What does a 'polar bear plunge' do your body? Jumping into icy waters isn't for the faint of heart

Do you like to ring in the New Year with an icy dip in the Atlantic?

Taking a 'polar bear plunge' is more than just a cold shock to the skin – it's a shock to your entire system.

Brave souls who race to Coney Island each year to jump into frigid waters boast the plunge's invigorating qualities – After all, the Scandinavians have been diving into cold water and then warming up in the saunas since the time of the Vikings.

But does it really give your health a boost?

"I don't know of any definitive medical studies that have been done to measure the health benefits of cold-water swimming," Dr. Alan Steinman, one of the country's foremost experts on hypothermia and cold-water survival told Msnbc.com.

He's worried that these chilly revelers may be taking health risks.

He recommends a gentle dip, slowly into shallow water, rather than a total, sudden plunge. Yes, this sort of defeats the purpose for these daredevil human polar bears.

When the body is suddenly immersed in icy water, there's a sudden gasp, an inhalation, rapid breathing and the inability to hold your breath, "which can be a problem if your head's underwater," he says.

For that reason, it's better to "plunge" gradually, from shallow water, and not off a dock or a boardwalk. It's possible to go into cardiac arrest due to shock -- The small blood vessels constrict on the surface of your body as a defense mechanism, so you don't lose heat. That means that a whole lot more blood is being squeezed into the same amount of blood vessels, which "serves to increase the effect on blood pressure," said Steinman.

Still, organizers of the Maryland State Police Polar Bear Plungefest, which raises money for charity, has been incident-free.

Around 12,000 people are expected to run wild in the Chesapeake.

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E-cigarettes cannot be regulated as a drug; Victory for electronic tobacco company

E-cig smokers can keep puffing.

An appeals court is saying the Food and Drug Administration cannot stop imports of electronic cigarettes.
The FDA wants to regulate e-cigarettes as a drug-device and last year ordered that a shipment could not enter the United States.

But Sottera Inc. of Arizona, which does business as e-cigarette distributor NJOY, says in a lawsuit that its product cannot be regulated as a drug-device.

"We're thrilled," Craig Weiss, the president of theScottsdale, Arizona-based company told Business Week. "Now we can continue to sell e-cigarettes under the regulations of the Tobacco Act."

E-cigarettes operate with a heating element and a battery. Users inhale a vaporized liquid nicotine mixture much the way traditional smokers inhale smoke, but without fire, smoke, ash or carbon monoxide.

"Some people believe that e-cigarettes are a safe substitute for conventional cigarettes," said study co-author Dr. Prue Talbot, director of UC Riverside's Stem Cell Center. "However, there are virtually no scientific studies on e-cigarettes and their safety. Our study — one of the first studies to evaluate e-cigarettes — shows that this product has many flaws, which could cause serious public health problems in the future if the flaws go uncorrected."

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Coffee and donuts: Breakfast of champions? It turns out caffeine and glucose could make you smarter

Breakfast of champions? It turns out a morning meal of java and a donut, a favorite of office workers everywhere, could actually make you smarter.

The combo of caffeine and glucose revs up the brain, according to a study published in the journal "Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental," reported by MSNBC.com.

Researchers found that pairing the two oft-maligned ingredients helps both attention and memory.

The study, conducted at the University of Barcelona in Spain, examined a group of 72 women and men between the ages of 18 and 25, who were given doses of either water, water with caffeine, water with glucose, or water with both caffeine and glucose.

The subjects then took a variety of tests on attention, memory and manual dexterity.

Some of the tests involved simple tasks such as remembering a list of 15 repeated words, or removing pegs from a cup and putting them quickly into a hole.

Others consisted of repeating back a batch of numbers both forward and backwards.

Participants who had been given water with caffeine or glucose had better reaction times than those who drank plain water.

And when the study subjects drank the water with both substances, they displayed impressive results on attention, learning, and consolidating verbal memory.

While the findings are noteworthy, researchers hope to perform more studies to investigate "the effects of caffeine and glucose, alone and in combination, with repeated doses."

In the meantime, hold the nutritious breakfast, please, and bring on the double mocha lattes and French crullers.

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Christmas tree safety tips for preventing fires; Test your lights and tree to avoid disaster

Christmas isn't all joy to the world. In fact, it can be downright treacherous.

About 12,000 consumers are treated in hospital emergency departments nationwide due to holiday-related decorating incidents, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Dried out Christmas trees result in an average of 17 deaths and $13 million in property damage annually. Candle-related residential fires cause about 150 deaths and $385 million in property damage.

"To prevent a holiday tradition from becoming a holiday tragedy, keep lighted candles in sight, check trees for freshness, and don't use lights with broken sockets or frayed wires,” said CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum.

Other tips for a safe winter holiday season:

Get a good tree: A fresh tree is green, its needles are hard to pull from branches, and its needles do not break when bent between your fingers. The bottom of a fresh tree is sticky with resin, and when tapped on the ground, the tree should not lose many needles.

Set it up right: Keep your tree away from fireplaces, vents, and radiators -- heated rooms rapidly dry out live trees. Keep the tree stand filled with water. Be careful not to not block doorways.

Get the right fake: Make sure your artificial tree is labeled, "Fire Resistant."

All the trimmings: In homes with small children, avoid sharp, weighted, or breakable decorations or small removable parts that could cause a choking hazard.

Light it up: Check each set of lights, new or old, for broken or cracked sockets, frayed or bare wires, or loose connections. Throw out damaged sets. Never use electric lights on a metallic tree.

Night lights: When using lights outdoors, make sure they're certified for outdoor use. Plug them into a ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) protected receptacle or a portable GFCI.

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