Tired of that spare tire? Low-calorie diets work, but can be difficult to follow. A much simpler approach to losing weight might be to just stop eating every other day. It’s called alternate-day fasting (ADF). As the name implies, you starve yourself by fasting one day and then you feast the next, and then repeat…  read on >

Do you ever think that being more at ease at social and business functions could make you happier or possibly help you get ahead at work? Your personality greatly influences your life because it influences so many aspects of your day-to-day world, from personal to business relationships, from your mental to your physical well-being. The…  read on >

Swedish researchers think they have honed in on why people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are more likely to die prematurely. Accidental injuries, suicide and substance abuse all play a part, and psychiatric problems fuel these factors, a new study from the Karolinska Institute suggests. To arrive at that conclusion, the researchers examined data from nearly…  read on >

Your lunch leftovers are doing no favors for urban birds’ hearts, new research shows. Fatty food scraps may be boosting the cholesterol levels of crows in U.S. cities, but whether it’s a threat to their health isn’t clear. A team from Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., analyzed blood cholesterol levels of 140 crow nestlings in…  read on >

Your dog might be your heart’s best friend, if a new study is any indication. Researchers found that compared with people who had no pets, dog owners tended to have fewer risk factors for heart disease: They got more exercise, and had healthier diets and lower blood sugar levels. Even compared with other pet owners,…  read on >

A staggering number of teen girls are experiencing an insidious form of relationship abuse: reproductive coercion. Researchers report that it affects 1 in 8 adolescent girls who are sexually active. Reproductive coercion is a form of abuse in which a girl or woman is pressured into pregnancy. From a male partner threatening to leave if…  read on >

Critically ill kids are far more likely to survive if they’re treated at hospital emergency rooms that are well-equipped to care for children, a new study finds. Researchers analyzed data on more than 20,400 critically ill youngsters seen in ERs at 426 hospitals in Florida, Iowa, Massachusetts, Nebraska and New York state. The risk of…  read on >

Do you eat healthy during the week, then ease off the brakes on the weekend? You’re not alone. But such a five days on-two days off eating regimen can erode diet quality, according to a study published recently in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Not only did participants take in more…  read on >

Secondhand smoke (SHS) has the same harmful chemicals that smokers inhale, says the American Cancer Society. Non-smokers who breathe SHS take in nicotine and toxins, and are at risk for cancer. Cancer is not the only illness that SHS can cause. It affects the heart and blood vessels, also increasing the risk of heart attack…  read on >

Living in the city can be hard on the senses and the spirit, but spending some time in a tree-lined park could counteract that stress, new research suggests. “Over a three-month period, we collected tweets from 4,688 Twitter users before, during and after they posted from the park,” explained study author Aaron Schwartz. He’s a…  read on >