Allergies can be a nuisance that causes sniffles; they can also be fatal. Allergies affect an estimated one out of every five people. In this program, we explore allergies caused by things that people breathe, eat and touch. Our host Kat Carney, comes face-to-face with a gigantic dust mite and even takes a journey through inflamed nasal passages. Experts discuss how people can take charge of their health, protecting themselves from everyday allergies, and how best to treat allergies when symptoms flare up.
The average person spends 1/3 of their life sleeping, and yet sleep remains one of the greatest human mysteries. Adequate sleep is as vital to our well being as air, food and water. Scientists believe that it plays a crucial role in our ability to learn, grow and process memories. The show reveals the effects of sleep deprivation, as our host stays awake for 24 consecutive hours. Along the way we meet insomniacs, narcoleptics and sleepwalkers! We also learn valuable lessons for buying the right mattress, fighting Jet Lag, working the graveyard shift and making our nightly slumber the best it can be.
The number of overweight Americans is now estimated at 60%. That works out to nearly 100 million people getting heavier by the day. This episode shows us just what fat is, how we get it, and how to get rid of it. We explore the risks of serious health problems: heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, diabetes and more.
For most of us, sadness is a mood that comes and goes, but for others, it becomes a debilitating disease with life threatening implications. In this program we explore the mysteries of Depression. We travel through the realms of diagnosis and treatment; learning how drugs like Prozac and psychotherapy help victims. We also learn about manic depressive behavior and forms of depression unique to men and women. Our host, Kat, discovers electroshock therapy and the promising frontiers of brain imaging and drug research.
Headaches are often a chronic and disabling condition, and among migraine sufferers alone, cause 157 million workdays in lost productivity. Fortunately, we are closer than ever to fully understanding the causes of this biological disease. We meet an artist whose migraines have been the inspiration for his award-winning art. We discover that the ancients drilled holes in the skulls of headache sufferers. And finally, we learn about some of the latest scientific research into migraines and investigate biofeedback to reduce tension headaches.
About 80 percent of people will have back pain at some point in their lives. Sometimes a simple day or two of rest can be the perfect remedy. But, when the crippling pain just won’t go away, the answer may be surgery. This program begins with a trip to the monkeyhouse for a lesson on why we should not be surprised when a back engineered for all fours fails when its owner insists on walking upright. We see how a new technique allows scientists to measure back pain, explore a connection between karate and chiropractic, and learn when relief might come from exercise, acupuncture or yoga.
This year one and a half million people in America alone will have a heart attack and one third of those people will die. Heart disease is the number one killer everywhere in the world, and its primary cause is diet. Doctors are able to help prevent long term damage to heart muscles by using medicine, angioplasty and bypass surgery. These therapies may one day be made obsolete by new techniques that use laser therapy and stem cells to grow new blood vessels in the heart. We learn how good diet and plenty of exercise are critical to keeping arteries open. Finally, we see how a portable little device called an automatic external defibrillator is causing a stir and saving lives.
Winter and fall can be seasons of beauty and fun, but they're also the time of sniffles, coughs, runny noses, body aches and fevers. Despite a century of research, there are one billion cases of the common cold in the U.S. annually - and as many as 20,000 deaths from influenza. In this program, doctors, health department officials, a pharmacist, a pediatric neurologist, a biology professor, and other experts join host Kat Carney to provide background on colds and flu, debunk common myths associated with them, and address a range of treatment options including vaccination, medications, herbal remedies and gene therapy. Pneumonia is investigated as well, as are febrile seizures.