There’s been the cognitive dissonance of watching most of the rest of the world try to return to normal, without me in it. Photo: Pexels (Sophie Harrison/ The Tyee) — Before the pandemic, I was a law student who spent my weekdays studying for long hours and my weekends hiking or cycling. When I developed COVID-19 symptoms in late March 2020, my case was mild, initially, as was the case for most healthy young people. But then I never got better. The sore throat never went away, and the shortness of breath and fatigue would get better only to get worse again. I spent the first year of the pandem ..read more

If you have a family history of ovarian or breast cancer, you should speak to your health-care provider as soon as possible to get genetic testing started, experts say. Photo: Pexels (Stephanie Dubois/ CBC News) — Ovarian cancer is considered to be the most serious of women’s cancers. Experts say that’s because symptoms are generic, there isn’t a specific test for it — like mammograms for breast cancer — and when detected, the cancer is usually in a later stage.  “It’s definitely something I don’t think that a lot of women really necessarily know about,” Paige Gibbings, a r ..read more

Overall, working out while pregnant can help you have a healthier experience. It’s time to stop believing this outdated advice. Photo: Pexels (Jillian Wilson/ Huffington Post) –– When it comes to pregnancy, there are a lot of rules. Many of them are necessary for the safety of you and your baby, while others have been disproven time and time again. Many of those myths are about exercise. When it comes to working out when you’re pregnant, there are many falsehoods that are almost gospel ― and that may keep pregnant folks from exercising in the way that’s best for them. Exercise is an important ..read more

Pandemic resulted in ‘minimal’ changes in symptoms, according to review led by McGill University researchers. Photo: Pexels (Rachel Hall/ The Guardian) — Covid-19 may not have taken as great a toll on the mental health of most people as earlier research has indicated, a new study suggests. The pandemic resulted in “minimal” changes in mental health symptoms among the general population, according to a review of 137 studies from around the world led by researchers at McGill University in Canada, and published in the British Medical Journal. Brett Thombs, a psychiatry professor at McGi ..read more

The goal here is to set all judgments aside and write what’s true in the here and now, without getting distracted by other tasks that need to be done. Scheduling a dedicated time slot helps. Photo: Pexels (Amy Fleming/ The Guardian) –– Meditation isn’t for everyone. Or at least not when life has taken you so far from calm that your brain is soup. “It’s the nature of the mind to have this ongoing conversation in the background,” says Joy Rains, a mindfulness practitioner and author of Meditation Illuminated: Simple Ways to Manage Your Busy Mind. “I call this ‘Stuff’, which is an acron ..read more

 Inflammatory breast cancer often causes pain but it’s rare, accounting for 1% to 5% of breast cancer cases in the United States. Photo: Pexels (Pamela Ann Wright/ John Hopkins Medicine) –– Most women experience some form of breast pain at one time or another. Breast pain is typically easy to treat, but on rarer occasions it can be a sign of something more serious. Medical director of the Suburban Hospital Breast Center Pamela Wright, M.D., discusses the most common causes of breast pain (mastalgia), their treatments and when to see a doctor: Hormonal fluctuations ..read more

Stop drinking caffeinated liquids at least six hours before your normal bedtime (some experts say nothing after 3 p.m.) Photo: Pexels (Sandee LaMotte/ CNN News) — Even melatonin can be misused, says Dasgupta. Boy do we need it. More than a third of American adults are not getting enough sleep on a regular basis, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, calling sleep deprivation a “public health epidemic.” It’s a global problem too, according to the World Sleep Society, a nonprofit organization of sleep professionals dedicated to advancing “sleep health worldwide ..read more

If you worked out regularly before your treatment, you may need to lower the intensity a bit. But you don’t need to drastically change the amount of time you exercise. Photo: Pexels (Alexandra Benisek/ Web MD) –– Doctors used to tell people with cancer not to do much physical activity during treatment. While it’s important to avoid movements that cause pain or other issues, more recent research suggests that exercise is not only safe, but helpful during your cancer treatment. In fact, too much rest can cause you to lose muscle strength, body function, and range of motion. The ri ..read more

Many of the poses will open up the energy in the hips and the perineal floor, which houses our reproductive organs. Photo: Pexels (Dr. Monica Morell/ Motherly) — When you’re trying to have a baby, every day can be filled with unexpected challenges. The journey is highly charged and all-consuming at times, and we often feel ultra vigilant. But we have to live and work, so we strap on our armor and go out to face the world—determined, fearful and brave. Yoga helps us tune in to ourselves. It gives us the opportunity to shed that armor and grow the emotional, physical and ..read more

 People with insomnia who also had high blood pressure, cholesterol, or diabetes had an even higher risk of having a heart attack than those who didn’t. Photo: Pexels (Sci Tech Daily) — New research has found that individuals with insomnia are 69% more likely to have a heart attack over an average nine-year follow-up period, compared to those without the sleep disorder. Additionally, individuals who sleep five or fewer hours per night have the highest risk of heart attack. The study also found that individuals with both diabetes and insomnia are twice as likely to have a heart attack. In ..read more