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People who lose a significant amount of weight without dieting, exercise, or other lifestyle changes may also be at higher risk of some cancers, according to researchers who say a sudden drop may be an early indicator of the disease. Those who spontaneously shed more than 10% of their body weight developed cancer at a rate of about 1,362 per 100,000 over a 12-month period, according to a study released Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association, while the rate of diagnosis among people who hadn’t recently lost weight without explanation was 869 per 100,000. While often seen as a positive step toward better health, a large drop in weight sometimes precedes a cancer diagnosis. Treating weight as an important vital sign may help doctors spot cancer earlier, when it’s more li...

For those of us whose skin in the winter gets as scaly as a lizard’s, home humidifiers might sound essential. But humidifiers are more complicated to use and care for than some other household appliances—and doing so incorrectly can be worse for your health than not having one at all. Here’s what to know before diving in. The benefits of humid airHumidifiers do their best work on the parts of the body you use to breathe. When the air gets colder, the humidity in the environment goes down. Each breath of dry air sucks moisture from your airways, which can leave your nose and throat parched and more prone to irritation. Dryness can lead to issues like nosebleeds, persistent coughs, and discomfort, especially for people with lung diseases like asthma and COPD. “Having a humidifier, particula...

Eating healthier foods, getting more sleep, and reducing stress can all help you live longer. But researchers reporting in the Lancet Public Health say that there’s another healthy habit that we shouldn’t forget: getting an education. Analyzing data from hundreds of studies of people in 59 countries, the scientists studied the relationship between how many years of education people received and mortality. They found that people with more schooling tended to die later than those who had less. Every additional year of education reduced mortality by 2%. That translates to a 34% lower risk of dying early for people who complete high school and college—about 18 total years of schooling—compared to those who don’t. That's about as protective against early death as eating the recommended daily am...