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MONDAY, June 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Patients who have spinal anesthesia while doctors repair a broken hip have more pain and need more prescription painkillers afterward than those given general anesthesia, a new study finds.Spinal anesthesia is increasingly used as a way to reduce pain and painkiller use, but these findings suggest it is having the opposite impact on hip fracture surgery patients."In our study, patients who got spinal anesthesia did get fewer opioids in the operating room, but they ended up having more pain, and more prescription pain medication use after surgery," said lead study author Dr. Mark Neuman. He is an associate professor of anesthesiology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, and is a former chair of the Penn Medicine Opioid...

SUNDAY, June 19, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- The record-breaking heat that's scorching much of the United States this week poses significant heart dangers, and you need to take steps to protect yourself, the American Heart Association (AHA) says. That's especially true for older adults and people with high blood pressure, obesity or a history of heart disease or stroke.Heat and dehydration force the heart to work harder to cool itself by pumping more blood and shifting it from major organs to underneath the skin.Research shows that when temperatures reach extremes of an average daily temperature of 109 degrees Fahrenheit (as it has this week in the Southwest), the number of deaths from heart disease may double or triple, and that the more temperatures fluctuate during the summer, the...

SATURDAY, June 18, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Keeping your body well-fueled and hydrated is a must during outdoor summer sports and exercise, a nutrition expert says."For summer workouts, it's important to make sure that adequate carbohydrates, fluids and electrolytes are consumed," said sports dietitian Kristen Chang, assistant director of the master's program in nutrition and dietetics at Virginia Tech University. "You need to make sure that proper levels of blood sugar are maintained throughout the workout," Chang said in a university news release, noting that you shouldn't go into an exercise session hungry.That means you need to think about what you eat and drink before a workout to account for increased water loss from sweat. This can include boosting your intake of fluids and...

FRIDAY, June 17, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Americans are night owls at age 20, get the least sleep at 40, and then finally get more shut-eye after retirement.Those are among the key takeaways from a study that looked at the sleep patterns of Americans of all ages. In short, teenagers and young adults often fall asleep after midnight, while folks in their 40s go to bed earlier but devote the fewest hours to sleep.That might not be surprising, especially to 40-something parents of teens. But the study gives a clearer picture of Americans' sleep habits, by using objective measures instead of self-reports: Participants wore devices on their wrists that recorded their movement, day and night, for seven days.The findings are based on more than 11,000 Americans aged 6 and up who took part in a...