Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve had to find new ways to do almost everything — and the same is true of this year’s Halloween celebrations. Two mainstays of Halloween, trick-or-treating and Halloween parties, could be very risky this year. Going from house to house, sticking your hands in bowls of candy that many other hands have touched,…
As I cut a slice of lemon for my tea one morning last March, I found that I could not detect the familiar zing of citrus. Nor, it turned out, could I taste the peach jam on my toast. Overnight, my senses of smell and taste seemed to have disappeared. In the days prior to that I’d had body…
The effects of COVID-19 have been extensive, with more than seven million confirmed cases and more than 200,000 deaths in the US alone. COVID-19 has caused additional impacts on healthcare; for example, patients have delayed seeking care for serious symptoms over fears of exposure to COVID-19. But the consequences of COVID-19 have reached beyond healthcare alone, with daily impacts…
Here’s a recent headline that I found confusing: Could the first drug that slows arthritis be here? It’s confusing because it depends on which of the more than 100 types of arthritis we’re discussing. We’ve had drugs that slow rheumatoid arthritis for decades. In fact, more than a dozen FDA-approved drugs can reduce, or even halt, joint damage in…
The gastrointestinal (GI) tract is a remarkable organ: it resides on the inside of our bodies, but is regularly in contact with the outside world by virtue of what we ingest. It is quite incredible that the immune cells of the GI tract are not activated more regularly by the many foreign products it encounters every day. Only when…
Suppose you are suddenly are stricken with COVID-19. You become very ill for several weeks. On awakening every morning, you wonder if this day might be your last. And then you begin to turn the corner. Every day your worst symptoms — the fever, the terrible cough, the breathlessness — get a little better. You are winning, beating a…
If you have fibromyalgia and you’re in pain, exercising is probably the last thing you feel like doing. But experts say it’s actually one of the most effective strategies you can try to help manage this chronic pain condition. Yet many people with fibromyalgia already struggle to get through their regular daily activities. Adding exercise on top of that…
At the end of March, as the pandemic reshaped all our lives, I wrote a blog post about how grandparents might cope with safety recommendations made at that time while remaining connected with their families. Many of us hoped that the crisis would be short-lived, enabling us to return to “normal” before too long. Now six months have elapsed,…
Can music really affect your well-being, learning, cognitive function, quality of life, and even happiness? A recent survey on music and brain health conducted by AARP revealed some interesting findings about the impact of music on cognitive and emotional well-being: Music listeners had higher scores for mental well-being and slightly reduced levels of anxiety and depression compared to people…
Positive pregnancy and birthing experiences go beyond merely having a healthy mother and baby — so, too, does maternal justice, a term that encompasses broad goals. Affordable, timely, high-quality, equitable, and dignified care during and after pregnancy is essential for all birthing people. Maternal justice is a model of culturally sensitive care that aims to dismantle inequities in maternity…