When I was in school, it was pretty rare for my classmates to miss a day of school. If they did, they has either come down with the flu, broken a limb or were really good at faking it for their moms. Has much changed? I didn't think so, until I read this article. Apparently, obesity is now the leading cause for school absences. It's also the #1 predictor of absenteeism.

Why do you think this is? Those who did the original study aren't saying, but it's my feeling is that it's a mixture of things. First off, kids who have the unhealthy lifestyles that may lead to obesity are more likely to get sick. Secondly, kids who are obese are more like to get teased, and more likely to try to find a way to skip school.

Still, I think it's a problem that needs to be addressed, since education, like good nutrition, is so important for growing kids.

Walking -- it's the first thing we learn to do after crawling. Factor in the amount of it we've done over the course of our lives since then, and it's clear that we're more than warranted in considering ourselves experts. Professional, even. We are the walking gurus, and we have the extensive track record to prove it. With this being the case, why is it when it comes to walking as an exercise, so few people do it? Probably because we do it all the time anyway, therefore it does little to stimulate our interest.

We are an easily bored species, one that needs almost constant change in some way, shape or form. This is likely the reason why so many people prefer elaborate workouts to something as simple as placing one foot in front of the other for an extended period of time. To help remedy the situation, you may want to try some of the following Boredom Busters:

Tune-Up. One of the best ways to liven-up a workout is to listen to music. Whether it's the Rocky IV soundtrack to get you all fired up, some body-moving hip-hop, or even Classical favorites, music will help keep your feet moving.

Intervals. Walking is a low-intensity cardio workout, but it doesn't always have to be. To burn extra calories, and to mix things up a bit over the course of your stroll, try picking up the pace for a minute or so every now and again. By doing so, you can burn an extra 100 calories or so over the course of a 30-minute workout.

VERY Short Term Goals. Of course it's important to have long-term goals (i.e. feel healthier, lower cholesterol, lose weight, etc.), a great way to keep you motivated through your daily walk is to have an almost immediate goal in sight. By this I mean having a goal, or even a reward, waiting for you at the end of your walk. It could be a landmark (such as a view from the top of a hill, or your arrival to a friend's house), but could also be something such as a tasty, low-fat meal that is waiting for you.

Make it a Family Affair. With quality time becoming harder and harder for the modern family to find, a great solution is to use that daily walk to serve that purpose. Because you're only walking, you'll have plenty of wind left to have discussions about school, work, and any other topic that would before be part of typical dinner table discussion. Plus, with childhood obesity rates on the rise, bringing the kids along may benefit them, as well.

Get Creative. This could mean anything from taking a different route each day, to holding a set of very light dumbells in your hands while you walk. Not only will changes of this kind prevent you from becoming bored, they will also ensure that your fitness results do not plateau over time.

I'll admit, when I was a kid, I was allowed to eat candy "cigarettes," those little sugar sticks with red tips that came in a box that looked like a pack of cigarettes ... or the gum that had powder under the wrapper so you could blow on it to create puffs of smoke. That was back in the day, and now that the dangers of smoking are so well known, I had assumed that these candies were no longer manufactured.

No such luck! Candy and gum resembling tobacco products are still available -- as I quickly found out when my 5 year old (who thinks smoking is gross) thought it was so cool to find a candy pack and tell me that he had cigarettes.

My thought is that these candies are undermining nationwide efforts to prevent tobacco among youth. However, I also have to admit that eating these candies never enticed me into becoming an actual smoker. Never, not once, did I ever have the urge to try a cigarette regardless of my exposure. Still, I believe for the most part that it does give the message that tobacco is cool and fun.

What do you think about candy-tobacco products?

I didn't realize this, but there's a nationwide campaign to put portable defibrillators, or AEDs, in every school. Proponents want the defibrillators in place to protect kids who may suffer a cardiovascular event, as well as adults in the school building. But a recent study out of Seattle questions the logic of spending $1000-$3000 on the equipment in every school, when there may not be a need.

Researchers found that few cardiovascular events happen among school aged children as it is, and that an AED would most likely be used on adults who happened to be in the building. They also found that those adults were more likely to be in junior and senior high schools (for sports programs, etc.) so AEDs may not be required at the elementary level.

On the other hand, no one really knows when and where a heart attack may strike, and wouldn't it be tragic if it happened in a building that didn't acquire an AED to cut costs? It's a tough decision for those who balance the school budgets...what do you think?

