PSYCHOLOGYFloral Bouquets Give Seniors a BoostWith Valentine’s...
PSYCHOLOGY
Floral Bouquets Give Seniors a Boost
With Valentine’s Day approaching, the nation’s florists are gearing up for their busy season. New research, though, indicates it’s not just young--or even middle-aged--lovebirds whose mood improves with a floral bouquet. Flowers give the elderly a tremendous psychological boost that translates into a more positive outlook, an enhanced social network and improved memory.
Rutgers University researchers studied 104 men and women ranging in age from 55 to 93, who were asked to keep a daily log of their activities and were interviewed at three different intervals during a six-month period.
In one group that received bouquets twice during the six-month study, 81% reported a reduction in depression, 40% said they broadened their social circle beyond family and close friends, and 72% scored higher on memory tests than another study group that received no flowers.
“Instinct tells us that flowers lift our spirits, but their effects on seniors are especially profound,” said Jeannette Haviland-Jones, a professor of psychology at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., who conducted the study with funding from the Society of American Florists.
Linda Marsa
*
PREGNANCY
Starting Oral Health
in the Womb
The womb is one of the few places left where humans can live beyond the reach of nagging health advice.
But maybe not for long: In honor of National Children’s Dental Health Month, the American Dental Assn. last week issued a news alert titled “Good Oral Health Begins in the Womb.”
According to the statement, women who don’t begin worrying about an embryo’s future teeth run the risk of giving birth to a child with hypoplasia, “a condition characterized by inadequate development of the infant’s tooth enamel.”
The solution? Eat good food (a recommendation already being embraced by many women in their second and third trimester).
Though not common in normal-weight newborns, enamel problems are linked to poor nutrition during pregnancy, some doctors say.
Benedict Carey
*
PREGNANCY
Hospitals Delay Epidurals to Prevent C-Sections
Proper oral health aside, some expectant mothers have other concerns in mind, such as, “When will I get the epidural?”
According to the nation’s leading group of women health doctors, an increasing number of hospitals have begun denying epidural pain relief to women in labor until they have reached a certain stage of labor; that is, when they have dilated to 4 or 5 centimeters.
A woman is usually prepared to give birth after reaching 10 centimeters’ dilation.
How long it takes a woman to go from early labor to birth varies widely, according to experts at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
The organization has long recommended that epidurals be given at 4 to 5 centimeters of dilation, when feasible, and also that a woman’s request for pain relief during any stage of labor is sufficient medical reason to provide it.
Hospitals may be denying epidurals--the most effective and popular form of pain relief during labor--because of some studies that show the risk of Cesarean section increases when epidurals are given early in labor.
Cesarean sections increase costs and health risks to the mother.
Shari Roan
