If you’ve been one of those fortunate enough to be able to work at home during the pandemic, you’ve probably been glued to your chair for eight or more hours a day. At least at the office you might have been able to walk around from desk to desk, or take the stairs, or take a walk at lunch.
Whereas at home, our concierge doctors are guessing that you get very little chance to move at all. And that could be detrimental to your health.
As Florida closes in on the unenviable milestone of nearly a million confirmed cases of COVID-19, our concierge doctors wanted to share a bit of good news. We’ve mentioned before how critical it is to wear face masks in public to help keep others from becoming infected. People can be contagious for up to two weeks before they begin to show symptoms, which accounts for the rapid spread of the disease.
Now a new scientific briefing from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirms what researchers had long suspected: Masks protect the wearer as much as those around them. The revised guidance, released late last month, cites several studies. These show masks reduce the risk of contracting the virus by up to 79 percent.
It sounds so easy: Pop a pill (or pills) every day and enjoy radiant health. Unfortunately, our concierge doctors have to caution you that it may not be not that simple. And, according to a new study, the claimed benefits of taking supplements might not even be true.
The study, published this month in the journal BMJ, suggests that the perceived benefits of over-the-counter (OTC) vitamin and mineral supplements may largely be due to the power of the mind.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends all adults and children older than six months receive a flu shot by the end of this month. The CDC says it takes at least two weeks for the vaccine to become effective. Then it won’t reach its peak effectiveness until another week after that. And children who are being vaccinated for the first time need two vaccines spaced a month apart to become fully protected.
Therefore, our concierge doctors suggest you get your flu shot for the 2020-21 influenza season as soon as possible. While there have been scattered reports of shortages around the country, The Washington Post recently reported a record number of flu vaccine doses—between 194 million and 198 million—have been ordered. Because the vaccine is shipped in stages, more is on the way.
We’ve heard a great deal lately about how those with chronic conditions—diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity—are more likely to become sicker when exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. Even leaving aside the coronavirus, many individuals have thought that having multiple chronic medical conditions such as those or others (cancer, asthma, coronary artery disease, and so forth) doomed them to a premature death.
But our concierge doctors have recently come across some good news for those people. It turns out that healthy lifestyle habits can overcome multiple types of chronic conditions and help extend your life.
Since September is National Cholesterol Education Month, our concierge doctors want to review the often-confusing facts about this vital blood component.
Most adults breathe incorrectly, especially when they are experiencing stress, whether acute or chronic. The effects of improper breathing may surprise you: increased stress, insomnia, weight gain, high blood pressure, anxiety, a weakened immune system, and fatigue, among others.
In addition, although the novel coronavirus attacks every part of the body from the brain to the toes, it typically first makes its presence known with difficulty breathing. And those who experience lingering effects from its infection also complain of long-term breathing problems.
So our concierge doctors thought we’d offer a primer on correct breathing. Not only will this improve many aspects of your life, but it will also help strengthen your lungs before you contract the virus and assist in recovery afterward. It can also help relieve the anxiety so many of us are experiencing now during the pandemic.
How has your general health been lately? Have you been experiencing headaches? Dizziness? Constipation? Weakness? Heart palpitations? Are you feeling generally “blah” for no particular reason?
Amid all the frenzy across the media about the coronavirus, a disturbing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study dropped last month with barely a ripple. It found that the obesity rate in the U.S. continues to edge up, from 40 percent in a 2015-16 study to 42 percent in the current 2017-18 study.
The National Sleep Foundation has designated this week National Sleep Awareness Week, to celebrate sleep health and encourage the public to prioritize sleep to improve their overall health and well-being.
