Health

It was terrifying. They kept trying to comfort me by telling me they had the best surgeons. But they also said that I needed a new liver and that my body might reject it. – Christopher Herrera

It was 1984 when hospitals in southern China were besieged by young people in a state of extreme agitation. Thousands of people, of both sexes, were suffering from panic attacks accompanied by fear of death because of the overwhelming belief that their sexual organs were retracting and disappearing, or that their nipples were retracting into their breasts.

For anyone who has ever dieted to lose weight, weight regain is the most feared nightmare. Unfortunately, the very biology of those who lose weight predisposes them to weight regain, meaning that, despite their initial success, they are likely to regain the weight they lost. Fortunately, there are strategies that can help people fight against this tendency.

This coronavirus crisis has, for me, some perplexing parallels with a well-known incident narrated in the Gospel of Matthew (14:22-33). The disciples are confined in a little boat in the middle of a terrible storm, almost as we are confined at home today by the emergency laws of our countries.

While most of us have been staying inside for several weeks, many leave the safety of their homes every day to help us live our lives as normally as possible.

The great challenge facing the world’s leaders right now is identifying an optimal response to a disease bearing several characteristics that make it difficult to combat.

When you are addicted to alcohol, the whole of society is your enemy: TV shows, their commercials, your neighbours in your free time, the family at big holiday gatherings, entire aisles in shops that convey the message that "you'll feel better if you drink alcohol".

Many certainties and convictions will be swept away. Many things that we thought were impossible are happening. The day after we have won, it will not be a return to the day before; we will be stronger morally.

In terms of their effect on health, there is no difference between white and brown sugar. Sugar substitutes should not be consumed indiscriminately either.

An old saying states: "If youth knew; if age could". This truth is reflected by countless studies showing that lifestyle adjustments made in middle age (or even earlier) favour a transition to a healthier old age.

What is in the COVID-19 vaccines? What remains in our system after each type of vaccine, and for how long?

When confronted with the pandemic, we are anything but equals.

While for many the experience of pregnancy is full of excitement, for some first-time mothers, it can be a struggle with the unknown. For newlywed Shannon Toledo, her complicated health issues were adding another variable to the morning sickness, mood swings and the uncertainty with her job during the peak of Covid-19. A part-time martial arts instructor with a third-degree black belt in Taekwondo...

“If you had asked me that morning, ‘Arianna, how are you?’ I would’ve said, ‘Fine.’ It was really the fact that being depleted, running on empty, had become the new normal for me.”

The Spanish flu filled graves in almost every cemetery in the world. However, surprisingly, this tragedy had largely been forgotten until recently. A century later, the issue returned to the centre of attention, with specialists wondering if they can identify a pattern in the evolution of the COVID-19 health crisis based on the pandemic from a century ago.