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The related hashtag #vagusnerve has nearly 80 million views, suggesting people are indeed interested in better understanding the vagus nerve. TikToker Frankie Simmons (330.5K followers) posted a video on August 27, 2021, claiming that the technique has helped reduce her anxiety-induced sleep disturbance. She claims that it used to take her an hour and a half to calm herself down to go back to sleep — but now, it only takes 15 minutes....

Not convinced? Take a close look at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which states that 45 to 65 percent of your daily calories should come from carbohydrates. For example, if you eat 2,000 calories a day, 900 to 1,300 calories should come from eating carbohydrates. So rather than being the enemy, carbohydrates are an essential part of a healthy diet, and not banned by any means....

Research study after research study has found that exercise can benefit people with MS in numerous ways: improved cardiovascular, bladder, and bowel function; better sleep; increased strength; less fatigue and depression; and a more positive attitude. With benefits like these, it’s unfortunate so many people with MS don’t get into the gym, exercise at home, or do some form of fitness program. But when you don’t know where to start, don’t understand how to find an exercise program that fits you, or aren’t educated on the benefits of exercise for MS, you become immobilized and therefore do nothing....

“Historically, about half the patients who had them would kill themselves [because] the pain was so bad,” says Merle Diamond, MD, the managing director of the Diamond Headache Clinic and the director of the Diamond Inpatient Headache Unit at Saint Joseph Hospital in Chicago. “It’s a knife-searing pain. People have described it as having a hot poker through their eye or somebody stabbing them through their skull.” Although this debilitating condition has been more frequently reported among men, a new study published this month in Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, indicates that women with the disorder may experience longer and more chronic episodes compared with men....

Just like adult hair, kids’ hair has a fairly predictable life cycle. Each strand of kids’ hair grows actively for two to six years. After that, the hair goes through a resting cycle called the telogen phase. After about three months in the telogen phase, the hair falls out and a new one grows in its place. Causes of Hair Loss in Children There are many reasons kids’ hair might fall out abnormally or excessively....

Symptoms of ASPD begin in childhood or adolescence, but when children show serious signs of antisocial behavior, they are diagnosed instead with conduct disorder. While not all children with conduct disorder end up developing antisocial personality disorder, “all adults with ASPD first show signs of psychopathy during childhood,” explains Kalina J. Michalska, PhD, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California in Riverside who studies children with this issue....

How much vitamin D you need varies by age, but the recommended daily amount for most adults is 600 international units (IU), according to the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS). Not getting enough of this vitamin can cause loss of bone density, which can contribute to fractures and osteoporosis over time. Vitamin D deficiency can also lead to fatigue, bone pain, muscle weakness, and mood changes....

“The connective tissue that connects the bones and muscles becomes inflamed, sort of like [other types of] arthritis,” says Arun Swaminath, MD, director of the Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Program at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Unlike other forms of arthritis, IBD-related joint pain does not typically damage the body and will not show up in X-rays, says Dr. Swaminath. But there still may be issues, including limited mobility and pain....

“It’s very rare for people to die of Crohn’s today,” says Ashwin Ananthakrishnan, MBBS, MPH, a gastroenterologist with the Massachusetts General Hospital Digestive Healthcare Center’s Crohn’s and Colitis Center in Boston. This is thanks to “better treatment, surgery, and use of medications,” he says. Indeed, although Crohn’s disease is a chronic condition — meaning ongoing and long term — research suggests that people with Crohn’s usually have the same life expectancy as people without the condition, according to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation....

The thought of being cooped up in a hospital room and hooked up to an IV for days made me anxious, and I wanted to get out and go home as fast as possible. Luckily, the doctor was able to arrange for me to have a second dose of Solu-Medrol as an outpatient the next morning, and then I’d be going to my own neurologist on Monday to discuss how and where to complete the rest of the five-day treatment....

