Health & Fitness

Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) are some of the most harmful and underappreciated threats to your health these days. Chronic exposure has been linked to a number of serious consequences, including a heightened risk for heart problems such as arrhythmias, neurological problems such as depression, autism and Alzheimer's, and reproductive problems such as infertility, especially in men.

Recent research¹ also reveals prenatal exposure to power-frequency fields can nearly triple a pregnant woman's risk of miscarriage.

Dr. De-Kun Li,² a lead author and senior research scientist at Kaiser Permanente's research division, told Microwave News,³ "This study provides fresh evidence, directly from a human population, that magnetic field exposure in daily life could have adverse health impacts," adding his findings "should bring attention to this potentially important environmental hazard to pregnant women." According to Li, there are at least six other studies, in addition to two of his own, showing this link.

While such evidence is unlikely to put an end to the ongoing controversy over EMF exposure, Li's research was praised by Dr. Anthony B. Miller,⁴ Professor Emeritus of epidemiology at the University of Toronto, who called the study "important" and "well-conducted" in an interview with Microwave News.

Even David Savitz, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology at Brown University School of Public Health,⁵ who remains critical of the study's findings, conceded to the publication that it's "a very nicely designed study."⁶

Magnetic Field Exposure May Triple Miscarriage Risk

During Li's 2017 study,⁷ the team sought to estimate pregnant women's exposure to EMFs as accurately as possible, based on exposures encountered during a typical day. Data from 913 pregnant women were included. Magnetic fields were measured with a meter registering fields from 40 hertz (Hz) up to 1,000 Hz. The health risks were then evaluated based on peak exposures, opposed to averages over a 24-hour period (which has so far been the norm).

In the end, the researchers determined that women exposed to magnetic fields greater than 2.5 milligauss (mG) or 0.25 microtesla (uT) on a typical day were 2.72 times more likely to suffer a miscarriage compared to those whose peak exposure was below 2.5 mG. Women with peak exposures above 2.5 mG had a miscarriage rate of 24.2%, while the control group (which had exposures below 2.5 mG) had a miscarriage rate of just 10.4%.

In 1998 — the most recent data available — an estimated 26% of the U.S. population was exposed to magnetic fields above 4 mG for more than one hour a day.⁸ Li did not find a dose-response in his study, however. He postulates the absence of a dose-response may be attributed to a threshold effect, meaning just about any exposure above 2.5 mG — be it just slightly over, double, or more — confers the same level or risk.

The team also found the risk of miscarriage was independent of the actual source of the magnetic fields. In other words, whether the exposure came from household appliances or nearby powerlines, the risk was the same. A 2002 study by Li showed that women with a max peak exposure of 16 mG or higher within a 24-hour period could have anywhere from two to six times the risk of miscarriage.⁹

At the time, he noted that "The association was stronger for early miscarriage (<10 weeks of gestation) and among 'susceptible' women with multiple prior fetal losses or subfertility." In an effort to obtain a more stable measurement this time around, Li did not use the absolute maximum reading for the day but rather the 99th percentile, defined as the highest level of exposure sustained in a 24-hour period.

Other Studies Linking Magnetic Field Exposure to Miscarriage

In addition to his own studies, Li also cites six other studies showing a link between magnetic field exposure and a heightened risk of miscarriage. These include:

• A 1992 study linking exposure to high levels of low-frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF) from video display terminals to miscarriage. Women exposed to high levels of ELF-MF were 3.4 times more likely to miscarry than those with low exposure levels¹⁰
• A 1993 Finnish study, which showed exposure to 6.3 mG increased a woman's odds of early pregnancy loss fivefold. Limitations in the data prompted the authors to say that "the results should be interpreted cautiously"¹¹
• A PLOS One study from 2013, showing 50 Hz ELF-MF may increase a woman's risk of miscarriage by 1.72 times. However, the Chinese researchers in this study cautioned that they couldn't "confirm" that the 50 Hz exposure was the actual cause of the miscarriages, and that further studies "should be explored" to make sure¹²
• A 2015 study, which found a significant association between the effective specific absorption rate on cellphones used during pregnancy, with the risk of spontaneous abortion, prompting the authors to conclude that "the present result suggests that the use of cellphones may be related to early spontaneous abortions, thus further study is warranted"¹³
• A 2017 study published in the Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine, which found that living near a mobile communication base station in Beijing was an independent risk factor of spontaneous abortion¹⁴

California Health Department Issues Cellphone Warning

In related news,¹⁵ the California department of public health (CDPH) issued a warning¹⁶ about EMF exposure in mid-December of 2017, urging people to decrease use of wireless devices and keep them as far away from your body as possible to minimize exposure.

