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Toned abs don’t just look great, they’re also vital for good posture and avoiding lower back pain. But there’s a limit to how far the exercises known as crunches will go toward getting you those six-pack abs. These exercises create definition, but they won’t get rid of belly fat, according to a report in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. That goal needs the one-two punch of exercise to firm muscle and diet to reduce fat. That being said, crunches belong in a core workout — that’s one targeting all the muscles in your torso. When it comes to crunches, working smarter is more important than doing hundreds of them. To intensify ab workouts: Increase the number of reps per set. Increase the number of sets. Shorten resting time between sets. Increase the angle of exercises. Wear ankles weights. Hold a weight plate against your chest. Here are specific pointers to improve the effectiveness of the most popular exercises. For the basic crunch, lie on your back, knees slightly bent, feet flat on the floor and hip distance apart. Breathe in, then exhale as you tighten your abs and lift your head and shoulders toward the ceiling. Do not curl up toward your knees. Hold briefly, then slowly return to the starting position, inhaling as you lower yourself to the floor. Start with 10… read on >

Hay fever sufferers often choose the wrong medication for their seasonal sniffles, new research suggests. With flowers, trees and grasses springing back to life, folks with allergies will start to complain of sneezing, runny noses, and watery, itchy eyes. More often than not, though, they’ll head to the allergy aisle of their nearest drug store without advice from a doctor or pharmacist, the new study found. Only 63 percent of people who visit their community pharmacy to purchase treatment for their hay fever have a doctor diagnosis, said study senior author Sinthia Bosnic-Anticevich. “This is despite the fact that a vast majority of them are experiencing moderate to severe hay fever symptoms, which impact on their day-to-day living,” she added. Moreover, 70 percent select their own hay fever medication without consulting the pharmacist. And of those who reported wheezing, only 6 percent chose the correct medication, the study found. “Only 17 percent [choose allergy drugs] appropriately,” added Bosnic-Anticevich, a professor at the University of Sydney in Australia, who specializes in the use of respiratory medicines. It’s estimated that hay fever affects 30 percent of the world’s population, the researchers pointed out. Although this study was done in Australia, Bosnic-Anticevich said she has heard anecdotally from U.S. colleagues that the results would likely be similar if it had been done with American allergy sufferers. So what… read on >

Home exercise equipment has come a long way over the years. It’s a great option if you’re starting a fitness program and don’t want to go to a gym or can’t get to your gym often enough. There’s also the convenience of having your favorite piece of cardio equipment in your home, especially on bad weather days. Whatever your reason, take steps to make sure that the machine is cost effective and that you’re getting all the features you’re used to at the gym or that you’ll need to stay motivated at home. There are different considerations for each type of machine. For instance, for real elliptical movement you need a rear-drive unit with an adjustable incline ramp at the front, the American College of Sports Medicine explains. Less expensive front-drive ellipticals often don’t deliver a natural motion and may not feel comfortable to you. There are equally big differences between electronic stair steppers and manual ones, and between manual and motorized treadmills, for which a 3-horsepower motor is best. Check out the range of built-in speed adjustments. If you’re a beginner, the machine should be able to progress with you; if you’re a seasoned user, it should have enough settings to keep you challenged for the long term. Next, determine what bells and whistles are important to you, such as preset programs, a large… read on >

Headed to a Major League Baseball game? Be prepared to duck and cover. As the 2018 season gets underway, a new study finds that fans’ risk of being struck by a foul ball or flying bat at Major League Baseball (MLB) games is on the rise. Each year, about 1,750 fans are hurt by foul balls at MLB games. That works out to about two injuries for every three games — more common than batters getting hit by wayward pitches, according to Indiana University researchers. The researchers did not examine injuries among the more than 40 million fans who attend minor league games. But fans’ risk of getting hit at MLB games rose as nearly two dozen new stadiums opened since 1992, the study found. The added risk is easy to explain, the researchers said. “Fans today frequently sit more than 20 percent closer to home plate than was the case throughout most of the 20th century,” said study author Nathaniel Grow, an associate professor of business law and ethics at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. “When you combine that with an increase in the speed with which baseballs are being hit into the stands, fans have less time to avoid errant balls or bats heading in their direction,” Grow explained in a university news release. A typical foul ball enters the stands at… read on >

Even though they know it’s dangerous, many American drivers still talk on a cellphone or text while behind the wheel, a new survey finds. In fact, the number of drivers who say they talk regularly or fairly often on their cellphone while driving has actually risen 46 percent since 2013, the pollsters say. More than 2,600 licensed drivers, aged 16 and older, were questioned for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety survey. Nearly 58 percent said talking on a cellphone while driving is a very serious threat to their safety, while 78 percent said texting is a significant danger. Yet nearly half of the respondents said they recently talked on a hand-held phone while driving. And more than one-third had sent a text or email while driving, according to the survey. “With more than 37,000 deaths on U.S. roads in 2016, we need to continue finding ways to limit driving distractions and improve traffic safety,” said David Yang, executive director of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. “The foundation’s work offers insight on drivers’ attitudes toward traffic safety and their behaviors, so we can better understand the issue and identify potential countermeasures to reduce crashes,” he added in a foundation news release. Drivers talking on a cellphone are up to four times more likely to crash, and those who text are up to eight times… read on >

