Is Your Menopause App Spying On You?

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In your opinion, do companies collecting your data respect the notion of consent?

Or perhaps, like most of us, you’re getting a little jaded of being presented with options such as:

Let it also not go without mentioning, the number of times we, upon clicking to “personalize” privacy options (i.e., do damage limitation within what they allow), we see a text along the lines of:

“We at Company Inc. value your privacy. We and our 1,917 partners with whom we share your data—”

So, if that’s the baseline, what’s this about menopause apps now?

Periods may stop, but privacy violations sure don’t

While period/ovulation-tracking apps have come under much scrutiny lately for their privacy violations, menopause apps have received comparatively little regulatory (or research) attention.

So, researchers (Dr. Maryam Mehrnezhad et al.) conducted a modest yet significantly-sized survey (n=310) to examine privacy and safety issues in menopause-related digital technologies.

The problem is similar to that of the period/ovulation-tracking apps, in that most collect intimate health information—including emotional symptoms and sexual activity history—which could potentially be accessed or misused by employers, insurers, or scammers.

What Dr. Mehrnezhad and her team found is that many platforms lack adequate safeguards and are often rife with misinformation, to potentially add injury to insult (insofar as incorrect information can result in material harm).

This study was done in Europe, and many current apps fall well short of requirements under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) because their privacy policies are difficult to find or understand (see the sort of obfuscations we gave examples of up top), and a cynical person might even say that this is intentional when they’re making money from selling that data (let’s be clear, when they say “we and our 1,917 partners”, they mean “we and the 1,917 companies we sell your data to”).

So, how about in the US? Well, the US doesn’t have Federal equivalent, although some states have privacy laws of their own (with California’s being the strongest, albeit still not close to GDPR).

In short: if you have such an app, check your app’s privacy policy, but chances are very high your data is being sold to not just the highest bidder, but really, to every vaguely compelling bidder.

You can read the study itself, here: User Risk Perceptions and Privacy Attitudes towards Menopause Data Collection and Use

Writer’s anecdote: not a menopause-tracker exactly, but I used to use the Finch self-care app; it’s a cute interface with a virtual pet that basically does CBT and DBT, as well as being a journalling app. One of the things I liked about it was that all my data stays on my device, and even if I make a manual back-up of my data, I can back it up to a drive of my own, not theirs. However, last year they changed to prompt every day to upload my personal data to “the cloud” (pro tip: “the cloud” is just someone else’s computer; in this case, theirs) and, ironically for a self-care app, weren’t willing to take “no” for an answer. So, I deleted my data and deleted the app.

What can we do to get the same features without such privacy violations?

There are tiers of privacy available:

  • Purpose-built apps: negligible privacy. You would get more privacy if you nailed your personal data to your front door, Martin Luther-style.
  • Multipurpose apps: if you go for something like a general purpose journalling app, then there is slightly better privacy, just because when your data is sold or leaked, it’s not already formatted in an easy-to-analyse way. However, on the flipside, it’s not so easy to use for you, either.
  • Offline computer/device: here we mean one that does not have access to the internet and will never have access to the internet at a future point. For example, you bought a tablet without mobile internet, and immediately disabled the WiFi, Bluetooth, etc.
  • Pen and paper: near complete privacy, unless your home is searched (as happened to some American women in the wake of Roe vs. Wade being overturned).
  • Between your ears: perfect privacy, with the caveat that you may not have perfect recall.

A good compromise is to do something like a monthly self-check of all the aspects of health you find important and can check yourself at home, for example:

Your Health Audit, From Head To Toe ← these are all excellent areas to pay close attention to

Take care!

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  • What Should (& Shouldn’t) You Do If You Cut Off A Finger?

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    Kitchen accidents are common, yet most severed fingers can’t be usefully reattached, because most people don’t have all the “necessaries” in order. So, how to be better-prepared than most?

    You’ll want to watch this now, with (presumably) a full complement of fingers, rather than having to do a panicked internet search and finding it’s harder than you thought to unlock and use your phone with a severed finger.

