Health Advice

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Health

Smart natural additions to your medicine cabinet

American's medicine chests are stuffed with over-the-counter pain relievers like ibuprofen (on-again, off-again users take about 30 billion doses annually!). And more than 15 million adults take prescription proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for acid reflux, and millions more pop OTC versions. Let's clear out some room for natural remedies that can ...Read more

Why walking is so good for you

We know you hear us say -- over and over again -- that you have to walk every day, no excuses. That's because we're so convinced of its importance! You see, walking (aiming for 10,000 steps daily) doesn't just strengthen your circulation, pump oxygen to your brain, improve your balance, and provide a chance to spend time with your posse, it has ...Read more

Soothing sciatica

Up to 40% of people experience the nerve pain of sciatica at least once in their life. It may strike like an electric shock, a numb tingling, or a persistent ache (or all three) and can affect the lower back, thigh, calf and toes. It may lead to leg weakness and even loss of bladder or bowel control.

Sciatica can be caused by a herniated or ...Read more

Getting a leg up on strength and balance

More than 14 million falls are reported every year among Americans ages 65 and older. And the fall death rate has skyrocketed by around 40% over the past decades.

If you want to substantially lower your risk of falling, you want to increase your leg strength and ability to balance on one leg. That's the conclusion of a study in PlosOne that ...Read more

Taming adult ADHD

Can't focus? Are easily impatient? Hate dealing with multitasking? You may be contending with adult ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder). Join the crowd.

More than 15 million American adults have been diagnosed with ADHD (many more go undiagnosed) and have to deal with the work, relationship and internal conflicts that can arise as a...Read more

How to keep your good HDL cholesterol healthy

"It's quality rather than quantity that matters." When the Roman statesman and Stoic philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca declared that in the first century, he may have been wise. But there's no way he knew just how true that was for postmenopausal women when it comes to HDL -- the good cholesterol.

A new study in the Journal of Clinical ...Read more

A new trifecta: menopause, obesity and breast cancer

More than three-fourths of first-time breast cancer diagnoses are made in postmenopausal women. And a new study shows that 40% of hormone-positive breast cancer cases in those women can be linked to carrying around excess body fat.

That makes the risks of putting on postmenopausal pounds -- the average is about a pound-and-a-half every year -- ...Read more

Sugar blues

When "Sugar Blues" hit the bookstores in 1986, it blew the whistle on America's addiction to sugar and the health harms it causes. But almost 40 years later, adults in this country are still downing about 60 pounds of added sugar a year, and research is continually uncovering health hazards that added sweetness causes.

A recent study in JAMA ...Read more

Are you feeling off your game?

You know that feeling of being, well, not right? You're always tired, you think you might be getting sick, and you feel generally off your game. That's called malaise and it's more common than you might think. That's because it can be associated with a wide array of lifestyle habits, infections, chronic diseases, certain medications and ...Read more

Protecting your child's brain health

Did you know that in the first five years of life, a child's brain makes over a million neural connections every second -- influencing their future behavior, health and ability to learn? No wonder early nutrition is so important -- as is protection from environmental pollution.

One review of 40 studies found reports that there are striking ...Read more

Headspace: clearing out dangerous waste from your brain

When Riley Clemmons sings, "You can't have my headspace/Won't let you in my safe place," she's talking about defending herself from a toxic relationship. But she could just as well have been singing about the newly identified headspace in your brain that helps clear out toxic metabolic waste like tau proteins and amyloid, which are associated ...Read more

Drink this in: sweetened beverages linked to increased stroke risk

Americans are (unfortunately) crazy for sweet-tasting beverages. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that 63% of adults down at least one sugar-sweetened soda, sweetened fruit drinks, sports/energy drink, or sweetened coffee/tea drink a day.

Every year, around 610,000 folks have their first stroke.

What do these two facts have ...Read more

The pressure is off -- in more ways than one

When you get your high blood pressure under control, the pressure is off. You can relax a bit about increased cardiovascular risks associated with a blood pressure (BP) reading of more than 110/75 and an increased risk for dementia that's related to a reading of 125/85 or higher. But the pressure can be off in another way -- because of your arm ...Read more

Losing weight isn't so hard -- but regaining may be even easier

Gambling is a $40 billion-a-year business in the U.S., and that doesn't include the $50 billion that was spent last year on weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy.

Those drugs are a gamble, too. It's not because they don't work, they do! But because when you go off them, to cut expenses, avoid side effects, or you think, "Mission ...Read more

 

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