Do you feel chronically tired, or get up in the morning and still feel not rested? Assuming that you’re trying to get your needed 8 hours of sleep, perhaps you have what doctors call obstructive sleep apnea. This is a relatively common issue especially in very overweight people, where a part of your throat gets …

Every once in a while, children and adults feel a lot of pressure or pain in their ears, and thick wax clogs their ear canal and needs to be removed. Doctors can try to scoop or rinse it out, but many over-the-counter drops can soften it up. But which one works best? This was reviewed …

People may not realize that there have been amazing advances in technology that can help deaf children hear again. It’s called a cochlear implant, a surgical implant that amplifies sound waves directly into a child’s brain — and allows them to hear again. A study in the current Otolaryngology, discussed in the New York Times …

I’m still in a new year’s “top 10 list” mood, so I’ve made a list of my top 10 favorite posts from 2009. These are the ones I feel can have the most impact on expat’s lives, and are not necessarily the most popular. My faves revolve around preventive measures and are not so much …

Well, this hasn’t been the most fun winter here, has it? Most snow in 50 years; coldest temperatures in 60 years; Avatar sold out again. Shall I go on? Yes, you have every reason to get the winter blues; many people are very prone to this. The western world even has a name for it: …

Those of you with high cholesterol will be happy to learn that there are some legitimate options to your statin pills. Many people cannot tolerate the extremely popular statin pills, especially from side effects of muscle aches. But there’s now some very strong evidence that herbal medicines, including red yeast rice, can be at least …

There’s been a lot of debate over the years over the health benefits of coffee. Now, the trend is towards the positive site, as some well-designed studies show benefit in some diseases.

We all sense that China’s current economic frenzy has led to many people — expats as well as locals — to work extremely long hours and face huge amounts of stress in their jobs. Well, it’s no secret that stress, poor sleep and poor diets can adversely affect your health, but a disturbing new report …

I plan for this website to focus more on alternative medicines and overall wellness; this will include Chinese as well as more “Western” complementary medicines. So, let’s talk about the very popular home remedies involving urinary tract issues. Many women with bladder infections (“cystitis”, UTIs) use cranberry juice, and many men swear that saw palmetto …

It’s impossible for me to ignore the health care debate raging in my home country. One constant theme in the U.S. regarding improving health care is the need for better monitoring of what hospitals and doctors actually do, and which treatments actually work. This is not at all easy to do, but some doctors and …

As you know, last week’s air quality in Beijing was seriously unhealthy, for all ages and all health levels. At that highest level, most AQI warning systems would recommend that all children and any sick people should have stayed inside, and all school-related outdoor sports should have been cancelled. In my clinic this week, I …

Cancer is one of the last great scourges of humanity, and modern medicine has designed many tests that can screen for cancers. The most popular are mammograms for women, and prostate checks for men. The whole point of a screening test is to do as little harm as possible, to detect something that can be …