Here in the Seattle area, ground zero of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re still at the beginning of the outbreak, and everyone has lots of questions and concerns. My biggest priority: how can we not get it in the first place, or if we do, how can we fight it off?… Read the rest
Category Archives: Prevention
A 7 Minute Workout That Really Works
“Maximum Results With Minimal Investment”. It sounds like a shady late night infomercial, but it’s actually the subtitle of a recentreview article from the American College of Sports Medicine’s Health & Fitness Journal. Titled High Intensity Circuit Training Using Body Weight, it made worldwide headlines, especially after the New York Times picked up on it.… Read the rest
Sunscreens Prevent Cancers — And Wrinkles
I’m usually quite proud of my Irish ancestry, but one unfortunate vestige of that heritage is pasty white skin that sunburns quite easily. When my mother was pregnant with me and my twin brother, the doctors discovered a large melanoma on her leg which required immediate surgery.… Read the rest
What Really, Truly, Definitely Works To Lose Weight?
In my sixteen years of family medicine, I think the most frustrating disease I treat is obesity. It’s frustrating because as a doctor I feel great compassion for these patients, trying so hard to lose weight, and yet I feel almost shameful that as a primary care physician I can’t offer much in terms of medicines to help.… Read the rest
Diabetes: Healthy Lifestyle Choices Are Key
I’ve been a family doctor for fifteen years, and one of the more dramatic changes I’ve noticed is a big spike in the incidence of prediabetes and diabetes, in all age groups. I had worked in China for ten years until last summer, and all us family doctors at my Beijing clinic weren’t surprised at all with the 2013 paper published in JAMA confirming the frightening reality in China: more than half of all adults in China now are prediabetic.… Read the rest
Not Sleeping Well? Here’s My Advice.
This week, March 6 – 13, is National Sleep Awareness Week, so it’s a good time to review healthy sleep habits. I see a lot of adults and teens in my clinic who are chronically tired and have troubles sleeping — both falling asleep and staying asleep.… Read the rest