For decades, experts, studies and the media have reported that caregiving takes a toll on the caregiver's health — for example, boosting levels of inflammation and weakening the immune system. A recent Johns Hopkins University study analyzed 30 papers on immune function in caregivers and concluded the link has been overstated and the association is extremely small.

"We're not saying that family caregiving can't be stressful, but there's a notion that it's so stressful that it causes deteriorating health and increased mortality. This can lead to fear of caregiving and a reluctance to care for loved ones in need," said first author David Roth, director of the Center on Aging and Health at Johns Hopkins. "We're challenging that narrative as being too exaggerated."

The study found that caregiver stress explains less than 1% of the variability in immune and inflammation biomarkers.

Get Me That, Stat!

Mom was right. Preliminary findings from a new study out of Tufts University suggest that not eating enough fruit and vegetables may increase one's risk of death from heart disease or stroke. The study estimated that roughly 1 in 7 cardiovascular deaths could be attributed to not eating enough fruit and 1 in 12 cardiovascular deaths to not eating enough vegetables.

Stories for the Waiting Room

Fifty-two children died in hot cars in the United States in 2018, the deadliest year in the last two decades, say experts. At least 17 have already died this year, with summer just getting into full swing.

The Car Heat Calculator provides a quick — and perhaps terrifying — look at how fast a child's body temperature can rise minute by minute trapped inside an overheating car. You can visit the heat calculator and dozens of other health-related calculators at https://www.omnicalculator.com/health/car-heat.

Doc Talk

Proctalgia fugax: Latin for, quite literally, a pain in the butt. It typically refers to muscle spasms of the derriere with no identifiable cause.

Phobia of the Week

Trypophobia: Fear of holes or textures with a pattern of holes.

Never Say 'Diet'

The Major League Eating record for matzo balls is 21 (baseball-sized) in 5 minutes, 25 seconds, held by Eric Booker. Matzo-tov!

Observation

"The great secret that all old people share is that you really haven't changed in seventy or eighty years. Your body changes, but you don't change at all. And that, of course, causes great confusion." — British-Zimbabwean novelist Doris Lessing (1919-2013)

Medical History

This week in 1986, the FDA licensed production of a new hepatitis B vaccine, the first recombinant genetically altered vaccine. It replaced the old method of making hepatitis B vaccines from blood taken from human chronic hepatitis B virus carriers.

Perishable Publications

Many, if not most, published research papers have titles that defy comprehension. They use specialized jargon, complex words and opaque phrases like "nonlinear dynamics." Sometimes they don't, and yet they're still hard to figure out. Here's an actual title of actual published research: "Role of childhood aerobic fitness in successful street crossing."

Noting the importance of aerobic fitness in youth, University of Illinois researchers decided to assess it compared to an everyday real-world task: crossing streets. Their 2012 study found that higher levels of aerobic fitness "may attenuate the impairment typically associated with multitasking during street crossing" in kids. In other words, fitter children more easily dodge traffic they weren't initially paying attention to.

Med School

In medieval times, medical practitioners treated the body's four "humors," which in combination controlled both our biology and psychology. Can you name the four humors in terms of their physiological representation and their personality type?

Answer:

1. Black bile (melancholic — analytic and quiet)

2. Phlegm (phlegmatic — relaxed and peaceful)

3. Yellow bile (sanguine — optimistic and social)

4. Blood (choleric — short-tempered and irritable)

Last Words

"Yeah, country music." — Jazz drummer Buddy Rich (1917-1987). While Rich was being prepped for surgery, a nurse asked him, "Is there anything you can't take?"

To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.