9 Valentine’s Day Gifts That Fit Women Actually Want
A quick poll of the Health staff revealed that nobody here actually wants chocolate, champagne, or flowers this Valentine’s Day. What we do want? High-quality gear and apparel that makes us look and feel good. So whether you’re shopping for your significant other or for yourself, turn up the heat with the following gifts that help you break a sweat.
A sexy, strappy sports bra
Health loves: Aerie Mesh Sports Bra ($27; ae.com)
Forget lacy lingerie—this Aerie bra is not only sexy, it’s also sporty. Wicking fabric bra and lightweight support make it ideal for yoga, Pilates, or barre class.
A fitnessy beauty box
Health loves: Birchbox Limited Edition Strong Start ($45; birchbox.com)
Whether you’re just starting to get serious about your workouts or you’re a ClassPass addict, this box brims with goodies that will make you feel great before, during, and after your sweat sessions, such as an unbreakable glass water bottle, Argan oil cleansing towelettes, and a face-cleansing mist.
A gym bag that looks like a purse
Health loves: MZ Wallace Large Metro Tote ($225; bloomingdales.com)
This quilted black tote goes seamlessly from the office to the gym to dinner date. It’s large enough to fit all your workplace essentials—even a 17-inch laptop—as well as shoes, a change of clothes, and toiletries. Best part: the nylon bag is both durable and light as a feather.
Wireless headphones
Health loves: Beats by Dre Powerbeats 2 ($200; amazon.com)
Make untangling earbud cords an annoyance of the past with these wireless Bluetooth headphones. Reclaim that precious gym time to focus on your HIIT workout.
A high-tech yoga mat
Health loves: Gaiam Sol Dry-Grip Yoga Mat ($70; amazon.com)
The last thing you want during hot yoga class? To be sliding around your mat on your own sweat. Upgrade your om with a mat that features a topcoat promising to wick away moisture. The hotter you get, the firmer grip the mat provides. The mat also seals out odor, germs, and bacteria, ensuring it will last you for many vinyasas to come.
Leggings with mesh inserts
Health loves: Forever21 Active Geo-Paneled Leggings ($25; forever21.com)
Fitness fashionistas are all about yoga pants with mesh cutouts right now—but they often run for $100 or more, a price that’s out of reach for many of us. These Forever21 tights provide the look you crave without sacrificing quality
A headband that preserves your blowout
Health loves: Nike Central Training Headband ($15; nike.com)
Ever skipped a workout because you didn’t have time to redo your hair after? This Nike headband eliminates that excuse. The extra-wide band wicks sweat away from your hairline and doesn’t leave a crease running across the top of your head. After your workout, take the band off, run a brush through your hair, and you’re good to go.
A sporty jacket
Health loves: NB Heat En Route Jacket ($120; newbalance.com)
New Balance’s NB Heat technology traps warmth but also wicks sweat, leaving you warm and dry during frigid workouts. An asymmetrical zipper and ruching around the neckline make this jacket not only a winter-run essential, but also a cute coldweather top that pairs as well with jeans as it does with workout tights.
A sleek smartwatch
Health loves: Apple Watch Sport (from $349; amazon.com)
The Apple Watch Sport is durable enough for daily workouts—and it tracks them, too. It’s essentially a smaller version of your iPhone, but we especially love the watch on navigation mode: It vibrates as you are approaching a turn. Swap out the band with a variety of fashion-forward picks (starting at $49).
from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1JTNjB3
Painkillers Don’t Ease Disability Due to Nerve Damage: Study
MONDAY, Feb. 1, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Taking prescription narcotic painkillers doesn’t improve movement or reduce disability in people with pain related to nerve damage, researchers have found.
“Even though [narcotic] medications can be a powerful pain killer, it does not necessarily mean improved function will follow. Pain is not the only factor in determining function,” study lead author and pain expert Geoff Bostick, an associate professor of physical therapy at the University of Alberta in Canada, said in a university news release.
The research included almost 800 patients with pain due to nerve damage, from causes such as diabetes and pinched nerves. Some were prescribed narcotic painkillers — such as morphine, codeine and Tylenol 3 — while others didn’t receive the drugs.
At 6-month and 12-month follow-ups, those who took the painkillers didn’t show greater improvements in movement and disability than those who did not take the drugs, the investigators found.
