Архив рубрики: Здоровье Америка

I’m at a mall in Rockville, Md., but instead of enjoying the comfort and convenience of a one-stop shopping experience, I go to a place called Capital Cryo, looking to get some voluntary pain. Soon, the tall cryotherapy tank is filling with a cloud of super-chilled gas: evaporated liquid nitrogen, one of the coldest substances on Earth.

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“Okay,” the technician says. “Get in.”

Being a newbie, I gape at the temperature display: -205°F. Wearing only my underwear, I step in, and my skin temperature plummets, making my skin tingle. My adrenaline surges and breath speeds up, more reactions to the shocking freeze. After three minutes, tingling turns into aching. What started as cold has shifted to pure pain. Just in time, the technician stops the machine.

While dressing, I catch a wave of relief, a chariot of well-being I will ride the rest of the day. I wonder if it’s purely psychological—or maybe I’m experiencing hormesis, when the body adapts to stress ..

Weight-loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound are transforming the health of millions of people—and a new study hints that even more could benefit from the drugs’ other effects on the body.

A study published recently in the journal Addiction shows that people with substance-use disorders who take these weight-loss drugs are less likely to experience opioid overdose or alcohol intoxication compared to those not taking the medications. The findings add to a growing list of other health benefits researchers are studying related to the medications, which target hormones called incretins that affect not just appetite, digestion, and diabetes, but also heart health, sleep, and the brain circuits connected to satisfaction and reward.

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The latest study explored the link between opioid and alcohol substance-use disorders and the new class of modern weight-loss drugs. These target either glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) hormone, or glucose dependent insulinotropic ..

Somewhere between 60 and 70 million Americans have digestive conditions like inflammatory bowel disease, acid reflux, chronic constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, and hemorrhoids. Some of these will need to be treated through medication and possibly even surgery. But others can improve by making a few daily tweaks to your lifestyle.

Even if you’re not experiencing any GI symptoms right now, certain habits can help ensure your gut stays in tip-top shape. Below, five gastroenterologists offer their advice on the single best thing you should do every day to improve your digestive health.

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1. Eat the right foods at the right time

Most experts agreed: The No. 1 thing you can do to take care of your gut health is eat the right foods.

A balanced diet is crucial for building good bacterial flora in the gut, says Dr. Harpreet Pall, a pediatric gastroenterologist and chair of pediatrics at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine. “The intestines contain bi..

WASHINGTON — Millions of people with private health insurance would be able to pick up over-the-counter methods like condoms, the “morning after” pill and birth control pills for free under a new rule the White House proposed on Monday.

Right now, health insurers must cover the cost of prescribed contraception, including prescription birth control or even condoms that doctors have issued a prescription for. But the new rule would expand that coverage, allowing millions of people on private health insurance to pick up free condoms, birth control pills, or “morning after” pills from local storefronts without a prescription.

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The proposal comes days before Election Day, as Vice President Kamala Harris affixes her presidential campaign to a promise of expanding women’s health care access in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to undo nationwide abortion rights two years ago. Harris has sought to craft a distinct contrast from her Republican chal..

Endocrinologists are used to people not knowing what they do. Patients often assume that, for example, Dr. Rasa Kazlauskaite spends her days focused on the “love hormones,” like testosterone and estrogen. She reminds them that we all have a variety of hormones and hormone-producing glands with important jobs—including the pituitary gland, which oversees everything from growth to metabolism, and adrenal glands, which produce the stress hormone cortisol.

Plus, endocrinologists treat conditions like diabetes, thyroid disease, polycystic ovary syndrome, and even osteoporosis. “We also help people figure out the causes of increased weight and help them lose weight and improve their metabolism,” says Kazlauskaite, who’s the director of the diabetes technology program at Rush University Medical Center. In other words: Endocrinologists encounter a wide variety of symptoms all day, every day. Here are some surprising ones that concern them the most, even though patients don’t usually recognize..

