Daily Healthbeat Tip

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Welcome to HHS HealthBeat. Launched on July 11, 2005, this service provides health promotion and disease prevention tips 5 days a week in audio and text formats.

• Consumers—choose a HealthBeat tip below to listen. Be sure to visit the Take the Next Step link, too, because it provides more information to help you take action to improve your health.
• Radio stations and other media—you can download tips for broadcast use. Please attribute HealthBeat tips to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. For audio clips from Secretary Leavitt and other HHS officials, visit the Broadcast News Service.

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May

May 09, 2008 - "Step it up" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Adding Physical Activity to Your Life (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

May 08, 2008 - "Diet debate" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Low-Calorie, Lower-Fat Alternative Foods (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
•  

May 07, 2008 - "Break the fast" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  A Guide for Teenagers! (PDF - 2.97 MB) (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)
•  

May 06, 2008 - "Depression, anxiety, weight and smoking" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Physical Activity and Health (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

May 05, 2008 - "DASHing toward heart health" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Healthy Eating (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
•  

May 02, 2008 - "Living with asthma" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Living With Asthma (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
•  

May 01, 2008 - "Cheers!" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Eating for a Healthy Heart (PDF - 339.55 KB) (Food and Drug Administration)
•  

April

April 30, 2008 - "That’s not love" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Intimate Partner Violence Prevention (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

April 29, 2008 - "Seniors on the tanning beds" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  The Risks of Tanning (Center for Devices and Radiological Health)
•  

April 28, 2008 - "Location, location, location" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Stroke (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

April 25, 2008 - "Shopping around" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Hospital Compare (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
•  

April 24, 2008 - "Broccoli benefit" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Vegetable of the Month: Broccoli (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

April 23, 2008 - "Alcohol and estrogen" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Alcohol – An Important Women’s Health Issue (PDF – 448 KB) (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism)
•  

April 22, 2008 - "Cigarettes and colon cancer" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Screen for Life: National Colorectal Cancer Action Campaign (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

April 21, 2008 - "Turning off the kids’ screens" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  We Can!™ Gets Involved in Turnoff Week 2008 (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
•  

April 18, 2008 - "Play fair" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Sports- and Recreation-Related Injuries (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

April 17, 2008 - "Less time for family ties" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Make Family Time Active Time (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
•  

April 16, 2008 - "Aroma? Therapy?" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Aromatherapy and Essential Oils (PDQ®) (National Cancer Institute)
•  

April 15, 2008 - "The buzz on senior drinking" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Alcohol Abuse and Aging (Administration on Aging)
•  

April 14, 2008 - "Deep sleep" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Developing A Recovery And Wellness Lifestyle: A Self-Help Guide (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
•  

April 11, 2008 - "Add a personal touch" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Maintaining a Healthy Weight (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
•  

April 10, 2008 - "Schoolwork, school workout" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Youth Media Campaign (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

April 09, 2008 - "One cigarette, two hearts" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Smoking (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences)
•  

April 08, 2008 - "Tough gymnastics" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Childhood Sports Injuries and Their Prevention: A Guide for Parents with Ideas for Kids  (National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases)
•  

April 07, 2008 - "Teens and bedroom TV" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Helpful Ways to Reduce Screen Time (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
•  

April 04, 2008 - "Overweight teen trouble" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Physical Activity for Everyone (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

April 03, 2008 - "The choking game" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  The Choking Game: CDC´s Findings on a Risky Youth Behavior (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

April 02, 2008 - "Safety and thimerosal" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Parents: What You Need to Know (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

April 01, 2008 - "Red or green" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Eat A Variety of Fruits & Vegetables Every Day (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

March

March 31, 2008 - "Screen time" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Tips for Parents - Ideas and Tips to Help Prevent Childhood Overweight (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

March 28, 2008 - "Living long sick" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Live Healthier Live Longer (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
•  

March 27, 2008 - "More screening" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Colorectal (Colon) Cancer (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

March 26, 2008 - "Sleeping duty" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Your Guide to Healthy Sleep (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
•  

March 25, 2008 - "Keeping it low" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Eat calcium-rich foods. (Office of Public Health and Science)
•  

March 24, 2008 - "Caring hearts" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Taking Care of You (Administration on Aging)
•  

March 21, 2008 - "This pet may protect" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Health Benefits of Pets (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