“It can be difficult helping people move when they have pain, but as a physiotherapist I know the importance of physical function and we have to help find a way to promote movement, even if it is painful,” Bostick said.
“Pain is very complex, and people experience pain at very different levels,” he added. Narcotic painkillers “can help people with severe pain be more comfortable, but if they are not also facilitating improved function, the impact of these medications on quality of life should be questioned.”
If chronic pain patients have gotten the OK for physical activity from their doctors, Bostick advised taking a gradual approach.
“If you want to move better, it requires careful measurement of your tolerance to activity,” he said. “Instead of say, walking until you reach your pain limit, I tell patients to walk until they are at 50 percent of their tolerance — walk and stop before the pain gets too bad. Each week, walking time is gradually increased. Over time, this tolerance will slowly increase and so will physical function.”
The study was published recently in the journal Pain Medicine.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has more about diabetes-related nerve damage.
from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1QCigZV
Many Depressed Teens Don’t Get Follow-Up Care
MONDAY, Feb. 1, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Depression can strike during the teen years, but too many U.S. teenagers with the illness are not getting proper follow-up care, a new study finds.
“These results raise concerns about the quality of care for adolescent depression,” concluded a team led by Briannon O’Connor, who conducted the study while at New York University School of Medicine.
One expert wasn’t surprised by the findings.
“Most adolescents who are depressed do not receive any treatment whatsoever for their impairments for many reasons, including lack of access to care, stigma, and a workplace shortage of trained child and adolescent psychiatrists,” said Dr. Aaron Krasner, chief of the Adolescent Transitional Living Service at Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, Conn.
As the study authors explained, major depression affects 12 percent of teens, and as many as 26 percent of young people experience at least mild depression. Prompt treatment is crucial because failure to relieve depression increases the risk of recurrent depression and more impaired functioning in the long term, the researchers said.
In the new study, O’Connor’s team tracked the care of more than 4,600 teens with depression symptoms. The teens averaged 16 years of age, and two-thirds of them were girls. All were patients in one of three large health care systems.
Treatment was started for more than 2,900 of the teens — most received talk therapy alone or in combination with antidepressants.
However, 36 percent of the teens received no treatment at all within three months of their diagnosis, and more than two-thirds (68 percent) did not have any follow-up assessment. About a fifth (19 percent) did not receive any follow-up care, and 40 percent of those teens who were prescribed antidepressants did not undergo documented follow-up care, the researchers reported.
Dr. Jane Swedler is chief of adolescent medicine at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y. She called the new findings “very disturbing.”
“It appears that the initial recommendations for treatment — therapy referral, medications or both — are being offered to most patients,” she said. “However, a significant portion of those patients did not have follow-up scheduled in the following three months.
“It is clear from this study that the guidelines for follow-up of adolescent depression fall significantly below the mark,” Swedler said, “and that we must improve monitoring and follow-up of those adolescents identified with depression.”
Another child psychiatrist agreed, noting that there are ways to expand depression treatment for at-risk teens.
“With the increased use of technology by youth, treatment opportunities that include smartphone reminders, apps, online counseling, tele-psychotherapy, may all increase treatment adherence for depressed youth,” said Dr. Victor Fornari, director of child and adolescent psychiatry at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, N.Y.
The study was published online Feb. 1 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.
More information
There’s more on spotting depression in teens at Mental Health America.
from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1QCigZT
Could C-Section Baby Benefit From Mom’s Vaginal Fluids?
By Karen Pallarito
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, Feb. 1, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Dabbing infants delivered by cesarean section with their mothers’ vaginal secretions restores some of the potentially helpful bacteria that newborns naturally pick up when they pass through the birth canal, a small study finds.
The researchers said their “proof of principle” study is the first to show it’s possible to transfer some of those germs, which play a role in immune-system development.
Whether this can protect C-section babies from developing diseases such as asthma remains to be seen, however.
With this experimental technique, the vaginal bacteria “pick up and bloom” in different sites of the baby’s body, “resembling vaginally delivered babies,” study lead author Maria Dominguez-Bello, associate professor of medicine at NYU Langone in New York City, said in a conference call to discuss the findings.
The study was published online Feb. 1 in the journal Nature Medicine.
