Here’s Why Some People Cry More Easily Than Others

Illustration: Aad Goudappel

I cry very easily, even at times that don’t warrant tears. What’s up with that?

Some people are just more prone to crying than others. Experts aren’t entirely sure why; studies have shown that it could be related to a slew of factors, ranging from gender (women are known to cry more) to whether you experienced trauma in the past.

If you don’t normally weep at the drop of a hat and now find yourself more emotional than usual, it might be due to a hormonal fluctuation that can occur around menopause, before your period (yes, PMS moodiness is real) or when taking birth control pills. Stress and lack of sleep can also cause you to be extra emotionally reactive. Try getting more rest or practicing a daily relaxation ritual, like yoga or meditation, and see if that helps.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing to cry it out. Past studies have found that crying can have soothing, mood-boosting effects. But if you think you’re becoming tearful much more often than you should be, speak to your doctor about your symptoms; your weepiness could be a sign of depression.

Health‘s medical editor, Roshini Rajapaksa, MD, is associate professor of medicine at the NYU School of Medicine and co-founder of Tula Skincare.

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3 Yoga Poses for When Your Neck’s Tied Up in Knots

This time of year, our shoulders become permanent earrings as we run around bracing against the cold and crossing things off our to-do list. Carrying heavy shopping bags and hunching over smartphones hardly help; we’re contorted into awkward positions, growing tight in our neck and back. This series stretches out those areas and helps us de-stress. By rounding forward in these moves, we can tune out the chaos and find inner peace when we need it most (like right now).

Unwind with an Om: You know how yoga classes start with chanting? You may feel uneasy releasing sounds, but it can really free up tension. Try it outside of class, too. When you feel stressed at work or overwhelmed by life, take a deep breath and let out an om, or even a big sigh. One Belgian study suggests that sighing works like a reset button for the respiratory system, helping you calm down. 

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Weight, Exercise May Affect Children’s Thinking Skills

MONDAY, Nov. 2, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Children’s weight and physical activity levels may affect their thinking and learning skills, a new study suggests.

Researchers studied 45 normal-weight children, aged 7 to 11; 24 of them were active and the rest were not. Children were considered active if they took part in organized activities, such as swimming, gymnastics, soccer or dance for more than an hour a week.

The study also included 45 overweight and inactive children.

As expected, active, normal-weight kids had less body fat and a lower resting heart rate than overweight, inactive children. But the researchers also found that normal-weight active children did better on tests of mental skills — such as planning and paying attention — than their inactive counterparts.

The findings were published online recently in the journal Pediatric Exercise Science.

While the study found an association between physical activity and mental skills in children, it did not find a cause-and-effect relationship.

“Activity made a difference even among normal-weight kids. That verifies that physical activity makes a difference in brain function,” study author Catherine Davis, a clinical health psychologist at the Medical College of Georgia, in Augusta, said in a college news release.

The good news is that children — with the help of families and schools — can boost their physical activity levels, she added.

“If they can cut some of the empty calories out of their diet and pick up the pace on physical activity, they may grow into their weight,” Davis said.

In addition, Davis pointed out that the study focused on weight, but it is likely more accurate to look at the amount of body fat in children. For example, overweight kids in the study had more fat, rather than weighing more because of extra muscle mass.

The investigators suggested that future studies should also include overweight, active children to see if they also gain mental benefits from physical activity, and to learn more about how weight and exercise relate to kids’ brain health.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outlines how much physical activity children require.

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Most Preschoolers Use Tablets, Smartphones Daily

By Tara Haelle
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Nov. 2, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Nearly all U.S. kids under age 4 have used a mobile device such as a tablet or smartphone, and they are using them at earlier and earlier ages, a new study finds.

The study of 350 children in a low-income, minority community suggests that an income-based “digital divide” is shrinking. Parents surveyed said tablets are the most popular mobile devices for children, and kids as young as 1 use them more than 20 minutes a day on average.

“Access to, familiarity with and skill using mobile devices are the first steps in achieving digital literacy,” said one of the study’s authors, Dr. Matilde Irigoyen, chair of pediatrics and adolescent medicine at Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia.

However, she added that actual social engagement with parents, along with parental guidance, are “critical” to help kids “integrate digital technology into family life.”

The study was published in the Nov. 2 online edition of the journal Pediatrics.

