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Each year millions of Americans, especially older adults, go to the emergency department after an injury from a fall. “These falls can cause serious injuries—back fractures, hip fractures, as well as head trauma,” says Dr. David B. Reuben, a healthy aging expert at the University of California, Los Angeles, who co-leads one of the largest prevention studies for falling. Some people are never able…

Sleep is important for your physical and mental health. A lack of quality sleep increases your risk for certain health conditions, including obesity. A recent study found that sleeping with an artificial light on may also raise your risk of weight gain and obesity. Your body uses light to control your sleep cycle. The natural light pattern from the sun helps you stay awake during the day and…

Have you ever had a migraine? A migraine is a headache that causes a throbbing pain on one or both sides of your head. Migraines can be very severe and may cause other symptoms like nausea, weakness, and sensitivity to noise and light. Your migraines may seem random, but there are many factors that might cause them, including stress, certain foods, and too much or too little sleep. Take control…, Update: The Migraine Trainer app is undergoing routine maintenance and will be back up again shortly.

Inspire students between pre-kindergarten and 12th grade to pursue the world of science. Find links to free teaching resources like comic books, lesson plans, games, videos, and more. Discover and share the vast health-related teaching resources supported by NIH.

Getting older can bring many changes, both physically and mentally. Even when you’re healthy, your brain and body start slowing down. Maintaining your cognitive health—the ability to clearly think, learn, and remember—is important for your overall well-being. Many things influence cognitive health. Your genes, lifestyle, and environment can all impact your thinking skills and ability to perform…, Staying Aware, It’s not only occasional memory problems that older adults are more likely to experience. Aging can bring other changes to the way the brain works. These changes can impact your ability to deal with complex social situations. That can put you at higher risk of being scammed. “Older adults are often targeted by scam artists,” says Dr. Patricia Boyle, who studies the aging brain at Rush University…, Reversing Changes, Many things can cause memory or other thinking problems. Depression, anxiety, an infection, or even certain medications can cause cognitive changes. Sometimes these types of issues can be resolved with treatment. If you experience a sudden change in thinking, memory, or mood, it may be caused by a new medication. Some drugs may not cause cognitive changes when taken on their own but can do so…, Building Brain Power, There are many things you can do to protect your brain as you age. “Cognitive activity, physical activity, and social engagement are associated with better cognitive functioning in older adulthood,” Boyle explains. Managing your health conditions is also important. Controlling your blood pressure, for example, reduces the risk of having a small stroke (bleeding from blood vessels in the brain).…

Have you ever met a set of identical twins? Did you have trouble telling them apart? Twins are similar in ways you can’t see, too. That makes twins a powerful tool for studying health and disease.  Many health conditions run in families. If your parents or siblings have a disease, your chance of having it increases. That’s because you share many genes. Genes are stretches of DNA that you inherit…

Many people take aspirin every day to prevent a heart attack or stroke. But daily aspirin isn’t advised for everyone. A survey found that about 29 million adults without heart disease take low-dose aspirin for prevention. But many of them shouldn’t under new guidelines. Aspirin works by thinning the blood and preventing clots. But taking a daily aspirin can also increase the risk of bleeding. New…

Do your kids know how to keep their eyes healthy? Do they know what to do if their eye is injured or they get something in it? It’s important for kids to learn how to take care of their eyes and know what to do if they’re injured, so they can act fast and get help. One of the most common eye injuries for kids is getting hit in the eye with an object, like a ball, rock, or an elbow. If that…

If you have cancer questions, NIH specialists can help. Get free information on clinical trials, finding treatment, the latest cancer research, and more. You can call 1-800-4-CANCER, send an email, or chat online. Services are available in English or Spanish.

Have you ever had to get an X-ray, MRI, or other medical scan? Do you know what these tests involve? Or what they can do? Medical scans help doctors diagnose everything from head trauma to foot pain. There are many different types of imaging technologies. Each works differently. Some types of imaging tests use radiation. Others use sound waves, radio waves, or magnets. Learning about how medical…, X-Rays, The first revolution in seeing into the body came with X-rays. They have been used in the clinic for more than 120 years. “X-rays are still used every day because they can do a lot,” says Dr. Kris Kandarpa, an imaging expert at NIH. They’re useful for looking at bones and finding problems in certain types of tissues, like pneumonia in the lungs. X-ray imaging works by passing an energy beam…, CT Scans, CT scans also use X-ray beams. But the beams rotate around your entire body to create a 3D picture. These images contain more information than a regular X-ray. The scan can be done in less than a minute. That makes it especially useful in places like the emergency department. There, doctors need to know immediately if a patient has a life-threatening condition. Because CT scans use more X-ray…, MRI, MRI works in a very different way. It doesn’t use X-rays. Instead, it uses strong magnets and radio waves to affect atoms in the water molecules within your body’s tissues. When the radio waves are turned off, the atoms release energy that’s detected by the MRI machine. Atoms in different tissue types go back to normal at different speeds and release different amounts of energy. MRI software uses…, Other Scans, Another commonly used imaging method is called ultrasound. It sends sound waves into the body. Different types of tissue reflect sound waves differently. These differences can be picked up by an ultrasound machine and turned into a picture. Ultrasound is helpful for looking at the heart and other organs, or a developing baby. Doctors also use tests called nuclear imaging. These tests use a tiny…