Blooming Wellness
Dr. Eek's Health & Wellness Blog
When a Hair Treatment Becomes a Medical Emergency: Hair straightening treatments are common. Routine. Marketed as cosmetic and harmless. Which is why a recent case out of Israel feels so unsettling. A 17 year old girl was hospitalized with severe acute kidney failure after undergoing a hair straightening treatment. She arrived at the hospital with …
We often hear advice about sleep, exercise, and diet as separate goals. Sleep more. Move more. Eat better. But real life rarely works that way. Changing everything at once is hard, and focusing on just one behavior can feel overwhelming or unsustainable. A new large study published in The Lancet asked a more practical question. …
It’s 2026, and here we are, talking about AI relationships. A wedding in fact! ;) A woman in Japan recently married her AI generated boyfriend in a ceremonial wedding, and while the headline sounds futuristic or even absurd, the story taps into something very human. Loneliness, unmet emotional needs, and the growing role of technology …
Sometimes science hides in a lab. Sometimes it rides the Milan metro in a Batman cape. This study, led by Francesco Pagnini, asked a surprisingly wholesome public health question. Can something unexpected, like seeing Batman on your morning commute, jolt people out of autopilot just long enough to make them more aware of others, including …
Sometimes a scientific paper drops that makes you go:“Wait… what?!” This one did exactly that. A team of researchers just published a study on something called ant yogurt, a traditional practice from parts of Turkey and Bulgaria where people used ants (yes, real ants) to kick-start milk fermentation when no yogurt starter was available. Sounds …
What’s the link between coffee, tea and longevity? Sometimes the simplest habits hide the most surprising health secrets. A new study from the UK Biobank suggests that a balanced mix of coffee, tea, and water may be linked to a longer life. Not too much, not too little. Just the right rhythm of sips. Personally, …
The scoop on Cinnamon and Metabolic Health: A bunch of studies bundled together suggest cinnamon might help with fasting blood sugar and parts of your cholesterol panel, especially if you’ve got diabetes or metabolic syndrome. The signal looks stronger with >1.5 g/day (about ½ teaspoon) over ≤2 months. But… it’s not a miracle, and quality …
New York City is vaccinating raccoons against rabies again, with this fall’s operation running from October 14 through November (weather permitting) in Queens, Brooklyn, and parts of northern Manhattan. Translation: if you spot what looks like a fishy ketchup packet in the woods, it’s probably not a new snack trend, it’s an oral rabies vaccine …
If you thought Chagas disease and the bug that causes it were exotic problems “somewhere else,” brace yourself: the “kissing bug” (triatomine insect) has now been confirmed in 32 U.S. states, and human infections have surfaced in at least eight of them. (Source: CDC) The kissing bug is black or brown, with a cone-shaped head, long, thin antennae and thin …
The curious case of the pig liver xenotransplant! (Source: Journal of Hepatology, 2025) File under science you did not expect this year. Surgeons in China stitched a gene edited pig liver next to a man’s own liver. Not a full swap. An auxiliary. Think of it as a helper liver on loan. For the first …
Meet the New World screwworm. Sounds like a metal band. Acts like a horror movie. This fly does not wait for you to die. Its babies prefer living flesh. Yes, yours. Or your dog’s. Or a newborn calf’s. The Latin name even translates to “man eater.” Cozy. A recent Maryland case put it back on …
File this one under “diseases you expect in the tropics, not the Garden State.” Then again, it’s New Jersey. They had the mysterious flying drones and dumped spaghetti saga: Anything can happen there! ;) The New Jersey Department of Health just announced they’re investigating a locally acquired malaria case in Morris County. Translation: the person …
