This Is Why Florals Are the Next Big Thing in Anti-Aging Skincare
The latest batch of skin-care products is coming up roses—and sunflowers, marigolds, and orange blossoms. No longer used just to add scent, florals are being put to work to target inflammation, acne, fine lines, and more. Find out which flower fix is right for you.
RELATED: 8 Steps to Younger Looking Skin
Korres Wild Rose Vitamin C Active Brightening Oil ($54; sephora.com)
Photo: Will Styer
Packed with vitamins A and C, wild rose leaves skin looking radiant and reduces fine lines.
S.W. Basics Hibiscus Mask ($22; urbanoutfitters.com)
Photo: WIll Styer
Known as nature’s Botox thanks to its alpha-hydroxy acids, hibiscus speeds up cell turnover for glowing skin.
RELATED: 29 Expert Beauty Tricks Every Woman Should Know
Farmaesthetics Nutrient Dense Fine Facial Oil ($58; farmaesthetics.com)
Photo: Will Styer
The acids in orange blossom essential oil can help clear acne and calm inflammation.
Kat Burki Vitamin C Nourishing Cleansing Balm ($85; katburki.com)
Photo: Will Styer
Rich in vitamin E, sunflower oil helps smooth wrinkles and retain moisture.
Pacifica Skincarma Restorative Roll-On Face Oil ($22; iherb.com)
Photo: WIll Styer
Marigold’s natural anti-inflammatory properties can heal inflamed skin.
RELATED: 14 Ways to Age in Reverse
Jurlique Nutri-Define with Blosome5 Eye Contour Balm ($90; sephora.com)
Photo: Will Styer
Similar to retinol, alfalfa seed extract sloughs away dead cells and stimulates collagen production.
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4 Ways to Massage Your Body With a Lacrosse Ball
Photo: Getty Images
One key to avoiding injury: releasing tight muscles before stretching. “If a muscle is jammed up or restricted, you won’t be able to stretch it as fully, because the movement will be limited,” says David Reavy. To reach hard-to-get places, pick up a lacrosse ball (we like the Champion Sports NCAA NFHS Certified Lacrosse Ball, $6; amazon.com) and try these moves on each side.
RELATED: 4 Stretches You Should Be Doing (But Aren’t)
For your back: Hip flexor release
Tape two balls together. Lie facedown with balls just below your hip bone. Lean into the balls and bend knee 90 degrees, swinging foot side to side. Continue for 30 seconds to 2 minutes.
For your shoulders: Teres major release
Lie faceup with a ball under and slightly behind armpit. Roll up and down to release muscles under arm and behind shoulder. Tense spot? Move your arm in a punching motion across the front of your body.
RELATED: 10 Exercises for Healthy Knees
For your feet and ankles: Soleus release
Sit with your calf on top of a ball. Cross your other leg over. Roll up and down over the ball. When you get to a sore spot, point and flex your foot for 30 seconds.
For your neck: Pectoral release
Face a wall with a ball on your chest about 2 inches away from your armpit. Shift side to side. Tender spot? Move your arm and shoulder forward, back, up and down, leaning into ball. Continue for about 45 seconds.
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Short Flashes of Light May Treat Jet Lag
TUESDAY, Feb. 9, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Researchers are working on a faster light-based therapy to prevent jet lag.
Currently, light-based jet lag prevention involves exposure to bright lights for hours at a time during the day to help the body clock adjust to a new time zone in small steps before going on a trip, the researchers explained.
But, exposure to short flashes of light — similar to camera flashes — while people are sleeping appears to be a fast and efficient way of preventing jet lag, the Stanford University researchers found.
“This could be a new way of adjusting much more quickly to time changes than other methods in use today,” study senior author Jamie Zeitzer, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., said in a university news release.
Conducting light therapy at night tricks the body clock into adjusting to a different wake/sleep routine even when a person is asleep.
