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Lifestyle and habits

Social Media, On-Line Purchasing, and Predicting People’s Longevity

Per this Wall Street Journal article, the life insurance industry is grappling with how to get policies into the hands of middle-class families more cost-effectively. Insurers have long used blood and urine tests to assess people’s health—a costly process.

Today, however, data-gathering companies have such extensive files on most U.S. consumers—online shopping details, catalog purchases, magazine subscriptions, leisure activities and information from social-networking sites—that some insurers are exploring whether data can reveal nearly as much about a person as a lab analysis of their bodily fluids, possibly saving insurers  $125 per applicant by eliminating many conventional medical requirements. Under one predictive model, the cost to achieve similar results would be $5. But are purchasing habits the best indicator of lifestyle, and at what cost to personal privacy does this involve?  Read more…

“It’s Probably too Early to Recommend that People Eat More Chocolate…”

Per this Reuters article, a recently health study found that women older than 70 who ate chocolate at least once per week were 35 percent less likely to be hospitalized or die from heart disease over the course of the study, and nearly 60 percent less likely to be hospitalized or die from heart failure.

But it is probably too early to begin recommending people eat more chocolate, cautioned Dr. Brian Buijsse at the German Institute of Human Nutrition, who did not participate in the study. And even if additional large studies confirmed its benefits, doctors still may not want to prescribe chocolate, he added.

“The danger is that many people will start eating more of it than is necessary, without cutting back in calories from other snacks, which will result in weight gain and will counteract any beneficial effects of chocolate,” Buijsse said.

This is not the first study to tout chocolate’s potential benefits: in 2008, Italian researchers found that eating dark chocolate regularly may help lower levels of inflammation, which is strongly associated with heart and blood vessel disease. Read more…

Sarah Palin Stews Over Government Food Rules

Food is about to become the next battle ground for, well, a whole menu of Washington favorites.  Sarah Palin has found a new way to channel the Tea Party movement’s anti-big-government fervor—and tweak First Lady Michelle Obama at the same time.  Starting with a classroom visit and a couple of dozen cookies, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin plunges into the national debate on the role of government and childhood obesity, as detailed in this Business Week article.

Should You Be Snuggling With Your Cell phone?

The possible harmful effects of cell phone use have been widely debated: one  research professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington maintains a database of 400 scientific papers on possible biological effects of radiation from wireless communication.

As noted in this New York Times article, a new book by University of Pittsburg epidemiologist Devra Davis, Disconnect, notes that the question is not at all resolved, and the nation’s 292 million wireless users may be exposing themselves to harm.

Ms. Davis cites laboratory research  suggesting mechanisms by which low-energy radiation could damage cells, possibly leading to cancer. The F.C.C. concurs about the best way to avoid exposure, issuing guidelines on the safety threshold of a cell phone’s specific absorption rates (SAR) and advising consumers to hold their cell phones “away from the head or body.”

Cell phone manufacturers (the wireless industry generates $109 billion revenues annually) do issue warnings about the proper distance for holding a cell phone away from the body, but is this enough? Ms. Davis, citing unsettling findings from research in Israel, France, Sweden, and Finland, said, “I do think I’m looking at an epidemic in slow motion.”

Office Bullies: The Big Business of Battling Them

It is interesting watch how an age-old social theme suddenly gains critical mass and moves through discussion at multiple levels throughout society – and becomes big business.

Witness the recent media attention to bullying, flowing from the schools, to gay bashing, and now to the workplace. Unfortunately bullying is old and it is long past  due for it to be confronted and stopped. Witness this article from Business Week  on the growing consulting business of dealing with workplace bullying. In a society where civility should be the norm, it unfortunately is not, and the workplace is one more area where bullying ought not be tolerated by employees or management. It is not good for the business, staff or society, though  for the moment addressing bullying is good for a new business.

MCN Client Enjoys Mariners Game

We are delighted to pass on a non-medical story from a client who received a set of baseball tickets from MCN at an industry event. He took his father,  who was visiting from out of town. By the way, he tells me that he finished the beer and the vendor gave him another one for free! I personally have only been close to a foul ball but never had one in my hands. And the Mariner’s won the game.

Michael Graham – mgraham@eims-flynn.com

A Chicago Cubs batter hit a foul ball that went far over our heads, bounced off the second level wall above us, came racing back in our direction, and passed through a kid’s hat before tearing it out of his hand and landing in my beer! Some guy two rows ahead climbed over and tried to take it out of my glass so he could give it to his kids. My friend covered the cup, and I gave the guy a proper obscenity laced talkin’ to once I figured out what was going on. After posing for a brief celebration picture, I heard the kid behind me lament to his father how close he came to catching a major league baseball. I gave him the ball.

Making Pain in the Back Less of a Pain in the Neck

A study published in the British Medical Journal has found a direct relationship between faster recovery times and the use of integrated care.

The key words here are “integrated care,” which really means adjusting the injured person’s workplace and having them in a guided excercise routine.

The workers that got the care returned to work an average of 120 earlier than the workers that didn’t, which is a substantial difference both in days and cost. While changing the workplace to suit the injury can also help, the monitored exercise is most definitely the factor tipping the scales toward faster recovery.

Addressing Childhood Obesity

According to a study by the US Health Resources and Services Administration, obesity is rising, but sharper than imagined when looked at state-by-state. In Mississippi obesity rose from 18 % to 22% in four years for children aged 10 to 17. Oregon had the lowest (10%) and was the only state to show a significant drop.

Pitting the two against each other, what would cause such a disparity?

Physical activity? More access to parks? Better access to local foods? Cost of food?

Study: Brain Exercises Don’t Improve Cognition

A recent article in Time concludes “getting a good night’s sleep, excercise, and eating right” are more likely to “maximize a brain’s potential” than a computer game. The interesting thing about this is that neuroscientists can’t agree. Some believe these games can alter the dopamine receptors, which would theoretically aid in learning and cognitive functions, while others believe the phrase “practice makes perfect” better describes the improvement, and  does not carry over to cognitive functions.

Weighing the Evidence on Exercise

This is an important article from the NY Times of April 18, that outlines the relationship between exercise and weight. In a nutshell, it cites research that suggests that dietary intake is the determining factor on weight and the exercise in the absence of intake reduction will have little long-term impact. Mechanisms exist that lead individuals to eat more following exercise, negating the caloric of the activity. Gender differences making loss harder for women is also described.