
Gratitude enhances health, brings happiness — and may even lengthen lives

Respiratory health harms often follow flooding: Taking these steps can help

Could tea tree oil help treat acne or athlete’s foot?

Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c): What to know if you have diabetes or prediabetes or are at risk for these conditions

What could be causing your blurry vision?

Avocado nutrition: Health benefits and easy recipes

Swimming lessons save lives: What parents should know

Preventing and treating iliotibial (IT) band syndrome: Tips for pain-free movement

Wildfires: How to cope when smoke affects air quality and health

What can magnesium do for you and how much do you need?
Staying Healthy Archive
Articles
Are you really getting enough exercise?
Resistance machines can provide safe, effective strength training. Image: Thinkstock |
To get the full benefit of your workout, you need to know how hard you're exercising, and that can be different for everyone.
Personalized medicine sounds futuristic, but it's really about your relationship with your doctor
By Anne Fabiny, M.D., Editor in Chief
President Barack Obama recently announced the Precision Medicine Initiative, a new program to speed up discoveries based on information and technology stemming from the Human Genome Project. "Precision medicine" and "personalized medicine" are terms that describe health care tailored to an individual patient's genetic makeup, using information about a patient's genome to diagnose illness and design therapies to treat and cure disease. This approach has been described as "the medicine of the future."
However, it may be reassuring to know that although your doctor doesn't have your genome at hand, he or she is likely to be giving you personalized care as we understand it today.
Eating peanuts may extend your life
Health studies rarely involve people on opposite sides of the globe who have very different lifestyles. However, researchers at Vanderbilt Medical School took that approach when they pooled data from dietary studies of 72,000 men and women in the southeastern United States and 135,000 people in Shanghai, China. It turns out that the Americans and Chinese have something in common—they both eat a lot of peanuts—and they may be living longer as a result.
All of the participants filled out detailed questionnaires on the foods they ate regularly. The research team noted that peanuts accounted for 50% of nuts eaten by Americans and almost all the nuts consumed by the Chinese.
The dollars and sense of long-term care
Even if you feel you've saved enough money for the future, it's important to start planning for long-term care now, when you can make sound decisions. Images: Thinkstock |
Why you should plan now for care you may need later.
Ask the doctor: Why am I getting shorter?
After age 40, people lose about half an inch in height with each decade, mainly in the spine. Image: Thinkstock |
Q. Why do people over 60 lose height? I've lost a few inches over the years. Can this be prevented?
Don't just sit there
Stop sitting during TV commercial breaks. Jump up off the couch, and use the time to exercise. Image: Thinkstock |
Easy ways to increase activity and cut down on sedentary time.
New concerns about diet sodas
They're linked to calorie absorption, high blood pressure, and heart trouble.
For weight-conscious people who love the bite of carbonation and the taste of various soft drinks, the advent of sugar-free sodas 60 years ago seemed a blessing: if there were no calories, you didn't have to worry about weight gain—and the diseases that go along with obesity, like diabetes and heart disease. "But there are growing doubts about whether diet sodas really help people lose weight and avoid diabetes," says Dr. Anthony Komaroff, editor in chief of the Health Letter.
The downside of too much sitting
During the day, make an effort to stand rather than sit, when possible. |
Standing up more throughout the day may help you dodge heart disease and live longer.
Weight-loss drugs and your heart
Weight-loss drugs aren't for people hoping to lose just a few pounds. Image: Thinkstock |
Some first-generation diet pills proved risky to the heart. New drugs may have expanded the options for treating obesity.
Ask the doctor: Health benefits of probiotics
Q. Would you suggest I try taking a probiotic supplement for general colon health? I have a sensitive stomach and sometimes suffer from constipation.
A. Probiotics, the beneficial bacteria that live in our intestines and assist in digestion, have gained a lot of support lately. Each week, a new study appears describing health benefits or diseases associated with changes in the so-called microbiome—the diverse community of microorganisms each of us carries inside our body. Still, the benefits of adding probiotics to the intestinal tract are uncertain.
Probiotics have proved helpful in situations where the body's normal, healthy bacteria have been destroyed, such as after taking a powerful antibiotic. Small studies in people with irritable bowel syndrome have suggested that taking probiotics improves pain and diarrhea. The benefit in constipation is less certain, but it's reasonable for you to try taking a probiotic if you are interested.

Gratitude enhances health, brings happiness — and may even lengthen lives

Respiratory health harms often follow flooding: Taking these steps can help

Could tea tree oil help treat acne or athlete’s foot?

Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c): What to know if you have diabetes or prediabetes or are at risk for these conditions

What could be causing your blurry vision?

Avocado nutrition: Health benefits and easy recipes

Swimming lessons save lives: What parents should know

Preventing and treating iliotibial (IT) band syndrome: Tips for pain-free movement

Wildfires: How to cope when smoke affects air quality and health

What can magnesium do for you and how much do you need?
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