Health/Fitness « Weekly Gravy

A well-organized backpack helps ensure that your child has everything needed for school. Problems start when it becomes overloaded. Lugging around a heavy pack can lead to bad posture, back pain and worse. The problem is so pervasive that the American Occupational Therapy Association created National School Backpack Awareness Day. It’s held every September to share ideas to keep kids safe. You can protect your kids by making sure that their packs are properly fitted and properly loaded. Here’s how. When shopping for a backpack, make sure that its width and length match each child’s torso. It shouldn’t hang more than 4 inches below the waist. The bottom of the pack should closely align with the curve of the child’s lower back — if it wobbles back and forth, spine problems can develop. Other features to look for include wide, padded and adjustable shoulder straps. A waist, hip and/or chest belt will more evenly distribute the load. A backpack with many compartments allows for its content to be well spaced throughout. For traffic safety, the pack should have reflective accents that will help cars and other vehicles see your child in low light conditions. Before loading the pack, have your child put it on and adjust the straps for a snug fit. Put the heaviest items at the back of the pack. Arrange the contents… read on >

School kids who get to bed early rather than staring at their devices at night may be better equipped to control their behavior, a new study suggests. Researchers found that 8- to 11-year-olds who got adequate sleep and had limits on “screen time” were less likely than their peers to report problems with impulsive behavior. Impulsivity is generally described as a tendency to act without thinking, or an inability to wait for something you want. It’s a central problem in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Later in life, impulsivity may also make kids vulnerable to other problems, like substance abuse and other forms of addiction, said lead researcher Michelle Guerrero. Guerrero said her team wanted to see what factors might affect that tendency to “act before thinking.” In general, the researchers found, kids were less likely to report impulsive behavior if they met recommendations for sleep and screen time. That meant nine to 11 hours of sleep each night and no more than two hours a day devoted to “recreational” screen time. (School work didn’t count.) However, the findings only point to a correlation, said Guerrero, a fellow with the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, in Ottawa, Canada. They do not prove earlier bed times and screen limits will actually prevent impulsivity, she explained. “Is it that impulsive kids don’t meet the recommendations, or that… read on >

(HealthDay News) — Aloe vera is a plant that has been widely used for its healing abilities, the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health says. Topical aloe vera is likely to be safe and helpful for psoriasis and certain skin rashes, the center says. But the center warns against consuming the plant orally. Cramps and diarrhea have been reported as symptoms of ingested aloe. The center recommends telling your doctor about any “alternative” or “complementary” health approaches you use. This will give your doctor a full picture of how you manage your health, and help ensure safer care.

For parents of a child with autism, communication is often the No. 1 hurdle. But what if there were a simple way to help them get their youngster talking? A new study suggests there just might be. It’s called “pivotal response treatment” (PRT). And those who have tried it say it can open up a whole new verbal world for kids with limited speech and inhibited social skills. “My son was having meltdowns all the time because he couldn’t express what he wanted or needed,” said Heidi Pim, a kindergarten teacher in Palo Alto, Calif., whose son James, 8, was diagnosed as a toddler with autism and speech delays. “We would try our best to figure out what he wanted or needed, so we could give it to him, but often we couldn’t,” she said. “Because he didn’t have any vocabulary. And his frustration and aggression would just turn into situations everywhere I would take him. At shopping malls, airports, everywhere.” James was already undergoing standard “applied behavioral analysis” (ABA) treatment. Considered the gold standard among autism interventions, it aims to teach social skills through heavy monitoring, repetition and positive reinforcement of good behavior, typically in a clinical setting. PRT has roots in ABA. But it aims to keep the child in his or her usual setting, and relies on techniques that are easy for… read on >

Want to reduce your risk of dementia? Take care of your heart. That’s the takeaway from a new study that suggests good heart health in middle age could lower your odds for problems with thinking and memory later in life. The study included nearly 7,900 British adults who did not have heart disease or dementia at age 50. Over an average 25-year followup, 347 cases of dementia were diagnosed among participants. Average age at diagnosis: 75. After taking other factors into account, researchers linked a higher score at age 50 on seven healthy habits outlined in the American Heart Association’s “Life Simple 7” with a lower risk of dementia later in life. The Life Simple 7 assesses smoking, diet, physical activity, fasting blood sugar, blood cholesterol, blood pressure and body mass index (a measure of body fat based on height and weight). Dementia rates were 1.3 per 1,000 person years among participants who had high scores on heart healthy habits, compared to 3.2 per 1,000 for low-scorers, according to the study published Aug. 7 in the BMJ. A better score at age 50 was also associated with higher overall brain and gray matter volumes in MRI scans 20 years later. Though the study could not prove that heart-healthy living actually caused dementia risk to drop, the researchers said their findings support public policies to improve… read on >

