motion-fix

Early in the new year, promises to reboot your health typically focus on diet, exercise, and weight loss. And by now you may have begun making changes — or at least plans — to reach those goals. But consider going beyond the big three.

Below are 10 often-overlooked, simple ideas to step up personal health and safety. And most won’t make you break a sweat.

Review your health portals

Your medical information is kept in electronic records. You have access to them through the patient portal associated with your doctor’s office. Set aside time to update portal passwords and peruse recent records of appointments, test results, and notes your doctor took during your visits.

“Many studies have shown that when patients review the notes, they remember far better what went on during interactions with their clinicians, take their medicines more effectively, and pick up on errors — whether it’s an appointment they forgot to make or something their doctor, nurse, or therapist got wrong in documenting an encounter,” says Dr. Tom Delbanco, the John F. Keane & Family Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and cofounder of the OpenNotes initiative, which led shared clinician notes to become the new standard of care.

Doing this can help you become more engaged in your care. “We know from numerous studies that engaged patients who share decisions with those caring for them have better outcomes,” he adds.

Ask about health insurance freebies

Your insurance plan may offer perks that can lead to better health, such as:

• weight loss cessation programs
• quit-smoking programs
• free or reduced gym memberships.

Some insurers even offer breastfeeding counseling and equipment. Call your insurance company or take a close look at their website to find out if there’s anything that would help you.

Get rid of expired medications

Scour your cabinets for expired or unneeded drugs, which pose dangers for you and others. Look for prescription and over-the-counter medications (pills, potions, creams, lotions, droppers, or aerosol cans) as well as supplements (vitamins, minerals, herbs).

Bring your finds to a drug take-back site, such as a drugstore or law enforcement office, or a medical waste collection site such as the local landfill.

As a last resort, toss medications into the trash, but only after mixing them with unappealing substances (such as cat litter or used coffee grounds) and placing the mixture in a sealable plastic bag or container.

Invest in new sneakers

The wrong equipment can sabotage any exercise routine, and for many people the culprit is a worn pair of sneakers. Inspect yours for holes, flattened arch support, and worn treads. New sneakers could motivate you to jazz up your walking or running routine.

For example, if it’s in the budget, buy a new pair of walking shoes with a wide toe box, cushy insoles, good arch support, a sturdy heel counter (the part that goes around your heel), stretchy uppers, and the right length — at least half an inch longer than your longest toe.

Cue up a new health app

There are more than 350,000 health apps geared toward consumer health. They can help you with everything from managing your medications or chronic disease to providing instruction and prompts for improving diet, sleep, or exercise routines, enhancing mental health, easing stress, practicing mindfulness, and more.

Hunt for apps that are free or offer a free trial period for a test drive. Look for good reviews, strong privacy guardrails, apps that don’t collect too much information from you, and those that are popular — with hundreds of thousands or millions of downloads.

Make a schedule for health screenings and visits

Is it time for a colonoscopy, mammogram, hearing test, prostate check, or comprehensive eye exam? Has it been a while since you had a dermatologist examine the skin on your whole body? Should you have a cholesterol test or other blood work — and when is a bone density test helpful?

If you’re not sure, call your primary care provider or any specialists on your health team to get answers.

Four more simple healthy steps

The list of steps you can take this year to benefit your health can be as long as you’d like it to be. Jot down goals any time you think of them.

Here are four solid steps to start you off:

• Take some deep breaths each day. A few minutes of daily slow, deep breathing can help lower your blood pressure and ease stress.
• Get a new pair of sunglasses if your old ones have worn lenses. Make sure the new pair has UV protection (a special coating) to block the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) light, which can cause eye damage and lead to permanent vision loss.
• Make a few lunch dates or phone dates with friends you haven’t seen in a while. Being socially connected wards off loneliness and isolation, which can help lower certain health risks.
• Do a deep cleaning on one room in your home per week. Dust and mold can trigger allergies, asthma, and even illness.

You don’t have to do all of these activities at once. Just put them on your to-do list, along with the larger resolutions you’re working on. Now you’ll have a curated list of goals of varying sizes. The more goals you reach, the better you’ll feel. And that will make for a very healthy year, indeed.

