Tag Archives: behavior change

Supportive environments a key factor in successful smoking cessation

According to Carla Berg, professor in the Rollins School of Public Health and a member of Winship’s Cancer Prevention and Control program smoking cessation is more likely to succeed when an individual is provided social support. Critical to maintaining a tobacco-free lifestyle is a positive outlook on success reinforced by family and friends, rather than negative complaints about smoking behaviors and nagging about the problem.

An interview with Dr. Berg and additional information about behaviors that promote smoking cessation is available through the Emory News Center.

A New Year’s resolution to diet? Emory cardiologist helps rank top diets

It’s common for many of us to make a New Year’s resolution about diet and fitness… but how do we know which diet is the right one for us? Emory Heart and Vascular Center cardiologist Laurence Sperling, MD served on a U.S. News & World Report panel evaluating some of the USA’s most popular diets. Learn more about this report at the Emory Health Now blog.

Video Games Help Improve the Health of Kids with Cystic Fibrosis

Can you be healthy and have a genetic disease that causes mucous to build up in the lungs and the intestines to improperly absorb nutrients?  To a certain extent, the answer is yes.  Patients with Cystic Fibrosis can take steps to be in charge of their lives and improve daily functioning is by following strict daily regimes of medications and lung exercises that helps to expel the life-threatening mucous that develops as a result of the condition.

Compliance, however, is always an issue.  A paper presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) meeting in April 2011 reported that treatment adherence improved in children aged 8-18 when their breathing therapies were conducted using digital spirometers that were adapted to act as the “controller” for a video game.  For more information, an interview with the study directors is available through Science Daily at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110430133119.htm.