10 Tips for a Smooth Back-to-school Transition

Do Pets Really Boost Kids' Health?

Kids and pets go together like peanut butter and jelly, right?

Maybe not, a new study contends.

The research finding, called the largest of its kind, challenges the common belief that having a dog or cat in the home can benefit children's mental and physical health.

RAND Corp. researchers looked at data from thousands of children in pet-owning and pet-free homes in California. They considered more than 100 variables in adjusting their model of pet ownership and health.

Read more: https://consumer.healthday.com/general-health-information-16/pets-and-health-news-531/do-pets-really-boost-kids-health-725361.html

‘Loneliness epidemic’ set to become a public health crisis

Multiple recent studies have found that loneliness is set to reach epidemic proportions through the Western world by 2030. Now, one of the most prominent researchers in the field suggests that it will soon outstrip obesity as a public health crisis.

Julianne Holt-Lunstad of Brigham Young University in Utah, US, prepared new research to present to the 125th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, held in Washington DC this month.

Read more at: https://cosmosmagazine.com/society/loneliness-epidemic-set-to-become-a-public-health-crisis

Feeling stressed during the workday? Research says playing video games may help

More than half of Americans regularly experience cognitive fatigue related to stress, frustration, and anxiety while at work. Those in safety-critical fields, such as air traffic control and health care, are at an even greater risk for cognitive fatigue, which could lead to errors. Given the amount of time that people spend playing games on their smartphones and tablets, a team of human factors/ergonomics researchers decided to evaluate whether casual video game play is an effective way to combat workplace stress during rest breaks.

Read more at: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-07-stressed-workday-video-games.html

Brains are more plastic than we thought

New research has shown just how adaptive the brain can be, knowledge that could one day be applied to recovery from conditions such as stroke.

Read more at Sciencedaily.com 

Vaccines protect fetuses from Zika infection, mouse study shows

Zika virus can cause severe brain damage in people infected before birth. A new study in mice shows that females vaccinated before pregnancy and infected with Zika virus while pregnant bear pups who show no trace of the virus. The findings offer the first evidence that an effective vaccine administered prior to pregnancy can protect vulnerable fetuses from Zika infection and resulting injury.

Read more at: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170713155034.htm

Eating lots of sugar when pregnant may raise risk of allergies

Pregnant women who eat large amounts of sugar may be more likely to have children with allergies.

A study of 9,000 women found that those who ate high levels of sugar during pregnancy were around twice as likely to have a child that went on to develop allergic asthma than woman who ate relatively little sugar. Allergic asthma is the most common form of asthma, and involves allergens provoking the immune system into causing breathing problems.

Read more at: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2139861-eating-lots-of-sugar-when-pregnant-may-raise-risk-of-allergies/

Withholding bad medical news doesn't help patients

"I did my best to take care of my younger sister and her battle with a particularly sinister form of dementia. None of the many specialists we visited over the five years of her demise had the courage to tell me her exact diagnosis. The first time I heard of her specific malady was when I read it on her death certificate: Lewy Body Dementia.
Had I known about this radical brain disease, I could have researched and been better prepared for her and my family."

Read more at: www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-ol-le-doctors-bad-news-20170630-story.html

Jogging Benefits Your Health: Know the Health Effects of Moving

The role of physical activity in promoting health and well-being is undebatable. In fact, jogging may be a better option for those who cannot run fast because of their health conditions. For example, those with chronic joint diseases or who have chronic respiratory problems.
If you are training very hard, you may use jogging as an “active rest”. Likewise, it can be also used as a warm up or cool down for those who run at higher speeds.

https://anthonycasimano.wordpress.com/2017/06/06/jogging-benefits-your-health-know-the-health-effects-of-moving/