Staying Healthy Archive

Dancing, playing sports, and even cleaning your house can give you a nontraditional workout that helps maintain good health.

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Exercising is supposed to be a regular part of your daily health maintenance. That can be a problem if you don't have the motivation to get your heart pumping; you raise your risk for weight gain, chronic disease, and an earlier death.

Fortunately, you can get plenty of effective exercise by engaging in recreational or household activities that work your heart and muscles. "There's a real reward in doing an activity you enjoy, such as swimming or playing with your grandchildren. You get a workout, but it doesn't seem like you're exercising, and you may be more willing to keep doing that activity every day because it's fun," says Dawn Rogers, a physical therapist at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Are these advances in dental health right for you?

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Tooth decay, gum disease, and injury to the mouth can all lead to the loss of one or more teeth. The standard solution usually involves removable dentures or a fixed bridge. A newer option, dental implants, is also gaining popularity. "Implants can significantly improve your quality of life," says Dr. German Gallucci, department chair of restorative dentistry at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine.

About implants

Requirements

It appears that four healthy habits—getting 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week, maintaining a body mass index between 18.5 and 27.5, no smoking, and drinking only in moderation—may prevent many cancer cases and death in white people.

On June 1, 2016, the FDA proposed voluntary guidelines for short- and long-term goals to cut sodium in commercially processed and prepared food. 

Doctors may prescribe medications in hopes of helping a patient, but statistics show that at least half of all patients do not follow through with the treatment. Dr. Robert Schmerling explains why some people are choosing to skip taking medications and the possible results of not taking them.

What to do when routine test results are at the high or low end of the acceptable range.

Catching early changes in blood work may help prevent chronic disease, such as diabetes. 
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As a smart medical consumer, you know it's important to look over the results of your routine blood work, even when the numbers are all within the normal range. But what if you notice that some results are at the high or low end of that range? Should you be concerned about this?

When a food provides primarily calories, and little else of value to health, that food is sometimes described as having empty calories.

The top five causes you may be overlooking.

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You know the feeling: you can't find a particular word, remember someone's name, or concentrate the way you once did. Is it just aging, or is something else to blame? "It's easy to underestimate how underlying conditions affect memory and thinking, and they are often overlooked," says Dr. Shreya Raj, a neuropsychiatrist with the Center for Brain/Mind Medicine at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Common causes

Ancient grains have become the darlings of the culinary world, and they're healthy, too.

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In recent years, whole wheat has gotten all the glory when it comes to adding grains to your diet. But today's superstars are the staples used long before wheat took center stage. They're called ancient grains.

"Modern wheat, rice, and corn have been processed through hybridization or genetic modification. Ancient grains have not; they've been grown the same way for centuries," says Debbie Krivitsky, a registered dietitian at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.

In its 2016 guidelines, the American Academy of Neurology recommended the use of onabotulinumtoxin A (Botox) injections as a way to help reduce the frequency of chronic migraines.