Great news! Researchers have discovered that regular exercise for teens can reduce the risk of breast cancer later in life – especially the more-aggressive, usually-harder-to-treat, pre-menopausal kind of breast cancer. How much exercise are we talking about? Not an extreme athlete kind. The study found the lowest risk among girls who did 3 and 1/4 hours a week of strenuous exercise, or 13 hours a week of walking – that was the most extreme levels. Studies have long shown that exercise reduces breast cancer rates in middle age (and beyond), but this is the first study (and it was a large, overall well-done study) to show protective benefit in girls. The biggest impact was among those girls who started youngest – age 12. So how do you put this information to use?
Continue reading Lace Up! It’s a Girl Thing
 I found out from the media that I have Godlike powers, given to me by a federal commission. Someone, however, apparently forgot to tell my children – I specifically commanded Grace to eat her breakfast, but then, less than three minutes later, I found her plate on the floor with the dog licking it. Perhaps there has been a communications glitch?
But that hardly seems likely. After all, the announcement of my God status was plastered all over the national news last week – a federal commission of experts released a report outlining the steps that doctors should take in the event of major disaster. These federal experts specifically mentioned the fact that “Godlike” powers should be used by doctors to decide who should live and who should die. On the spot.
As a God, I decided to step over the breakfast plate (and the dog) and hurry in to clinic. Some minion would, undoubtedly, clean the mess up later. But after I arrived at work, I thought at first that no one there knew about my promotion – I mean, why would there be such a pall hanging over the place?
Continue reading Recipe for Disaster
 In what may be the first case of corporation-induced hemorrhoids, a Jet Blue passenger has sued because it is alleged he was made to sit on the potty on a flight for several hours. Oh, wait, we take that back, corporations have been inducing hemorrhoids (physical and psychic) in office workers for decades. Apparently [...]
There are a lot of not-so-great health articles floating in the ether. It’s so nice when one comes along that’s well-researched, practical and interesting. Here’s a great article about (hic!), you guessed it – hiccups. Hiccups aren’t the world’s #1 public health menace (that would be, apparently, computer keyboards), but this article is so full of tidbits that both you and your kids might enjoy it. After all (hic!), who doesn’t get the hiccups? Bonus: Want to know two quirky personal hiccup facts about Doc Gurley? Click here for Continue reading Great (hic!) Article
 Doc Gurley is the guest at Medscape’s Pre-Rounds! Check out her interview by Nick Genes, the creator of Pre-Rounds at Medscape and Grand Rounds of blogs. So what the heck is pre-rounds? Other than something less impressive-sounding than Grand Rounds? Medscape Pre-Rounds, in inimitable Nick Genes style, means an early, in-depth interview with a writer who’s hosting Grand Rounds of healthcare blogs. Real pre-rounds, in actual practice, are a time-honored hospital process that you pretty much never see in the TV versions of medicine. Here’s an insider peek at the whole complicated process:
Continue reading Let’s Pre-Round!
 Are you feeling overwhelmed by the conflicting stories in the news about what pan is safe to use? Are you starting to eyeball that plastic waterbottle of yours like it might contain a Medici poisoning? Was the homeless man actually right - is aluminum foil causing brainwaves? Would someone please answer the question – is all this utensil fear-mongering based on myths, or not?
Here is a good, solid article from Prevention magazine about what to toss from your bottom cabinets. I like this article (two stethoscopes up!) because, if you can’t replace an item, the author includes tips on how to minimize your exposures until you can. Now’s a great time of year to sort through those kitchen shelves, and budget a little extra to treat yourself to a healthier version. Spring clean for health! But do you get sticker shock when you look at the safer products? We here at the Doc Gurley Healthcare Headquarters (also known as “home”), all gave each other one relatively expensive safer water-bottle for a gift treat (birthday coming up, anyone?). It sounds like a lame gift, but in actual practice was fun, self-indugent-feeling, good for the earth, and came with that extra gift of owner-smugness that always makes a present sooo worthwhile. Continue reading Are Your Utensils Causing Dementia?
 Doc Gurley: We want to start today’s interview by first congratulating you, Bertha, on the very successful launch of your new magazine, Bertha Stuart Livering. Could you tell us a bit about how you chose the name – there’s been so much media speculation.
Bertha Stuart: Well, Dr. Gurley – you don’t mind if I call you Doc, for short, do you? – see, Doc, we found in our focus groups that there were few words that got a bigger reaction when it came to the topic of cleaning and interior design, than the word LIVER. So that’s what we went with.
DG: Um. Did you, by any chance, ask if those strong reactions were negative?
BS: What?
DG: [cough] Never mind. Our topic today is spring cleaning, and no one knows spring cleaning like Bertha Stuart.
BS: That’s right, Doc. It’s the season for a good scrub out, and nothing gets me more excited than taking an organized approach, and putting aside the time to do the job right. By the end of this project, if you follow my approach, you’ll have, ready to toss, at least one large double-ply-bag’s worth of nasty, stinky, crusted negative thoughts.
DG: Did you say thoughts? Continue reading Spring Clean Your Thoughts With Bertha Stuart
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About The Author  Doc Gurley is a Board-certified Internist physician and the only Harvard Medical School graduate to have been awarded a Shoney’s Ten-Step Pin for documented excellence in waitressing. Find out more.Doc Gurley Library of Medeos
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