ArcaMax

'Twas the season of feasts and festive beverages! And chances are you added a few pounds. One study found that between Thanksgiving and Christmas, most folks put on around 2 pounds and 14% add 5 or more. Unfortunately, what's added is rarely lost -- and year after year, it adds up to a serious health threat for millions of you.

You can reclaim ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 75-year-old man with an elevated A1C level; I was diagnosed with prediabetes. I feel healthy but have struggled to lose weight. I was wondering what your feeling are on using a glucose monitor. -- F.M.

ANSWER: A continuous glucose monitor is a device shaped like a disc, and the smallest of them are only just larger than...Read more

More than 60% of parents of 12-year-olds say their child has a smartphone; nearly 97% of kids age 13 do. And, according to new research, it turns out those phones are connecting the kids to more than Instagram and TikTok. They're directly hooking them up to depression, obesity and insufficient sleep.

A study in Pediatrics evaluated the impact ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: My wife was having problems getting to sleep and has stocked our medicine cabinet with various p.m. versions of popular pain relievers that have been advertised as sleep aids. Recently, I've had problems getting to sleep as well and began taking a single pill before retiring, but I can't honestly say that they're helping.

I ...Read more

Take this to heart: Seven tasty everyday foods are front-line warriors against heart disease.

That's the conclusion of researchers from King's College London who recently published results of a 10-year study of the diet and heart health of more than 3,100 people and the metabolites in the urine of more than 200 of those adults. They found that ...Read more

When men and women are given exercise routines to reduce coronary heart disease risk, one group does better. It's not men.

Women had a 22% lower risk of coronary heart disease if they logged 150 minutes per week of moderate to vigorous exercise. Men doing the same amount of exercise had a 17% lower risk.

The caveat: As in previous similar ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: I read your column daily in my local newspaper. The people who write in often describe themselves as "healthy" or "in good health." Then they always add that they are taking some sort of medication for some sort of ailment. Can you please clarify which attributes make a person healthy as opposed to unhealthy? -- L.S.

ANSWER: I...Read more

Around 180 million Americans contend with tension and migraine headaches, making them the top two nervous system disorders, according to a new study that looked at 36 unique neurological health conditions that affect more than half the U.S. population.

If you are battling tension headaches, you may be surprised to learn that stress isn't the ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 76-year-old male who is in relatively good health. For the past six months, I have been experiencing diarrhea on and off. I initially spoke to my general physician, and he thought it could be lactose intolerance. I reduced my dairy intake, drank lactose-free milk, and took Lactaid pills before eating dairy.

After about ...Read more

Less is more -- and more is less -- when it comes to physical activity and sleep. A new study in Communications Medicine looked at 28 million days' worth of health data from more than 70,000 folks and found that:

1. Less sleep makes it more difficult to exercise.

2. More exercise doesn't make it more likely that you'll sleep soundly.

The ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: In a recent column, you noted that many patients do not properly use their inhaled asthma/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) medications, but you didn't tell us how to properly use them. I'd hate to think that I've been doing Advair and albuterol incorrectly all these years. A little help, please? -- Anon.

ANSWER: The ...Read more

Analysis of the health status of U.S. adults ages 65 and older indicates that 2.7 million folks are living with vascular dementia (impaired supply of blood to the brain, often caused by mini-strokes) or mixed dementia (vascular causes plus Alzheimer's, Lewy Body or frontotemporal dementia). But only around 800,000 folks have been diagnosed with ...Read more

Researchers are now advising folks who get a flu shot to consider refraining from taking a pain reliever like aspirin, Advil or Aleve after inoculation because it can dampen production of necessary antibodies that protect against viral illness.

Many over-the-counter pain and fever reducers are classified as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs,...Read more

Even with modern medicine, vaccines and artificial intelligence helping to diagnose diseases early, the risk of dying before age 70 -- called probability of premature death, or PPD -- still varies widely around the world.

In 2019, 12% of people in the world's healthiest countries died before age 70. In sub-Saharan Africa, that number was 52%;...Read more

The so-called "California sober" trend involves swapping alcohol in favor of cannabis consumption in the belief that it's less harmful to the body and reduces the danger of using more potent drugs like opioids, cocaine and methamphetamine.

A small published study suggests the approach actually does reduce alcohol consumption, at least in the ...Read more

Let's look at some converging lines of population numbers. The United States appears to be trending toward a new club of nations: those in which annual deaths routinely outnumber births. Some countries in Europe and Asia, such as Japan, Italy, South Korea and Germany, already have more deaths each year than births.

The biggest driver appears ...Read more