Former CDPH director Dr. Karen Smith is quoted saying, "Although the science is still evolving, there are concerns among some public health professionals and members of the public regarding long-term, high use exposure to the energy emitted by cellphones."

The public announcement appears to be the result of a 2016 lawsuit filed by Joel Moskowitz, director of the Center for Family and Community Health at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health, who sued the CDPH for suppressing the release of its 2010 guidance document on the health effects of cellphone radiation.

The CDPH argued that releasing the document might cause confusion and undue alarm. They even claimed that as "a portion of the public," the wireless industry and cellphone manufacturers would "likely have no interest in the dissemination of [a] cellphone guidance document."¹⁷

CDPH Guidance Document Recommendations

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Shelleyanne Chang overruled most of the CDPH objections,¹⁸ ultimately directing the agency to release the document,¹⁹ which notes that studies have linked long-term, high use of cellphones to health problems such as:

• Brain cancer
• Acoustic nerve and salivary gland tumors
• Reproductive issues such as lower sperm count and inactive or less mobile sperm
• Headaches
• Memory, hearing, behavior and sleep problems

Moskowitz told KCRA News, "The cellphone manufacturers want you to keep a minimum distance away from your body and you should find out what that distance is. If you keep the device by your body you will exceed the safety limits provided by the FCC [Federal Communications Commission]."²⁰ To minimize exposure to cellphone radiation, the CDPH guidance document recommends:

• Not sleeping with your phone near your bed unless in airplane mode
• Not keeping your phone in your pocket unless in airplane mode
• Not placing it to your ear for prolonged periods
• Avoiding or limit use if you have two bars or less
• Being aware that in a fast-moving car, bus or train, radiofrequency exposure will be magnified as the phone will emit higher levels of energy to maintain connection

How EMFs Cause Harm

EMFs have been shown to cause harm through a number of different mechanisms. As explained by Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt, one of my long-time mentors and founder of the Sophia Health Institute,²¹ the radiation affects your microbiome, turning what might otherwise be beneficial microbes pathogenic. Research by Martin Pall also shows that microwave radiation activates your voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs) — channels in the outer membrane of your cells.

Once activated, the VGCCs open up, allowing an abnormal influx of calcium ions into the cell. This increased intracellular calcium and the accompanying increase in calcium signaling appears to be responsible for a majority of the damage that occurs. For more details on this, please see my previous interview with Pall.

For this reason, natural calcium channel blockers such as magnesium can be helpful against EMF exposure, and it's important to make sure you're not magnesium deficient. Magnesium threonate appears particularly beneficial, because in addition to acting as a natural calcium channel blocker it also acts as a potent anti-retroviral agent. Klinghardt combines it with 12X calcium phosphate (calcium phosphoric), a homeopathic that helps modulate the calcium channels.

EMFs Linked to Reproductive Problems

According to recent research, sperm concentration and quality has dramatically declined in the past few decades. One meta-analysis²² of 185 studies, the largest of its kind, showed sperm counts around the world declined by 50% to 60% between 1973 and 2011, with no signs of reversing or even slowing down. Lead author Dr. Hagai Levine, who called the results "profound" and "shocking,"²³ believes human extinction is a real possibility, should the trend continue unabated.²⁴

Testicular cancer is also on the rise. While endocrine disrupting chemicals are suspected as being the primary culprits, EMF exposure may also play a significant role in both testicular cancer and male infertility.

In May 2011, the cancer research arm of the World Health Organization, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, classified radiofrequency EMF — such as the radiation from cellphones — a class 2B carcinogen, meaning it is possibly carcinogenic to humans.²⁵

When a man places a cellphone in his front pocket or a laptop in his lap, he's radiating his testes, which — along with your brain and the pacemaker in your heart — have the highest density of VGCCs. What this suggests is that excessive EMF exposure can be a direct contributor to conditions such as Alzheimer's, anxiety, depression, autism, cardiac arrhythmias and infertility.

