Health Alert: Smoking Increases Sleep Apnea Risk.
A pack year is the number of cigarettes smoked if a person smokes one pack a day for a year. A systematic review of thirteen studies concluded that smoking increases one’s risk for severe obstructive sleep apnea, especially heavy smokers with a history of 20 or more pack years.
Nicotine & Tobacco Research, August 2022
Diet: Diet Choices May Help Prevent Kidney Stones.
Questionnaires completed by 411 kidney stone patients and 384 individuals without a history of kidney stones revealed that a low intake of fluids and a diet low in calcium and potassium are linked to a greater risk of experiencing a first-time symptomatic kidney stone.
Mayo Clinic Proceedings, July 2022
Exercise: Physical Activity Can Help an Aging Brain.
Among a group of 300 sedentary older adults with mild-cognitive impairment, those who participated in either aerobic exercise or a stretching and balance intervention did not experience worsening performance on cognitive assessments a year later, nor did brain scans show any sign of additional brain shrinkage. On the other hand, subjects who did not exercise experienced significant cognitive decline during the course of the study.
Associated Press, July 2022
Chiropractic: Manual Therapies Help Patients with Hip or Knee Osteoarthritis.
For patients with osteoarthritis of the hip or knee, an analysis of data from 19 clinical trials found that the addition of manual therapy to exercise therapy may lead to better outcomes with respect to pain, function, and stiffness than exercise alone. Doctors of chiropractic often adopt a multimodal approach that includes exercise and manual therapies in the management of patients with osteoarthritis of the hip or knee.
Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy, July 2022
Mental Attitude: The Brain Functions Differently with ADHD.
Functional MRI scans of 360 children and teens revealed that those with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exhibited altered function in several brain networks, including those involved with attention, executive function, and processing visual and sensory information.
Molecular Psychiatry, July 2022
Wellness/Prevention: Make Health a Family Affair.
Because eating and exercising together during the week can help family members get and stay healthy, the American Heart Association recommends the following: keep a family schedule, and find 30-minute periods during the week that the entire family can exercise; choose a time that the entire family can decide on the upcoming week’s menu; find ways to manage stress as a family; and make sure everyone in the family does their part to help out around the house.
American Heart Association, July 2022