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I t sure was true for us.  Babies born in the winter learn to crawl sooner than summer time babies, according to a new study. Our son, born in June, didn't learn to crawl until he was a year old, and didn't walk till he was almost 17 months.  I panicked about the walking.  People said, "Enjoy it," but I just wanted him to be like the other babies -- now running and jumping and climbing, while our son just tried to slide along the dirty floors in restaurants and anywhere we put him down. Then, one night (I was sleeping), my husband was reading the paper and looked up and thought, oh, there's Phillip, walking across the floor to me.  Say what ??? Like most kids who start walking at a later age, there was no falling down or bumping into things for him.  Once he walked, he walked. T he season of a baby’s birth influences its motor development during its first year of life, a new study by University of Haifa researcher's shows, according to newswise.com. B...

I mostly hang out with parents trying to decide whether to have another baby (I was 47 when I had mine and he's now 13).  But my generation group is now in the throes of undergoing knee and hip replacements. My husband, a former college athlete, is considering both.    A new study has found that doing what we did when we were younger (not that ), can help. It's dancing, and it's helping older folks who feel less pain when they're moving around (or, as newswise.com, puts it, "movin' to the groovin'," ouch). Dancing eases hip or knee pain and helps older adults move better, according to the study by Saint Louis University. “After dancing, over several months they reported less pain and were able to walk faster,” the Web site quotes Jean Krampe, Ph.D., assistant professor of nursing at Saint Louis University and lead author of the article. The findings are significant because older adults who walk too slowly are more likely to fall, become ...

I've long found it to be true.  Taking a walk (or a run) is good for your head. Now a new study says taking a walk may lead to more creativity than sitting.  Duh.  I think what they meant to say is that your creativity can really be stirred when you're moving. I jog every morning and a lot of ideas for essays come to me during this time.  I especially like the early mornings now, when it's still dark but the birds are at it, chirping and singing away (they know spring is here, even if we don't).  I often write pieces in my head when I'm running. So what's sitting good for?  Not much.  Other studies have found that those of us who sit too much will die younger.  (Even though I exercise avidly for part of the morning, the rest of the day I tend to sit at my computer or, OK, I'll admit it, the TV.) "Many people anecdotally claim they do their best thinking when walking," said Marily Oppezzo, PhD, of Santa Clara University at newswise.com. ...

They've told us to cut out red meat and keep slim, to go for mammograms yearly and avoid soy and other phyto-estrogens. But a new study  has now found that breast cancer survivors -- and all women -- may just have to walk to possibly avoid risk of the disease or a recurrence. According to abcnews.com, " walking for an hour a day could cut your risk by 14 percent." The study followed more than 70,000 postmenopausal women, 4,760 of whom developed breast cancer. But the most active women had a 25% lower risk of cancer compared to the least active women. But walking for even one hour a day had a protective effect, abcnews.com reports. The study did not touch on women who are pre- or peri-menopausal who develop breast cancer, as I did, but it stands to reason the effect would be the same.  "Given that breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting women, and that walking is a common activity among postmenopausal women, the finding of a possible lower risk wit...