Making sense out of all the health data out there is daunting -- even for the seasoned health data junkie. A new app for the iPad called Health Indicators now brings consumers one step closer to seeing health data about where they live -- the geomedicine...

Learned helplessness is a psychological concept describing when people feel they have no control over their situation. It causes people to behave in a helpless manner and to overlook opportunities for relief or change.

The symptoms of learned helplessness are varied in my practice. I have several patients who've...

The United States Preventive Services Task Force has moved on from ambivalence about prostate cancer screening with the PSA test, and inveighed decisively against it. As is ever the case with guidance about cancer screening, this recommendation is apt to stoke the flames of...

For most of us, life is just too busy. It is hard to do everything you want and need to do in a day. If you're lucky, then your failures are not that systematic. One day, you get to the gym, but don't get to relax with a book. Another...

Memorial Day was established as a day for honoring and acknowledging all of the men and women who have died serving the United States. And in this past decade, there have been many. For those who we've lost, we can offer remembrance. But now is also a time to call...

In 1868, the nation set aside the last Monday in May to remember and honor those who had died in her battles. Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day, and people placed wreaths and bouquets on the graves of the fallen from the Civil War.

One hundred forty-four years later...

For months now, I have been writing about the studies that are being published -- seemingly by the month -- linking obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) to more and more medical conditions, including hypertension, heart disease, mood and memory problems.

The latest research didn't surprise me, but...

Click here to read Part I of the story.

Part II of my TEDMED 2012 conference...

One day I found Pastor Rick Warren from Saddleback Church in Southern California in my office wanting to get religion about health. After his appointment we went to dinner and...

We can save hundreds of thousands of lives by enacting, enforcing and supporting injury prevention policies and activities. A recent report released by Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) found that many injury prevention activities have been scientifically shown to reduce harm...

Written in collaboration with Deepa Kannappan

Although an estimated 44 million adults and 13.7 million children in America have a diagnosable mental disorder each year, the issue of mental health remains surrounded by stigma and misunderstanding. This May marks the 63rd anniversary of Mental Health Month, but the...

When it comes to screening for various diseases, an ounce of prevention was always thought to be worth a pound of cure. Recently, this old adage has been called into question. While potentially lifesaving, many health screening tests and procedures come at great emotional, physical and financial cost....

It is time. We need to rationally approach prostate cancer with new tools. Imaging first -- biopsy last.

In 2004 Dr. Thomas Stamey, Chief of Urology at Stanford, published a seminal journal article in the Journal of Urology, heralding the end of the PSA era. He had been...

While there is still some debate about the effect of physical activity on our appetite, several studies have shown that exercise alters appetite-related hormones, leading to a suppression in hunger and caloric intake.[1],[3] Other studies have linked side effects of...

An editorial in this week's Science Translational Medicine about traumatic brain injuries, genetics and the long-term risks for degenerative brain disease caught my eye.

According to the authors, the suicide of former star NFL linebacker Junior Seau, a death that mirrored other suicides of former NFL...

When Barack Obama announced that he was supporting same-sex marriage, he cast the discussion in moral terms. The focus of his remarks was on fairness. He pointed out, for example, that there are gay men and women serving in the military who are not free to marry the people they...

Last month I gave a talk at TEDMED on how social networks may be an unexpected solution to our heath care crisis.

Here's how my talk went:

I want to tell you a story of how a skinny Haitian chicken and a bowl of beet and cabbage soup turned my...