Why Spring Is the Perfect Time to Take Your Workout Outdoors

This article originally appeared on Time.com. 

When the weather thaws, the plants bloom and the days get longer, it’s spring—and the best time of the year to take your fitness regimen outside. Here are six research-backed perks of al fresco exercise.

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You work harder

When people exercise outside, they tend to spend more time doing it. One study found that older people who were active outdoors did at least 30 minutes more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week than those who only did it inside. It also made them feel healthier. “Nothing makes you feel more childlike than being outdoors,” says Dr. Pamela Peeke, a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and author of Fit to Live. “You’re modulating stress hormones, increasing endorphins and increasing the secretion of serotonin,” she says, so your mood brightens.

RELATED: The Best Places to Live if You Love Outdoor Sports

Being in nature lowers blood pressure

Spending time outside is also good for the heart. A recent study estimated that nearly 10% of people with high blood pressure could get their levels under control if they spent at least 30 minutes in a park each week, partly because of the heart-related benefits of getting fresh air and lowering stress. In Japan, public health experts recommend people spend time walking outdoors, a practice called forest bathing, or shinrin-yoku. Researchers in Japan have linked forest bathing with lower levels of the blood pressure-raising stress hormone, cortisol.

It spurs cancer-fighting cells

Some research suggests that when people are in nature, they inhale aromatic compounds from plants called phytoncides. These can increase their number of natural killer cells, a type of white blood cell that supports the immune system and is linked with a lower risk of cancer. These cells are also believed to be important in fighting infections and inflammation, a common marker of disease.

In one study, researchers found that people who took a long walk through a forest for two days in a row increased their natural killer cells by 50% and the activity of these cells by 56%. Those activity levels also remained 23% higher than usual for the month following those walks.

RELATED: 10 Ways to Burn More Calories During Any Type of Workout

It can feel more fun

When people exercise outside, they feel better and enjoy the exercise more, studies suggest.“Enjoyment is an important pathway to the mental health impacts of physical activity,” says Rebecca Lovell, a research fellow at the University of Exeter in the UK. Exercising outside is also a great alternative for those who don’t want to go to the gym.

A review of research found that people who exercised outside reported feeling more revitalized, engaged and energized than those who did it indoors. The researchers also found that people who exercised outside felt less tension, anger and depression.

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Your mental health may improve improve

Nature has a way of making people feel calm, and exercising outside can strengthen that effect. A small 2015 study found that people who walked for 90 minutes outside were less likely to ruminate on their problems and had less activity in the brain area linked to depression, compared to people who took similar walks but in urban areas. “Nature becomes a major distraction from all the stresses of life,” says Peeke.

You save money

Exercising outdoors is not only convenient, but it’s less expensive than a gym membership. It also cuts costs for the community. A recent study in England of “green exercises”—those done outside, including dog walking, running, horseback riding and mountain biking—estimated that the health benefits of doing physical activity in nature can save around $2.7 billion a year. “All you need is the right pair of shoes, and you can exercise on your own time,” says Peeke.

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Bridal Mind & Body Makeover

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The Inspiring Way This Fitness Bloggers Flips the Script On Negative Self-Talk

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What You Need to Know About Vitamin D and Cancer

This article originally appeared on Time.com. 

Vitamin D helps build healthy bones, but that’s not all it can do. More recent data point to other potential benefits, including staving off dementia and protecting against certain cancers, such as colon and breast cancer.

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But how strong is the evidence? In a new study published in JAMA, Joan Lappe, from the Creighton College of Nursing, and her colleagues randomly assigned about 2,300 women who had gone through menopause to take high doses of vitamin D or a placebo. They tracked the women for four years and look out for any cancer diagnoses.

There were no differences in cancer rates between the two groups, but Lappe says that doesn’t mean that vitamin D doesn’t have an effect on cancer. The women in the study tended to already have high levels of vitamin D in their blood—higher than about 80% of U.S. adults, she notes. Most of the women in the study, even in the placebo group, were taking vitamin D or calcium supplements to try to protect their bones and prevent falls and fractures. That means there may not be much difference in cancer outcomes between the group assigned placebo and the women taking the high doses of vitamin D supplements.

RELATED: 9 Recipes That Contain Vitamin D

Animal studies suggest a number of different ways that vitamin D could be working against cancer. The vitamin stimulates the immune system, which in turn can be activated to target cancer cells; vitamin D may also fight inflammation and other processes that can trigger tumor growth. “I still think the composite of all the evidence together strongly suggests some effect of vitamin D on decreasing cancer risk,” Lappe says.

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Not everyone is so encouraged, and many believe that more research on the topic is needed before vitamin D can be considered an anti-cancer weapon. Many cancers take years to develop, and even in the older population in the current study, a longer follow-up period may be necessary to see reliable trends in cancer rates.

What cancer doctors do agree upon, however, is the fact that vitamin D’s potential link to cancer is worth investigating. Studies involving tens of thousands of people who will be assigned high doses of vitamin D or placebo and followed for cancer and heart disease outcomes are ongoing, and their results will continue to add to knowledge about whether vitamin D can be used to combat cancer.

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4 Natural ‘Cures’ That Can Wreak Havoc on Your Health

It’s a common misconception that natural or alternative medicine treatments are safer than prescription drugs and procedures done in traditional clinical settings. But a recent death from turmeric is proof that even natural treatments can be dangerous.

According to a report from a local ABC News affiliate, Jade Erick from Encinitas, California died after an IV infusion of turmeric, which resulted in an adverse reaction to the spice. Her official cause of death was "anoxic encephalopathy," after her heart stopped and her brain was deprived of oxygen.

Erick had suffered from bouts of eczema, which she hoped the turmeric might cure. But an IV's dose of turmeric is far too much, says Malcolm Taw, MD, director of the UCLA Center for East-West Medicine - Westlake Village. "I recommend turmeric orally, as it's a great anti-inflammatory," he says. "However, some substances can be both poison and remedy."

Dr. Taw had never heard of anyone introducing turmeric to the system via IV infusion—and you should never use an IV of any substance without consulting a doctor first, he says. Also be wary of these other "natural" or alternative treatments, all of which can do serious damage to your health.

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Activated charcoal

Doctors use activated charcoal to treat overdoses, because the substance "binds" harmful chemicals, preventing their absorption in the gut, explains Shanna Levine, MD, a clinical instructor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. "In the alternative medicine community, it is used as a means of decreasing cholesterol through ingestion," she says.

But there's a laundry list of potential side effects: Activated charcoal can reduce the effectiveness of other medications, including birth control. If inhaled instead of swallowed, it may cause lung damage. And it can also lead to upset stomach. "I strongly advise people don't ingest activated charcoal, as the harms outweigh the benefits," says Dr. Levine.

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Aconite

Another California woman died recently after drinking tea containing the Chinese herb aconite, according to the San Francisco Department of Health. When consumed, the purple plant might cause nausea, chest pain, heart palpitations, limb weakness or paralysis. 

While raw aconite is poisonous, processed aconite is sometimes used in small amounts in the alternative medicine community to treat pain. But Dr. Taw recommends avoiding it altogether.