Everyone has bacteria that reside in and on the body, including the mouth, skin, gut and vagina. Collectively, these communities of germs make up the human “microbiome.”
Early exposure to germs, or “microbes,” in the birth canal teaches newborns’ immune systems to distinguish between helpful and harmful bacteria, the study authors explained.
According to Gregory Buck, professor of microbiology and immunology at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, “Those bacteria can establish themselves in the gut, the skin, the eyes, other orifices of the baby that are exposed.”
Swabbing a C-section baby with mom’s secretions is “a less intensive exposure to the bacteria” than a baby would have during vaginal delivery, said Buck. He is principal investigator of a U.S. National Institutes of Health-funded project examining how vaginal bacteria affect preterm birth.
Scientists believe C-sections disrupt development of the natural microbiome. Cesarean babies have a greater risk of asthma, allergies, obesity and autoimmune diseases later in life, although studies haven’t proven a direct cause-and-effect relationship, the authors of the new study said.
In the United States, close to one in three births is a C-section delivery, according to the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics.
Attempting to restore babies’ microbiomes, the NYU team incubated sterile gauze in the mother’s vagina one hour before C-section and swabbed the baby’s mouth and body with the fluid-soaked gauze within two minutes of birth.
Women with sexually transmitted diseases, bacterial infections of the vagina and other conditions that could expose babies to harmful germs were not allowed to participate, according to the report.
The study involved 18 infants and their mothers, including seven born vaginally and 11 delivered by scheduled C-section. Four of the cesarean babies were exposed to vaginal fluids at birth.
Six times during the babies’ first month of life, researchers collected bacteria from anal, oral and skin sites of all the infants and mothers, resulting in more than 1,500 samples. The investigators analyzed the bacteria using DNA sequencing and tracked the maternal source of each baby’s microbiome.
Cesarean babies exposed to vaginal fluids had bacterial communities that were more similar to vaginally delivered infants than C-section babies who were not exposed to the mother’s vaginal fluids, the researchers found.
“Our results establish feasibility, but not health outcomes,” Dominguez-Bello stressed.
The research team has “taken an important first step,” Alexander Khoruts, of the University of Minnesota, wrote in an accompanying editorial in the journal. While this study was limited in size and duration, he said randomized trials may one day lead to treatments benefiting C-section babies.
Ultimately, researchers hope to follow a larger number of mothers and babies over an extended period of time to determine whether exposure to vaginal fluids affects children’s disease risk.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has not weighed in on the technique, and Dominguez-Bello would not offer medical advice.
Study co-author Jose Clemente, assistant professor of genetics and genomic science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, said the take-home message is, ” ‘Don’t do this at home.’ You want to make sure that this is done in a safe manner to protect the infant.”
Dr. Philippe Girerd, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Richmond, Va., and faculty member at Virginia Commonwealth University, is an early adopter of the practice. Absent vaginal infections and with mothers’ consent, he has swabbed between five and 10 C-section babies with vaginal secretions.
“I don’t make claims, but I tell them the literature seems to imply that perhaps there’s some benefits,” Girerd said.
More information
The American Academy of Microbiology has more on the human microbiome.
from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1QCigJA
Move of the Week: Plank Hip Dips
The classic forearm plank is a fantastic way to strengthen your core. But you can make it even more effective by adding a (literal) twist. Learn how to do this oblique-toning variation with the help of Health’s contributing fitness editor, Kristin McGee.
RELATED: 20 Ways to Do a Plank
Here’s how to do it: Come forward onto your forearms and lift from your core into a plank. Make a fist with each hand, or keep your hands flat on the ground. Pull in your abs as you rotate your hips to the left side and tap the floor. Then rotate to the right and tap the floor on the other side. Keep moving from side to side. The goal is to complete 10 to 15 reps.
Trainer tip: Hollow out your lower abdominals and keep your legs engaged through the entire set.
from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1QCijFb
Air Pollution Linked to Risk of Preterm Birth
MONDAY, Feb. 1, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Exposure to high levels of air pollution in pregnancy may increase the risk of having a preterm baby, new research suggests.
For the study, researchers examined nearly 225,000 births of single babies in Ohio between 2007 and 2010. More than 19,000 of them were preterm deliveries — before 37 weeks of pregnancy.
