Plyometrics: Three explosive exercises even beginners can try
As a kid, I spent many Saturdays romping around my Florida neighborhood imitating Colonel Steve Austin, better known as The Six Million Dollar Man to avid TV watchers in the 1970s. The popular show featured a bionic man — half human and half machine — who could jump from three-story buildings, leap over six-foot-high walls, […]
Chronic stomach pain in children: What’s the most common cause?
The most common cause of chronic stomach pain in children isn’t anything you can find on a test or cure with a medicine. And that can make it very challenging to diagnose — and treat. You may not have ever heard of functional abdominal pain. Yet it ranks as the most common cause of stomach […]
Heat rash: How to spot it and what to do
The first two weeks of July were the Earth’s hottest on human record, and people across the country continue to suffer from lingering, suffocating heat waves. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued repeated warnings and tips about recognizing and preventing heat-related illnesses, like heat stroke, heat exhaustion, and heat cramps. But […]
Shift work can harm sleep and health: What helps?
We can feel groggy when our sleep schedule is thrown off even just a little. So what happens when shift work requires people to regularly stay awake through the night and sleep during the day — and how can they protect their health and well-being? What is shift work disorder? Mounting evidence, including several new […]
Immune boosts or busts? From IV drips and detoxes to superfoods
Ever see ads for products that promise to supercharge immunity? Activate your body’s natural defenses? Support a healthy immune system while delivering a potent boost derived from nature’s hottest immune-enhancing ingredients? While the words may change to reflect the latest trends, the claims certainly sound amazing. But do the multitude of products promoted as immune […]
Dealing with thick, discolored toenails
Wriggling toes in the sand and wearing sandals are warm weather treats, unless you’d rather keep your toes under wraps due to thickened, yellowish nails. Nail fungal infections (known as onychomycosis) are common, affecting up to 14% of the general population. In advanced cases, nails can become brittle, crumbly, or ragged, or even separate from […]
What color is your tongue? What’s healthy, what’s not?
If the eyes are the windows to the soul, then consider the tongue a sort of check-engine light for the body. The tongue’s appearance gives doctors an idea about certain aspects of your health, and its color is an important clue. What should your tongue look like? The tongue should have a rounded, symmetrical shape. […]
Leprosy in Florida: How worried should we be?
The media uproar that swirled a few weeks ago around leprosy in the US drew attention away from ongoing heat and extreme weather that pose far more danger to most of us. But does a single case of a man diagnosed with leprosy in central Florida suggest that anyone anywhere in the US could get […]
Prostate cancer: An emerging surgical alternative shows promise in older men
Think of prostate cancer surgery and what likely comes to mind is a radical prostatectomy, which is an operation to remove the entire prostate gland along with the seminal vesicles that produce semen. However, men with localized prostate cancer — meaning cancer that is still confined to the prostate — have another surgical option. Called […]
Validation: Defusing intense emotions
Brittany Jordan-Arthur was at loggerheads with her 7-year-old daughter one recent morning. The little girl simply did not want to head out the door to summer camp, finding any and all excuses to hang back. But instead of expressing exasperation or annoyance — knowing that would make her daughter dig in her heels even more […]