One expert familiar with the study findings called the trend “disturbing,” because it suggests that some parents might be using technology as a surrogate babysitter.

“Parents in this study admitted to using mobile media for their children to keep them quiet or entertained in public places or in place of the interaction at bedtime,” said Dr. Danelle Fisher, vice chair of pediatrics at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif. “Children need parental interaction for many reasons and this trend is, overall, worrisome.”

For the study, researchers gave a questionnaire to parents of 350 children between 6 months and 4 years of age who visited a Philadelphia pediatric clinic in October and November of 2014. The parents answered questions about the children’s use of television, mobile devices, computers and video games.

Almost every household (97 percent) had a TV, 83 percent had tablets, and 77 percent had smartphones. Just over half had video consoles (56 percent), a computer (58 percent), and Internet access at home (59 percent).

The older the children were, the more likely they were to have their own technology. By age 4, about three-quarters of youngsters had their own mobile device, and half had their own TV. All but 3 percent had used a smartphone or tablet, the study found.

“We were not surprised to see infants and toddlers using the mobile devices; we saw that in the clinic every day,” Irigoyen said. “But we were very surprised to see how often the children used the mobile devices, how many of them owned a personal device, how many could use the device without assistance, and how many engaged in media multitasking.”

More than four out of 10 children under age 1 and 77 percent of 2-year-olds used a mobile device every day to play games, use apps or watch videos, the investigators found.

Almost half of 4-year-olds and one-quarter of 2-year-olds needed no help using a smartphone or tablet, the findings showed.

The parents’ education and the child’s gender and ethnicity did not play any role in whether or not the child owned a mobile device.

While 28 percent of parents said they used a mobile device to get their child to go to sleep, 70 percent did chores while their child played. A majority reported letting their child play with a mobile device to keep them calm in public places or during errands.

But, Fisher said, “mobile media cannot take the place of parenting.” She added that the use of tablets and smartphones “in place of human interaction and instead of other sources of information or play time, such as reading books, is disturbing.”

Yet about half the parents had downloaded apps on their smartphones, and they said at least half were for their children, especially educational, entertainment and video apps.

The study found that children still spent more time watching TV than using any other single screen, an average 45 minutes a day. They also averaged 27 minutes a day watching videos or TV shows on mobile devices and 22 minutes using apps.

“Our findings do not address the impact that mobile media devices have on children and their families,” Irigoyen said. “They simply describe the pervasive nature of digital exposure and the patterns of use.”

Fisher pointed out that “some interactions can be beneficial and some detrimental.” But, she added, “there are lots of studies showing that mobile media devices will interfere with healthy sleep practices. Topics such as obesity, academics and attention are more complex.”

More information

For screen time guidelines, visit Zero to Three Screen Sense.

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One in Five Pediatricians Drops Families Who Refuse Vaccines: Survey

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Nov. 2, 2015 (HealthDay News) — One of every five U.S. pediatricians regularly drops families who refuse to have their children vaccinated, a new survey shows.

Doctors in the South and Northeast were more likely to take this hardline stance, said study lead author Dr. Sean O’Leary, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Children’s Hospital Colorado in Denver.

But O’Leary said he’s heard anecdotally that pediatricians across the nation have come under pressure to refuse to take on unvaccinated children, following the Disneyland measles outbreak that occurred earlier this year.

“I’m hearing the practice has become more common, particularly in California, following the outbreak,” O’Leary said. “Parents say, ‘I don’t want to take my child to a clinic with non-vaccinators and expose them to risk,’ so there is parental pressure on some pediatricians.”

An ongoing medical debate continues to simmer over a doctor’s right to refuse treatment for children whose parents are against vaccination, O’Leary added.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both discourage this strategy, the study authors said in background information. The survey is published online Nov. 2 in the journal Pediatrics, an academy publication.

These organizations urge physicians to keep treating the children of vaccine-reluctant parents, and to build a relationship of trust that could lead to the parents being convinced of the safety of and need for childhood vaccinations.

To see how widespread the practice of dismissing anti-vaccine families has become, the researchers conducted a survey of 815 pediatricians and family physicians in 2012. About 66 percent of the doctors responded to the survey.

Those surveyed said it’s generally rare for a parent to refuse a vaccination for their child. Overall, 83 percent of doctors reported that 1 percent or fewer parents refuse one or more infant vaccines in a typical month.

