Архив рубрики: Здоровье Америка

It’s common to meet the idea of intuition with an eye roll. We tend to value reason over everything else, using expressions like “think before you act,” “think twice,” and “look before you leap.” We don’t trust intuition. In fact, we believe it’s flawed and magical thinking, either vaguely crazy or downright stupid. After all, good decisions should always be reasoned.

What we don’t realize, however, is that intuition is a form of cognition that can actually improve our decision-making.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

What is intuition?

You can think of it as an instinct or gut feeling. A knowing or inner wisdom. The internal compass that guides you. Our instincts are meant to keep us away from danger and near safety in a complex world—and even save your life.

It’s an elegant, fine-tuned, and incredibly rapid form of perception. Intuition is a form of cognition meant to guide us and alert us to things we might not otherwise be able to see.

When we speak about our intuition, we ..

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — On a recent morning at a hospital in the heart of gang territory in Haiti’s capital, a woman began convulsing before her body went limp as a doctor and two nurses raced to save her.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

They stuck electrodes to her chest and flipped on an oxygen machine while keeping their eyes on a computer screen that reflected a dangerously low oxygen level of 84%.

No one knew what was wrong with her.

Even more worrisome, the Doctors Without Borders hospital in the Cite Soleil slum was running low on key medicine to treat convulsions.

“The medication she really needs, we barely have,” said Dr. Rachel Lavigne, a physician with the medical aid group.

It’s a familiar scene repeated daily at hospitals and clinics across Port-au-Prince, where life-saving medication and equipment is dwindling or altogether absent as brutal gangs tighten their grip on the capital and beyond. They have blocked roads, forced the closure of the main international airp..

Public health officials are warning about the dangers of counterfeit botox products, which have been circulating and causing individuals to fall ill in several U.S. states.

As of Friday, April 18, 22 people across California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington, have reported adverse reactions to a counterfeit version of Botox (botulinum toxin). All of the individuals are female, ranging in age from 25 to 59.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Symptoms of the fake botox include blurred or double vision, difficulty swallowing, dry mouth, constipation, incontinence, shortness of breath, weakness and difficulty lifting one’s head following the injection of these products. The symptoms are similar to those seen when botulism, a rare and serious illness caused by a toxin that attacks the body’s nerves and spreads to other parts of the body.

Eleven of the individuals affected have been hospitalized, and six were treated ..

(FLINT, Mich.) — Their childhood memories are still vivid: warnings against drinking or cooking with tap water, enduring long lines for cases of water, washing from buckets filled with heated, bottled water. And for some, stomach aches, skin rashes and hair loss.

Ten years ago in Flint — April 25, 2014 — city and state environmental officials raised celebratory glasses as the mayor pressed a button to stop the flow of Lake Huron water supplied by Detroit for almost half a century. That set in motion a lead and bacteria public health crisis from which the city has not fully recovered.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

But dozens of children of the water crisis — now teenagers and young adults — have turned their trauma into advocacy. They provide input on public health initiatives, participate in social issue campaigns, distribute filters and provide free water testing for homeowners.

They know that Flint is a place that still struggles. The population has fallen by some 20,000 in th..

Rest is essential. People who make true rest—not just sleep—part of their everyday routine have better outcomes across different aspects of their health. Their sleep quality is better, life satisfaction is higher, chronic pain is lessened, work productivity is greater, and they even tend to live longer.

The trouble is, rest usually gets pushed to the bottom of the to-do list. And if you fill your nights and weekends with exciting plans, your time off can be just as demanding and depleting as work.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Here, experts share their tips for making the most of your downtime while also getting real, restorative rest.

The science of rest

While the benefits of physical rest are well understood, there’s less research on how to optimize psychological rest. No perfect recipe for rest yet exists, but there are some basic principles that seem to work best.

One insight is that our brains and bodies seem to need different intervals of rest: short daily breaks and ..

On April 24, the Supreme Court will hear arguments weighing whether Idaho politicians have the power to block doctors from giving emergency medical care to patients experiencing pregnancy complications—a case that will open the door for other states to prohibit emergency reproductive care and worsen medical infrastructure for people across the board. Once again, politicians have set up a case that could have devastating impacts on the ability of doctors to provide–and for pregnant women to receive–essential reproductive health care.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

I’m a family physician who’s practiced medicine in rural Idaho for more than 20 years, where I’ve had the opportunity to guide hundreds of patients through their pregnancies. It’s no exaggeration when I say that my state’s health care system is in crisis, thanks in enormous part to our near-total abortion ban. Now, instead of trying to salvage what’s left, Idaho politicians are looking to hasten our downward spiral, making..

On April 24, the Supreme Court will hear arguments weighing whether Idaho politicians have the power to block doctors from giving emergency medical care to patients experiencing pregnancy complications—a case that will open the door for other states to prohibit emergency reproductive care and worsen medical infrastructure for people across the board. Once again, politicians have set up a case that could have devastating impacts on the ability of doctors to provide–and for pregnant women to receive–essential reproductive health care.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

I’m a family physician who’s practiced medicine in rural Idaho for more than 20 years, where I’ve had the opportunity to guide hundreds of patients through their pregnancies. It’s no exaggeration when I say that my state’s health care system is in crisis, thanks in enormous part to our near-total abortion ban. Now, instead of trying to salvage what’s left, Idaho politicians are looking to hasten our downward spiral, making..

A suggestion for the masses: Now would be a good time to check in on your favorite Taylor Swift fan. After months of feverish anticipation, the superstar delivered her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, on Friday—and Swifities everywhere are losing their minds.

From a neuroscience perspective, the response makes sense. Research suggests that music activates the brain’s reward system, triggering the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine. “We know that music is highly tied to emotion for a variety of reasons,” says Lindsay Halladay, an associate professor in neuroscience and psychology at Santa Clara University. “The tempo of music can actually modulate neural oscillations, which are sometimes called brain waves. It can alter the way the whole brain is communicating.” That’s why you might feel more energized after listening to upbeat music, for example, or relaxed after an evening of Beethoven.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

But what is it about Swift’s music, in p..

Get ready to see cicadas everywhere.

More than a trillion of the critters are expected to surface in parts of the United States this year in a rare co-emergence event the likes of which hasn’t been seen in over two centuries.

Known for their deafening mating calls, which can be as loud as lawnmowers, cicadas emerge after more than a decade underground, offering a tasty meal to birds—and even the occasional human.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

That’s right, cicadas, like many insects, have been hailed as an eco-friendly and high-protein alternative to poultry and cattle. They’re low in cholesterol, crunchy, and carry what has been described as a nutty flavor and shrimp-like quality. Restaurants have featured the bugs in experimental menus, while several cookbooks have even been published dedicated to recipes involving cicadas.

So if you’re interested in seeing cicadas on your plate this year, here’s what to know about how to get started.

Step one: catch them

Cicadas can typica..

A Covid-19 patient with a weakened immune system incubated a highly mutated novel strain over 613 days before succumbing to an underlying illness, researchers in the Netherlands found.

The patient, a 72-year-old man with a blood disorder, failed to mount a strong immune response to multiple Covid shots before catching the omicron variant in February 2022. Detailed analysis of specimens collected from more than two dozen nose and throat swabs found the coronavirus developed resistance to sotrovimab, a Covid antibody treatment, within a few weeks, scientists at the University of Amsterdam’s Centre for Experimental and Molecular Medicine said. It later acquired over 50 mutations, including some that suggested an enhanced ability to evade immune defenses, they said.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

The 20-month-long SARS-CoV-2 infection is the longest known, according to the researchers, who are presenting the case at a medical meeting in Barcelona next week. While his mutant virus wasn..