Health Check

It’s already well-known that a sedentary lifestyle can make one heavier, but new research indicates the simple act of sitting too much can actually generate more fat in the hips and posterior.

While most cases of lung cancer occur in smokers, nearly 20 percent of cases strike those who’ve never touched a cigarette. When it comes down to the facts, 32,000 nonsmoking Americans die from lung cancer every year — so many that experts say it’s time to stop calling it “the smoker’s disease.”

While menopause is a fact of life for women, ads for testosterone replacement therapy drugs make it seem as though men suffer a similar fate in their old age. However — jokes aside — professionals, for the most part, believe there really is no inevitable male equivalent.

If you find yourself dragging in the middle of the day, don’t reach for the coffee pot — reach for a pillow instead. Experts say naps may be a good way to make up for the sleep deficit many of us have from not getting enough shut-eye at night.

Smokers have a gum that helps them quit smoking, so it’s only fair that overeaters have a gum to help them quit eating. Thankfully, scientists are getting close to making a safe appetite suppressant gum a reality.

While surveys consistently show that more than 3 out of 4 smokers would like to quit, only about 10 percent of those who try each year are successful. Fortunately, new studies show one way to raise those numbers is to treat smoking as a chronic disease — like high blood pressure — for which long-term treatment is offered.

Researchers have narrowed down the task of warding off Alzheimer’s disease into a simple one — eating more fish. In a new study, 260 people with an average age of 71 were followed to see how much fish they ate and how it was prepared. The results showed those who ate baked or broiled fish on at least a weekly basis were much less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease or mild mental impairment. Re

While brain activity during sleep is still largely a mystery, scientists have discovered that dreaming not only consolidates our memories and helps us learn, it may also soothe stressful reactions to bad experiences.

Veteran dieters know one way to eat less is to use smaller plates to fool the eye into thinking we have more food in front of us. But new research revealed the color of our plates and tables matter just as much.

If you’ve ever wondered why some people can get by on just a few hours of sleep while others need much more, scientists may have found an answer. Research conducted on 4,000 Europeans discovered that those who had two copies of a particular variant of a gene called ABCC9, which influences sleep duration, generally reported sleeping less than those who had two copies of a different version of the g

The average American adult drinks about three cups of coffee a day, and while many can’t imagine a morning without it, people taking certain drugs may want to think twice. Studies show that more than a dozen medications — antidepressants, estrogen, and thyroid and osteoporosis drugs, for example — can be affected by coffee, which can block absorption or enhance the effects of the drugs.

We never used to think of chubby kids as being anything other than adorable, but researchers are now more concerned about children’s eating habits now that more Americans are being considered obese. According to a new study, 40 percent of American children enter kindergarten with a body mass index (BMI) greater than the 75 percentile. Anything over the 85th percentile is considered “overweight,” a