    Dr. Jason Hoellwarth explains:

    Can it be saved?

    An example of how everything can go right: Dr. Priya cleanly severs her finger at home (unintentionally, not just for our education), and:

    1. cleans it,
    2. bandages it,
    3. avoids ibuprofen,
    4. preserves the finger in a clean moist towel in a cooler,
    5. gets rapid surgical repair,
    6. completes a course of specialized physical therapy (to re-establish the brain-muscle connection via the newly connected nerves)

    …thus enjoying a full recovery.

    Good news: severed digits can survive a few hours* without blood supply; cooling can extend this to 6–12 hours before tissue death makes reattachment impossible.

    *This is a big difference contrasted with the brain, which under normal circumstances has a 5-minute oxygen window after which currently irreversible tissue death occurs (cooling can extend this though, as is seen with people who fall into icy lakes, clinically die, and can be “brought back to life” quite a bit later because paradoxically, the hypothermia saved them).

    Bad news: many hospitals lack equipment or specialists for urgent reattachments, and nerve repair is particularly difficult and rarely restores full sensation or movement.

    That said, there are some modern advances that are a big help if available, for example surgically anchoring implants into bone creates a direct skeletal connection, reducing weight strain, improving comfort, and allowing some sensory feedback.

    Failing that, Dr. Hoellwarth recommends getting a good prosthetic, or just opting to go on with one finger fewer.

    For more on all of this, enjoy:

    Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

    Want to learn more?

    You might also like:

    What is a virtual emergency department? And when should you visit one?

    Take care!

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  • What’s the difference between heat exhaustion and heat stroke? One’s a medical emergency

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    When British TV doctor Michael Mosley died last year in Greece after walking in extreme heat, local police said “heat exhaustion” was a contributing factor.

    Since than a coroner could not find a definitive cause of death but said this was most likely due to an un-identified medical reason or heat stroke.

    Heat exhaustion and heat stroke are two illnesses that relate to heat.

    So what’s the difference?

    Studio Nut/Shutterstock

    A spectrum of conditions

    Heat-related illnesses range from mild to severe. They’re caused by exposure to excessive heat, whether from hot conditions, physical exertion, or both. The most common ones include:

    • heat oedema: swelling of the hands, feet and ankles
    • heat cramps: painful, involuntary muscle spasms usually after exercise
    • heat syncope: fainting due to overheating
    • heat exhaustion: when the body loses water due to excessive sweating, leading to a rise in core body temperature (but still under 40°C). Symptoms include lethargy, weakness and dizziness, but there’s no change to consciousness or mental clarity
    • heat stroke: a medical emergency when the core body temperature is over 40°C. This can lead to serious problems related to the nervous system, such as confusion, seizures and unconsciousness including coma, leading to death.

    As you can see from the diagram below, some symptoms of heat stroke and heat exhaustion overlap. This makes it hard to recognise the difference, even for medical professionals.

    Heat exhaustion vs heat stroke venn diagram
    CC BY-SA

    How does this happen?

    The human body is an incredibly efficient and adaptable machine, equipped with several in-built mechanisms to keep our core temperature at an optimal 37°C.

    But in healthy people, regulation of body temperature begins to break down when it’s hotter than about 31°C with 100% humidity (think Darwin or Cairns) or about 38°C with 60% humidity (typical of other parts of Australia in summer).

    This is because humid air makes it harder for sweat to evaporate and take heat with it. Without that cooling effect, the body starts to overheat.

    Once the core temperature rises above 37°C, heat exhaustion can set in, which can cause intense thirst, weakness, nausea and dizziness.

    If the body heat continues to build and the core body temperature rises above 40°C, a much more severe heat stroke could begin. At this point, it’s a life-threatening emergency requiring immediate medical attention.

    At this temperature, our proteins start to denature (like an egg on a hotplate) and blood flow to the intestines stops. This makes the gut very leaky, allowing harmful substances such as endotoxins (toxic substances in some bacteria) and pathogens (disease causing microbes) to leak into the bloodstream.

