These 3 Sports May Help You Live Longer, Researchers Say

Photo: Getty Images Looking for a new hobby? Try tennis, swimming, or dance, and you may just extend your lifespan, suggests research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. In an analysis of six sport and exercise categories, researchers found that people who pursued these activities actually lived longer than those who got their fitness on in other ways. The study surveyed more than 80,000 adults in England and Scotland, ages 30 and up, who were asked about the physical activity they had done in the last four weeks. Along with things like housework…

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Scientists Say Gut Microbes May Play Role in Yo-Yo Dieting, Obesity

Scientists studying yo-yo dieting in mice say the tendency for people to regain excess weight rapidly after successfully slimming may well be due to their microbiome – the trillions of microorganisms in the gut. The researchers found that changes in the gut microbiome that occur when an obese mouse loses weight can persist for many months, and that this contributes to accelerated weight regain later if the diet lapses. If, as the researchers believe, a similar thing happens in obese people, they said, it could help explain why so many…

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Signs that say you are unwell

According to a Lancet study, China, India and USA are among the top three countries with a high number of diabetic population. While the numbers climbed from 20.4 million in China in 1980 to 102.9 million in 2014, the rise has been equally dramatic in India from 11.9 million in 1980 to 64.5 million in India.Prevalence of diabetes has more than doubled for men in India and China (3.7 per cent to 9.1 per cent in India and 3.5 per cent to 9.9 per cent in China). It has also…

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Zika Virus Damage Can Mislead Parents, Experts Say

The 2-month-old baby looks exceptional. She’s crawling forward at an age when most infants cannot even roll over. Another tiny infant sits straight up when her foot is tickled. Sometimes the parents are pleased, and see these behaviors as a sign that Zika may not have damaged their babies as badly as they feared. Alice Vitoria Gomes Bezerra, who has microcephaly, is held by her mother Nadja Cristina Gomes Bezerra in Recife, Brazil. Mario Tama / Getty Images But in fact, these reflexes are a sign of the profound mess…

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French say ‘non’ to food waste – should we do the same?

The French are a pretty innovative nation. They lead the world in style and they’re pretty good at putting ingredients together on a plate to make a stunning meal, too. They’re also quite bold when it comes to innovative legislation. They don’t shy away from doing things others might regard as a tad ‘nanny state’. The latest and most interesting is legislation on food waste. France has become the first country in the world to ban supermarkets from throwing away or destroying unsold food, forcing them, instead, to donate it…

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In ‘awake’ surgeries, surgeons must watch what they say

The surgeons talked about many surgical procedures, ranging from biopsies to abortions to cataract surgery. A growing number of surgeries performed with only local anesthesia create new challenges for surgeons, according to interviews with U.S. doctors. Surgeries using new local anesthestics that numb an area of the body but leave patients awake, tend to have a shorter recovery time, but can also cause distress and anxiety for patients, researchers write in the American Journal of Surgery. These “awake surgeries” also raise new issues for surgeons, who must balance the needs…

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