Health

The magic number shows up on smartwatches, fitness apps and office step challenges. For many, hitting 10,000 steps in a day has become a marker of good health — a goal that prompts post-dinner walks, lunchtime laps around the block and a reason to park a little farther away. While the target is widely embraced by doctors and their patients, …

Our desks keep us glued to chairs for hours, yet our bodies keep score. After meals, our blood sugar spikes, particularly if we remain sedentary. Two fresh studies have now analyzed the respective benefits of walking and doing squats, in terms of their ability to lower those glucose surges. One test pitted simple body‑weight squats against walking sessions of different …

Want to remember things better as you get older? The secret might be surprisingly simple: focus on feeling good. Recent research involving over 10,000 people aged 50 and above has found that people with higher wellbeing perform better on memory tests as they age. The study, which followed participants for 16 years, checked their wellbeing and memory every two years. …

Mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus have been identified in Oregon for the first time this year, according to the Oregon Health Authority. Three pools — groups of up to 50 mosquitoes — tested positive for the virus in eastern Oregon’s Malheur County. No cases of people contracting the virus in Oregon have been reported so far to federal health …

Making exercise a regular habit can be difficult for many people. A new study suggests that tailoring it to your personality might help. You’re more likely to make exercise a habit if you enjoy doing it. Establishing new habits is hard (to say the least). It takes mindset work and consistent practice to make any new habit stick. But there …

HYDE PARK, Cache County — The Utah State Public Health Laboratory has confirmed the presence of the West Nile virus in Cache County. Mosquito pools — a collection of the insects trapped and tested for diseases — were collected from the communities of Amalga and Trenton in the county. Both areas tested positive for the West Nile virus. To date, …

A New Jersey woman has vowed never to take a supplement again after she nearly lost her liver to a wellness pill.  Katie Mohan, 57, began taking turmeric in March after seeing a doctor on Instagram say it could fight inflammation and joint pain. She bought the supplement online, and started taking the pills daily, believing they would boost her …

For Some Men, Treating Hair Loss Comes With Fertility Issues  The New York Times Source link

An experimental gene therapy for high cholesterol is showing promise in clinical trials and inching closer to approval. The treatment, called VERVE-102, is being tested in people with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), an inherited condition that raises the levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol — the “bad” kind — in the blood. It’s also being tested in people with premature coronary …

Last Tuesday, I watched my 84-year-old abuela teach my nephew how to play chess—every move calculated, every strategy passed down through generations of sharp minds. Her cognition was as precise as her opening gambit. But just down the street, my neighbor struggles to remember his grandchildren’s names at 78. The difference? The habits they’ve cultivated over a lifetime. While genetics …