Originally published September 23 2005
Doctors recommend healthy habits that are easy to stick with
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The biggest problem most people have with staying healthy is sticking with healthy behaviors, so The Star Telegram has gathered some doctors' prescriptions for healthy, everyday habits.
Your doctor may soon be prescribing 15 minutes of chuckling a day.
A new study finds that laughter can improve blood flow, which over time may protect against heart disease.
University of Maryland Medical Center researchers showed 20 healthy adults two movie scenes -- one from the comedy Kingpin, the other a battle scene from Saving Private Ryan -- while monitoring artery function.
After viewing the funny clip, the volunteers' blood vessels dilated by 22 percent; they constricted by 35 percent after the war sequence.
"That magnitude of change is similar to what you'd get from aerobic exercise," says study author Michael Miller, MD.
Laughter may trigger the release of nitric oxide, a chemical that relaxes blood cells, he says.
It may also release endorphins, hormones shown to repair blood vessels.
Fruits and vegetables: Five or more servings per day; contain antioxidants; cut risk by 21 percent.
Fish: A deck of cards-size serving (4 ounces) four times weekly; contains omega-3 fatty acids, which slow formation of artery-clogging plaque; cuts risk by 14 percent.
That's troubling in light of new research: Heavy drinking harms the brain's development.
When researchers at the University of California, San Diego, gave 34 teens a memory test, kids with alcohol problems had livelier brain scans than nondrinkers.
But among college women who took a similar exam, those who had drank regularly since high school scored low.
Helping ease the pain of surgery may be as simple as opening a blind, finds a new University of Pittsburgh study.
When scientists checked the records of 89 spinal surgery patients, those who recovered in sunny rooms required 22 percent less pain medication and felt less stress than those in darker rooms.
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