Thursday, March 29, 2012

Standing Can Save Your Life

Standing more during the day might be one key to a longer life.

It turns out that sitting too much might be shortening your life. We are starting to find out more and more just how important to our health standing can be. Standing, instead of sitting, can help cut back on weight. And on long flights, standing every now and then can help prevent blood clots. But now it looks like standing more during the day might save your life.

A new study, just published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that sitting 11 or more hours during the day mean you were 40% more likely to die during the next three years. Sitting more than 8 hours a day still increased your risk of dying as well, by around 15%. And that's regardless of how much you exercised during the day.

Although 8 to 11 hours might seem like a lot of time sitting, think about your average day. Driving to work, sitting at work, driving home, then maybe sitting down to watch some TV. That call all add up. And even though you can't escape your desk at work, you can do a couple of things that should help out. Take as many breaks as possible and stand up and walk around a bit. When talking on the phone, stand up then too. And if you can, instead of emailing someone in your building, walk over and talk to them. Also, try and make sure when you do get home that you get up and around. Going for a walk or even standing up to watch TV can help make sure you don't end up sitting too much.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Too Much Sleep?

Not sleeping enough is bad for your health, but what about sleeping too much.

As odd as it sounds, it looks like both not sleeping enough and even sleeping too much could have a big impact on your overall health.

Most of us know that 6-8 hours is right around the target range for a good night's sleep. But not many of us actually get that amount on a regular basis. Some of us get less, some get more. And for years we've thought that those getting less than 6 hours night after night had health problems because of it. And they do, including a risk of having a stroke, heart attack or even congestive heart failure. But a new study has found that sleeping more than 8 hours causes its own problems. They include having more problems with coronary artery disease and more incidence of chest pain.

Researchers involved in this study feel that the ideal sleep range for most of us is 6-8 hours. And since sleep is the time our body, and mind, uses to renew itself, not getting enough, or getting too much, can cause an array of health problems. The bottom line here is that if you're not in that target range find out why. Fixing sleep issues can be one of the best things you can do for your overall health.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Menopause & Memory Loss

When it comes to menopause most of us think of hot flashes. But how about memory loss?

They call it “menopause fog” or menopause brain fog” and it happens a lot more than most of us think.

Typically when we think about menopause most of us think about the typical hot flashes or night sweats that women sometimes go through. Some women going through “the change” might have noticed a little more trouble with their memory happening at the same time. Chances are they didn't think much about connecting the two. But a new study has found that the connection between menopause and brain fog exists and probably happens more than you'd think.

Researchers involved in this study, published in the journal “Menopause” found that women with memory complaints during menopause were more likely to have problems with working memory, like what we use when we calculate a tip at a restaurant. They also found that this menopause memory issue differed from typical memory problems we have as we get older, because those typically surround issues with storing and remembering new information, not necessarily with using the memory we already have.

Although researchers aren't sure why this is happening they did find out that 67% of menopausal women in this study had these types of memory problems. Now knowing this happens can hopefully lead to more recognition, more studies and more ways to cope during the menopausal years.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Fighting Allergy Season

Most of us enjoyed the mild winter, but now we might be paying for it.

Nationwide, this was the winter that wasn't with warm weather during our cold months. But now all that great weather could turn into a bad allergy season. Our Spring allergy season usually starts out toward the end of March and the first part of April. Traditionally the first pollens released are trees, followed over the months by grasses then weeds. Well now clinics are already starting to see allergy related symptoms in patients and those later grasses and weeds might be cropping up even sooner than usual.

But since allergies are starting earlier this year, it's going to be easy to assume those same symptoms of a runny nose, cough, scratchy throat and red eyes are simply a cold. That means you might not be doing the things you need to do to get on top of your allergies.

These steps include taking allergy medicines starting now to prevent symptoms in the first place. Other recommendations include staying indoors during the morning, especially before 10 a.m. and keep track of the daily pollen count. If it's particularly high, or it's a very windy and dry day, stay inside with your doors and windows shut and the air conditioner on. At the end of the day, before you head off to bed, take a quick shower. That will make sure pollen that collected on your hair during the day doesn't spread to your pillow. You'll just end up breathing them in during the night. The goal here is to continue to enjoy the great weather we have without paying the price of a bad allergy day.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Red Meat Dangers

Most of us like red meat from time to time, but how much is too much?

It's not so much about how much you eat at one sitting, but more about how often you eat red meat that seems to be the issue.

