health news

People who experience high levels of stress and anxiety appear to be more likely to develop irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) following a severe gastric infection, UK and New Zealand researchers report

A variety of studies have suggested that the cause of IBD has psychological and behavioral components, Dr. Rona Moss-Morris of the University of Southampton and Dr. Meagan J. Spence of the University of Auckland point out in the medical journal Gut.

This study shows that various psychological factors, particularly stress, anxiety and a tendency to push oneself to keep going when ill and then collapse in response, interact with the physical illness in causing IBS, Moss-Morris told Reuters Health.


SOURCE: Gut, August 2007.

| Tags: Addiction, Anxiety, Digestive, Personality, Work and Life Health |

Labels: Addiction, Anxiety, Digestive, Personality, Stress

Programs that stress sexual abstinence have had no impact on HIV infection rates in the U.S., according to a new research review. But an abstinence education expert says the study is flawed.

Investigators analyzed findings from 13 studies comparing abstinence-only education to other forms of sexual education or no sexual education at all. Some 16,000 preteens and teens in the U.S. participated in the self-reported studies.

"We found no evidence at all that these abstinence-only programs resulted in lower HIV infection rates for any targeted subgroup," researcher Paul Montgomery, DPhil, of the University of Oxford's Center for Evidence-Based Medicine, tells WebMD.

SOURSE - WebMed

| Tags: Addiction, Depression, HIV and AIDS |

Labels: Addiction, Depression, HIV and AIDS, Stress

Smoking just one marijuana joint is the same as smoking five cigarettes in terms of the damage it does to your lungs, a new study found.
Lung damage from marijuana results in chronic bronchitis and other respiratory problems. But whether marijuana causes emphysema or lung cancer isn't clear, the researchers said."This damage is a full range from symptoms to structural lung damage and reduced lung function," said lead researcher Dr. Richard Beasley, director of the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, in Wellington.
Beasley thinks marijuana smokers should heed the study's findings. "Many people think that marijuana is safe, but this shows that it's not safe. Hopefully, this will avoid a lack of knowledge among smokers," he said.

More information
For more about marijuana, visit the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse.

| Tags: Addiction, Lung Cancer, Smoking Cessation |

Labels: Addiction, Cancer, Lung Cancer, Smoking Cessation

Planning ahead before pregnancy helps new moms give their babies the best possible start in life, experts say.

And to help in that planning, here's an eight-step pre-pregnancy checklist from Barbara Coulter-Smith, a Texas obstetrician/gynecologist at Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine:

Take folic acid supplements. Folic acid is a B vitamin that reduces the risk of neural tube defects such as spina bifida. Few women get enough folic acid in their diet, so it's important to take supplements. Talk with your doctor.
Make sure all your vaccinations are up to date, including immunization against chickenpox and rubella. You should also be up to date on your tetanus shot (every 10 years).
Don't smoke while trying to get pregnant or during pregnancy. Smoking can increase the risk of miscarriage and of low-birth-weight babies. Do not drink alcohol when you're pregnant.
Maintain a healthy weight. Being overweight can increase the risk of gestational diabetes and other pregnancy-related complications.
Exercise helps you maintain or lose weight and helps you manage stress. If you do get pregnant, talk to your doctor about the kinds of exercise that are safe to do during pregnancy.
If you have a chronic medical condition, talk to your doctor about the health risks of pregnancy and about which prescription medications you can still take during pregnancy. It's also important to tell your doctor about any family history of hereditary disorders before you start planning a pregnancy.
After stopping the use of contraception, wait for one spontaneous menstrual cycle before trying to conceive. A normal menstrual cycle signals that the lining of the uterus is healthy enough to support a new life.
Men also need to do some pre-pregnancy planning. Avoid hot tubs, saunas, smoking and alcohol, all of which can affect sperm count.

More information
The U.S. National Women's Health Information Center offers more pre-pregnancy advice.

| Tags: Addiction, Pregnancy, Sexual Health, Women's Health |

Labels: Addiction, Diabetes, Pregnancy, Sexual Health, Stress, Women's Health

It's a tip waiters and bartenders could do without.

A potent carcinogen rises quickly in restaurant and bar workers' urine after even brief exposures to secondhand smoke, a new U.S. study finds.

Concentrations of the cancer-causing toxin, called NNK, appear to rise steadily as bar workers' exposure continues, the researchers add.

NNK is "unsafe at any level," according to study lead author Michael Stark, a principal investigator in the health department of Multnomah County, Ore., which includes greater Portland.

"Even with a brief workplace exposure, we were able to detect increases in the level of NNK," Stark said. "On the average, there was a 6 percent increase per hour of work," he said.

Stark said he and his colleagues did the study because "there had been some prior research suggesting you could detect NNK in women and children in homes where workers had smoked."

Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Policy Research Program, Stark and his colleagues focused on 52 nonsmoking employees of bars and restaurants that allowed smoking. They compared NNK levels in the workers' urine with those of 32 workers in areas where laws prohibit smoking in such establishments.

But Stark pointed out that "this is workplace exposure that is completely avoidable."

| Tags: Addiction, Public Health and Safety, Smoking Cessation |

Labels: Addiction, Cancer, Children's Health, Public Health, Smoking Cessation, Women's Health

Long-term and current smokers have a lower risk of Parkinson's disease than the general population, researchers say in a report that confirms previous observations that people with Parkinson's disease were less likely to be smokers.

