Heidi Godman

Certain strategies can help people avoid trips to the emergency room during the winter. For example, to avoid slipping and breaking a bone, spread salt on sidewalks and driveways. To avoid a heart ...

Fractures, frostbite, and influenza: they’re among the health problems that seem to surge every winter, the result of icy temperatures, seasonal activities, or exposure to infectious microbes. If the mercury has fallen where you live, you might be vulnerable to any number of winter hazards. So it’s a good idea to consider strategies to stay out of harm’s way and avoid a sudden trip to the emergency room.

What causes Alzheimer’s disease? "I’ve spent most of my professional life trying to answer that question," says neuroscientist Rudolph Tanzi, director of the McCance Center for Brain Health at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. It’s an important question to answer, because Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia in many countries. In the United States, at least 10% of people over age 65 have the disease.

It’s lovely to see the sun setting on the horizon or observe autumn leaves drifting downward. But watching your upper eyelids gradually fall lower each year? That’s a bit unsettling. The sagging, drooping skin might affect the way you feel about your appearance. Worse, it might interfere with your vision, with eyelids hanging so low and feeling so heavy that it’s hard to open your eyes. Fortunately, a routine surgery can help.

It’s time to break up with your lunchtime deli sandwich and soda. A massive Harvard study has found that sugary drinks and processed meats are the worst of the worst for heart health. Ultra-processed foods are items that undergo so much change that their original ingredients aren’t recognizable — such as some dehydrated soups, potato chips, packaged baked goods, and microwaveable dinners. The foods are loaded with unhealthy fats, salt, sugar, preservatives, and artificial ingredients. When scientists looked at the health and dietary information of more than 200,000 adults collected over 30 years, and combined the findings with those from 19 other studies (for a total of 1.25 million people), they found a link between eating ultra-processed foods and greater risk for strokes and heart attacks, as well as for cardiovascular disease in general. For example, those who ate the most ultra-processed foods had a 17% higher chance of developing cardiovascular disease compared with those who ate the least. When researchers divided the foods into categories, the riskiest for heart health were sugary drinks and processed meats (anything salted, cured, smoked, or fermented). The findings were published Sept. 5, 2024, in The Lancet Regional Health-Americas.

Feeling burdened by tough times or extra stress? Bolstering your resilience — your ability to cope with and adapt to challenging circumstances and events — can help. And a study published online Sept. 3, 2024, by BMJ Mental Health

Self-fitting over-the-counter hearing aids are affordable and easy to use. You match them to your needs in one of two ways: with "self-adjustment," which allows you to manually adjust bass, treble, amplification, and other sound aspects; or with "in-situ audiometry," an automated fitting based on a hearing test administered through a smartphone app. Which strategy is best? It’s a tie, according to a small randomized trial published Sept. 1, 2024, in

Most of us have a health issue or question that seems just too mortifying to discuss with anyone, even a doctor. Sex problems, gut issues, body odor — it’s tough to divulge personal details that compromise dignity.

For people with certain illnesses (such as asthma or arthritis), cold weather seems to increase flare-ups of symptoms. It helps to use strategies to avoid flare-ups, such as bundling up and doing o...

Scientists can't say for sure yet if tea is good for health. However, the overall evidence on tea consumption indicates a potential benefit. Drinking tea is linked to reduced risks for heart diseas...