Following are the latest health news tips to help you follow a healthier daily lifestyle. These health news items are selected from news items based on criteria that can be easily implemented in your daily routine.
Minimizing Thanksgiving Overeating
There are many reasons people overeat during the holidays. People typically eat more in social situations, and food is often the focus of holiday celebrations. Buffet and family-style meals with unlimited food available also increase the temptation.”
People commonly avoid eating before holiday meals but showing up hungry increases the risk of over-eating.
Be cognizant of the portions you put on your plate. Take smaller portions and eat slowly. It takes a minimum of 20 minutes for your stomach to signal your brain that you’re full. Fill your plate up with vegetables and try to limit the creamy, fried, fatty foods. Try not to consume calories from beverages. Drink water and limit alcoholic beverages. Choose only one dessert instead of trying all of them.
Deborah Cohen, is an associate professor in the Department of Clinical and Preventive Nutrition Sciences at the Rutgers School of Health Professions,
Low to moderate stress is good for you
The holidays are a stressful time for many, but that may not be a bad thing when it comes to your brain functioning, according to new research from the Youth Development Institute at the University of Georgia.
You need to have the right resources to be strengthened by adversity and stress. For some people, being exposed to adversity is a good thing. But for others, maybe not. It’s possible that you can sustain more stress if you have a supportive community or family.
The study found that low to moderate levels of stress improve working memory, the short-term information people use to complete everyday tasks like remembering someone’s phone number or recalling directions on how to get to a specific location. Learn more.
Unlike turkeys headed for Thanksgiving tables, wild ones are vanishing
The holidays mean turkey time, and although you will find plenty of farm-raised turkeys in your neighborhood grocery store, the wild turkey population is struggling. In fact, it’s disappearing in many states, and a West Virginia University researcher is working to find out why with help from the National Wild Turkey Federation.
Reversing the downward trend is crucial because turkeys play an important ecological role as prey for species like bobcats and great horned owls. They fulfill a societal role, too, having been part of many Native American food and cultural systems and, when white settlers arrived, an important game species. Read more.
Study Identifies Potential New Treatment Target for Sleep Apnea
Sleep-disordered breathing is characterized by breathing that stops and starts throughout sleep and is estimated to affect up to 45% of obese Americans. Untreated, the condition can worsen heart disease progression and diabetes, cause significant fatigue, as well as death from poor oxygenation. Lifestyle changes such as weight loss and nightly use of continuous positive airway pressure devices, or CPAP, can alleviate sleep apnea, but CPAP treatment is often poorly tolerated by patients.
We have shown that the genetic knockdown of TRPM7 in carotid bodies reduces suppressed respiration in sleep-disordered breathing,” says Vsevolod (Seva) Polotsky, M.D., Ph.D., director of sleep research and professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. While more research is needed, carotid body TRPM7 is a promising therapeutic target not only for hypertension in obesity, but also for abnormal breathing during sleep associated with obesity. Learn more.
Oncology Nurse Shares Top 5 Tips for Cancer Caregivers
For caregivers providing emotional and physical care for cancer patients, can be a positive, rewarding experience that brings people closer together. On the other hand, caring for someone in need also brings forth various challenges that can contribute to mental health concerns.
Joyce Plaza, BSN, RN, OCN, nurse clinician in the palliative care and symptom management group at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey offers information.
Following are some tips:
- Learn as much as you can
- Let yourself grieve
- Be mindful of your own health
- Make time for emotional self-care
- Ask for help
For information on support services for cancer patients and caregivers, visit the National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center or Patient Support Services program page.
Health Benefits of a Plant-based Diet
Eating a plant-based diet reduces inflammatory dietary advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) by 79%, compared to a 15% reduction for a diet that includes meat and dairy products, according to a new study by researchers with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine published in Obesity Science & Practice. The decrease in AGEs was associated with an average weight loss of 14 pounds and improved insulin sensitivity.
The authors say that these findings support prior observations of the favorable effects of low-AGEs diets on weight, body fat, and insulin resistance.
One in 10 older Americans has dementia
In the first nationally representative study of cognitive impairment prevalence in more than 20 years, Columbia University researchers have found almost 10% of U.S. adults ages 65 and older have dementia, while another 22% have mild cognitive impairment. People with dementia and mild cognitive impairment are more likely to be older, have lower levels of education, and to be racialized as Black or Hispanic. Men and women have similar rates of dementia and mild cognitive impairment.
This study is representative of the population of older adults and includes groups that have been historically excluded from dementia research but are at higher risk of developing cognitive impairment because of structural racism and income inequality. The study was published online Oct. 24 in the journal JAMA Neurology. For more information, visit cuimc.columbia.edu or columbiadoctors.org.
Five hours’ sleep a night linked to higher risk of multiple diseases
Getting less than five hours of sleep in mid-to-late life could be linked to an increased risk of developing at least two chronic diseases, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.
People who reported getting five hours of sleep or less at age 50 were 20% more likely to have been diagnosed with a chronic disease and 40% more likely to be diagnosed with two or more chronic diseases over 25 years, compared to people who slept for up to seven hours. Additionally, sleeping for five hours or less at the age of 50, 60, and 70 was linked to a 30% to 40% increased risk of multi-morbidity when compared with those who slept for up to seven hours.
As people get older, their sleep habits and sleep structure change. However, it is recommended to sleep for 7 to 8 hours a night – as sleep durations above or below this have previously been associated with individual chronic diseases. Learn more about the study at University College London.
Gout Management Takes Patients Years
Gout impacts more than 9 million Americans and often entails years-long cycle of doctor visits, medications and ER trips, leading more than half of people with gout to report depression, anxiety or hopelessness. The findings appear in, “The Journey Toward Disease Management,” a national survey report released by the Alliance for Gout Awareness.
These national survey results remind us that gout is a chronic, debilitating disease, one that patients should work with a gout specialist from the earliest possible opportunity to get under control. There are many lifestyle adjustments that can help control gout. Though this disease feels crippling, gout can be managed successfully with appropriate care.
To learn more read the full report.
Probiotic supplement improves bothersome vaginal odor, symptoms at ‘warp speed’
Women who took a probiotic supplement for bothersome vaginal odor and symptoms such as irritation and painful urination reported substantial improvements within 2 weeks, according to study findings presented at the NAMS Annual Meeting.
The probiotic, Clairvee (Bonafide Health), is intended for women who report a vaginal odor “different than that which they think is normal for them” and other bothersome symptoms but who do not have an infection, according to Susan Kellogg Spadt, PhD, CRNP, director of female sexual medicine at the Center for Pelvic Medicine, Academic Urology of PA in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
The first study included 33 women aged 24 to 70 years who had no vaginal infection but reported bothersome vaginal odor, all of whom reported improvement for at least one vaginal symptom — such as itching, discharge, burning, dryness, odor, irritation or painful urination — within 4 weeks. Learn more Healio.com.
High blood pressure speeds up mental decline
A new study in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease serves as an important reminder of the key role that controlling blood pressure plays in long-term brain health. “The findings suggest that high blood pressure causes faster cognitive decline, and that taking hypertension medication slows the pace of that decline,” says Deborah Levine, M.D., M.P.H.,, a professor of internal medicine at the U-M’s academic medical center, Michigan Medicine.
Levine and colleagues at the U-M Frankel Cardiovascular Center are currently studying other aspects of cognitive decline disparities, including her own team’s research on post-stroke cognitive declines. Source: University of Michigan
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