BK's Miracle Health Thread

[DudeAsInCool]

Researchers see hope for sex disease vaccine

MISSOULA, Montana (Reuters) - Scientists said on Thursday that they are a step closer to a vaccine against a bacteria that causes one of the world's leading causes of blindness and a common sexually transmitted disease.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle....YDIA.xml&rpc=22

[DudeAsInCool]

Possible cure for hyperactivity

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4715782.stm

[DudeAsInCool]

Candy Makers Cater to the Health-Conscious

ALBANY, Ga. - It's every chocolate lover's wish that their favorite indulgence could somehow be healthy for them. Now, chocolate makers claim they have granted that wish.

Mars Inc., maker of Milky Way, Snickers and M&M's candies, next month plans to launch nationwide a new line of products made with a dark chocolate the company claims has health benefits.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060220/ap_on_...HNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

[DudeAsInCool]

Green tea may protect the aging brain

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who regularly drink green tea may have a lesser risk of mental decline as they grow older, researchers have found.

Their study, of more than 1,000 Japanese adults in their 70s and beyond, found that the more green tea men and women drank, the lower their odds of having cognitive impairment.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060224/hl_nm/...HNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

[DudeAsInCool]

Chocolate Linked to Lower Blood Pressure

CHICAGO - Leave it to the Dutch to help demonstrate the health benefits of chocolate. A study of older men in The Netherlands, known for its luscious chocolate, indicated those who ate the equivalent of one-third of a chocolate bar every day had lower blood pressure and a reduced risk of death.

The researchers say, however, it's too early to conclude it was chocolate that led to better health. The men who ate more cocoa products could have shared other qualities that made them healthier. Experts also point out that eating too much chocolate can make you fat — a risk for both heart disease and high blood pressure.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060227/ap_on_...HNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

[DudeAsInCool]

Want to live longer? Think positive thoughts

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Optimism is good for the heart, a study said on Monday.

The most optimistic among a group of 545 Dutch men age 64 to 84 had a roughly 50 percent lower risk of cardiovascular death over 15 years of follow-up, according to the study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060227/us_nm/...HNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

[DudeAsInCool]

The Keys to Happiness, and Why We Don't Use Them

"It requires some effort to achieve a happy outlook on life, and most people don't make it." —Author and researcher Gregg Easterbrook

Psychologists have recently handed the keys to happiness to the public, but many people cling to gloomy ways out of habit, experts say.

Polls show Americans are no happier today than they were 50 years ago despite significant increases in prosperity, decreases in crime, cleaner air, larger living quarters and a better overall quality of life.

So what gives?

Happiness is 50 percent genetic, says University of Minnesota researcher David Lykken. What you do with the other half of the challenge depends largely on determination, psychologists agree. As Abraham Lincoln once said, "Most people are as happy as they make up their minds to be."

What works, and what doesn't

Happiness does not come via prescription drugs, although 10 percent of women 18 and older and 4 percent of men take antidepressants, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Anti-depressants benefit those with mental illness but are no happiness guarantee, researchers say.

Nor will money or prosperity buy happiness for many of us. Money that lifts people out of poverty increases happiness, but after that, the better paychecks stop paying off sense-of-well-being dividends, research shows.

One route to more happiness is called "flow," an engrossing state that comes during creative or playful activity, psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has found. Athletes, musicians, writers, gamers, and religious adherents know the feeling. It comes less from what you're doing than from how you do it.

Sonja Lyubomirsky of the University of California at Riverside has discovered that the road toward a more satisfying and meaningful life involves a recipe repeated in schools, churches and synagogues. Make lists of things for which you're grateful in your life, practice random acts of kindness, forgive your enemies, notice life's small pleasures, take care of your health, practice positive thinking, and invest time and energy into friendships and family.

The happiest people have strong friendships, says Ed Diener, a psychologist University of Illinois. Interestingly his research finds that most people are slightly to moderately happy, not unhappy.

On your own

Some Americans are reluctant to make these changes and remain unmotivated even though our freedom to pursue happiness is written into the preamble of the Declaration of Independence.

Don't count on the government, for now, Easterbrook says.

Our economy lacks the robustness to sustain policy changes that would bring about more happiness, like reorienting cities to minimize commute times.

The onus is on us.

"There are selfish reasons to behave in altruistic ways," says Gregg Easterbrook, author of "The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse" (Random House, 2004).

"Research shows that people who are grateful, optimistic and forgiving have better experiences with their lives, more happiness, fewer strokes, and higher incomes," according to Easterbrook. "If it makes world a better place at same time, this is a real bonus."

Diener has collected specific details on this. People who positively evaluate their well-being on average have stronger immune systems, are better citizens at work, earn more income, have better marriages, are more sociable, and cope better with difficulties.

Unhappy by default

Lethargy holds many people back from doing the things that lead to happiness.

