Identifying how groups of animals select where to live is important for understanding social dynamics and for management and conservation. In a recent Journal of Wildlife Management study, researchers examined the movement of a maternity colony of big brown bats as a response to naturally occurring tree loss.

If the thought of inserting something into your urethra makes you squirm, you are not alone. For most men, the idea of taking a swab from the urethra for medical procedures, or inserting a catheter up there is not pleasant, and foreign bodies inside the urethra are not often seen in a clinical urological practice.

However, a 22-year-old man made medical headlines after an 8cm pair of tweezers was removed from his urethra – after being there for four years.

How did they remove the tweezers?

The man, who remains anonymous, reported to a clinic in Saudi Arabia, “with a history of inserting a metal foreign body into his urethra four years ago”, but without suffering any pain prior to visiting the clinic.

Compiled by Marelize Wilke

Parents want the best for their children. Eat well. Get enough sleep. Exercise. But sometimes pressuring your teen to diet or lose weight may end up harming them, a new study suggests.

It found that parents who urge their kids to diet might actually be boosting their odds for obesity later in life. It’s also tied to an increased risk for eating disorders.

Giving it to the next generation

The phenomenon can even stretch across generations, said study lead author Jerica Berge, professor and vice chair for research in the department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Minnesota.

“This new study was conducted over many years, and we can see that these messages stay with someone longitudinally – someone who had [experienced] it now does that to their kid, passing it on, giving it to the next generation,” said Berge.

One expert who works with kids who battle eating disorders wasn’t surprised by the findings.

“We work with young people with serious eating disorders, and we work very closely with parents,” said Ana Ojeda, a clinical psychologist specialising in paediatric patients at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami.

“Some of our kids are hospitalised,” explained Ojeda, who wasn’t involved in the new study. “When you combine eating disorders with depression, anxiety or their own body image, it can lead to very bad consequences. We definitely do not encourage parents to make a foolish focus on a child’s weight. At certain developmental stages, it can be very damaging to self-esteem.”

In the study, Berge’s group looked at data from surveys completed by more than 1 100 adolescents from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area from 1998 to 1999. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed were girls.

Cumulative effect

The respondents then filled out follow-up surveys at five-year intervals beginning in 2003, until they entered their 30s.

By the third survey, more than 40% of young women and 27% of young men said they received encouragement from their mothers to diet to stay slim. About 20% of young females and 18% of young males said they’d gotten similar messages from their dads.

The study couldn’t prove a direct cause-and-effect, but parental pressure to get and stay slim was associated with poorer health in young adulthood, the study found. There seemed to be a cumulative effect on adult behaviours centred on weight, weight-related behaviours and psychosocial well-being, the Minneapolis team found.

For example, by the end of the study – 15 years after the first questionnaires had been filled out – girls who’d been pressured to diet had 49% higher odds of being an obese young adult compared to girls who hadn’t received that parental pressure. Boys who had a similar experience had 13% higher odds of becoming obese young men, the researchers reported.

When it came to what the researchers called “extreme weight control behaviours”, parental pressure to diet boosted the odds for girls by 29% and for boys by 12%, Berge’s group found. Risks for binge eating, specifically, rose by 17% for girls and 39% for boys.

Messages about dieting from parents were also linked to higher odds for poor self-esteem, body satisfaction and depression in young adulthood.

There is a better way

None of this means that parents who encourage dieting are trying to make their kids unhappy or unhealthy, Berge stressed.

“Parents are well-meaning and doing the best for their kids,” she said. “They want them to be as healthy as possible, but they often undermine themselves with the language they use, making a kid feel guilty or ashamed and much less able to change, because they feel about bad about themselves internally.”

As Berge explained, there is a better way.

“If you say something about someone’s weight, it’s internalised as shaming, and it doesn’t lead to behaviour change,” she said. “So, we’re trying to refocus people’s language on eating health. We relate it to something kids like to do. If your kid likes soccer, focus on the fact that eating right can help you run faster on the team. Whatever is of interest to your teen, hone in on that and tell them eating well is for that purpose, not focusing on weight.”

How can parents prevent their good intentions to keep from backfiring?

Rebecca Puhl is deputy director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut. Reviewing the findings, she agreed that “there are better ways for parents to communicate [about weight] with teens”.

Eating as a unit

First off, “what parents do is more powerful than what they say,” she stressed.

“Parents who create a home environment where healthier choices are easier to make – fruits and vegetables are available, minimising junk food, modelling healthy behaviours themselves – are more likely to be effective, rather than telling your teen she or he needs to lose weight,” Puhl said.

Berge believes that it also helps families to focus on health and eating as a unit.

