Health

If the benefits of physical activity were distilled into a pill, everyone would be on it. Studies show that moving improves nearly every aspect of health: boosting sleep, strength, and mental well-being while slashing the risk of chronic conditions and premature death. What’s more, studies show that exercise has a positive impact even when done in very short chunks and with no equipment or fancy gym membership required.Still, most people don’t exercise nearly enough. According to data published in 2023, less than a third of U.S. adults get the government-recommended amount of physical activity in their free time: at least 20 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic movement (think brisk walking) per day, plus a couple muscle-strengthening sessions (such as resistance training) each week.Why i...

NEW YORK — The U.S. syphilis epidemic isn't abating, with the rate of infectious cases rising 9% in 2022, according to a new federal government report on sexually transmitted diseases in adults.But there's some unexpected good news: The rate of new gonorrhea cases fell for the first time in a decade.It's not clear why syphilis rose 9% while gonorrhea dropped 9%, officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, adding that it's too soon to know whether a new downward trend is emerging for the latter.They are most focused on syphilis, which is less common than gonorrhea or chlamydia but considered more dangerous. Total cases surpassed 207,000 in 2022, the highest count in the United States since 1950, according to data released Tuesday.And while it continues to have a d...

If you've been to a hospital lately, you might have noticed: masks are back. The rising number of COVID-19 hospitalizations is prompting many health care systems—including those at the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins, and all public health hospitals in New York City—to require them once again.Does wearing a mask still matter—and do the new mandates mean that other restrictions are on the horizon? Here's what experts say. Masks still make sense in these settingsHospitals are full of people who are most vulnerable to COVID-19’s complications, such as those with weakened immune systems, older people, and those battling multiple health problems. “They represent areas where more people could potentially suffer very severe results from their infection,” says Andrew Pekosz, professor of...

The U.K. government announced a plan on Monday to ban the sale of disposable vapes, in an attempt to curb the rise in vaping among children. The plan would also force companies to use plain packaging and place restrictions on flavors sold in an effort to make the products less appealing to children. It would also place restrictions on how vapes are advertised in shops. “The long-term impacts of vaping are unknown and the nicotine within them can be highly addictive, so while vaping can be a useful tool to help smokers quit, marketing vapes to children is not acceptable,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement. He stressed that adult smokers aiming to quit would still be able to access vape kits. A spring 2023 report from Action on Smoking and Health found that the proportion of ch...

As the world’s population ages, health experts are bracing for higher rates of age-related diseases, including Alzheimer’s.Finding new ways to diagnose the condition is more of a priority than ever, since new treatments work best earlier in the course of disease. But currently, the two primary ways to diagnose Alzheimer’s—PET imaging or a lumbar puncture—are either too expensive or invasive for most people, leaving too many cases undiagnosed.In a study published in JAMA Neurology, researchers report on a promising, more accessible test using blood, which could make more widespread screening and monitoring of the neurodegenerative condition possible. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden worked with ALZPath, a company that developed a blood-based Alzheimer's test used in res...

There are few things better for us than regular rest. Whether it's breaks during the day, hobbies that take our mind off work, weekly sabbaths or annual vacations, routines that layer periods of work and rest help us be more productive, have more sustainable careers, and enjoy richer and more meaningful lives.Too often, rest gets a bad rap in our always-on, work-obsessed world. It's also the case that learning to rest well is actually hard. Why is that? And how can we rest better?Americans has long been known for our industry and ambition, but until recently, we also recognized the value of rest. The Puritans had a famously strict work ethic, but they also took their Sundays very seriously. In 1842, Henry David Thoreau observed, “The really efficient laborer will be found not to crowd his ...

January 25, 2024 7:31 AM ESTSouth Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) issued a warning urging people to stop eating deep fried toothpicks. Videos of people preparing and eating the toothpicks have gone viral on TikTok and Instagram in recent months, and appear to be especially popular in South Korea. “This is not a product to eat!” South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety wrote in a post on X. “Their safety as food has not been verified!” In the videos appearing on social media, individuals can be seen frying toothpicks so that they appear similar to curly fries. But unlike the wooden toothpicks often found in the U.S., most toothpicks in South Korea are made of corn or potato starch mixed with sorbitol, a sweet sugar alcohol found naturally in various fruits. Because of ...

Gene therapy has allowed several children born with inherited deafness to hear.A small study published Wednesday documents significantly restored hearing in five of six kids treated in China. On Tuesday, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia announced similar improvements in an 11-year-old boy treated there. And earlier this month, Chinese researchers published a study showing much the same in two other children.So far, the experimental therapies target only one rare condition. But scientists say similar treatments could someday help many more kids with other types of deafness caused by genes. Globally, 34 million children have deafness or hearing loss, and genes are responsible for up to 60% of cases. Hereditary deafness is the latest condition scientists are targeting with gene therapy...

Abortion restrictions affect women’s health in more ways than one. According to a new study published in JAMA, simply living in a state that limits access to abortion is linked to worsened symptoms of anxiety and depression in women of childbearing age. To find this pattern, a team at Johns Hopkins University analyzed responses from more than 700,000 people to the U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey between Dec. 2021 and Jan. 2023. The survey asked people to rank their anxiety and depression symptoms on a scale of 0 to 4, allowing the research team to assign averages to various groups across the three time periods they looked at. They were primarily interested in what happened to the mental health of women ages 18 to 45—a window they defined as childbearing age—after the U.S. Supreme Court ...

When a young, healthy person in the U.S. catches COVID-19, there’s not much they can do except stay home and rest. The antiviral drug Paxlovid is widely available, but it’s only approved for people at high risk of severe disease, such as older adults and people with underlying conditions. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hasn’t approved any drugs that can treat COVID-19 among people who are unlikely to get very sick or die, but nonetheless would like some relief from their symptoms.These drugs do exist, though. Antivirals currently available overseas seem to be effective at shortening the length and treating the symptoms of mild-to-moderate cases of COVID-19—but it’s anyone’s guess if and when they’ll make the jump to the U.S. market.A study published in the New England Journal ...