Do women or men hurt more? According to a new study out of Stanford University that examined patients' medical records, women report higher levels than men across the board.

Researchers reviewed patients electronic medical reports (EMRs). Patients at the participating hospitals reported their feelings of pain, usually in the form of scores on a 0 to 10 scale, with 0 meaning "none at all" and 10 meaning "the most imaginable."

Dr. Atul Butte, a Stanford pediatrics professor, along with his colleagues, reviewed 160,000 pain reports from more than 72,000 patients. After looking over all the data, a clear gender gap was seen.

In Stanford's Scope journal, Butte said:

"In many cases, the reported difference approached a full point on the 1-to-10 scale. How big is that? A pain-score improvement of one point is what clinical researchers view as indicating that a pain medication is working

"We actually use these numbers," Butte said. "We use these as a kind of threshold - when do we start pain medicine? Are we treating someone with enough pain medicine? We need to have that understanding that there is a sex difference here."

The average American is now 20 pounds heavier than they were in the 1990s. The annual Gallup Health and Healthcare Survey found that on average men reported they weight 196 pounds and women say they weight 160 pounds.

Both the 196 for men and 160 for women are 20 pounds heavier than reported 20 years ago. The poll also showed that as American's actual weight has increased, so has their ideal weight. For men, the ideal weight is now 181, which is up from 177 pounds. For women, the ideal weight is 138 pounds, up from 137 pounds.

Researchers say that this not only means that Americans are getting fatter, but they are also moving further away from their ideal weight. The average man now weights 15 pounds more than his ideal, compared to 9 pounds more in the 90s. The average woman weighs 22 pounds more than her ideal now, compared to 13 pounds in 1990.

The current figures for both men and women are the highest that Gallup has ever measured to date. Gallup has asked Americans to report on how much they weigh each year since 2001, and in 1990 and 1999.

According to the results of a new study, reducing consumption of red meat, coffee, and alcohol can help boost men's fertility. The study showed that poor diet and obesity can lower sperm concentration and affect their ability to swim towards an egg, and specialists are now encouraging a diet high in fruit and grains to increase the chances of successful IVF treatment.

Female fertility problems have been in the past linked to things like obesity, smoking, and drinking, but until now it hasn't been really clear if the same applies to men. Lead researcher Edson Borges from the Fertility-Assisted Fertilization Center in Sao Paolo, Brazil, says in the study:

'The sperm concentration was negatively influenced by body mass index (BMI) and alcohol consumption, and was positively influenced by cereal consumption and the number of meals per day.'

Borges' study included 250 men with partners undergoing a type of fertility treatment known as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Particpants were asked how often they ate a range of foods, including fruits, vegetables, beans, meat, fish, and grains, as well as how much they drank and smoked.

Various environmental factors can affect our hearing, and recently a lesser-known risk has surfaced - passive smokers have been found to be twice as likely as other people to suffer from hearing loss. Now it is believed that Viagra and similar drugs, which increase blood flow to certain tissues in the body, may have a similar effect on tissue in the ear.

Sensorineural hearing los, which typically occurs with age, is caused by damage to the sensory cells of the cochlea, or the small hearing organ of the ear responsible for converting the mechanical vibration of sound into electrical signals that go on to be detected by the brain.

David McAlpine, professor of auditory neuroscience and director of the University College London Ear Institute:

"The ear is an extremely delicate organ and far more susceptible to damage than you might think."

A U.S. study of more than 11,000 men aged 40 and older found that those who took Viagra or a similar drug were twice as likely to report hearing loss as those who had not used the drug. Researchers believe that these drugs, which increase blood flow to certain body parts, may have a similar effect on tissue in the ear. This potentially causes damage that leads to permanent hearing loss.

According to the results of a new study, children may be partially to blame for new parents' bad health habits. The study found that mothers of young children were heavier and ate more calories, sugary drinks and fatty foods than childless women, and both fathers and mothers were less active than their peers without children.

