Tank-top and strapless-dress season is almost here. If you’re not ready to bare your arms and upper back, drop and give me 20! Push-ups are one of the most effective upper body exercises, but the traditional move, whether with straight legs or knees on the floor, only offers muscles so much. Here are some ways to add zest to your push-ups and get more out of this basic exercise. Use an exercise ball: Instead of the floor, place your hands on a large gym ball. The instability of the ball means constantly shifting and readjusting your body to remain in a stable plank position. Having to do this will target your core and offer a greater challenge to the muscles in your upper body. Change your hand position: Traditionally the hands are slightly wider than shoulder-width distance apart, and the elbows come out to the sides as you lower. Mix it up by walking one hand in a few inches, and as you lower, that elbow bends back behind you while the other elbow bends out to the side as it normally would. Or place both hands out wider to target the chest and shoulders. To work the triceps, place your hands together below the chest. Keep reading to learn more ways to make push-ups more challenging.

If Winter weather curbs your outdoor runs and steep gym prices prevent you from hitting the pool or a spin class, you’ll need an inexpensive and easy way to keep up with your cardio sessions. You may associate a jump rope with school-aged girls, boxers, or those in the military, but jump ropes are a great tool to keep in your home gym and here’s why. Cheap way to save time while burning major calories: For about $7 and 30 minutes, a 130-pound woman can burn 330 calories – running at a pace of 10 minutes per mile (six mph) only burns 270 calories. You can do your workout anywhere: Whether you’re in a hotel room on a business trip, outside on your deck, or inside your home because of bad weather, you can jump rope – just make sure the ceilings are high enough. A bonus is that since a jump rope takes up so little room, it can easily be stashed in your suitcase, gym or yoga bag, or even your purse. Jumping is good for bone health: If you’re young, you’re not exactly worrying about osteoporosis yet, but what you do now can help prevent this condition. It turns out that simply jumping up and down helps strengthen your bones . It tones your legs and booty: Who doesn’t want a tight and toned tush? Just like running and biking, jumping rope requires mostly leg strength. You can jump up and down, side-to-side, or forward and backward, jump while moving around the room, jump with one leg, or jump with both legs together. Varying your steps will target different muscles and also prevent boredom.

The end of daylight saving time occurs this weekend, and while that can mean an extra hour to sleep in on Sunday, it does mean the start to those shorter, colder days. And finishing work when it’s dark and gloomy outside can demotivate you to hit the gym before finding comfort on your couch. I may not be running outside after work during the Winter season, but luckily the fact that my gym is only a couple of blocks from work means that I hopefully will stick to my routine. I may, however, fit in a few chilly mornings whenever I want to run outside. What about you? Will You Be Changing Your Workout Time This Season? Yes No It depends

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NEW YORK (CBS) — New mothers may have another reason to breastfeed. A study in the journal Pediatrics finds a connection between breastfed babies and higher mental development. Chrissy Allen, who is currently breastfeeding her fourth child, said she thinks it’s the healthiest for babies. “It’s the most natural, easiest for them to digest,” said Allen. Research shows breastfeeding protects babies against infection, asthma and obesity but there may be another benefit. A new study in the journal Pediatrics finds babies who are breastfed show higher mental development at 14 months. “We look at their motor skills. We look at their language skills,” explained pediatrician Dr. Jessica Sessions. A link between breastfeeding and brain development isn’t new but factors such as the mother’s education and income were thought to play a role. This study shows the benefits are independent of those social factors. “It’s the composition of the breast milk. Even though we’re not sure exactly, they’re looking at certain types of fatty acids that they think are making a positive impact on the baby’s brain,” said Dr. Sessions. The study also found the greater the amount of breast milk, the higher the benefits. For Chrissy Allen, studies like this one reinforce her decision to breastfeed. “It was difficult to do at the beginning and difficult to stick through with this many children but it makes me happy and proud of myself as a mother knowing I really am doing what is best for her.” She also said the greatest benefit of all is bonding with her new baby. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends babies receive only breast milk for the first six months of life. While about 75-percent start out being breastfed, less than 15-percent are exclusively breastfed at six months.

