Author: ahowkg

  More than half of Americans live in states where recreational cannabis is legal. While alcohol remains the most-used drug in the US, daily cannabis use has actually outpaced daily drinking, according to a study following four decades of consumption trends. Changing drinking habits and new products likely play a role. Are you rethinking drinking […]

Are you finding yourself with itchy, irritated skin that you can’t stop scratching? Or have you wondered why your child’s eczema is suddenly worse and so hard to control? Mounting evidence suggests that wildfires, which are increasing in intensity and frequency, contribute to skin problems, including eczema flares. What is eczema? Eczema is a common […]

It’s undeniable: modern medicine offers ever-expanding ways to heal and prevent disease. But it’s also true that health care can cause harm. One analysis found that about 6% of health care encounters caused preventable harm, leading to thousands of deaths each year. And it’s not just errors that cause trouble. Highly skilled health care providers […]

Do you ever read the notes written by your doctor or health practitioner during a medical visit? If not, you might want to check them out. Usually, these medical notes are full of helpful insights about your health and reminders of recommendations discussed. And there’s medicalese, of course: hard-to-pronounce illnesses, medications, and technical terms. But […]

Editor's note: Health inequities have long been an issue for people in the LGBTQ+ community. We're pleased to share a post from our colleagues in Corporate Learning at Harvard Medical School focusing on solutions that health care leaders can champion. Health care business professionals can improve patient outcomes and reduce health inequities by championing the […]

On the Gulf Coast of Florida where I live, the telltale sign of summer is not an influx of beachcombers, afternoon storms that arrive exactly at 2 p.m., or the first hurricane warning, but the appearance of hundreds of paddleboarders dotting the inlet waters. From afar, paddleboarding looks almost spiritual — people standing on nearly […]

Sustainable living treads lightly on natural resources and follows a rethink, reuse, repurpose mantra to minimize waste. Big and small wallet-friendly tips can help you save money and befriend our planet this summer, says Dr. Wynne Armand, a primary care physician at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital, and associate director of the Mass General Center for […]

If you spend time outdoors — which we all should do, for all sorts of reasons — you are likely to encounter biting bugs. Most of the time the bites are just a nuisance. But besides the fact that sometimes they can be painful or itchy, bug bites can lead to illness — like Lyme […]