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I learned abou t gratefulness when I was diagnosed with cancer.  Not that I was grateful to have cancer!  But it opened my eyes to what was good about my life, and to celebrate it, because who knew what the future held? I used to live only in the future.  Living in the present seemed like a nice idea, but I could never do it.  There was always that next project at work, or would my boyfriend ever marry me (he did), then dinner with my in-laws (with whom I did not get along).  Let me get through that first, and then I'll worry about the present, I thought. But cancer's a funny thing.  When you're told you have it, you kind of don't want to live in the future anymore, because who knows what it holds? I had a friend who was diagnosed with Stage 4 renal cancer when I was going through treatment.  Friends and I would go sit with her when she was having chemo (I remember running hot water over her hands to try to get her veins to open up).   But ...

I've never had much use for it (though I do admit I like watching it on TV, the calming soft voices and the beautiful landscapes).  And plenty of business deals have been solidified on the course.  But golf to me is a boring sport. However, it may be time to rethink this.  Studies are finding that you golf, you live.  Longer, that is.  Golf has been shown to increase life expectancy .  Research conducted by Scotland's University of Edinburgh suggests golf can help your cardiovascular, respiratory and metabolic health, according to CNN.  "We know that the moderate physical activity that golf provides increases life expectancy," the cable TV network quotes Dr. Andrew Murray, lead researcher at the university's Golf & Health Project . "It can help prevent and treat more than 40 major chronic diseases such as heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, breast and colon cancer.   "Given that the sport can be played by the very young to the ver...

We've all had this job.  Nothing you do is ever right, the boss berates you if you're five minutes late (your kid's bus never came), and in meetings, he calls on everyone but you. I've been there.  Even broke out in a rash on vacation, thinking of having to go back. But now a new study says it can be worse than that.  Lousy jobs hurt your health by the time you're in your 40's. Job satisfaction in your late 20s and 30s has a link to overall health in your early 40s, according to a new nationwide study. And while job satisfaction has some impact on physical health, its effect was particularly strong for mental health, researchers have found. Not surprisingly, those less than happy with their work early in their careers said they were more depressed and worried and had more trouble sleeping. And the direction of your job satisfaction – whether it is getting better or worse in your early career – has an influence on your later health, the study showe...

You probably know that race and ethnicity affect your chances of getting and surviving cancer.  Many women of the Jewish faith carry a gene that indicates the potential for breast cancer. Jewish couples may also be at risk of carrying genes that may result in Tay-Sachs, a fatal disease for their children.  It's also more frequent among French Canadians, Cajuns, and people of Irish/British descent. But did you know marriage is up there, too? A new study has found that that the benefits of being married vary by race and ethnicity, with male non-Hispanic white bachelors experiencing the worst outcome. This group had a 24 percent higher mortality rate than their married counterparts.Previous studies have shown that married patients with cancer fare better than unmarried cancer patients, surviving more often and longer. Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that unmarried women also had higher mortality than married women, but the ...

Cows can read. Chocolate makes you lose weight.  Sunbathers live longer. I know, I know.  If only.  But it's actually true..  Sunbathers live longer. New research is looking into the paradox that women who sunbathe are likely to live longer than those who avoid the sun, even though sunbathers are at an increased risk of developing skin cancer, newswise.com reports. An analysis of information on 29,518 Swedish women who were followed for 20 years revealed that longer life expectancy among women with active sun exposure habits was related to a decrease in heart disease and non-cancer/non-heart disease deaths, causing the relative contribution of death due to cancer to increase. Whether the positive effect of sun exposure demonstrated in this observational study is mediated by vitamin D, another mechanism related to UV radiation, or by unmeasured bias cannot be determined, so researchers believe additional research is warranted. I run outside year-r...

I know I hate it.  "What do you want for dinner?" Nothing.  "Did you do your homework?"  Nothing.  "Did you clean your room?" Grunt. I'm talking, of course, about my teenager, who ignores just about every word out of my mouth.  But now researchers are saying that mastering the art of ignoring makes people more efficient. I suppose it makes sense.  If you've ever been in one of those moments where you're working so hard on something, you don't notice the house is on fire, just get that paragraph written, you've been there.  I've left pots boiling on the stove, driven right past my road when thinking about a word, even been able to tune out my husband when he's raving about Bill O'Reilly again. But don't listen to me.  Get it from the experts. Johns Hopkins University researchers have found that when people are given time to learn what’s possible to ignore, they’re able to search faster and more efficiently.   ...

Grim news. If your biological age (the age your health suggests your body is) is older than your actual age, you could be at high risk of cancer.  The bigger the difference between the two, the greater your risk. A person’s epigenetic age is calculated based on a DNA blood test that looks for methylation markers that could be modified by a person’s environment, including environmental chemicals, obesity, exercise and diet. This test is not commercially available but is currently being studied by academic researchers, including a team at Northwestern. In DNA methylation, a cluster of molecules attaches to a gene and makes the gene more or less receptive to biochemical signals from the body. The gene itself -- your DNA code -- does not change. “This could become a new early warning sign of cancer,” says senior author Dr. Lifang Hou, who led the study, at newswise.com. “The discrepancy between the two ages appears to be a promising tool that could be used to develop an...

