Health Matters The Rundown On Recent Findings by Missy Lay

buzzed bees Drunk human behavior may now be better understood by studying intoxicated bees. Researchers at Ohio State University have some interesting results about the effects of ethanol, the intoxicating agent in liquor, on honey bee behavior. Bees who were given ethanol spent less time flying, walking and standing than their control counterparts. The more they were given, the sooner they became drunk compared to bees with lower doses of ethanol. The researchers hope to use these results to eventually understand how alcoholism affects memory and behavior in humans, as well as the basic mechanisms of addiction and tolerance. For more information, visit Ohio State University’s Web site at www.researchnews.osu.edu or visit the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism’s Web site for information at www.niaaa.nih.gov.

training research Research by three University of Texas at Austin kinesiology professors reveal significant findings about weight training, resistance and endurance. The findings attempt to understand how exercise helps molecules, cells, organs and organisms function properly. Dr. Roger Farrar discovered, by researching changes in muscle build through aging, that resistance-training can reverse the adverse effects of hormone loss. Dr. Hiro Tanaka conducted studies of young, middle-aged and elderly adults to show that weight training can stop the decrease of blood flow to the legs that occurs with age. Finally, Dr. Joe Starnes tested endurance training and found that it helps prevent a heart attack. For more information, contact Kay Randall at the University of Texas College of Education: 232.3910.

therapy improves sleep Today more than 70 million Americans suffer from insomnia, and according to a National Sleep Foundation ‘Sleep in America’ poll, in 2002 alone, 25 percent of all American adults experienced insomnia every night, while 58 percent reported symptoms at least a few nights during the week. Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School may have found help to get a good night’s sleep. In their findings, cognitive behavior therapy was more effective than sleeping pills in treating chronic sleep-onset insomnia. Although sleeping pills are more widely prescribed for treatment, therapy gives improved short and long-term effects when compared to prescribing sleeping pills. The findings appear in the Sept. 27 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. For more information, visit www.bidmc.harvard.edu.

taller and fatter New studies from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention report that men and women are slightly an inch taller and 25 pounds heavier than they were some 40 years ago. The average women’s weight rose from 140.2 pounds in 1960 to 164.3 pounds in 2002, while the average men’s weight rose from 166.3 pounds in 1960 to 191 pounds in 2002. Additionally, the average height for men rose from 5’8” in 1960 to just over 5’9” in 2002. Women only increased their average height from 5’3” in 1960 to 5’4” in 2002. For more information and to see the complete study, visit www.cdc.gov/nchs.