About the Author

Heidi Godman, Executive Editor, Harvard Health Letter

Heidi Godman is the executive editor of the Harvard Health Letter. Before coming to the Health Letter, she was an award-winning television news anchor and medical reporter for 25 years. Heidi was named a journalism fellow … See Full Bio View all posts by Heidi Godman

About the Reviewer

Howard E. LeWine, MD, Chief Medical Editor, Harvard Health Publishing; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing

Dr. Howard LeWine is a practicing internist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Chief Medical Editor at Harvard Health Publishing, and editor in chief of Harvard Men’s Health Watch. See Full Bio View all posts by Howard E. LeWine, MD

If you’ve been on TikTok lately, you know it’s hard to avoid countless influencers touting a concept called sleepmaxxing. Their posts provide tips and tricks to get longer, better, and more restorative sleep. And why not? Sleep is considered a pillar of good health and is related to everything from brain health to cardiovascular health, and even diabetes.

But what exactly is sleepmaxxing? And how likely is it to deliver on claims of amped-up energy, a boost to the immune system, reducing stress levels, and improving your mood?

What is sleepmaxxing?

Depending on which social media platform you happen to be looking at, the recommended strategies for maximizing sleep differ. Tips include:

• taping your mouth shut while sleeping
• not drinking anything during the two hours before bedtime
• a cold room temperature
• a dark bedroom
• using a white noise machine
• not setting a morning alarm
• showering one hour before bedtime
• eliminating caffeine
• eating kiwis before going to bed
• taking magnesium and melatonin
• using weighted blankets
• getting 30 minutes of sunlight every day
• meditating daily for 30 minutes.

Does any research support sleepmaxxing?

A thorough search through PubMed, PsycNet, and Google Scholar reveals zero results for the terms “sleepmaxx” and “sleepmaxxing.” But wait — this certainly doesn’t mean that some influencer-recommended strategies are not evidence-based, just that the concept of sleepmaxxing, as a defined package, has not been scientifically studied. But yes, some of the strategies — including one uncomfortable, though popular, choice — lack evidence.

Can mouth-taping improve your sleep?

TikTok users have claimed that taping your mouth while you sleep has benefits, such as reducing snoring and improving bad breath. A team from the department of otolaryngology at George Washington University was prompted by all of the social media buzz on the topic to review research on the impact of nocturnal mouth taping. Spoiler alert: the authors note that most TikTok mouth-taping claims aren’t supported by research.

If you do snore, it’s important to discuss this with your medical team. Even if taping your mouth reduces your snoring, it can’t effectively treat a potential underlying cause of the snoring, such as allergies, asthma, or sleep apnea.

Sleepmaxxing or basic sleep hygiene?

Many strategies recommended by sleepmaxxers are essentially what sleep experts prescribe as good sleep hygiene, which has plenty of research backing its value. Common components of sleep hygiene are decreasing caffeine and alcohol consumption, increasing physical activity, sleep timing, reducing evening light exposure, limiting daytime naps, and having a cool bedroom.

While tips like these help many people enjoy restful sleep, those who have an insomnia disorder will need more help, as described below.

Melatonin, early bedtime, weighted blankets, and — kiwi fruit?

Other strategies suggested by sleepmaxxers are based on limited scientific data. For example:

• Taking melatonin is recommended by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine to treat circadian rhythm disorders such as jet lag. But it’s not recommended for insufficient sleep, poor sleep quality, or difficulty with falling asleep or staying asleep.
• Is it healthier to be asleep by 10 p.m.? One video that garnered more than a million views claims it is. While it is important to maximize morning sunlight exposure and minimize evening light exposure to regulate circadian rhythms, there is such variability in how much sleep someone requires and individual chronotypes (not to mention varying personal and professional responsibilities!) that it is difficult to state there is an ideal bedtime for everyone.
• While intriguing research has been done on weighted blankets, there is no convincing evidence that they are truly effective for the general adult population.
• Overall, it’s important to be cautious about the impact of the placebo effect on how someone sleeps. An analysis of more than 30 studies showed that roughly 64% of the drug response for a sleep medication in insomnia patients could be due to the placebo effect. A key takeaway is that studies that are not randomized controlled trials — such as this small study on 24 people suggesting that kiwi fruit may improve sleep — should be interpreted with a grain of salt.

