Study suggests higher levels of antisocial behaviour in children of mothers with depression

This study sits rather uneasily with me, though it’s worth bearing in mind that I only had access to a few brief paragraphs, rather than the entire paper.

However, for what it’s worth, researchers at King’s College, London, studied 1,116 sets of twins, finding much higher levels of antisocial behaviour in 7-year-olds whose mothers had suffered depression during the child’s first five years of life.

The greatest risk of “problem behaviours” were in children of mothers who also exhibited signs of antisocial personality disorder.

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Top 10 health topics parents wish their doctor would discuss with kids

A recent study has discovered the most important topics that parents would like their doctor to talk to their teenage children about during routine check-ups.

While there were differences between different ethnic groups and genders, these were the top ten most popular subjects overall:

1. Diet/nutrition
2. Exercise/sports
3. Physical changes of puberty
4. Drug use
5. Tobacco use
6. Sexually transmitted disease
7. Depression/suicide
8. Obesity
9. Drinking
10. Eating disorders

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Health concerns raised over bisphenol A (BPA) used in baby bottles

The health of young baby is of paramount importance to every new parent, so whenever there’s the potential for that health to be put at risk by a seemingly innocuous product, it’s worth taking notice.

A large number of state and national environmental health organizations in the U.S. and Canada are calling for an immediate moratorium on the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles and other food and beverage containers, based on the results of a new study that demonstrates the toxic chemical BPA leaches from popular plastic baby bottles when heated.

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Girls who eat with their families less likely to do extreme diets

Yet again, more research which shows the benefits of families eating together.

Teens who frequently (five or more times per week) eat together with the rest of their family are less likely to use extreme methods — such as binge eating and self-induced vomiting — to control their weight five years later.

That’s according to research by Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota and lead investigator of Project Eating Among Teens (Project EAT) at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

The same doesn’t appear to be true for boys.

“Health care professionals have an important role to play in reinforcing the benefits of family meals, helping families set realistic goals for increasing family meal frequency given schedules of adolescents and their parents; exploring ways to enhance the atmosphere at family meals with adolescents; and discussing strategies for creating healthful and easy-to-prepare family meals,” said Neumark-Sztainer. “Schools and community organizations should also be encouraged to make it easier for families to have shared mealtimes on a regular basis.”

(Via Insight News)

Caffeine during pregnancy increases miscarriage risk, study suggests

A new study by the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research suggests that a high intake of caffeine during pregnancy may lead to an increased risk of miscarriage, regardless of its source.

While previous research showed a link between caffeine consumption and miscarriage, this is the first study to thoroughly control for morning sickness, which typically causes many women to avoid caffeine, explained De-Kun Li, MD, Ph.D., an investigator with the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research and lead investigator of the study. “This study strengthens the association between caffeine and miscarriage risk because it removes speculation that the association was due to reduced caffeine intake by healthy pregnant women,” Li said.

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WellChild Helpline launched: UK’s only national children’s health advice line

The children’s charity WellChild today announced the launch of the WellChild Helpline, designed to offer comprehensive help and advice to anyone concerned about the health and well-being of children.

Staffed by a team of trained healthcare professionals from a variety of disciplines, callers will either have questions answered, or efficiently passed to the most appropriate organisation.

BBC1’s Breakfast programme’s GP, Dr Rosemary Leonard, endorsed the WellChild Helpline, saying, “WellChild’s new service is extremely welcome as accessing the right information can seem daunting and not having access to concerns about health can cause a lot of anxiety. By having this multi-disciplinary team of experts at the end of a phone-line or email, WellChild will be putting people in touch with the right health information which could ultimately lead to saved lives as well as an enormous improvement in the quality of many more.”

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Lily Allen suffers a miscarriage

Sad news for the singer Lily Allen and her boyfriend Ed Simons. A spokesperson for Lily’s publicists confirmed “that Lily Allen has suffered a miscarriage… and we ask that her privacy be respected at this difficult time.”

The miscarriage reportedly occurred after returning from a holiday in the Maldives.

According to statistics, one in five pregnancies end in miscarriage, which accounts for nearly a quarter of a million each year. It proves to be a very tough time for a large number of couples, but the truth is that — in time — you can move on from the pain. Many women enjoy healthy pregnancies after miscarriage, so while it’s tragic at the time, it certainly doesn’t rule out starting a family.

Our thoughts are with Lily and Ed at this time, and I do hope the media give them space to come to terms with this.

3 in 5 parents couldn’t save their child’s life, survey finds

A survey of 2,500 mothers by UK supermarket Tesco suggests that 60% of new parents wouldn’t know what to do in an emergency where their child’s life was in danger.

Less than 10% of new parents have had child first aid training in the past 12 months, and 24% said that they badly needed a refresher course.

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Modern working practices strain family relationships, particularly women’s

A new piece of research has discovered something that many busy mums and dads are already all too well aware of.

Modern “human resource management practices” — or in other words, how employees are expected to work, what monitoring systems are in place, and how they perceive their jobs — are placing a significant strain on family relationships. And it’s particularly bad for women.

