HEALTH INFORMATION: Healing power of lullabies

A study has shown that playing lullabies reduces stress in sick babies.

Exposed to classical, soothing tunes in the hospital, the babies saw a whopping 13 percent drop in their heart rates.

There was also a four percent increase in oxygen saturation levels.

Both are signs of reduced stress and discomfort, according to a study in Advances In Integrative Medicine.

The music sessions – featuring songs such as Rock-A-Bye-Baby and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star – lasted anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour.

Mothers sang to their babies as they lay in crypts while researchers monitored their vital signs.

Vasectomy is not as painful as you think

Getting the cut is much less painful than long thought.

Vasectomies are thought to cause pain in the scrotum in about five percent of men – a figure often given in patient brochures.

But only 0.12 percent experience such symptoms, according to an analysis of about 90,000 surgeries over a 15-year period by the Society of Primary Care Surgeons.

Meanwhile, a hematoma – when a bruise forms in the scrotal tissue – affects only 1.4 percent of men, rather than the nearly 10 percent often claimed.

The number of men who get a postoperative infection is also much lower than previously thought.

Study leader Julian Peacock, chief registrar at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Vasectomies are very safe – this could encourage more men to have the procedure.”

Vasectomies are thought to cause pain in the scrotum in about five percent of men – a figure often given in patient brochures

Two to three hours of brisk walking a week can reduce the risk of colon cancer coming back.

An American study found that patients who had surgery for the disease and remained active were nearly 70 percent less likely to relapse in the three years after surgery than those with a sedentary lifestyle.

The findings, published in the latest British Journal of Sports Medicine, are significant because although physical activity is known to reduce cancer risk in the first place, this study shows that moderate exercise also affects the likelihood of recurrence.

Even after initially successful treatment, colorectal cancer, which affects almost 43,000 people in the UK each year, can occur in up to 40 per cent of patients.

Google searches for weight-loss tips have been low for nearly 20 years, but demand for muscle-building advice is skyrocketing, according to an analysis of trends.

According to fitness experts at sports nutrition supplier bulk.com, the need for weight loss tips is at its lowest since 2004.

The growing popularity of social media influencers promoting a muscular physique means counting calories has moved from a guide to how to build and look toned.

Abigail Roberts, the company’s sports nutritionist, said: “In the 1990s the focus was on being lean – since then we’ve been aiming for a more athletic physique.”