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UGA professor's tips to handle holiday stress and conflict with kindness

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The holiday season comes with decorating, shopping, cooking and gatherings, making the last few weeks of the year jam packed with activities.

For many, this time of year ushers in visits with their favorite people and the return of their favorite traditions. For others, however, it can mean stress, anxiety and negative emotions.

Managing ...Read more

5 anti-inflammatory drinks you’ll actually look forward to sipping

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

A refreshing beverage is one of life’s simple pleasures. Soft drinks, fruit juices and specialty coffees are just a few decadent go-tos. But if you’re struggling with health issues, the pursuit of a delicious drink that also offers anti-inflammatory properties might be an ongoing challenge.

Inflammation is a normal and essential bodily ...Read more

Beware these 3 Medicare open enrollment scams

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The Medicare open enrollment period is like candy for scammers, with all the elements for a good con. During this time, seniors provide vital personal information to Medicare, which scammers may use to access their financial accounts or submit fraudulent medical claims. Scammers also know that older adults are ideal victims because they are more...Read more

Environmental Nutrition: What is a food matrix?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Q: What is a food matrix?

A: A food matrix refers to the complex physical and chemical structure of a food. It includes the way nutrients and other compounds are organized and may interact within the food. This overall structure impacts how nutrients are digested, absorbed, and metabolized by the body. For example, the matrix found in whole ...Read more

What is cognitive behavioral therapy?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

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...Read more

Mayo Clinic Q&A: Is there a wrong way, or time, to nap?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I am retired, and although I generally enjoy less hectic days now, I keep busy. Part of my routine includes trying to squeeze in a nap on most afternoons. My wife tells me that I'm doing it wrong because I often wake up groggy. Is there a wrong way — or time — to nap?

ANSWER: Closing your eyes for a few minutes during your...Read more

Not Gut for You

Health Advice / Scott LaFee /

ATTENTION! There is Language in the 25th Paragraph That Some Readers May Find Offensive. Thank You For Your Attention.

In 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that in seven states, the adult obesity rate was 35% or higher. Six years later, it's now 23 states, plus Guam and Puerto Rico, with obesity rates of 35% ...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

Commentary: Is bird flu a risk yet to people?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

You may have encountered the term “ bird flu” increasingly online and in the media. It refers to a highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A, classified as H5N1. Wild birds carry and transmit this flu, though most do not get sick from it. However, it has been detected in birds and mammals at farms such as poultry and dairy cows and has the ...Read more

Robert Keenan/Dreamstime/TNS

Death rates linked to obesity-related heart disease are up, especially among men

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The rate of deaths from ischemic heart disease related to obesity nearly tripled in the U.S. over a two-decade span, according to new research. The rate for men more than tripled.

Black adults, middle-aged men, and people living in the Midwest and non-metropolitan areas had the highest rates in 2020, the study found.

Ischemic heart disease ...Read more

Leila Navidi/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Laura Yuen: Breast cancer in young women is on the rise. One survivor is talking about it – and all things 'Tetas.'

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

MINNEAPOLIS — Vanessa Berrueta Zambrano followed her instincts this past spring when she felt a lump about the size of a piece of popcorn in her right breast. She knew she needed answers. But her clinic told her that a screening likely wouldn’t be covered by her insurance because at age 39, she was too young.

“I don’t care,” she ...Read more

(Rae Ellen Bichell/KFF Health News)/KFF Health News/TNS

Ex-eye bank workers say pressure, lax oversight led to errors

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

William Lopez remembers clearly the day in June 2017 when he says he was asked to call the spouse of a college friend who had just died and ask for her eyes.

The spouse hadn’t responded to calls from other employees at the Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Bank, he said. As Lopez recalled, his supervisor thought a friend’s personal number would have...Read more

Understanding How An Incompatible Kidney Transplant Works

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: I read your recent column on transplants and dialysis. Fifteen years ago, I found I had polycystic kidney disease and was recommended a transplant. My wife and I discovered that our blood types were incompatible (her B positive to my A positive). I had started dialysis, and she wanted to contribute to a transplant chain swap ...Read more

Enhancing your sense of smell -- and protecting your health

Wake up and smell the roses -- or lavender, or any of a bouquet of scents! A new study shows that a decline in or loss of your sense of smell can be linked to inflammation and any of 139 medical conditions, from Alzheimer's disease to depression, sexual dysfunction, restless leg syndrome and Zika/Guillain-Barre syndrome. But other studies show ...Read more

CHRIS URSO/Tampa Bay Times/TNS

450K Floridians could lose health insurance under GOP Congress

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Nearly half a million Floridians could lose their health insurance if Republicans in Congress do not extend subsidies that lower insurance premiums through the Affordable Care Act, two new reports warn.

An analysis by the Urban Institute estimates that 453,000 Floridians — including 32,000 children — would become uninsured if tax credits ...Read more

Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

In a first-of-its-kind meeting, Philly doctors discuss how to treat addicts' tranq wounds

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

PHILADELPHIA — Patients addicted to opioids are arriving at ERs with deep wounds that expose their bones. Some have lost multiple limbs. And many ultimately are leaving hospitals against medical advice, with severe, untreated skin lesions, insisting they can’t bear the withdrawal from tranq — the drug that caused their wounds in the first ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Indiana hospitals pull merger application after pushback over monopoly concerns

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Two rival hospitals in Terre Haute, Indiana, pulled back their merger application Monday, just days before the state was due to rule on the deal amid growing backlash to such medical monopolies.

The proposed merger between Union Health and Terre Haute Regional Hospital, the only acute care hospitals in Vigo County, Indiana, would have left ...Read more

Dangerous pesticides are a problem in South Africa – pests and poor controls are to blame

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

South Africa’s townships – urban areas created for black people under apartheid – have long experienced problems with massive pest infestations and the selling of pesticides on the streets and in informal markets.

Street pesticides are poisonous substances that are legally registered for agricultural uses but are decanted ...Read more

Craig Kohlruss/Fresno Bee/TNS

Raw milk nearly killed her son. Now avian flu is bringing more attention to its risk

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- So far, there have been no reports of illness associated with the bird flu virus that was identified this weekend in a retail sample of raw milk from a Fresno-based dairy.

But the dairy behind the bird flu detection, Raw Farm LLC, is the same company that has previously sold contaminated products, causing many illnesses over...Read more

Fernanda Galan/Fresno Bee/TNS

Is it safe to eat turkey this Thanksgiving amid bird flu outbreak? Here's what experts say

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Is your Thanksgiving turkey safe to eat?

As poultry farms and dairies across California continue to battle bird flu outbreaks, residents may be worried about food safety this holiday season.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza surfaced in the United States in January 2022, the virus has been detected in wild birds and domestic poultry, according...Read more

Taxpayers spend 22% more per patient to support Medicare Advantage – the private alternative to Medicare that promised to cost less

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Medicare Advantage – the commercial alternative to traditional Medicare – is drawing down federal health care funds, costing taxpayers an extra 22% per enrollee to the tune of US$83 billion a year.

Medicare Advantage, also known as Part C, was supposed to save the government money. The competition among private insurance companies...Read more