Verywell Health

Lynch syndrome or hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) increases the risk of developing colon and other cancers. Medical care and a comprehensive cancer screening program can manage these risks. Lynch Syndrome, Genetics, and Familial Colon Cancers. About 75 percent of colon cancers are sporadic cases - meaning there is no...

June is Brain and Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, an annual observance to highlight the importance of brain health and raise awareness for progressive neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. There is no cure for Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia, but there are steps you can take to reduce your risk of developing...

The CDC released guidance for healthcare providers on treating long COVID. The agency urges practitioners to take their patients’ symptoms seriously, and refrain from immediately attributing them to mental health issues. Doctors applaud the move, but point out there are still many unanswered questions regarding the condition. The Centers for...

There are a host of reasons a person might develop hyperglycemia (high blood glucose). For someone who has diabetes, it could be a problem with their treatment or management plan. In the case of an otherwise healthy person, lifestyle factors such as weight gain, too little activity, or smoking could play a role in bumping up blood sugar levels. Pregnancy can also be a risk factor. And everyone experiences increases in blood sugar levels during the early morning.

The treatment of hyperglycemia depends on a variety of factors, including duration of and frequency of hyperglycemia and its severity, as well as the person's age, health, and cognitive function. For example, an elderly person with a complex health history and limited cognitive function should be treated much differently than a younger, generally healthy person who presents with newly diagnosed diabetes.

Pneumonia affects millions of people every year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 400,000 people require evaluation and treatment in an emergency department and more than 50,000 people die from the disease. But complications can be prevented! Finding out you have pneumonia is the first step, then learning what type of pneumonia you have—bacterial, viral, or fungal—is essential for proper treatment.

Severe acne breakouts can leave pitted scars on your skin, especially if the pimples were picked or popped. Types of acne scars vary by size and shape. Rolling scars are wide and shallow (like depressions on the skin), boxcar scars are more wide than deep, and ice pick scars are deep with steep sides.

Researchers developed a new simulation to help train healthcare professionals on how to provide gender-affirming care. Gender-affirming care works against the barriers that transgender and gender non-conforming folks face in getting the health care they need. Gender identity is just one aspect of a person's identity that needs further research...

Each week, Verywell explains a term from health, medicine, science, or technology. How to say it: Degenerative (dee-jen-er-ah-tiv) What it means: Relating to or causing degeneration (loss, decline, or deterioration) Where it comes from: The term degenerative comes from the word degenerate. In Latin, the word degeneratus meant "to be...

Apple’s new Health App features will allow users to share health information with friends, family, and doctors. The information can give doctors better insight into patients’ individual health trends. The updates will launch this fall and include an immunization record hub, new walking steadiness metrics, blood glucose monitoring, and more.

The United States government will purchase 500 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and donate them to low- and lower-middle-income countries. This donation won't affect vaccine availability in the U.S., experts say. While this is the largest-ever purchase and donation of vaccines by a single country, more efforts are needed...

An estimated 34.2 million people of all ages—10.5% of the U.S. population—have diabetes. But a new study finds that over the past decade, people with diabetes in the U.S. have been less successful in controlling their blood sugar levels. The June study, which was published in the New England Journal...

A new study found that American Indians and people who live in rural areas have to travel farther to access stroke treatment. Timeliness of stroke treatment is crucial, since the faster a patient is treated the better their outcomes will be. If a stroke is left untreated, it can result...

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are looking at whether they can boost the immune response of people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 by giving them a booster shot from a different version of the vaccine than they first received. A clinical trial investigating the safety and...

With the largest genome-wide association study on depression to date, researchers have identified 178 specific gene variants linked to depression. Depression is a mental health disorder born from both biological and environmental factors. Findings like these can help scientists better understand the biology of depression and therefore improve the diagnosis...

The World Health Organization has renamed coronavirus variants using the Greek alphabet. The WHO hopes that this change will help combat the stigma and discrimination associated with geography-based names. Experts say this name change is good and will encourage people to refrain from associating a virus or pathogen with the...

One video on TikTok points to asparagus as a natural way to prevent or cure your hangover from drinking too much alcohol. The research backing up this claim is weak. There are other steps you can take to prevent a hangover like staying hydrated, staying away from darker drinks, and cutting down on the amount you drink.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its COVID travel guidance for more than a hundred countries. The CDC classifies travel to each country by level of COVID-19 risk. Infectious disease experts say it's relatively safe to travel internationally now, provided you're vaccinated and avoid high-risk countries. The...

Early on in the pandemic, many struggled with sleep and found themselves tossing and turning into the early morning. But what helped those who were able to get some rest? Researchers say practicing self-care may have something to do with it. A study from Germany suggests that self-care and remaining...

Scientists have long touted the benefits of being an early riser. But now, a new study finds night owls should adopt some early bird habits to improve their mental health. After conducting a study of nearly 840,000 people, researchers found that those who went to bed earlier in the night and woke up earlier experienced lower depression risk. At the same time, they also found that night owls who changed their sleep schedules to rise earlier saw improvements in their mental health.