Dr. Steve: Music Healing, The Right Bra & Catching Things From Public Toilets

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7:00am Segment Info:
Crank up the tunes. A new study finds listening to music can help people recover more quickly from strokes. In the report stroke patients who listened to a few hours of music each day for three months soon after their stroke had a 60% better improvement in verbal memory compared to 18% for those who did not listen to music. Researchers say it may be that listening to music actually activates the brain areas that are recovering after a stroke.

WATCH THE VIDEO & GET THE REST OF THE INFO AFTER THE JUMP

And it's been said that the first step in treating a problem is to recognize you have one. Now a new study finds that many parents of children that are classified as overweight or even extremely overweight or obese do not perceive them as being heavy or having a weight problem. In fact, most believe their child is about the right weight. And researchers say if the parent doesn't recognize the problem. Odds are the child won't see it either.

8:00am Segment Info:
1. Tyrie from Long Island City, Queens asks: Can wearing a bra that's too small cause any type of problems?

Tyrie, wearing a small or tight bra won't cause any major medical problems, but it can be uncomfortable and irritating to the skin and soft tissues. I'm not an expert on bras by any means, but I’m told that you should buy one that not only fits your breast size meaning the appropriate cup size, which is measured as a, b, c, etc. - but also one that fits your body. That's the measurement from across the chest to around the back that's measured in inches.

2. Carol from Woodmere, Long Island asks: What are the disease risks associated with using public toilets? How much protection do paper seat covers offer?

Carol, believe it or not, it's very difficult to catch anything from a toilet seat. In fact, there's no evidence to suggest that you can catch HIV, or hepatitis from a toilet seat. You're more likely to catch a germ that's commonly found on the skin or one that comes from skin to skin contact like staph or strep. It is possible in theory to catch something like herpes if someone had open sores sat on the toilet just before you and then you sat on it immediately after, but again you're really reaching. The paper seat covers don't offer much protection.. But if it makes you feel better you can use them.

3. Margaret from NYC asks: Why is it that some PPL can be heavy smokers and live long lives but other people can live healthy and die of a young age??

Margaret, if I knew the answer to that we would be able to save thousands of lives from cancer. No one knows exactly why some people when exposed to the same toxins like smoking are more prone to develop cancer than others. It probably has something to do with their genes their DNA. While not everyone will develop lung cancer from smoking, many do and nearly everyone suffers some kind of lung disease.