Other studies have linked low-level electromagnetic radiation exposure from cellphones to an 8.1% reduction in sperm motility and a 9.1% reduction in sperm viability.^26,27

Wi-Fi equipped laptop computers have also been linked to decreased sperm motility and an increase in sperm DNA fragmentation after just four hours of use.²⁸ So, if you care about your reproductive health, avoid carrying your cellphone in your pockets or on your hip, and avoid using portable computers and tablets on your lap.

Prenatal EMF Exposure Linked to Increased Risk of Autism

Prenatal EMF exposure may also raise a woman's risk of having an autistic child. In 2012, Klinghardt conducted a pilot study in which he evaluated the EMF present in the bedroom where the mother slept during pregnancy. It turned out the average exposure of an autistic child to high frequency EMFs from household currents and microwaves from cellphones and other wireless technologies was twentyfold higher than that of the nonautistic children.

Unfortunately, the study never made it into publication, but it convinced him that EMFs were an unacknowledged factor that contributes to autism. Other research has also shown that microwave radiation from cellphones, Wi-Fi routers and similar devices concentrate twentyfold in the womb, meaning whatever the reading is outside the womb, the measurement will be 20 times higher inside the mother.

As noted by Klinghardt in my 2017 article, "Unfortunately, the membranes around the womb have that strange effect in significantly concentrating the ambient EMFs that the mother is in, reaching levels that are not sustainable for human development."

How to Lower Your EMF Exposure

There's no doubt in my mind that EMF exposure is a significant health hazard that needs to be addressed if you're concerned about your health. You can read about many ideas for shielding yourself in my article, "The No. 1 Thing to Do to Protect Yourself From EMFs," plus, here are several suggestions that will help reduce your EMF exposure:

Connect your desktop computer to the internet via a wired Ethernet connection and be sure to put your desktop in airplane mode. Also avoid wireless keyboards, trackballs, mice, game systems, printers and portable house phones. Opt for the wired versions.

If you must use Wi-Fi, shut it off when not in use, especially at night when you are sleeping. Ideally, work toward hardwiring your house so you can eliminate Wi-Fi altogether. If you have a notebook without any Ethernet ports, a USB Ethernet adapter will allow you to connect to the internet with a wired connection.

Shut off the electricity to your bedroom at night. This typically works to reduce electrical fields from the wires in your wall unless there is an adjoining room next to your bedroom. If that is the case you will need to use a meter to determine if you also need to turn off power in the adjacent room.

Use a battery-powered alarm clock, ideally one without any light. I use a talking clock for the visually impaired.29

If you still use a microwave oven, consider replacing it with a steam convection oven, which will heat your food as quickly and far more safely.

Avoid using "smart" appliances and thermostats that depend on wireless signaling. This would include all new "smart" TVs. They are called smart because they emit a Wi-Fi signal, and unlike your computer, you cannot shut the Wi-Fi signal off. Consider using a large computer monitor as your TV instead, as they don't emit Wi-Fi.

Refuse smart meters as long as you can, or add a radiation shield to an existing smart meter.

Consider moving your baby's bed into your room instead of using a wireless baby monitor. Alternatively, use a hard-wired monitor.

Replace CFL bulbs with incandescent bulbs. Ideally remove all fluorescent lights from your house. Not only do they emit unhealthy light, but more importantly, they will actually transfer current to your body just being close to the bulbs.

Avoid carrying your cellphone on your body unless in airplane mode and never sleep with it in your bedroom unless it is in airplane mode. Even in airplane mode it can emit signals, which is why I put my phone in a Faraday bag.30

When using your cellphone, use the speaker phone and hold the phone at least 3 feet away from you. Seek to radically decrease your time on the cellphone. I typically use my cellphone less than 30 minutes a month, and mostly when traveling. Instead, use VoIP software phones that you can use while connected to the internet via a wired connection.

Learn More With My New Book, 'EMF*D'

My new book, "EMF*D," is the result of years of research and interviews with experts on this topic. It not only tells you more about electromagnetic fields than what you've heard anywhere else, but gives you lots of good ideas on how to protect yourself before it's too late. In it you'll learn:

• What EMFs (electromagnetic fields) actually are, where you find them in your daily life, and how they affect you
• The toll that EMFs have been proven to take in conditions such as cancer, heart disease, and neuropsychiatric illnesses
• Why you've been largely kept in the dark about this threat to your health
• How you can actually repair the damage done by EMFs at a cellular level
• Practical strategies to protect yourself and your loved ones from EMFs at home, at work, and out in the world

I've written this book because I knew I had to help prepare as many people as I could for the oncoming, exponential unleashing of EMFs from not only 5G but also the countless new wireless devices coming onto the market.

