The holidays are here. The season of giving, spending, celebration, and for many, the season of high calorie overeating. According to a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the average American gains about a pound between Thanksgiving and the beginning of January. Even though the weight gain isn’t as high as…
The coming weekend is one that many have looked forward to since March! It’s not relief that Halloween is over, or excitement for the upcoming holiday season. It’s not breaking out the autumn sweaters and warm boots. It’s not even the oversized mug of pumpkin spiced latte they’re planning. It’s the extra hour of sleep!…
By Dr. Jonathan Torres, Medical Director, UnitedHealthcare Specialty Benefits Like many other people, I was going through life busy raising children, working and making time for hobbies and travel when possible. I had completed medical school, residency training and served as a physician in the U.S. Air Force. During those more than 27 years as…
How does spending time in nature make you feel? Relaxed? Refreshed? Perhaps even a little giddy at the prospect of an afternoon spent swimming in a pool or playing at a local park? The stress-busting benefits of outdoor activities have recently been confirmed by research published in JAMA. Researchers found that spending time in…
When the summer heat begins to give way to lower temperatures and the days get shorter and shorter, the onset of fall tends to make itself known seemingly overnight. It can be an exciting time of year; finishing summer vacations, getting back to school, preparing for winter. But for many people, it also signals the…
It’s almost that season—time for school buses and alarm clocks. And if you’re like most families, you’ve probably been letting your sleep schedule slide in favor of late evenings spent enjoying the extra hours of daylight with a bike ride or the glow of a backyard fire pit in the warm night air. We don’t…
The Results Can Be an Important Indicator of Your Life Expectancy When is the last time you tried standing on one leg? If you haven’t done that in a while, give it a try. Stand close to a wall or table for support. New research has shown that balancing on one foot is…
If you don’t like running, you are far from alone. Half of all runners say they either hate it or barely tolerate it, and only eight percent say they love it. Surprised? If you’re among the millions who run a little or a lot, anywhere in the world, the odds are high that you aren’t…
Editor’s note: This piece was originally published in May 2020. In observance of Mental Health Month, I’ve been writing on the lessons I’ve learned about mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic. (You can read about Lessons 1 to 3 here and Lessons 4 to 7 here.) The seventh and final lesson to living in the…
Ninety-year-olds running marathons, CEO’s launching start-ups at age-70, rock stars and presidents working into their 80’s. Today millions of Americans are living longer and some of them are doing amazing things. Thanks to improved healthcare and education, it’s projected that a baby born this year in the U.S. has a 50% likelihood of living past…
