Of all the health harms the pandemic brought, new research has uncovered one positive effect: For the first time in 30 years, teens’ consumption of junk food fell following school closures, social restrictions and more parents working from home. The study included 452 participants, aged 13 to 19. It found that after COVID-19 restrictions were…  read on >  read on >

You might think that having the whole bed to yourself would leave you feeling more refreshed in the morning than sleeping with someone who might toss, turn or snore. Yet, a new study suggests that adults who share their beds with a partner have less severe insomnia, less fatigue and more sleep time. They also…  read on >  read on >

Pharmacies and states have ordered millions of doses of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines for children younger than 5 in advance of possible U.S. authorization of the shots next week, the Biden administration said Thursday. Senior officials said that 5 million doses — half from Pfizer and half from Moderna — are initially available,…  read on >  read on >

You can add more risk of broken bones to the long list of health harms that smoking poses to men. Along with cancer and respiratory diseases, men who smoke have a significantly increased risk of osteoporosis, fractures and early death, a new study finds. Previous research has shown that men are more likely to smoke…  read on >  read on >

The Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are spreading rapidly in the United States, but it’s not yet clear if they’ll trigger a new wave of infections or a surge in hospitalizations and deaths, experts say. The subvariants now account for 13% of new coronavirus cases nationwide, compared with 7.5% a week ago and 1% in…  read on >  read on >