Air Pollution & Liver Spots
The more traffic-related air pollution in a woman’s life, the more likely she is to develop brown spots on her face. Researchers from Dusseldorf, Germany identified nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrated in traffic-related air pollution as a causative factor in the development these brown spots, popularly known asliver spots. Exposure to NO2 is also associated with lung cancer and compromised lung function. The researchers studied two groups of women - 806 German women ranging in age from 67 to 80 and 743 Han Chinese women ages 28 to 70. The investigators found no link between levels of NO2 and liver spots (known medica...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - November 29, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News air pollution driving liver spots Source Type: blogs
Lack Of Exercise May Mean Smaller Brain Size
If you want to keep your brain from shrinking as you age, your best bet may be to keep yourbody physically fit. New research from Boston University School of Medicine found that poor physical fitness in midlife was linked to smaller brain size (a sign of accelerated brain aging) 20 years later. Researchers used treadmill tests to assess the physical fitness of 1,583 people whose average age was 40. All were participants in the long-running Framingham (MA) Heart Study, and none hadheart disease when they took their first treadmill test. They were re-evaluated with treadmill tests two decades later and also underwent MRI sca...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - November 27, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News aging brain brain size exercise Source Type: blogs
Exercise + Meditation = Less Depression
This study was the first to combine meditation and exercise to address depression.My take? These study results are welcome news. I have long recommended physical activity as the most reliable method for immediate, symptomatic treatment of depression. Numerous studies have demonstrated the efficacy of a daily workout for improving emotional health and boosting self-confidence. I recommend 30 minutes of continuous activity, at least five days a week for best results. I’m also a strong advocate of meditation, as well asbreathing exercises, as part of an integrative approach to addressing mild to moderate depression.&nbs...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - November 23, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News depression exercise meditation Source Type: blogs
Clutter Can Mean More Calories
How does clutter affect you? A new study suggests it can prompt you to overeat. Researchers from Cornell and Australia’s Universityof New South Wales investigated snacking and the effect of spending 10 minutes in a kitchen littered with newspapers on the table, dirty dishes in the sink, and the phone ringing. To begin, the researchers asked about half the 101 women participants to write about a time when they felt out of control and the others to write about feeling in control. Then they asked them to wait for 10 minutes in the messy kitchen or in a clean, organized and quiet kitchen. Bowls of cookies, crackers and c...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - November 21, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News calories clutter diet eating Source Type: blogs
Meditation Eases Breast Biopsy Anxiety And Pain
Guided meditation can helpwomen undergoing breast biopsies experience less anxiety and pain. In addition, researchers from the Duke Cancer Institute report that providingmeditation can improve the effectiveness of the biopsy procedure, which can be compromised if women move during the procedure. The researchers enrolled 121 women scheduled for a stereotacticand ultrasound guided (needle) breast biopsy and randomly assigned them to a recorded meditation, music or the usual care with a technologist offering support. The meditation, described as a guided“loving/kindness” script, focused on building positive emotio...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - November 18, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News anxiety breast biopsy meditation pain Source Type: blogs
Pregnant? Another Reason To Avoid Fructose
Pregnant women whose diet is high in fructose could be setting their babies up forhigh blood pressure andobesity later in life. This finding comes from a study in mice by researchers at the University of Texas, Medical Branch, Galveston. Theyprovided pregnant mice a solution of either fructose or water as their only drink from their first day of pregnancy through delivery. All of the baby mice were given standard mouse meals and their health was evaluated when they were one year old. The researchers found that both the male and female mice whose mothers drank the fructose solution had higher peak glucose levels compared to...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - November 16, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Pregnancy eating Science and Supplement News diet fructose Source Type: blogs
Want To Lose Weight?
The notion that the more you exercise, the more weight you’ll lose could disappoint you. You would be better off focusing on what you’re eating. That’s the word from a study examining daily energy expenditure of 332 adults in five countries, including the U.S. The participantswore devices that recorded their activity levels for a week, and the researchers used that information to calculate the number of calories each person burned using standard measurements. They found thatmoderate activity - the equivalent of walking a couple of miles per day - burned about 200 calories more than amounts expended by sed...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - November 15, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News eating metabolism weight loss Source Type: blogs
Can ’t Sleep? Blame Social Media
Spending too much time on social media - or at least checking these Internet sites frequently - could spell sleeping problems for some young adults. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine collected data from 1,788 adults ages 19 through 32 about their use of social media and how well they sleep. The study participants were asked about the amount of time they spend on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and seven other social media platforms. The researchers reported that, on average, study participants spent 61 minutes a day on social media and visited various social media sites 30 times per week....
