Community Magazine September 2012

To • • Health HONEY HELPSWITHHACKING honey can help coughing children reduce their hacking and get more sleep. many parents try to treat their children’s coughs with over-the-counter medications, despite the fda’s advisory that the medications are not effective and can lead to overdoses. the world health organization has recommended honey as a cheap, popular and safe cough remedy for children over one year old. researchers in israel recently compared various honeys to a sweet and sticky placebo, and found that all types of honey helped alleviate coughing and cough-related sleep problems. the study was published in the journal pediatrics. honey should not be given to children under one year old because of the risk of infant botulism. TEENS INCREASINGLY GIVEN ANTIPSYCHOTICMEDS Almost a third of kids and teens who visit psychiatrists are prescribed antipsychotic drugs, a sharp increase from the 1990’s, when only about one in eleven received themedications. Doctors nowoftenuse those medications to treat disruptive behaviors likeADHD, even though the FDA has not approved the use of those drugs for those conditions. Antipsychotic medications are approved for use to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and irritability associated with autism. The study from Columbia University, which was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, found that 90 percent of the antipsychotics were “off label” prescriptions, meaning, they have not been officially approved for the disorders for which they were prescribed. Treating ADHD with antipsychotics may not be effective, and the drugs have been linked to weight gain and diabetes. The researchers encourage parents to ask about alternative treatments, like parent management training that can help reduce aggression in children. A NIGHTMARE IN YOUR TV A direct cause-and- effect link has now been established between watching violent TV and having sleep problems among preschool-aged children. The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, looked at families with children aged three to five, assigning a case manager to half the families to help them replace violent TV with educational videos. Kids who were encouraged to watch educational videos were found to have a lower risk of sleep problems than the others. Parents were also encouraged to watch media with their children, to increase their awareness of its content. CIGAR AND PIPE USE ON THE RISE Even as people are increasingly butting out of cigarette smoking, more are turning to smoking cigars and pipes. A report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the use of smoked tobacco products declined 28 percent from 2000 to 2011, but the use of non-cigarette tobacco products increased by 123 percent. Anew tax enacted in 2009 resulted in lower tax rates for pipe tobacco, loose tobacco and cigars, thus encouraging cost-conscious smokers to turn to these tobacco sources. Small cigars are cheaper per pack than the cigarettes which they resemble, and young smokers are especially responsive to changes in price. The U.S. Surgeon General has found that most smokers start before age 26. Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death, and of disease, including heart and lung disease and several cancers. WEIGHT LIFTING TO PREVENT DIABETES Lifting weights can reduce the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, according to researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health. The study found that men who weight trained for half an hour a day, five days a week, reduced their diabetes risk by 24 percent. Combining weights and aerobic exercise led to a 59 percent reduction. A healthy diet and aerobic exercise have been found to lower the risk of diabetes, but weight training could be useful for those who are unable to follow other exercise programs. BLAME FAINTINGON YOUR PARENTS The tendency to faint may be genetic, according to a recent study in the journal Neurology, which looked at identical and fraternal twins to examine rates of fainting. Over half the subjects reported fainting from the sight of blood, injury or illness, dehydration, medical procedures, prolonged standing or fear. Pairs of identical twins were more likely to both report fainting than fraternal twins, who do not share identical DNA, suggesting a genetic link. The researchers think fainting is a complex trait, rather than the result of a single gene, and can be impacted by the environment. Nearly one in four people will faint at least once in their lifetime. 92 Community magazine