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Every day, people undergo surgery. Some operations require going deep into the body. Some can take many hours to finish. Many of these procedures are possible only because of anesthesia. Different types of anesthesia may be used depending on the procedure.  Local anesthesia numbs a small part of the body, such as a tooth. Regional anesthesia is used for larger areas of the body such as an arm, a…

How your health care provider interacts with you is important. Their style can shape how you feel about your treatment. A new study found that people experienced less pain when the treatment provider expected a pain reliever to work. This may have been due, in part, to the provider’s facial expressions. The study didn’t use real doctors and patients. Participants were assigned to play these roles…

Is the long, cold winter getting you down? For people with seasonal affective disorder (SAD), the change in seasons brings on a form of depression. Most often, it begins in late fall or early winter each year and goes away in the spring and summer. Common signs of SAD include low energy, overeating, and sleeping too much. If you have SAD, there are several things you can do. Try to be active and…

Everyone has pain or discomfort in their gut occasionally. Maybe you ate something that didn’t agree with you. Or you had an infection that made you sick to your stomach for a few days. But if pain and other gut symptoms go on for weeks or longer, something more serious might be wrong. Digestive system diseases and disorders are very common. Around 60 to 70 million people in the U.S. live with a…, Potential Causes, One of the most serious gut disorders is inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), although it’s not very common. IBD occurs when [qtip:immune system|The body’s defense against germs and foreign substances.] cells in the gut overreact to a perceived threat to your body. Often, that “threat” is the normal bugs that make up the microbiome—the microscopic creatures like bacteria, fungi, and viruses—that…, Pinpointing the Problem, It can be tricky to diagnose a digestive disease because they share a lot of symptoms, explains Cho. Symptoms of many gut conditions include pain, gassiness, bloating, and diarrhea. “But for IBD, there are several red-flag symptoms,” she says. These are blood in the stool, weight loss, and signs of inflammation found in a blood test. A sign of IBD in children is failure to grow, Cho adds. IBS can…, Treating Pain and Discomfort, While symptoms for different gut disorders can be similar, treatments vary widely. For gastritis caused by bacterial infection, antibiotics are used to kill the germs. If medications are causing gastritis, switching to a different kind of drug will usually allow the stomach to heal. Food sensitivities can be managed by changing your diet. A nutritionist can help you figure out what foods might be…, Looking for Better Treatments, Researchers are searching for new ways to prevent and manage gut disorders. Lembo, for example, is testing whether peppermint oil can help the gut muscles relax in people with IBS. Existing treatments for IBD only work for about a third of people who try them. And even then, McGovern says, they may lose their effects over time. Both Cho and McGovern are working to understand the genetics of IBD.…

Stuttering affects more people than you might think. Roughly 3 million Americans have this speech disorder that makes speaking smoothly difficult. Scientists are learning about what causes people to stutter, and [qtip:genes|Stretches of DNA, a substance you inherit from your parents, that define characteristics such as how likely you are to get certain diseases.] tell a big part of the story. “…

Proteins are one of the main building blocks of the body. They hold skin, muscles, and bone together. They also perform many functions in cells. And when released into blood, they help cells communicate. In a new study, scientists found that certain proteins in the blood can predict a person’s age and give insight into their health and wellness. Researchers collected blood plasma samples from…

Becoming a teen means taking more responsibility for decisions about your body and health. It’s important to understand how your body works and what it needs. That way, you can make smart choices about what you eat and how you keep active. Start by creating healthy habits now. Eating a good diet is an important place to start. By choosing healthy foods and drinks, you can give your body the…

You’ve likely heard that exercise can help you live a longer, healthier life. When you hear the word ‘exercise,’ you might think of going for a run or hopping on a bicycle. Or maybe playing soccer with your kids or basketball with your friends after work. But these activities don’t include all the types of movements that are important for your health. The examples above are endurance exercise.…, Building Up Benefits, Building muscle can do more than make you stronger. Some types of strength training keep your bones healthy, too. Strength training can also improve the way your body processes food to help prevent diabetes and related diseases. “And like endurance activity, regular strength training is associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases,” says Dr. Joseph Ciccolo, an…, Mind and Body, Research is starting to show that strength training isn’t just good for physical health—it can be good for mental health. Ciccolo is studying the effects of strength training on anxiety, depression, and related conditions. His team recently found that strength training could reduce some symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in both women and men. Endurance exercise may also help…, Getting Started, If you want to get started with strengthening exercises, what should you do? Strength training may seem intimidating if you’ve never tried it. “People naturally learn to walk as part of growing up. But you don’t necessarily learn how to lift weights,” Ciccolo says. If it’s feasible for you, booking a few sessions with a personal trainer is a good way to get started, says Kohrt. “That can get you…

Do you have tingling or numbness in your hand or fingers? It could be a sign that you have carpal tunnel syndrome. Often, you’ll get pain in your thumb, index, and middle finger. You may find that your hands are clumsy, and it’s harder to grip things. Symptoms of carpal tunnel usually start slowly. Many people first notice the signs overnight because they sleep with their wrists bent. As time…

A recent study found that deaths involving alcohol more than doubled in the U.S. between 1999 and 2017. Alcohol can take a serious toll on your health. Drinking too much can lead to death from an accident or overdose. People can also die from health problems related to drinking. These include certain cancers and liver, heart, and pancreas problems. Researchers analyzed data from U.S. death…