Communities of color devastated by COVID-19: Shifting the narrative
Editor’s note: First in a series on the impact of COVID-19 on communities of color and responses aimed at improving health equity. Click here to read part 2. By now we’ve read headlines like these all too often: “Communities of Color Devastated by COVID-19.” Way back in March, available data started to show that vulnerable, minority communities were experiencing much higher rates of infection and hospitalization from COVID-19 than their white counterparts. New York City, New Orleans, Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Boston, where I live and work, all became ground zeros in our nation’s early battle with the ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 22, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Joseph R. Betancourt, MD, MPH Tags: Coronavirus and COVID-19 Health care disparities Infectious diseases Source Type: blogs

Illness-related fatigue: More than just feeling tired
A common refrain during the COVID-19 pandemic is, “I’m so tired.” After months of adjusted living and anxiety, people are understandably weary. Parents who haven’t had a break from their kids are worn out. Those trying to juggle working from home with homeschooling are stretched thin. Between concerns about health, finances, and isolation, everyone is feeling some level of additional stress during this unusual time, and that’s tiring. We all could use a good, long nap — or better yet, a vacation. But while a break would be nice, most people — except those who are actually sick with COVID-19 or other illnesses...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 21, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jennifer Crystal, MFA Tags: Autoimmune diseases Fatigue Source Type: blogs

Beyond trick-or-treating: Safe Halloween fun during the COVID-19 pandemic
Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve had to find new ways to do almost everything — and the same is true of this year’s Halloween celebrations. Two mainstays of Halloween, trick-or-treating and Halloween parties, could be very risky this year. Going from house to house, sticking your hands in bowls of candy that many other hands have touched, or being close to people indoors or out, are all activities that could spread the virus. Even if people feel perfectly well, there’s no guarantee that they aren’t sick, and therefore contagious. That doesn’t mean we have to ditch Halloween entirely. On the contrary, ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 20, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Children's Health Coronavirus and COVID-19 Parenting Source Type: blogs

Coping with the loss of smell and taste
As I cut a slice of lemon for my tea one morning last March, I found that I could not detect the familiar zing of citrus. Nor, it turned out, could I taste the peach jam on my toast. Overnight, my senses of smell and taste seemed to have disappeared. In the days prior to that I’d had body aches and chills, which I ascribed to a late-winter cold — nothing, I thought, an analgesic and some down time couldn’t take care of. But later that day I saw a newspaper article about the loss of smell and taste in patients with COVID-19, and I realized that I’d likely caught the virus. While I was fortunate enough to eventually ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 19, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Leo Newhouse, LICSW Tags: Coronavirus and COVID-19 Ear, nose, and throat Mental Health Source Type: blogs

Early, tight control of Crohn ’s disease may have lasting benefits
The gastrointestinal (GI) tract is a remarkable organ: it resides on the inside of our bodies, but is regularly in contact with the outside world by virtue of what we ingest. It is quite incredible that the immune cells of the GI tract are not activated more regularly by the many foreign products it encounters every day. Only when the GI tract encounters an intruder that risks causing disease do the immune cells of the GI tract spring into action. That is, of course, under normal circumstances. In people with Crohn’s disease, the normally tolerant immune cells of the GI tract are activated without provocation, and this a...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 16, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Sarah Flier, MD Tags: Digestive Disorders Source Type: blogs

The tragedy of the post-COVID “ long haulers ”
Suppose you are suddenly are stricken with COVID-19. You become very ill for several weeks. On awakening every morning, you wonder if this day might be your last. And then you begin to turn the corner. Every day your worst symptoms — the fever, the terrible cough, the breathlessness — get a little better. You are winning, beating a life-threatening disease, and you no longer wonder if each day might be your last. In another week or two, you’ll be your old self. But weeks pass, and while the worst symptoms are gone, you’re not your old self — not even close. You can’t meet your responsibilities at home or at wor...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 15, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Anthony Komaroff, MD Tags: Brain and cognitive health Coronavirus and COVID-19 Fatigue Source Type: blogs

Stopping osteoarthritis: Could recent heart research provide a clue?
Here’s a recent headline that I found confusing: Could the first drug that slows arthritis be here? It’s confusing because it depends on which of the more than 100 types of arthritis we’re discussing. We’ve had drugs that slow rheumatoid arthritis for decades. In fact, more than a dozen FDA-approved drugs can reduce, or even halt, joint damage in people with rheumatoid arthritis. We also have effective medications to slow or stop gout, another common type of arthritis. But the headline refers to osteoarthritis, the most common type of arthritis. And currently, no medications can safely and reliably slow the pace of...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 15, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Arthritis Health Inflammation Source Type: blogs

