Its official! Drug Advertising Sells More Drugs.

Sometimes you have to wonder what people are thinking.

In my local paper today, they had a big article about the fact that an experiment was done to see if doctors prescribe a drug a patient asks for because the patient saw the drug on TV even though the patient's condition didn't warrant a prescription.

And surprise, surprise! The experiment showed the doctors are five times more like to prescribe a drug that a patient specifically asks for because the patient saw an ad on television.

Drug companies have known this for years. That is why they spend billions on TV advertising. They know many doctors will go along with a patient if the doctor sees no real harm coming from something a patient wants to do. So if a patient comes and asks for a specific drug for say depression, the doctor is inclined to okay it rather than stand firm and tell the patient that the drug is not needed.

And we all wonder why health care costs just keep going up and up in this country.

Steroids - Not just a man's problem anymore!

Steroid abuse, once primarily confined to male athletes and bodybuilders, has grown alarmingly in recent years among the female population

Girls as young as 9 are getting hooked on steroids - not for the athletic boost that they give, but rather to help develop a toned and sculpeted look like their favorite models and movie stars.

Part of the rise in recent years is due to the growth of of women's athletics but a large portion of it is associated with women trying to develop a certain look. Estimates are that between 5 and 7 percent of middle school and high school girls have tried steroids. And as many as two-thirds of the users are takign steroids for weight control rather than athletic ability.

Side effects experienced by teen girls taking steroids include severe acne, a deeper voice, smaller breasts, irregular periods, excess hair on the face and body, paranoia, depression and fits of anger. Long term effects can include cancer, heart attack and stroke.

Walk 10K Steps a Day for Health

According to the Surgeon General, we should get 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day beyond normal acticities. Also, it doesn't need to be done all at the same time. So you could take a 10 minute walk, do 15 minutes of gardening and maybe 10 minutes of housecleaning throughout the day, this counts towards those figures. However, the goal really is to do an additional 30 minutes of exercise a day over and above your typical daily routine.

Personally, I like to set aside a dedicated exercise period where I do exercisel; walking, riding a bike, etc. And then I figure anything else I do - like walking the dog, working in the yard, etc. is bonus exercise.

For folks who are not able to set aside a dedicated large block of exercise time, it gets a bit harder to remember if you took enough time to do your exercise today.

Here is a way to find out.

A typical person will take about 5-6000 steps in an average day. This is all part of your typical daily routine of living. The goal is to add an additional 4-5000 steps per day - about the amount you would do in a comfortably paced daily 30 minute walk.

10,000 steps sounds like a huge number but you would be amazed at how many steps you are already taking a day. I think the number is huge because we wonder how we are ever going to count all the steps in the day. After all, on a scale of things to think about, this one rates pretty low.

Well, once again technology comes to the rescue. There is a small device called a pedometer that will track all your steps for you automatically. You just clip it on your belt or tie it around your waist and it will record every step that you take that day.

You can find a large variety of pedometers by Oregon Scientific in the $30 to $40 range. All are high quality and have a variety of features associated with them. Some are fairly basic - measuring just how far you walk. Others have advanced features like taking your pulse and letting you know how many calories you have burned.

In addition to being a very inexpensive and practical exercise aid, pedometers are fun because they let you see how much walking you really accumulate during a typical day. It is a great way to visually see your progession towards greater health every day.

Startling news! A little extra weight may be good for you.

Here we go again...

It seems that the latest study by the CDC show that being moderately overweight is actually more healthy for you than being what is considered a normal weight. They do of course point out that being obese is definitely very bad for your health. So don't go run out and start eating everything you want. But maybe it is OK to not worry so much about that last 5 or ten pounds.

The CDC is being very careful in their statement however. They do not want people suddenly thinking it is OK to be overweight and they still plan to continue their aggressive education campaign to help get America slimmer.

If anything comes out of this study, it will be a reevaluation of the BMI (Body Mass Index) numbers which are used to determine if someone is overweight or obese. Currently a BMI of 25 or higher is considered overweight and a BMI of 30 or over is considered obese.

BMI is a simple weight to height ratio type of measurement and a possible end result of this study will be to show that this is an incomplete measure of obesity. And perhaps a new standard will be developed.