A collection of articles from our blog.
Unless you’ve already been diagnosed with a thyroid condition, odds are that you never gave your thyroid a second thought today. But maybe you should, if only to appreciate the tremendous impact of this little, butterfly-shaped gland that sits near the base of your throat. That’s because the thyroid is essentially the control room for most of your vital organs — your brain, heart, liver, skin and kidneys.
Traditionally, the holidays have been a time of family gatherings, office parties, friendly get-togethers, kids’ sports tournaments… and unfortunately, a time of stress, anxiety and feelings of sadness for many. This year, COVID-19 is curtailing much of the former, and in so doing is exacerbating the latter.
“COPD” may be a term with which you’re not overly familiar. But if you’ve heard of emphysema or chronic bronchitis, you’re more aware of COPD than you may have thought. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an umbrella name for a group of lung diseases, and emphysema (when air sacks in the lungs are damaged) and chronic bronchitis (when the lungs airways become inflamed) are the two most common conditions covered by the term.
The seemingly never-ending COVID-19 shutdowns and restrictions have put countless plans on hold. In many cases, those plans have included regular cancer screenings — particularly screening for breast cancer, which has fallen by nearly 50%. As we know, the key to beating metastatic breast cancer is early detection. Delayed diagnoses give cancer more time to spread before it’s caught, reducing chances of survival. In fact, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimates more than 10,000 additional deaths from breast and colorectal cancer over the next 10 years because of these delayed screenings.
Babies are beautiful and sweet and lovable and wonderful… but unfortunately, they’re also accident-prone. If you’ve ever had one, you know. The most innocuous object in your house — a tablecloth, drawer, or rocking chair — eventually screams “DANGER!” In spite of countless new safety standards for baby gear, more than 1.3 million American infants are brought to emergency rooms every year. That’s why we’re taking the occasion of Baby Safety Month to help you know the risks and learn ways to keep baby safe and hopefully calm your nerves.
Normally this time of year puts us on the doorstep of back-to-school season — which means making sure that kids’ vaccinations are up-to-date, and starting to plan for getting everyone their annual flu shot. But since this is 2020, and COVID-19 has thrown everything into chaos, back-to-school is up in the air.
After being cooped up for months, getting out of the house has been a more welcome diversion than ever before. That’s a good thing — aside from enticing you to be active (which is always a plus), there are numerous benefits to having fun in the sun.
Today, many doctors and health care experts have begun to refer to a stroke as a “brain attack.” That’s because a stroke basically works the same as a heart attack — the blood supply to a vital organ (in this case, the brain) is interrupted, and that organ’s cells begin dying in a matter of minutes.
With the proliferation of official “days,” “weeks” and “months,” World Health Day can easily go virtually unnoticed in most years. But the 2020 version is garnering more of a spotlight, and putting a special focus on workers who often find themselves on the frontline of care — nurses and midwives.
“Make healthier food choices” is sound advice, but it can sometimes be a lot harder than it sounds. With changes to food labels, sometimes-contradictory research news (eggs are bad/no wait, eggs are good), not to mention the Mediterranean diet, the DASH diet, the fasting diet, MIND diet and countless other approaches that come along every day, just knowing where to start can cause paralysis by analysis.
