Delaying Delivery Matters Photos: Cans, © iStockphoto.com/NoDerog; Bed, © Dearisara/Dreamstime.com; Newborn, Victoria Penafiel/ GettyImages; Half-eaten food, © Sergey Kochmaryov/Dreamstime.com; Church, AtomA/GettyImages.
WHEN IT COMES TO NEWBORNS, experts know that the closer
a baby’s birth coincides with its actual due date, the more likely that infant will have a healthy start. So it’s interesting that a new study demonstrates that when hospitals make a concerted effort to discourage elective births, those institutions can make impressive strides in reducing unnecessary Caesarean sections and inductions. In a multi-state study partially funded by the March of Dimes, researchers found that rates of these types of often-unnecessary deliveries were reduced by a whopping 83 percent at the 25 hospitals that committed to the effort to eliminate such elective deliveries. The research, according to the March of Dimes, is good news because it suggests that quality-control programs and education can affect how and when babies are delivered. And of course, it bodes well for babies as multiple studies have shown babies born at full term, at 39-40 gestational weeks, have fewer health problems and less mortality in the first year of life. Meanwhile, the experts remind expectant women who may be anxious to deliver their babies for a variety of reasons that when a pregnancy is otherwise healthy, it is always best for labor to begin naturally. The study was published recently in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology. Source: tinyurl.com/hl13births
Clean-Your-Plate Perils DESPITE INCREASING EVIDENCE that a growing number of
trol. Interestingly, researchers found this pressure was most often directed by fathers toward boys, possibly American teenagers are overweight, because of concerns some parents are still about athletic prowputting pressure on Fathers are ess and bulk associated their kids to clean their especially guilty of with it. plates, according to a pushing their kids The researchers, who new study. to eat all the food recently reported their Researchers at the on their plate. findings in the jourUniversity of Minnenal Pediatrics, suggest sota say this message their data shows that parents and doesn’t seem to dissipate once early adolescents alike need more educachildhood ends, with some parents tion on appropriate portion size and — especially fathers — still insisting weights for teens. They noted it’s acthat their teens eat all the food that tually metabolically normal for teens is set before them, even when their to be lean and gangly. child might actually benefit from calorie restriction and portion conSource: tinyurl.com/hl13plate
Keeping FEELING
DOWN?
Have some faith. Believing in God may help patients recover from psychiatric illness, according to a new study conducted by the team at Mclean Hospital, one of the nation’s top mental health facilities. Researchers at the Harvard University-affiliated hospital studied 159 patients receiving treatment for a variety of mental illnesses and found that those who relied and on and were
the Faith actively engaged in faith-based practices, and described themselves as moderately to highly religious, recovered more quickly and reported a greater sense of well-being during treatment, regardless of religious affiliation. The researchers say their study suggests that there really is a psychic benefit to leading some kind of spiritual life, which is good news for the 90 percent of Americans who identify themselves as having some kind of relationship with a higher power. Source: tinyurl.com/hl13god
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