When that happens, 21 percent of pediatricians and 4 percent of family physicians said they “always” or “often” dismiss families, according to the survey results.

Pediatricians likely to dismiss families over vaccination are nearly five times more likely to be in private practice, and four times more likely to be from the South or a state that does not allow philosophical exemptions from vaccination.

There are a number of reasons why pediatricians take this tack, said O’Leary and Dr. H. Dele Davies, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ committee on infectious diseases.

“For these physicians, what I’m hearing them say is they strongly feel not immunizing their children is such a great risk that they’re taking a stand,” said Davies, an expert on pediatric infectious diseases and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, in Omaha.

Because pediatricians only treat children, they are likely to be much more concerned with the safety of clientele who have not yet been immunized, Davies said.

“They may be reflecting their sense that, if you don’t want to do this, I don’t want to expose my other patients to potential risk,” he said.

Pediatricians may also feel that they won’t be able to establish a relationship with parents if they can’t see eye-to-eye on vaccination, O’Leary said.

“The pediatrician might feel that the physician/patient relationship may not be a productive one if they’re so far apart in terms of a core concept like vaccination,” O’Leary said. “Pediatricians consider vaccination one of the most important things they do.”

Finally, pediatricians sometimes use the threat of dropping a family to convince parents to agree to vaccination, O’Leary said.

“It really convinces a lot of parents to go ahead and get their child vaccinated, because it’s such a strong message about the importance of vaccination,” he said.

No one knows what happens to families who are dropped for vaccination refusal, which demonstrates the need for further research on this topic, O’Leary said.

“This practice is pretty common, and we don’t know what happens to those families,” he said. “We don’t know how often they make the decision to go ahead and vaccinate, despite their concerns. We don’t know where they go if they do leave their pediatrician.”

Dr. Wanda Filer, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, said her group also discourages dropping families over the issue of vaccination.

Family physicians are much less likely to drop families, according to the survey results. Filer said that’s probably because these doctors treat the entire family, and not just the kids.

In fact, Filer said the Disneyland measles outbreak has made parents in her York, Pa.-based practice more interested in making sure kids are properly immunized.

“There’s more opportunity for family physicians to double down on conversations about the importance of vaccines,” she said.

More information

Visit the U.S. National Institutes of Health for more on childhood vaccinations.

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7 explosive moves for your plyometric workout

Plyometric training is also known as 'jump training', which basically means muscles exert maximum force in micro intervals.

Try the circuit twice. If you’re feeling strong, try three and four times! Two-to-four rounds, 15 seconds between exercises, one- to two-minute rest between rounds. Switching up your workout routine and challenging yourself to try new things will not only keep you motivated but will also produce faster results.

Pop Squat

What it hits: Glutes and Quads

Crash course: Moves like jump squats fire up your glutes to make them stronger, rounder and harder.

Make it work: Stand with feet hip-width apart. Sit your hips back and down into a squat position, making sure your knees do not go past your toes. Jump straight up in the air, bringing your feet together, and land softly back into the squat position. Keep your weight pressed through your heels to work your glutes.
The rules: 20 reps

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Wide Squat Jumps

What it hits: Glutes, Calves, Lower Back and Hamstrings

Crash course: A wide stance works a greater number of muscles than a narrow-stance squat. A wider stance allows for a greater posterior displacement of the hips, therefore activating your glutes to a greater degree than a narrow squat.

Make it work: Place your feet wider than your shoulders, keeping all of your weight in your heels. Squat down (ensuring knees do not extend past your toes) and then jump up as high as you can. Land back into your starting wide squat stance position and immediately jump again (make sure you keep all of your weight pressed through your heels to achieve maximum activation of your glutes).

The rules: 20 reps

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Narrow 
Jumps

What it hits: Glutes, Quads and Calves

Crash course: Just like pop squats, narrow jumps can strengthen your glutes and quads, which in turn could help you burn calories more efficiently and effectively.

Make it work: Stand with your feet together. Squat down (ensuring knees do not extend past your toes) and then jump up as high as you can. Land in a squat position (keeping all weight in your heels) and immediately jump again.

The rules: 20 reps

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Reverse Lunge

What it hits: Quads, Hamstrings, Glutes and Calves

Crash course: One of the most effective lower-body exercises to strengthen glutes and quadriceps, which in turn can speed up your metabolism.