Could you have orthosomnia?

The expectation of flawless sleep, night in and night out, is an unrealistic goal. Orthosomnia is a term that describes an unhealthy pursuit of perfect sleep. The pressure to get perfect sleep is embedded in the sleepmaxxing culture.

With more and more people able to access daily data about their sleep and other health metrics through consumer wearables, even a person who is objectively sleeping well can become unnecessarily concerned with optimizing their sleep. While prioritizing restful sleep is commendable, setting perfection as your goal is problematic. Even good sleepers vary from night to night, experiencing less than desirable sleep a couple of times per week.

It is also noteworthy that some of the most widely viewed recommendations on TikTok are not supported by scientific evidence.

Do you really need to fix your sleep?

A good first step is to understand whether or not there is anything that you need to fix! Consider tracking your sleep for a few weeks using a sleep diary, and pair this data with a consumer wearable (such as a Fitbit or Apple Watch). Both imperfectly capture sleep data when compared to the gold-standard tool sleep experts use (polysomnography, or a sleep study). However, combining the information can give you a reasonable assessment of your sleep status.

Regularly getting restful sleep can indeed boost health and mood. And all of us can benefit from following basic sleep hygiene tips. But if it takes you 30 minutes or more to fall asleep, or if you are up for 30 minutes or more in the middle of the night, and this happens three or more times per week, then consider reaching out to your health care team to seek further evaluation.

There are effective, nonmedication treatments that are proven to help you sleep better. One example is cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, which can dramatically improve insomnia symptoms in a matter of weeks.

Want to learn more about cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia? Watch this video from the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School with Eric Zhou describing how it works.

About the Author

Eric Zhou, PhD, Contributor

Eric Zhou, PhD, is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He has been invited to speak internationally about sleep health in both pediatric and adult populations, including those with chronic illnesses. His research … See Full Bio View all posts by Eric Zhou, PhD

Nantucket, a beautiful, 14-mile-long island off the coast of Massachusetts, has a 40-point resiliency plan to help withstand the buffeting seas surrounding it as climate change takes a toll. Perhaps we can all benefit from creating individual resilience plans to help handle the big and small issues that erode our sense of well-being. But what is resilience and how do you cultivate it?

What is resilience?

Resilience is a psychological response that helps you adapt to life’s difficulties and seek a path forward through challenges.

“It’s a flexible mindset that helps you adapt, think critically, and stay focused on your values and what matters most,” says Luana Marques, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

While everyone has the ability to be resilient, your capacity for resilience can take a beating over time from chronic stress, perhaps from financial instability or staying in a job you dislike. The longer you’re in that situation, the harder it becomes to cope with it.

Fortunately, it’s possible to cultivate resilience. To do so, it helps to exercise resiliency skills as often as possible, even for minor stressors. Marques recommends the following strategies.

Shift your thoughts

In stressful situations, try to balance out your thoughts by adopting a broader perspective. “This will help you stop using the emotional part of your brain and start using the thinking part of your brain. For example, if you’re asking for a raise and your brain says you won’t get it, think about the things you’ve done in your job that are worthy of a raise. You’ll slow down the emotional response and shift your mindset from anxious to action,” Marques says.

Approach what you want

“When you’re anxious, stressed, or burned out, you tend to avoid things that make you uncomfortable. That can make you feel stuck,” Marques says. “What you need to do is get out of your comfort zone and take a step toward the thing you want, in spite of fear.”

For example: If you’re afraid of giving a presentation, create a PowerPoint and practice it with colleagues. If you’re having conflict at home, don’t walk away from your partner — schedule time to talk about what’s making you upset.

Align actions with your values

“Stress happens when your actions are not aligned with your values — the things that matter most to you or bring you joy. For example, you might feel stressed if you care most about your family but can’t be there for dinner, or care most about your health but drink a lot,” Marques says.

