Healthline

AN ARTHRITIS SUFFERER may feel the holiday season as much in his joints as in his sentimental heart.

The hectic pace and cooler weather can worsen pain for the one in three Florida residents who have arthritis.

Pacing one's activities is key, says the Arthritis Foundation. Other tips for the holidays include:

-- Shopping: Use catalogs and the Internet. Take advantage of motorized carts, wheelchairs and walkers. Ask family and friends for help.

-- Cooking: Keep it simple. Pick up prepared dinners, snack trays or desserts.

-- Wrapping gifts: Use store, shopping mall or charities' gift-wrapping services.

MERRYMAKING also can trigger an angina attack for the 6-million Americans who have the heart condition, cautions the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association.

Angina is a pain or pressure in the chest, sometimes radiating to the neck or arm, caused by decreased oxygen to the heart muscle.

As for arthritis and other chronic diseases, the primary recommendation is to pace activities and avoid becoming overtired. Do not neglect an exercise program because of a busier schedule.

And pay special attention to diet, the association says. Heavy meals may cause an attack.

EVEN VERY MODERATE drinking during pregnancy may cause subtle damage to the baby, according to a study published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

The study found significant learning deficits in the grown offspring of rats that were given low levels of alcohol during pregnancy. Another study published in October, this one done with humans, found that children of mothers who drank even lightly during pregnancy grow up measurably smaller than the children of teetotalers.

"What the data shows," says Daniel Savage, lead author of the rat study, "is that something equivalent to probably 11/2 drinks a day produces increased risk (for) subtle brain damage which may not become apparent until a child is older." Savage is chairman of the Department of Neuroscience at the University of New Mexico Medical School.

About 4-million American women get pregnant each year. More than a half-million of those continue to drink, health officials estimate.

The government has been advising pregnant women to avoid alcohol for 20 years. But many doctors are equivocal in their counsel, suggesting that light drinking may not be harmful.

-- Compiled by SUSAN ASCHOFF from staff and wire reports

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.