Healthy Living

Glucosamine and chondroitin are two of the most popular supplements sold for joint pain. The short answer: for most people with knee osteoarthritis, the best-designed studies show they work no better than a placebo. Some people report real relief, and a minority of trials show modest benefit, but the overall evidence does not support them … Read more

Botox is priced by the unit, and a single unit typically costs between $10 and $20 in the United States. That number is only the starting point, though. The total cost of a treatment depends on how many units you need, where you live, who performs the injection, and which area of the face is … Read more

Your body clock — the internal timing system that controls when you feel alert and when you feel sleepy — runs on a schedule set mostly by light exposure and by the consistency of your daily routine. To sleep earlier, you have to shift that schedule gradually, usually by 15 to 30 minutes per night, … Read more

Strep bacteria can survive on dry surfaces for several days, and in some cases for weeks, depending on the surface and the conditions. On hard, non-porous surfaces like plastic, glass, and stainless steel, strep can stay alive long enough to be picked up by the next person who touches that spot. On soft, porous surfaces … Read more

Central pain syndrome is a chronic pain condition caused by damage to the central nervous system — the brain, brainstem, or spinal cord. It does not fully go away in most people. The underlying injury to the nervous system is typically permanent, and the pain that results from it tends to persist in some form … Read more

A burn keeps hurting because the heat is still doing damage in the tissue, and injured nerve endings keep firing pain signals. The fastest way to make it stop is to cool the burn under cool running water for 20 minutes, starting as soon as possible after the injury. That single step lowers tissue temperature, … Read more

A newborn cannot sit up. Sitting without support is a milestone that typically appears between 6 and 9 months of age, and most babies can sit steadily without help by around 8 months. Before that, a baby’s spine, neck, and core muscles are still developing the strength and control needed to hold the body upright … Read more

A lung capacity test measures how much air your lungs can hold and how quickly you can move that air in and out. The most common version is called spirometry, a breathing test that takes only a few minutes and involves blowing hard into a mouthpiece connected to a machine. The results help doctors detect … Read more

Yes, you can get stretch marks when you lose weight, though it is less common than getting them from weight gain. Stretch marks form when skin stretches or shrinks faster than it can adapt, and rapid weight loss can trigger the same process. The marks are not caused by the weight loss itself but by … Read more

Pneumonia in summer comes from the same germs that cause it in winter — bacteria, viruses, and less often fungi. What changes in warm months is where and how you run into them. You spend more time in air-conditioned rooms, travel more, swim in pools and hot tubs, and breathe in allergens and irritants that … Read more