Easterbrook, also a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institute, goes back to Freud, who theorized that unhappiness is a default condition because it takes less effort to be unhappy than to be happy.

"If you are looking for something to complain about, you are absolutely certain to find it," Easterbrook told LiveScience. "It requires some effort to achieve a happy outlook on life, and most people don't make it. Most people take the path of least resistance. Far too many people today don't make the steps to make their life more fulfilling one."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060228/sc_...HNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

[DudeAsInCool]

Study: Lifting Weights Attacks Belly Fat

DALLAS - By just lifting weights twice a week for an hour, women can battle the buildup of tummy fat that often takes hold with aging, a new study suggests. And they didn't even diet.

The study focused on intra-abdominal fat, the deep fat that wraps itself around organs and is the most unhealthy because it's linked with heart disease.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060304/ap_on_...HNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

[Kooperman]

No More Reading Glasses! Eye Surgery Developed for Near Sightedness

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-...eadlines-health

?? I'm near-sighted and I can read perfectly without glasses. Far-sighted people are the ones who use reading glasses. The link is dead, so I can't find out what the article said.

[DudeAsInCool]

Hot pepper kills prostate cancer cells in study

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Capsaicin, which makes peppers hot, can cause prostate cancer cells to kill themselves, U.S. and Japanese researchers said on Wednesday.

Capsaicin led 80 percent of human prostate cancer cells growing in mice to commit suicide in a process known as apoptosis, the researchers said.

Source

[DudeAsInCool]

Six Tips for Happiness

Advice from Tal Ben-Shahar.

1. Give yourself permission to be human. When we accept emotions -- such as fear, sadness, or anxiety -- as natural, we are more likely to overcome them. Rejecting our emotions, positive or negative, leads to frustration and unhappiness.

2. Happiness lies at the intersection between pleasure and meaning. Whether at work or at home, the goal is to engage in activities that are both personally significant and enjoyable. When this is not feasible, make sure you have happiness boosters, moments throughout the week that provide you with both pleasure and meaning.

3. Keep in mind that happiness is mostly dependent on our state of mind, not on our status or the state of our bank account. Barring extreme circumstances, our level of well being is determined by what we choose to focus on (the full or the empty part of the glass) and by our interpretation of external events. For example, do we view failure as catastrophic, or do we see it as a learning opportunity?

4. Simplify! We are, generally, too busy, trying to squeeze in more and more activities into less and less time. Quantity influences quality, and we compromise on our happiness by trying to do too much.

5. Remember the mind-body connection. What we do -- or don't do -- with our bodies influences our mind. Regular exercise, adequate sleep, and healthy eating habits lead to both physical and mental health.

6. Express gratitude, whenever possible. We too often take our lives for granted. Learn to appreciate and savor the wonderful things in life, from people to food, from nature to a smile.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5295168

[DudeAsInCool]

Scientists have found a cure for spinal injuries and paralysis with Jell-0!

Source

[Wolfie]

I wonder if Bill Cosby will be thier spokesperson. ;)

[DudeAsInCool]

Protein linked to cancer spread identified

LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have identified and blocked the action of a protein linked to the spread of breast, prostate and skin cancer cells to the bones.

The molecule called RANKL is produced in bone marrow. In studies of mice, researchers from Austria and Canada showed that inhibiting the protein could stop the cancerous cells from migrating to the bones.

Source

[DudeAsInCool]

Five things likely to make you happier in the short term

Tuesday, 26 July 2005

Here is my list of things to give you a short-term "hit" of happiness. Of course, these things won't solve your long-term problems, but they are useful tricks to giving yourself some relief when it all seems too much.

Each is virtually guaranteed to give you some satisfaction, but they won't work unless you try them. Sometimes, misery and depression can all become a bit too comfortable. Taking action, however minor, can appear like too much effort. It's so much easier just to hang around the house feeling bad, than doing something about it. At least with your misery, you know what to expect - and even better - it doesn't take any effort. Right?

Wrong.

So before you read my list, make a promise to yourself that you will do one of the below right now.

Read All About It

[DudeAsInCool]

Lab Tissue Used to Rebuild 7 Bladders

BOSTON - For the first time, scientists have rebuilt a complex human organ, the bladder, in seven young patients using live tissue grown in the lab — a breakthrough that could hold exciting promise for someday regenerating ailing hearts and other organs.

Only simpler tissues — skin, bone, and cartilage — have been lab-grown and transplanted in the past. This is the first time that a more intricate organ has been mostly replaced with tissue grown from the patient's own cells.

