Your health: Get out and do something

Body basicsFive minutes is all it takes of daily outdoor exercise to boost your overall mood, researchers found.Never-ending traumaChronic pain afflicts about 70 million Americans and costs the economy more than $100 billion per year, according to "The Pain Chronicles," a new book by journalist Melanie Thernstrom. In a clever personification, Thernstrom writes that "pain was not like a violent intruder who batters his way in, wreaks havoc and departs. It was more like a sour domestic partner - intimate and ugly; a threatening, dirtying, distracting presence, yet one who refused to move out." ("The Pain Chronicles" from Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $27)Most are overweightThe epidemic of obesity in America continues. One-third of all Americans are obese, and two-thirds are obese or overweight, according to the latest study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.The good news is that while rates had increased steadily after 1980, they appear to be leveling off since 1999.The AMA called for a public health campaign about the dangers of being overweight, similar to past programs to reduce smoking and high blood pressure.A federal panel of health experts is also recommending now that doctors screen children age 6 to 18 for obesity and refer them to weight-loss programs.Dr. Oz's daughterDaphne Oz, the eldest daughter of heart surgeon and talk show host Mehmet Oz, avoided gaining the "Freshman 15" at Princeton University and lost 10 pounds instead. Her book, "The Dorm Room Diet," is updated in paperback with 10 common-sensical tips and recipes. ("The Dorm Room Diet" by Newmarket Press, $16.95)Rosebud!It seems a distant memory now, but winter will bring sledding season again, along with its dangers.Sledding accidents cause an estimated 21,000 injuries treated in emergency rooms each year, according to a new study in the journal Pediatrics.Children age 10 to 14 were most commonly injured, and boys made up 60 percent of all cases, mostly from colliding with other objects.Head injuries made up one-third of the injuries, and traumatic brain injuries were most likely to occur with snow tubes, possibly due to its limiting the passenger's vision.