As Alice Park reported for TIME, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released new recommendations for breast cancer screening yesterday, suggesting that women begin routine screenings at age 50, as opposed to age 40, as long recommended by the American Cancer Society. Additionally, the group recommends that women between the ages of
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People who suffer with a chronic disability or illness may be happier if they give up hope that things will ever improve, suggests a small but intriguing study published in this month’s issue of Health Psychology, the journal of the American Psychological Association.
Why? Because people don’t adapt well to situations they think are …
Watch out for that mid-life speed bump—turns out age 45 is a doozy. A report published this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine upends conventional wisdom about fitness and aging.
Until now, most experts thought people’s fitness levels declined in a linear fashion as they aged. But the new report suggests the downward march …
For two decades, the public-health message has been that cancer screening saves lives. In some cases, especially with cancers of the cervix and colon, screening does, in fact, work as it should: sniffing out disease at its earliest and most curable stages. But for breast and prostate cancers—two of the most widespread in the U.S.—the …
Just buying ergonomic desks and chairs isn’t enough to quell pain caused by poor posture at work reports a new study in this month’s Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Such equipment is useless, say the authors, unless a professional ergonomist sets it up and adjusts it. Researchers came to this conclusion by taking a …
If you have someone in your life who stubbornly refuses to get in line by going online, here’s a carrot. Yesterday, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, presented their study showing that when adults (ages 55 to 78) go online their brains get bigger. Well, maybe not physically bigger, but they did reclaim …
For people who had been considering retirement but now remain in the job market because of the economic slump, there may at least be a salubrious silver lining. According to a study published in the October issue of the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, retirees who transition to a part-time or temporary job before leaving the
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Sometimes it seems that every day offers a new, contradictory health finding. One day screening for prostate cancer is recommended; the next it’s not. One day the hot new superfood is acai berries. The next it’s dark chocolate, red wine, or fatty fish. Just about every new diet plan or exercise regime raises doubts about effectiveness or …
Osteoarthritis of the knee is a leading cause of disability—and discomfort—in older adults, yet while many people may show signs of the condition, not all experience pain as a result. According to a study published in the September 15 issue of the journal Arthritis and Rheumatology, it appears that, while leg strength doesn’t make
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Hip fractures may be one of the most devastating injuries that humans face, but they’re also less frequent than they used to be. Today Canadian researchers announce that the hip-fracture rate fell 31.8% for Canadian women and 25% for Canadian men between 1985 and 2005. (A decline has also been noted in the U.S., but over a shorter …
