Independent.ie - Health & Fitness RSS Feed

Pill promises 'long, healthy life' for women

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

WOMEN who have ever taken the Pill can expect longer lives than those who have never been prescribed the oral contraceptive, research suggests.

Hormone can give fertility the kiss of life

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

A hormone made by a gene called "kiss" has the potential to restore fertility in some women, scientists have found.

Shape up: Short blasts of exercise as good as hours of training, scientists find

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:46:30 +0000

Less really can be more when it comes to exercise, scientists have discovered.

Sarcoma: Friends in need

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

If this young woman from Portmarnock hadn't fallen off her horse, she might not be with us today. That fall led to a small operation, which in turn revealed a very dangerous tumour and led to surgery in New York.

Shape up: Don't waste your time

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

There are a number of different variables in training that can influence your results. In weight training or running, some of these variables include repetitions, sets, tempo, exercise selection or order and rest periods.

Massage no better at beating stress than deep breathing and soft music

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:21:31 +0000

Having a massage is no better at beating stress than home relaxation techniques like breathing deeply and listening to soothing music, a study has found

A special friendship

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Anxiety started its slow trickle about six months ago. I would look at her playing and feel my heart begin to race just at the thought. What held it in check were the boom gates of time -- the first day of school was ages away.

Getting it off your chest -- why more men are going under the 'vanity knife'

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Old sports injuries, sticky-out ears, tired eyes and man-breasts -- an increasing number of Irish men are turning to cosmetic surgery to correct the imperfections that God or hard living has given them.

Fast food diet sounds tasty

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:14:08 +0000

Meals approved by Weight Watchers are going on sale at McDonald's in New Zealand, the companies said.

I survived three heart attacks in one week -- but now life is better than ever

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Sally Bee positively glows with health. At 42, the TV presenter and mum of three looks years younger. She doesn't smoke and is a walking advertisement for her new book of healthy recipes. It's impossible to believe that, just five years ago, Sally suffered a series of such severe heart attacks that her doctors left her to die.

Now doctors say it's good to be fat

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:44:53 +0000

A startling new study by medical researchers in the United States has caused consternation among public health professionals by suggesting that, contrary to conventional wisdom, being overweight might actually be beneficial for health.

Eating breakfast and fatty diet during early pregnancy increases chances of having a boy

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:11:38 +0000

What women eat while they are in the early stages of pregnancy influences the sex and health of their unborn baby, new research suggests.

What men ask at parties

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Off-the-cuff consultations tend to be an occupational hazard for cosmetic surgeons in social settings.

Shape up: Blueprint for building a better body

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

It is just over one week since Yvonne began her journey on these pages to improve her energy, fitness and vitality. Our role as coaches here at Bfit4life is to provide a road map to help get a client from where they are to where they want to go.

They're beautiful, rich. . . and full of nonsense

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Sipping vinegar makes you skinny. Foie gras causes Alzheimer's. Fizzy water leads to wrinkles. These are just some of the pearls of scientific wisdom revealed to us by celebrities over the past 12 months. And -- surprise, surprise -- it's all nonsense.

The father who found a miracle

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

John and Aileen Crowley sat dazed in the doctor's office, struggling to comprehend what they were being told. It was a bright spring day in 1998, and just a week beforehand this young San Francisco-based couple had been celebrating the birth of their third child, Patrick.

The parents who find cures

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

The Crowleys' search for a cure for their children resembles the story of Augusto and Michaela Odone, whose son Lorenzo was diagnosed with the apparently untreatable nerve disease Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) in the early '80s. Their case later formed the basis of the movie Lorenzo's Oil starring Nick Nolte and Susan Sarandon. Ignoring the claims of medical experts that nothing could be done, the Odones persevered, recruiting researchers, visiting doctors all over the world and looking at animal experiments.

Why our kids will reach the ripe old age of . . . 150

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Spare a thought for Ireland's post-millennium generation. As adults, they will be saddled with the mother of all national debts. Climate change will probably have reached disaster movie proportions by the time they hit middle age. They will grow up traumatised by childhood memories of Jedward.

True life: My dream is to one day win my 16-year battle with food

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Words tumble over each other as Nicola starts talking. Bright, articulate and aware, the 31-year-old describes the 16-year-long hell of her eating disorder.

'Giving birth after 40 to my fourth child, I knew from experience that it would all work out'

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Siobhan Butler (42), from Dublin, runs a paediatric first-aid course with her husband Holger (40) and has four children, Emily (9), Hannah (7), Cian (5) and Fionn (2). She says:

Is the fertility timebomb really ticking?

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

After years of society being up in arms about teenage pregnancy, the pendulum has swung the other way -- and the trend now is for older mums. Celebrities like Desperate Housewives actress Marcia Cross (47) and Jennifer Lopez (40) are leading the way -- the two are mothers of young twins.

'I begged the doctors to let me finish the IVF cycle -- and nine months later I had a son'

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Antoinette Thurlow (50) from Dublin had her first child, William (14), with her salesman husband Bill (50) when she was 37, using IVF. She says: "I got married at 22 and my husband and I decided pretty much immediately to start trying for a baby, but after three or four years it hadn't happened. We went through medical tests but no one could tell us what was wrong.

Exercise programme: Week Six

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:26:57 +0000

It's your last week of the 6 week bootcamp programme! This week, we are adding in more exercises, so it will take you longer to complete the training session and we are concentrating on the areas that are of most concern to our female Bootcampers.

So, how many Facebook friends is too many?

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

At last, the news that all of us with, ahem, minimalist social circles have been waiting for. There's now scientific proof that Facebook users with several hundred friends are in fact saddos.

My fat-busting session with Hollywood's favourite personal trainer

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Like a lot of women, my life seems like one long tug-of-war with the weighing scales. Just when you manage to slink into that size 10 little black dress, there's always that sneaky half-stone waiting in the (bingo) wings to sabotage all your efforts.

Avoid the usual pitfalls

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Legs & Bum

How did I do?

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Pat Henry's Assessment: "When Deirdre first came in to see me, I thought her overall level of fitness was pretty good -- I'd give her six out of 10.

Dangers of being 'wide awake and drunk'

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Mixing alcohol with energy drinks is common among young people in this country, but a new study has pointed to the hazards of combining the two.

Aspirin can 'cuts risk of death from breast cancer', Harvard study finds

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:02:33 +0000

Aspirin could halve the risk of dying from breast cancer, a groundbreaking 30 year study has found.

When it comes to smoking, everyone loves a quitter

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the day chosen by countless Irish smokers to kick the foul habit, not just for Lent but for life. For those needing any extra encouragement, apart from the immediate health benefits, it came with the news the average 20-a-day smoker can save a breath-taking €3,100 this year.