    The liver can’t detoxify these fast enough, leading to the whole body becoming inflamed, organs failing, and in the worst-case scenario, death.

    Who’s most at risk?

    People doing strenuous exercise, especially if they’re not in great shape, are among those at risk of heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Others at risk include those exposed to high temperatures and humidity, particularly when wearing heavy clothing or protective gear.

    Outdoor workers such as farmers, firefighters and construction workers are at higher risk too. Certain health conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, or lung conditions (such as COPD or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), and people taking blood pressure medications, can also be more vulnerable.

    Adults over 65, infants and young children are especially sensitive to heat as they are less able to physically cope with fluctuations in heat and humidity.

    Firefighters holding hose, aimed at bushfire
    Firefighters are among those at risk of heat-related illness. structuresxx/Shutterstock

    How are these conditions managed?

    The risk of serious illness or death from heat-related conditions is very low if treatment starts early.

    For heat exhaustion, have the individual lie down in a cool, shady area, loosen or remove excess clothing, and cool them by fanning, moistening their skin, or immersing their hands and feet in cold water.

    As people with heat exhaustion almost always are dehydrated and have low electrolytes (certain minerals in the blood), they will usually need to drink fluids.

    However, emergency hospital care is essential for heat stroke. In hospital, health professionals will focus on stabilising the patient’s:

    • airway (ensure no obstructions, for instance, vomit)
    • breathing (look for signs of respiratory distress or oxygen deprivation)
    • circulation (check pulse, blood pressure and signs of shock).

    Meanwhile, they will use rapid-cooling techniques including immersing the whole body in cold water, or applying wet ice packs covering the whole body.

    Take home points

    Heat-related illnesses, such as heat stroke and heat exhaustion, are serious health conditions that can lead to severe illness, or even death.

    With climate change, heat-related illness will become more common and more severe. So recognising the early signs and responding promptly are crucial to prevent serious complications.

    Matthew Barton, Senior lecturer, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Griffith University and Michael Todorovic, Associate Professor of Medicine, Bond University

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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  • Managing Jealousy

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    Jealousy is often thought of as a young people’s affliction, but it can affect us at any age—whether we are the one being jealous, or perhaps a partner.

    And, the “green-eyed monster” can really ruin a lot of things; relationships, friendships, general happiness, physical health even (per stress and anxiety and bad sleep), and more.

    The thing is, jealousy looks like one thing, but is actually mostly another.

    Jealousy is a Scooby-Doo villain

    That is to say: we can unmask it and see what much less threatening thing is underneath. Which is usually nothing more nor less than: insecurities

    • Insecurity about losing one’s partner
    • Insecurity about not being good enough
    • Insecurity about looking bad socially

    …etc. The latter, by the way, is usually the case when one’s partner is socially considered to be giving cause for jealousy, but the primary concern is not actually relational loss or any kind of infidelity, but rather, looking like one cannot keep one’s partner’s full attention romantically/sexually. This drives a lot of people to act on jealousy for the sake of appearances, in situations where they might otherwise, if they didn’t feel like they’d be adversely judged for it, be considerably more chill.

    Thus, while monogamy certainly has its fine merits, there can also be a kind of “toxic monogamy” at hand, where a relationship becomes unhealthy because one partner is just trying to live up to social expectations of keeping the other partner in check.

    This, by the way, is something that people in polyamorous and/or open relationships typically handle quite neatly, even if a lot of the following still applies. But today, we’re making the statistically safe assumption of a monogamous relationship, and talking about that!

    How to deal with the social aspect

    If you sit down with your partner and work out in advance the acceptable parameters of your relationship, you’ll be ahead of most people already. For example…

    • What counts as cheating? Is it all and any sex acts with all and any people? If not, where’s the line?
    • What about kissing? What about touching other body parts? If there are boundaries that are important to you, talk about them. Nothing is “too obvious” because it’s astonishing how many times it will happen that later someone says (in good faith or not), “but I thought…”
    • What about being seen in various states of undress? Or seeing other people in various states of undress?
    • Is meaningless flirting between friends ok, and if so, how do we draw the line with regard to what is meaningless? And how are we defining flirting, for that matter? Talk about it and ensure you are both on the same page.
    • If a third party is possibly making moves on one of us under the guise of “just being friendly”, where and how do we draw the line between friendliness and romantic/sexual advances? What’s the difference between a lunch date with a friend and a romantic meal out for two, and how can we define the difference in a way that doesn’t rely on subjective “well I didn’t think it was romantic”?

