The videogames for health (G4H) field is pursuing innovative, potentially highly effective methods for changing behaviors and affecting health outcomes in children, but more research, defined guidelines and targeted funding are needed to drive game design, determine optimal use, and minimize possible adverse effects, according to a white paper published in Games for Health Journal:…

Smoking drastically alters the oral microbiome, the mix of roughly 600 bacterial species that live in people’s mouths. This is the finding of a study led by NYU Langone Medical Center and its Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center to be published online March 25 in the ISME (International Society for Microbial Ecology) Journal. The…

Getting all the nutrients you need each day to function or even thrive can be a challenge. After all, there are only so many meals in a day. Here are some creative ways to pack the necessary nutrients into your day, without going over your tight calorie budget. Make Each Bite Count It’s tempting to…

Overweight and obese adults who are losing weight with a high-protein diet are more likely to sleep better, according to new research from Purdue University. “Most research looks at the effects of sleep on diet and weight control, and our research flipped that question to ask what are the effects of weight loss and diet…

For babies and young children, high quality sleep is crucial for development and overall health. By adopting good, safe sleep habits early, the entire family can get the rest needed to thrive. “I’ve heard it quoted that anyone who says they ‘sleep like a baby’ has never been a parent! Ask most parents and one…

A strange sensation, but familiar to anyone who has ever been given local anaesthesia and watched while a doctor operated on their leg or arm: in that moment, your own body part seems foreign, as if it doesn’t belong to your body. One reason for this is that the brain still knows which position the…

Researchers from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have found that women who take the birth control pill, which lessen and stabilize estrogen levels, were less likely to suffer serious knee injuries. The findings are currently available in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, the official journal of the American College of…

A new study published in Physiological Genomics suggests that the brain shows signs of aging earlier than old age. The study found that the microglia cells—the immune cells of the brain—in middle-aged mice already showed altered activity seen in microglia from older mice. Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and other aging-related neurodegenerative disorders are associated with excessive inflammation…

When one eats may be as important as what one eats. New research at the Weizmann Institute of Science and in Germany, which recently appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), suggests that the cells’ power plants – the mitochondria – are highly regulated by the body’s biological, or circadian, clocks.…

Taking the stairs is normally associated with keeping your body strong and healthy. But new research shows that it improves your brain’s health too — and that education also has a positive effect. In a study recently published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging, researchers led by Jason Steffener, a scientist at Concordia University’s Montreal-based…