All Entries in the "Lifestyles" Category
Teen Birth Rate in U.S. Declined to All-Time Low in 2011
Teen birth rates dropped 25 percent in the U.S. in a five-year period to an all-time low in 2011, as pregnancy prevention measures paid off, according to a health agency report. In all U.S. states except North Dakota and West Virginia, the rate of teen mothers dropped 15 percent in 2011 from 2007, the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control [...]
Valerie Jarrett on Ending HIV/AIDS in the United States
Last month, fourteen-time Grammy Award-winning artist and HIV advocate Alicia Keys introduced EMPOWERED, an ongoing public information campaign to reach women in the U.S. about HIV/AIDS. At the launch event in Washington, D.C. at the Kaiser Family Foundation, Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett spoke both personally and professionally about how this disease affects us [...]
Living Near Fast-Food Outlets Might Boost Obesity Risk
Having a fast-food restaurant nearby might be a convenience, but living within two miles of one may be a little too convenient. According to a new study, black Americans who live near these businesses have a higher body-mass index than those living farther away. Researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center found [...]
What’s e-health and what does it mean for you?
One benefit of e-health is that providers will have a better way to coordinate care for patients. © WavebreakmediaMicro – Fotolia.com If you visit a doctor’s office or hospital and you usually see stacks of manila folders with labels on them and loads of paper inside. When a doctor wants to research more about a [...]
Fitness protects you from cancer, even 20 years later
Fitness can protect you from cancer — even 20 or more years down the road, researchers report. And men who were the most fit in middle age were the least likely to die a quarter century later even if they were unlucky enough to get cancer, a new study finds. Men who were the most [...]
The Opportunities and Challenges of a Lifelong Health System
A health system’s goal should be to optimize health and minimize disease burden over the life span, for both individuals and the population. Challenges to achieving this goal include health care’s traditional focus on immediate outcomes, payment and incentive systems geared toward short-term goals, and an annual enrollment cycle for insurance and other health care [...]
Heart attacks: What you should know
(CNN) – If you are one of the nearly 785,000 Americans who suffer a first heart attack this year, what you do in the first few minutes can determine an entire lifetime. Unfortunately, many people do not know what symptoms to look for or what life-saving steps to take. To help make sense of it all, [...]
What African Americans Need To Know About Mental Health
How could it have been avoided? That is the question that lingers nearly five months after NFL player Jovan Belcher (pictured left) shot and killed Kassandra Perkins (pictured right), his longtime girlfriend and Mother of his infant daughter (pictured). The Kansas City Chiefs linebacker then left the home the couple shared and drove to Arrowhead [...]
Practical advice for the parent of a pre-med
For over a decade, I have advised pre-meds on how to maximize their chances of getting into medical school. During this time, as I witnessed thousands of anxiety-ridden pre-meds wade doggedly through the murky waters of medical school admissions, I have noticed pre-med difficulties often pale in comparison to those of pre-meds parents. It’s often [...]
Health Disparities, Lack Of Exercise Not Connected, Vanderbilt University Study Finds
While closing the gap on health disparities in the U.S. has focused on both social and behavioral interventions, a new study out of Vanderbilt University suggeststhe latter may be futile. Examining the exercise habits of more than 80,000 residents enrolled in the long-term Southern Community Cohort Study (SCCS), researchers concluded that health disparities between white and [...]