    If all this seems like a lot of work, please bear in mind, it’s a lot more fun to cover this cheerfully as a fun couple exercise in advance, than it is to argue about it after the fact!

    See also: Boundary-Setting Beyond “No”

    How to deal with the more intrinsic insecurities

    For example, when jealousy is a sign of a partner fearing not being good enough, not measuring up, or perhaps even losing their partner.

    The key here might not shock you: communication

    Specifically, reassurance. But critically, the correct reassurance!

    A partner who is jealous will often seek the wrong reassurance, for example wanting to read their partner’s messages on their phone, or things like that. And while a natural desire when experiencing jealousy, it’s not actually helpful. Because while incriminating messages could confirm infidelity, it’s impossible to prove a negative, and if nothing incriminating is found, the jealous partner can just go on fearing the worst regardless. After all, their partner could have a burner phone somewhere, or a hidden app for cheating, or something else like that. So, no reassurance can ever be given/gained by such requests (which can also become unpleasantly controlling, which hopefully nobody wants).

    A quick note on “if you have nothing to fear, you have nothing to hide”: rhetorically that works, but practically it doesn’t.

    Writer’s example: when my late partner and I formalized our relationship, we discussed boundaries, and I expressed “so far as I am concerned, I have no secrets from you, except secrets that are not mine to share. For example, if someone has confided in me and asked that I not share it, I won’t. Aside from that, you have access-all-areas in my life; me being yours has its privileges” and this policy itself would already pre-empt any desire to read my messages.

    Now indeed, I had nothing to hide. I am by character devoted to a fault. But my friends may well sometimes have things they don’t want me to share, which made that a necessary boundary to highlight (which my partner, an absolute angel by the way and not prone to unhealthy manifestations of jealousy in any case, understood completely).

    So, it is best if the partner of a jealous person can explain the above principles as necessary, and offer the correct reassurance instead. Which could be any number of things, but for example:

    • I am yours, and nobody else has a chance
    • I fully intend to stay with you for life
    • You are the best partner I have ever had
    • Being with you makes my life so much better

    …etc. Note that none of these are “you don’t have to worry about so-and-so”, or “I am not cheating on you”, etc, because it’s about yours and your partner’s relationship. If they ask for reassurances with regard to other people or activities, by all means state them as appropriate, but try to keep the focus on you two.

    And if your partner (or you, if it’s you who’s jealous) can express the insecurity in the format…

    “I’m afraid of _____ because _____”

    …then the “because” will allow for much more specific reassurance. We all have insecurities, we all have reasons we might fear not being good enough for our partner, or losing their affection, and the best thing we can do is choose to trust our partners at least enough to discuss those fears openly with each other.

    See also: Save Time With Better Communication ← this can avoid a lot of time-consuming arguments

    What about if the insecurity is based in something demonstrably correct?

    By this we mean, something like a prior history of cheating, or other reasons for trust issues. In such a case, the jealous partner may well have a reason for their jealousy that isn’t based on a personal insecurity.

    In our previous article about boundaries, we talked about relationships (romantic or otherwise) having a “price of entry”. In this case, you each have a “price of entry”:

    • The “price of entry” to being with the person who has previously cheated (or similar), is being able to accept that.
    • And for the person who cheated (or similar), very likely their partner will have the “price of entry” of “don’t do that again, and also meanwhile accept in good grace that I might be jittery about it”.

    And, if the betrayal of trust was something that happened between the current partners in the current relationship, most likely that was also traumatic for the person whose trust was betrayed. Many people in that situation find that trust can indeed be rebuilt, but slowly, and the pain itself may also need treatment (such as therapy and/or couples therapy specifically).

