Millions of prescriptions for short term steroid use are written every year to people hoping to ease the misery of everything from back pain to allergies. Now comes a report from researchers at the University of Michigan suggesting that such short term use is not without risks. A U of […]
Author: Art Jahnke
Runners Live Three Years Longer
In the wake of the beautifully run Boston Marathon, let’s think about how many years the habit of running can add to our lives. Three. And chances are, they’ll be three good years, lived in at least relative health. Writing in the New York Times, Gretchen Reynolds suggests that “running […]
Exercise Improves Vision
Intrigued by research with mice showing that exercise excited parts of the brain associated with vision, researchers at the University of California in Santa Barbara decided to find out if exercise could improve the vision of humans. A UC Santa Barbara news release reports that the researchers gave 18 volunteers […]
Now They’re Saying Yes To Prostate Testing
OK, after years of going back and forth on the merits of PSA tests, experts are once again suggesting that they’re a good idea, maybe. The New York Times reports that the recent change of mind is based largely on a European study that found a slightly smaller number of […]
Six Tips For Restful Sleep
The New York Times asked five experts, or at least somewhat knowledgeable people, for their advice on the best way to get a good night’s sleep.  Here’s what they said, and here’s the short version. Have someone read to you. Take a bath. Use a weighted blanket. Sleep in a […]
Knee Arthritis Can Chill Exercise
Knee arthritis might be good for eliciting sympathy (or not) but it’s bad for your health, and not just because it hurts. Duke University researcher Alexander Gunn reports that among people with knee arthritis, fear of movement oftens inhibit meaningful exercise. Gunn and his colleagues surveyed 350 people with knee […]
Dancing Is Good For Your Brain
Dancing, it turns out, is good for more than your social life; it’s good for your brain. New York Times health columnist Gretchen Reynolds reports on a new study suggesting that social dancing, the kind that -like country dancing- requires many dancers to coordinate their steps and movement around a […]
Yes, Greater Weight = Greater Death Risk
In a finding that contradicts some recent research suggesting that being overweight protects us against some causes of death, a Boston University study has found a 6 percent increased risk of dying from any cause among people with a history of being overweight. What’s overweight? The researchers defined it as […]
Lack Of Sleep May Up Prostate Cancer Death Risk
Does less sleep equal greater risk of dying from prostate cancer? Let’s look at the numbers revealed in a recent study by epidemiologists at the American Cancer Society. A news release from the American Association for Cancer Research reports that epidemiologists analyzed data from two large, long-term cohort studies, one […]
Losing Weight Gets Harder With Age
The New York Times Ask Well column has some bad news for anyone who is getting older, meaning everyone. Yes, it does get harder to lose weight the older we get. Health columnist Karen Weintraub tell us why: muscles burn far more calories than fat does, and muscles, as we […]