A roundup of new and noteworthy insights from the week’s most talked-about studies:
1 MORE MEN ARE USING CONDOMS
New data from the National Center for Health Statistics shows 33.7% of men polled between 2011 and ’15 said they used a condom the last time they had sex, up from 29.5% of men who said the same in 2002.
2 AMERICANS, ESPECIALLY WOMEN, ARE DRINKING MORE ALCOHOL
A study in JAMA Psychiatry that compared data from 2001–2002 with data from 2012–2013 found that more Americans are drinking more alcohol. In that time, the prevalence of alcohol-use disorder increased nearly 84% for women, compared with an increase of 35% for men.
3 TAI CHI CAN HELP OLDER PEOPLE PREVENT FALLING
An investigation in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that tai chi reduced older people’s rate of falls by 43% within the first year of learning the practice, compared with other interventions such as physical therapy.
–J.Z.
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Write to Julia Zorthian at julia.zorthian@time.com