    See also: Relationships: When To Stick It Out & When To Call It Quits ← this covers both sides

    And finally, to finish on a happy note:

    Only One Kind Of Relationship Promotes Longevity This Much!

    Take care!

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  • Dried Apricots vs Dried Prunes – Which is Healthier?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing dried apricots to prunes, we picked the apricots.

    Why?

    First, let’s talk hydration. We’ve described both of these as “dried”, but prunes are by default dried plums, usually partially rehydrated. So, for fairness, on the other side of things we’re also looking at dried apricots, partially rehydrated. Otherwise, it would look (mass for mass or volume for volume) like one is seriously outstripping the other even if some metric were actually equal, just because of water-weight in one and not the other.

    Illustrative example: consider, for example, that the sugar in a big bunch of grapes or a small handful of raisins can be the same, not because they magically got more sugar by some mysterious force of transmutation, but because the water was dried out, so per mass and per volume, there’s more sugar, proportionally.

    Back to dried apricots and dried prunes…

    You’ll often see these two next to each other in the heath food store, which is why we’re comparing them here.

    Of course, if it is practical, please by all means enjoy fresh apricots and fresh plums. But we know that life is not always convenient, fruits are not in season growing in abundance in our gardens all year round, and sometimes we’re stood in the aisle of a grocery store, weighing up the dried fruit options. 

    So, let’s get to it…

    In terms of macros, the dried apricots have a touch more fiber while the prunes have a tiny bit more carbs, but it’s so close that most reasonably this round should be considered a tie.

    In the category of vitamins, dried apricots have more of vitamins A, B3, B5, B7, B9, C, and E, while prunes have more of vitamins B1, B2, B6, and K; a clear win for apricots by strength of numbers, though it’s worth noting that the vitamin K difference is considerable (19x more vitamin K).

    Looking at minerals, dried apricots have more calcium, copper, iron, potassium, and selenium, while prunes have more magnesium, manganese and zinc, yielding a 5:3 win to apricots here.

    Adding up the sections makes for a clear overall win for apricots, but by all means do enjoy either or both, as diversity is best!

    Want to learn more?

    You might like:

    Which Sugars Are Healthier, And Which Are Just The Same?

    Enjoy!

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  • Why do some people get bad ‘hangxiety’ after a night of drinking and others don’t?

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    You wake up after a night out. Your head’s pounding and a wave of unease hits before you’ve even looked at your phone. Restlessness, self-doubt and flashes of regret creep in as last night’s conversations start to replay.

    Hangxiety” is not a clinical term but the anxious, uneasy feeling that follows drinking is widely recognised. Most people expect a headache, but the emotional comedown can hit just as hard.

    Alcohol disrupts brain systems that regulate mood and stress. It boosts gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a calming chemical, and suppresses glutamate, which keeps you alert. That’s why confidence rises and worries fade.

    As your body processes alcohol, this balance flips. Calming signals drop, excitatory ones surge and your nervous system swings into overdrive.

    Alcohol also disrupts the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis – the body’s stress system – spiking cortisol, our main stress hormone.

    Combine that with poor sleep, dehydration and low blood sugar, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for feeling on edge.

    To understand how common these feelings are, we analysed 22 studies spanning four decades and involving more than 6,000 adults worldwide. Our systematic review published today included lab experiments, surveys and interviews capturing real-world experiences.

    Despite differences in study designs and the challenge of asking hungover people to accurately recall their experiences, the results were consistent: hangovers triggered higher levels of anxiety, stress, guilt, irritability and sadness.

    Boy_Anupong/Getty Images

    Certain traits make hangxiety hit harder

    People prone to anxiety or low mood, or those who drink to cope with stress, experience hangxiety more intensely – not because hangovers create new problems, but because alcohol temporarily dulls negative emotions.

    When the effects wear off, those feelings return in sharper focus, which can amplify stress and worry.

    Hangxiety also hits harder when people act out of character while drunk. Saying or doing things that clash with personal values can trigger embarrassment or shame the next day, fuelling harsh self-criticism and intensifying emotional distress.

