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THURSDAY, July 21, 2022 (American Heart Association News) -- The day Reina Pomeroy unintentionally became an expert on how natural disasters affect children began pleasantly enough.On that sunny December morning, she and her husband, David, had taken their sons, ages 7 and 2, out for a hike near Boulder, Colorado. Fierce winds sent them back to their home in nearby Louisville, which they had moved into about five months earlier.Around 11:30 a.m., as they were attempting to settle their youngest down for a nap, Reina noticed the sun had turned from yellow-white to "fire-sky orange," a hue she knew from growing up in California. Her husband soon confirmed – a smoky blaze had broken out in parched grasslands to the west.Within 45 minutes, the Pomeroys were thinking about evacuating....

THURSDAY, July 21, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Exercising your body and mind can help stave off memory problems as you age, and some of these benefits may be even greater for women, a new study suggests.The study looked at cognitive reserve, or the brain’s ability to withstand the effects of diseases like Alzheimer’s without showing a decline in thinking or memory skills.Women, but not men, had greater cognitive reserves if they exercised regularly and took classes, read or played games. Taking part in more mental activities improved thinking speed for both women and men.“Begin building that cognitive reserve now, so the money is in the bank for down the road if our brains need it,” said study author Judy Pa. She is the co-director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study...

THURSDAY, July 21, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will begin a comprehensive review of its food and tobacco programs amid a high-profile infant formula shortage and recent rulings on e-cigarettes. FDA Commissioner Robert Califf first announced the review on Tuesday, then appeared at a Senate subcommittee hearing on food safety on Wednesday, calling the food program “one of my absolute top priorities,” CNN reported."My assessment is that the foods program is staffed by highly dedicated people, I can't stress enough how hard they work and the depth of their knowledge," Califf said during the subcommittee hearing. "But they're working in a suboptimal environment that needs to be reformed. Accordingly, we've initiated a full review of the foods...

THURSDAY, July 21, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Next time you work out, maybe take a 15-minute sauna when you’re done for extra heart health benefits.That's the main finding of research out of Finland. It found taking a sauna confers additional cardiovascular benefits over exercise alone.The new study didn’t look at how saunas can boost heart health, but other studies have elucidated these benefits. It has been shown "that some of the cardiovascular responses from sauna bathing are comparable to moderate intensity exercise, at least acutely,” said study author Earric Lee, a researcher in the faculty of sport and health sciences at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland. The sauna is an integral part of Finnish culture, and there are more saunas than cars in Finland, he said.People...