The effects of COVID-19 have been extensive, with more than seven million confirmed cases and more than 200,000 deaths in the US alone. COVID-19 has caused additional impacts on healthcare; for example, patients have delayed seeking care for serious symptoms over fears of exposure to COVID-19. But the consequences of COVID-19 have reached beyond healthcare ….  Read More

Here’s a recent headline that I found confusing: Could the first drug that slows arthritis be here? It’s confusing because it depends on which of the more than 100 types of arthritis we’re discussing. We’ve had drugs that slow rheumatoid arthritis for decades. In fact, more than a dozen FDA-approved drugs can reduce, or even ….  Read More

Suppose you are suddenly are stricken with COVID-19. You become very ill for several weeks. On awakening every morning, you wonder if this day might be your last. And then you begin to turn the corner. Every day your worst symptoms — the fever, the terrible cough, the breathlessness — get a little better. You ….  Read More

If you have fibromyalgia and you’re in pain, exercising is probably the last thing you feel like doing. But experts say it’s actually one of the most effective strategies you can try to help manage this chronic pain condition. Yet many people with fibromyalgia already struggle to get through their regular daily activities. Adding exercise ….  Read More

At the end of March, as the pandemic reshaped all our lives, I wrote a blog post about how grandparents might cope with safety recommendations made at that time while remaining connected with their families. Many of us hoped that the crisis would be short-lived, enabling us to return to “normal” before too long. Now ….  Read More

Can music really affect your well-being, learning, cognitive function, quality of life, and even happiness? A recent survey on music and brain health conducted by AARP revealed some interesting findings about the impact of music on cognitive and emotional well-being: Music listeners had higher scores for mental well-being and slightly reduced levels of anxiety and ….  Read More

Positive pregnancy and birthing experiences go beyond merely having a healthy mother and baby — so, too, does maternal justice, a term that encompasses broad goals. Affordable, timely, high-quality, equitable, and dignified care during and after pregnancy is essential for all birthing people. Maternal justice is a model of culturally sensitive care that aims to ….  Read More

The COVID pandemic has now claimed as many American lives as World War I, the Vietnam War, and the Korean War combined. Most of these deaths are due to the well-known pulmonary complications of the coronavirus. It has become increasingly recognized, however, that the virus also attacks the nervous system. Doctors in a large Chicago ….  Read More

The pandemic has been hard on families. There has been so much loss, so much hardship, so much stress, and so much change. What makes it even harder is that there is so much uncertainty about when and how it will end; our lives, and the lives of our children, are going to be disrupted ….  Read More