Women Health News

Improved thinking. Decreased appetite. Lowered blood pressure. The potential health benefits of dark chocolate keep piling up, and scientists are now homing in on what ingredients in chocolate might help prevent obesity, as well as type-2 diabetes. They found that one particular type of antioxidant in cocoa prevented laboratory mice from gaining excess weight and lowered their … [Read more...]

Wrist fractures are common among postmenopausal women who are younger than 65 and a new UCLA-led study suggests that they may also predict more serious fractures in other parts of their bodies later in life. The researchers on the study, published in the November issue of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, found that one in five women who had experienced a broken … [Read more...]

Many neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, are marked by impaired motor skills. In addition, growing evidence suggests there's a link between some neurodegenerative diseases and body weight. A recent NIH study, for example, found that adults who are obese or overweight at midlife may be at risk for earlier onset of Alzheimer's … [Read more...]

Self-weighing can be a useful tool to help adults control their weight, but for adolescents and young adults this behavior may have negative psychological outcomes. Researchers from the University of Minnesota tracked the self-weighing behaviors of more than 1,900 young adults as part of Project EAT (Eating and Activity in Teens and Young Adults) and found increases in … [Read more...]

Researchers at McMaster University have discovered a key molecule that could lead to new therapies for people with celiac disease, an often painful and currently untreatable autoimmune disorder. Celiac disease is a food sensitivity to dietary gluten contained in cereals. In people who are genetically predisposed, gluten containing food will trigger an immune response that … [Read more...]

  Among patients with peripheral artery disease and intermittent claudication (cramping pain in the legs due to poor circulation in the arteries, aggravated by walking), a combination therapy of endovascular revascularization (an invasive procedure to improve blood flow in an artery) followed by supervised exercise resulted in greater improvement in walking distances … [Read more...]

Customizing an avatar to better resemble its human user may lead to improved health and exercise behaviors, according to a team of researchers. "There's an emerging body of research that suggests that avatars in virtual environments are an effective way to encourage people to be more healthy," said T. Franklin Waddell, a doctoral candidate in mass communications, Penn State. … [Read more...]

A chemical that could potentially be used in eye drops to reverse cataracts, the leading cause of blindness, has been identified by a team of scientists from UC San Francisco (UCSF), the University of Michigan (U-M), and Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL). Identified as a "priority eye disease" by the World Health Organization, cataracts -- caused when the lenses of … [Read more...]

Health campaigns that target teens based their social groups and subcultures, such as hip hop, preppy or alternative, can be an effective tool in dissuading adolescents from engaging in risky behaviors such as smoking and drinking, suggests a survey of the literature and a case study. The findings will be presented at the APHA meeting in Chicago on Nov. 3. "In public … [Read more...]

Vitamin D has been studied extensively in relation to bone health as well as cancer. Now, a team led by a researcher at the University at Buffalo has discovered that vitamin D may play a significant role in eye health, specifically in the possible prevention of age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, among women who are more genetically prone to developing the sight-damaging … [Read more...]

Osteoporosis is one of the chief reasons why the elderly often suffer broken bones from relatively minor injuries. Postmenopausal women in particular experience a relatively rapid loss in bone mass due to a reduced concentration of oestrogen, which is responsible for strong bone growth during youth. Maintaining bone mass requires physical exercise and vitamin D, which is mainly … [Read more...]

Like the treadmills and stationary bikes that become rec room coatracks, fitness and other health-related smartphone apps are acquired in large numbers by Americans, but over time, many are left unused by those who download them. According to results of an online national survey analyzed by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center, 58 percent of 1,604 adult smartphone users … [Read more...]

Endurance expert suggests drugs could help 'lazy people' exercise In what has been described as 'doping for lazy people' a University of Kent endurance expert has advocated the use of psychoactive drugs to encourage sedentary people to exercise. Together with lack of time, physical exertion is one of the main perceived barriers to exercise. This is not surprising because … [Read more...]

Eating a diet rich in both soy protein and isoflavones can protect menopausal women from bone weakening and osteoporosis, according to the results of a preliminary study presented at the Society for Endocrinology annual conference in Edinburgh. Osteoporosis is a common condition where bones become brittle and fragile from tissue loss, causing 9 million fractures worldwide … [Read more...]

