Health & Fitness

Dying can be good for your mental health. If, that is, you survive it. “The experience of death,” researchers state in a newly published scientific study, frequently leads to “positive long-term psychological transformation and growth.” Offered one person whose near-death case was included in the paper: “I have been much more mindful of others. It’s easier for me to put myself in other people’s shoes. It’s easier for me to act out of love and compassion.” By now we’ve all heard about the eerily similar stories told by people who were clinically dead and then revived. Floating above your body and observing it. Feeling released from all pain and worry. Being drawn into a tunnel of light -- and infused with joy and love and acceptance. The new study, led by Dr. Sam Parnia and publishe...

When Kaylan Wilhelm’s home pregnancy test was positive, she went to the doctor to confirm it immediately. But she learned worrisome and confusing news. Wilhelm wasn’t pregnant — she had a rare cancer that causes positive pregnancy tests. “I felt alone when I went through this because it is such a rare situation,” Wilhelm, 27, of Ravenna, Ohio, told TODAY. “If somebody going through cancer is struggling with the mental battle of it, or if somebody is dealing with a blood clot or anything like that, I want them to know they’re not alone.”Positive pregnancy test with an unexpected result After missing her period, Wilhelm took a pregnancy test that came back positive and visited the doctor. Her previous pregnancy was high risk and she wanted to seek care immediately. “They said, ‘Alright it’s...

Enlarge / A woman holds a nasal swab for a COVID-19 antigen rapid test in front of her desk on January 5 in Berlin. Covid-19 Coverage View more stories Although the loss of smell and taste became apparent symptoms of COVID-19 early in the pandemic, researchers are still working out why that happens—is the virus directly infecting and destroying the cells responsible for these critical senses, or is it collateral damage from our immune systems fighting off the invading foe? According to a postmortem study out this week in JAMA Neurology, it's the latter. The study—which dove deep into the noses, nerves, and brains of 23 people who died of COVID-19—is the most detailed look at the coronavirus' effects on our sniffers. Researchers concluded that i...

Last year was the deadliest year in U.S. history, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports, with the COVID-19 pandemic pushing America to the harrowing record.  The agency this month quietly updated its provisional death tally. Showing there were 3.5 million deaths last year, or about 80,000 more than 2020's record-setting total.  COVID-19 deaths rose in 2021 - to more than 415,000, up from 351,000 the year before - as new coronavirus variants emerged and an unexpectedly large numbers of Americans refused to get vaccinated or were hesitant to wear masks, experts said.   American suffered a large surge deaths right at the start of the year, though, with January and February of 2021 being the deadliest months of the pandemic so far. While the shots were available at that...

Image: Getty (Getty Images) An influential panel of experts are recommending that children as young as 8 get routinely screened for anxiety. The recommendation adds to their previous guidance that children 12 or older should be screened for depression. However, they refrained from advising that children younger than 11 get depression screening or that children in general be screened for suicide risk, citing a lack of sufficient evidence. The recommendations come from the United States Preventive Services Task Force, or USPSTF. Though the USPSTF is under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, task force members are voluntary outside experts brought in to provide recommendations on a variety of topics related to the prevention of health problems. Their guideli...

In late March 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized a second booster shot of COVID-19 vaccines for vulnerable populations in the U.S., a move that was soon after endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People ages 50 years and older and certain immunocompromised individuals who are at higher risk for severe disease, hospitalization and death are eligible four months after receiving the initial booster shot. A second booster shot is equivalent to a fourth dose for people who received a Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna mRNA series or a third dose for those who received the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. In Israel, people in these same vulnerable categories began receiving fourth doses in January 2022. The U.K. recently started administe...

This is the weekly edition of CNN’s coronavirus newsletter. Look out for your roundup every Wednesday. If you haven’t subscribed yet, sign up here. CNN  —  Coronavirus restrictions are disappearing by the week in much of the world, as more Western countries scale back their remaining restrictions and inch toward a policy of living with Covid-19. The more transmissible but less severe Omicron variant – and its subvariant, BA.2 – have played a large role in that calculation, convincing many leaders that endemic Covid is in sight. But what does that mean? Some top scientists are concerned that our understanding of “endemic” is wide of the mark. “I think we’v...

The stark increase in dementia cases in recent years has many concerned about developing the condition, which already affects over 55 million people worldwide, according to Alzheimer's Disease International. To make matters worse, that number is expected to double over the next two decades and reach 139 million cases by 2050. With that in mind, we are all looking for ways to decrease our risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease—the most common form of the condition. You may be happy to learn that a new study yielded promising results when it came to evaluating one vitamin's potential to improve cognitive abilities. And it's one you might already be consuming. Read on to find out which vitamin you'll want to be sure you're getting enough of to stave off cognitive decli...

Swiss man, 20, was left in intensive care after suffering rare lung injury from masturbating Suffered sudden chest pain and struggled to breathe while pleasuring himself Air escaped from lung and became lodged in ribcage, spreading around body  First ever case of injury during masturbation, but it has been noted during sex  By Connor Boyd Deputy Health Editor For Mailonline Published: 07:41 EDT, 13 April 2022 | Updated: 08:36 EDT, 13 April 2022 <!-- <!-- <!-- <!-- <!-- (function (src, d, tag){ var s = d.createElement(tag), prev = d.getElementsByTagName(tag)[0]; s.src = src; prev.parentNode.insertBefore(s, prev); }("https://www.dailymail.co.uk/static/gunther/1.17.0/async_bundle--.js", document, "script")); <...

They analysed how quickly mutations occur in species with different life expectancies. They looked at DNA from a cat, black and white colobus, dog, ferret, giraffe, horse, human, lion, mouse, naked mole rat, rabbit, rat, ring-tailed lemur and a tiger.