Results from the study, also published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), found that six dietary supplements widely used for heart health didn’t help lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, or the “bad” cholesterol, which can contribute to plaque build up in blood vessels and lead to blood clots and heart attacks. For the study, scientists wanted to see if any of the supplements — fish oil, garlic, cinnamon, turmeric, plant sterols, and red yeast rice — could reduce the “bad” kind of cholesterol....

Since these pale white patches on the skin lack melanin, they are more likely to get sunburn. (2) But interestingly, that doesn’t necessarily make people with vitiligo more susceptible to developing skin cancer. Here’s what you should know about the interesting relationship between vitiligo and skin cancer. People with dark skin are less likely to get a sunburn than people with light skin because they have more melanin. It might then seem a logical jump to suspect that people with less melanin (as is the case in people with vitiligo) are at an increased risk of this type of damage, including having an increased risk of skin cancer....

The effect pregnancy can have on the skin varies from woman to woman. Some women might see improvements to their complexion, giving them what many call the “pregnancy glow,” according to the American Pregnancy Association. Others may experience worse symptoms of preexisting skin conditions. If you do notice your skin start to change, chances are it’s related to eczema, aka atopic dermatitis, a condition marked by red, itchy patches of skin, according to the Mayo Clinic....

We all have a unique community of bacteria, fungi, and other microbes living in our intestines known as the gut microbiome, which aids digestion, regulates our immune system, and helps protect against certain diseases. Even though no two people have the same gut microbiome, researchers wanted to see if there might be similar bacteria in the guts of marathoners and elite athletes that could give them a leg up in competitions....

RA is a chronic, lifelong, progressive condition. For this reason, patients and clinicians constantly strive to maximize treatment for the inflammatory disease, which may include integrative approaches, says a co-principal investigator of the guidelines, Benjamin J. Smith, a doctor of medical science and the interim program director and associate dean at the school of physician assistant practice at Florida State University College of Medicine in Tallahassee. First-Ever Guideline Builds on ACR Medication Recommendations “This guideline, the first of its kind developed by the ACR, provides guidance for patients and clinicians when considering many integrative treatment options,” says Dr....

As of October 14, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that influenza activity is currently low overall but rising in most of the country. The federal health agency notes that the South East and South Central United States are reporting the highest levels of flu activity, including Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington, DC. But significant spread of the virus hasn’t been isolated to those regions....

Not one of the 186 communities ranked for today’s report improved its overall well-being index score by a statistically significant margin in the last two years compared with previous two-year periods, according to the new data. The report tracks the well-being of American adults in five areas that are considered essential elements of a life well lived, explains Dan Witters, the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index research director. Those five elements are: purpose (liking what you do each day), social (having supportive relationships and love in your life), financial (the ability to manage your economic life in a way that reduces stress and increases security), community (liking where you live and feeling safe), and physical (having good health and feeling energized)....

Colorectal cancerEndometrial cancerOvarian cancerStomach cancerSmall intestine cancerLiver cancerGallbladder duct cancerUpper urinary tract cancerBrain cancer Research also shows that Lynch syndrome increases a woman’s risk of having breast cancer. About 1 in 440 people in the United States carries a gene mutation that causes Lynch syndrome. In addition to MSH2, researchers have identified four other gene alterations that are linked to the disorder. (1) About 40 percent of Lynch syndrome cases related to a gene mutation are associated with defects in the MSH2 gene....

Hepatitis B is an inflammation of the liver caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). It can be either acute or chronic. The acute form of the disease typically resolves within a few weeks but can last for up to 6 months, while chronic hepatitis B can last for a lifetime. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), up to 90 percent of infants infected with HBV within their first year of life will develop chronic hepatitis B, and 30 to 50 percent of children infected before age 6 will develop it....

One day in 2003, she had just gotten home from working out and was sore, but didn’t pay much attention to the new pain until a few days later when it got worse. At a dermatologist appointment for an unrelated issue, Castrillon asked the doctor to take a look at the site of the pain. The dermatologist said she had a cyst and attempted to drain it in the clinic....