ScienceDaily: Living Well News

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• Contrary to popular belief, more exercise is not always better
• Scared of crime? Science shows that healthy fear of crime is a good thing
• Awake within a dream: Lucid dreamers show greater insight in waking life
• Can instant noodles lead to heart disease, diabetes and stroke?
• Anxiety and amen: Prayer doesn't ease symptoms of anxiety-related disorders for everyone
• African-American hair: Dermatologists' tips for everyday care, processing and styling
• Size matters when convincing your brain to eat healthier foods
• Gloves after hand washing associated with fewer infections in preterm babies
• Highly competitive environments hurt creativity of women in teams, research suggests
• Can fiction stories make us more empathetic?
• Links between city design, health shown in study
• Postmenopausal breast cancer risk decreases rapidly after starting regular physical activity

Contrary to popular belief, more exercise is not always better Posted: 12 Aug 2014 10:37 AM PDT There is strong epidemiological evidence of the importance of regular physical activity, such as brisk walking and jogging, in the management and rehabilitation of cardiovascular disease and in lowering the risk of death from other diseases such as hypertension, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends about 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity exercise or about 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise. But there is clear evidence of an increase in cardiovascular deaths in heart attack survivors who exercise to excess.

Scared of crime? Science shows that healthy fear of crime is a good thing Posted: 12 Aug 2014 09:23 AM PDT A healthy fear of crime is a good thing, a study by a criminologist says. The study suggests adolescents who are more fearful of crime are less apt to become victims and offenders of violent acts. Essentially, fearful youth tend to avoid potentially dangerous people, locations and activities such as drug-fueled parties, said the lead researcher.

Awake within a dream: Lucid dreamers show greater insight in waking life Posted: 12 Aug 2014 09:18 AM PDT People who are aware they are asleep when they are dreaming have better than average problem-solving abilities, new research has discovered. Experts say that those who experience 'lucid dreaming' – a phenomena where someone who is asleep can recognize that they are dreaming – can solve problems in the waking world better than those who remain unaware of the dream until they wake up. The concept of lucid dreaming was explored in the 2010 film Inception, where the dreamers were able to spot incongruities within their dream. It is thought some people are able to do this because of a higher level of insight, meaning their brains detect they are in a dream because events would not make sense otherwise.

Can instant noodles lead to heart disease, diabetes and stroke? Posted: 12 Aug 2014 09:16 AM PDT Significant consumption of instant noodles -- ramen included -- may increase a person's risk for cardiometabolic syndrome, especially in women, research shows. The findings could shed new light on the risks of a worldwide dietary habit. "This research is significant since many people are consuming instant noodles without knowing possible health risks," one researcher said. "My hope is that this study can lay a foundation for future research about the health effects of instant noodle consumption."

Anxiety and amen: Prayer doesn't ease symptoms of anxiety-related disorders for everyone Posted: 12 Aug 2014 09:14 AM PDT Whether the problem is health, enemies, poverty or difficulty with aging, "Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there," suggested the late gospel musician Charles A. Tindley. But when it comes to easing anxiety-related disorders, prayer doesn't have the same effect for everybody, according to a researcher.

African-American hair: Dermatologists' tips for everyday care, processing and styling Posted: 12 Aug 2014 09:13 AM PDT Unique in appearance and structure, African-American hair is especially fragile and prone to injury and damage. More than half of African-American women will cite thinning hair or hair loss as their top hair concern. Fortunately, there are a lot of things African-Americans can do to help minimize damage and keep their hair beautiful.

Size matters when convincing your brain to eat healthier foods Posted: 11 Aug 2014 03:02 PM PDT Playing with the portions of good and not-so-good-for-you foods is better than trying to eliminate bad foods, according to a study. The idea is to not give up entirely foods that provide pleasure but aren't nutritious. Instead, the focus should be on lowering the portion of the "vice" foods and correspondingly raising the portion of a healthy food to replace it, researchers report.

Gloves after hand washing associated with fewer infections in preterm babies Posted: 11 Aug 2014 02:01 PM PDT Extremely premature babies in a neonatal intensive care unit had fewer infections when medical staff wore gloves after washing their hands compared with hand washing alone. Even after hand washing, medical staff can still have microorganisms on their hands. This can be dangerous for extremely preterm newborns because of their immature immune systems and underdeveloped skin and mucosal barriers.

Highly competitive environments hurt creativity of women in teams, research suggests Posted: 11 Aug 2014 01:59 PM PDT Women tend to outperform men when it comes to collaboration and creativity in small working groups, but force teams to go head to head in highly competitive environments and the benefits of a female approach are soon reversed, suggests new research. The study suggests that men benefit creatively from going head-to-head with other groups, while groups of women operate better in less competitive situations.

Can fiction stories make us more empathetic? Posted: 11 Aug 2014 12:16 PM PDT Exposure to narrative fiction may improve our ability to understand what other people are thinking or feeling, a researcher reports. Many stories are about people -- their mental states, their relationships. The researcher explains that we understand stories using basic cognitive functions, and there is not a special module in the brain that allows us to do this. Understanding stories is similar to the way we understand the real world.

Links between city design, health shown in study Posted: 11 Aug 2014 09:51 AM PDT In a rare study of how street network design affects public health, researchers have discovered that older, more compact cities promote more walking and biking and are generally healthier than many newer cities. "We built these dense, connected street networks for thousands of years but only over the last century or so did we switch to designing sparse, tree-like networks with cars in mind," one researcher noted.

Postmenopausal breast cancer risk decreases rapidly after starting regular physical activity Posted: 11 Aug 2014 09:48 AM PDT Postmenopausal women who in the past four years had undertaken regular physical activity equivalent to at least four hours of walking per week had a lower risk for invasive breast cancer compared with women who exercised less during those four years, according to new data.

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