Daily Health Tips: Trusted Medical Information, Health Tips and Advices

Blood Test Looks for Type of Cell That Breaks Away From Artery Walls A new blood test could one day give doctors a critical head start on heart attacks, a small new study suggests. The test looks for cells that normally line the insides of blood vessels. When those cells, called endothelial cells, start to build up in the blood, researchers say they may be an early indicator of trouble. "When they start to leak and slough off into the blood, that's a really bad sign. They do that over the course of a few days to a couple of weeks before a heart attack occurs," says researcher Eric J. Topol, MD, a professor of genomics and director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute in La Jolla, Calif. "As they continue to slough off, they basically create a crack [in an artery wall]. A blood clot forms to seal the crack. That's what causes a heart attack," Topol says. Identifying Vulnerable Plaques In recent years, doctors have developed a new understanding o...

Feel like your life has done a number on your fun factor? You're not alone. Deadlines, bills, and crazy-busy schedules keep most of us from cutting loose and getting silly. All work and no play isn't just dull. It negates something that's hardwired into the human psyche, say "play experts." So we're giving you an assignment: Carve out some time for playtime. Find something that makes you feel like you're floating free, happy, and totally absorbed in your own play land. Here are some ways that a busy grown-up can cut loose, play, and even learn something new along the way. Find your inner artist.  Haul out your water-color set, old sewing machine, or woodworking tools. Feeling musical? Dust off your old clarinet, take a guitar class, or join a band. As long as you're having a good time with no high-pressure expectations, it's play.  Flex your green thumb.  Gardening doesn't just produce beautiful flowers and produce, it can also be a relaxing ...

Combine 1 month of holiday feasting with 1 football season of noshing on high-calorie snacks, and what have you got? Double the size in belly, hips, and thighs. But cheer up! We've got diet snack solutions to help. That's right. Game day food makeovers that look and taste like the originals. Your guests won't even know they're low in fat (and you'll stay in your skinny jeans till baseball season). Lite Wings: Cut the saturated fat and sodium with these cornmeal-crusted boneless buffalo wings. Serve them with a light blue-cheese dip. Pizza-to-go: For maximum calorie control, make it yourself. If convenience is a priority, order a thin-crust veggie pizza from Domino's, Pizza Hut, or Papa John's. All three can deliver a pizza that weighs in at less than 250 calories a slice. Chips and dip: Serve baked chips with a Greek-yogurt-based fat-free dip. At about 15 calories a tablespoon, you can have more than a handful.   Chocolate fix: Make y...

Did you decide to skip your flu shot this year? If so, you might want to rethink that. Here's why: Getting the shot is the single best way for nearly everyone to prevent the flu, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). So, what's stopping you? Here are 6 common excuses, and why you should reconsider: It's too late. It's true, getting a flu shot early in the season offers the best protection, but the shot is effective anytime, even if you wait until December. Flu activity typically peaks in January or February and can last as late as May. I'm healthy. The flu vaccine is especially important for high-risk people (pregnant women, young kids, older folks, and anyone with a compromised immune system), but the rest of us need it, too. Having the shot will prevent you from wasting precious vacation days or (worse!) going to work sick and sharing the virus with your coworkers. I had a flu shot last year. Smart move! Get ano...

If you have diabetes, prediabetes, or blood sugar on the high side of normal, we have some sound reasons why you should get your blood sugar in check. No doubt you already know about diabetes' scary complications, from heart disease to blindness and nerve damage, but did you know that diabetes can take a huge toll on your personal life, too? According to data we analyzed from 1 million RealAgers, it can impact your life in 3 key ways: 1. Relationships. People with diabetes are far less likely than nondiabetics to spend time with friends or relatives. They're also more than twice as likely as those without diabetes to say they're unhappily married. That's not surprising. Diabetes can make you prone to depression and anxiety, both of which are hard on relationships. It can also put the brakes on your sex life by causing vaginal dryness in women, and low testosterone and erectile dysfunction in men. 2. Depression. People with diabetes were twice as ...

