Bringing wholesome healthy tips
The “sunshine vitamin” has long been linked to depression risk — especially in people who get little sun, carry extra weight, are older or have trouble absorbing nutrients. And for years, the question has lingered: Could improving vitamin D status actually help improve depression symptoms? The answer has never been as simple as we’d like. Some studies have shown a benefit. Others haven’t. And that has made it easy for…
Peppermint is one of those natural remedies we tend to underestimate. Most of us think of it as something that freshens breath, calms an upset stomach or adds a cool, clean flavor to tea. But peppermint oil is far more concentrated than a cup of mint tea — and new research suggests it may do something surprising for the cardiovascular system. In a study published in PLOS ONE, researchers found…
Most of us snack. In fact, research suggests that snacks now account for nearly a quarter of the average adult’s daily caloric intake. That’s not inherently a problem – it’s actually an opportunity. Because when you snack well, you’re not just holding hunger at bay until your next meal. You’re giving your body extra chances to take in the nutrients it genuinely needs more of. Here’s the thing: the typical American…
Serotonin is best known as your body’s “feel-good” chemical. It’s a chemical messenger that helps regulate mood, sleep, appetite and other important functions. That’s why many common antidepressants are designed to increase serotonin’s availability in the brain. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors — better known as SSRIs — work by blocking the brain from reabsorbing serotonin too quickly, leaving more of it available to help nerve cells communicate. But for some…
You may not drink every day. You may not even drink every week. Maybe you enjoy a glass of wine with dinner once in a while. Or maybe you rarely drink during the week, but occasionally have several drinks at a party, wedding, barbecue or weekend dinner with friends. No harm done, right? Not necessarily. New research from Keck Medicine of USC suggests that for people with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic…
Summer is here, and I’m spending a lot more time in the sun — which means I’m also thinking a lot more about sun protection. But lately, that’s been a little complicated. Over the last few years, we’ve learned that many of the chemical ingredients in sunscreens carry health risks. So, like many people, I’ve tried to be more careful about what I put on my skin. I switched to…
Knee pain can change your life — from forcing you to take the elevator instead of the stairs to bracing yourself before standing up from a chair. So when your knee aches, catches or feels like it might give out, it’s easy to assume something inside must be “torn” and needs to be surgically cleaned up. That’s especially true when an MRI shows a meniscus tear. For decades, people with…
Most women know perimenopause, the transition leading up to menopause, when hormone levels fluctuate and periods often become irregular, can bring hot flashes, mood changes, sleep problems and unpredictable periods. What they may not know is that this transition can also quietly open the door to heart disease. That sounds discouraging. But new research from the American Heart Association points to something far more useful: Perimenopause may be a window…
Losing weight is hard enough. But for many people, keeping those pounds from creeping back is the real challenge. That’s why new research offers such encouraging news: You may have needed to hit 10,000 to 12,000 steps to drop the weight, but to maintain weight loss, you can go quite a bit lower… In fact, the new suggestion is far more doable and, even better, you don’t have to do…
This is a slightly different kind of post — one grounded in science, but powered by hope. It’s about a breakthrough in the treatment of one of the deadliest cancers we know. Instead of blasting cancer with drugs that make people sick and still don’t improve survival rates, we’re talking about a simple, low-dose treatment approach that researchers believe could help push a deadly brain cancer toward healing rather than…