Women who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant may need to forgo coffee, tea, sodas and other sources of caffeine. A new data analysis finds no safe level of the drug during this time. “The cumulative scientific evidence supports pregnant women and women contemplating pregnancy being advised to avoid caffeine,” concluded study author Jack… read on >
It may seem like a paradox, but giving someone a gift to help them save money is a sure way to make them hate it. The reason: It will make the recipient feel inferior to you, researchers say. In contrast, a gift that helps a recipient save time is taken as a compliment. The findings,… read on >
With the arrival of late summer, it’s essential to know the signs of heat exhaustion and how to intervene before it escalates to a more severe condition like heat stroke, emergency medicine experts say. Heat exhaustion comes with symptoms including: heavy sweating; breathlessness; a fast, but weak, pulse; headache; dizziness; nausea or vomiting. “Heat exhaustion… read on >
Fall is approaching, and so is the possibility of what public health officials are calling a “twindemic” — overlapping epidemics of both COVID-19 and influenza. A bad flu season coupled with continued COVID-19 outbreaks could increase people’s risk of fatal illness and overwhelm hospital capacity in communities already scrambling to treat coronavirus patients, experts say.… read on >
Back-to-school season can be a time of stress for many kids — even in the best of times. But pandemic fears add to the anxiety many kids will experience with the start of the 2020-2021 academic year, according to David FitzGerald, a child and adolescent psychologist at UConn Health in Farmington, Conn. “COVID-19’s continued presence… read on >
More older Americans have been seeing their doctors virtually since the pandemic began than ever before, a new poll finds. During the first three months of the pandemic, one in four patients over 50 years of age used telehealth — way up from the 4% who did so in 2019. Comfort levels with telemedicine have… read on >
High levels of air pollution may increase young children’s risk of developing asthma and persistent wheezing, researchers warn. The findings “support emerging evidence that exposure to air pollution might influence the development of asthma,” according to a report by Torben Sigsgaard, of Aarhus University in Denmark, and colleagues. For the new study, the researchers analyzed… read on >
Doctors have long suspected it, but a comprehensive new study provides more evidence that antibiotics can reduce the effectiveness of birth control pills. That means women who are using both types of drugs at once should take extra precautions to avoid an unintended pregnancy, the study’s British authors say. The study couldn’t prove cause and… read on >
People with diabetes face a higher risk of developing complications from COVID-19, but a new survey reports they have also suffered more economic fallout from the pandemic. In June, 18% of people with diabetes were out of work compared to 12% of the general population. And one-third of people with diabetes have lost at least… read on >
Some of the leading hotspots in the United States are on track to become even more sweltering in the coming decades — thanks to a combination of greenhouse gas emissions, urban development and population growth. In a new study, researchers estimate that over the course of this century, the biggest relative increases in extreme heat… read on >