You need strategies to protect your body from the threat of wireless technologies and dirty electricity from the inside out, as well as ways to reduce exposure and the damage it may cause, and my book, "EMF*D," can give you the tools you need to protect yourself.

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If you’ve been following the news about the novel coronavirus COVID-19 (sometimes also referred to as SARS-CoV-2, due to its similarities to SARS), you’ve probably seen articles offering conflicting information about the use of ibuprofen.¹

Some say taking ibuprofen may aggravate COVID-19 infection while others say there’s no such risk. For example, March 18, 2020, CNN reported² the health minister of France, Oliver Veran, is warning against using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen to treat fever and pain associated with COVID-19 infection, and to use acetaminophen (paracetamol) instead.

Conflicting Viewpoints on Ibuprofen Risk

According to CNN, Veran’s recommendation “was criticized by some health experts, who cited the lack of publicly available evidence.” Tarik Jašarević, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization, told CNN³ they are looking into the matter, but that a cursory review of the literature has failed to produce any clinical or population-based data to support Veran’s recommendation.

Similarly, the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told NBC News⁴ that “more research is needed to evaluate reports that ibruprofen may affect the course of COVID-19,” and that there’s "no evidence that ibuprofen increases the risk of serious complications or of acquiring the virus that causes COVID-19."

The European Medicines Agency has issued a nearly identical statement.⁵ However, the agency also points out that it began its review of in 2019 after the French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety reported⁶ that these medicines appear to worsen chickenpox (varicella) infection and some bacterial infections.

The French health ministry is sticking to its recommendation to avoid ibuprofen, however, saying "grave adverse effects" have been identified in patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infection treated with NSAIDs.⁷

In its latest COVID-19 treatment guidelines,⁸ dated March 14, 2020, the ministry stressed that “the treatment of a fever or of pain linked to COVID-19 or to any other respiratory viral disease should be paracetamol,” not to exceed 60 milligrams (mg) per kilo per day, or 3 grams per day.

While some mainstream news outlets are dismissing the recommendation to avoid ibuprofen as an unsubstantiated “internet rumor” that has no scientific basis, it seems foolhardy to dismiss it out of hand.

First of all, if French health authorities say giving NSAIDs to infected patients is having adverse effects, perhaps we would be wise to listen? After all, clinical research takes time, so paying attention to anecdotal findings from the field may be worthwhile, at least until the research catches up.

Like me, the British National Health Service appears willing to err on the side of caution. In a March 18, 2020, tweet, the NHS stated:⁹ “There is no strong evidence that ibuprofen can make coronavirus worse. But until we have more info, take paracetamol to treat the symptoms of coronavirus, unless your doctor has told you paracetamol is not suitable for you.”

In the MedCram video above, Dr. Roger Seheult, reviews some of the benefits and drawbacks of NSAIDs. For example, while they’ve been shown to inhibit viral replication, which is good, they also halt antibody production, which is bad when you’re fighting a highly virulent virus. He also discusses compelling data suggesting the advertising for and widespread use of high doses of aspirin during the 1918 influenza pandemic coincided with the spike in deaths in October 1918.

What Might COVID-19 Comorbidities Tell Us?

Another source that has added fuel to the debate is the letter¹⁰ “Are Patients With Hypertension and Diabetes Mellitus at Increased Risk for COVID-19 Infection?” published in The Lancet Respiratory Diseases March 11, 2020.

The letter points out that the most prevalent comorbidities among patients with severe COVID-19 infection, and patients who have died from the infection, are high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease.

A commonality among all of these conditions is that they’re all frequently treated with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors — drugs that relax and dilate your blood vessels. Unfortunately, none of the three studies that have looked at comorbidities in COVID-19 cases has included data on the drug treatments patients were on for those comorbidities.

Speaking of comorbidities, a March 17, 2020, report^11,12 by the Italian Instituto Superiore Di Sanita points out that more than 99% of those who have died from COVID-19 in Italy had previous medical conditions. This should not necessarily surprise us, considering a majority of deaths occurred in people over the age of 80.

