People who crash diet tend to put weight back on quicker than those who follow a long-term healthy eating plan. This is because once you've stopped your crash diet, your slow metabolism can’t deal with the increase in calories. These calories will be stored as fat, so you’ll end up putting on more weight than when you started.

Most crash diets are not healthy, and crash dieting for a long time can be harmful. Also, some are so restrictive that you may not have the willpower to stick to them.

Instead, you should make realistic changes so that your diet is healthy and balanced. For example, you could swap a bag of crisps or a chocolate bar for a piece of fruit.

The recommended and safest rate of weight loss is 0.5-1kg (1-2lb) a week. You’re more likely to maintain a healthy weight long-term at this rate of weight loss. For the best results, you need to combine your healthy diet with regular physical activity.

What is reflux?

Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) is a common condition where stomach acid leaks out of the stomach and into the oesophagus (gullet). The oesophagus is a long tube of muscle than runs from the mouth to the stomach.

Common symptoms of GORD include:

• heartburn – burning chest pain or discomfort that occurs after eating

• an unpleasant sour taste in the mouth – caused by stomach acid coming back up into the mouth (known as regurgitation)

• dysphagia – pain and difficulty swallowing

Many people experience occasional episodes of GORD, but if people have persistent and reoccurring symptoms it is normally regarded as a condition that needs treatment.

A step-by-step approach is usually recommended for GORD. This means that relatively uncomplicated treatments, such as changing your diet, will be tried first.

If this fails to help control symptoms then a person can be 'stepped up' to more complex treatments such as antacids, which help neutralise the effects of stomach acid. In cases where medication fails to control symptoms, surgery may be required.

It is thought that GORD is caused by a combination of factors. The most important factor is the lower oesophageal sphincter (LOS) muscle not working properly.

The LOS acts like a valve, opening to let food fall into the stomach and closing to prevent acid leaking out of the stomach and into the oesophagus. In cases of GORD, the LOS does not close properly, allowing acid to leak up, out of the stomach.

Known risk factors for GORD include:

• being overweight or obese

• being pregnant

• eating a high-fat diet