This weekend, many of us will gather with family and friends for barbecues and picnics to celebrate Memorial Day, the unofficial kickoff to summer. But, at some point between the hot dogs, hamburgers, and volleyball, I hope each of us will take time to reflect on what Memorial Day is really about – remembering the [...]

Memorial Day weekend marks the beginning of the summer season for most of us. So, now that summer is officially here and everyone is spending some quality time outside — which means protecting ourselves and our kids from mosquitoes and other insects. Bug bites are not only irritating, but can put you and your family [...]

Researchers are reporting that adding certain spices to your steaks or burgers before tossing them on the grill this Memorial Day (and summer)  will not only add to the flavor of the meat, but may also cut the risk of cancer long associated with the cooking of beef. Here’s a report from the AP:
Scientists at [...]

Whether you are light- or dark-skinned, whether it’s cloudy or sunny outside, we physicians recommend you wear a sunscreen, and plenty of it. But, the simple act of preventing a sunburn while enjoying the sun has become complicated with questions about how much sunscreen to use (more than you think), how often to apply (frequently) and [...]

A scary report is out from Reuters Health claiming that thousands of young children are accidentally poisoned by tobacco products each year in the U.S., and new dissolvable tobacco products that resemble candy might pose an additional risk.
Reuters reports: In a study of reports to U.S. poison control centers between 2006 and 2008, investigators found [...]

The government’s latest physical activity guidelines recommend:

Keep track by the week. Adults need at least 2½ hours of moderate-intensity activity each week, such as brisk walking, or 1¼ hours of a vigorous-intensity activity, such as jogging or swimming laps, or a combination of the two types. These activities should be done in at least 10-minute [...]

It is generally understood that being inactive, eating poorly, smoking, and drinking too much are bad – very bad – for your health. Now, a newly published study assesses and quantifies those behaviors. In short, “combine all of the above and you’ll end up seeming 12 years older than people your age who do none [...]

The Wall Street Journal “Health Blog” reported that research published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology indicates that the overall survival rate for children with cancer is now approximately 80%. This is GREAT news.
However, during the past 10-20 years, the five-year survival rates for most solid tumors in children and teenagers have not changed, [...]

Daily Calcium Plus Vitamin D Supplements May Reduce Fracture RiskBloomberg News reports that “calcium doesn’t just build strong bones, it may fight cancer too,” according to a study presented at the meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Investigators found “that women who took calcium had a 40% lower risk of getting breast cancer, while those [...]

According to a new review of the role of perimenopausal hormone therapy published in Obstetrics & Gynecology, women must be informed of the potential benefits and risks of all treatment options for menopausal symptoms and concerns and should receive individualized care. Here’s an update from MedPage. It’s long, but very helpful:
“With the first publication of [...]

1. “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain
2. “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine
Finally, we’ve reached the final day of our Italian adventure – and Sunday in Rome is a wonderful way to do this.
This morning we said good-bye [...]

Rome is magnificent and brutal, painfully historical and modern, wonderfully peacefully and maddeningly bustling, captivating and repulsing … at all at the same time.
To us, it’s not nearly as serene as Venice, nor as romantic as Florence, but it is more so than both a showcase of Western civilization.
If you’re careless you can be run [...]

Yesterday, Thursday, May 20, we trained to Rome and then checked into the Roman Residence (where we stayed earlier in the trip). Massimo, the owner, warmly welcomed us back and had our very large and comfortable room ready for us, including the wedding clothes he had kept for us.
After sprucing up a bit, we took [...]

Tara Parker-Pope, of the New York Times, recently did an excellent analysis on the topic of the effects of marriage on health. Parker-Pope reports, “Contemporary studies … have shown that married people are less likely to get pneumonia, have surgery, develop cancer, or have heart attacks.”
I wrote quite a bit about this phenomena in my [...]

In the past, I’ve blogged about the potential dangers (including a few fatalities) from consuming or giving your children raw (unpasteurized) milk. Recently USA Today carried a reasonable review of the topic:
Maybe you can’t cry over spilled milk, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have big fights if it’s unpasteurized.
To a small but dedicated community, [...]

Here’s an interesting story that I’ve excerpted from an article, “Twitter and YouTube: Unexpected Consequences of the Self-Esteem Movement?” published in the Psychiatric Times.
To Americans over 30, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are buzzwords that lack much meaning. But to those born between 1982 and 2001—often referred to as “millennials” or “Generation Y”—they are a [...]

Our final day in Florence started out cool and crisp before a drizzle interrupted, but did not stop, our few remaining explorations.
After a breakfast of cappuccino, croissants, and fruit, we were off the explore, starting with the Duomo Museum. Many of the statues and artifacts of the cathedral, have been replaced with replicas, while the [...]

Ah … a great night’s sleep. GREAT night’s sleep. Did I say, we slept great? Anyway, our new room was cool and quiet and comfortable. In fact, we slept in a bit longer than we had planned … after all, what’s a vacation for!
Last night, after posting my blog to you, we both had a [...]

Churches and parish nurse programs have proven to be essential to the physical, emotional, relational, and, of course, spiritual health of their congregants. Now, new research shows that church health fairs are an effective way of identifying people with high blood pressure and making sure they get treatment. Here are the details in a report [...]

In my book 10 Essentials of Happy, Healthy People: Becoming and staying highly healthy, I talk about “avoiding loneliness like the plague.” (more information on the book and free resources at the end of this blog) In other words, I stress that a strong social network bodes well for golden years. Now, another study finds [...]