Asking new sex partners to use a condom sends a positive message, not a negative one, according to US research. Previous reports suggested many people might be embarrassed to bring up condom use for fear that a sexual partner would think they had a sexually transmitted disease (STD). But the new study suggests your partner will "like you more, respect you more, be more likely to want a long-term relationship with you, feel that the sexual encounter was more intimate and be no less likely to think you have an STD, or that you think he or she has one either," say the study authors. --(Reuters)
Children who watch a lot of television, especially just before bedtime or on TV sets in their bedroom, are more likely to resist going to bed, have trouble sleeping, sleep less or wake up more, according to a new US study published in the online version of the journal Pediatrics (www.pediatrics.org). This adds to a growing amount of research showing TV's harmful effects on children, which links heavy TV viewing to depression, anxiety and violent behaviour, as well as obesity and poor school performance.
Young women who are not getting enough folic acid and other B vitamins may be at higher risk for stroke, according to a report in the journal Stroke. In a US study, women with the highest levels of the amino acid, homocysteine, were 60 per cent more likely to suffer a stroke than women with lower levels - similar to the increased stroke risk resulting from smoking 20 cigarettes a day. Folic acid (found in green leafy vegetables and cereals) and other B vitamins are thought to lower blood levels of homocysteine.
Almost half of all women taking the Pill forget to take it at least once a month, according to contraceptive pill manufacturers, Organon. So the company has developed an electronic reminder card. On the first day of a new pack, you press a button on the creditcard sized piece of plastic, which contains a microchip timer. The card then beeps at the same time every day for the next three months. --(New Scientist)