Zeitzer described it as a type of “biological hacking” that fools the brain into believing the day is longer while you sleep. But, he added, the light flashes don’t seem to disrupt sleep.
Along with preventing jet lag, this technique might help treat people with other kinds of sleep cycle disruptions, such as medical residents and truck drivers with varying work/sleep schedules, or night-shift workers who want to be awake during the day, the researchers said.
The study included 39 volunteers. They were between the ages of 19 and 36.
The findings were published online Feb. 8 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about jet lag.
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Allergy Shots Still Effective for Seniors
TUESDAY, Feb. 9, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Allergy shots can still benefit seniors with allergies, a new study suggests.
The study included 60 people with hay fever between the ages of 65 and 75 who were given either allergy shots or a placebo for three years.
Those who received the allergy shots had a 55 percent reduction in symptoms and a 64 percent decrease in their use of allergy relief medication, according to the study results.
They were published Feb. 9 in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
The researchers, led by Dr. Andrzej Bozek of Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland, said diagnosis and management of hay fever in seniors can be challenging because they tend to have other health conditions. The researchers added that their findings show that an aging immune system doesn’t significantly reduce the effectiveness of allergy shots.
While allergy shots are known to benefit children and adults, there has been little research in seniors. Hay fever is more common in people over age 65, the researchers said.
“Older people who suffer from hay fever may have health challenges that younger people do not,” Dr. Ira Finegold, past president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, said in a college news release.
“Hay fever is often ignored in older patients as a less significant health problem because of diseases such as asthma, coronary heart disease, depression and high blood pressure,” Finegold added. “Also, some baby boomers might not realize they have allergies, and their physicians might not suggest allergy shots. The research indicated that allergy shots were extremely effective for this group.”
More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about allergy shots.
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Studying Tick Biology With Lyme Prevention in Mind
TUESDAY, Feb. 9, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Scientists who sequenced the genome, or genetic composition, of the Lyme disease-transmitting deer tick hope the achievement will lead to new ways to control the blood-sucking parasites.
The decade-long effort involved an international team of 93 scientists from 46 institutions.
“The genome provides a foundation for a whole new era in tick research,” project leader Catherine Hill, a professor of medical entomology at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., said in a university news release.
“Now that we’ve cracked the tick’s code, we can begin to design strategies to control ticks, to understand how they transmit disease and to interfere with that process,” she said.
The deer tick, also called the black-legged tick, is the first tick species to have its genome sequenced, the researchers said. The findings were published Feb. 9 in the journal Nature Communications.
Each year, about 30,000 Lyme disease cases are reported in the United States, mostly in the Northeast and upper Midwest. However, many cases are unreported or undiagnosed and the actual number is estimated to be 329,000 a year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Lyme disease is not fatal, but can be permanently debilitating if it’s not treated early enough, according to health experts.
Along with Lyme disease, deer ticks transmit other germs, including the potentially deadly Powassan virus, the researchers noted. Other species of ticks also transmit diseases to people.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about ticks.
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Healthier Diets May Be Cutting Heart, Diabetes Risks in U.S. Teens
By Maureen Salamon
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Feb. 9, 2016 (HealthDay News) — The severity of metabolic syndrome — a cluster of health risk factors such as belly fat and poor cholesterol levels — among U.S. teens has been improving, and researchers believe that healthier diets may be the reason why.
Metabolic syndrome increases the risk of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes. The study found marked changes in two of the risk factors: a drop in blood fats known as triglycerides, and an increase in HDL (“good”) cholesterol.
But not all the news from the study was good. Teen obesity levels rose during the 13-year study period. The investigators also found no changes in average physical activity levels.
“While we don’t know for sure why these improvements occurred, we saw that over time, children have eaten healthier diets, eating fewer calories overall, less carbohydrates and more food with unsaturated fat,” said study author Dr. Mark DeBoer.
“This supports the important idea that changes to your lifestyle choices are the key to improving cardiovascular risk status,” he added. DeBoer is an associate professor of pediatrics in the division of pediatric endocrinology at University of Virginia.
