Heidi Godman

Trekking through nature is exhilarating and also gives your heart, lungs, and muscles a workout. Autumn’s cooler temperatures make the outdoor activity especially inviting. Just make sure you prepare your muscles for the journey, especially if it’s been a while since you’ve hiked on uneven terrain; you don’t want to overdo it in the great outdoors and come back sore and sorry that you did.

If protecting your bones isn’t already a top priority, a diagnosis of osteopenia will change that. Osteopenia is an indication that your bone density is decreasing, and that you’re at increased risk for osteoporosis — a disease of thin, weak bones that can break easily and often.

The recommendation to do strength training twice a week doesn’t mean that you have to pump a lot of iron and become a body builder. Doing body-weight exercises or using small dumbbells or resistance bands does a nice job of keeping muscles strong. But recent evidence suggests that lifting heavier loads might have longer-lasting benefits. The study, published online June 18, 2024, by

Modern surgery can do wonders for eye problems. It can correct your vision, remove cataracts, slow glaucoma, or fix droopy eyelids. But after eye-related surgery, many people discover an unpleasant new problem: a burning, gritty, or even itchy feeling in the eyes known as dry eye disease.

Let’s face it: some of us have a hard time getting rid of earwax naturally. Buildup of the sticky substance can lead to pain, ringing in the ears, and even hearing loss. And home remedies to remove blockages are messy and might take a few applications (and days) to work.

When your doctor recommends therapies that complement conventional medicine, there’s good reason. These therapies — such as acupuncture, chiropractic, therapeutic massage, meditation, tai chi, or yoga — often help reduce stress, ease pain or headaches, or quell flare-ups of chronic conditions such as fibromyalgia. For years, such therapies have fallen under the umbrella term of "complementary and alternative medicine," but are now more commonly referred to as "integrative health."

Getting the right amount of sleep is essential for good health. But if the duration of your nightly Z’s varies significantly, you might be boosting your diabetes risk, suggests a Harvard-led study published online July 17, 2024, by Diabetes Care

Reviewed by Howard E. LeWine, MD, Chief Medical Editor, Harvard Health Publishing; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing

A 2024 study involving more than 149,000 people, middle-aged and older, found that those who had shingles were 20% more likely to notice signs of cognitive decline years later, compared with those ...

In a 2024 study of 900 dementia-free older adults, those who developed mild cognitive impairment had lower levels of life purpose and personal growth years before a diagnosis, compared with those w...