Health Advice
/Health

11 things you can do to adjust to losing that hour of sleep when daylight saving time starts
As clocks march ahead and daylight saving time begins, there can be anxiety around losing an hour of sleep and how to adjust to this change.
Usually an hour seems like an insignificant amount of time, but even this minimal loss can cause problems. There can be significant health repercussions of this forcible shift in the body clock.<...Read more

US measles cases jump 35% in a week; now found in 12 states
U.S. measles cases jumped by a third over the past week, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, a worrying sign in the outbreak that’s already linked to two deaths.
New Mexico’s health department listed Friday that an adult who had died and then tested positive for measles had succumbed to the disease, though the ...Read more

Daylight saving time and early school start times cost billions in lost productivity and health care expenses
Investigations into the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster revealed that key decision-makers worked on little sleep, raising concerns that fatigue impaired their judgment. Similarly, in 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil spill resulted in a massive environmental catastrophe. The official investigation revealed the third mate, in charge of ...Read more

Marty Makary, often wrong as pandemic critic, is poised to lead the FDA he railed against
Panelists at a COVID conference last fall were asked to voice their regrets — policies they had supported during the pandemic but had come to see as misguided. COVID contact tracing, one said. Closing schools, another said. Vaccine mandates, a third said.
When Marty Makary’s turn came, the Johns Hopkins University surgeon said, “I can’t...Read more

Medicaid advocates say critics use loaded terms to gain edge in congressional debate
In Washington’s debate over enacting steep funding cuts to Medicaid, words are a central battleground.
Many Republican lawmakers and conservative policy officials who want to scale back the joint state-federal health program are using charged language to describe it. Language experts and advocates for Medicaid enrollees say their word choice ...Read more

NIH funding cuts will hit red states, rural areas and underserved communities the hardest
The National Institutes of Health is the largest federal funder of medical research in the U.S. NIH funds drive research and innovation, leading to better understanding and treatment of diseases and improved health outcomes.
The NIH provided more than US$35 billion in grants to over 2,500 universities and other institutions in 2023 to...Read more

To patients, parents, and caregivers, proposed Medicaid cuts are a personal affront
TUSTIN, Calif. — Cynthia Williams is furious with U.S. House Republicans willing to slash Medicaid, the government-run insurance program for people with low incomes or disabilities.
The 61-year-old Anaheim resident cares for her adult daughter, who is blind, and for her sister, a military veteran with severe post-traumatic stress disorder and...Read more

Should babies get a 'bonus dose' of the measles vaccine? Doctors say it depends
Like many anxious parents, Beth Spektor spent the last few weeks fretting over how to protect her infant daughter from the first deadly measles outbreak to hit the U.S. in a decade.
Her 9-month-old was too young for the first dose of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, typically given to American toddlers shortly after their first birthday....Read more

Trouble sleeping? The culprit may be something you ate
Can't sleep at night?
Researchers say the reason – and the solution – could be lurking in your kitchen. The ingredients for poor sleep can be found in every meal, and the less you sleep, the more likely you may be to consume them.
"It's a cycle," said Dr. Marie-Pierre St-Onge, an associate professor of nutritional medicine in the division ...Read more
Unvaccinated New Mexico resident tests positive for measles after death
An unvaccinated New Mexico resident tested positive for measles after their death, health officials said Thursday.
The New Mexico Department of Health identified the person only as a resident of Lea County.
“We don’t want to see New Mexicans getting sick or dying from measles,” Dr. Chad Smelser, NMDOH Deputy State Epidemiologist, said. �...Read more

Philly’s street fentanyl contains an industrial chemical called BTMPS that’s an ingredient in plastic
As much as half of the fentanyl sold on Philly’s streets contains an industrial chemical used in plastics manufacturing. That’s according to our November 2024 testing of fentanyl samples collected in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood, regarded as the largest open-air drug market on the East Coast.
What’s more, the amount,...Read more

As tuberculosis cases rise in the US and worldwide, health officials puzzle over the resurgence of a disease once in decline
An outbreak of tuberculosis, or TB – a lung disease that is often accompanied by a hacking cough – began in January 2024 in Kansas City, Kansas, and two nearby counties and continues as of early March 2025. To date, 147 people have been reportedly diagnosed with TB in the outbreak, with 67 becoming ill. The remaining 80 people diagnosed ...Read more

CDC firings undermine public health work far beyond Washington
The Trump administration’s sudden firing of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees gutted training programs across the nation whose participants bolstered the workforce of state and local public health departments that for decades have been starved of resources.
The programs are designed to cultivate a new generation of public ...Read more

States facing doctor shortages ease licensing rules for foreign-trained physicians
A growing number of states have made it easier for doctors who trained in other countries to get medical licenses, a shift supporters say could ease physician shortages in rural areas.
The changes involve residency programs — the supervised, hands-on training experience that doctors must complete after graduating medical school. Until ...Read more

Mayo Clinic Q and A: Understanding colorectal cancer
DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I recently read that more and more young people are getting diagnosed with colorectal cancer. I'm in my 30s, am I at risk? What does colorectal mean?
ANSWER: The term colorectal cancer combines colon and rectal cancer, two parts of the intestine. The first part of the large intestine is called the colon, and the last part ...Read more

Inspired or frightened by health info you just saw on social media? Try this first
Social media can be a great place to catch up with friends, follow favorite celebrities and watch adorable pygmy hippos. But many people also go there for health advice, and few have seen the implications of that from more angles than Dr. Mikhail Varshavski.
"Doctor Mike" has a huge following: 13.4 million subscribers to his YouTube channel ...Read more

Years later, Centene settlements with states still unfinished
More than three years ago, health insurance giant Centene Corp. settled allegations that it overcharged Medicaid programs in Ohio and Mississippi related to prescription drug billing.
Now at least 20 states have settled with Centene over its pharmacy benefit manager operation that coordinated the medications for Medicaid patients. Arizona was ...Read more

Are you at risk for measles? Miami sees case amid US outbreak. What to know in Florida
MIAMI — Florida has reported the state’s first measles case this year as other parts of the country try to control a growing outbreak.
The U.S. has recorded more than 100 cases of the disease in 2025, with ground zero Texas reporting the country’s first measles-related death in nearly a decade.
Now, a Miami-Dade County teen is sick with ...Read more

Washington's Senate Democrats want reproductive, gender-affirming care in state constitution
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Democratic state lawmakers, worried about federal efforts to limit transgender and abortion rights, want to amend the state constitution to include protections for gender-affirming and reproductive health care, and hope to put it before voters.
Senate Joint Resolution 8204, introduced this week by prime sponsor Sen. Vandana ...Read more

Commentary: Why pediatricians are worried
Early in my career as a pediatrician, it would not be unusual to get a phone call in the middle of the night from the worried parent of a child with a high fever. I got out of bed, met the family in the emergency room and sat with them while their child was evaluated. It could be a terrifying night, with painful tests to rule out serious ...Read more
Popular Stories
- Daylight saving time and early school start times cost billions in lost productivity and health care expenses
- To patients, parents, and caregivers, proposed Medicaid cuts are a personal affront
- US measles cases jump 35% in a week; now found in 12 states
- What do I do with expired medicine? Don’t use it, for a start…
- Marty Makary, often wrong as pandemic critic, is poised to lead the FDA he railed against