She suggests that you identify your top three values and make sure your daily actions align with them. If being with family is one of the three, make your time with them a priority — perhaps find a way to join them for a daily meal. If you get joy from a clean house, make daily tidying a priority.

Tips for success

Practice the shift, approach, and align strategies throughout the week. “One trick I use is looking at my calendar on Sunday and checking if my actions for the week are aligned with my values. If they aren’t, I try to change things around,” Marques says.

It’s also important to live as healthy a lifestyle as possible, which will help keep your brain functioning at its best.

Healthy lifestyle habits include:

• getting seven to nine hours of sleep per night
• following a healthy diet, such as a Mediterranean-style diet
• aiming for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activities (such as brisk walking) each week — and adding on strength training at least twice a week
• if you drink alcohol, limiting yourself to no more than one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men
• not smoking
• staying socially connected, whether in person, by phone or video calls, social media, or even text messages.

Need resilience training?

Even the best athletes have coaches, and you might benefit from resilience training.

Consider taking an online course, such as this one developed by Luana Marques. Or maybe turn to a therapist online or in person for help. Look for someone who specializes in cognitive behavioral therapy, which guides you to redirect negative thoughts to positive or productive ones.

Just don’t put off building resilience. Practicing as you face day-to-day stresses will help you learn skills to help navigate when dark clouds roll in and seas get rough.

About the Author

Heidi Godman, Executive Editor, Harvard Health Letter

Heidi Godman is the executive editor of the Harvard Health Letter. Before coming to the Health Letter, she was an award-winning television news anchor and medical reporter for 25 years. Heidi was named a journalism fellow … See Full Bio View all posts by Heidi Godman

About the Reviewer

Howard E. LeWine, MD, Chief Medical Editor, Harvard Health Publishing; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing

Dr. Howard LeWine is a practicing internist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Chief Medical Editor at Harvard Health Publishing, and editor in chief of Harvard Men’s Health Watch. See Full Bio View all posts by Howard E. LeWine, MD

Has the recent news about measles outbreaks in the US surprised you? Didn’t it seem like we were done with measles?

In the US, widespread vaccination halted the ongoing spread of measles more than 20 years ago, a major public health achievement. Before an effective vaccine was developed in the 1960s, nearly every child in the US got measles. Complications like measles-related pneumonia or hearing loss were common, and 400 to 500 people died each year.

As I write this, there have been 800 confirmed cases in 24 states, mostly among children. The biggest outbreak is in west Texas, where 62 people have been hospitalized and two unvaccinated school-age children recently died, the first measles deaths in the US since 2015. Officials in New Mexico have also reported a measles-related death.

Can we prevent these tragedies?

Measles outbreaks are highly preventable. It’s estimated that when 95% of people in a community are vaccinated, both those individuals and others in their community are protected against measles.

But nationally, measles vaccination rates among school-age kids fell from 95% in 2019 to 92% in 2023. Within Texas, the kindergarten vaccination rates have dipped below 95% in about half of all state counties. In the community at the center of the west Texas outbreak, the reported rate is 82%. Declining vaccination rates are common in other parts of the US, too, and that leaves many people vulnerable to measles infections.

Only 2% of the recent cases in the US involved people known to be fully vaccinated. The rest were either unvaccinated or had unknown vaccine status (96%), or they had received only one of the two vaccine doses (1%).

What to know about measles

As measles outbreaks occur within more communities, it’s important to understand why this happens — and how to stop it. Here are seven things to know about measles.

The measles virus is highly contagious

Several communities have suffered outbreaks in recent years. The measles virus readily spreads from person to person through the air we breathe. It can linger in the air for hours after a sneeze or cough. Estimates suggest nine out of 10 nonimmune people exposed to measles will become infected. Measles is far more contagious than the flu, COVID-19, or even Ebola.

Early diagnosis is challenging

It usually takes seven to 14 days for symptoms to show up once a person gets infected. Common early symptoms — fever, cough, runny nose — are similar to other viral infections such as colds or flu. A few days into the illness, painless, tiny white spots in the mouth (called Koplik spots) appear. But they’re easy to miss, and are absent in many cases. A day or two later, a distinctive skin rash develops.