March 20, 2008 - "The record of the hearts" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  We Can! (National Institutes of Health)
•  

March 19, 2008 - "Time together" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Healthy Marriage Initiative (Administration for Children and Families)
•  

March 18, 2008 - "Walk it out" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month! (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

March 17, 2008 - "Terrible twosome" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Your Guide to a Healthy Heart (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
•  

March 14, 2008 - "Whole grains, better bellies" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Eat whole grains (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion)
•  

March 13, 2008 - "Larger women, higher risk" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Staying Active and Eating Healthy (Office on Women's Health)
•  

March 12, 2008 - "Healthy over 90" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Exercise for Older Adults (National Institute on Aging)
•  

March 11, 2008 - "More painful" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Tips for Healthy Living (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

March 10, 2008 - "Turtle talk" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Is a turtle the right pet for your family? (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

March 07, 2008 - "Smoke and genes" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Smoking and Tobacco Use – Quit Smoking (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

March 06, 2008 - "Dengue on the border" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Protect Yourself From Mosquito Bites and Dengue (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

March 05, 2008 - "CMV and your baby" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Cytomegalovirus (CMV) - Pregnancy (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

March 04, 2008 - "Killings in schools" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  School Violence (National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center)
•  

March 03, 2008 - "Breastfed babies and teen weight" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  National Breastfeeding Awareness Campaign — Babies were Born to be Breastfed (Office on Women's Health)
• Jessica Woo of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Elizabeth Goodman of Tufts-New England Medical Center says
  • All pregnant women should consider breastfeeding their infants, and that’s true even if their mothers or their friends did not choose to breastfeed their children. [read tip]
  • Socially disadvantaged women aren’t as likely to have the financial means to stay home with their child, the kinds of supportive job environments where they are able to pump – or have the time to do what’s necessary for them to maintain long-term breastfeeding behaviors. [read tip]

February

February 29, 2008 - "Snug but safe" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Click It or Ticket (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)
•  

February 28, 2008 - "Making a match" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Seasonal Flu (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

February 27, 2008 - "Not a stroke, but still trouble" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Stroke (National Library of Medicine)
• George Howard of the University of Alabama at Birmingham says
  • In a way it’s not surprising to find that the risk factors that cause the blood vessels to be unhealthy and lead to a higher risk of stroke are the same risk factors that cause the blood vessels to be unhealthy and lead to more rapid decline of cognitive ability. [read tip]
  • What I would recommend is that the people be aware of, and treat and control, their risk factors, but also if you are high risk, to monitor for changes in cognitive functioning, which can be done with very simple, painless, memory challenge tests. [read tip]

February 26, 2008 - "Walk this way" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Stroke Prevention (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Steven Hooker of the University of South Carolina says
  • It was a level of fitness that could be achieved by the average person out there by simply doing approximately 30 minutes of brisk walking five days a week, which are currently the physical activity recommendations for adults in this country. [read tip]
  • As long as you are accumulating the total amount of time, fitting things into your daily life by taking the stairs instead of the elevator sounds almost too simple. But even those small steps will add up in number of minutes of activity every day. [read tip]

February 25, 2008 - "Seniors and clinical trials" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Participating in Clinical Trials (National Institute on Aging)
•  

February 22, 2008 - "The risk on dozing off" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  How Is Sleep Apnea Treated? (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
• Bernadette Boden-Albala of Columbia University Medical Center says
  • The first thing to do is to make sure that, if you are having any sleeping problems – if you’re sleepy during the day – that you speak to your physician. [read tip]
  • Sleep apnea is usually caused by an obstruction of tissue when people are breathing. There are other studies that show that that does lead to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. But we also believe that this scale measures not just apnea but other types of sleep disturbances. [read tip]

February 21, 2008 - "Watch out " [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Unintentional Injury Prevention (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

February 20, 2008 - "Mutual Respect" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Quick Tips—When Talking with Your Doctor (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)
•  

February 19, 2008 - "Secondhand smoke and cystic fibrosis" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Living With Cystic Fibrosis (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
•  

February 18, 2008 - "Middle aged, obese and depressed" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Physical Activity and Weight Control (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)
•  

February 15, 2008 - "Can you believe this?" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  What Can I Ask? Getting Information (National Institute on Aging)
•  

February 14, 2008 - "Older, active and vitamin E" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Vitamin E (Office of Dietary Supplements)
•  

