For Women Only
The roller coaster of news about hormone replacement therapy (HRT) continues. A new study, published in the Aug. 6 issue of the British Medical Journal, says that a woman's risk of developing breast cancer while taking synthetic HRT is actually quite low. Women from 40 to 79 years old who are not using HRT have an average risk of breast cancer of 7.2 percent, a risk that declines to 6.1 percent at age 50 and 4.4 percent at age 60. The risk increases by 0.6 percent if a woman uses HRT for five years, starting at age 55. If the woman uses estrogen alone, however, the extra risk is only 0.2 percent. The bottom line remains the same: short-term use of synthetic HRT may be reasonable for a healthy woman with severe menopausal symptoms that seriously undermine her quality of life. Biologically identical hormones, which are most like those produced naturally by the human body, are another alternative worth considering.
For Men Only
Testosterone seems to benefit, not harm, the cardiovascular health of middle-aged men, according to a new study in the May 17 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. A commonly held view has been that men suffer more heart disease than women due to higher testosterone levels. "Our findings confirm that in healthy middle-aged men, normal testosterone levels are protective against atherosclerosis," said Olli T. Raitakari, at the University of Turku in Turku, Finland, where the study was conducted. Researchers noted that the study included a relatively small number of participants (99) who were all Caucasian and middle-aged, so it is unclear whether the same results would apply to other populations.
Healthy and Fit
Yoga is not generally associated with calorie burning, but a new study reported that overweight adults aged 45 to 55 who regularly practiced yoga lost an average of five pounds over a decade. Normal-weight yoga practitioners gained three fewer pounds than those who didn't practice yoga during the same period. Conducted at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, the study appeared in the July/August issue of Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. Researchers are not certain how yoga helps promote weight loss, although they speculated that yoga enthusiasts have healthier eating and exercise habits overall. In addition, yoga may reduce stress, preventing anxiety-driven eating and lowering stress hormones.
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Q&A
Q: Is there a "wrong" way to sleep?
A: If you wake up feeling well rested, whatever position you're sleeping in probably works for you. According to some sleep experts, however, some positions are better than others. Sleeping on your stomach may make it more difficult to breathe and put pressure on your spine, for example, compared to sleeping on your side with knees brought up in somewhat of a fetal position. Unless you're continually waking up groggy or in pain, don't lose any sleep over it!
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Remember Sex?
Workaholic men apparently aren't neglecting their wives or girlfriends in the bedroom, according to a study reported at a recent meeting of the American Psychological Association. Researchers at Louisiana Tech University surveyed nearly 100 sexually active couples, who recorded the details of their sex lives over the course of a year. Women were asked to measure satisfaction by including both physical and psychological aspects of sex. "It may be driven by guilt," said Imelda Bush, one of the researchers. "Men who spend too much time at work and feel bad about it may make more of an effort and try harder to satisfy their partner sexually, making up for lost time in the home."
Quote of the Month
"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves."
- William Shakespeare
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