There was plenty of love for New York City this week from delegates at a high-level United Nations meeting on chronic diseases. But it wasn’t all about the city’s restaurants or Broadway shows. Health leaders from across the globe were in awe of the Big Apple’s triumphs over smoking, artificial trans fats, and other bad actors in the war on heart disease, cancer and other illnesses. “We all need to learn from it,” World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan gushed to Thomas Frieden, who was seated next to her on a panel and who led the campaigns from 2002-2009 as city health commissioner. (He’s now head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.) In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly earlier this week, Mayor Michael Bloomberg rattled off New York’s achievements: a tough anti-tobacco campaign that made cigarettes, at about $11.20 a pack, the most expensive in the nation and led to a reduction in adult smoking rates to 14%  in 2010 from 22% in 2002 (the national rate is 19.3% ). A ban on artificial trans fats. Calorie labeling in restaurants . Ad campaigns linking soda consumption to obesity , and a national salt-reduction initiative. No wonder, he noted, that life expectancy for New Yorkers has risen faster and is higher than for Americans overall, having increased 1.5 years to 79.4 years from 2001 to 2008. While not expensive, he said such moves require political will –  often meaning regulation. “There are powers only governments can exercise, policies only governments can mandate and enforce, and results only governments can achieve,” said Bloomberg, who has also privately funded tobacco control projects in several countries through his Bloomberg Philanthropies. To drive the point home, Thomas Farley, the current city health czar, commissioned a 24-page report for delegates in multiple languages, from Spanish to Arabic. “Innovative Solutions from New York City” describes interventions from the smoking and trans fat bans to bike lanes, laws reducing air pollutants and use of electronic health records to improve preventive care. The idea, says Farley, who picked up the mantle from the first Tom F., is to provide examples to other cities around the world. Many of the measures “cost little or nothing to implement,” he says. The measures could be a tall order for cities in some countries where smoking is more accepted . While New York’s restaurants, parks and beaches are smoke-free, we at the Health Blog found ourselves exposed to some serious secondhand smoke on the sidewalks around the U.N. this week, as visiting delegates, their staffs, and journalists squeezed in plenty of puffs between meetings. Smoking is allowed on city streets, though “we discourage it,” Farley says of the haze. Still, he notes, New York’s experience shows “we can reduce smoking rates.” Image: iStockphoto

Bastille Day is a fave celebration of mine. A little French wine, a little cheese, a baguette – what more could a gal want. Take this little quiz and see how French culture and the French paradox could affect your health for the better. Bon chance ! Flickr User notfrancois Take the Quiz

Generic Distinction: The Supreme Court ruled that makers of generic drugs, unlike their counterparts making the branded versions, aren’t liable for medication injuries that could have been avoided by an updated warning label, the WSJ reports . The logic: branded drugs are required by law to demonstrate safety and effectiveness and to have a label with adequate, up-to-date information, while generic drugs only have to be equivalent to the branded version and  must carry the same label as the brand, the paper says. Separately, the court ruled that Vermont can’t outlaw the sale of physicians’ prescribing data to drug makers. A Call for Sleep: A report by physicians and sleep experts published in Nature and Science of Sleep calls for all U.S. trainee doctors’ work hours to be cut further, to shifts of no more than 12 to 16 hours, to reduce medical errors, Reuters reports . New limits going into effect next month permit residents in the second year and above to work 24-hour shifts plus an additional four hours to facilitate patient handoffs. Plant Problems: GlaxoSmithKline will pay almost $41 million to settle states’ allegations over shoddy production practices at a now-closed plant in Cidra, Puerto Rico, Dow Jones Newswires reports . Glaxo admitted to no liability or wrongdoing under state consumer protection laws. Last fall Glaxo said it would pay $750 million and plead guilty to a criminal charge to settle a federal probe into manufacturing deficiencies at the same plant. Reversal of Disease: A small study published in Diabetologia suggests that losing a substantial amount of weight can reverse type 2 diabetes, BBC News reports . Eleven newly diagnosed patients went on an eight-week, 600-calories-per-day diet; seven were no longer diabetic after three months. The study authors say they are not endorsing the diet for diabetics and that the findings point to further research. Image: iStockphoto

A new survey from the American Heart Association has found some bad news: turns out most people don’t know what an acceptable amount of salt or wine should be. The survey asked 1,000 adults how much they know about their recommended daily salt and red wine intake, and the results were disheartening. Over 60 percent believe that sea salt is a low-sodium alternative to table salt, and almost half thought that table salt was the primary source of extra sodium in their diet (we actually get most of our sodium from processed and canned foods). The respondents were as similarly confused about wine drinking. While most knew that drinking wine is good for the heart, 70 percent had no idea how much is OK to drink. In light of these surprising findings, here’s a reminder about our daily alcohol and salt limits, and why they matter after the break.

If I had to choose, I’d pick a nice moist steam room over a sauna any day. But last month, I purchased a massage deal that came with an infrared sauna session. Anything that is said to “eliminate toxins” piques my interest, so I was excited about what my first infrared sauna experience was going to be all about. An infrared sauna looks similar to a traditional sauna except there aren’t any hot coals since the heat is emitted from the built-in infrared heaters, which are located in the sides and the top of the sauna (don’t worry, they aren’t even hot to touch). Unlike a normal sauna that heats up quite quickly, relaxes the body and opens up the pores for a serious sweat session , an infrared sauna safely penetrates deep into joints and muscles with the same rays that come from the sun - minus the UV radiation. Keep reading to learn more about my first infrared session.