Stress and the heart: Lessons from the pandemic
This study is a cautionary tale regarding the impact of stress. It serves as a good reminder that we should all strive to minimize stress, even in these trying times, and improve how we handle it. Some practical tips for managing stress including choosing healthy foods, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, and staying connected with friends and family. The post Stress and the heart: Lessons from the pandemic appeared first on Harvard Health Blog. (Source: Harvard Health Blog)
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 14, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alyson Kelley-Hedgepeth, MD Tags: Coronavirus and COVID-19 Heart Health Stress Source Type: blogs

Fibromyalgia: Exercise helps — here’s how to start
If you have fibromyalgia and you’re in pain, exercising is probably the last thing you feel like doing. But experts say it’s actually one of the most effective strategies you can try to help manage this chronic pain condition. Yet many people with fibromyalgia already struggle to get through their regular daily activities. Adding exercise on top of that may seem insurmountable. And pain and exhaustion can make it difficult to start and stick with regular workouts. Getting started It’s natural to worry that any exercise will make your pain worse and leave you wiped out. But know that adding more physical activity into...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 13, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Kelly Bilodeau Tags: Exercise and Fitness Fatigue Health Neurological conditions Pain Management Source Type: blogs

Grandparenting: Navigating risk as the pandemic continues
At the end of March, as the pandemic reshaped all our lives, I wrote a blog post about how grandparents might cope with safety recommendations made at that time while remaining connected with their families. Many of us hoped that the crisis would be short-lived, enabling us to return to “normal” before too long. Now six months have elapsed, and as one reader recently wrote to me, “we grandparents are muddling through.” So, with fall here and winter on the way, what’s next for grandparents? Those with serious medical conditions may find little has changed since March: it’s still safest to limit in-person contact...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 12, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ellen S. Glazer, LICSW Tags: Coronavirus and COVID-19 Parenting Relationships Source Type: blogs

Cultivating joy as a family
The pandemic has been hard on families. There has been so much loss, so much hardship, so much stress, and so much change. What makes it even harder is that there is so much uncertainty about when and how it will end; our lives, and the lives of our children, are going to be disrupted for the foreseeable future. There is so much we cannot control in all of this that it’s easy to lose sight of what we can control. One thing we absolutely can do is cultivate small moments of joy in each and every day. It doesn’t have to be a lot, or anything fancy or complicated. That’s the thing about joy: it can be very simple. Child...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 9, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Adolescent health Children's Health Mental Health Parenting Source Type: blogs

The hidden long-term cognitive effects of COVID-19
This study also found that a number of patients with COVID suffered strokes. In fact, COVID infection is a risk factor for strokes. A group of Canadian doctors found that individuals over 70 years of age were at particularly high risk for stroke related to COVID infection, but even young individuals are seven times more likely to have a stroke from this coronavirus versus a typical flu virus. Autopsy data from COVID patients in Finland suggests that another major cause of brain damage is lack of oxygen. Particularly worrisome is that several of the patients who were autopsied did not show any signs of brain injury during t...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 8, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Andrew E. Budson, MD Tags: Brain and cognitive health Coronavirus and COVID-19 Memory Neurological conditions Source Type: blogs

Advancing maternal justice on both sides of the Atlantic
Positive pregnancy and birthing experiences go beyond merely having a healthy mother and baby — so, too, does maternal justice, a term that encompasses broad goals. Affordable, timely, high-quality, equitable, and dignified care during and after pregnancy is essential for all birthing people. Maternal justice is a model of culturally sensitive care that aims to dismantle inequities in maternity care and maximize maternal health and well-being. It rests on human rights and requires us to chip away at racism entrenched in health systems. How do race and ethnicity affect pregnancy and birth? Globally, Black, indigenous, and...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 8, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Isioma D. Okolo, MBChB, MRCOG, DTMH Tags: Adolescent health Health care disparities Parenting Pregnancy Women's Health Source Type: blogs

Why is music good for the brain?
Can music really affect your well-being, learning, cognitive function, quality of life, and even happiness? A recent survey on music and brain health conducted by AARP revealed some interesting findings about the impact of music on cognitive and emotional well-being: Music listeners had higher scores for mental well-being and slightly reduced levels of anxiety and depression compared to people overall. Of survey respondents who currently go to musical performances, 69% rated their brain health as “excellent” or “very good,” compared to 58% for those who went in the past and 52% for those who never attended. Of tho...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 7, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Andrew E. Budson, MD Tags: Brain and cognitive health Healthy Aging Memory Mental Health Neurological conditions Source Type: blogs

New online model identifies which men can have fewer biopsies on active surveillance
This study underscores the important research that is ongoing to help minimize invasive procedures for clinically localized prostate cancer in men who opt for active surveillance,” said Dr. Marc Garnick, the Gorman Brothers Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and editor in chief of HarvardProstateKnowledge.org. Garnick added that in his practice, patients who have completely stable repeat biopsies for several years, as well as stable prostate MRI studies, are followed with a combination of “PSA values, physical exam, presence or absence of urinary symptoms, ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 6, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Charlie Schmidt Tags: Health Living With Prostate Cancer Prostate Knowledge HPK Source Type: blogs