Lifestyle « Weekly Gravy

Up all night, stressing out, feeling pressured. Cramming for college finals can bring all that, plus have students reaching for fatty, sugary foods, a new study suggests. “Stress has long been implicated in poor diet. People tend to report overeating and comfort eating foods high in fat, sugar and calories in times of stress,” said study leader Nathalie Michels, from Ghent University, in Belgium. “Our findings looking at the eating habits of students during exam periods confirm this stress-induced dietary deterioration hypothesis,” Michels added. For the study, her team looked at the responses of 232 students at universities in Belgium who completed an anonymous online survey. The participants completed the survey before and after a month-long examination period in 2017. The students were asked about their stress levels and changes in their eating habits. During the exam period, students were less likely to follow a healthy diet, and only one-quarter of them met the World Health Organization-recommended intake of 400 grams of fruit and vegetables a day. The researchers also found that students with higher levels of stress tended to snack more often. The study was presented this week at the European Congress on Obesity in Glasgow, Scotland. Such research should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. “A healthy diet is needed for optimal academic and mental performance. Unfortunately, our findings suggest… read on >

“Get your head in the game!” Coaches say it to players all the time to get them to focus. The same advice can help you be more enthusiastic about your workouts. Here are five ideas: 1. Set both short-term and long-term goals based on your current abilities. Celebrate each one as you reach it and then re-set it. According to the American Council on Exercise, a goal should meet five different criteria to be effective. Make sure each goal is: Specific: You should be able to articulate it in one simple sentence. Measurable: The goal should be something you can see, like an amount of weight lost or duration of a workout. Attainable: The goal should represent a challenge to you, but not be impossible to reach. Relevant: It should be important to you and your life. Time-Bound: The time you allot to reach the goal shouldn’t be open-ended, which could lead to procrastination. Set a reasonable time period for achieving it. 2. Identify what type of pre-exercise prep gets you psyched, such as quiet focused breathing or loud pulsing music. 3. Develop and repeat a mantra, an uplifting statement of what you know you can do. This will help you develop a positive attitude and have an unshakable belief in yourself. It will naturally get stronger as you reach goals. 4. Practice mental toughness.… read on >

(HealthDay News) — Buyer beware: When it comes to testosterone supplements, men should know a new study finds there is precious little evidence to support claims they will boost testosterone levels, sex drive, strength and overall energy. To come to this conclusion, the researchers first broke down 50 testosterone supplements into their component parts. The investigators then searched through a comprehensive scientific publication database for any solid proof that the supplements can do what the companies who make them say they can do. But only 12% of the products contained any ingredient shown to provide some testosterone-related benefit in human trials. And nearly half (48%) contained ingredients that studies found could have negative impacts. “In general, I’m not anti-supplements,” noted study author Dr. Mary Samplaski. “I have a lot of patients who take them. But the FDA [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] says very clearly that these products should not claim to treat medical conditions. And 90% of these testosterone supplements do make such claims. So I was just really curious what the scientific support was for the claims being made.” Samplaski said, “What we found is that in the vast majority of cases there was no evidence to show that any of the ingredients in these testosterone supplements were effective in any way.” The upshot, she said, is that “people should understand that just… read on >

Job stress, high blood pressure and poor sleep may be a recipe for an early death, German researchers report. In a study of nearly 2,000 workers with high blood pressure who were followed for almost 18 years, those who reported having both a stressful job and poor sleep were three times more likely to die from heart disease than those who slept well and didn’t have a trying job, the investigators found. “As many as 50% of adults have high blood pressure,” said Dr. Gregg Fonarow, a professor of cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. It’s a major risk factor for heart attack, stroke, heart failure, kidney disease and premature cardiovascular death, said Fonarow, who had no role in the new study. “A number of studies have found associations between greater work stress and subsequent risk of cardiovascular events. Impairment in sleep has also been associated with increased risk,” he said. However, these associations did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship. In the new study, the researchers reported that among people with high blood pressure (“hypertension”), those who had work stress alone had a twofold higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, as did those who reported having poor sleep alone. According to lead researcher Dr. Karl-Heinz Ladwig, “Sleep should be a time for recreation, unwinding and restoring energy levels. If you have stress… read on >

Parents and doctors often overlook how overweight kids are, which could leave youngsters at increased risk for health problems linked to excess weight, British researchers say. They reviewed 87 studies that included nearly 25,000 children, age 19 and younger, and their parents. The researchers found that 55% of parents underestimated how much excess weight their children were carrying, and 34% of kids underestimated their own weight. Even health care providers sometimes missed the mark. Parents of younger kids were less likely to recognize a weight problem, and were less accurate at gauging boys’ weight than girls’. Overweight parents and those with less education were more likely to underestimate their child’s weight problem. In some of the studies reviewed, parents often described their children as big-boned, thick or solid, and they demonstrated a strong desire to avoid labeling their child obese. The research review is to be presented Saturday at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Glasgow, Scotland. Studies presented at meetings are typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. This research dovetails with a 10-fold increase over four decades in the number of obese children and teens worldwide — from 5 million girls in 1975 to 50 million in 2016, and from 6 million to 74 million boys. “Despite attempts to raise public awareness of the obesity problem, our findings indicate that… read on >