Mothers in the study ate more fatty foods and drank about seven sugary drinks weekly, versus about four among childless women. Moms also had an average of 2,360 calories daily, 368 calories more than women without children. Consuming that many calories, women that age would need to be fairly active to avoid gaining weight, walking more than 3 miles daily at a moderate pace. However, mothers in the study got about two hours of at least moderate activity weekly, versus the three hours that childless women got on average.

Mothers were also found to have slightly higher average body-mass index than non-mothers. Mothers had a BMI of 27 on average, while those without children had a BMI of 26. A healthy BMI is considered to be in the 19-24 range, so neither mothers or childless women were found to be particularly healthy in the first place.

About two-thirds of American men experience hair loss by the age of 50, and one-quarter of men with male pattern baldness begin going bald before they turn 21 years old. Scientists now believe that they've identified the cause of male pattern baldness as a genetic defect.

Dr. George Cotsarelis and his team at the University of Pennsylvania published the results of their study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, which suggests that in men who go bald, the decreasing size of the hair follicles could be linked to the loss of the hair follicle stem - the progenitor cells that are necessary for hair to grow normally.

Researchers tracked 1,000 couples who were either married or in serious relationships over the course of five years, and then looked at patterns amongst those who were still together after five years. What they found is that the man should be at least five years older than the woman and the woman should have more education than the man for the best chances of the marriage standing the test of time.

This of course did not prove true in the case when either one or both partners had been divorced previously, and the scientists added that using "objective factors" such as age, education, and cultural origin "may help reduce divorce". If one partner had been divorced in the past, it lessens the chances of the relationship surviving. Interestingly though, if both partners had been divorced previously, while their chances of surviving are still not as good as those who had never divorced, the chances of survival are slightly better than those in a relationship where just one partner had been divorced.

One example of a celebrity relationship that according to this study is likely to last is that between Beyonce Knowles, 28, and her husband, Jay-Z, 39. She's younger, and also more educated. Jay-Z did not even receive a high school diploma.

Video games are often an activity associated with the young, but a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention paint quite a different picture. Researchers found that the average gamer is age 35, often overweight, introverted, and may be depressed.

The CDC looked at the behavior of 552 adults aged 19 to 90 from the Seattle-Tacoma area. Of these, 249 (45 percent) were video game players. Men accounted for 56 percent of the video game players.

Men who played video games weighed more and used the internet more than other men. Women who played video games reported greater levels of depression and poorer overall heath than non-gamers. Adult video gamers were also found to be less outgoing, and less social and assertive than non-gamers.

Researcher James Weaver and his colleagues suggested that for adults, video gaming may be a form of "digital self-medication". They said women in particulary may immerse themselves in brain-engaging digital environments as a means of self-distraction.

Adult gamers of both sexes relied more on the internet for social support than non-gamers. This also supports prior research that suggests that adult gamers may "sacrifice real-world social activities to play video games."

A new study out of Germany's Max Planck Institute found that men who marry younger women tend to live longer. If a man marries a woman between 15 and 17 years his junior, his chances of dying early are cut by 1/5. The risk of premature death is reduced by 11 percent if he marries a woman seven to nine years younger. Interestingly, the study also found that men marrying older women are more likely to die early.

The study also suggests that women don't experience the same benefits of marrying a man either younger or older. Wives with husbands older or younger by between seven and nine years increase their chances of dying early by 20 percent. If the age difference is 15 to 17 years, this rises to 30 percent.

Researchers say that the figures for men could be the result of natural selection, and that only the healthiest, most successful older men are able to attract a younger mate.

Hospital Is Using Popular Video Service to Promote Health and Wellness

The Cleveland Clinic has announced that they will be offering free weekly health tips via YouTube. The first video released is on walking for good health. The press release stated:

"Cleveland Clinic is committed to offering patients the most up-to-date information available, and the advent of video sharing sites makes this even more possible," said C. Martin Harris, M.D., Chief Information Officer, Cleveland Clinic. "Internet users can view videos 24 hours a day, and they have the opportunity to share these videos with their friends and family."

You can subscribe to world famous health care provider's videos at the following link http://www.youtube.com/clevelandclinic/.

Here is the an example of one of their free videos that they offering: