Harvard Health Content API

Vertigo is a symptom, not a condition. It can make people feel lightheaded, faint, unsteady, or like the room is spinning. Common conditions causing vertigo include benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, vestibular migraines, vestibular neuritis, and Ménière’s disease. People should see a doctor after a single vertigo episode to determine the cause. Depending on the cause, treatments might include medications, a canalith repositioning procedure, vestibular therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy. Staying active, not sedentary, between episodes can help people with vertigo feel better.

Two-thirds of Americans with long COVID are women. Women approaching menopause who have long COVID seem to experience worsened symptoms of both conditions. Women’s sex hormones appear to contribute to this phenomenon. Hormone therapy is becoming both a treatment and a diagnostic tool to determine driving factors behind affected women’s symptoms. Because symptoms overlap, some women may have trouble being correctly diagnosed with perimenopause or long COVID.

Women and men require different nutritional approaches to promote muscle recovery after exercise. Optimally, women should refuel within 45 minutes, while men have up to three hours. Hormone differences drive women’s faster post-workout muscle breakdown. During the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, women may also crave more carbohydrates and want to eat more. Women should consume about 20 grams of protein within 45 minutes of working out. If fat loss is desired, women should cut calories at other times of the day, not after exercise.

Leaky gut syndrome isn’t a clinical diagnosis. It refers to a breakdown in the barrier between the gut and bloodstream caused by inflammation in the small intestine. The bacteria and toxins that seep through the gut lining can trigger an array of intestinal symptoms.

A variety of factors seem to account for why mosquitoes bite some people more than others. These include a person’s scent, blood type, and breathing patterns. People can minimize bites by using fragrance-free products and wearing long sleeves and pants.

Artificial intelligence, or A.I., has been used in women’s health care for decades. A.I. helps detect and track breast cancer, endometriosis, fibroids, cervical precancers, and other conditions. A.I.-driven mammography software may reveal more breast cancers than radiologists detect alone. A.I. may soon streamline women’s breast cancer risk assessment scores to aid screening. Experts once predicted that A.I. would replace radiologists, but that hasn’t happened and isn’t likely, according to Harvard specialists.

A 2024 study found that offering reminders or incentives seems to motivate people to walk more than they normally do. And people who are offered incentives such as money or game points walk more than people who receive only daily reminders to walk.

A large observational study published in 2024 suggests that stroke isn’t the biggest risk of atrial fibrillation (an abnormal heart rhythm condition). The biggest risk seems to be heart failure, a condition in which the heart is unable to pump blood effectively.

A 2024 study found that people with high blood sugar and high triglycerides are more likely to develop chronic stress, anxiety, or depression later in life, compared with people who have low or normal blood sugar levels.

Foods are an important source of dietary fluids. For example, eating the recommended two servings of fruits and three servings of vegetables each day might provide about two cups of fluid. Dairy products, smoothies, and soups also contribute to fluid intake. The amount of fluid to consume each day from food and drink depends on a person’s body size and health needs. The National Academy of Medicine recommends about 11 cups (88 ounces) per day for women and 15 cups (120 ounces) per day for men.