Blood pressure is an issue that typically plagues senior citizens, but studies are showing that it can affect younger people too -- in fact, it can affect the youngest group of people: Newborns. When a mother smokes during pregnancy, their babies are proving to have an abnormally high blood pressure during the first few months of life. This is especially disconcerting because research shows that those who have high blood pressure early in life are at a much greater risk for heart problems later in life.

Health news like this involving pregnancy makes me especially angry -- It's one thing for a mother to make an unhealthy choice for herself, but it is supremely selfish to force their bad habits onto their unborn children. It's sick and so wrong. What do you think?

I was fascinated to read about the baby boy who survived 120 days on an artificial heart. What an incredible device. Now here comes another news story. Same device, but this time it's about a Canadian teen. Fifteen-year-old Melissa Mills spent 146 days connected to her artificial heart. During that time she and her family were waiting for a transplant opportunity. Like the UK baby, however, her heart healed itself and she's now doing just fine - no surgery required! "For sure it's a miracle," one heart specialist was quoted as saying.

Even a few years ago, it would have been considered just about impossible for someone like Melissa to survive without a heart transplant. Indeed, it was not altogether certain Melissa would survive her illness, and her parents were told to prepare for that possibility. This particular device, also called a "Berlin Heart," is what's made the difference in both this and the UK baby case.

The Berlin Heart was designed especially for children, with the intention of keeping sick children alive during long and harrowing waits for heart transplants. However, cardiologists have been delighted to find that hooking a child up to the Berlin Heart not only keeps the child alive, but also gives the heart a chance to rest and repair itself. Heart cured. Wow.

Click here to read the full story on CTV's website and to view a photo of Melissa holding her artificial heart.

British baby Jack Vellam (13 months) went home from the hospital recently after an astounding 120 days on an artificial heart. Apparently, it was a record-breaking stay: that is the longest anyone so young has stayed on an artificial heart.

Five months ago, Jack was diagnosed with myocarditis - inflammation of the heart muscle. He had fallen ill suddenly and suffered a heart attack, then spent several days in intensive care. He became so ill that his mother agreed with doctors' recommendation that his life-support machine be turned off. "It was a heart-breaking ordeal for all of us," said his mom Danielle.

Then the docs unexpectedly came up with another option: a transplant, if a donor heart could be found. The parents reluctantly agreed, feeling they should give their little one a chance at life. That's when the artificial heart came in. Jack's artificial heart consisted of a pump (the "heart") outside of his body, connected to him via four tubes in the chest.

At that point, however, the myocarditis was discovered and the parents were informed that Jack might recover without a transplant. And, happily, that's what happened. Eventually, Jack underwent surgery (risky in and of itself) to disconnect him from the artificial heart. Said an elated pediatric cardiologist who helped save Jack's life: "This is the best of days for us; this is what we work for."

Before I was a blogger at The Cardio Blog, I spent nearly in the public school system, so I love it when I hear about an idea that really shows that educators are thinking outside of the box. Over at DIY Life, our own Heather Craven recently discussed one of those innovative ideas: letting kids who are dedicated to a non-school sport get credit for their time.

Schools are offering a bigger variety of organized sports to kids than ever: soccer, golf, volleyball, cross-country, tennis, track, football and basketball, just to name a few, but some kids (like myself) don't fit into the molds those competitive sports require and seek out their own activities like dance, gymnastics, horseback riding, archery, and so on. If kids in organized sports get credit for their contribution to physical fitness, shouldn't kids who prefer sports outside of school? Heather tells you how to open up the discussion with your child's school administrators. It's been proven again and again that healthy habits taught in childhood stick for a lifetime, so why not encourage your child to find the fitness activity they love?

Sure, I just did an entire post about a new drug (Tekturna), but I still feel it's fair to mention a little something about the side effects of taking prescription drugs. No, I'm not talking about that litany of disgusting physical maladies that are typically rattled off in Micro Machine Man fashion at the end of a drug commercial. Instead, I'm talking about the depletion of nutrients that occurs as a direct result of taking maintenance drugs.

Vasodilators or Beta-Blockers: You may be taking these to help regulate your high blood pressure. If it's helping, great! Keep taking them. But, beware that your consumption of the vasodilators are causing a reduction of vitamin B6 and the beta-blockers are sapping some Coenzyme Q10.

