Архив рубрики: Здоровье Америка

If you’re thinking about going to therapy for the first time, you might feel a mix of emotions: excitement to get a professional’s take on issues that are bothering you, anxiety and awkwardness about opening up.

All of those feelings are valid (which is something you’re about to start hearing a lot). “It’s natural to feel nervous—you’re challenging societal norms that encourage you to stay quiet, endure, and push through,” says Amie Grant, the owner of Take Up Space Therapy Services in Cleveland. But in therapy you can reject those expectations and honor your voice, your needs, and your truth, she says.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Krista Jordan, a clinical psychologist in Austin, reiterates that going to therapy for the first time can feel even more stressful if you don’t know what to expect. To quell your nerves, it can be helpful to keep in mind that therapists are just people, and that as a part of their training, most have been in therapy themselves, “so we know what it’s..

After enduring years of severe gastrointestinal distress that made him want to stay home and close to a bathroom, Joseph Beinlich was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2019. He was 11 years old. To ease his diarrhea, abdominal pain, and other symptoms that left him feeling wiped out, his gastroenterologist prescribed four doses a day of an anti-inflammatory drug called mesalamine. The drug helped a bit, but not enough. After taking it for two years, Joseph had a colonoscopy, which showed minimal improvement to the damage in the lining of his colon.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

In January 2023, he and his parents learned about a clinical trial that was open to people ages 10 to 39, conducted at Northwell’s Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research on Long Island, N.Y., not far from their home. The trial was investigating the use of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), an autoimmune condition that includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. J..

Karen Ramey-Torres, a retiree from Colorado, was overweight and concerned about her health after setbacks including a small stroke. Then she heard about a type of intermittent fasting called time-restricted eating, where you eat in a shortened time window each day, without necessarily trying to cut calories.

The time limit was more appealing to her than diets requiring constant calorie counting. “It’s just one simple rule to remember,” Ramey-Torres says.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Though it can be simple in practice, the concept of intermittent fasting has led to confusion and exaggerated claims of extended lifespan. Research shows that intermittent fasting may help with weight loss and lower blood sugar, but it depends on the person and how it’s done.

Experts agree that intermittent fasting can refer to a variety of approaches. They include fasting every other day for 24 hours; modified fasting every other day, where you’re allowed some calories; and time-restricted eating—..

When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sits for his confirmation hearing to potentially become the head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), he will face scrutiny over his vaccine skepticism and unorthodox views on medicine. But there’s one area Kennedy may be able to find bipartisan support: food policy.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Kennedy has spoken out against the dangers of ultra-processed foods, additives, and the influence of large corporations on food production. While his anti-vaccine views have drawn widespread criticism, his stance on combating chronic disease by ridding the nation’s food supply of harmful chemicals and ingredients broadly aligns with efforts from both sides of the political aisle and has been praised by leading public health experts.

Kennedy’s nomination to run HHS would put him in a position to directly influence policies around food regulation, nutrition standards, and federal dietary guidelines. Jerold Mande, a former Food and Drug Administra..

Since the beginning of the bird flu outbreak nearly three years ago, state and federal departments of agriculture have had one goal in mind: Maintain consumer confidence—as tens of millions of birds are culled and taxpayers bear the cost of industry bailouts. Every new media report of an infected dairy herd, poultry flock, or farm worker comes with the ubiquitous industry-approved mantra, “Don’t worry, the meat and the milk are safe.”

But this messaging deflects from the production methods that have enabled the virus to spread in ways yet to be fully understood. Case in point: on November 19, a California child with no known contact with an infected animal tested positive for avian influenza and, just seven days before that, a previously healthy teenager in British Columbia was hospitalized in critical condition with the virus. Investigators are still unsure how the patients acquired it. And with highly pathogenic avian influenza now infecting pigs, we are one step closer to the next ..

