A Little Shut-Eye, a Lot of Good
Good news: A daily snooze at your desk may be just what the doctor ordered. Researchers who tracked the siesta habits of 23,681 Greek men and women-controlling for age, physical activity, and other heart-risk factors-reported in last week's Archives of Internal Medicine that thrice-weekly nappers were more than a third less apt than nonnappers to die of heart disease. Working men benefited the most: Even if they took a siesta less often, their risk of a heart-related death was 64 percent lower than that of their peers who didn't nap. The researchers aren't sure what explains the results, but "that a nap may reduce stress is a plausible speculation," says Dimitrios Trichopoulos, a study author and an epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health. Gerald Fletcher, cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic and spokesman for the American Heart Association, thinks Americans should pay heed. To best protect our hearts, he says, "we need to rely on things other than procedures and medications."
Put This in Your Pipe and Smoke It; A Better Breast-Cancer Treatment?; Fewer Sticks at Vaccination Time
Put This in Your Pipe and Smoke It
Advocates for medical marijuana got a boost last week from a small study supporting the theory that pot can alleviate pain. Research on 50 HIV patients plagued by neuropathic pain, published in the journal Neurology, showed that smoking cannabis offered relief comparable with that gained from previously studied oral pain medications-which aren't always tolerated. Those on the drug reported a 34 percent reduction in day-to-day pain, compared with 17 percent among placebo smokers. David Murray, chief scientist at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, sees "enormous potential" for the substances in cannabis-in purified, standardized, non-lung-harming form. One such drug, a pill, is approved to stimulate appetite in HIV patients and lessen side effects of chemotherapy, but not to treat pain. - S.B.
A Better Breast-Cancer Treatment?
Taking tamoxifen for five years after breast-cancer surgery cuts the risk of death by a third in women whose cancer is fueled by estrogen. But two studies-one in the journal Cancer, one in the Lancet-report that switching to an aromatase inhibitor after two or three years on tamoxifen improves survival rates even more. The precise formula for combining the drugs-which one first, and for how long?-isn't known, says Cheryl Perkins, senior clinical adviser for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, an advocacy organization. Because of the drugs' different side effects (tamoxifen can increase the odds of endometrial cancer; aromatase inhibitors, of bone weakening), women should talk to their doctors about the best course of action. - Katherine Hobson
Fewer Sticks at Vaccination Time
Flu shots are recommended for all children ages 6 months to 5 years, but the nasal spray vaccine isn't approved for the preschool set. Now, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that the spray, which contains a live form of the virus, protects young children significantly better than the injection: The spray group experienced 55 percent fewer cases of flu than the injection group. But babies and toddlers were more likely to develop worrisome wheezing using the spray, cautions study leader Robert Belshe, a professor of infectious disease and immunology at the St. Louis University School of Medicine. So youngsters with a history of wheezing shouldn't get the spray, he says, nor should children under a year old. While an official green light would require a Food and Drug Administration decision, many doctors may give parents of young kids a choice of vaccines. - Deborah Kotz
This story appears in the February 26, 2007 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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