They don't know if they're coming or going.  Doctors are now saying that alcohol is good for your heart.  But maybe not so much for your breasts, ladies. Turns out a whole confluence of studies has found that one drink a day, every day, keeps your heart healthier but may contribute, somewhat significantly, to the development of breast cancer.   But any more than that, not so much.  And as for those who really don't imbibe at all, we could be in the worst shape of all. According to The New York Times, research into how alcohol consumption affects health has been going on for a long time. A 1990 prospective cohort study included results of more than 275,000 men followed since 1959. Compared with those who never drank alcohol, those who consumed one to two drinks a day had a significantly reduced mortality rate from both coronary heart disease and “all causes.” Those who consumed three or more drinks a day still had a lower risk of death from coronary heart ...

OK.  So you don't go to church.  But you may pay a price for that. A new study has found that people who have negative spiritual beliefs, or, as newswise.com put its, blame karma for their pain feel it, well, more. "In general, the more religious or spiritual you are, the healthier you are, which makes sense,” says Brick Johnstone, a neuropsychologist and professor of health psychology in the MU School of Health Professions. “But for some individuals, even if they have even the smallest degree of negative spirituality – basically, when individuals believe they’re ill because they’ve done something wrong and God is punishing them – their health is worse.” Johnstone and his colleagues studied nearly 200 individuals to find out how their spiritual beliefs affected their health outcomes. Individuals in the study had a range of health conditions, such as cancer, traumatic brain injury or chronic pain, and others were healthy. The researchers divided the individua...

 Diet.  Inflammation.  Cancer. There's a link.  A connection between inflammation and cancer has been found, and diet and nutrition contribute to not only colitis but colitis-associated colon cancer . Chronic inflammation appears to play a key role in the development of cancer, along with heart disease and diabetes. Now a new study presented today suggests that eating a diet high in sugar, saturated fats and others foods that promote inflammation increases the risk of premature death from any cause, including cancers of the gastrointestinal tract. A connection between inflammation and cancer has been recognized for over a hundred years, according to newswise.com.  This connection is particularly evident in colon carcinogenesis, because patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have a higher incidence of colon cancer than the general population. The Web site reports that a new study has found that there's increasing evidence that infl...

Want to truly be grossed out? Scientists now say that hollow head toothbrushes contain 3,000 more times bacteria than solid head toothbrushes, according to newswise.com. Microbial counts were lower in the solid-head toothbrush group than in the two hollow-head toothbrush groups in 9 out of 10 comparisons, in the study. “Toothbrushes can transmit microorganisms that cause disease and infections. A solid-head design allows for less growth of bacteria and bristles should be soft and made of nylon,” said lead author and professor at the University of Texas Health School of Dentistry, Donna Warren Morris, R.D.H., M.Ed. at the Web site. “It is also important to disinfect and to let your toothbrush dry between uses. Some power toothbrushes now include an ultraviolet system or you can soak the head in mouthwash for 20 minutes.” The study was conducted over a three-week period where participants brushed twice daily with one out of three randomly assigned power toothbrushes. Pa...

So you've given and added bananas to your breakfast. But guess what?  A new study says most adults need to double their fruit and vegetable intake. New research published in the September issue of the British Journal of Nutrition highlights a significant shortfall in fruit and vegetable consumption in people’s diets around the world, according to newswise.com. Research finds the majority of adults worldwide would have to at least double their current consumption of fruits and vegetables to meet the World Health Organization’s minimum recommendation of five servings (400 grams) per day. Additionally, the vast majority of adults worldwide – 60 to 87% across 13 geographic diet regions – are falling short of this recommendation and missing out on crucial nutrition and health benefits. The gap between the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables and what adults are actually eating also indicates that most adults worldwide are not receiving the quantity or variety of...

How scary is this?  Mice exposed to low levels of arsenic -- the amounts some of us may have in our ground water -- developed lung cancer. According to newswise.com, mice exposed to low doses of arsenic in drinking water, similar to what some people might consume, developed this cancer, researchers at the National Institutes of Health have found.  Arsenic levels in public drinking water cannot exceed 10 parts per billion (ppb), which is the standard set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. However, there are no established standards for private wells, from which millions of people get their drinking water. People in the northern suburbs of my town have discovered, to their horror, that their well water contains many things it shouldn't.  Including arsenic. The researchers used a model that duplicates how humans are exposed to arsenic throughout their entire lifetime. In the study, the mice were given arsenic three weeks before breeding and throughou...

