Long-term weight loss, considered an elusive goal, can be achieved if people keep practicing essential health behaviors, researchers say.
And one of those behaviors is weighing yourself regularly.
Author: Jane Farrell
Why You Should Donate Blood
Editor’s note: Many people make a list of New Year’s resolutions, and most of us have difficulty keeping them! But here’s one resolution that’s easy to follow through on: donating blood. Hospitals and patients are in critical need for blood, yet the donation rate is very low.
Can Your Lungs Smell Odors?
When you smell something, you’re probably using your lungs as well as your nose, researchers say.
Reading Can Change Your Brain’s Responses
If you’ve ever read a story that changed your life, it may have changed your brain as well.
Researchers from Emory University have discovered that reading a novel can cause changes in the brain’s “resting-state connectivity.”
Survival Tips for Heart-Attack Season
Snow shoveling is great exercise, but if you’re over a certain age or have health problems, it could prove deadly unless you protect yourself.
The Solution to Winter SADness
By Rita Anya Nara
Myths About Palliative Care
A specialized, multidisciplinary team approach to caring for seriously ill people and their families, is often errantly reduced to end-of-
life care. This misconception has led to palliative care involvement being introduced late in an illness, often depriving patients and
their families of comprehensive symptom control, support and assistance with complex decision-making throughout the course of
their illness when it could provide the most benefit.
Giant Pandas Could Be Source of Drugs
Giant pandas produce a powerful antibiotic in their blood stream that may be a rich source of powerful new drugs, Chinese scientists say.
The substance, which kills bacteria and fungi, could lead to new treatments against drug resistant superbugs and other diseases, they said.
Researchers at Nanjing Agricultural University identified the substance, cathelicidin-AM, by analyzing panda DNA, The Daily Telegraph of London reported Sunday.
Texas Judge: No Cancer Screenings or Birth Control for Poor Women
Texas can cut off funding to Planned Parenthood's family planning programs for poor women, a state judge ruled Monday, requiring thousands to find new state-approved doctors for their annual exams, cancer screenings and birth control.
Judge Gary Harger said that Texas may exclude otherwise qualified doctors and clinics from receiving state funding if they advocate for abortion rights.
FDA Approves 1st TB Drug in 40 Years
The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a Johnson & Johnson tuberculosis drug that is the first new medicine to fight the deadly infection in more than four decades.
The agency approved J&J's pill, Sirturo, for use with older drugs to fight a hard-to-treat strain of tuberculosis that has not responded to other medications. However, the agency cautioned that the drug carries risks of potentially deadly heart problems and should be prescribed carefully by doctors.
Living with An Invisible Illness
By Judy Kirkwood
Best Treatments for Severe Sleep Disorders
Sleep is one of our most ordinary but important activities. If we don’t do it “right,” we can suffer. Snoring, the partial blockage of your airway, has been linked to some serious health issues, including heart disease, diabetes and weight. And the more serious sleep apnea – a condition in which your airway can be completely blocked from anywhere to five to 50 times an hour – can be life-threatening.
And in both cases, you’ll probably be plagued by dangerous drowsiness the next day, affecting everything from driving to your job.
Why I’m Taking Early Retirement
By Judy Kirkwood
For me, the sixties are more fabulous than the fifties. For one thing, beginning at age 59 1/2, as a sneak preview, you can access your IRA savings – if you have any — with no penalty other than the regular tax (do it before and you’re hit with an additional 10 percent penalty). At age 62 you can apply to receive early Social Security benefits. At 65, we have Medicare and can perhaps drop our expensive healthcare insurance if we’ve been paying privately – depending on who is elected and what happens in Congress.
What You Might Not Know about Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
By Judy Kirkwood
An estimated 12 million Americans suffer from the painful nerve disorder of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). We’ve heard the term so much that it might start to seem as if CTS is simply something you should live with. But investigators are working on new ways to prevent and cure it.
Emotional Recovery After Public Trauma
By Judy Kirkwood
Horrific events like the shootings in a Colorado movie theater and a Sikh temple in Wisconsin affect not only those directly or peripherally involved, but also many people who only hear about them on the news.
“Such events leave most of us feeling vulnerable, helpless, sad and anxious,” says Linda Ligenza, a consultant to the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare. These killings, unlike those in war, happened in ordinary and familiar settings. This could have been me, we think.
Music and Alzheimer’s
By Judy Kirkwood
If you've ever felt , or witnessed, the unimaginable despair and sadness that accompanies seeing a loved one with Alzheimer's, there could be good news for you. A new feature documentary, “Alive Inside: A Story of Music & Memory,” demonstrates the power of music to awaken and revive those suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia–and to bring them closer to being themselves once more..
My Acupuncture Treatment
Earlier this year I completed a six-week trial of acupuncture to see if it would banish the pain in my butt from Piriformis syndrome, an inflammation of the sciatic nerve. It didn’t fix that, but it did do something else that I hadn’t experienced with massage or chiropractic treatment (and certainly not with ibuprofen). And I did feel better.
Donald Driver Wins DWTS
The winner of Season 14 of “DWTS” is Green Bay Packer Donald Driver, and it’s all over but the TV talk shows. One thing is for sure: this was the most satisfying seasons of “DWTS.” The quality of the dancing was extremely high and this show has left an indelible mark on its fans. I think we’ll expect more of future seasons.