The strain on relationships has been measured as equivalent to working an extra 120 hours a year. That’s over two hours extra per week.

Employers are finding new ways of attempting to increase productivity, such as team-based forms of work, performance-related pay, individual development, and automated surveillance of how much employees work.

Strain is particularly high in more administrative roles, where monitoring is the standard, such as in call centres.

Both men and women may become anxious about childcare arrangements when they’re under pressure at work, but women are less likely to get help at home from a male partner if the men are under work pressure.

“Computers and IT systems are bringing surveillance to most workplaces. Now for the first time we can see how this development is damaging employees’ well-being,” said Michael White, who co-directed the research study.

(Via NewKerala.Com)

4 in 10 parents failed to recognise signs of obesity in their children

A new poll from the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital found that four out of ten parents with clinically obese children (aged 6-11) said that their kids were “about the right weight”, only rarely being “very concerned” about their child’s weight.

This national study on children’s health found that among the parents of the 6-11 year old obese children, 13% rate their child as being “very overweight”, but only 7% say they are “very concerned” about their child’s weight.

Parents of older obese children (ages 12 to 17) seem to have somewhat greater awareness and concern about their kids’ weight issues, with 31% of these parents say their child is “very overweight” and 46% report being “very concerned” about their child’s weight.

National studies have shown that 35% of U.S. children (ages 6 to 17) are overweight or obese; but parent reports in this latest poll are substantially lower, dropping the proportion to 25%.

Teens place “health” low down on list of priorities

A new study from the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) shows that teenagers are putting their health at risk, because they place very little importance on it.

47% of teenagers say that if they experienced any pain or felt unwell, they would do nothing and simply hope that the problem went away.

For boys aged 13 to 19, friends are the single most important thing in their life, followed by social life, money, family and the way they look.

For girls, friends are also most important, but Britain’s teen queens are pre-occupied with the way they look too - their appearance is their other main concern, way above their health and well being.

Commenting on these disturbing findings Tim Hutchful of the BCA said, ““Today’’s teens have become so engrossed in their social lives and with their appearance that the most important thing, their personal health, seems to have slipped off their agenda. Many teenagers are ignoring aches and pains which could lead to back and joint problems in later life.””

62% of teenagers have already experienced back ache, yet less that 5% of teenagers said they would actually look to seek advice from a doctor or health professional, such as a chiropractor.

The survey also revealed:

• 53% boys and 63% girls spend between one and two hours a day using social networking sites like Facebook and Bebo.
• 75% of girls spend between one to three hours a day emailing friends.
• 66% of girls and 48% of boys spend a minimum of one hour ‘preening themselves every day.
• Over three quarters (77%) of teen males and 84% of teen girls spend a minimum of five hours or more a week socialising with friends.
• Only one in five teen males spend just an hour a week exercising outside of school or college.
• 16% of males and 22% of females admit to not exercising at all in their free time.

Sleeping in an awkward position was cited as the largest cause of back pain amongst Britain’s teens (81%), followed by carrying heavy bags (76%) as well as sitting for long periods of time in the same position (59%).

This year the BCA has launched Straighten Up UK, a simple 3-minute exercise programme designed to improve posture. By incorporating just a few simple exercises into their daily routine, teenagers can really make a difference to their health. Visit  www.straightenupuk.org for more information.

UK mums get 23 minutes “me time” per day, dads 4.5 hours: how to unwind

A recent research study by the online games company PopCap (the relevance of which will become apparent in a moment), in association with The Stress Management Society, suggests that British mums get, on average, just 23 minutes of “me time” each day, whereas dads enjoy around four-and-a-half hours of leisure time daily.

I’m sure this isn’t true across the board, but the study suggests that dads get plenty of time to enjoy such stress-busting activities as going to the gym, taking a leisurely lunch hour (they obviously never worked in the offices I did), watching TV, hobbies such as football or golf, or just reading the newspaper whilst going to the loo.

Mums, on the other hand, use the sub-half-hour break to grab a cuppa or a quick swig of wine, smoke a cigarette, or eat a snack. The study suggests that this type of break can actual be counterproductive, because the amount of time and actual activity doesn’t allow for mum to unwind from the daily stress.

PopCap would like to suggest that, as well as physical exercise which can reduce stress levels, pressure, and anger, and activities such as yoga which can stretch both mind and body, a five-minute “cyber-break” with one of their online games can help lower stress levels, by reducing blood pressure, and slowing the breathing and heart rate.

Cathy Orr, European PR Director at PopCap, said, “The disparity in down time between mums and dads is staggering. Even if mums can’t change their quantity of ‘Me time’, they can still positively affect the quality of the time they have available. A recent study in association with The Stress Management Society showed that playing casual games on sites like www.popcap.com for as little as 5 minutes a day has stress relieving benefits. If time-poor mums replace their cuppa with a quick PopCap session, it will help relax, recharge and refocus their minds to face the rest of the day.”

Don’t underestimate the power of a cuppa, though.

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