RELATED: 19 Natural Remedies for Anxiety

Hydrogen peroxide

Believe it or not, some alternative medicine stores sell high-concentration hydrogen peroxide as a natural health-booster. According to a recent paper published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, some 300 people were poisoned and five died after consuming the substance.

"For people who follow these regiments, the instructions involve placing a dropper-full of high-concentration peroxide into a large quantity of water or another liquid, so it's fairly diluted," author Benjamin Hatten, MD, assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, told Health in a prior interview. "People believe that it's hyper-oxygenating, putting extra oxygen into your beverage, and that it somehow improves your health."

There's no scientific truth to back up these cleans, though, so don't be fooled—and definitely don't drink it. "If you accidentally take too much, it could have very serious consequences," says Dr. Hatten.

 

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Social Media Star Shows the Dramatic Difference Between Posed and Unposed Lingerie Photos

Scientists Can Reverse DNA Aging in Mice

This article originally appeared on Time.com. 

Researchers have found a way to protect a mouse’s DNA from the damage that comes with aging, and they’re ready to test it in people.

Dr. David Sinclair, from Harvard Medical School, and his colleagues reveal their new findings in the latest issue of Science. They focused on an intriguing compound with anti-aging properties called NAD+, short for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. It’s been known that younger mice had more of it than older mice and back in 2013, the researchers found that when they boosted the NAD+ levels in older mice, they looked, biologically, like much younger animals.

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In the latest paper, the scientists revealed new details on how NAD+ works to keep cells young. Sinclair put drops of NAD+ into the water of a group of mice, and within a couple of hours, their NAD+ levels started to rise. Within the first week, the scientists saw obvious age reversal in muscle and improvements in DNA repair. “We can’t tell the difference between the tissues from an old mouse that is two years old versus a young mouse that is three to four months old,” Sinclair says.

The reason they think NAD+ has these effects is because the compound is linked to DNA repair functions in the body. Each time cells divide, DNA copies itself—but it’s not always a perfect process, and errors are sometimes introduced, causing damage to the DNA. (Exposure to certain chemicals, environmental pollutants and medical radiation from CT scans can also damage DNA.) Normally, most of these insults can be repaired, as long as there’s enough of the a DNA-repair compound, called PARP1.

This repair compound and NAD+ are intimately linked. When NAD+ levels are high, PARP1 is activated and can do its job. But when NAD+ levels drop—as they do in older people—PARP1 also starts to decline, which leads to accumulating DNA damage.

RELATED: The 9 Anti-Aging Products Our Editors Can’t Live Without

Scientists have harnessed this to target cancer cells. A class of cancer drugs called PARP inhibitors, which are prescribed for breast cancer, interfere with PARP’s ability to repair DNA in the tumor, which ultimately leads to their demise. But not all people who take the drug respond well to it, and manipulating NAD+ levels may be one way to enhance their response.

The ultimate test, of course, will be to see if such quick reversal of aging in tissues is also possible in people. Sinclair co-founded a company in Boston, called MetroBiotech, to take the leap of developing and testing a human-grade version of NAD+. He has formulated a capsule version of a precursor to NAD+ called nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN)—a naturally occurring compound found in small amounts in foods like broccoli, cucumber, avocado and edamame—and plans to test 25 people to see if the compound is safe.

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If those studies are positive, Sinclair hopes the idea of using NAD+ to protect DNA from age-related damage might have broader applications, such as shielding cancer patients from the side effects of radiation treatments or even protecting people who are exposed to higher radiation work environments from DNA damage.

“The idea is to protect the body from radiation exposure here on earth, either naturally occurring or doctor-inflicted,” he says. “If I were going to have an X-ray or a CT scan, I would take NMN beforehand.” He already has plans to go even farther than earth: NASA is collaborating with Sinclair’s group on the human tests to see if it’s possible to insulate astronauts from the effects of cosmic radiation in space.

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These Are the Risks of Breast Implants, According to a Surgeon

There are risks involved in every surgical procedure, but this is one you may not have expected: Earlier this week, the FDA reported 359 cases and nine deaths from a rare cancer linked to breast implants.

The cancer is anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), which impacts the cells around the implant. This non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is not a form of breast cancer, but can rather be found in the skin or lymph nodes. "It has presented in women who had problems with the implant, like lumps or asymetry," says Clara Lee, MD, a reconstructive surgeon at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Women have breast implants for two reasons: augmentation or reconstruction after mastectomies. The cancer could develop in either situation, though the risk is low. ALCL is estimated to occur in 1 in 300,000 women with implants.

"The cancer seems to be slow-growing, and most of the women had the tumor removed and treated," Dr. Lee explains. "But there are enough cases now, in addition to deaths, that the FDA issued this warning."

Aside from ALCL, there are other risks involved with breast implants that any woman considering the procedure should know. Dr. Lee highlights the following for her patients before they go under the knife.

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Just after surgery

Dr. Lee says she advises her patients that they could see issues right away. "Shortly after surgery, most of the risks have to do with the healing process," she explains. "The incisions could heal slower than usual, or the patient could develop an infection." In the latter case, antibiotics might be administered. If that doesn't work, the surgeon may have to remove the implants.

Within the first year

As the implants settle in, there are occasional problems, says Dr. Lee. The first is "implant malposition," where you might notice the implant isn't sitting right within the breast. This can happen for any number of reasons, as the implant moves or shifts before or after surgery. "The other risk is rippling of the implant," Dr. Lee says, which you might be able to feel or notice beneath the skin.

During the first several years

Dr. Lee says that the risks about which patients are most concerned arise within the first few years after their surgery. The two biggest ones are the implant leaking and capsular contracture.

Implants may develop a hole in the outer layer of silicone from wear-and-tear. In the case of a leak, some women have the implant removed and replaced, while others may not notice right away and simply live with a small puncture, says Dr. Lee. Before gel silicone implants were introduced, the risk of a leak was around 10% in the first decade; now, Dr. Lee says that risk has dropped a bit.

Capsular contracture occurs when a layer of scar tissue develops around the implant, causing the capsule of tissue around the breast to shrink, and the breasts to feel too hard or firm. The issue can range from mild to severe, and Dr. Lee says some patients may elect to undergo a capsulectomy to take the implant out temporarily, and remove the thickened capsule.

RELATED: What the Perfect Breast Looks Like, According to Men and Women

Five to 10 years later

In terms of long-ranging undesired outcomes, Dr. Lee says a patient should still be aware of leaking, capsular contracture and ALCL—all of which can develop in 5 or 10 years after surgery. In the case of the cancer, tell your doctor if you develop any symptoms like hardness, swelling, redness or pain in the breast.

Dr. Lee says a common misconception is that you must have implants replaced after the 10-year mark. If there are no issues, there may not be a need; but the FDA estimates 20% of women will need to have their implants removed or replaced within the first 8 to 10 years.

Before and after surgery, talk to your plastic surgeon about all options and risks involved in the procedure, urges Dr. Lee.

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What to Know About the Breast Implants Linked to Cancer

This article originally appeared on Time.com. 

