This Week in Health: Sexting might be good for your relationship

Location of study: U.S.

Study subjects: 870 people aged 18 to 82

Results: If you’re an American adult with a phone, chances are high that you’ve sent sexually suggestive text messages at one point or another—at least that’s what a new study found. Researchers report that 82 percent of participants said they’d sexted in the last year. While the flirty act is often associated with casual relationships, a whopping 75 percent of participants said they’d sexted while in a committed relationship. The biggest takeaway was that more sexting equaled greater relationship satisfaction for many people with a steady partner.

Significance: “The question really is whether sexting leads to relationship satisfaction, or if relationship satisfaction leads to sexting,” says lead researcher Emily Stasko, MS, MPH of Drexel University. One other notable finding, however, was that unwanted sexting actually had a negative impact on relationship satisfaction.

Study subjects: Over 44,000 cancer patients

Location of study: U.S.

Results: New research reports that cancer patients who identify as religious or spiritual often experience better physical outcomes and improved mental and social health. This includes fewer cases of anxiety, depression and distress, as well as improved physical performance.

Significance: “Is there an overall relationship? Yes, there is; but what does that really mean?” says lead author John Salsman, Ph.D. “One of the limitations is that it’s not a causal link because the overwhelming majority of the studies are cross-sectional in nature.” In other words, is spirituality impacting health, or is health impacting spirituality? It’s also possible that something else that’s related to both could be going on.

Location of study: U.S.

Study subjects: Rodents

Results: A newly discovered bacterial enzyme is creating quite a buzz among researchers. Investigators from The Scripps Research Institute began by mixing a component of mice blood with a dose of nicotine. From there, they introduced the enzyme, which significantly reduced its half-life. Investigators are likening the bacterium to a nicotine-devouring Pac-Man.

Significance: The enzyme, which could potentially become an effective smoking-cessation aid, can be recreated in a lab. The findings are significant as researchers say that current smoking-cessation tools have an 80 to 90 percent failure rate. In theory, the bacterium would eat up nicotine before it’s able to reach the brain. By intercepting it in this way, it would prevent the person from feeling the nicotine satisfaction that smoker’s know all too well.