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The good news: According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS), taking stock of your behaviors — from your diet and exercise habits to your sleep and stress-management routines — and making improvements where necessary can help you manage your MS. “Little daily interventions are extremely powerful,” says Leigh Charvet, PhD, a professor of neurology at NYU School of Medicine and director of MS research at the NYU Langone Health Multiple Sclerosis Comprehensive Care Center in New York City....

“We exercise for a purpose: for cardiovascular health, to increase lean muscle mass, to improve endurance, and more. All of these ‘goals’ require sleep,” says W. Christopher Winter, MD, the president of Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine and the author of The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep Is Broken and How to Fix It. Without sleep, exercise does not deliver those benefits, Dr. Winter explains. “If you don’t sleep, you undermine your body....

As the grim reality of a foreseeably empty social calendar sets in, many people are creating social bubbles, or “podding,” as a way to strike a balance between following guidelines for reducing the spread of COVID-19 with the very real need for human interaction and social support. A social bubble or pod is when two families or a small group of individuals agree to socialize together during the pandemic. “I think it’s great that people are recognizing the need to limit their social groups, not only because of the ease with which COVID-19 spreads but also because people can often carry the virus and not have symptoms and unknowingly transmit it to others,” says Avraham Cooper, MD, a pulmonologist and intensive care physician at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus....

Although they are on the lower end of the Scoville scale, the heat index of peppers, jalapeños can still have a bite, and not only if you eat them. Contact with capsaicin can sometimes cause burning of the skin too, so you want to avoid touching your eyes and nose if you’ve been handling jalapenos, especially the seeds, and wash your hands thoroughly afterward or even wear disposable gloves if you’re very sensitive to capsaicin....

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us trained our brain to perceive others — even close friends and family — as possible deadly threats, says Leo Flanagan, PhD, a Stamford, Connecticut–based psychologist and the author of Thriving in Thin Air: Developing Resilience in Challenging Times. “Your brain rewired itself to trigger anxiety whenever you come close to another human being. That makes it very difficult to switch back to greeting someone comfortably and cheerfully,” he explains....

The pain continued to get worse, however — almost to the point where he could barely take a step without excruciating, debilitating pain. By the time Lev was in ninth grade, he had to drag his leg around when he walked. “I limped around with horrible pain for two years and could barely walk,” says Lev, 44, who now lives in New York City and is the father of two children....

Constipation, typically defined as three or fewer bowel movements a week, with hard or dry stools that may be painful to pass, can happen to anyone. It’s often a temporary condition and not very serious. It can be caused by a low-fiber diet, not enough water, certain medications (such as some antidepressants, blood pressure regulators, and even antacids), or having another medical condition (including irritable bowel syndrome, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, hypothyroidism, and multiple sclerosis), as well as by unknown reasons....

From UV rays to blue light and pollution, “all these environmental factors work by creating oxidative damage in the skin, which breaks down collagen and may also serve to damage the barrier function of the skin. A damaged barrier makes skin more prone to the ill effects of UV damage,” says Jennifer Chwalek, MD, a dermatologist at Union Square Laser Dermatology in New York City. Oxidative damage or stress happens when the level of harmful free radicals present surpasses that of the neutralizing “good guy” antioxidants, according to an article published in Polyphenols in Human Health and Disease in 2014....

So it’s no surprise that when Pfizer was ready to begin trials for its coronavirus vaccine in May 2020, “I raised my hand,” Mulligan said in a recent interview with 60 Minutes. Fast-forward seven months later: On December 11, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the vaccine, which Pfizer developed with the German biotechnology company BioNTech. It was the first COVID-19 vaccine to receive an FDA-issued EUA....

The rates of vocal cord cancer, also known as glottic carcinoma, could be rising in teens and young adults, a trend that appears to be linked to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, according to research published February 7 in the Annals of Otology, Rhinology & Laryngology. Vocal cord cancer is classified as cancer of the larynx and is considered relatively rare, with about 12,000 new cases each year. Its symptoms include changes in the voice or loss of voice, cough, or a lump in the neck or throat....