Nine women in the U.S. have died due to a rare cancer associated with their breast implants, federal officials announced on Tuesday.

The U.S. Food and Drug Association (FDA) reported that as of Feb. 1, the agency had received 359 reports of a cancer of the immune system, called anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), linked to breast implants. According to the FDA the risk for the cancer appears to be higher with textured breast implants as opposed to smooth ones, but the agency is not yet sure why.

RELATED: Carnie Wilson Will Undergo Surgery to Remove Ruptured Breast Implants

The FDA was able to determine whether the surfaces of the implants were textured or smooth for 231 of the implants. Among those, 203 were textured, compared to 28 that were smooth.

About 300,000 women in the U.S. get breast implants each year, and cancer from the implants is rare. However, the potential risks raise questions.

What are textured implants made of?

There are two types of breast implants that are approved in the United states: saline or silicone gel-filled implants. All breast implants have an outer layer that is made of silicone, but they can have different shapes, sizes and textures. They can also vary in thickness.

How common are textured implants?

Currently there are no publicly available numbers to indicate how common textured implants are versus smooth ones, but according to Dr. David Song, the immediate past president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), textured implants are very common. “I think surgeons use them interchangeably,” he says, adding that the link between textured implants and a higher risk for ALCL is still not confirmed. “It’s still exceptionally rare, but it is real, and we want to figure out what the cause is.”

Why are textured implants used?

One of the most common complications associated with breast implants is called capsular contracture, which is when scar tissue forms around the breast implant, making it hard and tight. It can distort the look of the breasts, and in some cases cause pain for women. Some plastic surgeons feel that a textured implant prevents the build up of scar tissue. Textured implants tend to be stiffer, and may be more ideal for people who want an implant with a more distinct shape.

Why might they have a higher risk for cancer?

The FDA says it doesn’t know why the risk appears to be higher with textured implants. The ASPS has an ongoing registry with the FDA where doctors can report suspected cases of ALCL from breast implants in order to learn more.

Some research has suggested that textured implants are more likely than smooth implants to develop a bacterial coating, which may increase the risk of infection, cancer, or implant failure. However, the link is not definitive. The FDA says more research is needed to understand what’s at play.

RELATED: The Cancer-Soy Connection Is Getting Less Confusing

What else should I know?

Symptoms for breast implant-associated ALCL are persistent swelling or pain around the implant. The symptoms can often appear years after the initial implant procedure. The cancer is rare, but women should also be aware of the fact that the FDA does not consider breast implants to be procedures that last a lifetime.

“The life of these devices varies according to the individual,” Gretchen Burns, a nurse consultant at FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) said in a statement. “All women with implants will face additional surgeries—no one can tell them when.”

The FDA warns that the longer a woman has breast implants, the higher her chance for complications and further surgeries, adding that few women will keep their original implants for 20 to 30 years.

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This Model Embraced Her Stretch Marks in Target's Body-Positive Swim Shoot

How a Camera Flash Helped a Dad Detect His Son's Cancer

This article originally appeared on RealSimple.com. 

Can a camera flash detect an otherwise invisible cancer? A news story gone viral this week shows that it can—and that it even has the potential to save lives.

MetroUK reported last week that a quick-thinking dad in England recently noticed that, in photos of his 14-month-old son Jaxson, one of Jaxson’s eyes glowed white—rather than the typical “red eye” that most people have in pictures.

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After doing some research online, Jaxson’s dad mentioned the anomaly to his doctor. Soon, Jaxson was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a type of eye cancer, and began undergoing chemotherapy.

Thanks to early detection, doctors say the tumor has already shrunk to a third of its size and they hope it will remain benign, giving Jaxson the chance at a long, healthy life.

Mohammed Jaafar, MD, chief of ophthalmology at Children’s National Health System, says this father’s astute observations likely saved his child’s life. “This is a common symptom, but many parents don’t give it a second thought,” says Dr. Jaafar, who was not involved in Jaxson’s case. “They wait to see the pediatrician and don’t mention it for several months, but we know that cancer really needs to be diagnosed and treated early.”

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Retinoblastoma is rare, and is usually diagnosed in children before age 5. It accounts for about 4 percent of all cancers in children under age 15, according to the National Institutes of Health, and is diagnosed in 250 to 350 children a year in the United States.

In healthy eyes, the red-eye camera effect occurs because light is reflecting off of pink-colored tissue in the retina, at the back of the eye, says Dr. Jaafar. The telltale white reflection that Jaxson’s father noticed—technically called leukocoria—occurs because the tumor grows in front of that pink tissue, and gives off a white reflection, instead.

“This is often the first symptom in children with retinoblastoma,” says Dr. Jaafar. “You might notice it when light hits the eye in certain ways, but it’s usually most obvious in photographs that used a camera flash.”

A white reflection in the eyes doesn’t always indicate an eye tumor, he adds. It can also be caused by a cataract, a detached retina, or inflammation of the eye for another reason. But regardless, the symptom is worth being checked out ASAP by a doctor.

Other signs of retinoblastoma can include crossed eyes or loss of vision in one eye, which parents may notice when playing games like peek-a-boo with young children. In very advanced cases, the eye can become enlarged and bulging.

RELATED: I Have a Disease That Makes My Thyroid Go Haywire

In many cases, retinoblastoma can be successfully treated if caught early. “In 2017, we have multiple treatments that can often times save the eye and definitely save the lives of these children,” says Dr. Jaafar. Most commonly, doctors use chemotherapy to shrink the tumor or cryotherapy to freeze and kill the cancer cells.

Jaxson’s dad isn’t the first parent to call attention to the importance of a seemingly meaningless camera glitch. In 2014, a 3-year-old was diagnosed with Coat’s disease after a family friend noticed her eye was glowing in a Facebook photo. Also that year, a father introduced a smartphone app—called White Eye Detector—to help other parents detect leukocoria after his own son was diagnosed with retinoblastoma.

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SoulCycle Master Instructor Stacey Griffith Shares How Fitness Helped Her After Hitting Rock Bottom

This article originally appeared on People.com. 

Griffith has been teaching at SoulCycle for 11 years, becoming a senior master instructor and even going on a motivational tour with Oprah.

But Griffith didn’t always lead a health-conscious life. In her new book, Two Turns from Zero, she reveals that she struggled with self-confidence, which led to her to drink excessively, do drugs and party.

“It was self-doubt and fear,” Griffith, 49, tells PEOPLE of what led her to rock bottom. “I had a lot of fear of failure. I had that voice in my head. My whole life I thought, I didn’t finish college so I was never going to succeed.”

Even when she was battling her demons, Griffith says exercise was a constant force in her life.

“I always had fitness,” she says. “The stumbling block is usually, how do you get off the couch? How do you leave the house? I need to bring this back to fitness because fitness will heal you. I focused on my fitness. I got certified on every single aspect of the body, every class, I’m certified on six different bikes. I had that confidence and I had the knowledge. Knowledge really is power.”

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Griffith decided to share her personal story in her book, which also includes fitness advice, nutrition counseling and meditations, because she wanted readers to be able to relate to her journey.

