Bedtime is far from relaxing for women with this common condition.

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a sensory-motor disorder that causes an irresistible urge to move the legs, often accompanied by an uncomfortable "creepy-crawly" sensation. RLS affects 3% to 5% of adults and is twice as common in women as in men. Symptoms typically flare at night, just as you're settling down in bed, but they may also arise when you're resting in a chair. RLS not only causes discomfort and distress, but can also wreak havoc on sleep, causing daytime sleepiness and mood changes. Fortunately, certain lifestyle strategies can ...

Successful change comes only in stages. How long it takes is an individual matter.

You may be well on your way to making some of the changes you resolved to make back in January. If so, that's great. If not, you may understandably be feeling discouraged. New Year's resolutions are notoriously hard to keep, especially when they're aimed at health behaviors such as losing weight, eating better, and exercising more. In fact, no matter when we decide to make a change — or how strongly we're motivated — adopting a new, healthy habit, or breaking an old, bad one, can ...

Scientists have long known that certain nutrients are essential for brain development and function. There's also evidence that good nutrition can help stave off cognitive decline in older people. But studies of single nutrients have largely been disappointing, and research on the relationship between overall diet and brain function generally relies on food frequency questionnaires, which can be misleading because of faulty memories and the inability to take account of nutrient absorption. Now researchers have conducted the first study using nutrient biomarkers and brain imaging to analyze the effect of diet on cognitive function and brain volume. Their main finding ...

Women who undergo breast-conserving surgery (lumpectomy) for early-stage breast cancer usually receive radiation therapy as a part of their treatment. Radiation kills cancer cells left behind after surgery and helps prevent them from causing a recurrence or spreading to other tissues. For example, in a 2011 study in The Lancet involving more than 10,000 women treated with breast-conserving surgery, radiation cut the 10-year recurrence rate by one-third to one-half. Numerous studies have found that mastectomy (which removes the entire breast) is no more effective than lumpectomy plus radiation in improving survival rates. (Radiation may also be given after mastectomy, depending ...

Q. I have a Baker's cyst in my right knee. It has been drained twice and recurred. Are there any other treatments for it?

A. Your situation is fairly common. A Baker's cyst (also called a popliteal cyst) is a fluid-filled sac that can develop in the popliteal space, the hollow at the back of the knee joint. It's named for William Morrant Baker, a 19th-century surgeon who first described the condition. The cyst is filled with synovial fluid, a viscous material that lubricates the knee joint, reducing friction among the components of the joint and allowing the knee to ...