A new study of sleepwalkers found an intriguing paradox: Although sleepwalkers have an increased risk for headaches and migraines while awake, during sleepwalking episodes they are unlikely to feel pain even while suffering an injury. Results show that sleepwalkers were nearly 4 times more likely than controls to report a history of headaches (odds ratio = 3.80) and 10 times … [Read more...]

Talking about sex with parents, especially mothers, had an effect on safer sex behavior among adolescents, especially girls, according to an article published online by JAMA Pediatrics. Risky sexual behavior among adolescents is a serious public health problem because of the risk of sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies. Communication between parents and … [Read more...]

A study of the brains of mice shows that structural deterioration associated with old age can be prevented by long-term aerobic exercise starting in mid-life, according to the authors of a research article publishing in the Open Access journal PLOS Biology on October 29th. Gareth Howell, Ileana Soto and their colleagues at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine (USA) found … [Read more...]

Research conducted at the University of Warwick indicates that chronic pain sufferers could benefit from therapy to help them sleep better. The University of Warwick academics found that cognitive behavioural therapies (CBT) were either moderately or strongly effective in tackling insomnia in patients with long-term pain. They also discovered that chronic pain sufferers … [Read more...]

A study led by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers suggests that awakening several times throughout the night is more detrimental to people's positive moods than getting the same shortened amount of sleep without interruption. As they report in the November 1 issue of the journal Sleep, researchers studied 62 healthy men and women randomly subjected to three sleep … [Read more...]

Washing those dreadful dishes after a long day seems like the furthest thing from relaxation. Or is it? Student and faculty researchers at Florida State University have found that mindfully washing dishes calms the mind and decreases stress. Published in the journal Mindfulness, the study looked at whether washing dishes could be used as an informal contemplative practice … [Read more...]

Patients who are divorced, separated or widowed had an approximately 40 percent greater chance of dying or developing a new functional disability in the first two years following cardiac surgery than their married peers, according to a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published in this week's JAMA Surgery. "While … [Read more...]

A ballet dancer's grace is not just because the dancer constantly practices moving with poise. New research published in Journal of Neurophysiology reports that professional ballet dancers' years of physical training have enabled their nervous system to coordinate their muscles when they move more precisely than individuals who have no dance training. The nervous system is … [Read more...]

Patients who stop taking cholesterol medications before surgery are following outdated recommendations, and significantly increasing their risk of death if they don't resume taking the medications within two days after surgery, according to a study of more than 300,000 patients being presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY® 2015 annual meeting. One in four Americans, aged 40 and … [Read more...]

On average, 80% of American adults watch 3.5 hours of television per day and multiple observational studies have demonstrated a link between TV viewing and poorer health. In this new study published in the December issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, investigators reported an association between increasing hours of television viewing per day and increasing … [Read more...]

Anxious patients heading into surgery often receive medication to ease their fears, but a few calming words from their physicians might actually be more effective medicine. In fact, "conversational hypnosis" as the approach is known, may do a better job than pills for relaxing patients before anesthesia and surgery, suggests research being presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY™ 2015 … [Read more...]

Posing as a 15-year-old athlete wanting to bulk up during strength training, a researcher asked more than 200 health food stores whether he should take a sports performance supplement containing creatine. Despite recommendations against using creatine under age 18 by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American College of Sports Medicine, more than two-thirds of … [Read more...]

There is a pre-existing assumption that women place less importance on their careers than men. A new study by an Ithaca College professor challenges this assumption by evaluating how much men and women consider their careers a central part of their identity. "Are Women Less Career Centric Than Men? Structure, Culture and Career Investments" by Stephen Sweet, analyzes data … [Read more...]

It is widely recognised that our physical fitness is reflected in our mental fitness, especially as we get older. How does being physically fit affect our aging brains? Neuroimaging studies, in which the activity of different parts of the brain can be visualised, have provided some clues. Until now, however, no study has directly linked brain activation with both mental and … [Read more...]