“I wanted people to get to know me,” she says. “I wanted to have that personal story because it took a lot for me to get here. This did not happen overnight. This is years of discovery, and going from A to Z and getting a little tripped up on the initial letters. I just pulled it together, and the book is all about how you can pull together.”

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Griffith truly believes that fitness can be healing for anyone that embraces it.

“My book teaches people how to manifest the things they want in their life through exercising,” she says. “If you don’t have a SoulCycle in your community, you have a YMCA, you have a community center, you have a hike, you have a lake. You have to go out and you have to move.”

She also emphasizes the importance of surrounding yourself with a supportive network, and not being afraid to ask for help.

RELATED: Depressed? 12 Mental Tricks to Turn It Around

“You have to have your squad,” says Griffith. “If you don’t have a group around you that’s giving you positive motivation and good advice, then you have to change your squad.”

Griffith also believes small steps can lead to major progress, and emphasizes the importance of focusing on the bigger picture.

“It starts with purpose,” she says. “Write down affirmations, make lists of what you have to do to get your head on straight, things as simple as ‘Walk’ and ‘Call your mom.’ “

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Why Perfectly Healthy People Are Using Diabetes Monitors

This article originally appeared on Time.com. 

For about a month, Tabb Firchau, an entrepreneur living in Seattle, has been wearing a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), a federally approved medical device that tracks blood sugar levels for people with diabetes. The CGM patch has a small needle that probes the inside of his arm, and a sensor that tracks changes to his blood sugar in real-time. The data is then sent to his smartphone.

Firchau bought his CGM off eBay for about $300. “I track almost everything, from sleep to exercise,” says Firchau. “I’ve been trying to learn why some days I feel fantastic, and other days I don’t. I had a cinnamon roll recently and my blood glucose doubled in 60 minutes. The monitor helps you understand the costs of the decisions you are making.”

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He couldn’t get one from his doctor, because Firchau doesn’t actually have diabetes. Rather, he’s part of a small but growing group of people who are wearing CGMs to track—and then hack—what goes on in their own bodies. And if enterprising startups like Sano Intelligence, which Gizmodo wrote about in February, are successful, a CGM marketed to the general public may not that be far off.

A healthy person wearing a diabetes device may seem odd, but in the quantified-self movement, people like Firchau say it makes sense to track their blood sugar, especially given all the recent attention to the risks associated with overconsumption of sugar and processed carbohydrates, like diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.

Everyone’s blood sugar levels change throughout the day, and especially after they eat, but those fluctuations are important to track for people with diabetes, since their body doesn’t regulate blood sugar on its own. For people without diabetes, however, the pancreas naturally releases insulin to keep levels in check.

Since the first CGM was approved in 2005, some people with diabetes have used the devices to help monitor their blood sugar, rather than take finger pricks throughout the day to check it manually. The devices take a measurement every one to five minutes, and people can set alarms to alert them whenever their levels are dangerously high or low.

“I think it’s chuckle-worthy and interesting that a diabetes tool would make its way mainstream,” says Aaron Kowalski, chief mission officer at the diabetes nonprofit JDRF, who also has type 1 diabetes. “ But I guarantee if you wore one to McDonald’s, your blood sugar would spike and you’d learn a lot about nutrition.”

RELATED: 5 Strange Symptoms That Could Be Early Signs of Diabetes

Using a CGM, even when it’s medically necessary, is not cheap. Parts of the device have to be replaced every couple of weeks or months and it’s estimated that CGMs cost $5–10 per day, or around $3,000 a year. For people with type 1 diabetes, that can be covered by insurance. But people without the disease must either convince a doctor to prescribe one or purchase them online on sites like eBay. Even if a doctor prescribes one, it’s highly unlikely insurance would cover it for someone without diabetes.

Five diabetes experts I spoke with for this story do not think the trend is dangerous. Though a CGM is attached to the wearer’s body, it’s considered a minimally invasive device. “I don’t think there’s any risk,” says Boris Kovatchev, director of the University of Virginia (UVA) Center for Diabetes Technology. “Unless people get too fixated.”

Some doctors who don’t have diabetes even wear CGMs themselves. Dr. Steven Russell, a diabetes expert at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and his research collaborator Dr. Ed Damiano of Boston University, say they wear CGM monitors semi-regularly for demonstration purposes and to test new versions—and they learn a lot each time.

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“I am fascinated to see how my blood glucose changes after different meals,” says Russell. “You look at that muffin and remember what it did your blood glucose, and make a different choice. There’s no reason why people without diabetes wouldn’t be interested that.”

During a particularly stressful point in his life, Damiano—who is quite far along in developing and bringing to market a bionic pancreas—says he noticed his blood sugar running higher than normal. “It was a clear indication that stress has an impact on you, even without diabetes,” he says. “It caused me to make a deliberate decision to deal with [the stress].”

Exercise is known to be helpful for blood sugar regulation and Damiano says he notices “profound” drops in his blood sugar while on walks in the woods with his wife. “If you have a meal and blood sugar rises, take a walk, it’s like magic,” he says. “It can reinforce people to think about exercise after meals.”

RELATED: 9 Ways to Quit Sugar for Good

However, experts admit there’s no research showing wearing a CGM can improve a person without diabetes’ health. So far all evidence is anecdotal. Though it’s unlikely the devices would cause any major safety problems beyond possible rashes or infections at the injection site, that hasn’t been studied in people without diabetes either. UVA’s Kovatchev also argues that CGMs could be more helpful for people without diabetes with some fine-tuning. “There’s a need for some analytics that could process the data appropriately and provide [actionable] information to people versus a datastream every five minutes,” he says.

That reality may not be so far off. As Gizmodo reported in February, the company Sano Intelligence is planning to release a CGM for the general public. The device may be released in beta later this year.

Firchau says he believes monitoring blood sugar via CGM will likely become common practice. “It motivates you,” he says. “I see a future where this is an incredible tool to empower people to take control of what goes into their mouth.” Until then, it remains a helpful device for people with chronic disease, and a plaything for personal data enthusiasts.

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Prince's Ex Mayte Garcia on the Moment Their Son Amiir Was Born With a Rare Genetic Disorder

This article originally appeared on People.com. 

In a new memoir, Prince’s ex-wife Mayte Garcia shares the story of their four-year marriage and the tragedy that tore them apart. Subscribe now for the exclusive excerpt – only in PEOPLE.

He was the baby Prince and his then-wife Mayte Garcia had long hoped for. They named him Amiir — Arabic for “prince” — while he was in Mayte’s womb, and listened to his heartbeat in anticipation of his birth. But the baby, born Oct. 16, 1996, had Pfeiffer syndrome type 2, a rare genetic disorder, and lived just six days.

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In her new memoir, The Most Beautiful: My Life with Prince, excerpted exclusively in this week’s PEOPLE, Garcia tells the story of their passionate love, their excitement about the baby, and the pain and heartbreak of Amiir’s short life which forever haunted them both.

“I don’t think he ever got over it,” Garcia, now 43, tells PEOPLE of her ex-husband, who died last April from an accidental overdose. “I don’t know how anybody can get over it. I know I haven’t.”