Exposure to high levels of small particle air pollution during pregnancy was associated with a 19 percent increased risk of preterm birth. The risk was greatest when high levels of exposure occurred during the third trimester, the study found.
“Although the risk increase is modest, the potential impact is robust, as all pregnant women are potentially at risk,” study author Dr. Emily DeFranco, a physician-researcher at the Center for Prevention of Preterm Birth of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, said in a medical center news release.
The type of air pollution looked at in the study is composed of small particles from car exhaust or burning wood, coal and other fossil fuels. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, this type of air pollution can be inhaled deep into the lungs.
Preterm birth rates were highest among women 40 and older, black women, those with no prenatal care or with lower education level, and those exposed to levels of small particle air pollution above the EPA standard, according to the researchers.
The findings were published online recently in the journal Environmental Health.
The report doesn’t prove that exposure to air pollution causes premature births, but the researchers believe the association is significant.
“We estimate that decreasing the amount of particulate matter in the air below the EPA’s standard threshold could decrease preterm birth in women exposed to high levels of small particulates by about 17 percent, which corresponds to a 2.22 percent decrease in the preterm birth rate in the population as a whole,” DeFranco said.
In a previous study, she found that exposure to high levels of particulate air pollution in the third trimester of pregnancy was associated with a 42 percent higher risk of stillbirth.
Last year, the American Lung Association listed two areas in Ohio — Cincinnati-Wilmington-Maysville and Cleveland-Akron-Canton — among the 10 worst regions in the United States for year-round particle pollution.
More information
The World Health Organization has more on air pollution.
from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1UCUDS0
Fitness Linked to Better Survival After First Heart Attack
MONDAY, Feb. 1, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Being in good shape may improve a person’s chances of surviving a first heart attack, a new study indicates.
“We knew that fitter people generally live longer, but we now have evidence linking fitness to survival after a first heart attack,” said study author Dr. Michael Blaha. He is a heart specialist and assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.
“It makes sense, but we believe this is the first time there is documentation of that association,” Blaha said in a Hopkins news release.
The study also adds to evidence that regular exercise reduces the risk of heart attack and death from all causes, he said.
The researchers examined the medical records of more than 2,000 people, average age 62, who had done a treadmill stress test before they suffered a first heart attack. The tests provide a metabolic equivalent (MET) score, which ranges from 1 to 12, with 12 being the most physically fit.
Those with MET scores of 10 or higher were 40 percent less likely to die after a first heart attack than other patients. And one-third of patients with a MET score of 6 or less died within a year of their first heart attack, the study found.
Overall, each whole number increase in MET score was associated with an 8 percent lower risk of death after a first heart attack, according to the researchers from Johns Hopkins and the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.
However, only an association was seen between MET scores and risk of death after a first heart attack, not a cause-and-effect connection.
Study author Clinton Brawner, a clinical exercise physiologist at the Henry Ford Health System, said, “Our data suggest that doctors working with patients who have cardiovascular risk factors should be saying, ‘Mr. Jones, you need to start an exercise program now to improve your fitness and chances of survival, should you experience a heart attack.’ ”
Each year, about 550,000 people in the United States have a first-time heart attack, according to the American Heart Association.
The new study was published online Feb. 1 in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
More information
The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute offers a guide to physical activity.
from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1RVDcOM
Girls Who Eat More Fiber May Face Lower Breast Cancer Risk Later: Study
By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, Feb. 1, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Teenage girls who get plenty of fiber in their diets may have a lower risk of breast cancer later in life, a new, large study suggests.
The study, published online Feb. 1 in the journal Pediatrics, does not prove that fiber, itself, helps prevent breast cancer.
But researchers said it offers some of the first strong evidence that fiber consumption is linked to breast cancer risk, and it hints that the teen years could be particularly important.
Fiber-rich foods include vegetables, fruits, beans and whole grains.
Most past studies have failed to uncover a correlation between fiber and breast cancer risk. But in just the past year, a few have suggested there may be some connection after all, according to Dr. Kathleen Harnden, co-author of an editorial published with the study.
“These new findings add to evidence that fiber may be protective for some women, and that fiber intake at a certain time in life may be important,” said Harnden, a hematology-oncology fellow at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C.
According to Harnden, it “makes sense biologically” that fiber intake during the teen years might matter. “That’s the time in life when the breasts are developing,” she said. “It’s also when body composition is developing.”