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - November 13, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News insomnia sleep social media technology Source Type: blogs
Why It ’s So Hard To Give Up Sugar
Blame it on the brain. Researchers at Yale have found that our brains respond differently to sweet tastes and to calories. The brain is hardwired to seek out sugar to provide itself calories, but it considerssweetness separately, and it will go for the calories - energy - every time. "It turns out the brain actually has two segregated sets of neurons to process sweetness and energy signals," the Yale study’s senior author explained in a press release. "If the brain is given the choice between pleasant taste and no energy, or unpleasant taste and energy, the brain picks energy." The study found that both sweet taste a...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - November 10, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News brain sugar sweets Source Type: blogs
New Way To Remember Names And Faces
The trick to putting names and faces together aftermeeting someone for the first time may be agood night’s sleep. That conclusion comes from a small study at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). Researchers there recruited 14 young adults in their 20s to see how a good night’s sleep affects the ability to match names and faces. During the study the participants stayed at the hospital’s Center for Clinical Investigation. Each study volunteer was shown 20 photos of faces with names attached and asked to memorize them. After 12 hours, they were shown the photos again, matched with either ...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - November 9, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News memory sleep Source Type: blogs
Air Pollution Increases Risk Of Heart Disease
Air pollution is a recognized risk factor forcardiovascular disease, and new research indicates that it is especially detrimental for women withtype 2 diabetes. Investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health reviewed data from more than 100,000 women, comparing rates of cardiovascular disease in connection with air pollution. They found that among women who were affected by air pollution, type 2 diabetes was a more important factor than age, family history of cardiovascular disease, a woman’s weight, smoking, and region of the country. Fornon-diabe...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - November 8, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News air pollution diabetes heart disease Source Type: blogs
Better Sleep Through Weight Loss
If you’re overweight, don’t sleep well and lack energy during the day, losing a few pounds might helpfix all that. It worked for obese mice. Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania fed half the mice in their study regular mouse chow and the other half chow with more than three times more fat. After 8 weeks some of the mice in each group were switched to the opposite diet. Not surprisingly, those that had been on the high fat diet lost weight while those that had been eating regular mouse chow gained. After the ninth week, the mice on the high fat diet weighed 30 percent ...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - November 7, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News energy sleep weight loss Source Type: blogs
Exercise To Fight Off Colds
Getting regular exercise strengthens muscles and conditions our hearts, and it may also bolster the immune system enough to help us ward offcolds and flu. A study from South Korea examined this potential benefit in mice. The researchers reasoned that inflammatory compounds produced in fat cells can weaken the immune system’s response to illness or infection. However, exercise can reduce the number and size of fat cells and thus potentially lower levels of inflammation. To test whether physical activity can actually have that effect, the researchers compared the results of infection with Staphylococcus bacteria in mic...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - November 4, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News cold exercise flu immune system Source Type: blogs
Smoke, Early Menopause And Fertility
Women who smoke and those who have been exposed to second hand smoke have more problems getting pregnant and are more likely to reachmenopause at an earlier age than women who never smoked or those who were exposed to the least amount of second hand smoke. A new investigation from Roswell Park Cancer Institute reached these conclusions after researchers analyzed data on nearly 89,000 women in the U.S. Women who reported smoking were 14 percent more likely to have infertility (meaning that they were unable to get pregnant for a year) and 26 percent more likely to reach menopause earlier than women who didn’t smoke. Th...
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - November 3, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News fertility menopause women's health Source Type: blogs
Quick Way To Lessen Stress
This study was aimed at determining whether helping behaviors yield these benefits in the real world. The researchers also suggested that you may be able to diffuse holiday stress in small ways by helping someone out. (Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips)
Source: Dr. Weil's Daily Health Tips - November 2, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dr. Weil Tags: Science and Supplement News mental health mood stress stress relief Source Type: blogs
