Physical Health

Doctors Should Screen for Body Mass Index, Report Says

Responding to the ongoing obesity epidemic, the prestigious U.S. Institute of Medicine (IOM) is calling on physicians to screen their patients for body-mass index (BMI) alongside other standard preventive screenings for high blood pressure, heart rate, and lung function, Kaiser Health News reported May 16. Other medical societies, including the American Medical Association and the [...]

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Better Educated People Live Longer, Study Says

A good education may extend your life, HealthDay News reported May 14. While other studies have shown a link between education, better longevity and higher well-being, it has traditionally been hard to separate wealth, family support, and other factors from the benefits of education. However, this new study — involving 1.2 million Swedes — was [...]

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Give Kids Water, Not Soda, to Boost Their Appetite for Healthy Foods

Want to protect your kids against obesity? Start them on water and healthy snacks at a young age and leave soda on the supermarket shelf, new research suggests. When given the choice, children between the ages of 3 and 5 prefer raw vegetables and water, while young adults (between the ages of 19 and 23) [...]

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Half Hour of Secondhand Smoke Exposure Harms Heart, Study Says

As little as 30 minutes of secondhand-smoke exposure can hurt your heart and cardiovascular system, a new study says. Healthy nonsmokers who breathed “very low levels of secondhand smoke — the same amount many people and children would encounter out and about in the community” — suffered significant damage to the lining of their blood [...]

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Study Says Exercise Can Prevent Diabetes

Regular, vigorous physical activity can increase your insulin resistance and thus lower your risk of developing diabetes, a new study from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland finds. Men’s Health reported May 13 that the study led by Francesca Amati, M.D., Ph.D., found that the healthy adults who burned the most calories as they worked out [...]

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Tiny Batteries are Big Child Injury Hazard, Study Says

Emergency-room visits for battery-related injuries among kids — mostly involving young children who swallow small batteries — have more than doubled in the last two decades, CBS News reported May 14. In 1990, there were 2,591 ER visits due to battery injuries; in 2009, there were 5,525, researchers from the Ohio State University, the Child [...]

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Allergy or Cold? How to Tell the Difference in Your Kids

Want to tell if your child’s sniffles, sneezes, and headaches stem from an allergy or a cold? The nose knows, HealthDay News reported May 12. More specifically, “Children who have spring or fall allergies have much more itching of their noses; they often have fits of sneezing and usually rub their noses in an upward [...]

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Hate Shots? Look Away to Lessen the Pain, Study Says

Looking away from the needle when you get your next shot will make it hurt less, a new study says. Yes, your doctor’s sound advice has a valid scientific basis. When patients view a needle pricking a body part they report more feelings of unpleasantness and pain, German researchers find. And it’s not just in [...]

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Meditation is Good for Your Brain

People who meditate for many years seem to enjoy a variety of cognitive benefits, including greater neuroplasticity (the ability of the brain to make physiological changes) and more white and dark brain matter, the New York Times reported May 8. Research also has shown that meditation may help lower the risk of death from coronary [...]

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Enforcement of New Sunscreen Label Rules Postponed

Here’s a bummer for the summer: Sunscreen manufacturers will have until December, not June, to clarify sun-protection claims on their products, the Washington Post reported May 11. The new guidelines — which require manufacturers to disclose whether their products protect against both types of ultraviolet rays (UVA and UVB) — will be postponed until December [...]

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