14, July 2014

Friends encourage you to start, not quit smoking

Friends can influence behaviour of your kid a lot and researchers have found that friends exert influence on their peers to both start and quit smoking, but the influence to start is stronger.

"What we found is that social influence matters. It leads nonsmoking friends into smoking and nonsmoking friends can turn smoking friends into nonsmokers," said Steven Haas, an associate professor of sociology and demography at Pennsylvania State University in the US.

However, the impact is asymmetrical - the tendency for adolescents to follow their friends into smoking is stronger, Haas explained.

There are a number of reasons why peer influence to start smoking is stronger than peer influence to quit.

"In order to become a smoker, kids need to know how to smoke, they need to know where to buy cigarettes and how to smoke without being caught, which are all things they can learn from their friends who smoke," Haas noted.

But nonsmoking friends are unlikely to have access to nicotine replacement products or organised cessation programmes to help their friends quit.

The findings may also apply to other aspects of adolescent behaviour.

"This may apply well beyond smoking," Haas said, adding, "There may be similar patterns in adolescent drinking, drug use, sex, and delinquency."

The study appeared in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

14.07.2014

Inactive lifestyle more likely to get you obese

A new research has revealed that dormant lifestyle might be the main reason behind increasing obesity rather than caloric intake. 

The study revealed that in the past 20 years there have been sharp decrease in physical exercise and increase in average body mass index (BMI), while caloric intake has remained steady, so investigators have theorized that a nationwide drop in leisure-time physical activity, especially among young women, might be responsible for the upward trends in obesity rates.

By analyzing National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, researchers from Stanford University discovered that the number of US adult women who reported no physical activity jumped from 19.1 percent in 1994 to 51.7 percent in 2010 but for men, the number increased from 11.4 percent in 1994 to 43.5 percent in 2010.

Uri Ladabaum, MD, said that the prevalence of abdominal obesity has also increased among normal-weight women and overweight women and men, however, it remains controversial whether overweight alone increases mortality risk, but the trends in abdominal obesity among the overweight are concerning in light of the risks associated with increased waist circumference independent of BMI. Pamela Powers Hannley, MPH, Managing Editor, the American Journal of Medicine suggested that comprehensive efforts are required like encouraging communities to provide safe places for physical activity, ensuring ample supply of healthy food and empowering Americans to take control of their health. A study is published in the American Journal of Medicine.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

14.07.2014

The wound is the place where the Light enters you

Rumi