Health News: Get Some Z's

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The percentage a pre- schooler reduces his or her risk of obesity as a teen by going to bed by 8 p.m. rather than after 9 p.m. —National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Stand Up

People who alternated sitting and standing every 15 minutes over an eight-hour period burned more calories than those who stayed seated. —Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise

Protecting the Prostate

Men who eat at least 6 ounces of legumes per week have half the prostate cancer risk of those who eat less. Researchers posit that digesting the fiber in beans decreases inflammation, which plays a role in the development of tumors. —British Journal of Nutrition

Games and Good Choices

Glued to the screen playing strategy vid- eo games? Those who do are more likely to make healthy long-term choices. The reason, a recent study suggests, is that the games require players to analyze actions and consequences while visual- izing future outcomes. —Personality and Individual Differences

Why You Should Walk in the Woods

Researchers found that women who spent two to four hours in the woods on two consecutive days showed close to a 50 percent increase in the level of cancer-fighting white blood cells. —Nippon Medical School, Tokyo

Fat Not a Foe?

People eating a Mediterranean diet rich in vegetables and healthy fats—those found in olive oil and tuna—lost more weight over a five-year period than those who ate low-fat diets. —The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology

Link Between Epidurals and Depression

Researchers found that some women who received epidural anesthesia before childbirth had fewer depressive symptoms postpartum. Researchers theorize that the psychological trauma of pain associated with delivery may contribute to depression afterward. —University of Pittsburgh

“Epidurals are formulated to reduce pain while still allowing movement of the legs and sensing pressure with contractions so the ability to push is not taken away. Another benefit is the lower likelihood of side effects such as drowsiness and nausea.”—Michael Block, M.D., director, obstetric anesthesiology, Hackensack University Medical Center

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The percentage that the breast cancer mortality rate has dropped in the U.S. since the late 1980s. —International Prevention Research Institute

Soda and Diabetes

Drinking one to two cans of soda daily puts you at a 26 percent greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes than those who ban the bever- age. Think diet is better? People who drink one can daily are 2.9 times more likely to have an ischemic stroke and three times more likely to develop dementia than those who don’t touch the stuff. – Stroke