Relate: Does Rheumatoid Arthritis Hide High Blood Pressure? Questions People With RA, and Their Doctors, Have Asked But are statins safe for RA patients to take? And do they minimize the risk of heart disease in the RA population? The answer is yes to the first question — and sort of, to the second. Stumbling Blocks in the Study on Statins and RA The study, undertaken at the University of Manchester in England, was designed based on the assumption (taken from published literature) that RA patients recruited to the trial would have 50 percent more heart events than the general population of the United Kingdom (after adjusting for age and sex)....

The short answer is maybe, though you should know up front that there is a lack of rigorous research on this combined approach, and it hasn’t been proven to work for weight loss. Experts say it could make sense, though the lack of research means you may want to think twice before delving into this eating approach. Combining the two diets gained popularity when intermittent fasting expert Jason Fung, MD, author of The Obesity Code, recommended using keto as a foundation with fasting, explains Lori Shemek, PhD, a nutrition and weight loss expert in Dallas and the author of How to Fight FATflammation....

The answer, it turns out, is far. By now, most of us know the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations for lowering the risk of contracting COVID-19: Wash your hands regularly for at least 20 seconds (or use hand sanitizer when you can’t), stay home as much as possible (and definitely when you are sick), wear a cloth face covering in public, and stay at least six feet (two arms’ length) from other people....

Twenty years ago, a serving of French fries clocked in around 210 calories. Today, the average size will set you back almost triple that, according to the New York City Department of Health. In fact, French fries (and other potato products) seem to contribute directly to weight gain over time, according to a 2011 Harvard study. The researchers found that eating more potato products (chips, in particular) led to a gain of over one pound a year, while sugary beverages led to less than a pound gained....

A vinyasa yoga class can often be rigorous and athletic, and participants work up a sweat, explains Jen Fleming, a yoga instructor and teacher trainer in Atlanta, who is certified by Yoga Alliance, the world’s largest nonprofit yoga association that certifies teachers and schools. “People do vinyasa yoga for a variety of reasons, but one of those is usually to get in better shape,” she says. Although vinyasa yoga can be a set sequence of poses that are performed the same way in the same order every time, as in ashtanga, it more often varies from class to class, in terms of which poses are included, the order, and the transitions, Worsley says....

In some cases, such as when a person is not healthy enough to undergo surgery or has only one kidney, radiation therapy may be used, and in rare instances — for an uncommon and aggressive type of kidney cancer or when other treatments have failed — doctors may use chemotherapy, which has been shown to be largely ineffective against most types of kidney cancer, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS)....

A study published February 17 in Scientific Reports surveyed 7,443 people from 40 countries on their levels of life satisfaction, emotional well-being, and feelings of depression, anxiety, or stress. Participants also ranked how much pressure they felt to feel positive and to avoid negative emotions. Across all the countries in the study, people who reported feeling pressure to experience happiness and avoid unhappiness also reported less life satisfaction. This pressure was also associated with more frequent and intense negative emotions; positive emotions were more fleeting and less powerful....

— Donis, Virginia Persistent back pain, as you describe, is rare with common gastrointestinal disorders like peptic ulcer disease or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Ulcers can cause pain, but usually in the front region of the abdomen, known as the epigastrium. When an ulcer is very severe, it can perforate the wall of the duodenum and stomach and cause referred pain to many regions, including the back. However, perforation is a serious complication and would not continue for days or weeks without leading to more severe illness....

You may have heard that lupus is a condition that commonly affects women. While that’s true — 9 out of 10 adults with lupus are women, and women are most likely to get it during their early reproductive years — lupus can also be diagnosed in men and children, according to research. (1) Lupus is an autoimmune disease, which means that in someone who has the condition, the body’s immune system, which normally attacks foreign invaders like viruses and bacteria, turns against its own cells and tissues....

For this reason, managing stress can be an important aspect of managing psoriasis, according to Neil Korman, MD, PhD, director of the Murdough Family Center for Psoriasis at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. He says mind-body practices may be a helpful addition to your psoriasis treatment plan. These include meditation, biofeedback, aromatherapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which have the potential to help “reduce stress and better manage psoriasis,” Dr....