Body composition is important, she noted, because obesity has been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer after menopause.
The new findings are based on more than 44,000 U.S. female nurses who were mostly in their 30s and 40s at the outset of the study. The women were surveyed about their diets — going back to high school — and other lifestyle habits. Over the next 20 years, slightly more than 1,000 women developed breast cancer.
Overall, the study found, women who had eaten more fiber as young adults had a lower breast cancer risk. Those who’d been in the top 20 percent for fiber intake as young adults were 19 percent less likely to develop the disease than women in the bottom 20 percent.
Women with the highest fiber intake as teenagers also showed a reduced risk — 16 percent lower than women who’d eaten the least fiber as teens.
Those women did not consume huge amounts of fiber, either. On average, they were close to the recommended amount of fiber for women — 25 grams a day.
It’s difficult to conclude that fiber, itself, lowered women’s risk, Harnden said. The researchers accounted for a number of other factors — including overall diet, body weight and smoking — but it’s still hard to attribute a benefit to one component of a person’s lifestyle, Harnden said.
Lead researcher Maryam Farvid, a visiting scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health, agreed. That’s in part because high-fiber foods contain many other nutrients, she said.
Still, Farvid added, there are many reasons to fill your diet with fiber-rich foods. Past studies have shown that fiber may help lower the risks of heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers, she said.
Harnden made the same point. “There are so many health benefits to a high-fiber diet, it’s a good change to make,” she said. “Everyone can benefit.”
And the latest findings, Harnden added, underscore the importance of fiber in children’s diets. “Your tastes for different foods, and your ideas of what a good diet is, start early in life,” she said.
She suggested giving your kids a wide variety of “colorful” whole foods, including plenty of fruits and vegetables.
The same advice goes for adults. “Eat real food, not too much of it, and make it largely plant-based,” Harnden said.
More information
The American Heart Association has more on dietary fiber.
from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1RVDcOK
Jess Sepel's FebFast tips
We chat to clinical nutritionist Jess Sepel on how to stay on track this FebFast - are you up for the challenge?
The festive season is over, the January hangover has slowly subsided and it’s time to rekindle the healthy routine you’ve been avoiding so far in 2016.
Lacking motivation? The annual Febfast event encourages a month-long pause from alcohol and sugar, while raising money for underprivileged youth. Enter as a team or go it alone; just use it as an opportunity to give your body a break from the vino and the sweets for a good cause.
We spoke to clinical nutritionist and all-round health guru Jess Sepel to get her tips and tricks on how to stay on track for the challenge.
Stay hydrated
Make sure you’re drinking your two litres of water every day. If this isn’t exciting enough for you, swap to a few glasses of sparkling water with fresh lemon or lime, or freeze your favourite fruits into ice cubes and pop them in your drink. Not only is this refreshing on a hot day, but the fruit infuses as the ice melts for the sweetener taste (minus the calories).
Eat your protein
Protein keeps you fuller for longer, and it doesn't necessarily have to come in the form of red meat, chicken or eggs. Potatoes, chia seeds, green peas and rice are examples of foods also high in protein.
Snack pre-party
Have a satiating snack before you head out to a celebratory event so that you don’t find yourself starving and turning to foods you wouldn’t normally eat. My favourite snack options before heading out are hummus and vegie sticks, coconut yoghurt or Greek yoghurt topped with berries and sugar-free granola, or chopped apple with almond butter.
Be balanced
If you do indulge, don’t feel it has to be an ‘all or nothing’ affair. Let yourself enjoy a few treats occasionally and remember that your body can handle unhealthy foods in small amounts. Trust yourself.
Get active
Use Febfast as an opportunity to wake up early on the weekend and go for a run, practice yoga outside as the sun rises or even just take the dog for a stroll around the block. Physical activity in the morning before you start your day will kick start your endorphins and leave you feeling awake and energised.
Prioritise your health
Prioritise your physical and mental wellbeing by making a conscious decision to balance your fun – enjoy activities that aren’t centred on drinking or alcohol. Go to brunch with your besties, take a walk along the coast with your family or have a booze-free picnic.
Register and find out more today.
NEXT: Find out how alcohol affects you.
{nomultithumb}
Source Health & Beauty http://ift.tt/1PseyTK