Air pollution may cause irregular heart rhythms in otherwise healthy teens within two hours of exposure, a new study shows. Irregular heart rhythms, or arrhythmias, occur when the heart’s electrical impulses don’t work properly. Symptoms may include heart flutters, chest pain, fainting or dizziness. Some arrhythmias increase a teen’s chances of sudden cardiac death or…  read on >  read on >

A new study hands parents what seems like a miraculous gift: A simple, free technique that takes just 13 minutes to put wailing infants to sleep. Researchers in Japan found that walking around while carrying infants for five minutes calmed the newborns, while another eight minutes of sitting while holding the sleeping babies quietly made…  read on >  read on >

Battling COVID and eager to do anything that will limit you to a mild infection? Grab a neti pot, a new study advises. Flushing your sinus cavity twice daily with a mild saline solution can significantly reduce a COVID patient’s risk of hospitalization and death, researchers report. “We found an 8.5-fold reduction in hospitalizations and…  read on >  read on >

Efforts to prevent concussions from happening at school or school-related sports activities may help keep teens from lagging behind on their academics. In a new study, researchers at the University of Washington found that those who had a recent concussion could be 25% more likely than classmates to be in poor academic standing. “History of…  read on >  read on >

Many women are unhappy with how their bodies look both during and after pregnancy, and it’s an issue that can trigger postpartum depression and eating disorders, a new study suggests. Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston, recently conducted a survey to learn more about body dissatisfaction in pregnancy and the postpartum period. They also…  read on >  read on >

Many teens look at screens at bedtime, but some apps are more likely to keep them awake than others, leading to sleep problems. That’s the upshot of a new study in which researchers found YouTube fans experienced consistent and negative effects on sleep. Surprisingly, traditional TV was associated with earlier bedtimes. “We’ve been seeing teenagers…  read on >  read on >

Even though New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently declared polio a state emergency after samples of the virus were found in wastewater in New York City and four surrounding counties, public health experts say it’s not time to push the panic button. “The risk to the majority of the general public is very low,” said…  read on >  read on >

Research has suggested that kids born to moms who had the flu or another infection during pregnancy may be more likely to have autism, but a new study implies infection may not be the cause after all. “We found no evidence to suggest that infections contracted by mothers during pregnancy would cause autism in the…  read on >  read on >