    People who struggle with emotional regulation – recognising and managing your emotions in healthy ways – face particular challenges.

    Good emotional regulation might mean noticing stress and choosing to go for run or call a friend, rather than reaching straight for a drink. It’s pausing to ask “what do I actually need right now?”

    Without these skills, people get stuck in cycles of self-blame, amplifying the emotional rebound.

    What traits make it less bothersome?

    Not everyone experiences hangxiety the same way. People with higher emotional resilience – the ability to adapt to stress and keep perspective – tend to cope more effectively.

    Reframing “I’m falling apart” into “my body’s recovering” shifts hangxiety from crisis into something temporary.

    Social support helps too. Sharing a laugh about the night before or talking it through eases isolation and shame. Knowing you’re not alone makes the experience less overwhelming.

    Bad hangxiety doesn’t stop people drinking

    You might assume a brutal hangover would deter future drinking, but most people in our review saw hangovers as a routine inconvenience or rite of passage.

    Rather than reducing their alcohol intake, people relied on short-term fixes such as, drinking water or eating beforehand to lessen the severity of their hangover.

    When alcohol becomes a coping tool for stress, hangxiety can actually reinforce the cycle. Alcohol dulls discomfort, but when it wears off, the same feelings return, prompting another drink for relief.

    This loop helps explain why even frequent hangovers rarely lead to meaningful behaviour change.

    If you’re experiencing hangxiety, aside from planning to drink less next time, to get through the day:

    • hydrate, rest and eat well to support your body’s recovery
    • skip the “hair of the dog”. More alcohol only delays the crash
    • ground yourself with slow breaths or a short walk to calm the nervous system
    • reach out to friends or loved ones. Connection eases both guilt and anxiety.

    In the longer term, reflect on why you drink and whether it’s become a way to manage stress.

    If you’re drinking daily to manage emotions, if hangxiety disrupts your work or relationships, or if anxiety lingers long after the hangover fades, it’s time to seek professional help. A GP or a psychologist can assess whether underlying anxiety or problematic drinking patterns need support.

    Hangxiety is more than a bad mood after drinking – it’s your brain and body recalibrating after chemical turbulence, where brain chemistry, personality and coping strategies interact.

    Some people feel it mildly, others more deeply, depending on levels of emotional awareness, resilience and support. Understanding this can help replace self-criticism with self-compassion, and perhaps rethink what the “morning after” really means.

    Rebecca Rothman, PhD Candidate in Clinical Psychology, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology and Blair Aitken, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Psychopharmacology, Swinburne University of Technology

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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  • 8 Critical Signs Of Blood Clots That You Shouldn’t Ignore

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Blood clots can form as part of deep vein thrombosis or for other reasons; wherever they form (unless they are just doing their job healing a wound) they can cause problems. But how to know what’s going on inside our body?

    Telltale signs

    Our usual medical/legal disclaimer applies here, and we are not doctors, let alone your doctors, and even if we were we couldn’t diagnose from afar… But for educational purposes, here are the eight signs from the video:

    • Swelling: especially if only on one leg (assuming you have no injury to account for it), which may feel tight and uncomfortable
    • Warmness: does the area warmer to the touch? This may be because of the body’s inflammatory response trying to deal with a blood clot
    • Tenderness: again, caused by the inflammation in response to the clot
    • Discolored skin: it could be reddish, or bruise-like. This could be patchy or spread over a larger area, because of a clot blocking the flow of blood
    • Shortness of breath: if a clot makes it to the lungs, it can cause extra problems there (pulmonary embolism), and shortness of breath is the first sign of this
    • Coughing up blood: less common than the above but a much more serious sign; get thee to a hospital
    • Chest pain: a sharp or stabbing pain, in particular. The pain may worsen with deep breaths or coughing. Again, seek medical attention.

    For more on recognizing these signs (including helpful visuals), and more on what to do about them and how to avoid them in the first place, enjoy:

    Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

    Further reading

    You might like to read:

    Dietary Changes for Artery Health

    Take care!

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

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