Treating men with low-risk prostate cancer with just one high dose of radiation may be safe and effective, British researchers report. Therapy for prostate cancer typically involves low-dose radiation given over several days or weeks. Conversely, high-dose radiation is given once through a set of tiny tubes inserted directly into the tumor. “For low-risk patients, a single dose of high-dose radiation is sufficient, but for medium- and high-risk patients, a single dose of 19 Gy isn’t enough. They will likely need a bigger dose or going back to multiple doses,” said lead researcher Hannah Tharmalingam. She’s a clinical research fellow at the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in Northwood, England. According to Tharmalingam, high-dose radiation could be more convenient for low-risk patients, and less time-consuming and costly for the medical system. But one radiation oncologist fears that the side effects make it potentially dangerous. For the study, Tharmalingam and her colleagues treated 441 prostate cancer patients between 2013 and 2018. The cancers were classified as low-, medium- or high-risk. All of the men were treated with one high dose of 19 Gy of radiation, which is equivalent to the total amount of radiation given over several days with current treatments, Tharmalingam said. In addition, 166 men were also given hormone therapy. None of the men, however, had surgery or chemotherapy. For comparison, men with prostate cancer… read on >

Asthma inhalers can’t do the job if they’re not used correctly. And that’s an issue for many children, U.S. researchers say. “We know from past studies that both parents and children overestimate the ability of children to properly use their inhaler,” said study author Dr. Anna Volerman, from the University of Chicago. The study included 65 pairs of parents and children, ages 8-14, who had asthma and used inhalers. The children went to four Chicago public charter schools. Nine in 10 children were black and most parents were women. The researchers found that 97% of the children misused their inhaler. Only one child showed mastery, according to the study in the journal Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. Many parents had misplaced confidence in their children’s ability to use their inhaler to ease their respiratory distress. Only 4% of children whose parents were confident in their use of an inhaler actually used the device properly. None of the parents underestimated their children’s ability to use an inhaler. The study also found that only 5% of children who were confident in their inhaler technique used their inhaler flawlessly. “We examined whether parent and child confidence were the same and whether either was a good sign of the child’s actual ability to use the inhaler correctly,” Volerman said in a journal news release. “We found most parents… read on >

“No sex for six weeks” used to be the standard advice following childbirth and, according to many doctors, it is still a good practice to allow healing. But it’s not a hard-and-fast rule. Although a woman is at the highest risk for infection during the first two weeks postpartum (a period that could be longer if she had vaginal tears or a cesarean section delivery), the current approach is to let how a woman feels guide her. Still, for many women, the return to intimacy doesn’t always follow a schedule. Problems like vaginal dryness, painful sex and a lack of desire can stand in the way, often for months after childbirth. A study of 832 new moms published in the journal BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth found that after six months 46% reported a lack of interest in sex, nearly as many experienced vaginal dryness and for 37% sex was painful. These problems weren’t always connected to having had an episiotomy or vaginal tears. A lack of natural lubrication and even breastfeeding, which has been associated with a negative body image, were other underlying reasons. Another study of new moms, this one published in Obstetrics & Gynecology, found that other problems, not directly involving sexual function but affecting sexual desire, can start as early as one month postpartum and continue for six or more months. They… read on >

A boy who wondered if snakes flick their tongues to smell prompted a surprising new discovery about how human senses work. Turns out your tongue helps you smell, according to researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia — a team that included the curious 12-year-old’s dad. Taste and smell had been thought to be independent senses that didn’t interact until input from each reached the brain. But senior author Dr. Mehmet Hakan Ozdener said his son’s question prompted him to rethink that belief. Ozdener’s new study found that odor-detecting sensors in the nose (functional olfactory receptors) are also present in the taste cells on our tongue. This suggests that interactions between the senses of smell and taste may begin on the tongue and not in the brain, researchers said. They said their findings could lead to new ways to modify food flavors to promote healthier eating. “Our research may help explain how odor molecules modulate taste perception,” Ozdener, a cell biologist, said in a Monell news release. “This may lead to the development of odor-based taste modifiers that can help combat the excess salt, sugar and fat intake associated with diet-related diseases such as obesity and diabetes.” Results of a series of lab experiments were published April 24 in the journal Chemical Senses. The distinctive flavor of most foods and drinks comes more… read on >

Having sex after a heart attack is a concern not only for men, but for many women, too. Because of fear and a lack of information, many may think it’s no longer possible to enjoy a sex life. Fortunately, that’s rarely the case. However, while many women do resume their sex lives within months after having a heart attack, they often do so fearing how sex could affect their hearts. There are also other factors that affect a woman’s feelings toward sex, which go beyond the purely physical. Many people become depressed after a heart attack and that can affect their desire for sexual activity. Needed medications can cause sexual dysfunction. Also troubling, many heart attack sufferers’ concerns about sex often remain hidden from their doctors. In fact, many women who’ve had a heart attack never talk to their doctors about resuming their sex life or their fears of doing so. Too often, doctors fail to bring up the issue themselves. For the women who do have this conversation, it’s usually they — not their doctors — who broach the subject. Doctors are often unsure exactly what advice to give even though experts say that, for most people, sex after a heart attack is a low-risk activity. Bottom line: Many women and men have questions about their sexuality after a heart attack. It’s important to… read on >