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According to a new study which was recently published,  it seems that seeing to same doctor years after years might not only offer you more courage and the peace of seeing a familiar face. In fact, it may just help save your life. A team of scientists from the United Kingdom wanted to see whether or not always going to the same doctor affected people’s health in any way. So, they analyzed the results of 22 different studies from nine countries that have completely different health systems.

It seems that 18 of these studies reached the conclusion that people who always saw the same doctor had a significantly lower risk of dying early than those who changed their doctor more frequently. It’s worth noting that the studies used different way to study continuity, hence why a clear estimate of how decreased of mortality is cannot be done. A separate study, conducted on diabetes patients in Taiwan, found a similar result. Those with a low continuity were almost two times more likely to die early than those with a high continuity.

Seeing the same doctor over the years might save your life

However, why is this difference so big? And why does it matter so much which doctor you’re seeing, as long as you are seeing one? Well, the authors have tried to explain the link between a high continuity and lower death rates. It may be because people with lower incomes are forced to go from doctor to doctor, as opposed to those with higher incomes.

Also, previous studies have shown that people who always see the same doctor have a high level of trust and therefore are more likely to follow their advice. They also take more frequent immunisations and have fewer hospital admission throughout the course of their life.

Image source: flickr

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A lot of people wish for nothing else than to burn some fat so that they can look good in their bathing suits this summer at the beach. However, it’s interesting that not a lot of people know what burning fat actually means. It’s important to be aware of the fact that fat cells exist to store energy, in the first place. So, when you eat high-calorie foods, your body will increase the number of fat cells which need to store that extra energy from the food. Moreover, if you exaggerate, the body will even start storing fat cells on the muscles or on organs.

Historically and evolutionary speaking, storing fat was something that helped humans. In ancient times, the energy was stored in fatty acids. So, when there was no food around or when predators were chasing humans, these acids were released into the bloodstream and used as fuel for the organs and muscles. It helped us survive. People who were more inclined to store fat were more likely to survive a lot of time without food. The problem is that nowadays, food is everywhere, and nobody runs from predators anymore. The result? Obesity.

Burning fat and what it actually means

According to official numbers, over one-third of United States’ adult population is obese. There is a chain reaction that comes from this, including the production of abnormal levels of hormones. These slow down the metabolism, increase inflammation and make people more vulnerable to various diseases. So, when someone decides to burn fat, the organism does two things.

It uses the energy that is already stored in those fat cells for new activity. Then, it stops putting away so much energy for storage. So, in time, the body will extract the energy it needs from food and won’t store it first. As the body readjusts, you will start losing weight and become an overall healthier person.

Image source: flickr

 

 

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People may think that a flight attendant’s life is all glamorous and only based on travelling around the world. In fact, people should know that there are a lot of health dangers that go hand in hand with being a flight attendant, and we are not talking about disrespectful passengers. According to a new study, which the journal Environmental Health recently published, flight attendants are at a higher risk of developing certain types of cancer in comparison with the general population.

In fact, experts have long thought that they get more melanoma and breast cancer than the other people. This new study, while agreeing with this idea, also found a higher prevalence of other types of cancer: gastrointestinal, thyroid, cervical, non-melanoma skin cancer, and uterine cancer. According to study co-author Irina Mordukhovich, what also surprised them was a higher risk of breast cancer in female flight attendants who already had two or three children. This is shocking because usually, the more children a woman has, the lesser the risk of breast cancer is. A cause may be the disruption of their circadian rhythm, especially when flying internationally.

Flight attendants have a higher risk of certain types of cancer

It’s worth noting that 80% of the flight attendants that took part in the study were women, which is normal. This is a highly feminized occupation. However, the study does not say why exactly flight attendants tend to develop certain types of cancer more than other people. But the team of researchers have some ideas.

Flight attendants are often more exposed to pesticides, jet fuel, fire retardants, and other chemicals which may contribute to this risk. Cosmic ionizing radiation and prolonged exposure to it is also a cancer cause which the World Health Organization has recognized. However, more research is surely needed to establish clearly that this is indeed the case.

Image source: wikimedia

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The recent body-positive movement has helped a lot of people have a better relationship with their own body. Men and women of all sizes have been encouraged to believe in themselves more and to respect themselves and their bodies because everyone is beautiful. However, as empowering as this movement might be, a new study, which the journal Obesity recently published, claims that while this movement might feed the soul, it may endanger the body. These movements might prevent overweight or even obese adults from perceiving the risk that they are exposing themselves to.

Such behaviors might not only false images but promote an unhealthy lifestyle. In order to reach this conclusion, the team of researchers conducted a survey among 23,000 British overweight or obese adults. They compared their perception about their weight as opposed to the harsh reality. About 60% of men were likely to underestimate their weight. Only 30% of women did that. The fight against this plus-size stigma has not helped anyone improve their health. It seems that people who underestimated their weight were 85% less likely to do something about it in comparison to those who acknowledged their real weight.

