Hypnosis and acupuncture may ease labour painNEW YORK (Reuters Health) — Hypnosis and acupuncture are promising approaches to relieve pain during labour and delivery, but more research is needed to determine whether these two strategies, as well as other complementary therapies — such as massage, relaxation, aromatherapy, acupressure, and white noise — relieve labour pain.A study that reviewed the most current scientific evidence of complementary and alternative therapies for pain management in labour published in the current issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an organisation that evaluates research and draws evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing studies.

“The pain of labour can be intense, with tension, anxiety and fear making it worse,” write Caroline Smith of the University of Adelaide, Australia and colleagues. Many women want to give birth without using drugs and often turn to complementary and alternative medicine to help them through the labour pain.

Smith and three associates pooled data from 14 studies involving 1,448 women who used different means of pain management during labour.

Data from the three acupuncture trials (496 women) showed a 30-percent decrease in need for pain-relieving drugs, as well as a reduced need for epidurals and drugs like oxytocin, which stimulates labour.

Women who were taught self-hypnosis in the five hypnosis trials (729 women) were also much less likely to require drug-induced pain relief, including epidurals, during labor and were significantly more satisfied with their pain management than were women in the control group.Teens may resist some effects of drinkingNEW YORK (Reuters Health) — New animal research suggests that teenagers’ brains may be better at adapting to certain short-term effects of drinking. But that’s not a good thing, researchers say.In experiments with rats, scientists found that adolescent rodents developed an “acute tolerance” to alcohol, quickly recovering from the immediate effects alcohol had on their social behaviour, while their adult counterparts remained impaired for a longer stretch.

For rats, social behaviour essentially consists of sniffing and play fighting. In human terms, the animals’ alcohol-induced impairment was akin to being unable to speak with your drinking buddies. The teenage rodents, however, quickly regained their social skills. Thirty minutes after being given alcohol, their social behaviour appeared normal; in contrast, the adult animals were still unable to interact normally, according to findings published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

Though the findings come from animals, there may well be comparable differences between human teenagers and adults, according to lead study author Dr. Elena I. Varlinskaya of Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York.

This is concerning, she told Reuters Health, because this acute tolerance to alcohol’s effects on social behaviour could allow teenagers to drink more. Whereas adults might stop drinking when they feel their social skills slipping away, teenagers may have no such deterrent.Activity pyramid for children aims for an interesting mixNEW YORK (Reuters Health) — Fitness experts have given a familiar physical activity guide for kids a splashy new look and a new name.They’re hoping that MyActivity Pyramid, redesigned to match the MyPyramid developed by the US Department of Agriculture to replace the old Food Guide Pyramid, will encourage kids to get the exercise they need and have fun doing it.

“It’s just a way to show kids rather than tell kids how they can get their activity,” Steve Ball, an assistant professor of exercise physiology at the University of Missouri-Columbia Extension, told Reuters Health.

The exercise recommendations, targeted to children aged six to 11, haven’t changed from older versions of the pyramid, he notes. But while the standard recommendation for children is for at least one hour of activity daily, Ball said, kids really need much more. “Most kids are still getting this kind of minimum 60 minutes, but obesity rates are going up.”

MyActivity Pyramid is made up of four layers intended to reflect kids’ natural inclination to be active in a variety of ways, he adds. “We don’t really want to promote continuous vigorous exercise for kids, because that can almost turn them off to it,” he explained. “As parents, as teachers and administrators at schools, we need to provide kids with multiple opportunities to be active.”

Everyday activities like walking, helping with chores, and climbing stairs are recommended “as often as possible,” and make up the pyramid’s base.

Next are Active Aerobics and Recreational Activities, exercise that boosts the heart rate and raises a sweat, such as jumping rope, playing basketball or soccer, and swimming, recommended at least three to five times a week.

Flexibility and Strength activities, such as yoga, rope climbing, push-ups and pull-ups and stretching, make up the next layer and should be done at least two or three times a week.

“Inactivity” is at the pyramid’s tip, and consists of playing video games, watching TV, and playing on the computer, which kids are urged to “cut down.”

Given the increased homework load many kids face and the need to use computers, Ball notes, limiting inactivity can be tough. “Usually the stat that I use is no more than two hours of screen time a day, but a lot of people would say that’s impossible.”

MyActivity Pyramid is available online at

http://muextension.missouri.edu/explore/hesguide/foodnut/n00386.htm‘Sexsomniacs’ puzzle medical researchersLONDON (Reuters) — Researchers are struggling to understand a rare medical condition where sufferers unknowingly demand, or actually have, sex while asleep, New Scientist magazine reported.Research into sexsomnia — making sexual advances towards another person while asleep —has been hampered as sufferers are so embarrassed by the problem they tend not to own up to it, while doctors do not ask about it.

As yet there is no cure for the condition, which often leads to difficulties in relationships.