Family meals are a recipe for healthy eating in kids, nutritionists say. “Research shows that families who regularly dine together are more likely to eat more fruits, vegetables and fiber and are less likely to eat fried foods,” said Kristen Gradney, a dietitian nutritionist and spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “Eating together promotes healthy weight in children, perhaps due to more nourishing food choices, and can encourage them to try new foods,” she explained in an academy news release. Plus, families who eat together tend to be closer, because mealtime encourages conversations. It helps kids feel more at ease sharing their feelings, which, in turn, can help lessen behavioral problems and may even improve their grades, Gradney said. As part of Kids Eat Right Month in August, the academy offers this advice to help parents make and enjoy family meals after a busy day: Choose meals without a lot of ingredients. Work with your children to create a collection of go-to recipes that can be ready in less than 30 minutes. Stock up on ingredients that can be used for more than one meal. For example, grill twice as many chicken breasts as needed for one dinner and use the extras to make fajitas the next night. Try to avoid take-out food. Though convenient, it’s not as healthy as a simple, homemade… read on >

New research is untangling the complex relationship between symptoms of depression and losses in memory and thinking that often emerge together with Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, the new data suggests that “depression symptoms themselves may be among the early changes in the preclinical stages of dementia syndromes,” explained study lead author Dr. Jennifer Gatchel. She works in the division of geriatric psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. In the study, researchers examined brain scans and other data gathered over seven years from 276 older adults enrolled in the Harvard Aging Brain Study. All of the participants were still living independently in the community at the beginning of the study and were considered healthy. However, the analysis revealed a significant link between worsening depression symptoms and mental decline over two to seven years, and both of these trends seemed to be linked to a buildup of amyloid protein in brain tissue. The slow accumulation of amyloid has long been known as a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. “Our research found that even modest levels of brain amyloid deposition can impact the relationship between depression symptoms and cognitive [thinking] abilities,” Gatchel said in a hospital news release. The new insight that depression symptoms might be part of the Alzheimer’s process could further research into the prevention or treatment of the illness, she added. It “raises the possibility… read on >

(HealthDay News) — The chills refers to an episode of shivering, along with paleness and feeling cold. Most commonly, the chills are associated with fever, says Mount Sinai Hospital. They are the body’s way of producing heat when it feels cold. To treat the chills at home, Mount Sinai recommends: Drink lots of fluids and get plenty of rest. Sponge with lukewarm water. Take acetaminophen to fight fever and chills. Don’t bundle up in blankets or use air conditioning. If you have a high fever or your chills are accompanied by stiffness of the neck, confusion, or pain, seek prompt medical attention.

Preemies often lag behind full-term babies in getting routine vaccinations — and the difference remains at age 3, a new study finds. Misguided parental “hesitancy” over the safety of vaccines for preemies might be to blame, researchers said. The study found that preterm babies were less likely to be up-to-date on seven recommended vaccines by 19 months of age. More than half were “under-vaccinated,” and by age 3, one-third still were. Experts said the findings are concerning because preemies are more likely to become seriously ill if they contract the infections that vaccines prevent. The reasons for the results are not clear — but parents’ wariness could be a factor. “Parents of preemies sometimes feel that they are dealing with a fragile child,” said Dr. Rahul Gupta, chief medical and health officer for the March of Dimes. “Even if they’re not vaccine-hesitant as a philosophy, they may worry about the safety of vaccination for their child.” Plus, Gupta said, there is a lot going on in those first days to weeks of life in the neonatal intensive care unit — with doctors, nurses and parents focused on various medical needs. Conversations about vaccinations may fall by the wayside. But, Gupta stressed, it’s vital for preterm infants to get timely immunizations, since their risk of complications from infections is higher than average. “All of the available… read on >

(HealthDay News) — The human papillomavirus (HPV) is transmitted through sexual or skin-to-skin contact. Because there may not be symptoms, both men and women can contract HPV without even knowing it, says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. To reduce your risk of contracting HPV, the FDA suggests: You can choose not to have sex. If you have sex, limit the number of partners you have. Choose a partner who has had no or few sex partners. The effectiveness of condoms in protecting against HPV isn’t clear, the agency says.