Vaccine side effects like soreness, fever, and fatigue scare some people out of getting their shots. Ask a doctor, though, and they’ll tell you these unpleasant symptoms have a silver lining: they’re a signal that your immune system is firing up in response to the shot, doing exactly what it’s supposed to do.

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“If you feel bad after the vaccine, at least feel good about feeling bad,” says Dr. Kevin Dieckhaus, chief of infectious diseases at UConn Health and co-author of a 2023 study on COVID-19 vaccine side effects.

But is it a bad sign if you don’t get side effects after a shot? Does a pain-free next day mean the vaccine didn’t work?

Probably not. Here’s why.

Why do vaccines cause side effects?

Vaccines work by mimicking an infection. They introduce your body to a weakened or broken-down form of a particular pathogen so it can practice defending itself against the real thing. This involves creating antibodies, proteins that attack foreign invade..

Taking care of your cognitive health ought to be—well, a no-brainer. According to a survey published in March, 87% of Americans are concerned about age-related memory loss and a decline in brain function as they grow older, yet only 32% believe they can take action to help controlthat trajectory.

“All of us want to be cognitively intact for as long as possible,” says Dr. Seemant Chaturvedi, a neurologist and stroke specialist at the University of Maryland Medical Center. The good news, he adds, is that “there are definitely risk factors that can be modified.” Prioritizing healthy behaviors can increase the likelihood that, when we reach our 70s and 80s, we’re still able to summon important memories, drive a car, and engage in a wide variety of activities, Chaturvedi says. And there’s no such thing as “too young” to start taking these steps.

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With that in mind, we asked four neurologists what we should all do every day for better brain health.

Manage ..

It’s no surprise that the skin care industry is having a moment. Instagram influencers are hawking expensive products left and right, and young TikTok users are continuously sharing their latest “must-have” products from Sephora.

Two terms that consistently get mentioned when people talk about their skin care routines online are “retinoids” and “retinol.” These products are touted for their ability to reduce fine lines and wrinkles and stimulate collagen production for younger looking skin. But are they as effective as everyone says?

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Below, we cover everything you need to know about retinoids and retinol so you can figure out if they’re a good addition to your skin care routine.

What are retinoids and retinol?

Retinoids are a class of prescription medications that are derived from vitamin A, says Dr. Alexis Livingston Young, a dermatologist at Hackensack University Medical Center. Retinol is a type of retinoid that is available over the counter…

You may have noticed your supermarket offering more types of vinegar lately. Sure, balsamic and apple cider vinegars are veterans of the condiments aisle, but new shelf neighbors, like coconut, champagne, pomegranate, and raspberry are moving in.

That’s probably at least in part due to recent research showing that small amounts of vinegar, consumed daily, could support your health in important ways. But which vinegars are evidence-backed to promote health, in addition to lending some zing to your cooking?

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Here’s what research says about vinegar’s effects on blood sugar, obesity, and fighting colds—and which kind to reach for.

A long-standing tonic

Since the Babylonians first made vinegar about 7,000 years ago, cultures around the world have used it for medicinal purposes. Hippocrates mixed apple cider vinegar with honey to treat ancient Greeks’ respiratory troubles. Europeans in the Middle Ages believed it protected against the plague, while the C..

Few things will leave you feeling quite so grossed out as returning from a jaunt outside and finding a tick clinging to your skin. Not only is the unwelcome parasite sucking the blood from your body, but it may also be leaving something behind: bacteria, viruses, or parasites that can cause at least 15 different diseases, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Lyme disease, Powassan virus, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and Heartland virus are just a few of them.

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Another, babesiosis, is causing particular concern. The disease is colloquially known as “American malaria,” partly because of its ever-widening spread and partly because of its clinical profile. Like malaria, the disease is caused by a parasite (carried by ticks instead of mosquitoes) that infects red blood cells. And like malaria, it can lead to headache, fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, altered mental state, anemia, low blood pressure, respiratory distress, ..