Strike a pose - there's a style of yoga for everyone

You can always tell the CAT scan candidates in the radiology waiting room. They’re the ones groping for the bathrooms. Today’s scanners are faster and better. The first one took forever. Now you’re in the machine for 10 to 15 minutes. Still, it’s a different experience. The only constant is the Redi-Cat, two large bottles of barium sulfite suspension you must chug at home. The flavor is, I don’t know, musty orange.

Kelly Cash was so disturbed by a news report suggesting, among other things, that women need not get mammograms till they are 50, that she called the Susan G. Komen office the next day. "If there is any letter writing you are going to do, let me know how I can help," Cash said she told the staff. "I was diagnosed at 43," the 45-year-old mother of nine said. "If these guidelines were in place, I know mine would be a different story today."

Do you like birthdays? Why not create more for yourself? Thursday was the 34th annual Great American Smokeout, challenging people not to smoke cigarettes for 24 hours, hoping their decision to quit will last forever. Those who quit at 35 can gain eight more birthdays, and those who quit at 55 can gain about five more, according to the American Cancer Society. Despite strides made reducing cigarette smoking for almost 15 consecutive years, smoking among U.S. adults rose slightly to just more than 20 percent, according to a 2008 national survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The abrupt reversal of widely accepted wisdom on when women should begin annual breast cancer screening has caused immediate and strong reaction in the medical community.

In 1980, there were 143,000 marathon finishers in the United States. In 2008, there were 425,000. When the numbers are tallied for 2009, I can assure you that the number will be even higher. As you might guess, record times have tumbled.

They’re ugly. What’s worse, they hurt and they’re health hazards. But varicose veins don’t have to be a permanent sentence of long pants and compression stockings, especially in light of minimally invasive techniques that use the heated tip of a catheter to destroy and close the weakened or damaged veins that cause the ropey, lumpy bumps to form on the lower legs.

Concerned about packing on the pounds this winter? No worries. Here are some helpful hints for staying fit - and safe - during the winter months. Frigid air can pose challenges for outdoor exercise lovers over the next few months, but winter is no reason to hibernate.

The term "swallowing problem" covers many symptoms. More accurately known as "dysphagia," speech language pathologists (aka speech therapists) are involved in the assessment and treatment of swallowing problems, often in collaboration with other medical specialists.

November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month, so today's column is dedicated to helping move this cause forward.

I really love my job. It fits me like a glove, and I know that there is no way I could ever do anything but be a personal fitness coach.