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SMS for monitoring health
Good sleep may prevent cancer
Smoking may trigger PMS
Excess weight, diabetes risky in pregnancy
SMS for monitoring health
Cell-phone text messages, also known as short message service (SMS), could be used to encourage children to watch their diets and get off the couch.
Self-monitoring of calorie intake and body weight is extremely important for losing weight and sustaining it. The most common method of self-monitoring is to keep an old-fashioned paper diary -- something many children and teenagers may resist. So, to devise better ways of self-monitoring and to look whether text messages could offer a children-friendly way to encourage exercise, less TV time and healthier eating, researchers from America equipped 18 children between the ages of 5 and 13 years with a cell phone that they and their parents used to communicate with the researchers.
Every day for eight weeks, the families were sent text messages asking how much time the child had spent exercising that day, how much time was spent in front of a TV or computer, and whether the child had had any sugary drinks that day. The researchers immediately sent text messages in response -- either congratulating them on healthy behaviour or encouraging them to make healthier choices next time.
Two other groups of children were followed for comparison. In one group, 18 children and their parents were asked to keep paper diaries on the same lifestyle habits; in the other, families went about life as normal.
It was found that families in the text-messaging group were more likely to complete the study, and text-messages were found to be more effective than keeping diary to keep a track calorie intake. Moreover, children in the text-message group were the only ones who showed a general decline in TV and computer time.
Cell phone text messaging is something that's very familiar to most children now, since they've grown up with it. The above findings indicate that this technology can well be used to make self-monitoring seem more like fun and less like work to children. But, whether the tactic ultimately leads to healthier children needs further research.
Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior
November 2008 Friday, November 21, 2008
Good sleep may prevent cancer Regular exercise can reduce a woman's risk of cancer, but the benefits may fade away if she gets too little sleep.
Some studies in the past have revealed that people who are regular with their exercise regime are less likely to develop cancer. But few studies have explored whether sleeping habits affect cancer risk, particularly among women. To study the association between women’s sleep patterns and the risk of cancer, researchers from America studied 5,968 women aged between 18 and 65 years. The researchers monitored the sleep patterns, diet and exercise regime of the participants. The incidence of cancer development among the women was also noted.
It was found that apart from the amount of physical exercise the women did per week; sleep also played an important role in cancer risk. Those who slept less than seven hours nightly had a 47 percent higher risk of cancer than those who got more sleep among the physically active women.
Further, it was noted that those who get regular exercise had a reduced risk of breast, colon and other types of cancer. This could be attributed to the fact that exercise is effective in controlling body's hormone levels, immune function and body weight, which subsequently reduces the risk of developing cancer.
While it is already known that chronic sleep loss is associated with obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, cardiovascular disease, depression, cigarette smoking and excessive drinking; it is yet unclear that out how getting too little sleep makes one more susceptible to cancer.
American Association for Cancer
November 2008 Friday, November 21, 2008
Smoking may trigger PMS Young women who smoke are prone to develop premenstrual syndrome (PMS), especially hormonally-related symptoms like backaches, bloating, breast tenderness, and acne.
Up to 20% of women are known to have PMS, severe enough to affect their relationships and interfere with their normal activities. Previous studies suggest that smoking may alter levels of oestrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and other hormones, many of which may be involved in the development of PMS. Some studies have found that smokers have shorter and more irregular menstrual cycles than non-smokers. Smoking may also lower levels of vitamin D in the body, which also may increase a woman's risk of developing PMS.
To further investigate the relationship between smoking and risk of PMS, reserachers from Amercia analysed data of a health study that followed 116,678 women. The researchers looked at a subset of women who were PMS-free during the first two years of the study, comparing 1,057 who did go on to develop PMS to 1,968 who did not.
It was found that the women who were current smokers were twice as likely as non-smokers to report PMS within the next two to four years. The risk increased with the amount they smoked, and women who had picked up the habit in adolescence or young adulthood were at even greater risk; those who had begun smoking before turning fifteen years old, for example, were thrice as likely to develop PMS.
These findings suggest that smoking by women, especially at a younger age, may markedly increase their risk of developing moderate to severe PMS, providing additional incentive for young women to give up the habit.
American Journal of Epidemiology
November 2008 Thursday, November 20, 2008
Excess weight, diabetes risky in pregnancy Women diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) who gain excess weight are at increased risk ofpreterm preterm and caesarean delivery.
Few studies have examined the relation between pregnancy weight gain and outcome in women with GDM - diabetes that develops during pregnancy and resolves after delivery. To investigate this relation, researchers from America reviewed the medical records of 31,074 women with GDM and single pregnancies. They recorded the pre-pregnancy weight and followed the weight gain as pregnancy progressed. Standard guidelines suggest that weight gain during pregnancy for normal weight women should be between 10 and 15 kg. Women who are overweight before being pregnant are advised to gain a little less - 6 to 12 kg - while underweight women should put on 12 to 20 kg. As per these guidelines, one third of the women in the study had weight gain below that recommended; one third gained weight within the guidelines, and the remaining third gained excess weight.
It was found that women who exceeded the recommended weight gain were more likely to have a primary cesarean delivery compared with women in the other two groups. Further, women whose weight gain was below the recommended range were at a higher risk of having a small for age infants and less likely to have a large for age infant. These women were also more likely to successfully manage their GDM through diet.
The above findings show that women who gain too much weight during pregnancy are more likely to deliver larger infants and to have preterm deliveries. They are also more apt to need medical therapy to control their blood sugar.
The researchers noted that since there are no specific recommendations regarding the ideal amount of weight gain for women diagnosed with GDM currently, standards needs to be worked out for the same.
American Journal of Epidemiology
November 2008 Thursday, November 20, 2008
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