When Garcia, then 22, discovered she was pregnant, she and Prince were overjoyed at the thought of raising a family at their home in Paisley Park. The pregnancy went smoothly until she began bleeding one day and a doctor recommended an amniocentesis to test for genetic abnormalities. The procedure, the doctor warned, carried a risk of miscarriage.

Yet as the doctor told them: “Sometimes the body is trying to release the fetus for a reason.” But Prince, Garcia writes, was against it: “My husband said, ‘No, we’re not doing that.'”

Once home, the couple prayed for his health.

“Please, bless this child,” said Prince as he prayed on his knees. “We know you won’t allow this child to be harmed.”

But further exams revealed more complications.

During one appointment, the obstetrician told them the ultrasound measurements were off and said, “It’s possible that we’re seeing a form of dwarfism.”

Writes Garcia, “My husband and I looked at each other and shrugged. ‘And?’ he said. ‘I’m totally fine with that.’ I laughed. Of all the possible outcomes that had been offered to us, this was the first one that didn’t terrify me.”

Still, she writes, the doctor warned them of genetic abnormalities that could be life-threatening and again recommended an amnio, yet Prince continued to refuse medical intervention.

On Oct. 16, 1996, Garcia delivered their son via c-section. At first, she writes, she and Prince were elated: “I don’t know how to describe the look on my husband’s face. Pure joy.”

“And then they held the baby up to those harsh lights,” she continues. “The elation on my husband’s face turned to pure terror.”

“Pfeiffer syndrome type 2 is a genetic disorder that causes skeletal and systematic abnormalities,” she writes. “The premature fusing of the bones in the skull, sometimes resulting in ‘cloverleaf skull,’ in which the eyes are outside the sockets. The fusion of bones in the hands and feet causing a webbed or pawlike appearance … I learned all of this later.”

For much more on Mayte Garcia and the new Prince book, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.

After the O.R. nurses frantically began working to save Amiir’s life, she heard her husband saying, “Why is he not crying?”

“They brought the baby over to us,” she writes. “He was curled on his side, gasping shallow little gulps of air. Because there were no lids to blink, his eyes looked startled and dry. I caught hold of his tiny hand, saying over and over, ‘Mama loves you, Mama’s here.'”

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In the days that followed, Amiir underwent multiple procedures and the doctor recommended a tracheotomy. “After six days he was struggling to breathe,” writes Garcia. “And I said to the doctor, ‘He’s not leaving here, is he?'”

He died at six days old.

Garcia says sharing such wrenching memories in her book was difficult. “I’ve been making notes of my life but when it finally came time to write it, it took me back and I cried many tears,” she tells PEOPLE. “But I also think that it’s liberating.”

She wanted to make sure her book was one of the first to be published after Prince’s death last April. “I knew there was going to be a lot of stuff coming out about him, negative and positive,” she says. “I wanted mine to come from love.”

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Carnie Wilson Will Undergo Surgery to Remove Ruptured Breast Implants

Tracy Anderson Talks About Her Body Image Struggles and Offers Advice for Teens in New Book

This article originally appeared on People.com. 

Tracy Anderson has used her fitness expertise to shape some of Hollywood’s most notable bodies — including Jennifer Lopez and Gwyneth Paltrow — and now she’s using her research and experience to help teenage girls embrace their own bodies and get healthy in a positive way.

“After spending almost 20 focused years helping people find comfort in their own skin, I saw a huge preventative opportunity to make sure teen girls never lose their connection to being themselves and having to find it again,” Anderson tells PEOPLE about the inspiration for her new book, Total Teen: Tracy Anderson’s Guide to Health, Happiness, and Ruling Your World. “It’s hard for teens to show up for their health correctly when we live in such a trendy world.”

RELATED: This Is Tracy Anderson’s Go-To Arm Workout

She suggests that teens struggling with self-esteem take media images of the body with a grain of salt, and focus on being their best selves instead.

“Slow down the noise in your head,” she says. “It’s all a vicious cycle of some editor sitting up in some tower airbrushing people to look like something dreamy. The issue is that teens need to understand that this falls into entertainment and art. It isn’t real. When you can take a deep breath and recognize a human form that has been turned into art, versus the true natural beauty of the incredible human you are, you can come to appreciate your own physical self.”

“It would be so boring if we were all the same,” she continues. “Knowing that you are enough and you are who you are meant to be can really calm the noise.”

Anderson herself is no stranger to having body image issues. As a teenager, the Tracy Anderson Method creator struggled with body acceptance after inexplicably gaining weight that left her feeling uncomfortable in her own skin.

“At 19, I gained almost 40 lbs. at school,” she says. “There wasn’t a support system for me to learn what could be happening or identify and heal this imbalance in a healthy way. I felt awkward and ashamed going to class. I felt like I was failing unintentionally, and it ultimately made me feel like the roadblock was too big for me to live my passion successfully and in a healthy way.”

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Anderson says she finally got past these mental roadblocks when she met with a doctor who taught her how to find balance in her body by focusing on muscular structure.

“Studying his work initially unlocked hope for me that there really could be a solution to creating balance in our bodies before or when imbalances arise,” she says.

RELATED: Tracy Anderson's Best Moves for Killer Legs

Anderson got to a place where she felt comfortable with her body “when I got physically available to myself on my own terms,” she says. “I feel like this is truly key. There is so much noise about what is ‘pretty’ or ‘healthy’ or ‘sexy’ or ‘trendy’ with our physical bodies that people don’t even know how to own their own body or assess what they even want.”

In her book — due out in December — Anderson includes strength and dance cardio workouts and simple healthy recipes, but also shares motivational stories in hopes that they will inspire active living and positive self-image in young girls.

“It’s about physically respecting and processing what it means to be a balanced and healthy individual. I hope everyone walks away shining their lights even brighter.”

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Try This Meditation Technique to Quiet Your Inner Critic Once and for All

Want to develop more kindness for yourself, for your loved ones, even for people you can’t stand? Starting a practice of lovingkindness (known in the Buddhist tradition as metta), can help. The good news is you don’t have to be an expert meditator to try it; you can add it to your existing routine, or use it as an entry point into a new practice.

To learn more, we spoke with expert Sharon Salzberg. She’s a co-founder of the esteemed Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, and the best-selling author of many books, including Lovingkindness. (Her newest book, Real Love, comes out in June.)

We asked Salzberg about the benefits of lovingkindness meditation, and how it relates to mindfulness in general. “To be mindful means to have a kind of interested, balanced awareness of what’s happening to us,” she explains. “But because our inner critic may be very strong, mindfulness is not that easy to accomplish. For a lot of people, doing a practice like lovingkindness can change our default response from one of self-judgment, fear, or anger, to a sense of connection and greater spaciousness, and it can form a foundation for being able to practice mindfulness. It’s a great experiment to try.”

