Public Health

Honestly, I didn’t realize how much daily stress was affecting my body until I started paying attention.

When we think about stress, we usually think of it as feeling worried or tense — but it quietly takes a physical toll too. I used to get constant headaches, random stomach issues, and trouble sleeping, and I just brushed them off as “normal.” It wasn’t.

Here’s the thing: when we stay stressed all the time, our body acts like it’s always in danger. It goes into “fight or flight” mode and keeps releasing stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.

After a while, this starts to affect the body in quiet ways. I noticed my blood pressure going up, my stomach acting weird, and I kept catching colds. I was tired all the time, my muscles felt stiff, and sometimes I even felt a tightness in my chest for no reason.

Stress really does sneak into the body without us even realizing it. And the worst part? Lack of sleep makes it even worse, so it becomes a cycle.

What helped me was slowing down just a little — taking 5-minute breaks during work, walking outside, drinking more water, and actually letting myself rest without guilt. It’s not about getting rid of stress completely (that’s impossible), but giving your body space to recover.

If you’re feeling run-down all the time, it might not just be “tiredness” — it could be stress showing up in your body.

I’m curious — how do you deal with daily stress without reaching the point of burnout? What little things help you stay calm and balanced when life gets overwhelming?

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/27466224

Healthy forests are more than climate shields; in the Amazon, they also serve as public-health infrastructure.

A Communications Earth & Environment study spanning two decades across the biome links the extent and legal status of Indigenous Territories to 27 respiratory, cardiovascular, and zoonotic or vector-borne diseases. The findings are complex, but one pattern is clear: Where surrounding forest cover is high and fragmentation is low, Indigenous lands help blunt health risks.

archived (Wayback Machine):

• Mongabay article
• research cited

To clarify, the benefits are due to large contiguous forest cover, which is a result of indigenous territories being legally protected from deforestation by outsiders. Any other protected area with intact forest cover (e.g. a national park or large private reserve) should provide the same benefits.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/35790916

West Nile virus infections are intense so far this year, with case counts running 40% higher than normal, health officials say.

More than 770 cases, including about 490 severe cases, were reported as of early September, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data posted this week. About 550 cases — 350 of them severe — are usually reported by this time of year.

Health officials are ramping up warnings to the public, because most cases of the mosquito-borne disease are reported in August and September.

The national health agency, Santé Publique France, reported this week that 382 infections had been confirmed across 38 clusters by 8 September, including 81 new cases in the previous seven days.

The mosquito-borne virus, which causes fever and severe joint pain, has been reported in southern regions for several years.

But this summer marks the first time a locally acquired case has been detected in Paris, where health officials have launched an overnight spraying campaign in the 11th arrondissement to contain the spread.

In the two years following her breast cancer surgery, not a day went by when Mary Munney Griffiths wasn’t in pain. It was different from the burning she felt in her chest during eight weeks of radiation. This was a new sharp, shooting sensation that woke her up at night and stopped her cold in the grocery store.

She worried her cancer had returned, but tests said otherwise. When she finally got a surgeon to operate two years later, the doctor removed 24 plastic shards from her breast.

They were remnants of a medical device called BioZorb, which Griffiths’ physician had implanted to help maintain the shape of her breast. Instead of dissolving within about a year, as intended, it had broken into pieces.

Editor's SUmmary:

Microbes have been tied to different cancers, though such links can be tenuous and require rigorous analysis to substantiate. Many such analyses use data from The Cancer Genome Atlas, which will have a unique profile of potential technical artifacts and sequence contaminants. Gihawi et al. examined the pancancer association with microbes in a completely independent whole-genome sequencing dataset, Genomics England. They report that of all cancers studied, only colorectal and oral cancers harbor true associations—with a microbial signature and with pathogenic viruses, respectively. This study adds to our understanding of the microbial landscape in cancer. —Catherine Charneski

Aid cuts in east Africa have led to cases of babies being born with HIV because mothers could not get medication, a rise in life-threatening infections, and at least one woman having an unwanted abortion, according to interviews with medical staff, patients and experts.

A report by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) sets out dozens of examples of the impact of disruption to Pepfar – the president’s emergency plan for aids relief – in Tanzania and Uganda.

Pepfar, a leading US global health programme, launched in 2003 and is credited with saving millions of lives, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa.

The report is based on interviews with 39 doctors, nurses, people living with HIV, service providers and other experts. It focuses on the first 100 days after Pepfar-funded programmes were instructed to stop work as part of a US government freeze on foreign aid.

Trump has promised Americans he’ll lower their drug costs. But imposing stiff pharmaceutical tariffs risks the opposite and could disrupt complex supply chains, drive cheap foreign-made generic drugs out of the U.S. market and create shortages.