Harvard Health Blog
Read posts from experts at Harvard Health Publishing covering a variety of health topics and perspectives on medical news.
Just like in the rest of your body, advancing years can take a toll on your brain function. Much of this slowing down is predictable and can be chalked up to normal aging. However, when thinking skills become increasingly fuzzy and forgetfulness gets to be a way of life, an early form of dementia known as mild cognitive impairment may be setting in.
E-cigarette smoking among teens is on the rise, and teens are more likely to transition from smoking e-cigarettes to smoking traditional cigarettes. E-cigarettes are marketed towards young people, emphasizing the need for dialogue between teens and the adults in their lives on the health risks surrounding this trend.
It’s a relatively recent development. Whether at work, working out, watching a movie, or just about anything else, it’s as if there’s been an epidemic of dehydration that can only be warded off by constant access to water. It seems strange to me; almost no one did this a decade or two ago. Were people in the past less healthy or did they feel less well because they drank when they were thirsty or with meals, rather than throughout the day?
The view that calories are calories regardless of their source has been shown to be outdated. Foods with a low glycemic index are better because they tend to raise blood sugar more slowly, and they are also more likely to be healthier foods overall. By choosing the low-glycemic foods and thus the minimally processed foods, people can lose more weight, feel fuller longer, and remain healthier.
It’s a relatively recent development. Whether at work, working out, watching a movie, or just about anything else, it’s as if there’s been an epidemic of dehydration that can only be warded off by constant access to water. It seems strange to me; almost no one did this a decade or two ago. Were people in the past less healthy or did they feel less well because they drank when they were thirsty or with meals, rather than throughout the day?
Low LDL cholesterol and high HDL cholesterol lower your risk for cardiovascular disease. That is what the studies have always shown us. But a new study suggests that low HDL itself may not be the risk factor for heart disease we thought it was. It could merely be a sign of an unhealthy lifestyle, or other health risk factors, that also contribute to heart disease. Trying to find medications to raise HDL cholesterol may not be as effective as encouraging people to adopt healthier habits.
Experts now recommend that new parents sleep in the same room as their new infant for the first 6-12 months of his/her life. While this might wake the parents up more, it’s much safer for the child. Sudden unexplained infant death (SUID) happens much less frequently when the parents sleep in the same room as their baby. And six months will go by faster than you think.
Charles Schmidt A pair of new studies provides useful information to men facing challenging decisions about what to do after being diagnosed with early prostate cancer. Researchers tracked men for 10 years and found that virtually none died of the illness, even if they decided against treating it. Early prostate tumors confined to the prostate […]
Have you noticed that when you go to a doctor’s office, the providers are on a computer or flipping through papers for much of the visit? Maybe they’re looking through your records, typing your history, filling out forms, or checking boxes from a questionnaire. Whatever it is, isn’t it kind of weird and awkward that you’re sitting there in person for an illness or an examination, and you are not the primary focus of attention?
My Shih Tzu, Latte, is like a therapist, personal trainer, and primary care physician all wrapped up into 10 pounds of white fluffiness. When you are bedridden with a cold, she never leaves your side until you are well. When you have a bad day, she is there with a comforting look that says, “Everything is going to be okay.” At 5 p.m., she reminds you that you’ve sat for too long and need to take her for a walk.
As mindfulness meditation and yoga have become mainstream and more extensively studied, growing evidence suggests multiple psychological and physical benefits of these mindfulness exercises, as well as for similar practices like tai chi and qi gong.
A delightful and dangerous season approaches. While fall brings bright colors and refreshingly cooler weather, it also brings Halloween candy, Thanksgiving pies, and other holiday treats. Around this time of year, weight loss is always on my mind.
For years, the standard recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has been that children shouldn’t have more than two hours a day of screen time. But with the explosion of the internet and social media, the increase in smartphones and tablets, and more education and homework happening online, the “two hour” rule has become increasingly difficult — and, ultimately, out of touch.
To gluten or not to gluten? That is the question that millions of Americans are now asking themselves. You can’t walk into a grocery store or restaurant these days without having to choose between one or the other. The signs are everywhere. “Certified gluten-free” this and “100% gluten free” that. “Hold the gluten” here and “gluten warning” there. Dizzying displays of gluten-free products on store shelves and café counters. What is going on?
A majority of women experience some sort of nausea (morning sickness) during pregnancy. Many have speculated that nausea is a good sign that indicates a healthy pregnancy. Until recently, there was little solid evidence to support this belief, but a recent study suggests there is some truth to this old wives’ tale.
For many years, it was clear that my father was becoming hard of hearing. Normally gregarious and the life of the party, he became increasingly withdrawn because he couldn’t hear well enough to partake in conversations around the table. He began to walk with a shuffling gait. He was declining in front of my eyes. And yet, when we communicated by email, his intellectual curiosity and warm storytelling skills were intact. But in person, he seemed to be fading away.
Asthma is one of most common chronic diseases of childhood; almost 9% of children in the United States suffer from it. And yet I find it’s a disease that lots of people don’t understand — even parents of children with asthma.
Men have to accept many changes as they age — less hair, less muscle — but less sex doesn’t have to be one of them. In fact, 54% of men over age 70 are still sexually active, according to research in the January 2016 issue of Archives of Sexual Behavior.
Surprisingly, one of the big topics of this election season has been pneumonia. In September, news outlets reported that Hilary Clinton would be taking a few days off the campaign trail because she had pneumonia. It got me thinking: what do they mean by “pneumonia”? The question comes up because pneumonia is not just one disease. There are several types and causes. Some are temporary setbacks, and others are more serious. Treatments vary as do recovery times.
When a person with a life-threatening allergy is exposed to his or her “kryptonite” (be it peanuts, bee stings, latex, or something else) the result is an intense immune response called anaphylaxis. The throat tightens, the tongue swells, blood pressure can crash, and it can become hard, maybe even impossible, to breathe. Rapid treatment is critical. “If a reaction is that severe, epinephrine basically saves a person’s life until she or he can get definitive healthcare,” says Dr. Susan Farrell, emergency room physician and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.
This has been an interesting election, to say the least — one in which it’s been a bit hard to keep track of the issues in the midst of the latest news story. But those issues matter, because the decisions the next president makes will affect the lives of each and every one of us.
Research shows that lowering cholesterol using a variety of approaches–including medications and diet–can lower the chances of having a cardiovascular event, including a heart attack. For people at high risk for a heart attack, cholesterol-lowering statins are usually the first-line treatment. For people who can’t take statins, other drugs may help.
There are hundreds of viruses that can cause respiratory illnesses; influenza (the “flu”) is just one group of viruses which can cause mild to severe illness, and sometimes even death. Certain people — such as the very young or the very old, pregnant women, or those with chronic medical conditions like asthma, diabetes, or heart disease — are at greater risk for serious complications from the flu. Though the numbers fluctuate, the flu leads to hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and anywhere from 3,000 to 49,000 deaths every year in the U.S., based on the numbers from the last few decades. How bad the flu season is depends a lot on the circulating flu viruses and whether the flu vaccine is well-matched, both of which usually change from year to year.
The belief that women should avoid exercise or athletics during their menstrual periods, because it can affect performance or increase the risk of injury, is not necessarily true. Good training may reduce the risks of injury and enhance performance much more than trying to time exercise around one’s periods.