Unfortunately, a person with measles is highly contagious for days before the Koplik spots or skin rash appear. Very often, others have been exposed by the time measles is diagnosed and precautions are taken.

Measles can be serious and even fatal

Measles is not just another cold. A host of complications can develop, including

• brain inflammation (encephalitis), which can lead to seizures, hearing loss, or intellectual disability
• pneumonia
• eye inflammation (and occasionally, vision loss)
• poor pregnancy outcomes, such as miscarriage
• subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), a rare and lethal disease of the brain that can develop years after the initial measles infection.

Complications are most common among children under age 5, adults over age 20, pregnant women, and people with an impaired immune system. Measles is fatal in up to three of every 1,000 cases.

During the latest outbreaks, 85 cases —nearly one in nine — have required hospitalization.

Getting measles may suppress your immune system

When you get sick from a viral or bacterial infection, antibodies created by your immune system will later recognize and help mount a defense against these intruders. In 2019, a study at Harvard Medical School (HMS) found that the measles virus may wipe out up to three-quarters of antibodies protecting against viruses or bacteria that a child was previously immune to — anything from strains of the flu to herpesvirus to bacteria that cause pneumonia and skin infections.

“If your child gets the measles and then gets pneumonia two years later, you wouldn’t necessarily tie the two together. The symptoms of measles itself may be only the tip of the iceberg,” said the study’s first author, Dr. Michael Mina, who was a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of geneticist Stephen Elledge at HMS and Brigham and Women’s Hospital at the time of the study.

In this video, Mina and Elledge discuss their findings.

Vaccination is highly effective

Two doses of the current vaccine provide 97% protection — much higher than most other vaccines.  Rarely, a person gets measles despite being fully vaccinated. When that happens, the disease tends to be milder and less likely to spread to others.

The measles vaccine is safe

 The safety profile of the measles vaccine is excellent. Common side effects include temporary soreness in the arm, low-grade fever, and muscle pain, as is true for most vaccinations. A suggestion that measles or other vaccines cause autism has been convincingly discredited. However, this often-repeated misinformation has contributed to significant vaccine hesitancy and falling rates of vaccination.

Ways to protect yourself from measles infection

• Vaccination. Usually, children are given the first dose around age 1 and the second between ages 4 and 6 as part of the Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccine. If a child — or adult — hasn’t been vaccinated, they can have these doses later.

  If you were born after 1957 and received a measles vaccination before 1968, consider getting revaccinated or tested for measles antibodies (see below). The vaccine given before 1968 was less effective than later versions. And before 1957, most people became immune after having measles, although this immunity can wane.

• Isolation. To limit spread, everyone diagnosed with measles and anyone who might be infected should avoid close contact with others until four days after the rash resolves.
• Mask-wearing by people with measles can help prevent spread to others. Household members or other close contacts should also wear a mask to avoid getting it.
• Frequent handwashing helps keep the virus from spreading.
• Testing. If you aren’t sure about your measles vaccination history or whether you may be vulnerable to infection, consider having a blood test to find out if you’re immune to measles. Memories about past vaccinations can be unreliable, especially if decades have gone by, and immunity can wane.
• Pre-travel planning. If you are headed to a place where measles is common, make sure you are up to date with vaccinations.

The bottom line

While news about measles in recent months may have been a surprise, it’s also alarming. Experts warn that the number of cases (and possibly deaths) are likely to increase. And due to falling vaccination rates, outbreaks are bound to keep occurring. One study estimates that between nine and 15 million children in the US could be susceptible to measles.

But there’s also good news: we know that measles outbreaks can be contained and the disease itself can be eliminated. Learn how to protect yourself and your family. Engage respectfully with people who are vaccine hesitant: share what you’ve learned from reliable sources about the disease, especially about the well-established safety of vaccination.

About the Author

Robert H. Shmerling, MD, Senior Faculty Editor, Harvard Health Publishing; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing

Dr. Robert H. Shmerling is the former clinical chief of the division of rheumatology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), and is a current member of the corresponding faculty in medicine at Harvard Medical School. … See Full Bio View all posts by Robert H. Shmerling, MD