Harvard Health Blog

Before the pandemic did you schedule a routine, in-person health checkup every year? Is this necessary or can you safely skip a year or consider a telehealth visit or a combination of in-person and virtual care? There are pros and cons to these options and no single solution will work for everyone.

Addiction is now understood to be a neurological disorder that results from changes to the brain's reward center caused by addictive substances. Ideally, treatment for nicotine addiction combines medication to suppress cravings with counseling to help patients reprogram their behavior.

Living with low or impaired vision comes with many challenges. Accessibility features on computer hardware and software, special devices, and adaptations to your home can help make daily life easier when living with a vision impairment.

For people who are transgender or nonbinary, being misgendered may be a daily occurrence. When this happens, people feel invalidated and unseen, and the burden can negatively affect their mental health. Making the effort to use the right names, pronouns, and honorifics when addressing a person shows respect and support for those around you and how they identify themselves.

Researchers have increasingly found links between poor mental health and higher heart disease risk. Stress, childhood trauma, and other issues may affect behavior and trigger physical changes that elevate heart risk. Taking steps to support mental health can potentially improve heart health as well.

News stories frequently tout "breakthrough" drugs, but how often does this turn out to be true? When you read or hear about the results of a study for a new medication, these steps can help you ask questions to get the full story and a better sense of what it might mean for your health.

Respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, is the leading cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in children under a year old. Usually, cases drop in spring and summer, but the pattern is changing and parents should be watchful.

One reason people eat yogurt is because it contains probiotics — beneficial bacteria and yeasts that improve digestion, provide protection from dangerous organisms, and boost the immune system. But not everyone likes the taste or texture of yogurt, so here are some other foods that offer the same benefits.

The US healthcare system is expensive, complicated, dysfunctional — and broken. The system needs a major overhaul, and the arguments for this fall into a few broad categories: high costs, uneven access, and undue emphasis on areas of spending that do not directly benefit patients

It's extremely rare for a child or teen to die suddenly because of a heart problem, but several conditions can increase the risk of sudden death. A policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics outlines four questions about personal and family health history that can help identify children who may be at risk.

Using your own body weight for exercise is simple and straightforward, but sometimes you need to further challenge your muscles. Resistance bands are versatile, portable, and easy to use to strengthen legs. These four leg exercises with resistance bands will enhance your lower-body workouts.

If you learn your child has been bullied, ignore the temptation to fantasize about retaliation and focus on your child's immediate needs instead. Parents can't stop bullies from crossing paths with their children, but they can teach their children how to manage such situations.

Ads for consumer health monitoring devices make it seem like having ready and regular access to heart rate, heart rhythm, and electrocardiogram data is something everyone needs. While it may help some people with existing heart conditions, how about for an average person without such a concern?

What could you do today to feel happier? Three strategies drawn from positive psychology, a field that aims to improve moods and lives, may help.

Proper dental care is essential for all children, including learning how to brush and going for regular dental visits. But for children with autism spectrum disorder, the sensory aspects of a dental office may be uncomfortable, difficult, or overwhelming. But there are things parents can do to make these visits easier.

During pregnancy it's completely normal to experience a certain amount of anxiety about the baby, giving birth, and becoming a new parent. But for some women this worry takes over their thoughts and becomes debilitating. There are treatments available that may or may not involve medication, depending on the individual situation.