Southwest Rehab

New studies are suggesting that music can be more powerful than medication. When I gave birth to my first-born, I listened to CDs of classical music in the hospital. I figured that music would help calm me and distract me from the pain. You might use music to distract yourself from painful or stressful situations, too. Or perhaps you've listened to music while studying or working out, hoping to up your performance. Though you may sense that music helps you feel better somehow

Some people — who are they? — have no problem fitting regular aerobic exercise into their lives. The rest of us want to know how much we have to exercise to see health benefits. Now we have some answers: You may want to go just a tad longer and harder than you'd thought. Current government guidelines advise adults to get the equivalent of at least 2 1/2 hours of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise or 75 minutes of higher-intensity exercise every week, plus some strength train

Identical twins in Finland who shared the same sports and other physical activities as youngsters but different exercise habits as adults soon developed quite different bodies and brains, according to a fascinating new study that highlights the extent to which exercise shapes our health, even in people who have identical genes and nurturing. Determining the precise, long-term effects of exercise is surprisingly difficult. Most large-scale exercise studies rely on questionnair

With evidence mounting that sitting for long stretches of time is unhealthy, many of us naturally wonder how best to respond. Should we stand up, or is merely standing insufficient? Must we also stroll or jog or do jumping jacks? A new study offers some helpful perspective, suggesting that even a few minutes per hour of moving instead of remaining in a chair might substantially reduce the harms of oversitting. As most of us have heard by now, long bouts of sitting can increas

Participation in sports by girls and young women has soared in recent decades — by 560 percent among high school students since 1972, and 990 percent among college students, according to the Women's Sports Foundation. Highly committed young female athletes now run track and play soccer, basketball, water polo and other demanding sports that require strong bodies. But many girls aren't eating enough to satisfy the physical demands of those sports, scientists say, and that's pu