Learning a new skill for brain health

What can affect your brain health over time?

Your brain health is influenced by more than what happens inside your head. Sleep, movement, food, stress, substance use, social connection, and some medical conditions can all shape how your brain functions over time. That does not mean one poor night of sleep or one unhealthy meal is harming your brain. The bigger picture is …

Woman experiencing sudden severe stomach pain

Sudden severe stomach pain should not be ignored

Severe stomach pain can be frightening, especially when it starts suddenly or feels very different from your usual digestive discomfort. Gas, indigestion, constipation, and short-term illnesses can cause stomach pain, but sudden stomach pain that becomes intense or keeps getting worse deserves closer attention. The important question is not only how much it hurts. Where …

Normal bowel movement frequency varies among healthy adults

Your bowel habits can change in midlife

Bowel habits in midlife can become less predictable than they once were. Bowel changes such as harder stools, more straining, bloating, or fewer bowel movements may start to appear even when your diet has not changed much. At the same time, regular bowel movements may feel harder to maintain. These changes can occur during perimenopause …

Woman experiencing ear fullness

Your ears may feel blocked for reasons you might miss

Your ears feel blocked even when you are not sick can be confusing. You may notice pressure, muffled sound, popping, or a sense that one ear is different from the other. These symptoms can also occur with blocked ears or ear pressure even when there is no obvious infection. The cause is not always something …

Person thinking about unfinished work

Small things can overload your brain: Causes and solutions

A simple email. A phone call. A few dishes in the sink. A form you need to fill out. On paper, none of these tasks seems like much. Yet some days, even small responsibilities can feel surprisingly difficult to start. When small things can overload your brain, the problem is not necessarily the task itself. …

Person with constantly watery eyes

Why are my eyes always watery?

If your eyes keep watering throughout the day, the cause may be more than a brief irritation. Why are my eyes always watery? Sometimes the eyes produce too many tears, while other times normal tears cannot drain properly. This is known as excessive tearing, and problems with tear drainage are only one possible explanation. Why …

Knee pain during sleep

Knee pain at night: How to sleep more comfortably?

Knee pain can feel especially frustrating at night. You may be comfortable enough during the day, only to notice the discomfort more clearly once you lie down and stop moving. Then comes the search for a position that feels better, followed by another adjustment when that position stops working. The goal is not to find …

Man noticing gradual strength changes

Why men lose strength first — and notice muscle loss later

Men lose strength in ways that can be easy to overlook, especially when changes happen gradually. Early signs of muscle loss may show up as lower physical performance, slower recovery, or familiar activities requiring more effort. Muscle strength aging can also develop quietly, so the first change may be something you feel rather than something …

Daily habits that support digestion

The way you eat may shape digestive comfort

Food gets most of the attention when we talk about digestion. But the experience you have after a meal can also be shaped by how quickly you eat, how well you chew, when you eat, and what is happening around you. That does not mean eating habits explain every digestive symptom. But if you regularly …

Woman holding her bloated abdomen

Eating too fast can leave your stomach hurting

You finish a meal, clear the plate, and then your stomach starts to hurt. It may feel like pressure, fullness, bloating, or a dull ache that makes you wonder what went wrong. If you ate the meal quickly, the pace of eating may be part of the picture. But recurring pain deserves more than a …