Half Better Than Whole

A new study suggests that 30 minutes of daily exercise works just as well to help an overweight person slim down as an hour-long workout. The report in the American Journal of Physiology determined that a half hour of moderate exercise produced similar or even better results than 60 minutes a day. After three months, participants who exercised 30 minutes a day lost an average of two pounds more body weight than those who exercised an hour each day.

3 –5% of billions of [medical] specimens taken each year are defective

According to a 2006 Wall Street Journal article, “3 to 5 percent of billions of [medical] specimens taken each year are defective,” for reasons including mixed-up patient samples. This is one reason why patients can and should advocate for and discuss with physicians the know error® system, which provides DNA confirmation via bar coding and forensic principles to exclusive-ly confirm that biopsy samples belong to the patient being diagnosed. For more info, visit knowerror.com.

BE Proactive Against Cervical Cancer

January marks Cervical Cancer Awareness Month. The CDC says the disease can be prevented or found early if women have a Pap smear, considered one of the most reliable and effective tests for it, or the HPV test. Those with no health insurance or low-incomes can visit cdc.gov/cancer/nbccedp/screenings.htm to find out where to get tested.

BLUE MONDAY

Do you get the Monday blues? It seems that people have bought into the notion of being stressed and unhappy on Monday more than any other day of the week since forever. But according to new research, people despise every other workday—except Friday, of course—just as much. The Journal of Positive Psychology reported that although people experience more enjoyment and happiness on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, moods for every other day of the week were similar.

The painless truth

For all you naysayers of acupuncture who dismiss it as little more than a psychological placebo, new research has shown that it does, in fact, keep pain at bay, whether it’s real or perceived. The analysis, published online in Archives of Internal Medicine, found that acupuncture worked better than usual pain treatments such as medication or physical therapy. The study examined patients with recurring headaches and other common types of chronic pain, including back, neck or shoulder
aches and arthritis.