DAILY HEALTH UPDATE | Friday | November 6th, 2015
Courtesy of: Dr. Darren Taylor
Mental Attitude: What’s Your Daily Rhythm of Digital Activity? In today's world of smartphones, texting, e-mail, and social media, nearly all human behaviors now leave a digital footprint. In a new study, investigators have found people tend to have their own personal rhythm of digital activity, almost like their signature. What drives these individual differences is not yet known, but researchers believe geographical and cultural differences clearly play a role as well as the effect of physiology (such as the difference between morning and evening persons) or by highly individual patterns of alertness during the daylight hours. Study co-author Dr. Sune Lehmann adds, "We see this research as a first step of the way to understanding how activity patterns and chronotype are related to other personal characteristics, such as personality or mobility behavior." Frontiers in Physics, October 2015
Health Alert: Do Summer Babies Become Healthier Adults? According to a new study, babies born during the summer months are more likely to become strong, healthy adults. Researchers found that babies born in June, July, and August (in the Northern Hemisphere) have higher birth weights and are taller as adults, and girls born during these months start puberty later, which is an indicator of better health in adulthood. Lead author Dr. John Perry adds, "We don't know the mechanisms that cause these season of birth patterns on birth weight, height, and puberty timing. We need to understand these mechanisms before our findings can be translated into health benefits. We think that vitamin D exposure is important, and our findings will hopefully encourage other research on the long-term effects of early life vitamin D on puberty timing and health." Heliyon, October 2015
Diet: Cranberry Juice May Protect Heart. Researchers have discovered a potent, dose-dependent relationship between cranberry juice and improved vascular function, which appears to indicate drinking cranberry juice may help protect against cardiovascular disease. Principal investigator Dr. Ana Rodriguez-Mateos comments, "Our results lay the groundwork to better understand the array of potential vascular and cardiovascular health benefits of cranberry polyphenols. Significant improvements in vascular function from drinking two cups of cranberry juice suggest an important role for cranberries in a heart-healthy diet."
Cranberry Health Research Conference, October 2015
Exercise: Simple Recommendations to Increase Exercise. Are you looking to become more active? You don’t need to run, sweat, or grunt. Any opportunity to partake in activity counts as exercise. If you are uncomfortable at a gym, take a ten-minute walk two to three times per week or buy a good beginner’s exercise DVD or Blu-ray to use in the privacy of your home. Even gardening can be a great form of exercise and stress reducer. MedicineNet, October 2015
Chiropractic: Backpack Weight Affects Back Posture. For children, wearing a backpack weighing more than 10% of their body weight can result in a loss of normal curvature in the lower back and a more vertical position of the tailbone. This study adds to a mounting body of research regarding the detrimental effects an overly heavy bag can have on a child's musculoskeletal system. BioMed Research International, August 2015
Wellness/Prevention: Scrap the Annual Physical? Based on a growing body of research, some health experts want the once-a-year physical abandoned, as these exams fail to reduce the average individual's overall risk of disease or death. Dr. Ateev Mehrotra, an associate professor of health care policy and medicine at Harvard Medical School writes, "We have not seen people have less illness, and we have not seen any decrease in mortality. I'm a big fan of trying to do anything that's going to help the health of the [United States]. But in this case, we've studied it, and it hasn't helped. We shouldn't waste time and money on this." Other doctors suggest the yearly exam still plays an important part in developing the doctor-patient relationship.
New England Journal of Medicine, October 2015
Quote: “We meet no ordinary people in our lives.” - C.S. Lewis