People who snore loudly, have difficulty falling asleep, or often wake up feeling tired may have more to worry about than dozing off at work. A new study suggests they may also be at increased risk of developing heart disease and other health problems down the road.In the study, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh asked more than 800 people between the ages of 45 and 74 about the quality of their sleep. Three years later, the people who reported snoring loudly were more than twice as likely as quiet sleepers to have metabolic syndrome -- a cluster of risk factors for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke that includes high blood pressure, high blood sugar, low "good" cholesterol, high triglycerides, and excess belly fat. [Read the full article]

In class, Eric Ostendorf fidgeted in his seat and constantly kicked his knees up for exercise. He'd ask to go to the restroom, where he would do 45 chin-ups using the bar between the stall walls."Everything I did was with the thought in the back of my head, 'How can I burn the most calories?' " he said.Instead of savoring food, Eric felt disgusted. He would flush his lunch down the toilet. It was as if a calorie counter had been embedded into his brain, forcing him to estimate how much exercise he needed to burn off every morsel.And more children like him are developing eating disorders early, researchers warned this week in a report in the journal Pediatrics.Between 1999 and 2006, the age group with the sharpest increase of hospitalizations from eating disorders was under 12 years old. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reported a 119 percent rise."The younger you get, the more likely they are to be boys," said Dr. [Read the full article]

Most artists have to wait years -- or perhaps an eternity -- to earn serious money from their work. Aidan Reed, on the other hand, earned more than $83,000 in a few weeks, and he's only 5.Aidan's art is of monsters -- green ones, black ones, scary ones, silly ones. The people who buy his drawings aren't necessarily art lovers or monster lovers. They just want to help Aidan, whose leukemia was diagnosed three months ago, and whose parents nearly had to sell their house because of the financial difficulties of dealing with cancer.When Aidan's family started selling his drawings online in early October, his parents thought they'd sell a few each week. They never imagined it could more than make up for the income they were losing because Aidan's father, Wiley Reed, had to take unpaid time off to be with Aidan during treatments."We were in the hospital with Aidan, and my husband and I were talking about selling the house, which I didn't want to do. [Read the full article]

If you're a woman in your 40s, you probably remember how checking the health of your breasts became a point of national contention last year.Patients, physicians and major medical organizations fought back ("I want my mammograms!") when the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommended that women with average breast cancer risk begin biannual mammograms at 50.The American Cancer Society, the American College of Radiology (although some would argue that radiologists have financial incentive in frequent screenings) and other organizations have continued to support women getting yearly mammograms from 40 onward.The task force came back in December 2009 to say it had expressed the guidelines poorly. Women in their 40s should not be denied mammograms, but the screening should not be "automatic" either, Dr. Diana B. Petitti, vice chairwoman of the task force, said during a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing at that time. [Read the full article]