Have you ever considered inducing labor? A friend of mine did this – twice. And with the help of her midwife. Each time, she wanted to deliver a few days before her due date in order to be able to fly to attend a wedding party. The first time it worked out and everything went well. The second time, something went wrong and she had to have an emergency C-section. Luckily, she and her baby came through safe and sound.

But seriously, I think it was very irresponsible of her. And of her midwife. Forcing your baby out of your tummy because you don’t want to miss a party is – well – I’d rather not say it.

There are medical reasons when labor has to be induced and the most common are when baby’s long overdue, way beyond (more than 6 days) the expected date. A lot of inductions, however, are done for convenience, according to researchers at La Trobe University, Australia.

Researchers advise against induction of labor unless absolutely necessary. And before doing so, the benefits should be weighed against the risks.

So what are the risks?

According to the Australian study:

• Induced labors increased the risk for C-section (2 to 4 times more), forceps delivery (20 to 70%), and hemorrhage (17%) compared to spontaneous deliveries.
• It also increased the likelihood for babies to be in need of neonatal care (24%) and active resuscitation (15 to 100%).
• For the mother, the risk of tearing of the perineum or episiotomy is high during induced labor compared to spontaneous delivery.

And what are the benefits?

Other than convenience, you mean? Hmmm………..

What about you? Would you go for induced labor for the sake of convenience?

Sleep deprivation ? every parent with infants knows how it feels. Especially moms. I used to be a good sleeper ? until I had kids. Even after my twins started sleeping through, I continued to have problems falling asleep and sleeping through. Worse I became such a light sleeper that I woke at the slightest sound. The mom-is-always-on-call-complex is difficult to get rid of and I still have it 5 years after delivery.

A recent study shows that poor sleep seems to have more serious health consequences for women than for men. Women who are poor sleepers have higher risk of heart disease and diabetes compared to men with sleeping problems. This is based on a survey involving 210 healthy middle-aged women and men without any history of sleep disorders, who are non-smokers and not on daily medications. Blood samples from the participants were analyzed to determine the risk of diabetes and heart disease. The results showed that among men and women with similar sleeping problems, the risk profiles were dramatically different ? women have it worse.

And what is interesting is that it’s not so much the overall poor sleep quality that was associated with health risk, but rather the length of time it takes a person to fall asleep. It has been found that women who take half an hour or more to fall asleep showed the worst risk to heart disease and diabetes. It seems that poor quality sleep among women is due to distress, depression and anger, emotions which have also been linked to heart problems. Sleeping disorders among men, however, are due to different causes than these.

SOURCE:

MedicineNet, 21 March 2008.

Physical activity is good for your health. This we know. Moderate alcohol intake is said to be healthy, too. So what do you get when you combine these 2 together?

A Danish study tells us that lots of exercise and a little bit of alcohol may actually be the perfect recipe to a long life. The study followed up 11,914 men and women for almost 20 years and observed their physical activities and alcohol intake habits. Their results can be summarized as:

* Non-drinking couch potatoes have the highest risk of having heart problems – 49% higher than the rest.

* The physically active teetotalers have about 33% lower risk than those leading sedentary lifestyles.

* The physically active moderate drinkers have almost 50% lower risk than those leading sedentary lifestyles.

* Among those who are active and doing similar amounts of exercise, the moderate drinkers won hands down, having 30% less likelihood to have heart disease than their non-drinking counterparts.

The study defined ?moderate? drinking as 1 to 14 units of alcohol a week, with 1 unit of alcohol being equal to half a pint of normal strength beer, half of a medium-sized glass of wine, or a single shot of a spirit.

But remember, a little bit of alcohol may be healthy but alcohol abuse is not.

Sources:

European Heart Journal January 2008 29(2):204-212

BBC News January 9, 2008