Blooming Wellness
Dr. Eek's Health & Wellness Blog
High blood pressure is often described as a problem for older adults. But something is shifting quietly in the background. New research shows deaths related to high blood pressure are rising in younger women. Not slightly. Significantly. Between 1999 and 2023, deaths from hypertension-related heart disease in women ages 25 to 44 increased more than …
A randomized trial tested whether vitamin D3 could help people with COVID-19 recover better or avoid severe outcomes. The answer, at least for the acute phase, was no. People who took vitamin D did not have fewer healthcare visits, hospitalizations, or deaths compared to those who took a placebo. In other words, vitamin D did …
Most of us don’t think twice about what happens to our skin when it touches water. Maybe a little wrinkling after a long bath. Nothing dramatic. But for one man in his 20s, water triggered something very different. After just minutes of exposure, the skin on the back of his hands would thicken, wrinkle excessively, …
Uhoh! Using your phone on the throne may backfire in a big, itchy way! Smartphones are everywhere. Including, for many people, the bathroom. Scrolling the news. Scrolling the doom. Checking social media. Answering emails. Comparing ourselves to others to make ourselves feel bad.It has quietly become part of the routine. ;) But could this habit …
My friend called me the other day and asked me what the “new fungus STD was?” So I decided to write about it here. When most people hear “ringworm” or “jock itch,” they think of a minor, itchy rash and a tube of antifungal cream. Not a CDC report. Not weeks or months of oral …
Obesity usually gets discussed as a chronic disease issue: diabetes, heart disease, stroke, maybe a few cancers. But infections belong in that conversation too. A new large study followed more than half a million adults in Finland and the UK and asked a simple question with big implications: is higher body weight linked to severe …
This is a strange one. Alpha-gal syndrome (AGS) is an allergy to a sugar molecule called galactose-α-1,3-galactose, or alpha-gal. It is triggered by tick bites, most often from the Lone Star tick, and can cause delayed allergic reactions to mammalian meat. Recognition of AGS increased after researchers developed a test for IgE antibodies to alpha-gal …
I’ll start with a confession: I love coffee. I know people have mixed (and strong) feelings about coffee and health outcomes, but no matter who turns out to be right, I enjoy a good cup of coffee and will continue to do so. That said, I still pay attention to new research that looks at …
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 …
