A bone-density test, known as a dual-energy X-ray (DXA) exam, is a proven way to gauge your risk of osteoporosis, but it’s not the only way. Now Swiss researchers say a simple ultrasound of the heel can offer a useful assessment with less risk because it doesn’t use radiation. Read More
If you are a woman, you start losing bone density in their late 30s, and it can go downhill from there. You also know your risk of getting osteoporosis during your lifetime is a huge 50%.
But you don’t have to be a runner or heavy-duty weight lifter to build bone mass. Any weight-bearing activity—walking up the stairs, carrying a baby or a load of groceries—can help prevent bone loss.
Here’s your plan to get more bone strength. Read More
There are times in life when the less-is-more rule is good to follow—chowing down on chocolate truffles and double-cheese pizza springs to mind. But when it comes to doing stuff that enhances your health and happiness, more is often better. The challenge, of course, is squeezing more of the good things—brain-boosting sleep, heart-healthy foods, belly-fat-fighting techniques—into your already time-crunched life. Here are some smart, surprising ways to fit it all in. Read More
Heart disease
If you’re 40-something and overweight—even if you have normal blood pressure and cholesterol— you’re much more likely to get heart disease as you get older. Researchers at Northwestern University studied almost 18,000 people for 32 years and found that the obese were 43 percent more likely to die of heart disease later in life than those of normal weight. Fat itself, especially abdominal fat, produces hormones and chemicals that can damage blood vessels, upping the risk of blood clots and diabetes.
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What’s scarier than mad cow disease? Nothing, really—except illnesses that are 10 billion times more likely to hurt you. Think about it this way: Your risk of getting mad cow is much lower than your odds of winning the Powerball lottery. In short, it’s not likely to happen. What could happen? In her lifetime, the average woman has a 1 in 2 chance of developing osteoporosis and a 1 in 3 chance of heart disease.
“We’re afraid of the new, the mysterious,” says Marc Siegel, MD, a clinical associate professor of medicine at New York University Medical School who wrote False Alarm: The Truth about the Epidemic of Fear. “But we’re afraid of the wrong things.”
Want to put your fears in their place? Here’s help: We compared your risks of developing certain illnesses this year to the odds of some quirky scenarios—and found plenty of good news. Keep in mind, too, that if you take certain measures (you know, exercise, eat right), you’ll change your odds … for a lifetime.
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Let’s face it. We live in a time when a “Your Friends Make You Fat” story gets headlined and blogged 24-7 (no matter that it was just one study in a doctors’ journal), while the recent discovery of two (two!) genes linked to multiple sclerosis (MS) rates nary a peep. That doesn’t make us shallow (or even overweight), it just means we have to look a little harder for the latest medi-news that truly matters to women. And that’s what we’ve done here: From acne advances to new ways to fight pain, these top breakthroughs will help you—no matter how much your friends weigh—live a longer, more healthful life. Read More
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