Author: Lance Garrison
Life is stressful and sometimes the stress can overwhelm you, but there are steps you can take to learn how to relax.Normal everyday activities like grocery shopping or traffic jams can make you tense. You might find it hard to unplug from digital devices and streaming services in a 24/7 world. Work deadlines, handling the kids or dealing with a difficult relationship can get you down.Many things — like finances, a chronic illness, caregiving, or a rocky relationship — might be a strain.“Stress is really how your body and brain respond to challenges, such as pressure at work, [handling] the…
If you’ve had years of breathing in cigarette smoke, pollution, viruses, and other toxins, the idea of cleaning out your lungs and getting a fresh start can sound very appealing. But if you’re tempted to buy vitamins, teas, or essential oils that say they will “detox” your lungs, save your money, says Joshua Englert, MD, a pulmonologist at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.“There are countless products for sale on the internet that claim to remove toxins from the lungs, but there is no scientific research to support the use of any of them,” he says.Thankfully, the lungs are…
Bloating 101: Why You Feel Bloated Bloating, gassiness, and abdominal discomfort aren’t limited to the occasional holiday feast. It can happen even if you haven’t eaten a large meal. In some cases, bloating can even cause distention, or a perceptible swelling of the abdomen. Bloating and gas are usually not signs of a serious health problem. They’re tied to what and how you eat, so a few simple changes may help. Keep Bloating at Bay Here are three common causes of bloating, and how you can avoid them. Overeating is probably the most common cause of bloating. Smaller portions…
English is also oddly explicit about, of all things, restraint. We speak with a tacit impulse to keep the drama level moderate, to avoid stridency. One way of doing this is to use the hesitations I referred to in that 1960s recording: You pause before saying something that raises the temperature a bit, reflects an opinion that might arouse, pushes the envelope. But one might also spell out the hesitation more overtly, and this where the casual “like” comes in. It quietly implies that what’s coming up is “like” itself rather than just itself, which lowers the temperature, keeps the…
You have been so great about your new exercise routine, rarely missing a day since you started up again. Then all of a sudden you are waylaid by a cold or flu.What should you do? Should you skip the treadmill or forsake that Pilates class for a late afternoon nap? Will it be hard to get started again if you skip a day or two?The answer depends on what ails you, experts tell WebMD. For example, exercising with a cold may be OK, but if you’ve got a fever, hitting the gym is a definite no-no.Fever is the limiting factor,…
During Super Bowl Sunday, a 60-second ad aired about Jesus Christ, and no one seemed angrier about it than Christians. The ad depicts a series of images of one person washing another person’s feet. Each pairing seems unlikely. An oil rig worker washes the feet of a climate activist. A cop washes the feet of a young Black man. An older woman washes the feet of a young woman outside an apparent abortion clinic, while anti-abortion protesters look on. A priest washes the feet of a young L.G.B.T.Q. man. As the commercial ends, words appear on the screen: “Jesus didn’t…
It was just after surgery for diverticular disease, and Greg Saggio, 48, was feeling good. That night he was already walking around. By the next morning, he started to eat.But then he went home and — ignoring his doctor’s advice — went right back to work. Just 1 week after surgery, he was commuting 50 minutes twice a day, wearing business suits that restricted his movement, and eating large meals.His attempt to quickly get his groove back was a big mistake. Saggio was socked with pain, discomfort, and diarrhea — and had to press the restart button on his recovery.As…
Everywhere I turn, people are rightly laboring to sound the alarm about Donald Trump’s spectacularly reckless, deeply evil expectorations — like his remark that if a NATO ally weren’t pulling its financial weight, he might encourage Russia to invade it.The problem is that we’ve run out of sirens.And that’s not principally because we used them too often in the past — though we’re somewhat guilty of that. It’s because the examples of Trump’s moral perversity are pretty much infinite. How can we not exhaust our storehouse of warnings and our vocabulary of censure when someone suggests suspending the Constitution, muses…
To the Editor:Re “Trump Came for Their Party but Took Over Their Souls,” by David Brooks (column, Feb. 9):I’m still here, the moderate conservative who pundits have declared has vanished from the Republican Party. I can’t be the only one.My soul is intact. I haven’t sold it to Donald Trump. I am pro-choice, pro-gun control, pro-aid to Ukraine, pro-private sector.I wait patiently for the happy day when the pendulum swings, the political fashion shifts as fashion always does, and we redesign the G.O.P. in the old mold. I already have the slogan: Make Republicans Great Again (MRGA). The acronym will…
There isn’t a cure for psoriasis yet. But if you have the condition, there are lots of treatment options available. The trick is to find one that works for you.Different people respond to different treatments, says Ashley Jenkins, MD, a dermatologist and adjunct professor of dermatology at the University of Missouri in Columbia. In some cases, a medication may be effective for a while and then stop working. That’s when it’s time to try something new.If you have psoriasis, here’s what you need to know about your treatment plan.What Should Treatment Do?The goal of psoriasis treatment is to have plaques…