Stroke Archive

With ticks thriving in a wider geographic range, appearing earlier and sticking around later, it's important to stay vigilant about protecting yourself against ticks that cause Lyme disease and other illnesses. Learn some steps you can take to avoid tick bites.

Monitoring daily step count can encourage people to be more active. When it comes to assessing fitness or risk for major illnesses, though, is a new measurement that combines both average steps and heart rate better?

In a 2024 study, researchers found that the short-term brain boosts people receive after doing moderate to vigorous exercise can last 24 hours.

Leg pain may be caused by deep-vein thrombosis (DVT), a blood clot that forms in a deep vein, usually in the leg. Left untreated, the clot may break off, travel to the lungs, and cause blockage in a lung artery, known as pulmonary embolism (PE), which can be life threatening. Diagnosis of DVT and PE may include a review of symptoms, a D-dimer blood test, a leg ultrasound, or a chest CT scan. Both conditions are most often treated with direct-acting oral anticoagulants.

Decreased concentration is often a normal part of aging as the brain's ability to function efficiently gradually declines. People who struggle with concentration when performing tasks can try strategies like avoiding multitasking, taking scheduled breaks, and removing distractions. Other lifestyle behaviors may also affect concentration and should be examined, such as sleep, medication, and caffeine intake. Activities like meditating, reading, and learning a new skill also can help improve mental focus.

Using tobacco in cigars, pipes, or smokeless products such as snuff is associated with distinct heart-related risks.

Intensive blood pressure control that lowers systolic blood pressure (the first number in a reading) below 120 points may lower the risk of cognitive impairment or probable dementia.