Caregiving Archive

Most older adults can expect to walk more than 100,000 miles during their lifetime, which can take a toll on their feet. With regular foot care, people can address most everyday foot issues like calluses, blisters, and fungus infections. But older adults also need to be mindful about certain problems that can impede their foot health and make mobility difficult, such as heel pain, flat feet, and osteoarthritis.

The health risks of using tobacco and overusing alcohol begin to drop within days after a person stops using them. However, how past usage may affect a person's longevity is difficult to predict.

A 2023 study suggests that certain social challenges, such as isolation, may be useful to help predict older adults' risk of earlier death.

Survivor's guilt includes strong, persistent feelings of sadness and remorse. Advances in cancer treatment have led to an unprecedented 18 million Americans who are cancer survivors, making survivor's guilt a possible psychological outcome for greater numbers. Survivor's guilt may be more common among people who have survived cancers with high death rates. Strategies to cope include taking time to grieve, seeking support from fellow survivors, and getting counseling to explore underlying contributors to feelings of guilt.

Some supplements can interfere with lab tests to diagnose or monitor health conditions, which can lead to life-threatening misdiagnoses or unnecessary additional testing. Biotin (vitamin B₇) can skew results from a blood test to diagnose heart attack. Other problematic supplements include vitamin C, which can interfere with blood sugar readings and stool tests; calcium, which can make bones appear denser than they are on bone density scans; and creatine, which can lead to falsely high readings of creatinine, a marker for kidney disease.

About one in three Americans engages in gardening, and the activity became even more popular during the COVID pandemic. Research suggests gardening provides many physical and mental health benefits. It can boost movement, improve diet, fight illness, smooth mood, sharpen brain function, and strengthen social bonds. Gardeners should wear a hat and apply sunscreen to protect against sun exposure. They should also wear gloves to create a barrier against skin allergens on plants and bacteria or fungi in potting soil mixes.

What drives forms of self-harm like cutting that some teens engage in? Gaining an understanding of why some children harm themselves by cutting their skin, what signs to be aware of, and how to approach the subject can help parents respond if this occurs.

A new study finds that experiencing discrimination in the workplace—where many adults spend one-third of their time, on average—may be harmful to heart health.

GERD, or acid reflux, can lead to heartburn, a bad taste in your mouth, and other unpleasant symptoms. Here are some treatments you can try at home.