A hot weather plan is essential to staying healthy

Here’s a new fact about spring, summer, fall, and sometimes even winter, now that climate change has blurred seasonal boundaries: sizzling heat may be on the way, or currently blanketing your community. High temperatures stress the body, leading to thousands of heat-related illnesses and deaths every year in the US. Creating a personal heat plan […]

IBD and LGBTQ+: How it can affect sexual health

Everyone who lives with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) knows their illness has a major impact on daily life. Many people are diagnosed in their 20s or 30s, a time when we might hope for few health challenges. Medications, and sometimes surgery, may be used to treat IBD. If you identify as LGBTQ+, you might wonder […]

Pouring from an empty cup? Three ways to refill emotionally

It’s hard to care about anything when you feel exhausted, burned out, or ragged around the edges. Your once-fiery enthusiasm may seem more like charred rubble due to overwhelming family responsibilities, a job that drains you, or financial struggles. Or maybe an illness, the uncertainty and disruptions of the age we live in, or a […]

Health warnings on exercise equipment: Should you worry?

There are warnings just about everywhere you look: The coffee you're about to drink is hot! Construction ahead! This product may contain peanuts! In many cases, the reasons for these warnings are clear. But sometimes warnings raise more questions than they answer. When I was at the gym recently, these warnings on the exercise bike […]

Give praise to the elbow: A bending, twisting marvel

I recently saw a car vanity plate that read “LBODOC” (as in elbow doc). The driver — probably an orthopedic doctor or arthritis specialist — was clearly a fan of the elbow, an unassuming joint and a surprisingly central player in many daily tasks. I could relate: throughout my medical career, the elbow has been […]

What is somatic therapy?

Trauma can register within our bodies on a cellular level. What that means to an individual — and how best to heal from serious traumas encountered in life — is the focus of a newer form of mental health counseling known as somatic therapy. The resounding success of The Body Keeps the Score — a […]

Discrimination at work is linked to high blood pressure

Experiencing discrimination in the workplace — where many adults spend one-third of their time, on average — may be harmful to your heart health. A 2023 study in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that people who reported high levels of discrimination on the job were more likely to develop high blood pressure […]

Harvard Health Ad Watch: An IV treatment for thyroid eye disease

Perhaps you’ve seen this ad about a drug for thyroid eye disease. If so, you may be wondering what thyroid eye disease is — and why the woman in the ad is wearing five pairs of sunglasses at once. Read on for answers. What is thyroid disease and how does it affect the eyes? The […]

Rating the drugs in drug ads

I admit it: I’m not a fan of drug ads. I think the information provided is often confusing and rarely well-balanced. Plus, there are just so many ads. They show up on TV and streaming programs, on social media, on billboards and the sides of busses, on tote bags, and in public bathrooms. Yes, there’s […]

Young men with prostate cancer: Socioeconomic factors affect lifespan

Prostate cancer is generally viewed as a disease of older men. Yet about 10% of new diagnoses occur in men age 55 or younger, and these early-onset cancers often have a worse prognosis. Biological differences partially explain the discrepancy. For instance, early-onset prostate cancers contain certain genetic abnormalities that don’t appear as often in older […]