ArcaMax

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: When I go for a walk or to the gym, people always seem to be checking their pulse, whether by hand or with a wearable. Why is heart rate so important?

ANSWER: Your heart rate, or pulse, is the number of times your heart beats per minute. Your resting heart rate is when the heart is pumping the lowest amount of blood you need ...Read more

It sounds like something from a science fiction novel, but Alabama officials’ plan to use robots to improve care for rural pregnant women and their babies is real.

During a January White House roundtable touting the first grants to states under a new $50 billion rural health fund, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet ...Read more

Lori Kelley’s deteriorating vision has made it hard for her to find steady work.

The 59-year-old, who lives in Harrisburg, North Carolina, closed her nonprofit circus arts school last year because she could no longer see well enough to complete paperwork. She then worked making dough at a pizza shop for a bit. Currently, she sorts recyclable ...Read more

The federal government’s message in its new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, released in January 2026, couldn’t be simpler: “Eat real food.”

But for pregnant women in rural America, that straightforward advice runs headlong into a harsh reality: Rural women have less access to healthy whole foods.

We are a public ...Read more

Bed rest can go pound sand: Ray J gave his all on stage on Friday night, it seems, with fan videos showing his eyes appearing to bleed as he worked the crowd.

The singer also doffed the top of his orange jumpsuit to reveal some sort of medical port or device inserted on the upper left side of his chest.

The “Love & Hip-Hop: Hollywood” star...Read more

Every year, Kris Bullinger braces herself for insurance sticker shock.

Bullinger is a co-owner of Olympic Truck Service, a diesel repair shop in Tumwater, Washington. Health coverage for the company’s 17 employees has long been one of her fastest rising and most unpredictable expenses.

The same coverage costs more every year," she said.

...Read more

Leonard Bighorn said his mother tried for two years to get help for severe stomach pain through the limited health services available near her home on the Fort Peck Reservation in northeastern Montana.

After his mom finally saw a specialist in Glasgow, about an hour away, she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, Bighorn said.

Now, 16 years...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When it snows in Parkville, Missouri, Harrison Long often stops in his tracks.

“Avalanche,” he shouts, even if only a few flakes are falling. It’s a line he memorized from a cartoon, one of the many TV show and movie quotes that have become commonplace in the Long household.

Harrison has also started singing again, ...Read more

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I found out during my pregnancy that I have mitral valve stenosis. How common is valve disease, and what should I know about it?

ANSWER: Valve disease affects how blood moves through the heart, and pregnancy is often a time when symptoms first appear or become more noticeable. Learning about a heart valve condition during ...Read more

The Trump administration has unveiled a sweeping set of regulatory proposals that would substantially change health plan offerings on the Affordable Care Act marketplace next year, aiming, it says, to provide more choice and lower premiums. But it also proposes sharply raising some annual out-of-pocket costs — to more than $27,000 for one type...Read more

MIAMI — Moringa powder capsules have been recalled as a CDC and FDA investigation links the capsules to a new form of salmonella outbreak that the CDC calls “unusual and highly concerning.”

“The salmonella strain associated with this outbreak is resistant to all first-line and alternative antibiotics commonly recommended for the ...Read more

Almost every golfer has experienced it. You're lined up on the green for that perfect putt, when an easy tap-in shot is foiled by a mysterious twitch. Golfers refer to it as " the yips." And researchers at Mayo Clinic believe they've found a neurological cause to explain some instances.

Jason Howland has more in this Mayo Clinic Minute.

Drive ...Read more

Some of us may experience the "winter blues" – feeling sad from short days, climbing into bed earlier and resenting waking up on dark mornings. That’s different than seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a term used to describe a type of depression that follows a seasonal pattern.

The most common form of seasonal affective disorder occurs in ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The best shot at curing cancer is catching it early, doctors say, but that doesn't always happen.

Between 80% and 85% of pancreatic cancer cases aren't diagnosed until the aggressive and lethal disease has already reached advanced stages, according to a 2023 study in the open access medical journal Cureus. Lung and liver cancer ...Read more