Do Self Breast Exams Work?

According to Cochrane Collaboration, there is no evidence that monthly self exams reduce breast cancer deaths. This article in U.S. News & World Report then asks the question: What should you do then? While checking yourself regularly may not help according to the new findings, experts say if you do feel something unusual, get it checked out. The report also is not suggesting that self exams are bad, just that it's not correcting the breast cancer problem. It's not surprising, however, that some doctors still feel that self breast exams are helpful. The bottom line according to the article is that if you are currently conduction your own regular exams, you don't need to stop, but know it might not be as effective as once thought. And if you're not a regular self-examiner, you don't have to feel guilty about it.

Couple Mark 70 Years of Marriage

British couple Arthur Lewis, 93, and Irene, 88 married on July 30, 1938 and just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. For their 60th and 65th anniversaries they received messages from the Queen. No royal congratulations this time, but they are satisfied with two prior recognitions. So what's the secret to their success? Mr Lewis said they had always managed to settle their disagreements. "We've had differences of opinion over quite a lot of things," he said. "But we never went to bed on an argument. We didn't make a big issue out of things, we've been partners in everything." What's the secret to your marriage success?

I Found Out...After We Married

The Kevin and Bean morning radio show on KROQ in Southern California ran segment on Thursday that got our ears perked. They had listeners call in and tell stories of things they found out from their spouse after they married. One caller found out that their spouse smoked pot, and had been doing so even before they married. One husband called in to say that his wife revealed that she has OCD and when he goes to sleep at night, flips the lights switches in the house to satisfy her OCD urge. Another caller found out that their spouse owed the government roughly $40,000 in back taxes!

Did your husband or wife reveal a surprise to you after you got married? Let us know by commenting on our Married Life network. You can hear the Kevin and Bean segment by clicking here and going just shy of halfway into the middle of the playback.

Business With Your Spouse: A Test

CNBC show The Big Idea hosted by Donny Deutsch ran a segment the other day on running a business with your spouse. On their website, they've posted a seven question test that grades how well you and your spouse would do in business. Some of the questions it asks are: Is your spouse a momentum builder? Does your spouse respect your time? and Is your spouse a good interrogator? Each question is weighted from 1-5 and the results range from: "Your Husband or wife is standing in the way of your success" to "Your relationship fosters success and your spouse gives you an entrepreneurial edge!"

Would you ever run a business with your spouse or are you currently doing so? Running a business together is one of those things that could bring you closer together or tear you apart. What's your story?

Private Names

A while back we published an article on "Naming Private Parts." Included are some common names for men and women. We recently came across a new website that asks people to submit their "thingy" names and then vote on the most popular submissions. The site is called ThingyNames and we have to warn you that some of the names are not G-rated. At the time of this post, just shy of 40% of Hitched readers say they have a name for both his and her private parts while 35% don't have a name for either, according to the article poll. Furthermore, 18% just have a name for his and 8% just have a name for hers.

Let the Wife Rule the Home

That's the key to a happy marriage according to a new study by Iowa State University. The response they got from 72 couples was that the wife's opinion took precedence over what the husband said or thought. "The women were communicating more powerful messages and men were responding to those messages by agreeing or giving in," says David Vogel, one of the leaders of the study and an associate professor of psychology. The couples questioned had been married an average of seven years and had identified themselves as having a happy marriage. The study of these couples also showed that not only was the wife's opinion the one that mattered, but the husbands were happy to accept the opinion of the wife without objection. Who rules your roost?

A Bad Marriage Can Kill You

This sounds like the punch line to a joke, but it's not. Canada.com posted an article about the strain a bad marriage can have on one's health. The article cites: increased risk for heart attack, high blood pressure, stroke, depression, eating disorders; not to mention it could affect the body's immune system, reducing the ability to fight off disease. The article also says, however, that 55 percent of couples who seek help are able to salvage their marriage.

This is definitely good news, but we say why not focus on your marriage all the time. Take the approach of living well and striving to maintain a healthy marriage all the time, rather than trying to bandage something that you neglect and then it becomes broken. We're not saying you shouldn't seek help when you need it, but problems are a lot easier to resolve the sooner you address them.

You Know What Gets Better With Age?

Sex! That's what a study by the University of Gothenburg in Sweden show. The study tracked the sex lives of four groups for 30 years and showed an increase in sex as they got older. The subjects of the study are now in their 70s and 68 percent of married men said they were having sex in 2001, up from 52 percent in the early 1970s. Married women having sex rose to 54 percent in the group interviewed in 2000-2001, up from 30 percent in the early 70s. This article on MSNBC also says that more men are expressing their low sexual satisfaction, which they think may be a result of more men being open about their sexual failure.

Marriage Counseling May Hurt Your Credit!

On June 10, the Federal Trade Commission has sued credit card issuer CompuCredit for deceptive marketing practices. The reason is that while many credit card companies have their formula for how they adjust the interest rate or credit score, CompuCredit makes its decision on purchasing behavior, not just payment history--and does so without telling the consumer.

The suit, for the most part focuses on CompuCredit's Aspire Visa, a subprime credit card for risky borrowers. The FTC claims that CompuCredit didn't properly disclose that it monitored spending and cut credit lines if consumers used their cards at certain places. Among them: tire and retreading shops, massage parlors, bars, billiard halls, and marriage counseling offices. According to this article from BusinessWeek, CompuCredit maintains that the FTC's lawsuit is without merit, and defends its practices. "Every time a consumer accesses their credit, a new decision to extend a loan is being made," says Rohit H. Kirpalani, CompuCredit's general counsel. "These scoring models are commonplace across the industry."

Doesn't it seem odd that taking steps to improve or salvage your marriage would hurt your credit score? You'd think it would improve your score since married couples statistically have a higher household income. We'll keep you posted as this story develops.

Moms Get High on Baby's Smile

A study of 28 first-time moms revealed that seeing pictures of their babies' smiles activated parts of the brain that signals a hormone called dopamine. When a mother sees their baby smile, they get a rush of dopamine, the same chemical rush that occurs when people use cocaine or nicotine. The study helps explain how the brain fosters maternal devotion, effectively making mothers addicted to their babies. An excerpt from the article explains the other side of things:

The study may also shed light on postpartum depression, which affects one in 10 new mothers, says Louann Brizendine, a neuropsychiatrist at the University of California-San Francisco who was not involved in the study. In depressed women, dopamine levels may be too low for women to respond to their babies, Brizendine says. Antidepressants, which replenish dopamine levels, often help these women.

The results of this study are interesting, but it is only with 28 mothers. But seriously, those little dimpled baby cheeks are too cute not to get you high. Click here to read the full article.