Your health

Treat your feet

You pamper your feet to keep them pretty during sandal season, but give little thought to their well-being when they are hidden in snow boots.

That's a mistake, foot doctors say. Specialists at Temple University's School of Podiatric Medicine offer these tips to keep you on your toes this winter:

• Slather your feet with hypoallergenic lotion at least once a day to prevent irritation or infection from dry skin. "Feet tend to dry out in the winter, which can cause cracks and peeling," said podiatrist Howard Palamarchuk.

• Even if you aren't giving yourself the full pedicure treatment, be sure to keep your toenails trimmed to prevent painful ingrown toenails.

• Invest in a good winter shoe that's waterproof, is roomy enough to fit two pairs of socks (to insulate your feet and prevent moisture buildup) and has a gripping sole to keep you from slipping and sliding on ice.

Baby steps

New Year's resolutions often fail because people set the bar impossibly high. Then they give up. But small lifestyle changes can have a big impact.

An article in the February issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests the following small steps you can take to prevent weight gain:

• Walk an extra 2,000 steps a day.

• Reduce food portions by 5 percent.

• Replaced sweetened beverages with water or other noncaloric drinks.

• Eat a nutritious breakfast.

"By shifting our focus to small changes in diet and physical activity, we can prevent weight gain and potentially reduce the magnitude of the obesity problem," said James O. Hill, president of the American Society for Nutrition.

Sleep on this

Here's another lifestyle change that can reap big health rewards: Get a little more sleep.

For people in their 30s or 40s, longer sleep duration may decrease the risk of coronary artery calcification - a predictor of atherosclerosis and heart disease, according to research reported in U.S. News & World Report.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, showed that one extra hour each night lowered the odds of coronary artery calcification by 33 percent. That's as good for your heart as lowering your systolic blood pressure (the top number) by 17 points. And that's no small change.

Still, getting more sleep might be easier said than done. "Very little is known about what determines people's length of sleep," said Diane Lauderdale, study director and associate professor of health studies at the University of Chicago.

You probably can't sleep later in the morning, so you here's your first step: Turn off the TV or computer and get to bed earlier.