Bodytalk; What's new in health.

Batter to go last IF you fancy a spot of cricket in the park this summer, opt to bowl first. So suggests a survey of top Aussie cricket teams, which found that the risk of injury increases by 60 per cent if you bat first.

Researchers reckon it could be down to players not warming up properly between batting and bowling. And fast bowlers are the most likely to come a cropper according to the British Journal Of Sports Medicine report. PREGNANT women should be choosy about when they give birth... but that may be easier said than done. Studies from US hospitals reveal that women are nearly twice as likely to face delivery complications between 12 noon and 2am, according to the Journal Of Epidemiology And Community Health.

Researchers say that during this lengthy "rush hour" period, busy medics are more likely to use a vacuum device or forceps to speed delivery and patients are more likely to suffer tearing.

The safest time to give birth is between 2am and 8am, when there's 30 per cent less risk of tearing and 86 per cent less use of drugs.MEN who take Viagra to boost their sex lives may risk severe nosebleeds that can last for hours, medics warn.

It's thought the drug affects the soft nasal tissue in some people and could engorge veins in the nose with blood. Writing in the Journal Of The Royal Society Of Medicine, doctors from St George's Hospital, London, said one patient had to be hospitalised for six days. It may be under reported because of embarrassment.A priceless mineral TRIALS have shown that magnesium reduces anxiety in premenstrual women.

Dr Ann Walker, who carried out the trials at Reading University, says that UK women are more likely to lack magnesium than any other mineral.

Found in beans, wholegrains, seeds and nuts, a lack of it results in irritability, mood swings, headaches, heart palpitations, nausea and confusion. Low levels lead to decreased dopamine secretion, which increases the stress hormone prolactin.

"Magnesium is too bulky to go into a multivitamin in sufficient quantities," says Dr Walker. "Look for a magnesium supplement and choose magnesium citrate which is better absorbed than oxide."

Visit the Health Supplements Information Service website, www.hsis.org