Lifestyle & Wellness

Pre­ven­tive care helps iden­ti­fy health con­cerns before symp­toms appear. Learn why reg­u­lar check­ups, screen­ings, vac­cines, and clear com­mu­ni­ca­tion with your provider are espe­cial­ly impor­tant for His­pan­ic com­mu­ni­ties and how to over­come com­mon bar­ri­ers to care.

Tick bites are on the rise across the Mid­west, but most can be treat­ed safe­ly at home. Learn how to remove ticks prop­er­ly, spot warn­ing signs of Lyme dis­ease and oth­er ill­ness­es, and know when to seek med­ical care.

Exer­cise is a pow­er­ful tool for men­tal health, help­ing reduce stress, anx­i­ety, and depres­sion while improv­ing sleep, mood, and focus. This arti­cle explores how move­ment sup­ports emo­tion­al well-being and offers sim­ple, real­is­tic ways to get started.

Food crav­ings are often linked to stress, sleep, hor­mones, habits, and ener­gy lev­els — not just hunger. In this arti­cle, Dr. Aelia Akbar explains what com­mon crav­ings may be telling you and shares prac­ti­cal ways to man­age them to sup­port your health goals.

We have all expe­ri­enced moments of stress in our lives. When some­thing unex­pect­ed or alarm­ing hap­pens, a part of your brain, the hypo­thal­a­mus, sets off an inter­nal alarm. This alarm sig­nals your adren­al glands to release hor­mones, adren­a­line and cor­ti­sol, into your ner­vous sys­tem that cause your heart rate to increase, your mus­cles to tense and your breath to quick­en. This is referred to as your fight or flight response, and your body is ready to take action to pro­tect itself from harm.

Aller­gist, Dr. Andrey Leonov, explains the effect your aller­gies have on your sleep and ener­gy lev­el, and what you can do to min­i­mize symp­toms, includ­ing brain fog.

Inter­na­tion­al trav­el can expose you to health risks that are uncom­mon in the U.S. A trav­el med­i­cine vis­it with your pri­ma­ry care provider helps you pre­pare with per­son­al­ized guid­ance based on your des­ti­na­tion, health his­to­ry, and trav­el plans. In this guide, learn who should sched­ule a trav­el health appoint­ment, when to do it, which vac­cines and med­ica­tions you may need, and prac­ti­cal tips to stay healthy through­out your trip and after you return home.

Tak­ing care of your heart is a life­long com­mit­ment. Here’s how to man­age your heart health through all stages of life. 

Heart dis­ease remains the #1 cause of death in the Unit­ed States and kills near­ly 370,000 peo­ple a year. While this mor­tal­i­ty rate has fall­en dra­mat­i­cal­ly over the last 10 years, risk fac­tors are still alarm­ing­ly high. Pre­ven­tion is an essen­tial ele­ment in the fight against heart dis­ease — much of which can be man­aged through diet.

Accord­ing to the Cen­ter for Dis­ease Con­trol and Pre­ven­tion (CDC), approx­i­mate­ly eight to ten per­cent of the Unit­ed States pop­u­la­tion will become sick with an influen­za (flu) virus each year. Addi­tion­al­ly, the aver­age Amer­i­can will catch between two to three colds per year. A cold and the flu are both caused by viral infec­tions and pro­duce a vari­ety of unpleas­ant symp­toms. Colds often are accom­pa­nied by nasal con­ges­tion and/​or a run­ny nose, sneez­ing, cough­ing and a sore throat. Flu virus­es can cause sim­i­lar symp­toms as well as fatigue, fever, head and body aches, and for some, diar­rhea and vom­it­ing. While there is no cure for either ill­ness, sev­er­al over-the-counter med­ica­tions and home reme­dies may offer symp­tom relief.