At least 58 people in the U.S. have been infected by the H5N1 bird flu virus this year, according to federal statistics. All but two of them had been around cows or chickens, two species in which H5N1 is circulating widely. That’s reassuring to scientists because it suggests the virus is spreading primarily through close contact with infected animals, and not from person to person.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Less comforting are the results of a study published Dec. 5 in the journal Science: the H5N1 strain spreading among U.S. cows is only one specific mutation away from more easily binding to human cells, “a prerequisite for transmission among humans,” says study co-author James Paulson, a professor in the department of molecular medicine at Scripps Research in California.

In its current form, the H5N1 virus is better at infecting certain animal species than humans. It has sickened millions of birds and cows from more than 700 U.S. dairy herds, but a relatively small number ..

KINSHASA, Congo — Congo’s health minister said Thursday the government is on alert over a mystery flu-like disease that in recent weeks killed dozens of people.

Authorities have so far confirmed 71 deaths, including 27 people who died in hospitals and 44 in the community in the southern Kwango province, health minister Roger Kamba said.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

“The Congolese government is on general alert regarding this disease,” Kamba said, without providing more details.

Of the victims at the hospitals, 10 died due to lack of blood transfusion and 17 as a result of respiratory problems, he said.

The deaths were recorded between Nov. 10 and Nov. 25 in the Panzi health zone of Kwango province. There were around 380 cases, almost half of which were children under the age of five, according to the minister.

Authorities have said that symptoms include fever, headache, cough, and anemia. Epidemiological experts are in the region to take samples and investigate the disease, t..

Kate Dineen was about 33 weeks pregnant with her second child when an ultrasound revealed that her baby had suffered a catastrophic stroke in utero and would likely either die before birth or have a short and painful life.

“This was a deeply wanted pregnancy. Everything had been progressing smoothly,” Dineen, now 41, says. “I was just shocked by the diagnosis first, and heartbroken by the diagnosis, and also certain that I wanted to try and obtain a termination so that I could protect my son from pain and suffering. I knew in that moment that I wanted to make the decision.”

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

But Dineen and her husband live in Boston, Massachusetts—a state where abortion is permitted until fetal viability. While Massachusetts allows medical providers to perform abortions after that in certain situations—such as if necessary to preserve the patient’s health or life or if there’s a lethal fetal anomaly or diagnosis—doctors told Dineen in 2021 that her diagnosis didn’t fa..

With more people taking the weight-loss drugs Wegovy and Zepbound, one question inevitably arises: which one is more effective?

In a press release, Lilly announced that in its latest trial comparing its medication, Zepbound, to Wegovy, made by Novo Nordisk, people randomly assigned to receive Zepbound lost about 20% of their body weight after about 18 months, while those taking Wegovy lost nearly 14% of their body weight.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Wegovy (semaglutide) and Zepbound (tirzepatide) both target a group of hormones that the body makes called incretins. Wegovy works on the GLP-1 hormone, which suppresses appetite and signals the pancreas to produce insulin to break down sugars in food. Zepbound works on both GLP-1 and GIP, another hormone that stimulates insulin production. Separate studies conducted by the respective manufacturers have showed that Zepbound, with its dual-acting effect, was linked to more weight loss than Wegovy, but until now, no studies have compa..

When Kari Leibowitz moved to the Arctic in 2014, she braced herself for the impact of long, dark, freezing winters. The temperature in Tromsø, Norway, plunges to subarctic levels on the coldest nights, and it snows almost daily for eight months of the year. Surely the wind would slap her face, and unshoveled snow would sneak down her boots, wetting her socks. Ice crystals would cling to strands of her hair. But there would be an emotional impact, too, akin to plunging head-first into a deep pool of the winter blues. Most distressing, she assumed, would be the Polar Night: a two-month stretch during which the sun doesn’t rise above the horizon at all.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Leibowitz—a health psychologist who grew up near the Jersey Shore, where life revolved around beachy summers—made the Arctic her home in order to study at the world’s northernmost university. She didn’t really buy the data suggesting that people in Tromsø are equally happy throughout the year. She did not..