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In recent decades, a number of studies have found that being religious can be good for your health. People who regularly attend services are less likely to smoke, may be less likely to use drugs or be obese  and may live longer than those who don’t attend services. Those findings have led some to conclude that, if religion is good for you, being an atheist will be bad for your health. That’s not exactly the case, said David Speed, professor of psychology at the University of New Brunswick in St. John, Canada. In a new study called "Godless in the Great White North,” published in the Journal of Religion and Health, Speed looked at data and found that atheists may be just as healthy as devoted believers. “If you compare the health outcomes for those two groups, they are really similar to each other,” said Speed. (Smietana, 3/4)

The pandemic saw a dramatic shift in how Americans got hurt last year, as months of lockdowns and stay-home orders reshaped everyday routines and presented unfamiliar dangers, according to a study released today by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Sports injuries collapsed. Injuries from fireworks and bicycles spiked. Severe injuries caused by home power tools soared. More people were hurt by chain saws and skateboards. But bad injuries on playground equipment plummeted. (Frankel, 3/4)

As COVID-19 spread last year, sales of hand sanitizers skyrocketed, with consumers and businesses trying to prevent infection. Also soaring were sanitizer-related calls to the Georgia Poison Center. Here and nationally, more kids than usual have been ingesting these fluids, which are typically alcohol-based. The state saw a 60 percent increase in poisoning calls related to sanitizer last year over 2019, says Gaylord Lopez, executive director of the Georgia Poison Center. The cases are continuing to rise so far this year, he adds. (Miller, 3/4)

When the pandemic struck last year, many Americans rushed to stock up on alcohol, causing retail sales of wine, beer and liquor to surge across the country. But the uptick in sales was a worrying sign for health experts focused on cancer prevention. In recent years, a growing number of medical and public health groups have introduced public awareness campaigns warning people to drink with caution, noting that alcohol is the third leading preventable cause of cancer, behind tobacco and obesity. (O'Connor, 3/4)

Every year the flu kills thousands of people and sickens millions more who didn't get a flu shot or in whom it didn't work well. In 1918, the worldwide death toll from flu topped 50 million and researchers have been worried about a repeat ever since. Now, a team of government and former government scientists has developed a vaccine that seems – at least in monkeys – to protect against the strains most likely to cause a global pandemic. The group, which published their monkey results in a Wednesday study, has begun a small trial to test the vaccine in healthy adults. (Weintraub, 3/4)

Shortly after the shutdown began, her daughter hosted a friend for a sleepover — via a video call on her iPad, which she rested on a pillow next to her own head. As the months passed, one of her sons began starting the school day with a blanket over his head, unable to face yet another day in front of his computer. “I feel like we lost a year of our lives,” said Jenn Ambrosiano-Reedholm, a mother of three in Cockeysville. “And it feels extra-long.” (Marbella, 3/4)

Now that COVID-19 vaccines are bringing hope to fighting the pandemic, there is some concern the U.S. and others will lose interest in improving the tools needed to confront emerging outbreaks. On top of the coronavirus pandemic, there are currently other smaller outbreaks around the globe — some with pandemic potential. (O'Reilly, 3/4)