Health & Fitness

Regular use of erectile dysfunction (ED) medicine may increase a man's risk of developing vision issues at some point in his life, a new study finds. Researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada, found that men who use ED medication like Viagra and Cialis are a staggering 85 percent more likely to develop eye issues that could cause vision problems - including blindness - than other men. While the risk of going blind, or suffering any other issue as a result of erectile dysfunction medicine, remains extremely low, researchers are warning that this may be an understated side-effect. Around ten percent of men will develop ED at some point in their life, and these medications are very common remedies for it.  Men who use Viagra and other...

People who don’t drink enough water each day are raising their odds of a killer illness. Scientists urge people to get their six to eight glasses each day in order to ward off the risk of heart failure.  Heart failure occurs when the heart is unable to pump blood around the body properly, usually because it has become weak or stiff. It is a long-term condition that usually worsens over time. “Similar to reducing salt intake, drinking enough water and staying hydrated are ways to support our hearts and may help reduce long-term risks for heart disease,” said Dr. Natalia Dmitrieva, lead author of a new study. Dr. Dmitrieva, a researcher at the US National Institutes of ...

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When Dr. Jillian Horton, an internal medicine doctor in Winnipeg, started feeling ill, she was pretty sure she had Covid. Her husband had been exposed and had symptoms, too. She decided to conduct an experiment of one, testing herself several times over the course of a few days to track the dynamics of the virus. “With my husband testing positive and myself very symptomatic, I was sure I had Covid,” Dr. Horton said. “I was curious to see what I could pinpoint in terms of when I might flip positive.” Updated April 8, 2022, 3:25 p.m. ET Dr. Horton’s husband became ill on a Friday night, and that evening she tested negative. On Saturday, she began to feel sick and tested herself three times throughout the day. All three results were negative. By Sunday morning, she woke up and was fee...

Is America about to dodge the BA.2 bullet? For weeks now, BA.2 — an even more transmissible subvariant of BA.1, the original, hypercontagious Omicron strain — has been wreaking havoc across Europe, triggering steep and sudden resurgences of infection just as the continent's enormous winter wave finally seemed to be subsiding. In England, COVID-19 hospitalizations haven’t been higher since the pre-vaccine era. At first, the fear was that BA.2 would spark a similar U.S. surge. But dig into the latest data, and it looks like something different might be happening instead: a less dangerous and disruptive type of COVID “bump” that could foreshadow the next phase of the pandemic — if America is lucky. A COVID-19 testing site in Manhattan on March 31. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)There’s no qu...

Scientists have long understood that the human brain changes in size as we age, but until now there’s never been a method by which we can chart its growth. An international team of researchers led by Cambridge University’s Richard Bethlehem recently published the world’s first growth chart for brains. Up front: How are you supposed to tell if your brain is growing properly? It’s an important question. And we’ve had no answer until now. Most people don’t spend their lives connected to brain imaging devices. And that means we probably have no clue if our brain is average size and weight. Bethelhem’s team — along with an international, multi-disciplinary data-gathering effort — compiled brain scans from over 100,000 people ranging from four-month-old ch...

WASHINGTON — Long COVID symptoms like brain fog or lingering heart issues are becoming common ailments coronavirus patients deal with after their infection. Now, doctors fear infertility could be a new problem long COVID patients experience. Researchers in India have found that male fertility issues may occur post-COVID infection as well. Scientists say their findings suggest even mild-to-moderate cases of COVID-19 can result in detrimental protein-level changes in relation to male reproductive functions. These findings are preliminary, but no less concerning. While studies show the SARS-CoV-2 virus mostly targets on the human body’s respiratory system, it’s also clear that our immune response to infection can wreak havoc all over the body. Prior research has also suspected that men may...

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Adults 50 and older, who received three previous mRNA doses, can get a second booster dose if it's been at least four months since their first one. Everyone who received two doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine can also receive an additional mRNA dose four months after their last booster. Many people are wondering: Does it mean everyone is going to need an annual Covid-19 booster? Do we need booster shots even more frequently? Is it going to be combined with the flu shot? Are new vaccines going to be developed that target new variants? And should they wait to get the booster if they are eligible, or get it now? Dr. Leana Wen: We don't know yet. There are a lot of variables here, and only time -- and ongoing research -- will tell. First, we don't know how long the immune protection ...