Author: LocalHealthGuideEditor
Resources and emergency shelters available statewide to keep people safe and warm during dangerously cold winter weather
Cold weather can be very dangerous if you are not prepared, particularly for people without homes, the elderly, and those with medical conditions. Health risks include hypothermia, frostbite, falls, vehicle accidents, and carbon monoxide poisoning from improper indoor use of fires or generators. Winter storms can make these problems worse by causing power outages and property damage.
There’s a new pill for postpartum depression, but many at-risk women face hurdles
Suicide and overdoses are among the leading causes of maternal death in the U.S.
As Zepbound dominates headlines as a new obesity-fighting drug, a nutritionist warns that weight loss shouldn’t be the only goal
Weight loss medications are intended to be used in conjunction with lifestyle changes, such as exercise and a healthy diet. But too often, people view them as a silver bullet for weight loss. And the high price tag and variable insurance coverage for these popular weight loss drugs create a barrier for many people.
GET READY FOR WINTER WEATHER, INCLUDING POWER OUTAGES AND ROAD CLOSURES
We’re expecting high winds and gusts starting in the early morning on Tuesday, January 9 and continuing through the day, which could take down power lines and cause outages. This weekend, January 12-14, light snow might cover roads and disrupt travel.
Older Americans Say They Feel Trapped in Medicare Advantage Plans.
Medicare pays private insurers a fixed amount per Medicare Advantage enrollee and in many cases also pays out bonuses, which the insurers can use to provide supplemental benefits. Those extra benefits work as an incentive to get people to join the plan but that the plans then restrict the access to so many services and coverage for the bigger stuff.”
Viewpoint: Restricting Obese Women From IVF Is Discriminatory
Fertility clinics bar women with obesity from their services, despite the lack of medical evidence for doing so.
Cardio or weights first? A kinesiologist explains how to optimize the order of your exercise routine
When you enter the gym, which way should you head first? Toward the treadmills and spin studio to get your sweat on with a cardio session? Or toward the free weights and strength-training machines to do some resistance training? The answer to this question is … it depends.
Six ways to look after your eyes in 2024
Reducing the risk of eye diseases involves adopting a combination of lifestyle changes, protective measures, and regular eye care. Here are six ways to look after your eyes in 2024.
Resistance (exercise) is far from futile: The unheralded benefits of weight training
For too long, though, one way of keeping fit, aerobic exercise, has been perceived as superior to the other, resistance training, for promoting health when, in fact, they are equally valuable, and both can get us to the same goal of overall physical fitness.
Hate salad or veggies? Just keep eating them.
Here’s how our tastebuds adapt to what we eat
US birth rates are at record lows – even though the number of kids most Americans say they want has held steady
Birth rates are falling in the U.S. Is this decline because, as some suggest, young people aren’t interested in having children? Or are people facing increasing barriers to becoming parents?
Health misinformation is rampant on social media – here’s what it does, why it spreads and what people can do about it
Studies show that health misinformation spread on social media results in fewer people getting vaccinated and can also increase the risk of other health dangers such as disordered eating and unsafe sex practices and sexually transmitted infections. Health misinformation has even bled over into animal health, with a 2023 study finding that 53% of dog owners surveyed in a nationally representative sample report being skeptical of pet vaccines.
More than a third of people with dementia don’t know they have it – what to do if you suspect your partner has the condition
Dementia can present very differently in each person, so it’s about knowing what’s normal for your loved one. A person who has always been conscientious and organised starting to unravel is very different from a scatterbrained person just being slightly more scatterbrained.
DOH launchers interactive tool to connect people to Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Nutrition Program
WIC provides monthly food benefits with an emphasis on healthy grocery items like milk, fruits, and vegetables. The program also assists with health screenings and referrals, nutritional education, and breast/chest-feeding support. WIC is for people who are pregnant, recently delivered a baby, who are breast/chest-feeding, and infants and children under 5 years old. Dads, grandparents, foster parents, or other guardians may also apply for WIC for their children.
Lifestyle changes can reduce dementia risk by maintaining brain plasticity — but the time to act is now
There are several new drugs making their way to the market for Alzheimer’s disease (one of the most common forms of dementia). However, they are still far from a cure and are currently only effective for early-stage Alzheimer’s patients. So lifestyle changes may be our best hope of delaying dementia or not developing dementia at all.