Health trends

Sick smokers can double survival

.People with early lung cancer who quit smoking could double their chances of surviving, a new study says. Until now, there has been little proof that quitting smoking after developing lung cancer makes any difference to survival. British researchers analysed previous data from 10 studies, examining how long smokers survived after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

People with lung cancer who continued smoking had a 29 to 33 per cent chance of surviving five years. However, those who kicked the habit had a 63 to 70 per cent chance of being alive after five years. The research was published Friday in the BMJ, formerly known as the British Medical Journal.

Lung cancer is the top cancer worldwide and the prognosis is usually poor. Only about seven per cent of patients make it to five years, though about 20 per cent of patients are diagnosed early enough to be treated.

Source: The Associated Press

Sitting is bad for your health

Here's a new warning from health experts: Sitting is deadly. Scientists are increasingly warning that sitting for prolonged periods - even if you also exercise regularly - could be bad for your health. And it doesn't matter where the sitting takes place - at the office, at school, in the car or before a computer or TV - just the overall number of hours it occurs.

Research is preliminary but several studies suggest people who spend most of their days sitting are more likely to be fat, have a heart attack or even die. In an editorial published this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Elin Ekblom-Bak of the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences suggested that authorities rethink how they define physical activity to highlight the dangers of sitting.

While health officials have issued guidelines recommending minimum amounts of physical activity, they haven't suggested people try to limit how much time they spend in a seated position.

Source: The Associated Press