Do you work with people who are cranky, antsy, or fed up to the point of negatively acting out toward you and others? If so, you're not alone. A recent survey says 43% of Americans have been targets of workplace rudeness no thanks to a shaky economy. Here are three great reasons you shouldn't put up with it: It infects your home life. Rudeness has a ripple effect. Bringing home bad vibes can make things tense there. Rinse off tension with a stress-relieving walk at the end of the day. It's a health threat. Negativity and chronic stress boost your blood pressure and the threat of heart disease and lung problems. Being positive and polite does just the opposite. Give stress the pink slip and avoid these chronic diseases. It's bad for business. Half of all workers who've been targets of a nasty work situation waste work time dodging or worrying about the next attack. One in five doesn't work as hard, and one in 10 finds ways to spend less ti...

Got a few minutes, but not a few bucks? In less time than it takes to eat a sandwich, you can give stress the pink slip -- and reduce your risk for everything from heart disease, diabetes, and snapping at your spouse to high blood pressure, sleep problems, and less-than-stellar immunity. And it won't cost you a dime. That's good news, because escaping to a fabulous tropical resort sounds like a good idea, but it becomes a source of high anxiety when you get the bill. Not so when you try these three fast, free tension tamers: Close your eyes and follow your breath. Regularly meditating (at your desk, before you start your commute, even before you get out of bed in the morning) counteracts the toxic effects of stress. Pay attention to your breath as you slowly inhale and exhale. Try putting your fingers over your belly button to help stay focused. Yes, your mind will wander. Just invite it to listen to your breath again.  Read the comics, or call your funniest...

Here's one walk that can help you unwind and unload some of the stress that may be weighing you -- and your looks -- down: Step outside and leave your stresses -- and your iPod -- behind. Take in the details of your surroundings -- the buzz of traffic, the chirp of a bird, the curvature of plants and trees, the precise color of the sky, the shape of moving clouds. You will find yourself becoming hyperaware and in the moment. At this point, think about what you are thankful for in your life. It can be general or specific: your health, your family, your experiences at work, your life partner, your children, your last birthday party, and so on. Let your mind and memory run free. Becoming very present like this gets you thinking in a whole new light and connecting in ways you never imagined. You also get inspired by thinking more broadly rather than focusing on your own inner world and trivial frustrations. It's a great way to beat down stress while at the same time...

We all need a good night's sleep -- regularly -- to keep us on our physical, mental, and emotional game, but is it possible to get  too much  sleep? It seems so. Too many ZZZs might actually shorten your life, according to some research. What counts as enough, but not too much, sleep? That's tricky, because sleep -- like underwear -- isn't a one-size-fits-all proposition. Your ideal sleep prescription depends somewhat on how much you're sleeping now, according to a study of more than 10,000 people. Here's the breakdown: When people who usually slept 5 or 6 hours a night bumped up their nightly ZZZs to 7 or 8 hours, they added years to their lives.  Use this bedtime checklist of do's and don'ts to boost your time between the sheets. When people who normally slept 7 to 8 hours got more sleep, their risk of dying early rose 75%. When people who were comfortable sleeping 6 to 8 hours a night cut their sleep short, they didn't do well, and raised their m...

Paper or plastic? That is the question. But either one you choose has a negative impact on the environment. Here are some facts about paper and plastic shopping bags: In the U.S. 40 billion grocery bags are used each year; 30 billion are plastic, 10 billion are paper. Worldwide, between 500 billion and one trillion plastic bags are consumed annually. A family of four uses five to ten plastic or paper grocery bags per week. That equals between 600 and 1,200 bags per shopper each year. Because plastic bags are lighter than paper bags, it takes four or five bags to hold the same amount of groceries as one standard size paper bag. Plastic bags are expected to take between 20 and 1000 years to break down in the environment and in the process release toxins into the water and soil, whereas in the open environment paper bags take about a month to decompose. Plastic bags have been seen as far north as the Arctic Ocean, as far south as the southern end of South America, and one ex...