Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed
When we asked what 鈥渁ging well鈥 looks like, more than 500 readers responded. But one idea came up again and again 鈥 aging is a lifelong process, so start thinking about aging well when you鈥檙e young. The following is a sample of what readers told us. (10/24)
Residents of a New York neighborhood recall asbestos raining from the sky. It fell on windowsills, on a Little League field and atop fresh snow. They are suing OxyChem, saying its poor pollution control at a plastics plant caused illness and death. (McGrory and Bedi, 10/25)
In the mid-1980s scientists conducted a famous experiment in which they asked participants to try to avoid thinking of a white bear. Over the course of five minutes, the experimental subjects were to ring a bell if a white bear came to mind. (Wickelgren, 10/19)
To relieve hot flashes, sleep problems and low libido, some menopausal women are choosing to seek relief with cannabis, usually in the form of a joint or an edible, new research shows. (Kim, 10/21)
When Janet Folger Porter moved back to Ohio in December 2010, she invited some of her closest friends to her new home in suburban Cleveland. Her guests sipped coffee, made small talk and shared a breakfast of bacon and eggs. Meanwhile, Porter set up a white board in front of the fireplace. On it, the hostess wrote two words: 鈥淗eartbeat Bill.鈥 (Horn and BeMiller, 10/27)
On racism and health care 鈥
A growing body of research is pinpointing how structural racism鈥攖he ongoing impact of discriminatory practices鈥攁ffects the health of people of color, especially Black people, from infancy to old age. (McCullom, 10/3)
There鈥檚 growing recognition of the health inequities people of color experience because of racism, implicit bias, and systemic marginalization. But efforts to tackle the root causes of such inequities and ease their impact on the nation鈥檚 collective health lag behind. There is momentum to move from awareness to action, in private and public hospitals, in academic medicine, and in public health departments. (Newsome, 10/3)
On long covid 鈥
Many respondents described their struggle to have their condition taken seriously by doctors, family and friends. ... Here, seven people from around the world share their experiences of living with long Covid, and the impact it has had on their physical and mental health, ability to work and relationships. (Skopeliti, 10/25)
Medical misogyny doesn鈥檛 come as a surprise to the many patients who have been disbelieved in the past. Medicine has long treated women as second-class citizens. ... The long-term impacts of Covid-19 have familiar parallels. (Lu, 10/18)
And just for fun 鈥
Their insatiable appetite is a clue that the hypothalamus has gone haywire and is overproducing the hunger-stimulating hormone ghrelin, dooming them to be perpetually hangry. (Berkowitz and Tan, 10/25)