Health Tip: Physical Problems May Cause Insomnia

(HealthDay News) -- Insomnia is the general term used to mean waking too early, or having difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep.

Health Tip: Practice Sledding Safety

(HealthDay News) -- Sledding down a slippery slope at home or a nearby field is a past-time that makes kids look forward to winter. But thousands are injured each year in sledding accidents.

Family Tips for Getting Fit

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Families hoping to improve their fitness and overall health in 2012 should spend less time in front of a TV or computer screen and more time being active together, according to the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.

Study Reveals Who's More Prone to Be a 'Mean Drunk'

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- People who lack the ability to consider the future consequences of their current actions are more likely to be aggressive when they're drunk, a new study indicates.

Need Help? Seek Out the Humble

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Arrogant people are less likely than humble people to offer help to someone who needs it, new research finds.

Celiac Disease in Women Linked to Depression Risk

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- New research shows that women with celiac disease face a higher risk for also suffering from depression and so-called "disordered eating," regardless of whether they stick to a gluten-free diet.

New Guidelines Issued for Combining HIV, Seizure Meds

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Physicians need to take care when prescribing seizure medication to HIV/AIDS patients to prevent harmful interactions between drugs, experts warn.

MRI Scans Show Brain Changes in Kids With Schizophrenia

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Children who are diagnosed with schizophrenia or a number of other psychoses go on to experience a progressively greater than normal loss of gray matter in the frontal lobe region of the brain, new research suggests.

Race, Gender, Dementia May Affect Parkinson's Survival

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Men appear more likely to die from Parkinson's disease than women, Hispanics and Asians with the neurologic disorder, a large U.S. study reveals.

'Safety-First' Playgrounds Linked to Bored, Inactive Kids: Study

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Remember those tall, shiny, metal, sliding boards? They seemed dauntingly steep, but you took the plunge and whizzed downward. Next, you tackled the monkey bars, climbing higher and higher and hanging by your knees at the pinnacle.

Cancer Incidence, Death Rates Continue to Drop: Report

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Small but continued drops in cancer incidence and deaths in the United States in recent years are charted in a new report.

U.S. Twin Births Soar: CDC

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- The birth rate for twins in the United States has jumped by 76 percent since 1980, government health officials reported Wednesday.

Health Highlights: Jan. 4, 2012

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Potential Herpes Vaccine Disappoints Researchers

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- A potential vaccine for genital herpes has shown only limited effectiveness in thwarting one type of the sexually transmitted virus and no ability to stop a second type from spreading, a new study shows.

Gene Mutation Linked to Chemo-Resistant Colon Cancer

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Some people with advanced colorectal cancer are resistant to some types of chemotherapy, and a mutation in the so-called TFAP2E gene may play a part in that resistance, German researchers report.

Novel Hepatitis C Vaccine Shows Some Early Promise

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- A vaccine to protect against the hepatitis C virus, which can cause severe liver damage and even liver cancer, might be possible -- but it's likely years away, researchers are reporting.

FDA Curbs Use of Certain Antibiotics in Livestock, Poultry

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Worried about the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant microbes in humans, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday curbed the use of certain antibiotics in cattle, pigs and poultry.

Many Teen Girls Mistakenly Think HPV Vaccines Cut Risk for All STDs

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly one in four girls who gets the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine mistakenly thinks that her risk of getting other sexually transmitted diseases is lowered, a new study indicates.