`illin: The Gothamist Health Buzz

Get a (Longer) Life

There may not be any secret formula to living a happy life, but there may actually be a recipe to living a longer one. We mentioned earlier this year that fewer New Yorkers died in 2005 than ever before. Well if you want to join those that will likely keep on keeping on, check out Forbes.com’s 15 Ways to Live Longer. While some of the advice doesn’t really shock us (be optimistic, get a pet, have more sex) we were more stunned by others (sleep less?!). We found tip #6 to be a little annoying, but hey, it’s Forbes after all.

A Hero in Harlem

Most of us just have just accepted the fact that doctors no longer make house calls. But in the late 1980s, immunologist Pernessa Seele didn’t stand idly by. Instead, she went door to door, visiting churches throughout Harlem and organized Harlem’s first Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS in 1989. And last night she attended an awards ceremony in midtown as one of Time magazine’s list of “The [100] People Who Shape Our World.” Dr. Seele now leads The Balm in Gilead, the largest non-profit AIDS awareness effort geared towards educating African Americans on the disease. And considering that 48% of Americans with AIDS are black, she is very much needed.

Newsflash

· A leading U.S. neurologist felt compelled to write in a respected neurology journal that movies don’t adequately portray the experience of being in a coma.

· This week, it seems that living near high power lines does cause leukemia in kids.

· Children who live near busy (read: polluted) roads have higher rates of asthma and the number of New Yorkers suffering from asthma symptoms doubled last week.