Making Stairs a Lure for Exercise

Climbing stairs is a well-established way to help keep fit. But many staircases dont lend themselves to climbing. They are tucked away in hard-to-reach places and unappealingly designed and lighted.
Writing in The Southern Medical Journal,the researchers said that even a moderate increase in the use of stairs could play a role in helping to solve weight problems. The authors pointed to several characteristics of stair design that discourage regular use.
To begin with,they said,stairs are generally viewed mostly as a way to leave a building in case of fire. Because of fire codes,the article said,they tend to have heavy spring doors and no carpeting. They are also not air-conditioned.
Instead,the authors (Ishak A. Mansi of Louisiana State University and his architect wife Nardine Mansi) said stairs should be made a central feature of new buildings and be designed to draw people to them.
In one study,the article said,researchers looked at increasing stair use at a workplace by adding carpeting. They also painted the walls,put up artwork and played music in the stairwell. And they put up motivational signs encouraging people to take the stairs.
NYT

Diabetes doesnt RAISE depression risk
Although people with diabetes have a higher risk of being diagnosed with depression than other people,a large new study has found that much of that increase can be accounted for by their more frequent contacts with the medical system,rather than the diabetes itself.
Previous research had suggested a higher likelihood of being depressed among diabetic individuals,Dr. Patrick J. OConnor of HealthPartners Research Foundation in Bloomington,Minnesota and his team write in their report,while other studies have had mixed results. One analysis of 42 studies found that people with diabetes were twice as likely to have depression than non-diabetics,they point out in the Annals of Family Medicine.
But few studies of the issue have accounted for the number of primary care visits that patients make,the report adds,which could influence both whether or not a person had diabetes and whether they were diagnosed with and treated for depression.
To investigate,the researchers looked at records from a large medical group that treated about 2,25,000 patients between 1997 and 2003. They compared 2,932 people who received a diagnosis of diabetes during that time and 14,144 diagnosed with diabetes before 1997 to two different control groups. The first was matched by age and sex,while the second group was matched by age,sex and number of primary care visits.

For every group of patients,the likelihood of being newly diagnosed with depression fell as the number of times they visited the doctor increased. Among patients who already had diabetes,those who had few physician visits during the study period were 46 per cent more likely to be newly diagnosed with depression during the course of the study.
But for the diabetic patients who had more than 10 physician visits during the study period,the risk of a new depression diagnosis was similar to that of non-diabetic individuals who visited their physicians equally often.
Reuters