ScienceDaily: Living Well News

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• Night owls, unlike early birds, tend to be unmarried risk-takers
• Adult tonsillectomy complications and health care expenses
• Schools have limited success in reducing bullying, new analysis finds
• Breast milk and diet up to two years old: A means of preventing the risk of child obesity
• Customers prefer restaurants that offer nutrition facts, healthful foods
• Need to regulate antimicrobial ingredients in consumer products, scientific evidence shows
• Universal syllables: Some innate preferences shape the sound of words from birth
• For most adolescents, popularity increases risk of getting bullied
• Want spring allergy relief? Avoid stress
• Gratitude, not 'gimme,' makes for more satisfaction, study finds
• Fast food giants' ads for healthier kids meals don't send the right message
• Limiting screen time improves sleep, academics, behavior, study finds
• Nearly 97 percent of health professionals wash their hands when patients are asked to watch: Study
• Heart responds differently to exercise in men vs. women

Night owls, unlike early birds, tend to be unmarried risk-takers Posted: 01 Apr 2014 01:22 PM PDT Women who are night owls share the same high propensity for risk-taking as men, according to a recent study. The research suggests that sleep patterns are linked with important character traits and behavior, said a study author. Night owls -- people who tend to stay up late and wake up late in the morning -- are different in many important ways from early risers, he found.

Adult tonsillectomy complications and health care expenses Posted: 01 Apr 2014 11:22 AM PDT A study of 36,210 adult tonsillectomy patients finds that 20 percent will have a complication, offering valuable new insights to a decades long discussion. The study examines the prevalence of complications in adult tonsillectomies and the impact on health care expenditures. "Researchers have been examining variation in tonsillectomy for years," explained a corresponding author. "Yet most research has been documented in pediatric populations. Much less is known about the safety and risks to adult patients that undergo the procedure."

Schools have limited success in reducing bullying, new analysis finds Posted: 01 Apr 2014 11:22 AM PDT School efforts to reduce bullying are often disappointing; year-round, comprehensive programs appear to be more effective than one-time activities, researchers report. The study revealed that schools are trying many different approaches to protect students, and while the more comprehensive programs have been the most effective, they require substantial commitment and school resources to be successful.

Breast milk and diet up to two years old: A means of preventing the risk of child obesity Posted: 01 Apr 2014 08:21 AM PDT Scientists have shown that breast-feeding has a protective effect on the risk of obesity at 20 years of age. Researchers also emphasize that nutritional intake at the age of 2 years are critical in providing this beneficial effect.

Customers prefer restaurants that offer nutrition facts, healthful foods Posted: 01 Apr 2014 07:29 AM PDT Customers are more likely to frequent restaurants that provide both healthful foods and nutrition information, according to researchers. "The Affordable Care Act has mandated that chain restaurants provide nutrition information to customers," said an author. "Many restaurants had been fighting this legislation because they thought they would lose customers if the customers knew how unhealthy their food was. We found that customers perceive restaurants to be socially responsible when they are provided with nutrition facts and healthful options and, therefore, are more likely to patronize those restaurants."

Need to regulate antimicrobial ingredients in consumer products, scientific evidence shows Posted: 01 Apr 2014 07:25 AM PDT Does the widespread and still proliferating use of antimicrobial household products cause more harm than good to consumers and the environment? Evidence compiled shows that decades of widespread use of antimicrobials has left consumers with no measurable benefits. Worse yet, lax regulation has caused widespread contamination of the environment, wildlife and human populations with compounds that appear more toxic than safe, according to recent scientific research.

Universal syllables: Some innate preferences shape the sound of words from birth Posted: 01 Apr 2014 07:21 AM PDT Languages are learned, it's true, but are there also innate bases in the structure of language that precede experience? Linguists have noticed that, despite the huge variability of human languages, there are some preferences in the sound of words that can be found across languages.  So they wonder whether this reflects the existence of a universal, innate biological basis of language. A new study provides evidence to support to this hypothesis, demonstrating that certain preferences in the sound of words are already active in newborn infants.

For most adolescents, popularity increases risk of getting bullied Posted: 01 Apr 2014 07:18 AM PDT For most adolescents, becoming more popular both increases their risk of getting bullied and worsens the negative consequences of being victimized, research shows. "Most people probably would not think that having a higher social status would increase the risk of being targeted, but with few exceptions, that's what we find," said the study's lead author.

Want spring allergy relief? Avoid stress Posted: 01 Apr 2014 07:14 AM PDT Stress doesn't cause allergies, but easing your mind might mean less allergy flare-ups this spring. According to a study, allergy sufferers with persistent stress experience more allergy flares. "Stress can cause several negative effects on the body, including causing more symptoms for allergy sufferers," said an allergist.

Gratitude, not 'gimme,' makes for more satisfaction, study finds Posted: 31 Mar 2014 03:06 PM PDT People who are materialistic are more likely to be depressed and unsatisfied, in part because they find it harder to be grateful for what they have, according to a study. "Gratitude is a positive mood. It's about other people," said the study's lead author. "Previous research finds that people are motivated to help people that help them." But materialism tends to be "me-centered." A material outlook focuses on what one does not have, impairing the ability to be grateful for what one already has, researchers said.

Fast food giants' ads for healthier kids meals don't send the right message Posted: 31 Mar 2014 02:04 PM PDT Children who viewed TV ads for Kids Meals were commonly unable to recall milk or apples, items added to make the meals healthier. Instead many kids thought apples were french fries. Researchers found that one-half to one-third of children did not identify milk when shown McDonald's and Burger King children's advertising images depicting that product. Sliced apples in Burger King's ads were identified as apples by only 10 percent of young viewers; instead most reported they were french fries.

Limiting screen time improves sleep, academics, behavior, study finds Posted: 31 Mar 2014 02:04 PM PDT Parents may not always see it, but efforts to limit their children's screen time can make a difference. A new study found children get more sleep, do better in school and see other health benefits when parents monitor screen time. The effect is not immediate and that makes it difficult for parents to recognize. As a result, parents may think it is not worth the effort to monitor and limit their children's media use. But researchers say they have more power than they realize.

Nearly 97 percent of health professionals wash their hands when patients are asked to watch: Study Posted: 31 Mar 2014 10:10 AM PDT Improving hand hygiene compliance by healthcare professionals is no easy task, but a first-of-its-kind study shows simply asking patients to audit their healthcare professional is yielding high marks. details the findings of an 11-month pilot project looking at an alternative method of hand hygiene auditing using the patient-as-observer approach. In this method, patients observe and record hand hygiene compliance of their healthcare providers via a survey distributed before their interaction with their healthcare provider.

Heart responds differently to exercise in men vs. women Posted: 27 Mar 2014 07:08 AM PDT The formula for peak exercise heart rate that doctors have used for decades in tests to diagnose heart conditions may be flawed because it does not account for differences between men and women, according to research. The simple formula of "220 minus age" has been widely used to calculate the maximum number of heart beats per minute a person can achieve. Many people use it to derive their target heart rate during a workout. Doctors use it to determine how hard a patient should exercise during a common diagnostic test known as the exercise stress test. After analyzing more than 25,000 stress tests, the researchers found significant differences between men and women.

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