Add a swine flu shot to your Christmas wish list.

The first county-by-county survey of obesity reflects past studies that show the rate of obesity is highest in the Southeast and Appalachia.

By MARY SHEDDEN
Media General News Service

Women being treated for heart disease may be less depressed if their rehabilitation is gender-exclusive, says a University of South Florida researcher.

What would you be willing to do to lose weight?

What skill do happy couples and successful parents develop that their less successful peers do not? They deliver sincere compliments frequently and well.

ST. PETERSBURG - On the streets of Fallujah, Al Miller was the closest thing his fellow Marines had to a family physician.

The end of a 15-year annual decline in the U.S. adult smoking rate proved disturbing to federal officials and anti-tobacco advocates.

CLEARWATER, FLA. — Few physical tests are tougher than a half-Ironman — 70.3 consecutive miles of swimming, cycling and running.

The two quotes below present two strikingly different views of maturity. The first is by the founder of Forbes Magazine, B.C. Forbes. The second quote comes from the famous novelist, Kurt Vonnegut. Maybe these quotes represent the optimistic or pessimistic ways in which each looked at life. Or, maybe the quotations represent only one of many ways each man understood life. One day biographers will tell us more.

Self-regulation may be the key to success in school and college, according to researchers.

It makes sense that teenagers are mostly responsible for the current vampire vogue. All they see in movies and on TV is the mystery and romance, the heartbreaking conflict of loving a damaged demon.

Fear of the swine flu is no reason to be scared off of Halloween.

It was the best of times.

One of my friends, Dr. Bill Robinson, is president of Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington. At this small liberal arts college, administrators worried about the impact of the economy on the parents of their students. Bill sent the following account of his first interaction with parents after the economy hit bottom. The encounter came as he delivered an address on Parents’ Weekend.

Have you ever walked by an exercise class and seen them using something that looked like a surgical tube with handles on the ends?

The truth is we never know if change will make us happier.

Giving babies Tylenol to prevent fever when they get childhood vaccinations may backfire and make the shots a little less effective, surprising new research suggests.

Advertisements on buses and in movie theaters, television and radio spots, temporary tattoos, T-shirts and stickers are all being used in a media campaign to persuade Virginians to get the H1N1 swine-flu vaccine.

Breast cancer - often regarded as a female illness - can strike women and men alike, and is equally deadly for either gender.

Getting a colonoscopy at a freestanding surgery center instead of a hospital outpatient department can shave $371 off the price.

In the wake of a Woodbrook Elementary School student’s death and a growing number of confirmed swine flu cases, Albemarle County school officials and University of Virginia pediatricians are recommending that anyone feeling ill stay home and take care of themselves.

As the swine flu sweeps through schools and households across the state, many folks feel as if hand washing now rivals time spent playing outside.

My husband picked up my purse the other day.

Research supports what we all know, grandparents can play important roles in the lives of their grandchildren.

Since Esau held a mortal grudge against Jacob, friends and families have been torn apart by people who nourish grudges.

Six years ago, Ava Carter got her first flu shot after a bout with pneumonia.

It appears some people are taking the constant warnings about swine flu seriously.

Flulike illness is hitting Virginia’s colleges and universities unevenly, but schools are adopting similar strategies to keep the numbers of sick down.

TAMPA — Swine flu parties that intentionally expose healthy people to illness are dangerous propositions, health officials say.