Monday, August 27, 2012

Health Newsletters at the Patient Health Library, August 2012

Not all information is free and not all of it is online!

The UCSF Patient Health Library subscribes to a number of health and wellness newsletters that are not otherwise free to the public. Here are some highlights from recent newsletters. To see the entire articles, visit the Patient Health Library!

Consumer Reports on Health

July 2012
-When to treat heartburn on your own and when to get help, pp.1-5
-Get more prevention attention, pp.6-7
-Ancient grains, p.8
-Nasal spray dos and don’ts, p.10

DukeMedicine HealthNews

June 2012
-Unique treatment for glioblastoma, pp.1-2
-Tools for earlier diagnosis and treatment of osteoarthritis, pp.3-4

July 2012
-Dangers of peripheral artery disease, pp.1-2
-Light weights for strength training, p.5
-Migraine prevention, pp.6-7

Harvard Health Letter

June 2012
-New knowledge about burning fat, pp.1,7

July 2012
-Regardless of weight loss, exercise helps your heart, p.3
-Coping better after breast cancer, p.5
-Hearing loss: time to get proactive, p.6
-Want better looking skin?  Eating fruits and vegetables may help.  p.6

Harvard Men's Health Watch

July 2012
-The basics of better blood pressure, pp. 1,7
-Head and neck cancer alert: don’t let symptoms go ignored, p.3
-Colonoscopy now easier to tolerate, pp.4-5
-7 ways to get calories under control, p.6

Harvard Women's Health Watch

June 2012
-The evidence for mammograms, pp.1,7
-Choosing and applying sunscreen properly, p.6
-Beta blockers: what you need to know, p.7

July 2012
-8 secrets to a good night’s sleep, pp.1,7
-Food intolerances, pp.4-5
Johns Hopkins Bulletin: Prostate Disorders

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Breaking bad habits

Breaking Bad Habits: Why It’s So Hard to Change
(Excerpted from NIH News In Health, January 2012)

If you know something’s bad for you, why can’t you just stop? About 70% of smokers say they would like to quit. Drug and alcohol abusers struggle to give up addictions that hurt their bodies and tear apart families and friendships. And many of us have unhealthy excess weight that we could lose if only we would eat right and exercise more. So why don’t we do it?

“Habits play an important role in our health,” says Dr. Nora Volkow, director of NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Understanding the biology of how we develop routines that may be harmful to us, and how to break those routines and embrace new ones, could help us change our lifestyles and adopt healthier behaviors.”

Habits can arise through repetition. They are a normal part of life, and are often helpful. “We wake up every morning, shower, comb our hair or brush our teeth without being aware of it,” Volkow says.

Habits can also develop when good or enjoyable events trigger the brain’s “reward” centers. This can set up potentially harmful routines, such as overeating, smoking, drug or alcohol abuse, gambling and even compulsive use of computers and social media.

The good news is, humans are not simply creatures of habit. We have many more brain regions to help us do what’s best for our health.

“Humans are much better than any other animal at changing and orienting our behavior toward long-term goals, or long-term benefits,” says Dr. Roy Baumeister, a psychologist at Florida State University. “We’ve found that you can improve your self-control by doing exercises over time,” Baumeister says.

Volkow notes that there’s no single effective way to break bad habits. “It’s not one size fits all,” she says.

One approach is to focus on becoming more aware of your unhealthy habits. Then develop strategies to counteract them. For example, habits can be linked in our minds to certain places and activities. You could develop a plan, say, to avoid walking down the hall where there’s a candy machine. Resolve to avoid going places where you’ve usually smoked. Stay away from friends and situations linked to problem drinking or drug use.

One way to kick bad habits is to actively replace unhealthy routines with new, healthy ones. Some people find they can replace a bad habit, even drug addiction, with another behavior, like exercising. “It doesn’t work for everyone,” Volkow says. “But certain groups of patients who have a history of serious addictions can engage in certain behaviors that are ritualistic and in a way compulsive—such as marathon running—and it helps them stay away from drugs. These alternative behaviors can counteract the urges to repeat a behavior to take a drug.”

Bad habits may be hard to change, but it can be done. Enlist the help of friends, co-workers and family for some extra support.



Making Your Resolutions Stick: How to Create Healthy Habits
[From NIH News in Health]

Eating habits and behaviors
[From MedlinePlus]

Choosing a Safe and Successful Weight-loss Program
[From the Weight-control Information Network / National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases]

Your Child's Habits
[From KidsHealth.org]