Many men need to do a better job of looking after their health, and it only takes a few simple steps, experts say. “It’s common for men to avoid going to the doctor until there’s a serious health concern,” said Dr. James Heckman, a primary care physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. “Staying healthy may just be a matter of changing habits.” Those habits start with regular doctor visits. “Seeing your doctor regularly means that you have a baseline for important screenings,” Heckman said in a medical center news release. “This includes everything from cholesterol to cancer screenings and osteoporosis.” Then, make sure you’re eating right. A diet low in fat and high in fruits and vegetables can help lower the risk of certain cancers, including prostate cancer. “For good prostate health, eat your fruits and veggies,” Dr. Aria Olumi, chief of urologic surgery at Beth Israel, said in the news release. Don’t smoke. Along with harming your heart and lungs, smoking is linked with roughly half of all bladder cancers. “Bladder cancer risk factors like age, gender, race and family history can’t be controlled,” Olumi said. “But quitting smoking can definitely lower your risk.” Get enough sleep. That means at least seven hours a night. And remember that mental health is connected to physical health. Protect it. Mental illness affects both…  read on >

A possible link between World Trade Center dust and prostate cancer in first responders has been found by researchers. Exposure to dust at the New York City site after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks triggered chronic inflammation in the responders’ prostates, which may have contributed to their cancer, according to the Mount Sinai Health researchers. They noted that inflammation has long been considered an important factor in prostate cancer. “Several years ago, I saw a first responder in his 40s who began having symptoms of prostatitis, a painful condition that involves inflammation of the prostate, soon after exposure to the World Trade Center dust,” said researcher Dr. William Oh, chief of the division of hematology and medical oncology at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine. “He ultimately developed a high-grade prostate cancer several years later. It suggested to me that there might be a link between his exposure and cancer, but I knew that I would need to examine it systematically,” Oh said in a Mount Sinai news release. The study included data from first responders and rats exposed to WTC dust. The researchers said it’s the first study to examine men who were exposed to WTC dust and later developed prostate cancer. Prostate cancer tissues from the first responders and the rats showed immune cell increases that indicate inflammation. The findings suggest that…  read on >

Many parents think it couldn’t happen to their kids, but the number of children and teens admitted to children’s hospitals for thoughts of self-harm or suicide is alarming. Each year 4,600 young people between the ages of 10 and 24 take their own lives, and 157,000 are treated in emergency departments for self-inflicted injuries, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A recent survey of high school students revealed that 16% have seriously considered suicide; 13% had developed a plan; and 8% had attempted suicide in the previous year. Childhood depression is real and devastating. Parents can take steps to try to prevent depression in their children and keep them emotionally healthy as they grow. Help them create a social network early on through new friendships; involvement in sports, afterschool activities or hobbies; and memberships in organizations with programs for young people. And, just as important, parents need to be alert to the early signs of depression. There are many warning signs parents should be aware of, according to the nonprofit Mental Health America, such as excessive fears, anxiety and irritability. Signs of Childhood Depression Doing poorly in school Loss of interest in friends and favorite activities Not eating or sleeping well Feeling sad, hopeless and/or angry Lack of self-esteem Lack of enthusiasm, energy or motivation Overreacting to criticism and having trouble…  read on >

Face-lifts and hair transplants. Chin implants and forehead lifts and lip augmentation. Baby boomers hoping to retain their youth — and maybe get back into the dating scene — are seeking plastic surgery in ever-increasing numbers, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Nearly 50,000 more cosmetic procedures were performed on Americans 55 and older in 2018 than the year before, new statistics showed. “Older Americans are vibrant and living their lives to the fullest, and they want the way they look to reflect that,” said Dr. Alan Matarasso, president of the society. More than 4.2 million cosmetic procedures took place in 2018, including nearly 381,000 surgical procedures and 3.8 million minimally invasive ones. Among the specific procedures and techniques: Hair transplants went up 18%. Lip augmentation increased 5%. Liposuction and breast augmentation increased 4%. Botox injections and fillers went up 3%. Two-thirds of all face-lifts are performed on people 55 and older, along with roughly half of eyelid surgeries, forehead lifts and lip augmentations, the stats showed. These numbers reflect what is happening in the practice of Dr. Lyle Leipziger, a plastic surgeon in Great Neck, N.Y. “People are taking better care of themselves. They’re dieting. They’re exercising. They’re seeing their doctor for any medical indications,” said Leipziger, chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y. “These…  read on >

Most Americans think they won’t get caught driving while high on marijuana, a new AAA Foundation survey finds. Nearly 70% of the nearly 2,600 licensed drivers polled think there’s a low chance that a driver using pot will be stopped by police. “Marijuana can significantly alter reaction times and impair a driver’s judgment,” said David Yang, the foundation’s executive director. “Yet, many drivers don’t consider marijuana-impaired driving as risky as other behaviors like driving drunk or talking on the phone while driving.” Seven percent of survey respondents said they approved of driving after recently using marijuana, more than other dangerous behaviors such as alcohol-impaired driving (1.6%); drowsy driving (1.7%); and prescription drug-impaired driving (3%). Millennials (nearly 14%) were most likely to report having driven within an hour of using marijuana in the past month, followed by Generation Z (10%). (Millennials are 25 to 39 years old; members of Generation Z are 24 and younger.) Men (8%) were more likely than women (5%) to report driving shortly after using marijuana in the past month, the survey found. The findings suggest that about 14.8 million people drove within an hour of using marijuana in the past month. That’s significant because most impairment occurs within the one to four hours of using the drug. Drivers high on marijuana have nearly double the crash risk, according to the foundation.…  read on >

Many parents of lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) children take years to adjust after learning about their sexual orientation, a new study finds. The study included more than 1,200 parents of LGB youth aged 10 to 25. The parents visited a website with LGB resources and were asked to complete a questionnaire. Of those parents, 26% had learned that their child identified as LGB in the past month. The parents were asked: “How hard is it for you, knowing that your son or daughter is gay, lesbian or bisexual?” They responded on a five-point scale, ranging from not at all hard to extremely hard. The survey revealed that adjusting takes time. Parents who had learned about their child’s sexual orientation two years ago struggled just as much as those who had recently been told. Black and Hispanic parents reported a harder adjustment than white parents, and parents of older youth had greater difficulty than parents of younger children, the findings showed. Fathers and mothers had similar levels of difficulty, as did parents of boys and girls, according to the study published June 18 in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior. Parents who’d known for five years or more that their child is LGB reported the least amount of difficulty. “Surprisingly, we found that parents who knew about a child’s sexual orientation for two years struggled…  read on >

For people recovering from surgery or dealing with a painful injury, an expert suggests that there are a number of safer alternatives for managing pain than using potentially addictive opioids. “Today, more than ever before, we have a host of other methods that can effectively lessen pain,” Dr. James Grant, chair of the department of anesthesiology at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, said in a hospital news release. The United States is grappling with an opioid addiction epidemic. There were 218,000 overdose deaths involving prescription opioids in 2017, five times higher than in 1999, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many people become addicted when they receive prescription opioid medications after surgery or a major injury. The first step in reducing opioid addiction is making patients realize that managing pain doesn’t mean they are going to be pain-free, according to Grant. “It’s important for patients to understand that when you undergo surgery, you won’t be entirely pain-free,” he said. “We need to manage expectations and make sure patients understand there likely will be some discomfort associated with any procedure. But as days go by after the procedure, the discomfort should progressively subside a little until you get back to your pre-procedure state.” Grant also outlined a number of ways to manage pain without opioids. For many patients, over-the-counter nonsteroidal, anti-inflammatory medications like…  read on >