Архив рубрики: Здоровье Америка

At this point in election season, you might be as interested in voting your outspoken uncle out of the family as you are in casting your ballot for the next president of the United States. Differing political views can rip family members apart, making everyone feel like they’re walking on eggshells in the lead-up to Nov. 5.

“There’s a lot of stress that people carry knowing everybody is feeling tense about this,” says Jenna Glover, chief clinical officer with the mental health app Headspace. “Some people have actually lost relationships, and it’s important to acknowledge how that impacts our mental health.”

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With that in mind, we asked experts exactly what to say to the relative whose politics you despise in order to keep (or restore) family peace.

“I won’t be talking about politics today.”

You know what they say: Never talk about religion, politics, or money in mixed company. Setting a clear boundary is one of the most effective ways to preemptivel..

In 2019, when I was working as a reporter for the Washington Post, I “came out” as faceblind. I was a little concerned about telling everyone that I have prosopagnosia—a rare neurological disorder that makes it difficult for me to recognize faces—because I fretted that people would think that it made me bad at my job. That didn’t happen, thank goodness, but I did get some alarming emails from people who told me not to be so open about my disorder. “You might get targeted by a stalker or a mugger,” one reader wrote.

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It didn’t seem likely that a criminal would specifically target me after reading my article—I mean, newspaper readership is not exactly off the charts. But then I wrote an entire book on the topic, and I have been making the media rounds talking about how, for instance, I once thought that my own reflection was a woman with a poor sense of personal space. So, at the urging of my worried family, I recently called Jennifer Storey, a criminolo..

It’s that time of year again.

Open enrollment is when you can sign up for health insurance, make changes to your plan, or cancel your plan—whether that plan is through your job, Medicare, or the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace. It’s important to be prepared for it because it only happens once a year, and if you miss it, you may have to wait until next year if you want to adjust your health insurance plan.

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Here’s everything you need to know about open enrollment.

How long is open enrollment?

Your open enrollment period depends on where you get your insurance from. For ACA Marketplace plans, open enrollment is running from Nov. 1, 2024 to Jan. 15, 2025 in most states (some states have different periods). For Medicare plans, it’s running from Oct. 15, 2024 to Dec. 7, 2024. The open enrollment period for employer-sponsored insurance plans varies, but typically, it starts in the fall and lasts for a few weeks.

How do I prepare for open enrollment..

The good news: You will get a glorious extra hour of sleep. The bad: It’ll be dark as a pocket by late afternoon for the next few months in the U.S.

Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. local time next Sunday, Nov. 3, which means you should set your clock back an hour before you go to bed. Standard time will last until March 9 when we will again “spring forward” with the return of daylight saving time.

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That spring time change can be tougher on your body. Darker mornings and lighter evenings can knock your internal body clock out of whack, making it harder to fall asleep on time for weeks or longer. Studies have even found an uptick in heart attacks and strokes right after the March time change.

“Fall back” should be easier. But it still may take a while to adjust your sleep habits, not to mention the downsides of leaving work in the dark or trying exercise while there’s still enough light. Some people with seasonal affective disorder, a type of depre..

The good news: You will get a glorious extra hour of sleep. The bad: It’ll be dark as a pocket by late afternoon for the next few months in the U.S.

Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. local time next Sunday, Nov. 3, which means you should set your clock back an hour before you go to bed. Standard time will last until March 9 when we will again “spring forward” with the return of daylight saving time.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

That spring time change can be tougher on your body. Darker mornings and lighter evenings can knock your internal body clock out of whack, making it harder to fall asleep on time for weeks or longer. Studies have even found an uptick in heart attacks and strokes right after the March time change.

“Fall back” should be easier. But it still may take a while to adjust your sleep habits, not to mention the downsides of leaving work in the dark or trying exercise while there’s still enough light. Some people with seasonal affective disorder, a type of depre..

If misery loves company, so does anger. It can feel downright delicious to vent to your loved ones about life’s annoyances, big and small.

You may think it’s healthy to rant about that annoying work assignment or rude comment, but research suggests otherwise. Venting “is the worst thing you can do” when you’re mad, says Brad Bushman, a professor of communication at the Ohio State University who studies the topic. It’s “adding more fuel to the fire.”

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For a long time, psychologists believed in “catharsis theory,” or the idea that it’s better to release negative emotions than hold onto them. But back in 2002, Bushman published a study that questioned that logic. He demonstrated that when people expressed anger, such as by hitting a punching bag, they only got more irate and aggressive. That’s not good, because research suggests anger is linked to a variety of mental and maybe even physical health problems.

Dissecting a frustrating conversation or soci..

Until recently, clinical depression treatments have fallen into just two categories: psychotherapy and antidepressant medications. But this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the first app-based treatment for major depressive disorder, which just became available for use this summer.

The app, called Rejoyn, is cleared as a supplement to currently approved therapies and works by using specifically designed tasks on a smartphone app to rewire neural signals. The idea is to tap into the brain’s circuits so depressive signals and pathways don’t spiral into the debilitating emotional episodes typical of clinical depression.

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The evolution of a depression app

Dr. Dennis Charney, now dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, first got the idea for Rejoyn when studying prisoners of war years ago. He and his colleagues were focused on learning about resilience and what makes certain people better than others at coping with traged..

If you’ve been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, you probably have shortness of breath during physical exertion. Regular exercise may seem intimidating, but it’s actually a powerful medicine to improve how you feel when you’re active.

COPD is a progressive lung condition occurring in several forms, in which structural changes obstruct airflow, making it harder to breathe. It’s often caused by long-term exposure to tobacco smoke, chemical pollutants, and mineral, wood, or metal dusts that irritate the lungs; examples include emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Around 16 million people in the U.S. have COPD, and anxiety about gasping for air leads many to avoid physical activity altogether. But inactivity can drive a downward cycle that worsens breathlessness and the overall condition.

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With exercise, “people can do more with less shortness of breath,” says Dr. Carolyn Rochester, professor of medicine and director of Yale Un..

NEW YORK — U.S. health officials on Wednesday recommended that people 50 and older get a shot against bacteria that can cause pneumonia and other dangerous illnesses.

The recommendation was made by a scientific advisory panel and then accepted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The decision lowered—from 65—the minimum recommended age for older adults to get the shot.

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“Now is a great time to get vaccinated against pneumococcal disease in preparation for the winter respiratory season,” CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen said in a statement Wednesday night.

The advisory committee voted 14-1 to make the change during a meeting earlier in the day in Atlanta. The guidance is widely heeded by doctors and prompts health insurers to pay for recommended shots.

Pneumococcal shot recommendations are sometimes called the most complicated vaccination guidance that the government issues. The CDC currently recommends shots for children younger than 5 and..

Once, years ago, I found myself in an ice-cold bath with no memory of walking to the bathroom or running the tub. Another time, I terrified my friend by leaving our hotel room in the middle of the night—then pounding on the door, demanding to be let back inside. Both times, I awoke in the middle of these bizarre incidents. I had been sleepwalking.

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Sleepwalking, technically known as somnambulism, is as fascinating as it is freaky. It’s a type of parasomnia, an umbrella term for unusual behaviors that occur during sleep, such as night terrors and “sexsomnia,” when people engage in sexual activity without waking up. Habitual sleepwalking is uncommon: a 2016 research review estimated that only 1.5% of adults had done it in the previous year. But almost 7% of adults have sleepwalked at some point in their lives, according to the same study.

The nighttime possibilities are varied and weird. A 2024 study in the Journal of Sleep Research showcased a range o..