Working toward a healthier environment involves more than separating glass and plastic. Try a new take on the three “R’s” — recycle, reduce and reuse — to save money, energy and natural resources. Start in your pantry. Donate packaged foods you know you’re not going to eat to a local food bank or soup kitchen. When you shop, buying in bulk and choosing items in refillable containers translate to less packaging. These options are often more economical in the long-term, too. To make the most of some of your food waste, start a compost pile. This is a mix of organic material that can be used in your vegetable or flower garden. Compost piles do double duty by keeping this waste out of landfills, where it releases the potent greenhouse gas methane. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that food scraps and yard waste represent up to 30 percent of what Americans throw away and could be easily composted instead. But compost only fruit and vegetable waste — no meat or bones, for instance. Compost Composition Greens: grass clippings, vegetable and fruit waste, and coffee grounds. Browns: yard materials like leaves, branches and twigs. Water: add to the greens and browns to help the composting material develop. When it’s ready, use your compost to feed your soil. It can help sandy soil hold nutrients and…  read on >

Smokers often think their habit won’t have health consequences until far into the future, a small survey suggests. Researchers found that compared with nonsmokers, those who smoke generally believe that any health problems — from yellow teeth to lung cancer — would strike later in life. It’s a perception, researchers said, that might delay some people’s efforts to quit. Smoking rates in the United States have fallen substantially over the years, noted Dr. Norman Edelman, senior scientific advisor for the American Lung Association. That’s due to efforts like cigarette taxes and, in particular, public education about the many health hazards of tobacco use, said Edelman, who was not involved in the study. Even so, many people continue to light up. As of 2016, nearly 38 million Americans said they smoked on at least “some days,” according to a report released last week by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s no secret, Edelman said, that “smokers tend to minimize the health risks.” And the new findings, recently published online in the Journal of Cognitive Psychology, underscore that view. “This isn’t surprising,” Edelman said. “But it is important information.” He said it might be wise for education efforts to emphasize the short-term consequences of smoking — describing not only what they are, but how quickly they can show up. As examples, he pointed to…  read on >

Do you often feel grumpy at work? Sometimes a small change in your surroundings can have a big effect on your mood. According to a study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, having some greenery in your office space can make you both happier and more productive. British and Dutch researchers decided to challenge the business concept that stresses minimal office decor and clean desks. They did a number of experiments in large commercial offices to compare the impact of lean offices to “green” offices. In all cases, they found that having office plants created a better work environment. One possible explanation is that greenery increases engagement by making people more physically, cognitively and emotionally involved in their jobs. Plants offer health benefits, too, because they act as natural air filters — important if your work area has stale air or common pollutants. You don’t need a bright window — or any window for that matter — to have a mood-boosting plant at your desk. Many species thrive in low light and with little effort. Peace lilies, ferns, palms, mother-in-law’s tongue and some philodendrons do especially well. Pothos plants don’t even need soil — just put a few leafy clippings in a vase filled with water and enjoy. Whatever your choice, be sure to follow the grower’s directions so your plant does well, especially…  read on >

Where you live could influence how likely you are to develop heart failure, a new U.S. study suggests. In addition to people’s income and education level, the neighborhood in which they lived helped predict their risk, according to the researchers. People living in the poorest areas were at highest risk for heart failure, the researchers found. The availability of gyms, places to buy healthy foods and medical facilities accounted for nearly 5 percent of the increased heart failure risk in low-income areas, the study suggested. The researchers noted that improving access to these resources could benefit people living in these neighborhoods. “There is existing evidence suggesting strong, independent associations between personal socioeconomic status — like education, income level and occupation — and risks of heart failure and many other chronic diseases,” said study author Loren Lipworth. She’s an associate professor of epidemiology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. “What this study adds is evidence suggesting that characteristics of your place of residence actually also play a significant role in influencing the risk of heart failure over and above the role of your own individual socioeconomic characteristics,” she said in a news release from the American Heart Association. “It opens the door for possible interventions that center on preventive measures in the community.” The researchers used Census data on just over 27,000 middle-aged residents, to…  read on >

In a potential advance for medical research, scientists say they’ve created the first functioning human muscle from skin cells. The breakthrough could lead to better genetic or cell-based therapies, as well as furthering investigations into the causes and treatment of muscular disorders, the Duke University team said. “The prospect of studying rare diseases is especially exciting for us,” Nenad Bursac, professor of biomedical engineering, said in a university news release. “When a child’s muscles are already withering away from something like Duchenne muscular dystrophy, it would not be ethical to take muscle samples from them and do further damage,” he explained. “But with this technique, we can just take a small sample of non-muscle tissue — like skin or blood — revert the obtained cells to a pluripotent state, and eventually grow an endless amount of functioning muscle fibers to test,” Bursac said. According to the researchers, it might also be possible to fix genetic defects in pluripotent stem cells from a patient and then grow small patches of healthy muscle that could be used with other genetic treatments to heal or replace specific areas of diseased muscle. Of course, much more research is needed before any such therapies could be used in humans. In the new study, skin cells were reprogrammed in the lab to revert to what are called pluripotent stem cells —…  read on >

In a finding that will surprise few, new research shows that minorities and the poor suffer more stress than their wealthy, white peers. That additional psychic burden may translate into poorer mental and physical well-being, and longevity is ultimately affected, the American Psychological Association report suggests. “Good health is not equally distributed. Socio-economic status, race and ethnicity affect health status and are associated with substantial disparities in health outcomes across the life span,” said report committee chair Elizabeth Brondolo. “And stress is one of the top 10 social determinants of health inequities.” In the United States, illnesses and injuries associated with stress are estimated to cost more than $300 billion annually. This includes losses from absenteeism, employee turnover and lost productivity as well as direct legal, medical and insurance fees, the report authors explained. They noted that people with lower incomes report more severe stress and tend to face more traumatic events during childhood. Black and Hispanic people also report more stress than whites, partly due to discrimination and greater exposure to violence. “Stress affects how we perceive and react to the outside world,” Brondolo said in a psychological association news release. She is a professor of psychology at St. John’s University in New York City. “Low socioeconomic status has been associated with negative thinking about oneself and the outside world, including low self-esteem, distrust…  read on >

You know that poor lifestyle choices today can affect your health tomorrow. But according to research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, there’s another surprising predictor of future illness: your financial health. Scientists looked at the health records of 1,000 people from birth to midlife and found a strong connection between a low credit score and poor heart health. The result: the same factors that can lead to financial woes can also bring health woes. People who didn’t manage their financial health well didn’t manage their physical health either. Conversely, people with higher credit scores had healthier hearts, the researchers reported. Your credit score is important because it’s accessed when you want to open a credit card, get a mortgage, rent a home or buy or lease a new car, so this rating matters. Key attributes that predict both better financial status and better health are financial literacy, self-control, planning and perseverance — and it’s never too late to learn them. One of the most surprising findings in the study was that 20 percent of the money-health link stemmed from behaviors and skills the study participants showed from the time they were young children. So if you have kids, it’s never too soon to teach them about savings and making smart money and health decisions. More information To better understand your…  read on >