Is TV watching healthy? For years studies have argued more TV time decrees a higher risk of death. Most of that risk has been ascribed to sitting, rather than frustration and anger at what is programmed. A new study has added a wrinkle: watch more TV and you get more deep venous clots. Plus there’s a new rub: if […]
Time to Go With the Dogs
Dogs Can Help You Live – and Live Longer Can living with a dog improve your life? It certainly appears canine companionship might extend it. The results come from a Swedish study at Uppsala University which used the longstanding public health advantages of that country. All the Swedish population between the ages of 40-80 were surveyed. Out of those […]
Are Prescription Drugs Truly Safe?
Are prescription drugs truly safe? Depends on how well and how long you look. When I was discovered on endoscopy to have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD,) my gastroenterologist told me I should immediately go on proton pump inhibitors, known as PPIs. They were extremely efficacious. “And they’re safe. I’ve been on one for 16 years. […]
Humanity Goes Viral
Lots of people want their work to go “viral” – to propagate everywhere and anywhere, to infect and affect the whole of humanity. Internet virality is one of the ways that information now spreads. Biological information often operates differently from what you find on the internet. It’s a lot older – nearly four billion years […]
Treat the Chart Not the Patient
Killing Care Softly It’s official: doctors treat charts, not people. Harvard researcher Russell Phillips reckons physicians of many stripes are now “data entry technicians.” My preferred term is “checklist monkeys.” The results for your health care? Not good. How much time and energy are really wasted? Recent reports show ER physicians spending 44% of their time […]