The study was published online Feb. 9 and in the March print edition of the journal Pediatrics.
A diagnosis of metabolic syndrome means someone has at least three out of five risk factors. Those risk factors include: excessive belly fat; high blood pressure; elevated fasting blood sugar; high triglyceride levels; and low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. More than one-third of American adults have metabolic syndrome, the American Heart Association says.
Study data came from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey completed between 1999 and 2012. The researchers had information on over 5,000 teens. All were between 12 and 19 years old, the study authors said.
The rate of metabolic syndrome among the teens held steady during the study period. But the severity of the syndrome decreased, the researchers found.
Along with improvements in triglyceride levels and HDL cholesterol, the teens’ overall calorie and carbohydrate intake declined. The study also found that the teens were eating more unsaturated fats. These are considered a healthy type of fat.
The results occurred over a time period when dietitians recommended lowering carbohydrate consumption and recognized the health benefits of eating plans such as the Mediterranean diet. This type of diet emphasizes eating plant-based foods and unsaturated fats from sources such as olive oil and nuts, DeBoer said.
“Our hope is that if these dietary trends continue, that there will eventually be a reversal of obesity as well,” he said.
One U.S. nutrition expert called the new findings “really exciting.”
“It seems like maybe we’re at a turning point,” said Penny Kris-Etherton, a registered dietitian and professor of nutrition at Penn State University. “It might take a while to see statistically significant decreases in metabolic syndrome in adolescents, but it seems we’re seeing some of the benefits now that will hopefully continue to have an impact.”
She added that she hopes these changes in diet might eventually lead to lower rates of metabolic syndrome, not just lessened severity.
But, Kris-Etherton said improving rates of metabolic syndrome and obesity needs to include more than individuals making wise food choices and incorporating physical activity into their daily lives.
“We have to rely on the food industry to help make healthier foods,” she added. “It would be great if the food industry reformulated products and introduced new products that are healthier,” she suggested.
More information
The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has more about metabolic syndrome.
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The Early Signs of Stroke You Need to Know—Even If You’re Young
Photo: Getty Images
In a very sad and shocking turn of events, social media star and model Katie May died last week after suffering a stroke. The New York Daily News reported that May, 34, had “tweaked her neck” when she fell during a photo shoot in late January, and that she had tweeted that she had “pinched a nerve” a few days before she was hospitalized.
It turns out the pain May was experiencing was far more serious than a pinched nerve. But in a woman so young and so fit, who would connect neck pain to a stroke?
“When you’re younger and in relatively good health, you think that having a stroke is not a possibility,” says David Liebeskind, MD, director of the Neurovascular Programs at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. The reality is, a stroke can strike at any age, he says.
RELATED: 17 Surprising Things That Affect Stroke Risk
According to TMZ, doctors told May’s family that she suffered a carotid artery dissection. It starts as a tear in the artery wall—which can be caused by an injury like a bad spill—and leads to a blood clot that blocks blood flow to the brain.
While this particular type of stroke is rare, strokes in general are on the rise in younger people, likely due to health factors like hypertension. Between 1995 and 2008, the hospitalization rate for stroke patients between the ages of 15 and 44 spiked by 37 percent. What’s more upsetting, a new survey by Dr. Liebeskin and his colleagues found that 73 percent of people under the age of 45 would use the “wait and see” approach if they ever experienced stroke symptoms, rather than rushing to the hospital. That could be a disastrous decision, says Dr. Liebeskin, because the first three hours after symptoms appear is the critical window for treatment.
RELATED: 18 Superfoods for Your Heart
So what are the early warning signs to look for? Two key clues: A sudden onset of dizziness or severe headache. In an earlier interview with Health, David Newman-Toker, MD, associate professor in the department of neurology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said those were the most prominent symptoms in women under 45, sometimes accompanied by hiccups or nausea.
