Join Now | Sign in

Health Flash Health Article

Media Gallery

Videos (9)

	Job Stress: How to Keep Your Cool play video read transcript
	The Psychological Impact of Hair Loss play video read transcript
	Staying Healthy Through Stress Reduction play video read transcript
	The Stress of Cancer: When to Seek Help play video read transcript
	The Link Between Sleep and Depression play video read transcript
	Shedding Light on Seasonal Depression play video read transcript
	What is Depression? play video read transcript
	Separating Depression From Being Blue play video read transcript
	Treating Major Depression play video read transcript

Marketplace

Article from

Health Flash

A shot at happiness. People with depression may one day experience almost instant relief, according to a small study in the Archives of General Psychiatry . When patients were given the anesthetic ketamine, half felt their depression lessen within two hours and another 20 percent improved within a day. More research is needed, so talk to your doctor about other solutions if a case of the blues lingers longer than two weeks.

Hot topic. It's time to reverse an age-old stereotype: Women can become aroused as quickly as men, researchers at McGill University in Montreal say. Using thermal imaging, the scientists found that both sexes take about 12 minutes to get hot and bothered. Visit MyPleasure.com for female-friendly info on getting in the mood.

Immunity news. Doctors are closer to understanding why stress can increase your odds of getting sick. Being chronically frazzled shrinks telomeres, chunks of DNA that play a role in immune-cell aging, researchers at the University of California at San Francisco say. The good news: Calming activities, including meditation and yoga, may slow or reverse the process. Not into om ing? Simply make time daily to relax.

Rx for safety. Drug errors injure 1.5 million people a year, a report from the Institute of Medicine in Washington, D.C., notes. Although patients often fail to take their medication as directed, miscommunication between physicians and pharmacists is also to blame. Always review the instructions for your pills with your M.D. and your pharmacist—if they don't match up, call your doc before you pop.

Patch dispatch. This fall, the FDA warned that the birth control patch may be twice as likely to cause blood clots as the Pill. But even with the increased odds, the actual risk is only about 4 in 10,000. Still, review your chance for clots with your gynecologist, and make sure your contraceptive is the safest one for you.

Crash course. Driver distraction causes 20 percent of all accidents, a study in Injury Prevention finds. Among the biggest attention stealers: adjusting the equipment, rubbernecking and chatting with other passengers.

Clean green. A compound in many air fresheners, toilet bowl cleansers and mothballs may reduce lung function, reports the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Opting for baking soda, vinegar and cedar will help you breathe easier.

The Society for Women's Health Research (WomensHealthResearch.org) promotes female-focused medical studies.