Want To Live Longer? Research Tidbits Point The Way.

There are several intriguing articles in the recent issue of journal Preventive Medicine. Among them: how babies are bad for your health, why you should act like a Mormon, and why you should be glad your dog wants to go for a walk.

Bad Babies

Researchers from the University of Victoria (British Columbia) reviewed a number of earlier studies and found that "parents with dependent children are clearly more inactive than non-parents." A 2007 paper tracking younger adults (average age: 24) found that with parenthood, men's physical activity fell 4.5 hours per week (versus a 50 minute per week drop for childless men over the same time); for new mothers, activity fell 80 minutes per week versus 20 minutes per week for their childless compatriots.

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Live Like a Mormon

We've read that French Women Don't Get Fat, but is it time for a bestseller about the LDS diet? UCLA researchers found compared almost 10,000 religiously active Mormons to a control group of 15,000 over periods of up to 24 years. Overall, the death rate for a Mormon in any given year was only about 40% that of the "average" American. The scientists credit the healthy LDS lifestyle, which not only includes abstention from smoking and alcohol but also strong family ties. Earlier research by UCLA's James Enstrom has shown that Mormons have markedly lower mortality rates for cancers and cardiovascular diseases.

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It's Not Just Your Dog Getting The Exercise ...

Your dog can improve your health. Researchers found that 72% of dog owners who walked their dog regularly were physically active for at least 150 minutes per week, but only 44% of dog owners who didn't walk their dog reached that milestone. People who didn't walk their dog seemed to do so because their pet didn't motivate them (in our house, the motivation is a dog who won't stop walking on me at 6:15am) or because there was no "social support" for the dog walk.

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