Daily Health Tips: Trusted Medical Information, Health Tips and Advices

Despite a health-care system that outspends those in the rest of the world, infants and mothers fare worse in the U.S. than in many other industrialized nations. The infant mortality rate in Canada is 25 percent lower than it is in the U.S.; the Japanese rate, more than 60 percent lower. According to the World Health Organization, America ranks behind 41 other countries in preventing mothers from dying during childbirth. In fact, the rate of maternal deaths in the U.S. has risen over the past decade, and the number of premature and low-birth-weight babies is higher now than it was in the 1980s and 1990s. Why are we doing so badly? Partly because mothers tend to be less healthy than in the past, “which contributes to a higher-risk pregnancy,” says Diane Ashton, M.D., deputy medical director of the March of Dimes. But another key reason appears to be a health-care system that has developed into a highly profitable labor-and-delivery machine, operating according to its own timetable rath

If you hung out in a commercial gym, and watched people exercise, you’d come to an interesting conclusion: The people there aren’t doing much actual exercise. A few years ago, one trainer did just that. His finding: For every hour spent in the gym, the average person actually works out for just 11 minutes. They spend the rest of the time chatting, preening, flirting, and “recovering” between sets. And while the idea of, say, a 15-minute workout is probably laughable to many of these folks, a smart 15-minute routine might actually give them better results. Truth is, when it comes to working out, intensity and efficiency matter much more than length, says  Men’s Health  fitness advisor BJ Gaddour, who recently created a dozen 5-minute workouts for the first-ever Men’s Health and Women’s Health Beach Boot Camp event, to be held in New York this summer. What can 5 minutes do for you? Plenty. Go hard enough and you’ll blast out more than 100 repetitions and work every muscle in your

  Turn down the dial on inflammation with these anti-inflammatory foods and lifestyle changes. Chronic inflammation plays a significant role (as either a cause or effect) in many diseases, including type 2 diabetes, autoimmune diseases, such as Crohn’s disease, and the three top killers in the United States: heart disease, cancer and stroke. Emerging research is focusing on the link between inflammation and brain disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. The good news is that diet, exercise and lifestyle changes can be powerful tools against inflammation. Here are 10 ways you can help stave off—or tamp down—inflammation. Balance Your Omega Fats Americans are gorging on too many inflammation-promoting omega-6 fats (found in vegetable oils, such as sunflower and corn, and processed and fast food made with them) and not consuming nearly enough inflammation-soothing omega-3 fats (found in salmon, tuna, flaxseeds, walnuts, canola and olive oils). In short: a

Start your day with breakfast. Breakfast fills your "empty tank" to get you going after a long night without food. And it can help you do better in school. Easy to prepare breakfasts include cold cereal with fruit and low-fat milk, whole-wheat toast with peanut butter, yogurt with fruit, whole-grain waffles or even last night's pizza! Get Moving! It's easy to fit physical activities into your daily routine. Walk, bike or jog to see friends. Take a 10-minute activity break every hour while you read, do homework or watch TV. Climb stairs instead of taking an escalator or elevator. Try to do these things for a total of 30 minutes every day. Snack smart. Snacks are a great way to refuel. Choose snacks from different food groups - a glass of low-fat milk and a few graham crackers, an apple or celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins, or some dry cereal. If you eat smart at other meals, cookies, chips and candy are OK for occasional snacking. Work up a s

Starting a business can be hazardous to your health—staying healthy is often the first thing that goes. Who has the time to follow a comprehensive fitness and weight loss program? You do. Make a few simple changes to your day and you can create healthier habits that are easy to stick with. Incorporate one, incorporate all... because your business is only as healthy as you are. 1. Add protein to your breakfast. If you normally eat cereal, yogurt, or  that’s fine. Add 10 grams or so of protein. One easy way is to boil a carton of eggs on Sunday and have two egg whites every morning. You’ll add less than 40 calories to your breakfast, pick up 12 grams of protein, and reduce your level of hunger at lunch. 2. Get up and walk around every hour. Sitting for extended periods is hazardousto your health. Plus it makes you feel sluggish and inactive. At least once an hour get up and move around. Walk while you talk on the phone. Manage by walking around. Your heart will thank you, and so

Bones play many roles in the body — providing structure, protecting organs, anchoring muscles and storing calcium. While it's particularly important to take steps to build strong and healthy bones during childhood and adolescence, you can take steps during adulthood to protect bone health, too. Your bones are continuously changing — new bone is made and old bone is broken down. When you're young, your body makes new bone faster than it breaks down old bone and your bone mass increases. Most people reach their peak bone mass around age 30. After that, bone remodeling continues, but you lose slightly more than you gain. How likely you are to develop osteoporosis — a condition that causes bones to become weak and brittle — depends on how much bone mass you attain by the time you reach age 30 and how rapidly you lose it later. The higher your peak bone mass, the more bone you have "in the bank" and the less likely you are to develop osteoporosis as you age. A numb