Body-positive movements might promote unhealthy habits

It’s even more interesting that people of lower levels of income and education were more likely to underestimate their weight. Minority groups were also in this situation. As a result, they were more likely to ignore their problem and not lose weight. According to lead author Raya Muttarak, these differences only reflect the socioeconomic indicators of obesity.

And if people think that this body image problem is a gendered one, they are wrong. It affects both men and women and it’s usually because of how brands like to make their advertising campaigns. For example, the average American woman wears a size 16. However, most of the models in clothing campaigns wear double-zero and zero.

Image source: flickr

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Doctors have yet to figure out what exactly causes the dreaded Alzheimer’s Disease. However, they may be one stop closer in determining a key player in its development: a very common virus. According to a study, which the journal Neuron recently published, there is strong evidence that suggests that two strains of the human herpes virus, more precisely 6A and 7, may play a big role in this condition that rubs people of their memory and not only. According to official reports, in the United States, someone develops Alzheimer’s every 65 seconds.

By midcentury, people are expected t develop this condition every 33 seconds. By that time, the costs of care might run into trillions of dollars. This is mostly why experts are trying so hard to understand this disease and find out what precisely causes it. They’re hope is to find either a cure or at least a treatment that is a lot more effective. In the top ten United States causes of death, Alzheimer’s is the only one that doesn’t have a significant treatment. So, in order to reach this conclusion, the authors of the study compared the brains of 622 people affected by the disease with those of 322 healthy people. What they found shocked them.

The herpes virus might play a part in Alzheimer’s

According to the study, the brains of the people with Alzheimer’s had herpes virus levels that were twice in comparison with the brains of the healthy people. It’s interesting that for years, experts have suspected common viruses to play a big part in the development of this condition. There is an important theory according to which, Alzheimer’s gets triggered in the brain as a response to injury from a virus. Nobody knows for sure whether or not these theories are true. However, they were surprised by the results and will continue to make efforts to find out more about this condition.

Image source: pixabay

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According to a new study which the journal PLOS Biology recently published, it seems that four cups of coffee a day, for adults, might be one of the best things you can do to help your heart. A team of German researchers think that they have finally discovered how caffeine works its magic on our heart. Also, how much coffee do we really need to drink each day to maintain its health. In order to reach this conclusion, the team analyzed caffeinated lab mice and dosed human tissues with caffeine.

The idea is that just a little bit of caffeine might improve how the cells inside the blood vessels work. Basically, it makes the proteins inside adult cells behave like much younger ones. According to Joachim Altschmied, one of the lead authors of the study, four to five cups of espresso might offer the best improvement of the cells that it’s necessary for a good heart health. It’s worth noting that for years, experts have noticed that people who drink coffee have less health issues and are less likely to die early.

Four cups of coffee a day keep your heart healthy

Apart from this, studies have shown that coffee has a lot of heath benefits. Among those are a lower risk of Alzheimer’s, dementia, liver disease and even some types of cancer. Coffee it’s also amazing for reducing the symptoms of depression. Moreover, drinking three to four cups a day means reducing your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease by 19%.

Experts hope that this new study will change the common belief according to which people with heart issues shouldn’t consume coffee. For people who are prediabetic or obese, three to five shots of espresso each day might reduce the risk of heart attacks. If you don’t like coffee, green tea is an almost as good alternative, with the same benefits.

Image source: maxpixel

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According to a team of French researchers, common drugs which a lot of Parkinson’s Disease patients are taking might these people into compulsive gamblers, shoppers or sex addicts. It seems that there might be a problem with the dopamine agonists and controlling some irresistible needs. Binge eating might also be a possible compulsive effect of these common drugs. According to experts, over half of the people taking them to deal with this disease might one day become victims of impulse control disorders.

About one million people in the United States are living with Parkinson’s Disease. In the United Kingdom, there are 127,000 patients. In the people with this progressive neurological disorder, dopamine gets gradually reduced. This is the chemical in the brain that is responsible with movement. Treatments for the disease include dopamine agonists, which activate the dopamine receptors, and levodopa, which converts to this chemical in the brain. In order to come up with this result, the team of French researchers followed 411 Parkinson’s Disease patients over the course of three years. The team quizzed them about certain behaviors like compulsive shopping or binge eating. There was a very big difference between the people who had taken the drugs and those who had not.

Common Parkinson’s Disease drugs might have unusual side effects

From the group who had never taken the drugs, 12% of people struggled with these impulsive control disorders and what they brought. By comparison, in the other group, 52% of people struggled with them. There are two drugs called pramipexole and ropinirole who pose the highest risk of developing these compulsive disorders and symptoms.

Of those with compulsive disorders, the team followed 30 who stopped taking the drugs. The symptoms gradually stopped. Moreover, about half of the people stopped having problems altogether after one year. The conclusion here is that these disorders are a lot more common than we think and should be treated seriously.

Image source: wikimedia