Pediatricians may become the trusted middle men between gun owners and non-gun owners when it comes to talks about gun safety, a new study shows. University of Pennsylvania researchers found parents were more open to politically sensitive discussions about gun locks and other gun safety measures when a child’s doctor was involved. The study offers…  read on >  read on >

Want to feel you matter after you retire? Start socializing, a new study suggests. Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis found that positive connections with other people were associated with a sense of purposefulness in older adults. Having a sense of purpose is defined as the extent to which a person feels that they…  read on >  read on >

People who douse their meals in salt may have a shorter life than those who rarely reach for the salt shaker, a large new study suggests. The study, of more than 500,000 British adults, found that those who always sprinkled salt on their food at the table were 28% more likely to die prematurely than…  read on >  read on >

As the coronavirus continues to evolve, a new highly contagious Omicron variant is appearing in India and other nations, including the United States, experts say. This new mutation — dubbed BA.2.75 — is concerning scientists because it appears to spread fast, bypassing the protection offered by COVID-19 vaccines and immunity from previous infection, the Associated…  read on >  read on >

MONDAY, July 11, 2022 (American Heart Association News) — Flu-like illnesses can increase the risk for stroke among adults, but being vaccinated might lower those odds, especially among those under 45, new research finds. The study, published Monday in the American Heart Association journal Stroke, found flu-like illnesses increased the odds of having a stroke…  read on >  read on >

Long, restful and — most importantly — regular sleep is key to helping kindergarteners adjust to school, and a new study urges parents to start forming good sleep habits a full year ahead of time. Researchers found that kids who regularly got 10 hours of sleep or more before beginning kindergarten reaped big benefits. These…  read on >  read on >

Babies’ babble may be smarter than you think. A new study shows that infants as young as 3- to 5-months of age can tell that the unintelligible sounds they make before they learn to talk can impact the people around them. Traditionally, this babbling has been regarded simply as a byproduct of babies trying to…  read on >  read on >