Source

I hope they remember that size matters

[DudeAsInCool]

Let us spray

Billed as libido in an atomiser, PT-141 will finally offer women the chance to turn on their sexual desire as and when they need it. Or so the science says. But there are concerns. Will sex in a spray usher in an age of 'McNookie' - quick easy couplings low on emotional nutrition? Julian Dibbell reports

Sunday April 23, 2006

The Observer

Horn of rhinoceros. Penis of tiger. Root of sea holly. Husk of the emerald-green blister beetle known as the Spanish fly. So colourful and exotic is the list of substances that have been claimed to heighten sexual appetite that it is hard not to feel a twinge of disappointment on first beholding the latest entry - a small, white plastic nasal inhaler containing an odourless, colourless synthetic chemical called PT-141. Plain as it is, however, there is one thing that distinguishes PT-141 from the 4,000 years' worth of recorded medicinal aphrodisiacs that precede it: this one actually works.

Read more:

Source: The Guardian

[DudeAsInCool]

Let us spray

Billed as libido in an atomiser, PT-141 will finally offer women the chance to turn on their sexual desire as and when they need it. Or so the science says. But there are concerns. Will sex in a spray usher in an age of 'McNookie' - quick easy couplings low on emotional nutrition? Julian Dibbell reports

Sunday April 23, 2006

The Observer

Horn of rhinoceros. Penis of tiger. Root of sea holly. Husk of the emerald-green blister beetle known as the Spanish fly. So colourful and exotic is the list of substances that have been claimed to heighten sexual appetite that it is hard not to feel a twinge of disappointment on first beholding the latest entry - a small, white plastic nasal inhaler containing an odourless, colourless synthetic chemical called PT-141. Plain as it is, however, there is one thing that distinguishes PT-141 from the 4,000 years' worth of recorded medicinal aphrodisiacs that precede it: this one actually works.

Read more:

Source: The Guardian

[DudeAsInCool]

Sex Is Good For You

The secret of being in rude health is intercourse

We know sex is good for us. Now scientists say it can also protect against disease, writes Lucy Atkins.

Read more at

The Age

[DudeAsInCool]

How to Exercise Your Eyes

We all know how important it is to keep our bodies fit by doing things like going to the gym, jogging, and swimming. But, did you know that you can exercise your eyes as well? While eye exercising won't improve your vision, it will keep your eyes healthy and help minimize eyestrain.

Read more:

Wiki-How

[DudeAsInCool]

Lifehacker caught this article from WikiHow on How to Exercise an open mind

WikiHow has an article on ways to exercise an open mind, claiming that an open mind is the key to a smarter brain.

Simply put, all one needs to grow his or her brain is to do unique, random, different, and ridiculous things as often as possible. One hour of increased brain activity via thinking a lot or experiencing new stimuli can make you smarter, more energetic, more creative, and more sociable.

While I’m not sure if the science here is completely sound, it’s not a bad idea to encourage yourself to try new things; wikiHow has a lot of great suggestions for what those things could be, from listening to new music to memorizing prime numbers. You might also want to try previously-mentioned IQ-increasing video games.

WikiHow

[DudeAsInCool]

I followed up the Lifehacker mention above on Video Games That Aim to Increase Your IQ:

Brain games aim to boost your IQ

Dr Kawashima is a top researcher into brain imaging

Computer games have long been derided by critics as mindless, brain-rotting fun.

But a new wave of games is turning the cliché on its head.

Nintendo has sold nearly five million copies of its three Nintendo DS brain training games since the series launched in Japan a year ago.

The first title in the series, Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain?, sees players follow a daily regime of brain-enhancing exercises and is due to be released in the UK in June.

Dr Kawashima's Brain Training comprises a variety of mini-games designed to give brains a workout.

BBC

[DudeAsInCool]

One drug, two takes

Scientists and patients scoff at an FDA announcement that smoking marijuana has no medical benefits.

May 1, 2006

As assistant district attorney in San Francisco, Keith Vines prosecuted one of the largest illicit drug busts the city had ever seen. Then he came down with AIDS wasting syndrome and lost 60 pounds over three years.

To stimulate his appetite, he started taking marinol, an FDA-approved drug containing THC, one of the active ingredients in marijuana. He says he couldn't control the dose of the drug, which must be swallowed. "I would be out of it for four or five hours," he says.

And so, instead of continuing with marinol, he started smoking medical marijuana, keeping his head clear by puffing only as much as he needed to get hungry. He gained back all his weight, he says.

Like many in his condition, Vines flatly disagrees with an April 20 announcement by the Food and Drug Administration and several other federal agencies that smoking marijuana confers no medical benefits.

So do physicians who write prescriptions for medical marijuana. (Doctors can't prescribe the plant.) They say the government hasn't done its homework — and cite a 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine, a prestigious organization that advises the government, that found otherwise.

Read more:

Source: LA Times

[DudeAsInCool]

Walk A Quarter of a Mile A Day

...

While walking is no guarantee of health or longevity, a new study found that the ability of elderly people to do the quarter-mile was an "important determinant" in whether they'd be alive six years later and how much illness and disability they would endure.

Read more:

LifeScience

[DudeAsInCool]

Google will introduce Google Health next week - in short, you can find all kinds of health related information there. You can check it out here:

Google Health