Your fitness tracker, pedometer or smartwatch may motivate you to exercise more and lose weight, Australian researchers say. In a large research review, the investigators found that tracking your activity might inspire you to walk up to 40 minutes more a day (about 1,800 more steps). And those extra steps could translate to the loss…  read on >  read on >

Customers buying creams, patches or lotions containing cannabidiol (CBD) to reduce pain or inflammation may get much more or much less than they expected. Topical CBD products are gaining popularity in the United States, and the authors of a new study say the science hasn’t kept up. “Overall, this study and other studies before it…  read on >  read on >

Intermittent fasting might help people with type 2 diabetes better control their blood sugar levels, a new study has found. People with diabetes who restricted their eating to within a daily 10-hour window wound up with blood sugar levels in the normal range for about three hours longer than when they ate whenever they pleased,…  read on >  read on >

A potentially dangerous change in heart rhythm is common after surgeries that don’t involve the heart, according to Mayo Clinic researchers. Dr. Konstantinos Siontis and colleagues studied patients who had atrial fibrillation (a-fib) after a noncardiac surgical procedure. These patients represent about 13% of a-fib diagnoses. Postoperative a-fib is associated with a similar risk for…  read on >  read on >

Seeing their doctors via telehealth instead of in person during the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have been as good, and sometimes even better, for pregnant women and new moms. Researchers from Oregon Health & Science University reviewed 28 randomized clinical trials and 14 observational studies that included more than 44,000 women. The goal was to…  read on >  read on >

The best booster for COVID vaccinations might not be yet another shot, but a nasal spray, an early study hints. Since early on in the pandemic, some researchers have speculated that the most effective way to fight COVID is through vaccines that not only spur an immune response in the blood, but also in the…  read on >  read on >

Everyone in the United States knows someone — often multiple someones — who have been reinfected with COVID-19. Despite vaccines, boosters and natural immunity, the highly infectious Omicron variant appears capable of getting around whatever protection you might have gained against SARS-CoV-2. Even President Joe Biden – famously vaccinated and fully boosted – announced July…  read on >  read on >