“Engage the family around it, rather than Mommy saying, ‘stop this,'” she said. “Have a good culture in the family around eating. Communicate in a way that promotes healthy eating, not blame.

“We need to be modelling what’s right for our own bodies,” Berge said. “And communicating to children that what’s far more important is their contribution and character than what they look like or the number on the scale.”

The study was published recently in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

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HealthDay

Summertime can bring asthma sufferers a lot of misery, but lung experts say watching for warning signs of breathing trouble can guard against serious complications.

“As the leading organisation working to save lives by improving lung health, we think it’s crucial for people with asthma to know as much as they can about the disease,” said Dr David Hill, volunteer medical spokesperson at the American Lung Association.

No cure for asthma

“This includes the fact that changing seasons have a major impact on asthma. Being prepared for the summer and understanding warning signs can help prevent serious complications,” he said in a lung association news release.

Summer can bring increased pollen in the air, hot temperatures and associated ozone and particle pollution – all of which can trigger asthma symptoms.

There is no cure for asthma, but it can be controlled and managed. Key warning signs that asthma may not be in control include: needing to use a quick-relief inhaler more than two times a week; waking at night with asthma symptoms more than two times a month; having to refill a quick-relief inhaler more than two times a year.

If you have any of these warning signs, you should see your health care provider to improve management of asthma symptoms, such as reducing exposure to asthma triggers, the lung association advised.

May is Asthma Awareness Month.

Longer allergy seasons

Asthma affects about one in 13 people in the United States, including more than six million children, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is the most common childhood disease but can start at any age. The rate of asthma nearly tripled between 1980 and 2010.

Research shows that rising temperatures due to climate change are leading to longer and more intense allergy seasons, according to the news release.

The lung association offers a free, online learning course about asthma triggers, how to identify and reduce them, action plans for flare-ups, how to respond to a breathing emergency, asthma medication education, and an asthma management plan outline.

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HealthDay

The Royal College of Nursing says there are crises over pay and staffing in Northern Ireland.

Lycopene – a nutrient found in tomatoes – may boost sperm quality, a study suggests.

Doctors are being told stop prescribing four types of Zantac, also known as ranitidine, as a “precaution”.

Experts say holding clinics at supermarkets and music festivals would make a bigger difference.

There are a lot of bills to wade through after you have a baby, especially if the birth took place in a hospital. But one new dad noticed something unusual with a hospital bill his family received: His newborn son seemed to have been billed for his own delivery.

Redditor QuicksandGotMyShoe shared a post about his family’s experience that’s now gone viral. “My wife gave birth three months ago and, when going through the bills, we noticed that our baby was billed for its own delivery,” he wrote. “Conveniently (for the insurance company), this meant that it applies towards my son's deductible ($3,500) instead of my wife's which had been fully met at that point due to an earlier hospital stay.” QuicksandGotMyShoe said the family’s insurance “covers in-network hospitalizations fully after the deductible has been met."

QuicksandGotMyShoe later followed up with some good (and not-so-good) news: That the baby was not charged for its own delivery—and that the charges are valid. After speaking with a hospital representative, QuicksandGotMyShoe said he was told "most of what my son was charged was 'newborn charges' ($1,200/day, $2,400 total), the circumcision ($1,800) and 'other charges.'" 

The Redditor added that, while he's still appealing some of the charges to see if they can be moved to his wife's insurance, but says that, overall, the charges are "legit"—but it still raises an important question: How exactly does insurance and billing work when it comes to giving birth?

RELATED: 25-Year-Old Gives Birth While in a Coma After Brain AVM Diagnosis—and Now She Can Hardly Remember She's a Mom

So what do babies (and moms) get billed for during birth?

Health insurance coverage can be confusing under the best of circumstances, and it’s hard to know the details of this particular situation and the family’s coverage. (Health reached out to QuicksandGotMyShoe for comment, but didn’t hear back.) But, when it comes to having a baby, health insurance can be even more maddening. 

“When babies are born, there are two components to the bills,” says Katalin Goencz, CIC, co-president of Alliance of Claim Assistance Professionals. One is the delivery, which is billed to the mother; The other is baby care, which is billed to the insurance on file under the newborn, she says.

As far as deductibles go, which are also confusing, some insurance policies have a per person deductible (i.e. the amount you pay for covered health care before your insurance plan starts to pay). “So, if the baby is born there is a new person on the policy and per person deductible kicks in,” Goencz explains.

Many policies also have a larger family deductible in addition to the personal deductible of each member, says Adria Gross, president of MedWise Insurance Advocacy and author of Solved! Curing Your Medical Insurance Problems. If the family deductible wasn’t met yet, the baby’s birth wouldn’t be covered, she says, adding that "it's a normal thing with health insurance."

