October 22-31, 2014 - Original Health Articles

While you can't anticipate every possible scenario, Anita Chandra, a doctor of public health and the director at the RAND Corporation’s unit on Justice, Infrastructure, and Environment, says that it’s important to be ready for anything in order to protect yourself and your family.

With the booming popularity of electronic devices, it's likely that you use one regularly. Whether you've got your cell phone attached to your ear for much of the day or are constantly typing on your laptop, you should be aware that certain health risks may come with all that efficiency.

Although these terms are often used interchangeably, a heart attack, or myocardial infarction, is not the same as cardiac arrest. Here’s how to tell the difference, and what to do if either occurs. A heart attack, or myocardial infarction, occurs when blood flow to the heart is interrupted.

Could an over-the-counter treatment help reduce breast cancer patients’ risk of recurrence? A preliminary study, published in an recent issue of Cancer Research, found that obese postmenopausal women who were receiving hormone treatment for breast cancer—and also routinely taking aspirin or another nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)—were less likely to have a future recurrence of cancer.

As an actress and co-host of Bravo’s "Top Chef" show, Padma Lakshmi’s famous face is easy to recognize. Yet her endometriosis—a chronic health problem that caused pain and infertility for much of her adult life—went undetected for more than a decade by some of the nation’s best doctors.

The grocery aisles are full of food products that promise tons of health benefits. But many of these products are not actually very healthful and can even wreak havoc on blood sugar management if you have diabetes. Here are a few "health" foods to avoid—and some better-for-you options: Protein bars.

Could getting enough vitamin D help prevent Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia? Years of research, including a recent large study, have uncovered an association between low vitamin D levels in adults and higher rates of numerous medical problems, including Alzheimer’s disease.

Health emergencies are often unexpected, and you never know when you'll be called upon to help. If a friend or a loved one has a chronic condition, it's important to be prepared should he or she suffer a disabling episode. Here's what to do—and what not to do—during emergencies for people dealing with one of these four conditions… Epilepsy When the brain experiences abnormal electrical impulses, a seizure can result.

Diabetes is a national epidemic: More than 29 million Americans—9.3% of the population—have the condition. Another 86 million are at risk of developing it, according to the American Diabetes Association. In 2012 alone, 1.7 million new cases were diagnosed.