The average infection age in Italy is 63. About half of those who died had three or more previous medical conditions, while the other half had either one or two. Of the 2,003 deaths reported, only three had no previous medical history.

Proposed Mechanism of Action

So, what does ACE inhibitors have to do with COVID-19? The problem, according to the authors of that Lancet letter,¹³ is that ACE inhibitors increase expression of ACE2, and COVID-19 infects host cells by binding to ACE2 receptors found on epithelial cells in your lungs, intestines, kidneys and blood vessels.¹⁴

As such, ACE inhibitors could potentially worsen your risk of COVID-19 infection and your risk of complications. Ibuprofen can also increase ACE2, the authors note, which is why the recommendation to avoid ibuprofen if you have symptoms of COVID-19 might not be such a bad idea.

On a relevant side note, ibuprofen is known to interact badly with ACE inhibiting drugs, so patients taking ACE inhibitors are typically advised to take acetaminophen instead anyway, to avoid acute kidney problems.¹⁵

According to the The Lancet letter’s authors, Lei Fang and Michael Roth (pulmonary cell research and pneumology, University Hospital in Basel, Switzerland) and George Karakiulakis (department of pharmacology, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece):¹⁶

“Human pathogenic coronaviruses (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus [SARS-CoV] and SARS-CoV-2) bind to their target cells through angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) …

The expression of ACE2 is substantially increased in patients with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, who are treated with ACE inhibitors and angiotensin II type-I receptor blockers (ARBs).

Hypertension is also treated with ACE inhibitors and ARBs, which results in an upregulation of ACE2. ACE2 can also be increased by thiazolidinediones and ibuprofen.

These data suggest that ACE2 expression is increased in diabetes and treatment with ACE inhibitors and ARBs increases ACE2 expression. Consequently, the increased expression of ACE2 would facilitate infection with COVID-19.

We therefore hypothesize that diabetes and hypertension treatment with ACE2-stimulating drugs increases the risk of developing severe and fatal COVID-19 …

A further aspect that should be investigated is the genetic predisposition for an increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, which might be due to ACE2 polymorphisms that have been linked to diabetes mellitus, cerebral stroke, and hypertension …”

Fever Is an Important Part of Your Immune Defense

Now, there’s also an entirely different reason for avoiding NSAIDs — as well as other antipyretics (fever reducers) — when you have a fever, and that has to do with the fact that fever is part of your body’s immune response; it’s how your body kills pathogens.

This is one of the reasons why I strongly encourage the use of sauna, as regularly increasing your core body temperature will help prevent infections.

The rise in core body temperature allows your white blood cells to more efficiently identify and kill virus-infected cells. Taking an over-the-counter fever reducer will interfere with this crucial process, and could potentially allow the infection to run on longer, causing more damage in the process.

A number of studies have looked at this issue, coming to the conclusion that treating fever can prolong and exacerbate illness. A better alternative — provided your temperature does not get dangerously high — is to get plenty of bedrest, drink lots of fluids and simply “sweat it out.” As noted in the American Academy of Pediatrics’ policy paper “Fever and Antipyretic Use in Children”:¹⁷ 

“Many parents administer antipyretics even when there is minimal or no fever, because they are concerned that the child must maintain a ‘normal’ temperature. Fever, however, is not the primary illness but is a physiologic mechanism that has beneficial effects in fighting infection.

There is no evidence that fever itself worsens the course of an illness or that it causes long-term neurologic complications. Thus, the primary goal of treating the febrile child should be to improve the child's overall comfort rather than focus on the normalization of body temperature.”

Fever Tends to Lower Mortality When Left Alone

One randomized, controlled trial¹⁸ published in 2005 found critically ill patients given acetaminophen and cooling blankets when their fever went above 38.5 degrees C (101.3 degrees F) suffered far more infections and had a higher mortality rate than those who received no treatment until or unless their fever reached 40 degrees C (104 degrees F). As reported by the authors:

“Forty-four patients were randomized to the aggressive group and 38 patients were randomized to the permissive group … There were 131 infections in the aggressive group and 85 infections in the permissive group.

There were seven deaths in the aggressive group and only one death in the permissive group. The study was stopped after the first interim analysis due to the mortality difference, related to the issues of waiver of consent and the mandate for minimal risk. Conclusions: Aggressively treating fever in critically ill patients may lead to a higher mortality rate.”