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How to do it

Start by finding a quiet place to sit, closing your eyes, and drawing your awareness to the sensations in your body. You might feel your feet touching the floor, or your legs against the chair. Next, bring your attention to the in and out flow of your breathing at one spot. That could be the feeling of your belly rising and falling with each breath, or the sensation of air flowing through your nose. As you direct your attention to your breath, your mind will inevitably wander. When it does, simply notice it doing so, and without judgment, bring your attention back to your breathing. Try doing this for a few minutes to start, and gradually extend the length of your sessions until you can sit for 20 or so minutes at a time. It takes practice, but over time, you’ll begin to notice you feel calmer, more focused, and more aware of your moment-to-moment experience.

Once you get the hang of basic meditation, you can add lovingkindness by saying the following phrases, quietly to yourself or in your head:

“May I be happy of heart. 

May I be free from suffering. 

May I be healthy and strong. 

May I live with ease.” 

You might even place your hand gently on your chest to invoke a connection to your heart.

Next, say the same four phrases again, this time directed toward a loved one, friend, or benefactor:

“May you be happy of heart.

May you be free from suffering.…”

Then try saying them for someone who you don’t know well but is a part of your daily life, someone to whom you have a neutral feeling. “Many of us are in the habit of going into that grocery store and looking right through the clerk instead of at him, even if you’ve seen him a million times,” Salzberg explains. “We often objectify people so they become like pieces of furniture to us, but through the offering of the phrases [to a neutral person] we’re learning to pay full attention to someone, rather than discounting them.”

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Next, say the phrases for someone you have difficulty with. The person could be someone you know, someone you don’t, someone you consider an enemy. 

This step can be challenging, but it’s worth trying.  “We often categorize certain people as all bad, all the time, which may be our experience with them, but there is a rigidity to that way of thinking which keeps us afraid and cut off,” Salzberg says. “If we want to take some risks with our attention and try wishing for them to be free of suffering, things may begin to move within ourselves: You may still not like that person, you may still not want to bring them home with you, but you may be able to grow that sense that our lives have something to do with one another.”

If you’re having trouble really feeling lovingkindess for someone you consider an enemy, you can also try picturing them as a baby, or near death, or in an unusual setting. Salzberg explains: “Although the phrases can be helpful in building a base of concentration, lovingkindness is also a practice that engages our creative imagination. The truth is that we were all infants once, and were so helpless and subject to the actions around us. And the truth is we will all die, so you can tap into the kind of poignancy to life that we all share.” 

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If you’re practicing lovingkindness for someone who’s shown you bad behavior, you might also imagine them at a safe remove from yourself, such as on an island with no boat. As you work with them in mind, “it might help you feel safe, like this person’s not going to take advantage of me,” Salzberg explains.

Finally, say the phrases again for all living creatures everywhere:

“May all beings be happy of heart.

May all beings be free from suffering.…”

However we might like it to, the point of lovingkindess is not to magically change other people from afar. “One thing I usually emphasize,” Salzberg says, “is that the essence of metta practice, and using the phrases, is paying attention differently.  It’s not trying to force yourself to feel something you don’t feel, and it’s not trying to cover over some difficult feelings you might have with a kind of veneer of being saccharine. Rather, it’s about transforming our own way of seeing ourselves and seeing others in the world.”

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When you’re ready to give it a try, work it into your next meditation session. Salzberg says you can do it right when you sit down to meditate, or toward the end of a sitting.

“Some people like it at the beginning because it creates a kind of warm environment so that you can go on to practicing mindfulness with a little more kindness toward yourself,” she explains.  “Most people like to do it at the end, because it’s a reminder that the inner work we do when we mediate is not really just for ourselves, but it’s also about how we are with our families and friends and communities. It can serve as a really nice bridge between the inner life and actual life.”

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Use This Trick to Get an Amazing Memory

This article originally appeared on RealSimple.com.

If you’ve ever watched someone memorize and recite back a string of numbers or a long list of words and thought, “I wish I could do that,” we’ve got good news: You totally can. A simple mnemonic device used by world-class memory athletes can be taught—and mastered—by “normal” people too, according to a new study.

The brain-training trick, known as “method of loci,” involves pairing each item to be memorized with a mental image of a landmark along a familiar route—like your walk to work or to a local store. Researchers say that making these associations, and traveling that route in your mind, can not only help you remember those items better; it can also strengthen memory-related pathways in your brain.

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For their new study, scientists at Stanford University and Radboud University Medical Center in The Netherlands gave functional MRI scans to 17 memory athletes and 51 people with no special memorization skills. Then they pitted them against each other in test to memorize a list of 72 words. After 20 minutes of prep time, the memory athletes were able to recall 71 words on average, while the others averaged about 40. (One of the study authors is a World Memory Champion himself, who can memorize about 500 digits or 100 words in five minutes.)

The researchers then divided the non–memory athletes into three groups, assigning them to receive either six weeks of online training in the method of loci; six weeks of training to improve a different type of memory, called working memory; or no training at all.

RELATED: 9 Foods That May Help Save Your Memory

When they were retested six weeks later, the group that received method of loci training had improved dramatically, recalling almost as many words as the memory athletes. Even four months after completing their training, they scored similar results.

Brain scans taken after the training also showed changes in connectivity patterns, which now resembled those of the memory athletes. In fact, the degree of improvement seen in the brain’s memory networks directly predicted how well a person performed on the recall test. No significant memory gains, or MRI changes, were noted among the other two groups.

The study, published Wednesday in Neuron, suggests that you don’t need natural ability to become a world-class memory champ—just plenty of practice. And it’s practice that anyone can do: The method of training used in the study is available at memocamp.com, a website that offers several training programs, including a free trial package. (Memocamp did not sponsor the study and the authors have no financial interest in it, but participants were provided free access to its programs.) 

Unfortunately, says lead author Martin Dresler, PhD, this specific skill won’t necessarily translate into better memory in other areas of life. When they’re not paying attention and actively applying the mnemonic method, he says, “even memory champions do forget names or their keys.”

RELATED: Common Memory Problems Solved

But this type of memory training is still good for more than just party tricks, says Dresler, an assistant professor of cognitive neuroscience at Radboud University; it can also help in educational settings—like studying for exams—as well.

And it’s unknown whether this type of training might have longer-term benefits, like helping to prevent cognitive decline. “I guess training in the method of loci wouldn't do much better or worse than other cognitive training regimes in this regard,” says Dresler. He does note, however, that older adults may be able to use mnemonic devices to compensate, at least somewhat, for age-related memory impairment.   

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13 Body-Positive Influencers You Should Follow on Instagram

5 Zika Health Problems Experts Say Could Affect Anyone

This article originally appeared on Time.com. 

March isn’t mosquito season in much of the United States, but scientists are still busy studying the various health problems caused by the mysterious mosquito-borne Zika virus. While experts know more about the virus than they did over a year ago, and they know it can cause birth defects in babies, the full spectrum of Zika related health risks—including the ones that may impact adults—is unknown.

For instance, in a new report that will be presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 66th Annual Scientific Session, researchers found that Zika may cause heart problems in otherwise healthy adults, which was unknown until now. “As days go by, and more people are infected, we see different aspects of the virus,” says study author Dr. Karina Gonzalez Carta, a cardiologist and research fellow at Mayo Clinic.

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Here are some of the health problems linked to Zika that researchers find most worrying.