Medical care costs in the United States can be so overwhelming that Americans fear the cost of treatment more than the illness itself, a new poll shows. “It’s shocking and unacceptable that medical bills strike more fear in the hearts of Americans than serious illness,” said Shelley Lyford. She is president and CEO of West Health Institute, a San Diego-based research group that teamed up with NORC at the University of Chicago to conduct the nationwide poll. More respondents (40 percent) feared the cost of treating a serious illness than feared becoming ill (33 percent). The poll, of more than 1,300 adults, also found that 44 percent had not gone to the doctor when they were sick or injured within the past year, and 40 percent had skipped a suggested medical test or treatment because of the expense. Nearly half of the respondents said they also went without a dental checkup or cleaning in the past year, and 4 out of 10 said they didn’t see a dentist when they needed care. Thirty percent said they had been forced to choose between paying for medical bills or necessities such as food, heating or housing in the past year. About one-third said they had not filled a prescription or took less than the prescribed dose to save money. And respondents who said they didn’t get a… read on >

New research suggests that a special MRI technique can spot abnormal connections in the brains of preschoolers with autism. The discovery “may be a clue for future diagnosis and even for therapeutic intervention in preschool children with [autism],” study co-author Dr. Lin Ma, a radiologist at Chinese PLA General Hospital in Beijing, explained in a news release from the journal Radiology. The findings were published in the journal on March 27. One U.S. expert agreed that the imaging advance could be a boon to autism research. “This discovery gives us a more objective diagnostic method by using MRIs to aid us in the diagnosis of children who do have autism, and also gives us a better understanding of the abnormal differences in the brain,” said Dr. Matthew Lorber. He’s a psychiatrist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. In the study, the Chinese team used an MRI technology known as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). This technique provides important information on the conditions of the brain’s “white matter,” the researchers explained. In the study, Ma’s group compared DTI results from 21 preschool boys and girls with autism (average age 4-and-a-half years) and 21 similarly aged children without autism. The children with autism had significant differences in what’s known as the basal ganglia network, a brain system that’s important in behavior. They also had differences in… read on >

Tree care workers have one of the nation’s most perilous jobs, and the danger could grow as climate change increases the risk to trees from major storms, diseases, insects, drought and fire, experts warn. Better training and safety in tree care operations are essential, according to researchers from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. Every year, about 80 tree care workers die and at least 23,000 chainsaw-related injuries are treated in U.S. emergency rooms. Many of those injuries stem from poor training and equipment, according to Rutgers experts who have studied risks to tree care workers since Hurricane Sandy in 2012. In the last month, the northeast and mid-Atlantic states have gone through four nor’easters resulting in further widespread tree damage from heavy snow. “There is a popular misconception that tree removal is low-skill work, but nothing could be further from the truth,” researcher Michele Ochsner said in a university news release. “Handling storm-downed trees without injury to people or property involves an array of technical skills and knowledge of how different species of trees respond in different seasons and weather conditions,” she explained. Ochsner formerly worked in Rutgers’ School of Management and Labor Relations. She and her colleagues found that workers employed by tree care experts and licensed arborists were more likely to receive health and safety training and to use protective gear than… read on >

Less than 40 percent of American adults with extremely high cholesterol levels get the medications they should, a new study finds. Researchers examined federal government data to assess rates of awareness, screening and the use of cholesterol-lowering statins among adults aged 20 and older with extremely high levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol. The investigators also looked at a subgroup of patients with familial hypercholesterolemia, a genetic disorder that causes extremely high cholesterol that increases the risk of early heart disease. Rates of cholesterol screening and awareness were high (more than 80 percent) among adults with definite/probable familial hypercholesterolemia and extremely high cholesterol, but only 38 percent of them took statins. Of those who took statins, only 30 percent of patients with extremely high cholesterol had been prescribed a high-intensity statin. Patients in the study least likely to be taking statins included those who were younger, uninsured, and without a regular source of health care. “Young adults may be less likely to think that they are at risk of cardiovascular disease, and clinicians may be less likely to initiate statin therapy in this population,” wrote lead author Dr. Emily Bucholz, who’s with the department of medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. “It is possible that lifestyle modifications continue to be prescribed as an initial treatment prior to initiating statin therapy,” she added. The findings were published March… read on >

Millions of Americans buy marijuana online illegally, a new study found. “Anyone, including teenagers, can search for and buy marijuana from their smartphone, regardless of what state they live in,” said study leader John Ayers. He’s an associate research professor at San Diego State University’s School of Public Health. In the study, Ayers’ team examined Google searches about buying marijuana by Americans between January 2005 and June 2017. During that time, there was a threefold increase in such searches, peaking at between 1.4 million and 2.4 million searches a month. Marijuana shopping searches were highest in Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state, where recreational marijuana use is legal. But such searches increased each year in all but two states — Alabama and Mississippi. That suggests online shopping for the drug is increasing nationwide, the researchers said. Thirty states and the District of Columbia have passed laws that broadly expand the legal use of marijuana. The researchers also found that 41 percent of marijuana shopping search results linked to retailers advertising mail-order marijuana delivered through the U.S. Postal Service, commercial parcel companies or private couriers. Online sales of marijuana are illegal, even in states that have fully or partially legalized the drug, “but clearly these regulations are failing,” said study co-author Eric Leas, a research fellow at Stanford University. Immediate action is needed to halt online… read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

It’s Crunch Time

Many Pick the Wrong Drugs for Sneezin’ Season

Smart Choices for Your Home Gym

Foul Play: More Baseball Fans Getting Hit By the Ball

Phone-Using Drivers Knowingly Ignore the Danger

Poll: Americans Fear Crippling Medical Bills More Than Illness

MRI Sheds New Light on Brain Networks Tied to Autism

For Tree Workers, Stronger Storms Pose Deadly Hazards

Most With Very High Cholesterol Missing Out on Right Meds

Illegal Online Purchases of Pot on the Rise