Health Advice

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Health

5 snacks that can actually make you happier

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

You know the feeling: You’re a little irritable. Distracted. Sleepy. Anxious. You can’t quite focus, but it’s not quite mealtime. What can help? A snack — but not just any snack. While snacking sometimes gets a bad rap, certain foods are packed with nutrients that help regulate mood, support brain health, and give you the steady energy ...Read more

How accurate is information from your online health support group?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Taking part in an online support group has many benefits, such as convenience, camaraderie, and encouragement. “It’s social support you don’t always get from a busy clinician’s office. Someone in the group might say, ‘I went through this, too. Hang in there, it will get better,’” says Kasisomayajula Viswanath, a health ...Read more

Mayo Clinic Q&A: Setting boundaries for your well-being

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I’m a people-pleaser by nature and have difficulty saying no or setting limits in my relationships. How can I start to create healthier boundaries in a kind yet firm way?

ANSWER: People have various types of relationships, including partners, spouses, children, friends, co-workers, neighbors and acquaintances. Different ...Read more

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Shutdown leaves gaps in states' health data, possibly endangering lives

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

As the federal shutdown continues, states have been forced to fall back on their own resources to spot disease outbreaks — just as respiratory illness season begins.

The shutdown has halted dashboards and expert analysis from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which monitors indicators such as wastewater to provide early ...Read more

Courtesy Dr. Sridevi Alla/Stateline/TNS

Trump's new $100K visa fee could worsen state doctor shortages, experts say

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

In Kentucky, patients drive up to two hours to see Dr. Manikya Kuriti, one of the few endocrinologists who serve the rural communities surrounding Louisville.

Kuriti’s husband, a pulmonologist, drives from Louisville to small hospitals an hour south and north, in Indiana, to help small teams treat critically ill patients.

Rural communities ...Read more

Alejandro A. Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Lawyers defend transgender care at Philly hospital in blistering response to Trump administration seeking patient information

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

PHILADELPHIA — The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia called new evidence presented by President Donald Trump’s administration weak and untrustworthy in a blistering legal response to federal efforts to investigate its doctors providing gender-affirming care.

CHOP’s response, filed late Monday in federal court in Philadelphia, came in ...Read more

Shalina Chatlani/Stateline/TNS

The nation's community health centers face money troubles

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

NEW YORK — On a busy street in Queens, New York, just around the corner from a halal hot chicken sandwich restaurant and a barber shop, the Long Island City Health Center welcomes its patients into a brightly lit waiting room, painted baby blue and filled with soft white and gray seats.

A woman working behind the desk on a recent weekday ...Read more

Phil Galewitz/KFF Health News/TNS

In Mississippi, Medicaid coverage of weight loss drugs fails to catch on

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

COLUMBUS, Miss. — April Hines has battled with her weight since she was a teenager.

But in the past couple of years, she’s fallen from 600 pounds to 385, and her blood pressure and blood sugar levels are down, too. “I’m not as fatigued as I used to be, and I’ve been able to go back to church,” she said.

Hines, 46, credits her ...Read more

Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Last year's flu season was California's worst in years. How bad will this one get?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

LOS ANGELES — Last year's flu season was the worst California had seen in years — and state health officials warn this year could potentially be just as bad.

While forecasting disease isn't an exact science, there are some troubling signs. In Asia, the flu has made an early comeback, and quickly swelled to epidemic proportions in Japan and ...Read more

HECTOR AMEZCUA/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

How California health care premiums could skyrocket if shutdown continues

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

WASHINGTON — Sixty years old, living as a couple in the Sacramento area or California's Central Valley? Figuring your income next year will be about $85,000?

The premium increases for that couple are likely to be among the nation’s steepest, if enhanced federal subsidies for people using Obamacare-inspired health insurance policies are ...Read more

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LGBTQ+ youth's mental health struggles are getting worse, according to a new survey

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

There are many stresses that come with being an LGBTQ+ youth: fear, isolation, bullying, feeling as if the world hates you, loved ones pressuring you to change.

Those realities come into sharper view in the first release of findings from an ongoing study by the Trevor Project to track the mental health of about 1,700 youth across the U.S. over ...Read more

(Eric Harkleroad/KFF Health News)/KFF Health News/TNS

Confused about current vaccine recommendations? Here's what to know

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

With shakeups at a key federal agency that releases vaccine guidelines, it's been a confusing past few months regarding immunization for younger people.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in June fired all 17 members on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, leading to outrage among independent medical societies and the formation...Read more

Nagy-bagoly Ilona/Dreamstime/TNS

Ask the Pediatrician: How a suicide prevention safety plan can save your child's life

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Most young people who experience suicidal thoughts keep those thoughts to themselves. They might not bring it up on their own unless they are asked directly. Any time your adolescent visits their pediatrician, for any reason, they may be asked a simple question "Have you been having thoughts of killing yourself or ending your life?"

The ...Read more

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Commentary: Cuts to Medicaid and to insurance subsidies will push ERs past the brink

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Back in 2007, President George W. Bush was being challenged on his opposition to the Children’s Health Insurance Program — which provides health coverage for children in families too poor to afford private insurance, yet too “wealthy” to qualify for Medicaid. His response was honest, if characteristically clumsy: “People have access to...Read more

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Fact check: RFK Jr. misses mark in touting rural health transformation fund as historic infusion of cash

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

“It’s going to be the biggest infusion of federal dollars into rural health care in American history.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Sept. 4, 2025, in a Senate hearing

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At a September Senate hearing, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. boasted about a rural health initiative within President Donald Trump’s “One ...Read more

Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/TNS

After chiding Democrats on transgender politics, Newsom vetoes a key health measure

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

California Gov. Gavin Newsom this week signed a suite of privacy protection bills for transgender patients amid continuing threats by the Trump administration.

But there was one glaring omission that LGBTQ+ advocates and political strategists say is part of an increasingly complex dance the Democrat faces as he curates a more centrist profile ...Read more

Mpox strain that may be more severe and easily spread is found in L.A. County for first time

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Two cases of a potentially more severe strain of mpox have been confirmed in Los Angeles County this week.

It's the first time this particular type of mpox, known as "Clade I," has been found in the United States among people who had no history of traveling overseas to high-risk areas.

The first case, reported publicly on Tuesday, involved a ...Read more

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Health officials warn of possible measles exposure in southern Colorado town

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

An out-of-state visitor with a confirmed case of measles may have exposed people at a southern Colorado hotel and gas station earlier this week, according to state and Huerfano County health officials.

The person was in La Veta from Sunday through Wednesday, and people who were exposed will likely develop symptoms between Nov. 3 and 5.

People ...Read more

(Eric Harkleroad/KFF Health News)/KFF Health News/TNS

Newly formed Governors Public Health Alliance is 15 strong, but doesn't include Pa.

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

A newly formed, multistate coalition represents the largest coordinated pushback to federal public health guidance under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to date.

Preceded by similar, more regional approaches, including a Northeast collaborative that Pennsylvania joined in mid-September, the Governors Public Health Alliance includes 14 ...Read more

Handout/Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions/TNS

Newsom signs veteran-backed bill to accelerate study of psychedelics for PTSD, mental health

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed a bill to fast-track the study of psychedelic drugs, which a coalition of veterans say hold enormous potential to treat post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

More veterans die from suicide in America on a daily basis than average daily combat deaths in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan combined, according ...Read more