Heart problems: In the new study, Carta analyzed nine adults in Venezuela with no prior history of heart disease who complained of heart-related symptoms. Carta and her team found that eight of the people had developed a heart rhythm issue, and six had evidence of heart failure. Since the study size was small, it’s hard to know how common it is to develop heart problems after a Zika infection, but Carta says she’s found more people with heart issues since she wrote her study.

“We need to create awareness,” says Carta. “People should know this is possible.” The people in the study have been followed since July 2016, and while most of their symptoms have abated, they are not gone altogether.

RELATED: U.S. Launches Early Trial of Zika Vaccine

Guillain-Barré Syndrome: Close to 15 countries have reported cases of muscle-weakening Guillain-Barré syndrome in people with Zika infections. The health complication is characterized by arm and leg weakness, and in some serious cases, Guillain-Barré can harm the muscles that control a person’s ability to breathe. Very few people die from the Guillain-Barré, but symptoms can be chronic.

Hearing and vision problems: Microcephaly can cause vision and hearing problems among infants, but two studies published in December 2016 found cases of hearing and vision loss among adults with Zika. In one report researchers identified three people in Brazil who developed hearing loss that lasted from a few days to a month. Another report published in the journal The Lancet detailed a case where a 26-year-old American man was infected with Zika after traveling to Puerto Rico and later developed vision problems which included seeing flashing lights. Thankfully his vision returned after a few weeks. More research is needed, but the study authors argue that doctors treating people with Zika should be aware of these potential side effects.

RELATED: Zika Lasts Way Longer During Pregnancy: Study

Microcephaly: The most well-known health problem caused by Zika is severe microcephaly, which is a birth defect characterized by an abnormally small head. Babies born with microcephaly often have smaller brains due to improper development, which is why the head size remains small too. Infants with microcephaly often have several other health complications, like seizures, trouble swallowing, vision and hearing problems, and balance issues. In the U.S., nearly 50 babies born to women with Zika infections have had birth defects.

Congenital Zika Syndrome: Many infants infected with Zika during pregnancy develop Congenital Zika syndrome, which is a combination of birth defects beyond just microcephaly. The syndrome also includes less brain tissue overall, damage to the back of the eye, joints with limited range of motion, and too much muscle tone, which makes it harder for the babies to move. It’s not completely clear how the virus causes all these issues—and not all babies with Zika infections will have them—but researchers say some birth defects will become more apparent as infants get older.

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7 Stunning Photos That Prove Strong Is the New Pretty

Girls are confident, loud, fearless, and carefree. They are also thoughtful, creative, resilient, and determined. They are all this and a whole lot more. That’s the message behind Strong is the New Pretty ($18, amazon.com), a powerful book containing more than 175 portraits of girls doing what they love (whether it's ballet, playing music, or wrestling)—and owning their strength.

The pictures of these badass little girls in all their glory will make you want to reconnect with your own inner kid. And that is exactly what photographer Kate T. Parker hoped to accomplish: "I want these images to combat those negative voices that tell us we're not good enough, or thin enough or whatever enough," writer photographer Kate T. Parker in the book's introduction. "Because we are far more than enough!"

Scroll down for seven of our favorite inspiring photos from the book.

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"I was really scared for my first triathlon. My mom took this shot of me the night before and told me that even though I was afraid to race, to try to look tough and fearless. I did, and when my mom showed me this shot, it made me believe I could be as tough as I looked." —Ella, age 9

"Some people don't think dance is a real sport, but it takes a lot of strength to master the technique, it takes time to make improvements, and it takes passion and dedication to reach your goal." —Kami, age 11

"I wish every day was like this." —Caroline C., age 10

"When I am in the air, I feel like I am flying. At the end of a jump, my mind is completely clear." —Abigail, age 17

"In wrestling, girls have an advantage. The guys think less of you until you are face-to-face with them." —Rachel, age 11

"We are undefeated and plan on staying that way." —Olivia J., age 9

"I love the speed when I skate. I feel very alive and present—feeling fluid and going fast is fun." —Kekai, age 12

Excerpted from Strong is the New Pretty: A Celebration of Girls Being Themselves by Kate T. Parker. Copyright 2017 Workman Publishing. Used by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.

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Afraid of Getting Older? Here's Why You Shouldn't Be

Nike Launches 'Pro Hijab' for Female Muslim Athletes

These Are the Happiest and Healthiest Cities in America

This article originally appeared on Time.com. 

Living near the beach doesn’t guarantee your happiness — but it certainly doesn’t hurt.

From Naples, Fla. to Honolulu, Hawaii, many of the U.S. cities that scored well on Gallup-Healthways’ newly released Community Well-Being Index are located on the ocean. Researchers analyzed 350,000 interviews conducted in 2015 and 2016 to rank 189 communities by physical, emotional, financial, community and social health. Naples came in first for the second year in a row, followed closely by other metro areas near the ocean, like Barnstable, Mass. and Santa Cruz, Calif.

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So is beachside living the key to health and happiness? Lead researcher Dan Witters says it’s not so simple: “Clinical depression is less likely, and healthy eating is slightly improved, but after that the advantages run out.” Holistic well-being is about more than good climate, Witters says. “You don’t need a beach to have someone who encourages you to be healthy; you don’t need a beach to learn new and interesting things; you don’t need a beach to get to the dentist.”

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Highly ranked inland communities like Boulder, Colo. and El Paso, Texas had residents who reported feeling a strong sense of purpose — often rooted in a shared culture and a feeling of belonging. When people are invested in improving their community, they feel motivated to get out of bed each day, says Healthways president Karissa Price. “It isn’t just about Karissa Price. “It isn’t just about physical health or income — there is a larger need to feel connected,” she says.

Communities in the Southeastern U.S. and industrial Midwest were generally ranked lower in well-being, partly due to health problems including higher smoking and obesity rates.

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Two Big Things the Republican Obamacare Replacement Would Get Rid Of

This article originally appeared on Kaiser Health News. 

House Republicans unveiled their much anticipated health law replacement plan Monday, slashing the law’s Medicaid expansion and scrapping the requirement that individuals purchase coverage or pay a fine. But they opted to continue providing tax credits to encourage consumers to purchase coverage, although they would configure the program much differently than the current law.

The legislation would keep the health law’s provisions allowing adult children to stay on their parents’ health insurance plan until age 26 and prohibiting insurers from charging people with preexisting medical conditions more for coverage as long as they don’t let their insurance lapse.  If they do, insurers can charge a flat 30 percent late-enrollment surcharge on top of the base premium, under the Republican bill.

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In a statement, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said the proposal would “drive down costs, encourage competition, and give every American access to quality, affordable health insurance. It protects young adults, patients with preexisting conditions, and provides a stable transition so that no one has the rug pulled out from under them.”

The GOP plan, as predicted, kills most of the law’s taxes and fees and would not enforce the so-called employer mandate, which requires certain employers to provide a set level of health coverage to workers or pay a penalty.

Democrats quickly condemned the bill. “Tonight, Republicans revealed a Make America Sick Again bill that hands billionaires a massive new tax break while shifting huge costs and burdens onto working families across American,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi tweeted. “Republicans will force tens of millions of families to pay more for worse coverage — and push millions of Americans off of health coverage entirely.”

