FRIDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) — Recession-linked job insecurity has many Americans questioning the sacrifices they make for work, such as having less time for family, leisure and self-improvement activities, a new study suggests.

Florida State University researchers surveyed more than 1,100 full-time workers with a range of jobs and career stages. Nearly half (48%) said the recession had increased their appreciation of family, and 37% said the recession triggered thoughts that work isn’t as important as it once was in the overall scheme of things.

Among the other findings:

• 49% of respondents said the recession helped them recognize the value of people over things.
• 23% said the recession raised their awareness of being over-committed to work at the expense of family and recreation.
• 43% said the recession increased their drive to be a better person rather than just a better worker.

By Jenifer Goodwin
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Oct. 26 (HealthDay News) — Dr. Alexander Heazell and his then-wife were happily getting ready for the birth of their first child in 2001. They planned to name him Jack.

But the fetus was small for its gestational age, his wife’s blood pressure had shot up during the pregnancy, and at 26 weeks, she noticed the baby was no longer kicking.

Losing the baby was devastating for Heazell and his wife. The stress and grief contributed to their divorce, Heazell said. And the experience led him to alter the course of his career from general medicine to obstetrics and gynecology in the hopes of learning more about stillbirth and preventing it from happening to other couples.

“It inevitably has a profound impact on your life,” Heazell said.

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Oct. 25 (HealthDay News) — Heavy smoking in middle age seems to increase the risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia, a large new study suggests.

“We found that people who reported heavy smoking in midlife had more than a 100% increase in risk of Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia,” said lead researcher Rachel A. Whitmer, a research scientist in Kaiser Permanente’s Division of Research in Oakland, Calif.

“We have known that smoking is a risk factor for cancer, stroke and cardiovascular disease,” she said. “This adds to the evidence that what is bad for the heart is bad for the brain.”

The report is published in the Oct. 25 online edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

For the study, Whitmer’s group collected data on 21,123 ethnically diverse people in the Kaiser Permanente health care system who were surveyed between 1978 and 1985, when they were 50 to 60 years old.

Heart Attacks in Women

A lot of people think that women do not get heart disease. More women die from heart disease than from anything else. Any woman can get heart disease.

When you think about heart disease, you probably think about chest pain. Women might not have chest pain. If they do, they might call it an achy, tight or “heavy” feeling instead of pain. The pain might even be in the back between the shoulder blades, instead of the chest.

Women might think these signs are no big deal because they don’t “sound” like a heart attack. Don’t ignore these signs. Go to your doctor of clinic right away.

What are the signs of heart disease in women?

The most important sign is feeling really tired–even if after enough sleep. Other signs of heart disease in women are:

• Trouble breathing

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Nov. 5 (HealthDay News) — People undergoing cancer treatment traditionally have been told to rest as much as possible and avoid exertion, to save all their strength to battle the dreaded disease.

But a growing number of physicians and researchers now say that people who remain physically active as best they can during treatment are more likely to beat cancer.

The positive evidence for exercise during and after cancer treatment has piled so high that an American College of Sports Medicine panel is revising the group’s national guidelines regarding exercise recommended for cancer survivors.

The panel’s conclusion: Cancer patients and survivors should strive to get the same amount of exercise recommended for everyone else, about 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise. Resistance training and stretching also are recommended.

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Medical Author: Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD
Medical Editor: Jay W. Marks, MD