Feature Channels: Winter Holidays

• share
• favorite_border

Yarrow, a consumer psychologist, says people can alter their spending habits this holiday, feel empowered and fight the doom and gloom feeling that is affecting many. As a professor of psychology and marketing at Golden Gate University and author of Gen buY: Why tweens, teens and twenty-somethings buy and how they're revolutionizing the way we all shop (Jossey-Bass, August 2009), Yarrow provides insight into why people buy and shop and how the current economic situation is affecting this year's holiday spending habits.

• share
• favorite_border

Loyola doctors warn some toys contain dangerous lead, magnets; could pose choking, injury hazard.

• share
• favorite_border

A Saint Louis University dietetics instructor answers this year's holiday question: What can I bring to your party?

• share
• favorite_border

This is a story of how people who are in the hospital for the holidays can still make the season a happy one.

• share
• favorite_border

Returning servicemen and women at the end of their deployment may face challenges as they readjust to life with their families. "It's important that returning troops have realistic expectations when they come home," said Robert Marietta, M.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry at Saint Louis University and former Navy psychiatrist.

• share
• favorite_border

"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus." The sentence, from American journalism's best-known editorial,"Is There A Santa Claus?", is so popular that 111 years after it was first published in 1897, a major American retailer is using it as the basis for its 2008 holiday advertising campaign. Most people assume the editorial was an immediate hit. Not true, according to W. Joseph Campbell, a professor of journalism at American University.

• share
• favorite_border

Instead of shopping for the hottest pricey toy this holiday season, Dr. Paula Kramer, chair and professor of occupational therapy at University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, encourages parents to buy their children toys that promote healthy childhood development.

• share
• favorite_border

Natural Christmas tree recycling and the most environmentally friendly options for tree buyers to consider.

• share
• favorite_border

During the holiday season and these difficult economic times, finding the perfect gift for any child can be a challenge. For family and friends looking for the right toy for a child with special needs, this process can cause even more anxiety and frustration.

• share
• favorite_border

A Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center study shows that a growing number of adults know about the potential risk of swallowing magnets, but medical complications from magnets continue to be extensive worldwide and throughout childhood.

• share
• favorite_border

With so many families struggling with economic uncertainty this year, the seasonal blues can be threatening. Many have coped with the loss of a job or financial instability in the past year, and that monetary strain is bound to affect gift- buying, party-hosting and other holiday activities. Focusing on the meaning of the holidays can help ward off depression and anxiety brought on by the season's fiscal demands.

• share
• favorite_border

We all know that exercise is good for us, but why, exactly? What does exercise really do for us, for our bodies, for our minds, for our social lives? Physicians propose their Top 10 list of reasons to exercise this holiday season.

• share
• favorite_border

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons offers suggestions for a safe, winter holiday season.

• share
• favorite_border

Some studies indicate that death rates from heart attacks and stroke as well as non-heart-related causes spike during the holiday season.

• share
• favorite_border

During the winter months the risk of severe heart problems -- from "holiday heart" to deaths related to the flu -- increases by more than 30 percent, says Dr. Cam Patterson, chief of cardiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. Patterson offers these tips to stay heart healthy through the new year.

• share
• favorite_border

If getting into shape is on your New Year's resolution list, but you're not interested in navigating jam-packed gyms, the answer is simple: take your exercise regime out of the gym and into the great outdoors. To be sure you're safely working toward your goals and getting the most out of your outdoor exercise this winter, Professor Richards has provided simple tips.

• share
• favorite_border

The classic holiday song "I'll Be Home For Christmas" is 65 years old and its enduring popularity is good news for St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York "“ the school receives a share of the royalties every time the song is played or performed.

• share
• favorite_border

If you're skeptical of Santa's abilities to deliver presents to millions of homes and children in just one night, NC State University engineering professor Dr. Larry Silverberg can explain the scientific principles that allow the Jolly Old Elf to pull off the magical feat year after year.

• share
• favorite_border

Cyber Monday and the Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays of online shopping that follow can be frustrating "” and expensive "” for some employers. But Claire Simmers, Ph.D., co-author of "The Internet and Workplace Transformation," says she has seen a recent shift in corporate attitudes concerning employees who shop online at work.

• share
• favorite_border

With news of a recession, it's no wonder that many Americans are feeling anxious about their financial situation this holiday season. According to Saint Joseph's University Psychologist Phyllis Anastasio, Ph.D., these anxieties are amplified by constant media reminders.