Health Buzz: Spanking May Make Kids Dumber and Other Health News

Researcher Says Spanking Hurts Kids' IQs

An expert on discipline and domestic violence says that children who are spanked score lower on IQ tests, HealthDay reports. Murray Straus, codirector of the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire, studied national IQ test scores of more than 1,500 kids between the ages of 2 and 9. Their score results four years after initial testing revealed that children between the ages of 2 and 4 who were not spanked scored an average of 5 points higher than those who were spanked. Children between ages 5 and 9 who were not spanked scored nearly 3 points higher, on average.

[Read how spanking affects children in the long term. And check out 8 ways parents go wrong when disciplining their kids.]

With Rapid Swine Flu Spread, Will H1N1 Vaccine Come Too Late?

Flu outbreaks are occurring all across the country, three months earlier than usual, because of the circulating H1N1 virus (aka swine flu). The first doses of vaccine probably won't be available for at least another few weeks, U.S. News's Deborah Kotz writes. A RAND survey conducted in June suggests that about half of American adults are willing to have it. Those ages 18 to 64 said that they were more likely to get the swine flu vaccine than to get a seasonal flu shot.

Whether the H1N1 vaccine will arrive soon enough and in large enough quantities to protect most of the population remains in question, Kotz writes. Richard Wenzel, an H1N1 expert and former president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, predicts that the outbreak will last another four to eight weeks before tapering off. Given that the vaccine will be produced in limited quantities on a rolling basis, most healthy middle-aged adults—who the government recommends should be vaccinated after children, college students, and pregnant women—won't be getting immunized before the outbreaks peak and wane.

[Slideshow: 5 do's and 5 don'ts to minimize your chances of getting swine flu or spreading it.]

Alzheimer's Disease: Causes and Prevention

A new study in mice suggests that insufficient sleep may lead to Alzheimer's disease, Science News reports. Scientists found that without enough sleep, mice had more Alzheimer's plaques in their brains. The plaques can form from buildup of a protein known as beta-amyloid. The team, led by David Holtzman, a neurologist and neuroscientist at Washington University, also found that beta-amyloid levels rose while the mice were awake and fell while they were asleep. After measuring protein levels in the spinal fluid of people, researchers found the same fluctuation during sleep and wakefulness, according to Science News. The results were published online in the journal Science.

According to a new report from Alzheimer's Disease International, some 35.6 million people worldwide will have a form of dementia in 2010. That number is expected to nearly double every 20 years, reaching an estimated 65.7 million in 2030 and 115.4 million by 2050.

[Slideshow: 6 ways to lower your risk of Alzheimer's and dementia.]

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