The legislation has been the focus of intense negotiations among different factions of the Republican Party and the Trump administration since January. The Affordable Care Act passed in 2010 without a single Republican vote, and the party has strongly denounced it ever since, with the House voting more than 60 times to repeal Obamacare. But more than 20 million people have gained coverage under the law, and President Donald Trump and some congressional Republicans have said they don’t want anyone to lose their insurance.

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When Republicans took control of both Congress and the White House this year, they did not have an agreement on the path for replacement, with some lawmakers from states that have expanded Medicaid concerned about the effect of repeal and the party’s conservative wing pushing hard to jettison the entire law.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), one of those favoring a full repeal, tweeted: “Still have not seen an official version of the House Obamacare replacement bill, but from media reports this sure looks like Obamacare Lite!”

Complicating the effort is the fact that Republicans have only 52 seats in the Senate, so they cannot muster the 60 necessary to overcome a Democratic filibuster. That means they must use a complicated legislative strategy called budget reconciliation that allows them to repeal only parts of the ACA that affect federal spending.

Beginning in 2020, the GOP plan would provide tax credits to help people pay for health insurance based on household income and age, with a limit of $14,000 per family. Each member of the family would accumulate credits, ranging from $2,000 for an individual under 30 to $4,000 for people age 60 and older. The credits would begin to diminish after individuals reached an income of $75,000 — or $150,000 for joint filers.

Consumers also would be allowed to put more money into tax-free health savings accounts and would lift the $2,500 cap on flexible savings accounts beginning in 2018.

The legislation would allow insurers to charge older consumers as much as five times more for coverage than younger people. The health law currently permits a 3-to-1 ratio.

Community health centers would receive $422 million in additional funding in 2017 under the legislation, which also places a one-year freeze on funding for Planned Parenthoodand prohibits the use of tax credits to purchase health insurance that covers abortion.

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Both the Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means Committees are scheduled to mark up the legislation Wednesday. The committees do not yet have any Congressional Budget Office analysis of how much the legislation would cost or how many people it would cover.

Party leaders have said they want to have the bill to President Trump next month.

In a statement, senior Democrats on both panels said the measure would charge consumers “more money for less care. It would dramatically drive up health care costs for seniors. And repeal would ration care for more than 70 million Americans, including seniors in nursing homes, pregnant women and children living with disabilities by arbitrarily cutting and capping Medicaid,” said Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey and Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts.

The House GOP plan makes dramatic changes to Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program that covers 70 million low-income Americans. The program began in 1965 as an entitlement — which means federal and state funding is ensured regardless of cost and enrollment. But the Republican bill would cap federal funding for Medicaid for the first time.

The federal government picks up between half and 70 percent of Medicaid costs. The percentage varies based on the relative wealth of the state.

Under the GOP plan, federal funding would be based on what the government spent in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. Those amounts would be adjusted annually based on a state’s enrollment and medical inflation.

Currently, federal payments to states also take into account how generous the state’s benefits are and what rate it uses to pay providers. That means states like New York and Vermont get higher funding than states like Nevada and New Hampshire and those differences would be locked in for future years.

Republicans have pushed to cap federal funding to states in return for giving them more control in running the program.

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The legislation also affects the health law’s expansion of Medicaid, in which the federal government provided enhanced funding to states to widen eligibility. The bill would also end that extra funding for anyone enrolling under the expansion guidelines starting in 2020. But the legislation would let states keep the extra funding Obamacare provided for individuals already in the expansion program who stay enrolled.

About 11 million Americans have gained Medicaid coverage since 2014.

Changing the expansion program is a delicate balance for the Republicans. Four GOP senators from states that took that option said Monday they would oppose any legislation that repealed the expansion.

“We are concerned that any poorly implemented or poorly timed change in the current funding structure in Medicaid could result in a reduction in access to life-saving health care services,” Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Cory Gardner of Colorado and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska wrote in a letter to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

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The Weird Way Acupuncture Helps Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

This article originally appeared on Time.com.

There’s new hope for people who suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome, a feeling of numbness, tingling or pain in the hand because of a squeezed nerve at the wrist. It comes in the form of a non-invasive and drug-free method of pain relief: acupuncture, according to a new study published in the journal Brain.

Acupuncture, an ancient technique of traditional Chinese medicine, has long been used to treat chronic pain, and studies have suggested that it relieves symptoms at least slightly better than a placebo. When coupled with electric stimulation, the technique can work similarly to a more conventional therapy for pain relief called transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS).

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But exactly how acupuncture works is still largely unknown. Because it’s often difficult to measure pain—and how it changes—objectively, how well it works also remains uncertain.

To address these unknowns, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital recruited 80 people with mild to moderate carpal tunnel syndrome. It’s an ideal condition for measuring the effectiveness of a treatment, because unlike most chronic pain disorders, carpal tunnel syndrome is associated with measurable, physiological changes in the body. Sufferers experience a slowdown of nerve impulses traveling across the wrist, which can be detected by electrodes attached to the skin. They also experience destructive changes in the somatosensory cortex, the part of the brain responsible for the sense of touch. Nerve signals from the hand become “blurred,” says lead author Vitaly Napadow, associate professor at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Brain cells that usually respond to touch signals from individual fingers start to respond to signals from multiple fingers, he says.

RELATED: The Weird Link Between Migraines and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

People in the study were split into three groups, two of which received 16 sessions of electro-acupuncture over eight weeks, either on their affected wrist and forearm or on their ankle opposite that arm. The third group received “sham” electro-acupuncture, which used needles that didn’t penetrate the skin on fake acupuncture points.

After the treatments were over, all three groups reported improvements in pain and numbness. But the objective measure of nerve conduction at the wrist only improved in the groups who had real acupuncture. Those who had real acupuncture at the affected arm (but not at the ankle) also experienced significant brain remapping, Napadow says. Before-and-after MRI scans showed that some of the carpal-tunnel related damage to their somatosensory cortexes had been partially repaired.

People who got real acupuncture seemed to have longer term benefits, too. At a three-month follow-up, people who experienced this type of brain remapping were more likely to report sustained or continued improvement in functionality—and in symptoms like pain, numbness, and tingling—than those who didn’t.

The study suggests that while sham and real acupuncture might both relieve pain temporarily, real acupuncture has the most potential for lasting change.

RELATED: This Electrical Form of Acupuncture Could Help Ease Carpal Tunnel

“I want to stress that we did not heal or cure anybody, but we did see improvements,” says Napadow. “The fact that improvement was retained three months later—we think that’s very interesting and very important.”

People with serious forms of carpal tunnel syndrome were not included in the study, and Napadow says that those with advanced cases will likely need surgery or another more intensive treatment. But for some people, he says, acupuncture could be a good first-line treatment. “When performed by a trained professional, it’s fairly safe and has a low risk of side effects,” he says. “It’s definitely something that could be tried before moving to something much more invasive and higher risk.”

from Mind & Body - Health.com http://ift.tt/2mXAZWT
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