2010-03-08T16:11:34Z 2010-03-08 WASHINGTON - U.S. children eat an average three snacks a day on top of three regular meals, a finding that could explain why the childhood obesity rate has risen to more than 16 percent, researchers said on Tuesday. Children snack so often that they are "moving toward constant eating," Carmen Piernas and Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina reported. More than 27 percent of calories that American kids take in come from snacks, Piernas and Popkin reported in the journal Health Affairs. The researchers defined snacks as food eaten outside regular meals. 316 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35660330/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/ 316-snacks-turn-kids-into-constant-eaters 2010-03-08T16:11:34Z 2010-03-08T16:10:24Z 2010-03-08 NEW YORK - There’s been a sharp drop in the percentage of America’s children being bullied or beaten up by their peers, according to a new national survey by experts who believe anti-bullying programs are having an impact. The study, funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, found that the percentage of children who reported being physically bullied over the past year had declined from nearly 22 percent in 2003 to under 15 percent in 2008. The percentage reporting they’d been assaulted by other youths, including their siblings, dropped from 45 percent to 38.4 percent. The lead author of the study, Professor David Finkelhor, said he was “very encouraged.” 315 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35694785/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/ 315-sharp-drop-seen-in-childrens-bullying 2010-03-08T16:10:24Z 2010-03-08T16:08:34Z 2010-03-08 When is the ideal age to have or adopt a first baby? For most women it is between the ages of 25 to 34 years old. Slightly more than 75 percent of women questioned in a joint survey by ForbesWoman.com and TheBump.com believe it is the perfect time to become a mother. Forty-two percent narrowed it down further to 25-29 years old, and 17 percent said there was no best age. Women felt that by their mid-to-late 20s they were more likely to have established themselves in their career and financially, and were ready to take on a new role, according to the poll. A ticking biological clock was a factor for only 21 percent of women. 314 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35671646/ns/health-womens_health/ 314-mid-late-20s-best-age-to-have-a-baby 2010-03-08T16:08:35Z 2010-03-08T16:05:59Z 2010-03-08 If you're trying to buy happiness, you'd be better off putting your money toward a tropical island get-away than a new computer, a new study suggests. The results show that people's satisfaction with their life-experience purchases — anything from seeing a movie to going on a vacation — tends to start out high and go up over time. On the other hand, although they might be initially happy with that shiny new iPhone or the latest in fashion, their satisfaction with these items wanes with time. The findings, based on eight separate studies, agree with previous research showing that experience-related buys lead to more happiness for the consumer . But the current work provides some insight into why. 313 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35729524/ns/health-behavior/ 313-study-to-buy-happiness-book-a-plane-ticket 2010-03-08T16:06:00Z 2010-02-18T22:07:06Z 2010-02-18 Study: Early rising, days in windowless classroom harmful WASHINGTON - Lack of the right light each morning to reset the body's natural sleep clock might play a role in teenagers' irregular sleep, a small but provocative school experiment suggests. Specialists say too few teens get the recommended nine hours of sleep a night. They are often unable to fall asleep until late and struggle to awaken for early classes. Sleep patterns start changing in adolescence for numerous reasons, including hormonal changes and more school, work and social demands. Researchers turned to a North Carolina school built for energy efficiency, with lots of skylights so classrooms could reduce use of electric lights yet still be brighter than usual indoors. That allowed testing of the effects when some eighth-graders at Smith Middle School in Chapel Hill suddenly lost exposure to a specific wavelength of light. 312 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35426331/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/ 312-lack-of-light-upsets-teen-sleep-clocks 2010-02-18T22:07:39Z 2010-02-18T22:05:07Z 2010-02-18 CHICAGO - More than a quarter of American children have a chronic health condition such as obesity or asthma, but many children overcome these problems with time, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday. They said the findings make clear that chronic health conditions are rising among children, and access to healthcare is essential to diagnose and treat them. "A lot of kids will have chronic conditions over the course of their childhood," said Dr. Jeanne Van Cleave of Massachusetts General Hospital for Children in Boston, who worked on the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. 311 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35427990/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/ 311-kids-chronic-health-ills-tend-to-fade 2010-02-18T22:05:07Z 2010-02-18T22:02:26Z 2010-02-18 Women who attempt vaginal childbirth after having several babies by cesarean section may not have a greater risk of complications than women who've had only one prior C-section, a new study suggests. At one time, doctors believed that once a woman had a C-section, she would have to have one for all subsequent pregnancies — mainly out of concern that the scar on the uterus could rupture during vaginal childbirth. That thinking has changed, and vaginal delivery is now considered a safe option for many women who have had a past C-section. Because C-sections also carry risks and downsides — such as blood loss or infection from the procedure, and a longer hospital stay and recovery time — many women may prefer a try at labor. 310 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35462327/ns/health-womens_health/ 310-vaginal-birth-ok-after-several-c-sections 2010-02-18T22:02:27Z 2010-02-03T18:10:35Z 2010-02-03 NEW YORK - A massive new federal study documents an unprecedented and dramatic decrease in incidents of serious child abuse, especially sexual abuse. Experts hailed the findings as proof that crackdowns and public awareness campaigns had made headway. An estimated 553,000 children suffered physical, sexual or emotional abuse in 2005-06, down 26 percent from the estimated 743,200 abuse victims in 1993, the study found. "It's the first time since we started collecting data about these things that we've seen substantial declines over a long period, and that's tremendously encouraging," said professor David Finkelhor of the University of New Hampshire, a leading researcher in the field of child abuse. 308 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35205114/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/ 308-child-abuse-drops-sharply-in-us 2010-02-03T18:10:35Z 2010-02-03T18:09:16Z 2010-02-03 NEW YORK - Many processed foods contain too much salt, and sauces, spreads, and processed meats are the top offenders, new research shows. People who consume lots of salt are more likely to see their blood pressure rise as they get older, with a corresponding increase in their heart disease risk. Public health officials are increasingly looking to the food industry for help in cutting people's salt intake; the United Kingdom and France, for example, have been able to achieve significant reductions in salt consumption through industry collaborations, while New York City has just launched a campaign to cut U.S. salt intake by 25 percent over the next five years. 307 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35059077/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/ 307-huge-range-of-salt-found-in-processed-foods 2010-02-03T18:09:17Z 2010-02-03T18:08:18Z 2010-02-03 For many, motherhood is one of life's greatest joys, but getting along with your children, particularly daughters, isn't always a piece of cake. In “Side by Side: The Revolutionary Mother-Daughter Program for Conflict-Free Communication,” author Dr. Charles Sophy examines this family dynamic and how moms and daughters can have an open, loving relationship. 306 http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/35201685/ns/today-today_books/ 306-improving-the-mother-daughter-relationship 2010-02-03T18:08:18Z