Dr. Liebeskind adds a few more signs to consider, such as loss of language, changes in vision, strength or sensation. “If you have a combination [of symptoms], then something’s more likely to be off, ” he says. Other indications: Your symptoms are totally uncharacteristic for you, or they’re associated with neck pain, or a recent fall. In those cases, “you have to lean on the side of taking [your symptoms] seriously,” says Dr. Liebeskind.
RELATED: Heart Attack Symptoms Women Shouldn’t Ignore
Bottom line: If you’re worried, dial 9-1-1. And if your ER doc tries to diagnose you with something else, like an inner ear infection or a migraine, don’t give up. “Migraine won’t kill you, stroke may,” points out Dr. Liebeskind.
Dr. Newman-Toker suggests asking the MD this question: “Why do you think it’s not a stroke?”
“If he can’t answer in a way that sounds halfway intelligible, speak to another doctor,” he told Health.
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Spelling Prowess Relies on Multiple Brain Areas, Study Finds
MONDAY, Feb. 8, 2016 (HealthDay News) — The brain relies on several areas on the left side (hemisphere) of the brain to spell words, a new study says.
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore pinpointed these regions by studying the brains of 33 stroke patients who lost the ability to spell. Their spelling struggles were due to damage in seemingly unrelated parts of the brain.
“When something goes wrong with spelling, it’s not one thing that always happens — different things can happen and they come from different breakdowns in the brain’s machinery,” said study lead author Brenda Rapp, professor and chair of the Department of Cognitive Science.
“Depending on what part breaks, you’ll have different symptoms,” she explained in a university news release.
These findings provide new insight into the mechanics of language and memory, the researchers said.
Some of the patients in the study had long-term memory problems while others had working memory difficulties. Working memory is a short-term memory for information that’s currently being processed, according to the American Psychological Association.
Those with long-term memory deficits had damage in two areas of the left hemisphere, one near the front of the brain and the other in the lower part of the back of the brain, the research revealed.
Those with working memory problems also had damage in the left hemisphere, but in a different area in the upper part of the back of the brain, according to the study published recently in the journal Brain.
“I was surprised to see how distant and distinct the brain regions are that support these two subcomponents of the writing process, especially two subcomponents that are so closely interrelated during spelling that some have argued that they shouldn’t be thought of as separate functions,” Rapp said.
“You might have thought that they would be closer together and harder to tease apart,” she added.
A fair amount is known about how the brain handles reading, but these are some of the first findings of how it spells, Rapp and her colleagues said. The results could lead to improved treatment of brain-damaged patients and more effective ways to teach spelling, according to the researchers.
More information
The University of Toronto offers tips to improve your spelling.
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Alcohol More Harmful for People With HIV, Study Suggests
MONDAY, Feb. 8, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Drinking alcohol may be more dangerous for people infected with HIV, a new study suggests.
The effects of alcohol appear to be more pronounced for those with the virus that causes AIDS, even when the virus is suppressed with modern antiretroviral treatment (ART), the Yale University researchers reported.
They noted that HIV patients who have just one or two drinks a day are at greater risk for death or alcohol-related health issues.
The study involved patients treated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs between 2008 and 2012. There were more than 18,000 HIV-positive patients and over 42,000 people not infected with the virus. The researchers investigated the link between drinking alcohol, death and other health issues the patients developed.
They found the patients with HIV who drank even moderate amounts of alcohol were more likely to develop alcohol-related health problems and die than those who were HIV-negative. This was true even for those with suppressed HIV, according to the study published online Feb. 2 in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
“It demonstrates that even among people on ART with suppressed viral load, who are much less sick in general, there is still an added effect of alcohol among those individuals than people without HIV,” said researcher Dr. Amy Justice. She is a professor of general medicine and of public health at Yale’s School of Public Health, in New Haven, Conn.
“It suggests the threshold for safe alcohol consumption is likely different for people with HIV,” she said in a university news release.
More information
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs provides more information on drugs, alcohol and HIV.
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