It’s tough to resist squeezing a juicy pimple. You probably want to get rid of it quickly and may feel like you know exactly how to do it after having watched hundreds of pimple-popping videos online. Dermatologists get the temptation, but say you should leave your zits alone. “As a general rule, you shouldn’t pop your pimples,” says Dr. Jody Alpert Levine, a dermatologist and director of dermatology at Plastic Surgery & Dermatology of NYC.  [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Pimples form when excess oil, bacteria, and dirt clog hair follicles. When the trapped follicles stay beneath ..read more

I might like to think of my body as a thing of bone and blood and tissue and water, but as I recently learned, it’s also a thing of plastic—home to an alarming amount of plastic toxins known as bisphenols. Used to manufacture mostly hard, durable plastics—such as water bottles and takeout containers—bisphenols are often found in the company of phthalates, which are used to make more flexible plastics such as raincoat linings, vinyl boots, and packing tape. Both types of chemicals are known to be hormone disruptors, leading to numerous health problems, including early puberty, obesity, heart ..read more

It’s easy to let high stress steal our full attention. Often, high stress leaves us vulnerable to a dysregulated, unproductive state. This means we need reliable resources we can connect to in order to renew and maintain our mental, emotional, and physical energy, and to help us recover from work stressors that, left unchecked, can make us vulnerable to burnout. As a burnout researcher, my work has been focused on pinpointing the most reliable and effective resources people can connect to in order to protect themselves from burnout. I’ve conducted hundreds of in-depth interviews with people ..read more

The Covid-19 pandemic made issues with access to medical care apparent. At the Time100 Summit on Wednesday, three healthcare officials discussed how the concept of meeting people where they are could help improve the whole industry.  Dr. Toyin Ajayi, the CEO and co-founder of Cityblock Health, Dr. Raj Panjabi, a former White House senior director and special assistant to President Joe Biden, and Dr. Luther T. Clark, the deputy chief patient officer at Merck, each pointed to their own versions of bringing health care to people in a conversation moderated by TIME Senior Health Corresponde ..read more

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — Arizona doctors could give their patients abortions in California under a proposal announced Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom to circumvent a ban on nearly all abortions in that state. It would apply only to doctors licensed in good standing in Arizona and their patients, and last only through the end of November. Arizona’s 1864 law banning nearly all abortions except if the mother’s life is in jeopardy takes effect June 8. Newsom said protecting access to abortions is “just about basic decency” and “respect for women and girls.” [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “This Ar ..read more

If you’ve been exercising your vocal cords to Taylor Swift’s album The Tortured Poets Department, it might be time to move on to other body parts—like your arms, legs, and core. We asked three fitness trainers how to turn a handful of Swift’s new tunes into a fun and effective workout. Fortnight Use the opening track on The Tortured Poets Department as a warm-up for the rest of your workout, advises Kelly Borowiec, a certified personal trainer in San Francisco. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Perform 14 reps (to mimic a fortnight) of each exercise. Arm circles: While jogging in place, exte ..read more

The nation’s school meals will get a makeover under new nutrition standards that limit added sugars for the first time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday. The final rule also trims sodium in kids’ meals, although not by the 30% first proposed in 2023. And it continues to allow flavored milks — such as chocolate milk — with less sugar, rather than adopting an option that would have offered only unflavored milk to the youngest kids. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The aim is to improve nutrition and align with U.S. dietary guidelines in the program that provides ..read more

April Leonard likes to blame her bunions on her husband. In 2017, she accompanied him to a podiatrist appointment for calluses—and went home scheduled for surgery to correct her misaligned toe bone. In retrospect, it was a good thing. “He said, ‘I’d really like you to have this done now, because it won’t get better,’” recalls Leonard, 56, of that unexpected first conversation with the doctor. She had painful bunions on both feet and had started to have trouble handling daily chores on her farm in Missouri. Plus, she didn’t like how they looked. “When I went to the pool or the beach and would ..read more

“Don’t google your cancer,” the oncology nurse said to me as she drew my blood ahead of my first round of chemotherapy. It was 2006 and I was 17 years old. I was very confused by the emphasis she put on this advice. Still, I took the print-out of “safe” web addresses she gave me home and pinned it on the noticeboard in the kitchen, where it stayed, ignored, as I slowly progressed through six months of cancer treatment. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] I was confused because the opportunities for me to use the internet to research my recent diagnosis of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a kind of blood can ..read more

Extreme weather can be deadly, and the deadliest of all is extreme heat. Approximately 1,220 Americans die every year due to extreme heat, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And more Americans die from heat than any other weather-related hazards—including floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and cold—per the National Weather Service. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] That’s why the CDC and NWS have teamed up to roll out two experimental tools nationwide that will help public health officials and citizens to better prepare for dangerous heat. “Heat-related illness and death ..read more