The fear is real. If you do catch the coronavirus or something else nasty enough to give you a serious lung infection, your odds of going to the ICU or needing a ventilator can rise significantly. As a community, we are palpably ignorant of ways to help ourselves and possibly increase our chances of being alright when the lungs get involved. What we do to keep our lungs clear if an infection strikes...
How good is your lung capacity? The strength and elasticity in our lungs naturally -decline with age-, even in those of us who are healthy and don’t smoke. This can make breathing harder over time. And here we are in a pandemic where lung health can mean the difference between life and death. Fortunately, there are a few ways to fight back and preserve and strengthen the health of the lungs. Consume...
Immune system support is important all the time, but in the time of a pandemic, this is especially true now. Most of us are doing what we can to stay safe and healthy, but are there actions we can take to support our bodies that go beyond simply eating well and finding the discipline to exercise? Some herbs and vitamins could boost the immune system, giving the body its best shot at potentially fighting...
COVID-19 patients may struggle with lasting consequences, even -long after the virus has cleared.- There are a -number of conditions- now coming to light as possible lingering effects including some that may be lifelong. New reports suggest COVID-19 could be leaving staggering numbers of heart injuries in its wake for as many as 60% of those who have severe symptoms. COVID-19 Creates Heart Complications...
It’s been a difficult year so far, with COVID-19 complicating our lives in scary and unforeseen ways. Uncertainty remains in the air. Even if we can hope that the virus falls off our radar in the coming months, a fall resurgence is likely — but there’s no need to panic. This gives us a few months to prepare ourselves and our families so that the next round is easier to tackle. Even with states reopening...
The days are getting longer, the weather is getting warmer and everyone is itching to get out and enjoy that beautiful sunshine — especially after a few months of quarantine and staying home to stay safe. But the numbers of COVID-19 cases are not encouraging. In fact, they're soaring. Just because we’re all ready to move on and shift gears into summer, we may be more likely to put ourselves and our...
Most of us have been itching to get back to our pre-COVID routines, even if we might not fully remember what those old norms entailed. Our world is not the same place we knew even a year ago, and we’re not the same people. Our social skills have gotten rusty, and a lot of us are feeling anxious about getting back out there. While it may be the crux of a slew of memes and the butt of many jokes, social...
Fighting COVID-19 has been a lot like participating in a seasoned chess match. For every strong move we make, the coronavirus has one more trick we never saw coming. Of course, all viruses mutate, but few have stayed so far ahead of us at every turn. Most often, mutations actually weaken the virus to allow the host to survive so the virus can propagate. But this is COVID-19 and all expectations need...
A handful of high-risk groups, including those with diabetes, need to be especially cautious about avoiding this pandemic. Doctors have been aware of the connection, but it’s taken them some time to figure out exactly why diabetes is such a risk factor for severe COVID-19 complications. But researchers believe the biggest reasons may include higher risks of cytokine storms, blood clotting and a few...
COVID-19 has proven to be one of the most unpredictable viruses we’ve dealt with, capable of leaving one person asymptomatic and the person next to them fighting for their lives in the ICU. Just when we were sure we’d seen the worst of its effects, -reports- started flooding in that some -children were experiencing a new deadly complication. Dubbed multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C),...