CNN – Health

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN Using olive oil instead of margarine, butter or other saturated fats may protect you from dying from cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory disease, dementia, and other conditions, according to a study released Monday. “It’s a combination of both decreasing the amount of saturated fat at the same time you’re increasing the monounsaturated

By Susannah Cullinane, CNN The current Covid-19 surge in the US, fueled by the Omicron variant, could peak later this month — but the next couple of weeks are critical, a health expert says. Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, warns long-term planning is needed to avoid continued stress

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN Exercise is good for you. Breaking a sweat has been shown to improve nearly every organ in the body, fight nearly every disease doctors diagnose and improve nearly every health condition that you might live with on a daily basis. It gets even better. A new study finds exercise boosts levels

By Lisa Drayer, CNN The new year brings with it some old circumstances: working from home, self- isolating again, and having close access to food almost all of the time. Some of us may enjoy more home-cooked meals and not having to walk too far for a snack, but working close to the refrigerator poses

By Katie Hunt, CNN Like many people, historian A. Roger Ekirch thought that sleep was a biological constant — that eight hours of rest a night never really varied over time and place. But while researching nocturnal life in preindustrial Europe and America, he discovered the first evidence that many humans used to sleep in

By Dakin Andone and Susannah Cullinane, CNN About 24% of US hospitals are reporting a “critical staffing shortage,” according to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services, as public health experts warn the Covid-19 surge fueled by the Omicron variant threatens the nation’s health care system. “Given how much infection there is,

By Eryn Mathewson, CNN The last 12 months have been weird for me. I’m a pretty healthy 39-year-old marathon runner. And yet I had a heart attack, was subsequently diagnosed with a rare disease, and broke my right clavicle — all within months of each other, all unexpected and unwelcome. This past year was supposed

By Travis Caldwell, CNN As a Covid-19 testing shortage compounds a burgeoning crisis of new hospitalizations, more states are racing to help hospitals and health care networks with staff and supplies. Staffing shortages are growing as frontline health care workers — who are at a higher risk of exposure — are infected and need to

By Jamie Gumbrecht, Naomi Thomas and Jen Christensen, CNN The US Food and Drug Administration is cautioning against using self-collected throat swabs for Covid-19 tests and says people should use the tests as instructed. “FACT: When it comes to at-home rapid antigen #COVID19 tests, those swabs are for your nose and not your throat,” it

By Jen Christensen, CNN Many people are hearing from their doctors that they have a “mild” Covid-19 infection amid a surge of the highly contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus, but your illness may not feel as minor as “mild” sounds. It was true for Michelle Cordes, a dietician at a Chicago-area hospital. She’s vaccinated

By Madeline Holcombe, CNN As a professionally trained dancer for nearly 20 years, I’ve found that a combination of pirouettes and leaps across the floor can leave me sweaty and breathing heavily on the other side — but I often don’t even notice it. The rush of joy, power and freedom of dancing far outweighs

By Madeline Holcombe, CNN The Omicron variant has sent cases of Covid-19 surging once again, and many businesses, workplaces and schools have reintroduced restrictions to curb the spread. Even for those who have been cautious, the cycle of hope for a return to normalcy followed by the disappointment of rising cases has become exasperating. Part

By John Bonifield, CNN The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance for Covid-19 prevention in K-12 schools on Thursday, aligning the recommendations with the agency’s recently updated Covid-19 quarantine and isolation guidelines for the general public. It also expands its recommendations for screening testing and urges canceling or going virtual with

By Jen Christensen, CNN If you caught Covid-19 over the holidays — and with the highly contagious Omicron variant in circulation, record numbers of people did — you may be wondering what your next steps should be. Here’s what the experts say you should know. I tested positive, but I feel fine. Should I still

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN After getting a dose of Covid-19 vaccine, women had an average menstrual cycle length of about one day longer than usual, according to a study published Thursday. The findings validate some claims from women across social media that the Covid-19 vaccine affected their menstrual cycle. But the change is not clinically

By Naomi Thomas, Virginia Langmaid and Jamie Gumbrecht, CNN Former health advisers to President Joe Biden say the US strategy for the Covid-19 pandemic needs to be updated to face a “new normal” of living with the virus, rather than aiming to eliminate it. In three pieces published in the Journal of the American Medical

By Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent With more than a half-million Americans being officially diagnosed with Covid-19 every day, the need for clear guidance on isolation and quarantine is critically important. Sadly, the guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is continuously changing, confusing and at times contradictory. Dr. Gerald

By Melanie Radzicki McManus, CNN Most people know working out is good for your health, both physical and mental. But staying motivated — especially for the long haul — can be a struggle. Sure, you may get excited about training for a 5K or 10K, but once the race is over, your interest in running

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN Wearing headsets, 18 subjects lay quietly while a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine (fMRI) droned on around their heads. They listened as a female voice recited a famous line from a cherished children’s book, “The Little Prince.” “It is only in the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN Wearing headsets, 18 subjects lay quietly while a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine (fMRI) droned on around their heads. They listened as a female voice recited a famous line from a cherished children’s book, “The Little Prince.” “It is only in the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential

By Katia Hetter, CNN Schools are shutting down and children’s hospitals are filling up with young patients sick from the latest, most highly transmissible coronavirus variant, Omicron. Parents and caregivers are once again faced with what to do to keep their kids safe and occupied during another year of pandemic life. Is it OK to

By Megan Marples, CNN Homes adorned with twinkling holiday lights are a common sight in December, but by January, many lights are gone. Not this year. Many people are looking to keep the holiday spirit going. In communities big and small, people are calling on their fellow neighbors to keep their lights hung through the

By Travis Caldwell, CNN While the highly transmissible Omicron variant continues to drive up Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations — and the numbers are likely to get worse before they get better — health experts say it’s critical Americans continue safe practices to prevent infections. “I don’t buy the idea that we are all going to