Health Information

Mind and Body

  • Podcast: Be Smart About Sleep Aids

    Sleep can be elusive. On some nights, we easily cozy up with it. On others, it may linger frustratingly out of reach. Struggling for some shuteye may entice you to try a sleep aid. Used properly, sleep aids can help. But they aren’t without risks.

  • Podcast: Do Ultrasonic Bug Repellent Devices Work?

    Many people detest bugs, especially when they find them in their homes. Keeping bugs at bay may prompt you to try just about anything—maybe even ultrasonic bug repellent devices. But do they work?

  • Podcast: Are Multivitamins Worth the Cost?

    A pill packed with lots of nutrients—a multivitamin—may seem like the perfect shortcut to healthy living. Chances are, though, you’re already getting all the vitamins and minerals you need from the foods you eat.

  • Podcast: The Total-Body Toll of Obesity

    Many Americans realize that obesity is more than a cosmetic concern. A recent poll found that 78 percent knew that obesity can raise the risk for heart disease. Seventy percent recognized a link with diabetes. But what about high blood pressure? Canc

  • Podcast: E-Cigarettes: A Safer Source of Nicotine?

    Anyone who has tried to quit smoking knows it can entail herculean efforts. Withdrawal symptoms from nicotine and constant cravings for a cigarette cause many smokers to quit on quitting.

  • Podcast: Protecting Older Family Members from Financial Abuse

    It can be hard to discuss money matters with older family members. Many of us may prefer to avoid such a sticky subject entirely. This reluctance can make it easy to overlook a potentially serious problem: financial abuse.

  • Podcast: Americans Need to Learn More about Antibiotics

    Do antibiotics cure the common cold? If you answered yes, you've got good company. A recent poll found that many Americans don’t know enough about antibiotics and their proper use.

  • Podcast: Too Much Sitting Can Harm Your Health

    If you spend a lot of time sitting every day, you may be harming your health, even if you exercise. A recent review of 18 studies with nearly 800,000 participants found a link between sedentary living and overall health.

  • Podcast: Shoppers Who Read Food Labels Are Slimmer

    If you read food labels while you shop for groceries, you may have taken an important step toward maintaining a healthy weight. A new study found that people – especially women – who check food labels at the supermarket are thinner than people who did not.

  • Podcast: Why Some People Get Cold Feet

    Folk wisdom links cold hands and feet with a warm heart. But that wisdom also refers to the natural process in which the body slows or reduces circulation to the hands and feet in order to boost blood flow and warmth for the internal organs.

  • Podcast: Cancer Risk Higher with Mental Illness

    People who have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder appear to have more than a two-fold higher risk for cancer.

  • Podcast: Large Jump in Imaging Scans Since 1996

    Many more CT and MRI scans are done these days, greatly boosting the amount of radiation that patients receive and raising questions about overuse of these imaging methods, a new analysis concludes.