Is This Health Food For Thought

A study done by "Men's Health" and "Women's Health" magazines rated 100 of the largest U.S. cities to find the healthiest one to live in. The cities were ranked by 38 factors including cancer rates, air quality and number of gym memberships. Although Salt Lake City, Utah was the healthiest city for women, the healthiest for men was Madison, Wisconsin. Thankfully, the study found 7 cities rated in the top ten for both sexes. Aurora, Colorado; Madison, Wisconsin; Minneapolis, Minnesota; San Francisco and San Jose, California; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Seattle, Washington were the healthiest cities for "twogetherness".

 The healthiest transportation is active transportation. New research found a link between active transportation - biking, walking or taking public transportation - and less obesity in 17 industrialized countries. Countries with the highest levels of active transportation for work, school or shopping generally had the lowest obesity rates. For example, 62% of Swedes use active transportation and Sweden's obesity rate is 9%. Nineteen percent of Canadians use active transportation and Canada's obesity rate is 23%. Then there's the U.S. with the highest obesity rate. Only 12% of Americans use active transportation and 25% to 33% are obese. The key to fighting obesity is obviously not a car key.

 The Physician's Health Study published in the journal "Circulation" found that being obese increased the risk of heart failure 180% and being overweight increased it 49%. However, the study of 21,099 male doctors - average age 53 - which was done over a 20-year period also found that any extra weight increases the risk. In men 5 feet 10 inches tall every 7 pounds of extra weight increases the risk 11%. Considering there are 300,000 deaths in the U.S. yearly from heart failure, the solution seems to be suffering from another kind of "wait" problem.

 According to a study published in the journal "Psychology and Aging", older adults shouldn't wait to play video games. Adults in their 60's and 70's who spent one month (23 hours) learning to play a strategy-heavy video game showed improvement in tests of memory, reasoning, and multi-tasking. This supports earlier research which found older adults can improve cognitive health by staying physically and mentally active through reading, writing and other hobbies. Because social interaction also enhances cognitive abilities in older adults, the researchers suggested seniors play video games with their grandchildren. That would definitely improve their cognitive ability to be good losers.