Recent Blog Articles
Tick season is expanding: Protect yourself against Lyme disease
What? Another medical form to fill out?
How do trees and green spaces enhance our health?
A muscle-building obsession in boys: What to know and do
Harvard Health Ad Watch: New drug, old song, clever tagline
Concussion in children: What to know and do
What color is your tongue? What's healthy, what's not?
Your amazing parathyroid glands
When — and how — should you be screened for colon cancer?
Co-regulation: Helping children and teens navigate big emotions
COVID-19 Archive
Articles
Healthy habits might ward off long COVID
A 2023 study suggests that women who practice many aspects of a healthy lifestyle are about half as likely as women who don't to experience persistent symptoms after a COVID-19 infection.
Did COVID cause my shortness of breath?
While shortness of breath can be caused by several ailments, the most common are a lung issue, a heart problem, anemia (low red blood cell count), or deconditioning. Even if the cause remains unclear, a doctor can create a treatment plan to improve symptoms.
Can long COVID affect the gut?
Some people who have been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 have experienced lingering effects like low energy and brain fog. Could gastrointestinal problems be another aftereffect of the virus?
Does COVID-19 damage the brain?
COVID-19 can damage the brain in many ways. Initially, it can cause brain inflammation that causes confusion, difficulty concentrating, and memory problems. COVID also can cause new psychological disorders such as depression or anxiety. It can even cause people to see and hear things that aren't there and to believe things that aren't true. COVID often damages the brain's autonomic nervous system, leading to abnormalities in heart rate and blood pressure. Additionally, the virus that causes COVID can infect and injure the lining of blood vessels and make blood clot more easily, which can lead to strokes and heart attacks.
Vaccination may protect against long COVID
Getting at least one dose of a COVID vaccine lowers the risk of developing long COVID even among people who were previously unvaccinated and recovered from COVID.
Genes protective during the Black Death may now be increasing autoimmune disorders
Genes that helped people survive during the time of the Black Death are more likely to be found in people with autoimmune diseases alive today. Does this tell scientists anything about what surviving the COVID-19 pandemic might mean for the world's population?
Want to stay healthy over the holidays?
Another holiday season is here, and this year we need to contend with other viruses besides COVID-19. Three Harvard experts share their thoughts on the best ways to keep ourselves and our family members healthy as we celebrate holidays together.
High blood pressure linked to severe COVID despite vaccination
A 2022 study found that high blood pressure more than doubled the risk of being hospitalized from an Omicron-variant COVID-19 infection regardless of full vaccination, including a booster dose of an mRNA vaccine.
Is the COVID-19 pandemic over, or not?
Infections and deaths from COVID-19 are still occurring every day in the US, although many people are acting like the pandemic is over. So is it over, or not?
Why life expectancy in the US is falling
Life expectancy is one measure of the general health of a population. In the US, life expectancy had been climbing for more than a century — until the pandemic. After dropping in 2020, it dropped again in 2021, and some population groups fared worse than others.
Recent Blog Articles
Tick season is expanding: Protect yourself against Lyme disease
What? Another medical form to fill out?
How do trees and green spaces enhance our health?
A muscle-building obsession in boys: What to know and do
Harvard Health Ad Watch: New drug, old song, clever tagline
Concussion in children: What to know and do
What color is your tongue? What's healthy, what's not?
Your amazing parathyroid glands
When — and how — should you be screened for colon cancer?
Co-regulation: Helping children and teens navigate big emotions
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