Keeping your heart healthy has numerous benefits, including a reduced risk for coronary heart disease, stroke, heart attack and even dementia. Eating healthy foods is one big step you can take to protect your heart, but most folks wait too long to change what they eat. “Many people ignore their diet until they develop cardiovascular… read on > read on >
All Health and Wellness:
Less Sleep Brings Worse Grades for College Kids, Study Finds
Late-night cramming, hall parties and other nocturnal activities can rob college kids of sleep, taking a big toll on grade point averages. Freshmen who racked up fewer than 6 hours of sleep a night saw a drop in their end-of-term GPA, new research showed. For every hour of nightly sleep lost, there was a .07… read on > read on >
Poorer Schools Could Bring Higher Dementia Rates Many Decades Later
What do race and early education have to do with dementia risk among seniors? Quite a bit, a new study suggests. Researchers spent decades tracking the onset of dementia among nearly 21,000 U.S. seniors, before reaching two main conclusions. The first is that seniors who, as kids, were educated in states that generally had shorter… read on > read on >
AHA News: Mom’s Exposure to Air Pollution, Even Before Pregnancy, May Raise Baby’s Heart Defect Risk
TUESDAY, Feb. 14, 2023 (American Heart Association News) — Maternal exposure to air pollution may raise the risk for heart defects in an unborn child, according to new research from China that suggests the risks are just as high in the three months prior to pregnancy as they are during the mother’s first trimester. “It… read on > read on >
How Worried Should the World Be About Bird Flu in Humans?
A highly infectious strain of avian influenza is tearing through commercial and backyard poultry flocks, causing egg prices to rise as sick chickens are culled across the United States. Now, some experts are worried that the H5N1 avian flu might become humankind’s next pandemic-causing pathogen, if the raging virus makes the leap from birds to… read on > read on >
No Sign That ADHD Meds in Pregnancy Can Raise Odds for ADHD, Autism in Kids
Children who were exposed to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medications their moms took during pregnancy are not more prone to neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD or autism, researchers report. The news may be welcome to women who’ve needed to take ADHD medication throughout their pregnancy. “We can see that the number of women of… read on > read on >
Allergists Less Likely to Check Black Kids for Eczema
Doctors have dubbed kids’ progression from eczema to asthma the “atopic march,” and they know more about how it affects white children than their Black counterparts. Research scheduled for presentation at an upcoming meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) sheds new light on racial disparities. The atopic march typically begins… read on > read on >
Folks With Type 1 Diabetes Are No More or Less Likely to Be Overweight: Study
Type 1 diabetes has long been considered a thin person’s disease, but a new study challenges that notion. About 62% of adults with type 1 diabetes were overweight or obese, the researchers found. That compared to 64% of those without diabetes and 86% of those with type 2 diabetes. For the study, the researchers used… read on > read on >
Kids Visiting ER in Mental Crisis Often Get No Follow-Up
A growing number of U.S. kids are landing in hospital emergency rooms for a mental health crisis. Now a new study finds that many do not get follow-up care after they’re discharged. Experts said the findings, published Feb. 13 in the journal Pediatrics, are yet more evidence of the cracks in the nation’s mental health… read on > read on >
AHA News: To Improve Maternal Health, Report Says to Start Before Pregnancy
MONDAY, Feb. 13, 2023 (American Heart Association News) — A woman’s heart health prior to becoming pregnant greatly affects her risk for pregnancy-related complications and the long-term cardiovascular health of both mother and child, according to a new report that calls for greater attention to the issue. Improving maternal heart health during this critical period… read on > read on >