Here’s another quote from a 2002 paper, “Fever: Beneficial and Detrimental Effects of Antipyretics,” published in Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases:¹⁹

“Considerable data suggest that fever has a beneficial effect on the outcome of many, although not all, infections.

For example, a survey of patients with community-acquired pneumonia showed that those with temperatures above 37.8 degrees C and a leukocyte count above 10 000 cells/mm had a 4% mortality rate, which compares with a mortality rate of 29% for patients with neither fever nor leukocytosis.

Improved survival has also been shown in febrile patients with Escherichia coli bacteremia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa sepsis relative to afebrile patients … Numerous animal studies have shown an inverse correlation between mortality and temperature during serious infection.

In one such experiment, the survival rate increased from 0% to 50% in mice with Klebsiella pneumoniae peritonitis when their temperatures were raised artificially from normal to febrile levels.”

Heat-Shock Proteins Protect Against Septic Shock Injury

Heat shock proteins are increased with sauna use. The study “Fever: Beneficial and Detrimental Effects of Antipyretics” also addresses the use of antipyretics in sepsis, saying:²⁰

“Many people believe that fever potentiates tissue injury during sepsis and should, therefore, be suppressed. In fact, encouraging results obtained in animal models have raised hopes that antipyretic therapy can be used to improve outcomes in patients with sepsis.

However, to date, only one randomized clinical trial has studied this question in humans. It found that ibuprofen did not improve survival in patients with sepsis, even though the drug did have a salutary effect on core temperature and metabolic rate.

Recent data demonstrating fever-induced expression of several heat-shock proteins protective against oxidative injury raise the concern that, by suppressing the expression of such proteins, antipyretic therapy might actually potentiate the adverse effects of sepsis in some situations.”

That last sentence is applicable to the current discussion about ibuprofen in COVID-19 treatment as well. As detailed in “High Heat May Kill the Coronavirus,” when your core body temperature is raised — be it due to a fever or from sitting in a sauna — heat shock proteins are activated, which actually suppresses viral replication.^21,22

As noted in the “Fever: Beneficial and Detrimental Effects of Antipyretics” quote above, heat-shock proteins also protect against the oxidative injury that occurs in sepsis.

Considering COVID-19 is a viral infection that in severe cases can trigger a cytokine storm — the same thing that happens in sepsis — it seems reasonable to be at least a little bit cautious about using ibuprofen to lower a COVID-19-related fever.

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Dietitian Melissa Meier shares her top five, practical tips on how to be more mindful of what you're putting in your mouth. 

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In a study involving thousands of participants, a new blood test detected more than 50 types of cancer as well as their location within the body with a high degree of accuracy, according to an international team of researchers.

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COVID-19 has been spreading rapidly around the nation, but here are the worst hit areas.

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When discussions occur face-to-face, people know where their conversational partner is looking and vice versa. With ''virtual'' communication due to COVID-19 and the expansive use of mobile and video devices, now more than ever, it's important to understand how these technologies impact communication. Where do people focus their attention? The eyes, mouth, the whole face? And how do they encode conversation? A first-of-its-kind study set out to determine whether being observed affects people's behavior during online communication.

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A recent study has found that there is no evidence for or against the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen for patients with COVID-19.

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An artificial intelligence tool accurately predicted which patients newly infected with the COVID-19 virus would go on to develop severe respiratory disease, a new study found.

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Genetics researchers say a new approach could benefit all sorts of serious health conditions, and they're urging scientists to quickly pluck 'low hanging fruit' for the benefit of patients.

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How much spring and summer affect the COVID-19 pandemic may depend not only on the effectiveness of social distancing measures, but also on the environment inside our buildings, according to a new review on how respiratory viruses are transmitted.

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Scientists have recently released guidance for prevention and management of COVID-19 among elderly in long term care facilities. The article outlines the objective of WHO interim guidance on Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) in Long-Term Care Facilities (LTCF) in the context of COVID-19 which is to prevent COVID-19-virus from entering the facility, spreading within the facility, and spreading to outside the facility.

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Coughing fits, anxiety and paranoia are three of the most common adverse reactions to cannabis, according to a recent study.

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Researchers said a better understanding of the links between attachment and food could potentially help inform efforts to extend help to people during the current coronavirus pandemic -- particularly among people with high attachment avoidance.

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A review of published data and analysis on the Spanish flu, found that cities that adopted early and broad isolation and prevention measures had disease and mortality rates that were 30% to 50% lower than other cities.

