Health Tips Line

When I was growing up, we had two flavors of M&M’s. If you liked nuts, you grabbed the Peanut M&M’s at the movies or on Halloween when given the choice by silly parents who left the basket out. If you didn’t like peanuts, were allergic or were just a strange kid who liked nuts but didn’t like them *in* things (hey, it made sense to me), well, you got plain M&M’s. Now, not to be all “uphill both ways” about my limited choices as a youngster, but people today have it much better, at least when it comes to M&M’s. There are now more than 10 current varieties of the popular treat, and they all melt in your mouth, not in your hands. But which one rules the candy aisle where you live? Coventry Direct, the insurance giant, wondered the same thing—and we have the results coming up. Are you an M&M’s purist , or do you prefer a quirkier, newer variety? Ahead, I’ll take you through the most popular M&M...

Dehydration is annoyingly good at disguising itself as other problems. Your head hurts, so you blame your screen. You feel wiped out, so you blame your sleep . You stand up and get a little dizzy, and your brain immediately goes somewhere more dramatic: Do I have an iron deficiency? Is my blood sugar low? Am I dying?  Sometimes, you just need more fluids. But while it’s easy to assume everyone is walking around at least a little dehydrated, hydration isn’t that simple to measure. The good news is that your body tends to leave clues. There are the obvious ones, like thirst, but plenty of others are easy to miss. There’s also a surprisingly simple physical check you can do using your own skin, and it takes just a few seconds. Before you try it, though, there’s an important catch: It can give you useful information, but it shouldn’t be the only thing you use to decide whether you’re dehydrated. Ahead, Mitchell Rosner, MD, a nephrologist who speciali...

I grew up in the ’70s and ’80s, which meant summers spent greased up in oil, lounging on the beach beside my mother, who held one of those foil-lined reflectors under her chin like she was trying to broadcast a signal to space. The goal was to burn first in the hopes that it would magically turn into a tan a few days later. And it usually did, but only after nursing a tomato-toned burn so painful, I couldn’t stand the weight of a T-shirt on my shoulders, and had to sleep naked, slathered in Noxzema (engulfed in that awful medicinal smell!), for at least two extremely uncomfortable days. We know so much more today about what the sun does to our skin—from wrinkling and age spots to skin cancer. But knowing better doesn’t make us immune to the downsides of a forgotten sunscreen reapplication . In fact, the CDC’s most recent National Health Interview Survey found that an estimated 88.1 million U.S. adults had at least one sunburn during the previous year...

Play a game of tennis or simply watch a match from the stands (or your couch), and you’ll quickly discover that the sport has a language all its own—and some of it can be quite confusing. A player can be down love-40 without romance entering the picture. A match can end in a walkover even though nobody walks anywhere. And a player can be seeded despite the distinct lack of gardening on the court. Then there are deuces , lets , bagels and breadsticks : terms that can leave newcomers wondering if they’re at a match or a bakery. Even if you’re familiar with these words, have you ever wondered why we use them—or where they came from in the first place? With the 2026 U.S. Open just around the corner (Fan Week kicks off Aug. 23, and main-draw singles play begins Aug. 30), there’s no better time to decode some of tennis’s most head-scratching lingo . To serve up some answers, I spoke with language expert Martha Barnette, longtime co-host of A Way...

I can’t speak for you, but I am ready for our Summer of Foodborne Illness to be over. Doesn’t it seem like there’s a new recall every other day? Jalapeños and eggs have salmonella . Blueberries have E. coli. And, of course, bags of lettuce (and cilantro and parsley) have cyclospora. As of Aug. 18, more than 15,000 people have been officially sickened, and two people have died since the cyclospora outbreak began. The outbreak was linked to Taylor Farms’ iceberg lettuce grown in central Mexico, and the company issued a voluntary recall on July 17. Since then, we’ve all been riveted to the news to learn just when the summer cyclospora season will finally draw to a merciful close. Well, we’re almost to the end of August. Does that mean the coast is clear? Can we officially rip into a bag of fresh lettuce or ask the Taco Bell chef to pile on the shreds? Ahead, I’m digging into the latest news about the seemingly never-ending cyclospora outbrea...

Let’s be honest: While being in the spotlight around the clock might not be everyone’s cup of tea, being a royal does come with its fair share of perks. And we’re not just talking about living in fancy palaces . It also means you can have pretty much anything you want. Or so we thought. Apparently, the life of a royal is not always what it seems. Yes, Prince William could famously order ice cream whenever he fancied just by pressing a button when he was with his grandma (better known as Queen Elizabeth II to us commoners). But for others, including William’s eldest son, restrictions are part of the deal. It turns out that Prince George will have to follow some very strict rules when he starts at Eton, his new boarding school, this September. And these rules include not having one thing that’s pretty much standard for any other boy his age today—your own kids included. So what item is banned by George’s new school? Scroll down to find out! Get...