A new, very large, study looked at the age old question of how good, or bad, red meat is for us. We've known for some time that too much red meat isn't part of a healthy diet. But this new study, following over 100,000 people for 2 decades, found out that eating red meat every day increased our chances of an early death. Researchers found that someone eating a single serving of red meat every day; we're talking about a serving the size of a deck of cards; had a higher chance of a premature death. And eating processed red meat like hot dogs, bacon or bologna, every day made that risk go up even more. On the flip side of the coin, researchers also found out that eating fish or poultry instead of red meat actually cut your risk of an early death.

Now, this isn't a call to stop eating any red meat. It simply means that my favorite word, moderation, is back at work. Red meat occasionally can be part of a healthy diet. But too much of it too often can be dangerous for your overall health.

Kids & Stairs Safety

When it comes to kids and stairs, there's good new and bad news.

The good news is that fewer kids are getting hurt on stairs, but the bad news is plenty still end up in the emergency room because of it.

A new study, just published in the journal Pediatrics, found that over the last 10 years the number of kids hurt on stairs dropped. Researchers think part of the reason is because of parents realizing the dangers of baby walkers.

But they also found that we still have a ways to go. That's because currently, a child ends up in the ER every 6 minutes after falling down stairs.
Recommendations for slowing this rate down include modifying stairs with children in mind. That means making handrails more narrow so their small hands can grip them if they start to fall. And installing built in gates at both the top and bottom of any stair set.

The researchers involved in this study remind us that even though we might not have a child in the house, most houses have a child visit from one time or another. And the stairs might become a hazard for them at any time resulting in a trip to the hospital.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Concussion Symptoms Linger

When it comes to kids, sports concussions have been a big issue recently. And there is a very good reason so much attention is focused on concussions.

It's because after suffering a concussion, even a very mild one, the symptoms for kids can last up to a year.

A lot more attention has been placed on sports concussions recently from the pros down to the youngest players and for a few very good reasons. That's because when someone suffers a concussion, kids in particular, they end up having attention and memory problems. But now we are finding out those problems can last a lot longer than we used to think.

A new study, published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, looked at children 8 to 15 that suffered a mild brain injury, a concussion. Researchers found that these children suffered from headaches and fatigue along with inattention and memory problems up to a year after the injury. But they also found that even though the headache and fatigue went away, the inattention and memory problems stuck around.

And with the current advice being that after someone suffers a concussion they shouldn't return to play until "all" symptoms have gone away, it's going to be tougher to keep track of the attention and memory problem areas that might stick around for some time. But even these need to be back to normal before someone gets back into the game.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Babies Sleeping & Behavior Problems

How babies sleep might be tied closely to behavior problems later in life.

How they sleep, or more importantly how they breath while they sleep, can be a clue to possible behavior problems later on in life. For some time we've known that children's sleep can influence their amount of hyperactivity or other behavior problems. But this new large study has found that breathing problems during their sleep might be part of the issue. And it might even be contributing to issues when they get older.

A new study, just published in the Journal Pediatrics, followed 11,000 babies and asked their parents to report on how much they snored, used mouth breathing or had times where they held their breath while sleeping. Researchers found out that those having more of these sleep problems also ended up having more behavior issues when they were 7 years old. Those problems included hyperactivity, aggressiveness, anxiety and depression. Plus these children also had a harder time getting along with their classmates.

So, the message here is for parents to pay closer attention to how their babies sleep. If you notice excessive snoring or if it seems like they are holding their breath while sleeping, bring this up to their doctor so you can work together to figure out how to help them.

Cervical Cancer Test Saves Lives

We're told to see our doctor on a regular basis and get the tests we need. Well, now we know just how well one of those tests saves live.

We've known for sometime that pap smears save lives, but new information is showing just how important they really are. Especially when it comes to surviving cervical cancer.

Pap smears are used to detect cervical cancer and the HPV virus that can lead to cervical cancer. And like all cancers, the earlier it's detected the easier it is to treat. And if it's HPV that's found then the cancer can be avoided before it takes hold. But now we are finding out just how effective pap smears really are.

A new study out of Sweden, just published in the British Medical Journal, found that women whose cervical cancer was detected by a pap smear increased their chances of getting cured by 26%. And those women who didn't have any symptoms, but had their cervical cancer found earlier because of a pap smear had a 95% survival rate 5 years out. That's an incredibly effective test.

Currently, the U.S. recommends healthy women aged 21 to 65 have a pap smear every 3 years. This study didn't address how often these tests are needed, but did show that getting tested on a regular basis is important and can be life saving.