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Most Sleep-Deprived US Cities and Those Where Sleepyheads Live

Health Advice / Scott LaFee /

It's estimated that roughly 15% of Americans have trouble falling asleep, and 18% say they struggle to stay asleep. Innerbody, a health and wellness platform, crunched federal data and other sources to identify the top five most sleep-deprived cities in the U.S.

1. Norfolk, Virginia

2. New Orleans, Louisiana

3. Detroit, Michigan

4. Toledo,...Read more

Angela Hart/KFF Health News/TNS

Newsom promotes affordable insulin, but California's generic label off to a slow start

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

SAN FRANCISCO — At a Walgreens in this city’s bustling Japantown neighborhood, pharmacist Margaret On stocks two boxes of long-acting insulin pens from California’s new prescription drug label, CalRx, emblazoned with the state’s iconic grizzly bear.

Although she hasn’t dispensed any, On plans to keep them on hand. “It’s good to ...Read more

Maksym Yemelyanov/Dreamstime/TNS

California weighs penalties for healthcare providers that don't rein in costs

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

California is weighing stiff penalties for hospitals and other healthcare entities that don’t stay under state spending limits, potentially levying hundreds of millions of dollars in fines if these providers don’t take steps to rein in rising healthcare costs.

If the state Office of Health Care Affordability adopts the fines next week, ...Read more

Kim Clark/KFF Health News/TNS

My husband was kicked out of hospice for dying too slowly

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

“No more operations,” he said.

It was mid-January 2026, and my then-73-year-old husband, Mike Salmon, had just started bouncing back from a three-month ordeal of three operations related to aortic aneurysms, sepsis, and a terrifying descent into delirium tied to a stay in the intensive care unit. Now, after another potentially fatal aortic ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Mayo Clinic Q&A: Why a broad pool of donors is important for transplant patients

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I'm getting a new driver's license and am thinking about checking the "organ donor" box for the first time. I don’t know anyone who’s been an organ donor, and my family and friends haven’t talked about this. Can anyone donate?

ANSWER: People of many ages, backgrounds and health histories may be eligible to become organ ...Read more

Taylor Glascock/KFF Health News/TNS

How much of a cancer drug is too much? Patients, researchers challenge FDA-approved dosages

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Northwestern University economist Chuck Manski studies decision-making amid uncertainty. That prepared him better than many other cancer patients to decide whether to stay on an immunotherapy treatment that was making him very ill.

For six months in 2022, Manski received monthly infusions of nivolumab to fight advanced melanoma. The drug ruined...Read more

Elderly Man's Unable To Form Words After Extreme Sun Exposure

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: I'm an 82-year-old man with osteoporosis, a pacemaker, and a vegetable garden, which I worked in yesterday for 5 hours in the extreme heat. I consumed a large bottle of ice water. When I came back into the cool house, I was unable to select or even pronounce the proper words. I felt like my brain's gears were all in neutral. My...Read more

Losing weight may not be enough to prevent Type 2 diabetes

Around 115 million Americans have prediabetes. Fortunately, for most (58%), losing as little as 5% to 7% of their body weight can reduce their risk of going on to develop full-blown Type 2 diabetes.

But there are folks with prediabetes for whom weight loss alone doesn't prevent progression to Type 2 diabetes. A study in the journal Diabetes ...Read more

Virginia budget cut could strain behavioral health crisis response

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The budget that recently took effect in Virginia includes provisions that mean Medicaid will no longer reimburse providers for certain behavioral health services.

Subject to federal approval, the Department of Medical Assistance Services, which administers Medicaid at the state level, will no longer pay for a service called community ...Read more

Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Pennsylvania reports 2 measles deaths in Lancaster County, state's first in decades

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

PHILADELPHIA — Two people have died from measles in Pennsylvania, state officials said Tuesday, marking the first fatalities involving the highly contagious disease in the state in 35 years and the only measles-related deaths reported nationally so far this year.

