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When hot gets too hot: keeping children safe in the heat
Follow me on Twitter @drClaire Heat is part of summer — and for the most part, children do fine in the heat. But sometimes, heat can be dangerous, even deadly. As summer heats up — and as much of the country sits in a heat wave — it’s important to know about those dangers so that you can keep children safe. Here’s what you need to know about heat and children: Never leave a child in a car in the heat. Children’s bodies can heat up incredibly quickly — leading to damage to organs and even death. Every year children die from being in a hot car — because their caregiver thought they would be fine, because an e...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - July 26, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Children's Health Parenting Prevention Safety Source Type: news

Stress raising your blood pressure? Take a deep breath
Stress is rampant, and high blood pressure (what doctors call hypertension) is on the rise. So it’s no wonder patients often ask if stress is causing their hypertension. We have no proof that stress alone can cause persistently elevated blood pressure. (Part of the reason is that high-quality studies quantifying stress are difficult to conduct.) But stress can certainly raise blood pressure, sometimes impressively. And stress reduction can lower blood pressure, frequently improving overall well-being. Deep, slow breathing is the oldest and best-known technique to decrease stress. The relationship between stress and blood...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - February 15, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Naomi Fisher, MD Tags: Behavioral Health Hypertension and Stroke Stress Source Type: news

Healing through music
The last time I had a mammogram, I got a big surprise — and it was a good one. A string quartet was playing just outside the doors of the breast imaging center, and my thoughts immediately shifted from “What are they going to find on the mammogram?” to “Is that Schubert, or Beethoven?” By the time my name was called, I had almost forgotten why I was there. The unexpected concert was the work of Holly Chartrand and Lorrie Kubicek, music therapists and co-coordinators of the Environmental Music Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. But bringing music to hospital corridors is just a sideline for music therapist...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - November 5, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Beverly Merz Tags: Behavioral Health Mental Health Pain Management Surgery Source Type: news

More than a stretch: Yoga’s benefits may extend to the heart
As a long-time yoga enthusiast, I’m always happy to hear about benefits newly attributed to this ancient practice. Doing yoga for a few hours each week helps me feel calmer and more balanced, both physically and mentally. Now, new research suggests that my habit also may be helping my heart. A recent review of yoga and cardiovascular disease published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology indicates that yoga may help lower heart disease risk as much as conventional exercise, such as brisk walking. As I write in the April issue of the Harvard Heart Letter, the studies in the review looked at different types...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - April 15, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Julie Corliss Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Heart Health alternative therapy cardiovascular disease exercise yoga Source Type: news