Health

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an alert on Tuesday advising health care providers and public health authorities about an elevated risk of dengue fever infections in the U.S.The viral disease, which spreads through mosquito bites, has affected at least 2,241 people in the nation this year, according to the CDC. The greatest number of cases on the continental U.S. have been recorded in Florida, New York and Massachusetts. But the crux of U.S. cases has been recorded in Puerto Rico, where nearly 1,500 cases have been reported in 2024. (U.S. travelers also reported a high number of infections at 745 cases.) The U.S. territory issued their own public health emergency this March, while the World Health Organization (WHO) issued an emergency related to the virus last ...

Imagine you have a serious talk with your partner—yet when you bring it up a couple weeks later, they say: “We never had that conversation! You must be thinking of something else.” Or your boss gives you an assignment but omits crucial information, later berating you for falling short and claiming you were provided with the exact instructions you know you never received. Maybe you keep hearing that you’re overreacting, too sensitive, or misinterpreting things.All are possible examples of gaslighting. The (frequently misused) term describes “the act of when someone is talking to or communicating with you, making you feel like your reality is being questioned,” says Laura Sgro, a therapist in Los Angeles who specializes in helping people navigate dysfunctional families or relationships. Over...

More than 184 million people—about 61% of U.S. adults—are likely to have some type of cardiovascular disease by 2050, the American Heart Association (AHA) reported earlier this month. That will lead to a tripling in the costs related to heart disease. It’s a statistic that TIME senior health correspondent Alice Park cited to begin her discussion about the future of healthcare with AHA CEO Nancy Brown; cardiologist Kiran Musunuru; and Andres Acosta, associate professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic, for a TIME100 Health panel in New York on Tuesday.The event was sponsored by AHA and is part of the TIME100 Talks series. The TIME100 Health list includes the most influential people in the health industry around the world.Heart disease has been the leading killer of Americans since 1950. Brown, wh...

Jillian Alfieri didn’t even make it through her first seven months before asthma started having its way with her. The now 13-year-old had just been placed in her stroller for an early evening walk when her parents noticed that she seemed to be battling to breathe. “At first, we thought she was choking,” says her father, Rob, a stay-at-home parent in New York City. “She couldn’t catch her breath or make a sound. She finally started to cry, and we looked at the base of her neck and saw it going in and out as she was trying to inhale.”Rob and his wife, Jaimee, an HR director for a Manhattan law firm, rushed Jillian to the pediatrician, who put her on a nebulizer mask to stabilize her breathing and diagnosed the episode either as a possible one-off that would not repeat itself or a first bout ...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Four months after seeking asylum in the U.S., Fernando Hermida began coughing and feeling tired. He thought it was a cold. Then sores appeared in his groin and he would soak his bed with sweat. He took a test.On New Year’s Day 2022, at age 31, Hermida learned he had HIV.“I thought I was going to die,” he said, recalling how a chill washed over him as he reviewed his results. He struggled to navigate a new, convoluted health care system. Through an HIV organization he found online, he received a list of medical providers to call in Washington, D.C., where he was at the time, but they didn’t return his calls for weeks. Hermida, who speaks only Spanish, didn’t know where to turn.By the time of Hermida’s diagnosis, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was about th...

When most of us think about how to get the perfect night’s sleep, we consider things like how firm our mattress is, how cool or dark our room is, and what time we go to bed. One factor we sometimes fail to consider? Our pillow setup. “I think pillows are often incredibly overlooked,” says Dr. W. Christopher Winter, a neurologist, sleep specialist, and author of The Sleep Solution.Winter says he always asks patients what kind of pillow they have and where they bought it. “It’s really surprising how few people can actually answer the question,” he says. “It’s like they just always had the pillow or it just showed up in their bed at some point and they never really questioned it.”Finding the perfect pillow is an opportunity for people to improve their sleep without buying a new mattress, whic...

NEW DELHI — At least 34 people have died and dozens hospitalized after drinking illegally brewed liquor in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, local media reported on Thursday.The state’s chief minister M K Stalin said the 34 died after consuming liquor that was tainted with methanol, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.The incident occurred in the state’s Kallakurichi district, where more than 100 people are being treated in various hospitals, top district official M S Prasanth said. He added that the number of those who are in critical condition keeps changing, suggesting that the death toll could rise.Read More: The History of Poisoned Alcohol Includes an Unlikely Culprit: The U.S. GovernmentAmbulances, doctors and specialists from nearby areas were deployed to the di...

Menopause hit Amelia Cerbelli hard. Hot flashes ruined her mood, sleep, and outfits; she was sweaty, uncomfortable, and oh-so irritable (especially in the summer). The only thing that made her feel better was her silent rebellion in the workplace. Every morning when she arrived at the office, Cerbelli turned the thermostat way, way down, until she heard a click indicating it was at its lowest possible setting.“Everyone was freezing and wearing sweaters,” recalls Cerbelli, 65, who lives in the Poconos in Pennsylvania and is now on the other side of her 12-year bout with menopause. “It was like a meat locker in there. They finally put some kind of lock on it so I couldn't change it.”Not everyone experiences menopause-related hot flashes—but for those who do, record-breaking summer temperatur...

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday authorized the first menthol-flavored electronic cigarettes for adult smokers, the government’s strongest indication yet that vaping flavors can reduce the harms of traditional tobacco smoking.The FDA said it authorized four menthol e-cigarettes from NJOY, the vaping brand recently acquired by tobacco giant Altria, which also makes Marlboro cigarettes.The decision lends new credibility to vaping companies’ longstanding argument that their products can help blunt the toll of smoking, which is blamed for 480,000 U.S. deaths annually due to cancer, lung disease and heart disease.But parent groups and anti-tobacco advocates are certain to be disappointed by the decision after years of pushing against the availability of flavors like menthol, whi...

A few years ago, personal trainer Anna Maltby cut back on exercise as she juggled work with being a new mother. Like some of her clients, she suddenly lacked the time and energy to work out the way she used to. She could manage no more than several 15-minute workouts per week, “but I actually felt like I got my minimum effective dose for that stage of my life,” she says. Many of us feel like we’re too busy for exercise. Others actively avoid it. But research shows that doing at least some exercise is important for longer, healthier lives without dementia, heart disease, diabetes, or cancer. Other advantages are reaped right away: we’re happier and more energetic on a daily basis.  So, just how little exercise can you get away with, while still getting these benefits? Here’s how low you ca...