February 13, 2008 - "Either or both" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Aim For a Healthy Weight (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
•  

February 12, 2008 - "The states of blood pressure" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Your Guide to Lowering High Blood Pressure (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
•  

February 11, 2008 - "Kids and the cough medicine" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Cold and Cough Medicines: Information for Parents (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

February 08, 2008 - "Better with walking " [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  How Can Metabolic Syndrome Be Prevented? (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
•  

February 07, 2008 - "Which half " [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Energize Yourself! (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
•  

February 06, 2008 - "Vaccinations for grown-ups" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Vaccinations and Immunizations (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

February 05, 2008 - "When the other kids drink " [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  The Cool Spot (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism)
•  

February 04, 2008 - "Alcohol, kids and violence" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Understanding Youth Violence (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

February 01, 2008 - "A program to live with" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Physical Activity for Everyone (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

January

January 31, 2008 - "Fitness and fatness" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Are there special recommendations for older adults? (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

January 30, 2008 - "What the teens said about drugs" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Drug Abuse (National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center)
•  

January 29, 2008 - "Cereal for breakfast?" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Bulking Up Fiber's Healthful Reputation (Food and Drug Administration)
•  

January 28, 2008 - "What to do about COPD" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Living With COPD (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
•  

January 25, 2008 - "Electronic aggression" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  New Technology and Youth Violence (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

January 24, 2008 - "Burger, fries and a soda" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Weight-Control Information Network (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)
• Researcher Lyn Steffen of the University of Minnesota says
  • There was a 25 percent increased risk of developing metabolic syndrome for individuals who ate fried foods about once a day, either at home or away from home. [read tip]
  • Eating meat two or more times per day was associated with a 26 percent increased risk of metabolic syndrome. Also drinking one can of diet soda everyday increased risk by about 34 percent. [read tip]

January 23, 2008 - "More to love" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Physical Activity for Everyone (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

January 22, 2008 - "The case of the dangerous stray" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Rabies Exposure: What You Need to Know (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

January 21, 2008 - "Family meals and teenage girls" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Body Image and Your Kids: Your body image plays a role in theirs (Office on Women’s Health)
•  

January 18, 2008 - "Keeping track" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Tips to Help You Get Active (National Institutes of Health)
•  

January 17, 2008 - "We Can! After the holidays" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  We Can! (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
•  

January 16, 2008 - "Campus tans" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Tanning (Center for Devices and Radiological Health)
•  

January 15, 2008 - "Teens, grownups, and heart trouble" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Getting Started!  (The President’s Challenge)
•  

January 14, 2008 - "A good breakfast and a good heart " [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Dietary Fiber (National Library of Medicine)
•  

January 11, 2008 - "Flu and asthma" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Take Charge of Your Health! A Guide For Teenagers! (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)
•  

January 10, 2008 - "A sign of trouble" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Children and the Flu Vaccine (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

January 09, 2008 - "Not really overweight" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Tips for Parents - Ideas and Tips to Help Prevent Childhood Overweight (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

January 08, 2008 - "Vitamin D and hearts" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Vitamin D (Office of Dietary Supplements)
• Researcher Thomas Wang of Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital says
  • The cutpoints that we chose, which most people would accept would correspond to having at least moderate to severe vitamin D deficiency – something that roughly a third of people in the Northeast have – those levels were associated with a 60 percent increase in the risk of having a cardiovascular event. [read tip]
  • The levels in the group of people that we considered to have at least moderate degrees of vitamin D deficiency were about half as much as the levels that would be considered adequate by most experts. [read tip]

January 07, 2008 - "Kids, smoking and movies (Pediatrics)" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Be a Positive Role Model (Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration)
• Researcher Linda Titus-Ernstoff of Dartmouth Medical School says
  • We found that children who had seen the most smoking in the movies were also the most likely to try smoking later on. [read tip]

January 04, 2008 - "Protecting babies from the flu " [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Protecting Against Influenza (Flu): Advice for Caregivers of Children Less Than 6 Months Old (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

January 03, 2008 - "Where’s the sunshine vitamin?" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Vitamins (National Library of Medicine)
•  

January 02, 2008 - "Untested " [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Screening Pap Test (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
•  

January 01, 2008 - "The rest of 2008" [read tip]

• Take the Next Step:
  Tips to Help You Get Active (National Institutes of Health)
•  

Last revised: May 09, 2008