Make it work: Stand straight, chest up, hands by side. Step right foot back into a 90-degree angle while making sure your left knee does not go past your toe. Stand back up in the starting position. Repeat with left foot stepping back.

The rules: 15-20 reps on each leg

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Mountain Climbers

What it hits: Deltoids, biceps, triceps, pecs, obliques, abs, traps, quads, hamstrings, hip adductors and hip abductors

Crash course: A full-body workout that burns more calories in less time by engaging as many muscles as possible.

Make it work: Get into a plank position so your hands are directly under your chest at shoulder-width apart. Arms are straight and body should form a straight line from shoulders to ankles. Lift your left foot off the floor and raise your knee as close to your chest as you can while ensuring that abs stay tight and body stays straight. Return back to your starting position and immediately execute the same motion with other leg. Alternate your legs as quickly as possible while still retaining your form.

The rules: Each leg 1 minute as fast as you can go.

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High Knees

What it hits: Hip Flexors, Quads, Glutes

Crash course: Performing this exercise can improve lower body power and flexibility while increasing your heart rate.

Make it work: Stand in place, feet hip-width apart. Drive your right knee into your chest and quickly place it back on the ground. As soon as your foot hits the ground you want to repeat the motion with the other knee. Continue alternating knees as quickly as you can go.

The rules: 1 minute as fast as you can go

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Burpee

What it hits: Whole body

Crash course: Burpees are one of the most efficient functional exercises. They increase strength and boost endurance.

Make it work: Stand straight then lower into a squat position with your hands on the floor in front of you. Kick your feet back into a plank position and return your feet back to the squat position as quickly as possible. Jump into the air as high as you can and then return to the squat position. Repeat as quickly as possible.

The rules: Each leg 15 to 20 reps

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Switch Lunge

What it hits: Core, Glutes, Hamstrings, Quads and Calves

Crash course: Switch lunges are one of the best ways to tighten up your butt and thighs. When performed correctly they recruit a high amount of muscle fibres at a higher rate of calorie burning.

Make it work: Lunge forward with your right thigh parallel to the floor; make sure your knee does not extend past your toe. Swinging your arms for balance, jump up and switch legs, landing in a lunge with your left foot in front. Again, make sure your knee does not extend past your toe.

The rules: 15 to 20 reps on each leg

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Many Parents Unaware of Emergency Plans at Kids’ Pre-schools

FRIDAY, Oct. 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Many American parents don’t know if their pre-school or child care facility has an emergency plan in place, a new poll finds.

Thirty-nine percent of parents with kids aged 5 and younger said their child’s pre-school or day care had an emergency during the past two years due to severe weather, a power outage, an evacuation or a violent situation.

But only 37 percent of parents knew that emergency plans were available online and only 39 percent said their center has a way to identify kids if an evacuation was needed.

Forty percent of parents said their center has enough car seats or vehicles to carry out an evacuation, and 63 percent said their center has a way to confirm the identify of adults picking up kids during an emergency. Further, 65 percent said their center stores emergency contact and health information digitally for easy access when needed, the same percentage who said their center has a plan to quickly contact parents in an emergency.

The findings were released recently by the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health.

“Young children can be especially vulnerable during emergencies,” Dr. Andrew Hashikawa, an emergency physician at the hospital, said in a university news release. “Many centers may be well prepared to handle these types of events, but emergency plans are much less likely to work if parents don’t know about them.”

Over the past two years, parents reported these emergencies at their child’s pre-school or day care center:

• 23 percent had severe weather (tornado, hurricane or blizzard),
• 23 percent had a major power outage,
• 8 percent had to evacuate for fire, flood, chemical or gas leak,
• 8 percent had a lock-down for a violent situation at the center or nearby.

The American Academy of Pediatrics encourages parents to learn what emergency plans their child’s pre-school or day care center has in place and where to find this information quickly.

“We want to ensure that parents and centers are on the same page when it comes to responding to unexpected events and that children may be safely reunited with parents as soon as possible,” Hashikawa said.

More information

The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about disaster preparation and recovery.

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Helping Your Diabetic Child Have a Safe Halloween

FRIDAY, Oct. 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Kids with diabetes don’t have to miss out on Halloween fun. There are a number of ways parents can help them celebrate and stick with their treatment, an expert says.