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People continuously exposed to air pollution are at increased risk of dementia, especially if they also suffer from cardiovascular diseases, according to a new study. Therefore, patients with cardiovascular diseases who live in polluted environments may require additional support from care providers to prevent dementia, according to the researchers.

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In Kuwait, a country known for hot weather, death certificates reveal that on days when the temperatures reached extremes of an average daily temperature of 109 degrees Fahrenheit, the number of deaths from cardiovascular disease dramatically increased. With unprecedentedly high temperatures, people living in inherently hot regions of the world may be at particularly high risk of heat-related cardiovascular death.

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“Headaches aren’t welcome here” — that’s the sign you have hanging on your brain’s front door, but the pain is barging right in. You can chalk it up to stress from world events or something you ate or drank, and you might be right. But there are a number of common triggers for migraines, tension headaches, or cluster headaches. The faster you identify them, the quicker you can boot headache pain off the property.

What are the triggers for your headaches?

Take note of your circumstances when a headache starts. Keep a diary to track the day, time, symptoms, and circumstances surrounding the pain (what had you eaten? where did it happen?). Common causes of headaches include the following seven triggers.

1. Stress. Stress can cause tight muscles in the shoulders and neck. This often leads to a tension headache, which starts in the neck and back and works its way up to feel like a tight band around your head. “It’s believed to start in the muscles,” says Dr. Sait Ashina, a neurologist who specializes in headache treatment at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “When tension headaches become frequent, the pain in shoulder and neck muscles is felt by the brain as pain in the head.” Stress is also a common trigger for a migraine headache, which begins on one side of the head, throbs or pounds, makes you sensitive to light and sound, and can last for hours or days.
2. Diet. Eating certain foods often triggers a migraine headache. Migraines may be started by just one type of food — like beans or nuts — or many foods, such as avocados, bananas, cheese, chocolate, citrus, herring, dairy products, and onions. “Processed foods with nitrites, nitrates, yellow food dyes, or monosodium glutamate can be especially problematic,” Dr. Ashina notes.
3. Alcohol intake. Alcohol is a common cause of a migraine headache or a cluster headache — a stabbing pain in the eye that may last hours, go away, and come back several times per day. For some people, a few ounces of red wine are all it takes to provoke a headache, although any kind of alcohol can be a trigger. It’s not clear if the alcohol itself is to blame, or if another component in the drink causes the problem.
4. Environment. “Cluster headaches seem to be seasonal and often happen in the spring or fall,” Dr. Ashina says. “It’s something in the environment, but we can’t tell exactly what it is yet.” Environmental factors such as bright light, smoke, humidity, intense scents, or cold weather are associated with migraine headaches.
5. Hormones. Changes in estrogen levels are associated with migraines in women, and women suffer from migraines more often than men. Menstrual cycles may be tied to migraine in younger women. Varying estrogen levels during perimenopause can sometimes start migraines in women who never experienced them before. Estrogen therapy may also be a migraine trigger. Menopause does seem to end migraines in most women.
6. Caffeine withdrawal. If you normally consume caffeine in coffee or tea, stopping intake abruptly may trigger a migraine. This may be because caffeine causes blood vessels to constrict; without caffeine, the blood vessels widen and bulge out with each heartbeat — a chief reason for the pounding pain of migraines.
7. Lack of sleep. A lack of sleep is associated with migraines and tension headaches. “We don’t know why, but we do know there’s a correlation and that sleep can lead to pain relief. Sometimes people feel better after taking a nap,” Dr. Ashina says.

Next steps to avoid headaches or ease headache pain

If you can associate your headache pain with particular triggers, you can try to avoid them. If that doesn’t help, talk to your doctor. There are many prescription medications, as well as pill-free treatments (acupuncture, meditation, biofeedback, relaxation therapy) that can help reduce headache frequency.

And you’ll need to go a step further: “Make sure you get enough sleep, exercise, eat a healthy diet, limit alcohol intake, and reduce stress,” Dr. Ashina says. “Headaches are a condition of hypersensitivity, so you need balance in your system to fight triggers.”

Finding that balance may be difficult right now, with the world in turmoil. But maintaining good health, and keeping a clear head that’s free of pain, will certainly give your more focus, and maybe even more strength to get through this challenging time.

The post Have a headache? The top 7 triggers appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.

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