Both were unvaccinated residents of Lancaster County, the center of a major ...Read more

KFF HEALTH/TNS

Where Florida's gun violence exacts its biggest toll on Black and Latino children

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Just west of the St. Johns River, which divides this sprawling city racially and economically, 2-year-old A’mahri Robinson was murdered in his mother’s arms.

Ladonna Johnson was rocking A’mahri to sleep in March when he was shot in the head with a gun she kept for protection.

A’mahri loved going outdoors and ...Read more

Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Pennsylvania reports 2 measles deaths, state's first in 35 years

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

PHILADELPHIA — Two people have died from measles in Pennsylvania, state officials confirmed Tuesday, the first fatalities from the highly contagious disease in the state in 35 years and the only deaths involving the highly contagious disease reported nationally so far this year.

The deaths occurred in Lancaster County, the center of a major ...Read more

TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Ebola is still killing in central Africa. These groups are working to save lives

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Misinformation and distrust are among the challenges facing public health workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo as they confront the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak on record. Even though the virus has faded from U.S. headlines, key organizations are still at work providing medical care and training to counter the spread of the disease.

...Read more

Critics of needle exchange programs often express concerns about syringe litter.  Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Syringe litter did not increase after a needle exchange ban was overturned in Pueblo, Colorado, but health services suffered

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The City Council of Pueblo, Colorado, voted to ban the distribution of syringes through syringe service programs starting in May 2024.

Also called needle exchanges, these programs are run by community organizations that provide healthcare services. The impetus for the ban, as council members noted, was syringe litter in public spaces....Read more

The majority of the world is unable to process the lactose in milk without uncomfortable symptoms Olga Miltsova/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Lactose intolerance is actually the human norm – but racism, the US government and business interests have made it into a condition

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Lactose intolerance makes drinking milk or eating ice cream a literal pain. For some people, eating a dairy treat can lead to bloating, nausea and diarrhea. You might’ve experienced its effects yourself. If so, you may think of lactose intolerance as a defect rather than the norm.

But did you know that most people in the world today...Read more

Kaspars Grinvalds/Dreamstime/TNS

Commentary: Big tech's solutions to mental health bring bigger problems

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

While America is suffering a mental health crisis, the good news is that tens of millions of people are getting help. In 2023, 60 million adults reported having sought counseling or treatment in the previous year, and the numbers continue to rise.

Psychotherapy works because of what’s known as the therapeutic frame, a set of boundaries that ...Read more

Michael Flippo/Dreamstime.com/TNS

Commentary: Insurers have been tilting arbitration in their favor for years

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

For years, health insurers have argued that the arbitration system through which they dispute bills must be broken because providers win so often — which obliges insurance companies to pay medical expenses they sought to avoid. Physicians, hospitals and air ambulances prevail in more than 80% of disputes under the No Surprises Act, which took ...Read more

Got arthritis pain? Fiber to the rescue

Around 33 million Americans have documented osteoarthritis (OA) -- the breakdown of protective cartilage in and around joints leading to pain, stiffness and swelling. (We think the real number may be triple that.) It can result from body-wide inflammation and causes chronic pain, limits mobility and often leads to depression. No wonder it's ...Read more

Tardive Dyskinesia In Woman Might Actually Be A Familial Tremor

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: I'm a 66-year-old retired female who's trying to keep active. My neurologist thinks that I may have tardive dyskinesia (TD), for which I tried Ingrezza, but I experienced heaviness in my chest. I've tried meds, vestibular therapy, balance therapy and acupuncture. I've also been evaluated by an ENT physician and a cardiologist. ...Read more

Liz Rymarev/The Dallas Morning News/TNS

Measles outbreak declared in 3 Maryland counties

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

BALTIMORE — Maryland officials declared a measles outbreak in three counties as cases continue to rise, according to the Maryland Department of Health.

Officials identified St. Mary’s, Carroll and Cecil counties as outbreak spots. MDH is investigating 14 new confirmed cases in unvaccinated Maryland residents. No public exposures have been ...Read more