Statins: Yes, statins are a great way to help lower your cholesterol, so do keep taking them if they are working and your doctor suggests that you stick with them. However, please know that the statins also deplete your body of Coenzyme Q10, which can lead to muscle soreness, fatigue, or even elevated liver enzymes.

Diuretics: A popular treatment for hypertension or congestive heart failure. The downside is that they deplete your body of magnesium, zinc, and potassium, which can cause a weakened immunity.

The good news is that you can easily make up for whatever vitamin or mineral you are losing with the medication by simply being sure to eat lean meats, fish, chicken, whole grains, nuts, and leafy green vegetables. And, if you really want to make sure that you're not missing out, you can also talk to your doctor about taking nutritional supplements.

Metabolic syndrome is the name assigned to a cluster of symptoms, including high blood pressure, high blood sugar and obesity. It can affect people of any age, though new evidence is showing that people who have metabolic syndrome in childhood have an astoundingly high risk of being diagnosed with heart disease in their 30s. In a study done over 30 years involving 771 kids, it was shown that 31 children with metabolic syndrome. In adulthood, 21 of them still had metabolic syndrome, and 17 had developed cardiovascular disease, 6 of which had originally had metabolic syndrome. Therefore, the kids with metabolic syndrome were 15 times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease -- scary!

It should got without saying that having heart disease in your 30s is alarming and extremely dangerous. To read more about this study, check out this article.

Recent rat studies have helped scientists better understand the connection between taste and calorie consumption. It seems that early on, in rodents at least, rats learn by taste that certain foods provide varying levels of calories. So when young rats were fed low-calorie foods they tended to overeat, because their bodies weren't receiving the proper information. Adolescent rats who were not affected by the low-calorie foods, leading researchers to conclude that this is something that develops in childhood.

From this research, scientists concluded that human children may similarly be affected if fed low-calories foods at a young age. Because childhood obesity and weight is such a concern in our society today, parents may be tempted to feed these "diet" options to kids, but that practice may just backfire on them in the long run. Teaching kids how to balance their foods and eat proper portion sizes seems like a better way to teach them good nutrition for life. What do you think?

Kids need lots of calories to support their growing bodies but it seems that thousands of youngsters are getting too many calories -- 30% of kids are overweight and 10% or clinically obese. Kids who are obese or overweight in their younger years are at risk for a whole bunch of problems later in life, so it's important to make sure that your child is a healthy weight.

How do you know if your child is overweight? Use the Children and Teen's BMI calculator. Also? Look for the signs. A lack of activity is a big one -- if your child isn't physically active for at least an hour a day, there could be a problem.

Here's a great resource from AOL if you suspect your child might be overweight or obese.

A recent study has proven what many parents have known all along: anything sporting a crinkly McDonald's wrapper is much more appetizing to young kids. The study gave children two choices of McDonald's menu items, one wrapped in the true packaging and the other in plain paper. The items varied from French fries and burgers to milk and carrots. Hands down children chose the Golden Arches packaging every time.

While this is not shocking, it is a bit of a let down for parents. At a time when childhood obesity is a growing problem, the concept of feeding our children healthy foods is imperative. It is no help when children would trade a healthy, homemade selection for something from the drive though at McDonald's.

The study does come at a good time for many parents. McDonald's is promising to curb its marketing to young kids, stating that fruit will be included in the Happy Meals so popular to young children. While I don't believe that will fix the problem, it does show some effort by the company to provide healthier options for kids.

In order to protect their heart from problems later in life, kids with Type 1 diabetes must get active while they're still young, a study shows. It comes down to their levels of HbA1c -- kids with lower levels had less heart problems down the road, while kids with high levels were almost guaranteed to have heart troubles later in life.

This doesn't mean that you need to becomes one of those super-athlete parents who gets their kids involved in every sports possible -- only moderate activity is necessary, such as a half-hour of playing outside a day. You could play tag with them or go on a bike ride or take a walk to the park -- anything is fine as long as they're getting off the couch for a period of time every day. It's important to teach these healthy habits in all kids, both for today and for their future.

New research shows that raised blood pressure can be added to the list of negative side-effects babies get from their mother when she smokes during pregnancy. 456 healthy full-term babies were tested at 2 months of age and those with mothers who smoked during pregnancy had higher blood pressures on average than those whose mothers did not smoke. The higher blood pressure readings did not seem linked necessarily to low birth weight, the mother's age, or whether or not the babies were breast-fed, and follow-up studies will need to be done to see if the negative blood pressure effect stays with the children as they grow up.