Over the years, you've probably seen many magazine articles and TV shows talking about unique herbs and exotic fruits that can boost your immune system. Unfortunately, there's no magic pill where your immune system is concerned. You’ll need to put in the work to get your whole body healthier.

The summer heat can make gardening not only miserable but dangerous. Prolonged exposure to high temperatures can raise the risk for heat injuries such as heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Fortunately, these injuries are preventable. Here are some steps you can take to stay healthy during the dog days of summer.

At the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak, experts warned Americans with chronic conditions to take extra precaution to lowering their risk for COVID-19. One of the conditions highlighted in this warning was high blood pressure, a serious condition that can damage your heart, brain and kidneys.

An inexpensive steroid, dexamethasone, has been shown to reduce deaths in ventilated patients by one third and by one fifth in patients receiving oxygen, according to researchers involved with an unpublished study in England.  
 
Even though they haven’t released the study, researchers took the step to share results because the drug is the first to show a big benefit for some of COVID-19’s sickest patients. Researchers said they were working to publish the results as quickly as possible. 
 

Do you sneeze, cough, wheeze and have a runny nose throughout the year? Maybe you chalked it up to a pollen allergy. But it’s possible the real culprit is mold. 

Mold is a year-round problem for homes -- whether it’s winter dampness, summer humidity, spring rain or autumn wind. But the worst time of the year spans from early spring to mid-autumn.

The number of Americans growing their own food has risen 200 percent since 2008, according to the National Gardening Association. Harvesting your own fruits and vegetables is often more affordable than buying organic produce and healthier than packaged foods. Gardening also is a great workout that can be very relaxing.

There has been a precipitous drop in medical visits and preventive testing since shelter-in-place orders went into effect in March, even though many doctor’s offices, urgent care centers and hospitals are still open. Since early April there has been a 49 percent decrease in adult primary care visits compared to the period immediately before orders were announced, according to the Commonwealth Fund. 

With the media focusing on COVID-19, you may have missed the news: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) introduced new nutrition fact labels. Next time you are grocery shopping, pick up a packaged food item and check out the updated label. They’ve changed to include information on potassium and vitamin D, two nutrients consumers often don’t get enough of.

After having a heart attack, it’s common to make lifestyle changes. Get more exercise. Give up certain foods. Throw away the cigarettes. Another step that may help especially if you’re experiencing chest pains following a heart attack – also known as early post-infarction angina: Listen to more music. 

Listening to 30 minutes of music a day can reduce pain and anxiety in post-infarction angina patients, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session Together with World Congress of Cardiology. 

Mediterranean diet has been linked to lowering your risk for cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and type 2 diabetes. One reason it works is by altering gut bacterium linked to healthy aging and lower inflammation in older people, according to a study published the BMJ journal Gut.