Dr. Beate Ritz of the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Public Health and colleagues analyzed data from 11,809 people involved in 11 studies conducted between 1960 and 2004. Of those, 2,816 individuals had Parkinson's disease.

The data showed that current smokers and those who had continued to smoke within five years of Parkinson's disease diagnosis had the lowest risk. People who quit smoking up to 25 years before diagnosis also had a reduced risk. Other tobacco products such as cigars, pipe tobacco and chewing tobacco showed reduced risk as well.

The association between tobacco use and Parkinson's disease disappeared for people older than 75, however. And while the association was strong for people of Caucasian or Asian ancestry, it did not hold for Hispanics or blacks.

| Tags: Addiction, Smoking Cessation |

Labels: Addiction, Public Health, Smoking Cessation

Some doctors now think that the internal fat surrounding vital organs like the heart, liver or pancreas — invisible to the naked eye — could be as dangerous as the more obvious external fat that bulges underneath the skin
According to the data, people who maintain their weight through diet rather than exercise are likely to have major deposits of internal fat, even if they are otherwise slim. “The whole concept of being fat needs to be redefined,” said Bell, whose research is funded by Britain’s Medical Research Council.

Without a clear warning signal — like a rounder middle — doctors worry that thin people may be lulled into falsely assuming that because they’re not overweight, they’re healthy.

Even people with normal Body Mass Index scores — a standard obesity measure that divides your weight by the square of your height — can have surprising levels of fat deposits inside

Still, most experts believe that being of normal weight is an indicator of good health, and that BMI is a reliable measurement.

| Tags: Addiction, Heart Health, Skin and Beauty, Weight Loss |

Labels: Addiction, Heart Health, Skin and Beauty, Weight Loss

Question 10: According to Dr. Oz, how often should you have sex?
A) Once a week
B) Twice a week
C) 10 times a month
D) 200 times a year or more

The correct answer is D.

"If you have more than 200 orgasms a year, you can reduce your physiologic age by six years," Dr. Oz says. He bases the number on a study done at Duke University that surveyed people on the amount and quality of sex they had. "They looked at what happened to folks that are having a lot of intercourse over time, and the fact is, it correlated."

Among the benefits of having sex often, Dr. Oz says, is that it can prove that your body is functioning as it is supposed to. "But in addition, having sex with someone that you care for deeply is one of the ways we achieve that Zen experience that we all crave as human beings," he says.

"It's really a spiritual event for folks when they're with someone they love and they can consummate it with sexual activity … seems to offer some survival benefit."

| Tags: Addiction, Sexual Health |

Labels: Addiction, Sexual Health

Growing up, my dad always smoked cigarettes. At least 2 daily packs of either Camel Lights or Ultra Lights, depending, I suppose, on what level of tar he was feelin’ that day. I went to school every day wearing clothes completely reaking of smoke, and, suffice it to say, the other kids noticed. I was so embarassed by it that I swore that I would NEVER touch a cigarette as long as I lived.

Well, high school hit, and somewhere between classes and social pressures, my previous resolutions went right out the window. At age 14, I took my first drag and thus began a 7-year long addiction. Why did I decide to smoke that first cigarette? Who knows. I’m sure there are a lot of things feeding into at the time, including my young stupidity, but if you are a proponent of determinism, as I am, then you also know that it couldn’t have been any other way.

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| Tags: Addiction, Anxiety, Smoking Cessation |

Labels: Addiction, Anxiety, Smoking Cessation

- Doctors backed away on Sunday from a controversial proposal to designate video game addiction as a mental disorder akin to alcoholism, saying psychiatrists should study the issue more.

| Tags: Addiction |

Labels: Addiction

It may seem an obvious diagnosis for parents, but video games might not actually be addictive, the American Medical Association says.

A report recommending that internet and video gaming addiction be considered a mental disorder was watered down after a heated debate broke out among delegates at the association's annual convention in Chicago.

Some questioned whether there was enough scientific evidence to support claims that excessive game playing is similar to pathological gambling.

Others insisted on more study before advising that parents include video games in a recommended one- to two-hour limit on "screen time."

The report, prepared for the nation's largest doctors group, cited a wealth of studies showing the harm caused by excessive gaming.

It has been linked to increased aggressive and violent behavior.

| Tags: Addiction |

Labels: Addiction

The more alcohol men habitually consume, the more likely they are to have a sleep-related breathing disorder (SRBD), a new study says.

Conducted by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the study included 775 men and 645 women who were evaluated for alcohol consumption and SRBD. Relative to men who consumed less alcohol, men who habitually consumed more alcohol were 25 percent more likely to have a mild or worse SRBD.

The study was published in the April 15 issue of the Journal of Sleep Medicine.

"Experimental evidence is fairly consistent in demonstrating acute effects of alcohol exposure on initiating or exacerbating an SRBD, perhaps by reducing upper airway patency via reduced dilatory muscle tone, or by blunted ventilatory response to hypoxia," Peppard said. "Based on the previous experimental evidence, men and women with an SRBD, or those particularly susceptible to SRBD, should be advised to avoid alcohol near bedtime."

| Tags: Addiction, Men's Health |

Labels: Addiction, Men's Health, Women's Health