I'm not a vitamin person.  Though my husband believes in everything from saw palmetto to garlic to that stuff people take for their knee cartilage. But now I'm thinking about taking vitamin D .  That's because a new study has found that a vitamin D deficiency has been linked to cardiovascular and even cancer deaths. You're probably skeptical like I am.  Today it's a savior, tomorrow it's discredited.  Like the vitamins above. But several new studies are pointing to the fact that this vitamin is different. "A vitamin D boost may prevent early death from heart disease and cancer, according to a large scale study by Mount Sinai and a consortium of international collaborators, newswise.com reports. Research has showed a strong association between low vitamin D levels and risk of death in general, as well as death from cardiovascular diseases, and from cancer, at least in older people with a history of cancer.  Past studies have linked Vitamin D ...

Family history of heart attacks?  Afraid you might be next?  Give blood. That's right.  Get yourself to a Red Cross blood center and give up some of that valuable red stuff. According to a new study , “Excessive iron is believed to contribute to heart disease and donating blood reduces the iron stores in the body,” newswise.com quotes Ivan Pacold, MD, chair, Cardiology Department, Loyola’s Gottlieb Memorial Hospital. “Plus you get a mini-assessment each time you give blood to reinforce wellness." Many years ago I edited an article for Good Housekeeping magazine about hemochromatosis, a disease just as ugly to have as to pronounce.  Simply put, the illness came from having too much iron in your blood.  The solution?  To bleed the patient once or twice a week. It's also the most common genetic disorder in the U.S. A type of anemia (thalassemia) and chronic liver disease can cause it, and it can lead to arthritis, liver and pancreatic disease, ev...

Great.  Now they've found a new cancer. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have found when two certain genes come together during an abnormal but recurring chromosomal mismatch, they can be dangerous. The result is a chimera — a gene that is half of each — and that causes a tumor that usually begins in the nose and may infiltrate the rest of the face, requiring disfiguring surgery to save the individual, newswise.com reports.  Chimera is also a word used to describe a fire-breathing female monster with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail. Scarily, the cancer strikes 75 percent of the time in women. Scientists at the Mayo Clinic have pinned down the genetic structure and molecular signature of this seldom-recognized type of cancer, according to newswise.com. It is rare, but how rare no one knows as most of the cases examined were initially diagnosed as various other types of cancer. “It’s unusual that a condition or disease is recognized, subse...

The experts are still out on whether wireless devices really do harm us, or that our iphones cause brain cancer. But now a new study has found that pregnant women may indeed be at risk, and their unborn babies, too. Newswise.com reports that an international group of doctors and scientific experts is joining with non-profit organizations today to urge pregnant women to limit their exposure to wireless radiation from cell phones and other devices by taking simple steps to protect themselves and their unborn children. Research has linked exposure to wireless radiation from cell phones during pregnancy to neurological and behavioral problems in offspring that resemble Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children. The steps include: 1. Avoid carrying your cell phone on your body (e.g. in a pocket or bra). 2. Avoid holding any wireless device against your body when in use. 3. Use your cell phone on speaker setting or with an “air tube” headset. 4. Avoid usin...

A new study has found what many would like to know.  If I live in a certain place, what are my chances of developing cancer? Elise Sole reports at yahoo.com that your chances of having certain types of cancer may depend on how affluent your neighborhood is, and that some cancers tend to seek out the poor, while others, the rich. "In wealthy areas of the country, more common cancers include testicular, thyroid, melanoma, breast, and cervical," she writes. But in poorer areas, it may not be luck so much as "certain risky" behaviors that make you more vulnerable to cancers in other parts of the body.  In poorer areas, cancers include cancers of the penis and cervix, which are linked to sexually transmitted diseases (but don't forget Michael Douglas, with his cancer of the tongue); cancer of the larynx, which can be caused by smoking, drinking , or HPV; liver cancer, often linked to drinking and hepatitis (which can be contracted by needle sharing); and K...

It wasn't so long ago that we'd never heard the word "papilloma," let alone used in conjunction with "virus." But a shocking new study has found that up to 2/3 of healthy American adults may harbor this virus. The good news is that only a few of the 109 strains cause cancer, according to newswise.com. The Web site reports that r esearchers say that while most of the viral strains so far appear to be harmless and can remain dormant for years, their overwhelming presence suggests a delicate balancing act for HPV infection in the body, in which many viral strains keep each other in check, preventing other strains from spreading out of control. Although infection is increasingly known to happen through skin-to-skin contact, HPV remains the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. It is so common that experts estimate nearly all men and women contract some strain of it during their lives. “Our study offers initial and broad eviden...

Sorry to burst your bubble but a new study says all that hype about dark chocolate and red wine and berries is just that.  Hype. Turns out they no more protect us from heart attack, cancer and stroke than M&Ms and Coke. Resveratrol, the antioxidant found in these foods and beverages, once thought to be the elixir of long life, has, suddenly, turned out not to be such a godsend, after all. Scientists have found that those who eat and drink the stuff  live no longer than and are just as likely to develop cardiovascular disease or cancer as those who eat or drink smaller amounts of the antioxidant, according to newswise.com. “The story of resveratrol turns out to be another case where you get a lot of hype about health benefits that doesn’t stand the test of time,” the Web site quotes Richard D. Semba, M.D., M.P.H., a professor of ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and leader of the study described May 12 in  JAMA Internal Medici...