Joyful laughter can impact your body’s hormones similarly to exercise—helping improve mood, decrease stress, boost your immune system, and impact appetite, according to new research presented this week at the Experimental Biology conference in Anaheim, California. Dr. Lee S. Berk, a long-time laughter researcher and a preventive care specialist at Loma Linda University’s medical school, [...]
Browsing around when you’re bored on Facebook isn’t nearly as rewarding as searching for a specific friend, group or event, according to new research from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Now that some 350 million people worldwide have Facebook accounts, more researchers are eager to learn what the social, emotional and cognitive impact [...]
Between concerns over prescription drug abuse among teens and worries over pharmaceuticals swirling in the public water supply, there’s ample cause for concern when it comes to determining the best way to get rid of leftover prescriptions. So, what should you do with them?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new prostate cancer treatment Thursday. The treatment, which works by turning the body’s immune system against invading cancer cells, is called Provenge and is manufactured by Seattle biotech firm Dendreon. According to a story that ran on the front page of the Seattle Times this past Sunday, [...]
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced a recall of Graco brand wooden cribs manufactured by LaJobi Inc. All of the cribs affected by the recall have a drop side—or a side that can be lowered to facilitate reaching into the crib. So far 99 incidents in which the drop side either became unattached [...]
On average, Canadians enjoy 2.7 more years of “perfect health” than their southern neighbors, according to new research published in the journal Population Health Metrics. In the new study, a team from Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Oregon analyzed data from the 2002-2003 Joint Canada/United States Survey of Health to see how the [...]
A new report fro the National Institutes of Health suggests that, currently, there is not enough rigorous scientific evidence to suggest any surefire ways of preventing Alzheimer’s disease. While small studies have suggested that everything from crossword puzzles to routine exercise can help stave off cognitive decline, the national panel said that there have not [...]
Santa Clara County, California became the first to ban toys in fast food meals for children. As CNN reports, county officials voted 3 to 2 to ban the plastic toys in any meals with more than 485 calories. County supervisor Ken Yeager said the decision was made in an effort to prevent “restaurants from preying [...]
As part of a national campaign against high blood pressure, Brazil’s minister of health Jose Temporao offered some tips for simple ways to improve health—among them, dancing, routine blood pressure screening, and more time in the sack, the Associated Press reports. Nearly a quarter of Brazilians had high blood pressure in 2009, according to the [...]
Two studies out this week indicate that human papillomavirus (HPV) screening may be a more effective way than conventional pap smears to identify pre-cancerous cells, enabling women to intercept cervical dysplasia before it potentially develops into cancer.
