FRIDAY, Feb. 9, 2024 (healthDay News) — Super Bowl party spreads famously include nachos, wings, burgers, hot dogs and other unhealthy fare, but one expert offers some advice on how to make watching the game a healthy affair. “Think about what food you anticipate will be there,” said Dr. Bethany Agusala, director of UT Southwestern Medical Center’s William T. and Gay F. Solomon General Internal Medicine Clinic in Dallas. “If you have a health condition or dietary restrictions and you’re not sure if there’s going to be something good you can eat, you might think about bringing a healthy dish, like a veggie tray or a salad.” If you’re hosting a Super Bowl party, recognize that some guests will have health concerns such as diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Try to offer fruits, vegetables, whole grains and salsas so your guests aren’t forced to eat high-salt or high-sugar foods, she suggested. “It’s best to eat foods at these parties where you’re combining sources of protein and healthy fats,” Agusala advised. “Healthier protein options would be foods like bean dip, chicken and fish.” “You could also have complex carbohydrates like vegetables and whole grains,” she added. “These are broken down more slowly, so they won’t cause blood sugar spikes.” Agusala listed what foods to look for and what foods you should avoid while watching…  read on >  read on >

While marriage can be hard work, a new survey suggests it can also be a powerful elixir for happiness. Adults who are married report being more satisfied with their lives than those in any other type of relationship, the Gallup poll showed. “Any way you analyze those data, we see a fairly large and notable advantage to being married in terms of how people evaluate their life,” poll author Jonathan Rothwell, principal economist at Gallup, told CNN. In the survey, which included data spanning from 2009 to 2023, more than 2.5 million American adults were asked how they would rate their life, with zero being the worst rating and 10, the highest. Then, respondents were asked what they thought their happiness level would be in five years. To be considered thriving, people had to rank their present life as a seven or higher and their future life as an eight or higher. Over the survey period, married people consistently reported higher happiness levels, ranging from 12% to 24% higher depending on the year. The gap remained even when researchers adjusted for age, race, ethnicity, gender and education. Experts offered up a few reasons why marriage might be integral to happiness. “At its bare minimum, the concept of commitment implies the experience of being bonded with another. At its very best, it means being bonded with someone who…  read on >  read on >

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced that it is cracking down on air pollution. Specifically, the agency introduced a tougher air quality standard that takes aim at fine particulate matter — the tiny bits of pollution that can penetrate the lungs — by lowering the allowable annual concentration of the deadly pollutant that each state can have. “This final air quality standard will save lives and make all people healthier, especially within America’s most vulnerable and overburdened communities,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in an agency news release announcing the change. “Cleaner air means that our children have brighter futures, and people can live more productive and active lives…” The EPA noted that “a broad and growing body of science” links particulate matter to serious, and often deadly, illnesses such as lung cancer, heart disease, kidney disease, neurological disorders, asthma attacks and stroke.  Reaction to the new standard was enthusiastic. “The Biden administration is taking lifesaving action to protect people and rein in deadly pollution,” Abigail Dillen, president of the nonprofit law organization Earthjustice, said in the EPA news release. “The science is crystal clear. Soot, otherwise known as fine particle pollution, is a killer. It is driving heart disease, our asthma epidemic, and other serious illnesses. The people who suffer most are children and older Americans who live in communities of color and low-income…  read on >  read on >

American teenagers cite stress as the leading reason they might get drunk or high, a new report reveals. That only underscores the need for better adolescent mental health care, according to the research team behind the study. Better “access to treatment and support for mental health concerns and stress could reduce some of the reported motivations for substance use,” concluded investigators from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the study, a team led by CDC researcher Sarah Connolly looked at 2014-2020 data on over 9,500 people ages 13 to 18, all of who were being treated for a substance use disorder. Teens were using a myriad of substances, including alcohol, marijuana, prescription painkillers (often opioids), prescription stimulants (for example, Ritalin), or prescription sedatives (such as Valium or Xanax). The teens were also asked why they thought they were using or abusing substances. Easing stress in their lives was the leading factor cited. “The most commonly reported motivation for substance use was “to feel mellow, calm, or relaxed” (73%), with other stress-related motivations among the top reasons, including “to stop worrying about a problem or to forget bad memories” (44%) and “to help with depression or anxiety” (40%),” Connolly’s team reported. Stress relief wasn’t the only motivator, of course: Half of the teens reported using substances “to have fun or experiment.” This reason…  read on >  read on >

Dementia care can eat through the savings of cash-strapped seniors, a new study warns. The average senior with dementia in non-nursing residential care facilities spent 97% of their monthly income on long-term care, researchers found. Meanwhile, those living in nursing homes spend nearly 83% of their monthly income on their care, results show. “Because dementia is such an expensive illness, it really is in a category of its own when we start to think about funding for long-term care,” said senior study author Jalayne Arias, an associate professor in the Georgia State University School of Public Health. “Our study shows that if you compare people with dementia to their age-matched counterparts, they experience costs that are untenable to manage,” Arias added in a university news release. For the study, researchers analyzed data from a national sample of more than 4,500 adults aged 70 and older, focusing specifically on out-of-pocket expenses for dementia care. “It’s really striking to see that the [average] individual with dementia is basically putting nearly all of their income toward long-term care,” said lead researcher Jing Li, an assistant professor of health economics at the University of Washington School of Pharmacy. “We hear about this anecdotally, but to get confirmation of that from the data is really concerning.” On average, seniors with dementia paid $3,090 a month out-of-pocket for non-nursing residential care…  read on >  read on >

Filling the day with simple activities could be the key to improving mood and well-being after a person has suffered the loss of a loved one, a new study finds. These “uplifts” — activities that can improve a person’s mood — helped ease grief on a day-to-day basis, researchers reported recently in the journal Applied Psychology Health and Well-Being. “In other words, there are things we can do — which are accessible for most people — to improve our moods,” said researcher Shevaun Neupert, a professor of psychology at North Carolina State University. “And those things can help us most on days when we most need it.” Uplifts that can help a person manage their grief include: Completing a task. Getting enough sleep. Dining out. Visiting, phoning or writing a friend. Spending time with family. These uplifts helped just about everyone, regardless of their age or financial status, researchers found. “Uplifts were good for everyone, but there is some nuance in not only who is most impacted, but when the uplifts are most powerful,” Neupert says. “For example, we found that the positive effect of uplifts was more pronounced for people who had experienced traumatic loss, and especially so on days when they reported feeling older.” For this study, researchers worked with data from 440 U.S. adults ages 50 to 85, 356 of whom had…  read on >  read on >