"Health News - Medicine, Diet and Fitness"

(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Younger employees may need a lesson on stress-relief from their older peers.

A new report from the University of Michigan finds older workers generally have low levels of work-related stress.

By the year 2010, middle-aged and older workers are expected to outnumber younger employees. That has employers concerned about the physical and emotional well-being of older workers.

Study participants ages 53 to 85 reported different kinds of job stressors. All of them worked at least 20 hours per week. On average, they had about 14 years of education.

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For some veterans, the fight didn’t stop on the streets of Iraq or in the mountains of Afghanistan. Despite the promise that world-class medical care would be there for them when they arrived home, some are running into a bureaucratic battlefield and a stressed system struggling to give aid.

Recent congressional and public attention has focused on access problems at the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, which provides medical care to servicemen and women once they have left active duty in a time of war or an official period of hostility. Although investigators note that improvements are under way, they say the VA has a long way to go.

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(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Both workers and bosses win when employees are allowed to telecommute.

According to researchers who reviewed 46 previous studies conducted among more than 12,000 workers, telecommuting leads to higher morale and job satisfaction and lower turnover and employee stress. Supervisors rank telecommuters higher on performance reviews, and employees report enhanced balance between work and family issues as well.

“Our results show that telecommuting has an overall beneficial effect because the arrangement provides employees with more control over how they do their work,” study author Ravi S. Gajendran, from Pennsylvania State University, was quoted as saying. “Autonomy is a major factor in worker satisfaction and this rings true in our analysis.”

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(Ivanhoe Newswire) — There may be a link between asthma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

A new study from Columbia University looked at 3,065 male twin pairs who had lived together in their childhood and served on active military duty during the Vietnam War. It found patients with the most PTSD symptoms were 2.3 times as likely to have asthma compared with those with the least PTSD symptoms.

The study included both identical twins who share all the same genetics, and fraternal twins who share only half. Researchers say if there had been a strong genetic reason for the link between asthma and PTSD the results between the two types of twins would have been different, but they were not.

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(Ivanhoe Newswire) — U.S. soldiers report more mental Men’s health needs several months later, than initially when they return home. The study highlights the need to assess soldiers for mental Men’s health concerns, not only when they return home, but also three to six months later.

The Department of Defense (DoD) screens soldiers and Marines as they return from Iraq and Afghanistan using the Post-Deployment (more…)

(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Could a beta carotene supplement taken every other day keep your brain in good working order as you get older?

Boston researchers who followed a large group of men for about 18 years believe the answer may be yes. Their study shows men who took the supplements scored better on tests to measure cognitive functioning than men who received a placebo pill for comparison purposes.

While the differences in scores between the two groups were small, the researchers emphasize small changes can lead to a big difference in dementia risk down the road.

“Studies have established that very modest differences in cognition, especially verbal memory, predict substantial differences in eventual risk of dementia,” write the authors.
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(Ivanhoe Newswire) – You know stress can affect you physically and mentally, but did you know it can also take its toll on your skin, hair and nails?

Flor A. Mayoral, M.D., F.A.A.D., University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine in Miami, Florida, has seen the effects of stress on the patients she treats and how the dermatologic problems can lead to even more stress.

When it comes to your skin, stress raises the level of the body’s stress hormone cortisol. This makes your body produce more oil which can lead to oily skin, acne, and other skin problems. Mayoral says even patients who usually do not have acne tend to get temporary stress-related acne because of the increased oil production.

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(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Children who grow up poor are more likely to have Men’s health problems and die younger when they grow up – even if they rise out of poverty as adults.

Now researchers from Cornell University are helping to explain why. Their study of low income and middle income white children in upstate New York suggests poverty puts undue physiological stress on children that can compromise their Men’s health over the long haul.

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(Ivanhoe Newswire) — The holidays are almost here, but along with the good food and decorations come some hidden dangers for people with allergies and asthma.

Asthma and allergy triggers can lurk in everything from those yummy homemade dishes to Christmas trees, and understanding the risks ahead of time is the best way to avoid a flare up during the festivities.

If you suffer from allergies and asthma, the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) says you should:

• Be aware that evergreen trees can harbor microscopic mold spores, and artificial trees can be home to mold and dust that accumulated during storage.
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