July 10, 2024
Ultra-processed foods? Just say no

Americans love their ultra-processed foods, whether they come as cereal (like Cap’n Crunch, a favorite of mine as a kid), snack foods (like Cheetos), entr’es (like hot dogs), or desserts (like Twinkies). Sure, loading your plate with vegetables, fruits, fish, healthful oils, and grains in a Mediterranean-style diet boosts heart and brain health. But if […]

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May 30, 2024
One surprising effect of wildfires: Itchy, irritated skin

Are you finding yourself with itchy, irritated skin that you can’t stop scratching? Or have you wondered why your child’s eczema is suddenly worse and so hard to control? Mounting evidence suggests that wildfires, which are increasing in intensity and frequency, contribute to skin problems, including eczema flares. What is eczema? Eczema is a common […]

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May 20, 2024
A hot weather plan is essential to staying healthy

Here’s a new fact about spring, summer, fall, and sometimes even winter: now that climate change has blurred seasonal boundaries, sizzling heat may be on the way, or currently blanketing your community. High temperatures stress the body, leading to thousands of heat-related illnesses and deaths every year in the US. Creating a personal heat plan […]

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May 8, 2024
Salmonella is sneaky: Watch out

Pop quiz: what is Salmonella? If you’ve ever had a run-in with this bacteria, you know it can cause a food-borne illness called salmonellosis, a form of food poisoning. But you may not know that Salmonella bacteria sicken an estimated 1.35 million people and hospitalize 26,500 every year in the United States. What’s more, it […]

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April 5, 2024
Sexually transmitted infections: What parents need to be sure their teens know

It’s never easy for parents to talk to their teens about having sex. Many parents feel that talking about it is the same as condoning it, so they are hesitant to do so. But according to the most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), a national survey of high school students, by the end of […]

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March 27, 2024
Life can be challenging: Build your own resilience plan

Nantucket, a beautiful, 14-mile-long island off the coast of Massachusetts, has a 40-point resiliency plan to help withstand the buffeting seas surrounding it as climate change takes a toll. Perhaps we can all benefit from creating individual resilience plans to help handle the big and small issues that erode our sense of well-being. But what […]

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March 16, 2024
Orienteering: Great exercise and better thinking skills?

Picture this: you’re with friends in an unfamiliar forest using only a map and a compass to guide you to an upcoming checkpoint. There are no cell phones or GPS gadgets to help, just good old brainpower fueled by a sense of adventure as you wind through leafy trees and dappled sunlight. This is not […]

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March 9, 2024
What is cognitive behavioral therapy?

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) teaches people to challenge negative thought patterns and turn less often to unhelpful behaviors. These strategies can improve your mood and the way you respond to challenging situations: a flat tire, looming deadlines, family life ups and downs. Yet there’s much more depth and nuance to this well-researched form of psychotherapy. […]

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March 8, 2024
Prostate cancer: Brachytherapy linked to long-term risk of secondary malignancies

When cancer patients are treated with radiation, it’s possible that the therapy itself may cause new tumors to form in the body later. Radiation kills cancer cells by damaging their DNA, but if the treatments cause genetic damage to normal cells near the radiation target, there’s a small risk that these secondary malignancies may arise […]

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March 2, 2024
Health care should improve your health, right?

It’s undeniable: modern medicine offers ever-expanding ways to heal and prevent disease. But it’s also true that health care can cause harm. One analysis found that about 6% of health care encounters caused preventable harm, leading to thousands of deaths each year. And it’s not just errors that cause trouble. Highly skilled health care providers […]

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