news and views compiled by beth cooney
Phone Potatoes? raising a generation of couch potatoes hooked on reality television and video games comes a new sedentary lifestyle concern: smartphone addictions. Researchers at Ohio’s Kent State University have linked compulsive cell phone use by college students to reduced fitness levels in a study described as the first of its kind to look at the correlation between such hand-held technology and health profiles. Researchers studied the cardiorespiratory fitness levels of about 300 Midwestern college students and found that the healthiest of the bunch were the group who spent 90 minutes or less on their phones each day. The unhealthiest bunch were the heaviest hand-held technology users — young adults who logged as many as 14 hours a day using their phones. Researchers noted that while smartphones have made technology constantly accessible, many of us may be paying a price for that ease of access with our health. The study appeared recently online in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Health. source: tinyurl.com/hl13smartphone
Flexing the Virtual
Brain Muscle MORE AND MORE RESEARCH is
showing that there are brain-flexing steps aging adults can take to prevent some of the cognitive decline associated with aging. The latest, from the University of California at Los Angeles, found that when seniors performed certain computer games intended to train their brains, they showed significant improvement in memory function and language skills. The study involved cognitively healthy seniors as old as 82, who were asked to play certain mind-challenging computer games for a period of about six months. At the end of the study the seniors who were most active — playing at least 40 times for 20 to 25 minutes during the study period — showed improvements in critical thinking skills related to short- and long-term memory. Researchers say their study has implications in the efforts to help halt the mental declines associated with the epidemic of Alzheimer’s and dementia. source: tinyurl.com/hl13brainfitness
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healthylife
Hot Flash Therapy FINALLY! MENOPAUSAL WOMEN craving relief from annoying hot flashes but who want to avoid hormone therapy have a possible medical alternative.
The FDA has approved a non-hormonal patch that’s been proven in two randomized clinical trials to provide relief from hot flashes, a classic symptom associated with the transition into menopause. The patch, sold under the brand name Brisdelle, does not contain either estrogen or progesterone, the two hormones commonly contained in traditional treatments. While this may be an appealing alternative for some women, the FDA noted Brisdelle is not side-effect free, with headache, fatigue, nausea and vomiting being reported in the clinical trials. source: tinyurl.com/hl13hormwones
Photos: GettyImages. Phone Potatoes, Sian Kennedy; Virtual Brain, exdez; Connections, sturti; Fatty Fish, Ray Kachatorian.
FOR ALL THOSE PARENTS worried that they’ve been