One approach is to trade the candy kids collect while trick-or-treating for a gift, money or low-carbohydrate snack, suggested Dr. Fernando Ovalle, professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine and senior scientist in the university’s Comprehensive Diabetes Center.

“Parents also can provide a substitute snack for their child if a Halloween party at school is an issue,” he said in a university news release.

Ovalle said children with diabetes can enjoy Halloween treats in moderation by counting how many carbohydrates they eat and taking extra insulin (for example, one extra unit of insulin for every 15 to 20 grams of carbohydrates).

“This is an easy option for kids on an insulin pump because they can just dial in an extra dose of insulin to compensate for what they are about to eat,” he said.

“But for kids who take shots, this could prove to be more difficult or inconvenient if they have to go to the school nurse for an extra dose,” he noted.

Another option: Save Halloween treats for dessert after dinner. Because kids normally get a dose of insulin at mealtime, this means they won’t have to take an extra dose in order to enjoy their candy, he said.

“The most important thing to remember is that parents and children should choose the option that helps diabetic kids enjoy Halloween candy and other holiday treats while sticking to their treatment,” Ovalle said.

More information

The American Diabetes Association has more about children and diabetes.

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Snake Bites Take Big Global Toll, Especially Among the Poor

FRIDAY, OCT. 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Snake bites kill thousands of people worldwide each year due to limited availability of antivenom, an expert says.

Antivenom maker Sanofi-Pasteur announced earlier this year that it could no longer produce the treatment for snake bites, said David Williams, head of the Australian Venom Research Unit at the University of Melbourne.

But the loss of Sanofi’s antivenom will mean little “for the vast majority of Africa’s snake bite victims,” he wrote in this week’s BMJ.

“For decades there have been chronic gaps in antivenom supply globally that have cumulatively cost millions of lives, maimed millions more, and contributed to the burden of poverty, and disenfranchisement that lingers heavily over many nations,” Williams noted.

Sanofi’s antivenom has not been available to many vulnerable people, because it was too expensive and not produced in sufficient quantities, he said.

Antivenom costs range from $56 to $640, creating a “huge potential for snake bite to drive patients and their families into deeper poverty and debt,” he said.

Williams said there’s an urgent need to train health care providers on how best to diagnose, manage and rehabilitate snake bite victims.

He called for immediate and more coordinated action by the World Health Organization. He also said health ministries in nations where most snake bites occur “can no longer ignore their responsibility to their citizens.”

“International effort to ensure effective reduction of the risks, burden, cost, and access to treatment for snake bite must be brought before the World Health Assembly and passed to mobilize resources,” Williams said.

“The time for talk has passed; action must be taken now,” he concluded.

More information

The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about snake bites.

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Interrupted Sleep Not Good for Your Mood, Study Suggests

FRIDAY, Oct. 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Waking up several times a night is more likely to put you in a bad mood than a shorter amount of sleep without interruption, a new study finds.

“When your sleep is disrupted throughout the night, you don’t have the opportunity to progress through the sleep stages to get the amount of slow-wave sleep that is key to the feeling of restoration,” said lead author Patrick Finan, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

The study included 62 healthy men and women who had their mood assessed over three consecutive days. Each night the study participants had either a normal bedtime with forced awakenings, or a later bedtime with uninterrupted sleep.

The two groups had similar low levels of positive mood and high levels of negative mood after the first night, but significant differences became apparent after the second night, the investigators found.

Compared to the first day, those in the forced awakenings group had a 31 percent reduction in positive mood on the second day, compared with a 12 percent reduction for those in the later-bedtime group, the findings showed.

There were no significant differences in negative mood between the two groups on any of the three days, which suggests that sleep disturbance is especially harmful to positive mood, according to the study published in the Nov. 1 issue of the journal Sleep.

The study included people with normal sleep patterns, but it’s likely the findings also apply to those with insomnia, the researchers said. Waking up multiple times through the night is one of the most common symptoms of insomnia, which affects about 10 percent of American adults.

“Many individuals with insomnia achieve sleep in fits and starts throughout the night, and they don’t have the experience of restorative sleep,” Finan said in a university news release.

Poor mood is a common symptom of insomnia, Finan noted. He suggested that additional research is needed to learn more about sleep stages in people with insomnia and the role played by a night of restorative sleep.

More information

The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has more about insomnia.

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