Your child’s backpack may be incredibly handy and reflect a personal sense of style. It should also be functional and help protect your child’s back, the Nemours Foundation says. If a backpack is poorly worn or too heavy, it can strain muscles and joints and cause back pain. Doctors recommend that kids keep backpacks filled… read on >
Autism spectrum disorder — or ASD — is a developmental disability now diagnosed in about one in 37 boys and one in 151 girls in the United States. Researchers are learning more about why differences in the brain develop and result in autism spectrum disorder, which includes autism and Asperger’s syndrome. Both environmental factors and… read on >
City birds age faster than their country cousins and traffic noise may be the reason why, a new study suggests. The research focused on telomeres — caps on the ends of chromosomes that protect genes from damage. Shortening of telomeres indicates faster aging. At 120 days of age, Zebra finches that were exposed to traffic… read on >
When it comes to sleep, people seem to have different needs. But how much sleep is best for your heart? A new analysis of 11 studies that included a total of more than 1 million adults without heart disease suggests the sweet spot is six to eight hours a night. The studies were published within… read on >
Depression, anxiety or other forms of mental distress may significantly boost the risk of heart disease among older adults, new research from Australia suggests. The finding is from a four-year study that tracked psychological distress among nearly 222,000 seemingly healthy men and women, aged 45 years and older, with no prior history of heart disease.… read on >
If you’ve been enjoying a lot of time off this summer, a new analysis has good news: All that vacationing might lengthen your life. The finding comes from an updated review of data in a 1970s Finnish heart health study that followed roughly 1,200 middle-aged men in their 40s and 50s for almost four decades.… read on >
For years, nutritionists have warned Americans to minimize dairy in their diets, especially high-fat dairy products. But new research involving 24,000 U.S. adults suggests milk and milk-derived products don’t pose the dire health risks suggested by prior research, and maybe those old warnings should be relaxed. “In light of the protective effects of dairy products,… read on >
A vasectomy is a method of birth control that involves minor surgery to prevent sperm from reaching semen. More than 500,000 men in the United States have the procedure each year, the Urology Care Foundation says. The procedure can be done in a urologist’s office, a hospital or a surgery center. Most men recover within… read on >
Weight loss depends on eating fewer calories than your body uses up. But when you eat those calories could make a difference that you’ll see on the scale. An Italian study found that you can boost weight loss by about 25 percent just by eating 70 percent of each day’s calories between breakfast and lunch,… read on >
In a new study of patients with the heart rhythm disorder atrial fibrillation (a-fib), 4 in 10 had previously undetected brain damage, though none had a history of stroke or mini-stroke. This brain damage could put them at risk for mental decline and dementia, researchers said. Their study included nearly 1,400 patients in Switzerland, average… read on >
