The Buffalo News: Health

Health

Why we should exercise — and why we avoid it: HARVARD HEALTH LETTERS

Updated: 11/18/08 6:58 AM; You already know that exercise is good for you. What you may not know is just how good — or exactly what qualifies as exercise. The notion that physical activity helps keep us healthy is very old news indeed. Hippocrates wrote about the dangers of too little activity (and too much food). Tai chi, an exercise system of graceful movements that originated in China, dates from the 12th century B. C. Yoga’s roots in India go back much further.

When you can’t get out, bring nature in: By Kim Mickenberg

PSYCHOLOGY TODAY; print width=189.900024, height=130.000000 original width=395, height=271 Tribune Media ServicesSoaking up the sun isn’t the only way to use your window. Don’t forget to look out of it from time to time.

Updated: 11/18/08 6:58 AM; Patients in recovery rooms full of natural light take less pain medication, and, days after surgery, they report lower stress levels. Their hastened healing may be due to sunlight’s ability to stimulate serotonin production, which helps regulate mood, sleep and sex drive.

Lifeline: — Tribune Media Services

Updated: 11/18/08 6:58 AM; American Family Physician, the journal of the American Academy of Family Physicians, has published an overview of interactions between drugs, herbs and other dietary supplements. Here are highlights of the article:

Health Notes: Updated: 11/18/08 6:58 AM; The Head and Neck Cancer Support Group will meet from 4:30 to 6 p. m. today in Roswell Park Cancer Institute. For information, call Amy Sumbrum at 845-4947.

Gender match aids heart transplant: By Marilynn Marchione

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Updated: 11/13/08 7:19 AM; NEW ORLEANS — Men and women really turn out to be different at heart: New research finds that heart transplant patients have better odds of survival and a lower risk of rejection if they get organs from donors of the same sex.

Marrow transplant is possible AIDS cure: By Patrick McGroarty

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Updated: 11/13/08 6:34 AM; BERLIN — An American man who suffered from AIDS appears to have been cured of the disease 20 months after receiving a transplant of genetically selected bone marrow normally used to fight leukemia, his doctors said Wednesday.

Study OKs exercise for heart failure patients: By Sarah Avery

McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

Updated: 11/12/08 6:25 AM; RALEIGH, N. C. — Contrary to popular belief, people with heart failure can work out at the gym, ride bikes and participate in other exercises that once were considered dangerously strenuous, a large international study led by Duke University researchers has found.

Obese kids found with middle age arteries: By Marilynn Marchione

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Updated: 11/12/08 6:25 AM; NEW ORLEANS — Obese children as young as 10 had the arteries of 45-year-olds and other heart abnormalities that greatly raise their risk of heart disease, according to doctors who used ultrasound tests to take a peek inside.

A double challenge: By Eric Adler

McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

Updated: 11/11/08 6:38 AM; One day . . . one moment . . . one step at a time. Ever since she got the news, sitting dumbfounded in that little office, every cliche about how to live life when it crumbles beneath your feet, when every dream you have for your children turns to vapor, has coursed through Jennifer Stults’ mind.

Cough medicines lack effective dose, doctors say: By Kayce T. Ataiyero

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Updated: 11/11/08 6:38 AM; It’s an autumn and winter ritual. There you are in the drugstore aisle, wondering which of the many cough remedies to buy, standing miserable among the promises of a speedy recovery.

Health Notes: Updated: 11/11/08 6:38 AM; The Cancer Wellness Center, which offers cancer patients and their loved ones access to education, encouragement and advocacy in a supportive environment, and Daemen College will present a free program titled “Healing Power of Meditation and Tibetan Singing Bowls” at 6:30 p. m. Wednesday in the college’s Wick Center, Alumni Lounge, 4380 Main St., Snyder. Dr. Charles Sabatino and Dr. Cheryl Nosek will speak. To register, call 694-1395.

HPV vaccine catching on: — Tribune Media Services

Updated: 11/11/08 6:38 AM; About a quarter of girls ages 11 to 17 have been vaccinated against the human papillomavirus, the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in October. The vaccine, Gardasil, is expected to provide protection for at least six years. It’s not known if booster shots will be needed later in life. The vaccine is costly— about $375— but is covered by many health insurers, HealthDay reports.

Good health equals better grades for students: By Josephine Marcotty

McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

Updated: 11/04/08 6:37 AM; Quit smoking. Turn off the computer. Go to bed.

Knee pain has multiple treatments: By Jeannine Stein

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Updated: 11/04/08 7:48 AM; The prognosis for people with knee osteoarthritis isn’t so bleak as it might seem in the wake of a study finding that arthroscopic surgery, once hailed as promising, might not be the best option.

Health Notes: Updated: 11/04/08 6:37 AM; A research study on peripheral artery disease (PAD), a condition that restricts blood flow as the result of narrowing arteries, is being conducted by Penn North Centers for Advanced Wound Care. Individuals must be 50 years of age or older with stable skin ulcers or non-infected gangrene on a foot or leg; diagnosed with PAD at the stage of critical limb ischemia and be unsuitable for bypass or revascularization. It is anticipated that the study medication may promote new blood vessel growth and may delay the time to amputation and/or death. To determine eligibility, call (888) 853-4656 or visit www.tamarisstudy.com . •••