According to the October, 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, certain types of non-aerobic exercise, such as strength training, benefit cognitive function in older adults. The people who did strength and balance training showed a 13% improvement in an executive function task after 6 months while, by contrast, non-participants' skills deteriorated 10%.

A report published in the published in the November, 2008 issue of Hypertension found that more Americans than ever are being treated for high blood pressure. The major factor in the dramatic increase in the number of Americans with high blood pressure appears to be the obesity epidemic rife in the United States.

"Additional efforts are needed to prevent hypertension from developing in the first place, with primary emphasis on prevention of obesity," said the lead researcher. "For those who have hypertension, additional efforts are needed to diagnose, treat and effectively control hypertension to reduce the adverse outcomes associated with hypertension."

According to the report, “the good news about hypertension control in the U.S. is more people who have hypertension are aware of it, and more people who are aware of it are being treated, and more people being treated are being controlled." In March of 2007, it was reported that, in a placebo controlled study, a specific type of chiropractic adjustment, given in the upper neck area, can and does significantly lower high blood pressure.

"This procedure has the effect of not one, but two blood-pressure medications given in combination," study leader George Bakris, MD, as reported on WebMD. "And it seems to be adverse-event free . We saw no side effects and no problems," adds Bakris, director of the University of Chicago hypertension center.

The Bottom Line... The Bottom Line... The Bottom Line...

The chiropractic procedure discussed above concerns the C-1 vertebra. This vertebra, according to the chiropractor in the 2007 study, is "the fuse box to the body." "At the base of the brain are two centers that control all the muscles of the body. If you pinch the base of the brain -- if the Atlas gets locked in a position as little as a half a millimeter out of line -- it doesn't cause any pain but it upsets these centers”, according to WebMD.