In general, you usually have 30 days after you give birth to add your new baby to your healthcare benefits, says Abbie Leibowitz, M.D., founder, chief medical officer. and president emeritus of HealthAdvocate. If you do that, your child’s birth should be covered—again, provided your deductible has been met.

RELATED: Amy Schumer Shares Emotional Post About Going Back to Work After Giving Birth—And Moms Are Living For It

What can you do to make sure you’re not paying unusual bills after you give birth?

When you’re pregnant, make sure your doctor and hospital are in your network, Gross says. And, if your health insurance changed during your pregnancy, you’ll want to check your coverage again.

If you’re planning on having pain management during labor or a C-section, know that anesthesiologists are often out of network. Check your plan in advance to see what your in– and out–of–network coverage entails and, if you’re not sure, Gross recommends calling the hospital where you plan to give birth to ask in advance which insurance companies their anesthesiologists accept. If you have a scheduled induction, call and ask who will be the anesthesiologist who will work with you and make sure they’re in your network, she says. If they’re not covered, ask upfront what the cost will be. “If they tell you in advance what the amount will be, that’s what it should be,” Gross says.

It’s easy to just assume a bill is correct and pay it to avoid a hassle, but insurance mix-ups can and do happen. “Never pay a medical bill without questioning it,” Leibowitz says. You can contact your insurance provider directly or, if that doesn’t seem to help, there are patient advocacy organizations that can take this on for you.

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It’s 3:30 p.m. on a Tuesday, and while most people are hitting their afternoon slump, Laverne Cox is full of energy. Over the past seven hours, the actress has done a dozen interviews, but she doesn’t show a hint of exhaustion. That's impressive, since she's also in the middle of a hectic work schedule filming the upcoming movie Promising Young Woman and speaking out about gender equality.

So what's her secret for getting so much done? Cox tells Health that it's all due to her go-to mantra and self-care routine. 

RELATED: How to Tell if You’re an Empath—Plus 3 Self-Care Habits You Need if You Are

"My mantra is that I can move through life’s challenges and not place my worthiness on the line," says Cox. Her mantra comes from Brené Brown, a researcher who studies shame and vulnerability, she explains. 

"Worthiness is a birthright," says Cox. "So I am going to go through life’s challenges without my worthiness on the table. They don’t get to have my worthiness, that is God-given."

Her mantra is only part of what keeps her powering through her day. She also relies on her self-care routine, which starts with a good night’s sleep. 

“Sleep is really crucial for me,” she says. “I know with a lot of busy people, sleep is the first thing to go. I’m here in New York this week and everyone’s like ‘You’re in New York, let’s get coffee,’ and I’m like, ‘I’m working, I’m going to need to sleep after that. That’s probably all I’ll have time for.’”

RELATED: 15 Ways to Add Self-Care to Your Workout Routine

While eight hours of sleep isn’t always doable, Cox says that she’ll try to score an extra hour or so of rest, and then meditate during any quiet moments she has. Besides sleep and meditation, she has a few other unique self-care steps. 

“Throughout the day it’s about putting on some music and dancing,” she says. “I love karaoke when I can fit it in, and it is crucial. It’s so cathartic to me, just like getting in a room with a friend and screaming into a microphone and dancing. It’s a release. You have to get the energy out.”

Cox's most important self-care move involves throwing herself into projects that connect her to her values. “I have to say, though, when I’m engaged in work that makes me feel connected to purpose, to an energy that’s bigger than me where I’m doing something of service, I feel my best,” she explains. 

RELATED: 6 Reasons Masturbating Should Be Part of Your Self-Care Routine

After her breakout role as Sophia on Orange Is the New Black, Cox used her platform to support transgender rights. Since her transition 21 years ago, she has made it her mission to be a trans advocate in the US. She proved that at the 2019 Emmys, when she paired her dramatic Monsoori gown with a rainbow clutch that read “Oct. 8 Title VII Supreme Court.” It was a nod to Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which protects gay and transgender people from workplace discrimination.

Cox explains that if the Supreme Court decides to eliminate Title VII protections, trans people could lose their employment, and by extension, their health care. “I love my body, I really do,” she says. “And that’s because I have had access to healthcare. I feel like that saved my life. I know for sure that saved my life. I think it’s a matter of life or death, having access to health insurance, and specifically transition-related healthcare.”

In addition to being a political activist, Cox has partnered with Band-Aid and (RED) to help provide lifesaving medication for people living with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

“These projects really makes me feel good, being able to spread the word to lift up individuals and causes that are bigger than me,” says Cox. “The best self-care is to find a way to be of service."

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