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For women struggling with weight gain after menopause, a new study suggests that adding hormone therapy to a popular obesity drug may lead to greater weight loss.Postmenopausal women lost about 35% more weight when using menopausal hormone therapy alongside tirzepatide — a GLP-1-based, Food and Drug Administration-approved drug for overweight and obesity — compared to those taking the drug alone, according to a Mayo Clinic study.The findings, published in February in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, & Women's Health, highlight a possible new strategy for addressing weight gain after menopause, when hormonal shifts can increase the risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.STOPPING OZEMPIC? NEW STUDY REVEALS SURPRISING WEIGHT REGAIN RESULTS AFTER GLP-1S"This study provides important insights for developing more effective and personalized strategies for managing cardiometabolic risk in postmenopausal women," Dr. Regina Castaneda, the study’s first author, said in a statement. Researchers analyzed 120 postmenopausal women with overweight or obesity who took tirzepatide for at least 12 months, including 40 who also used hormone therapy and 80 who did not.Hormone therapy is commonly used to treat menopause symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats, while tirzepatide helps regulate appetite and blood sugar.WEIGHT-LOSS MEDICATIONS COULD IMPACT SEXUAL HEALTH IN UNEXPECTED WAYSWomen in the hormone therapy group lost an average of 19.2% of their body weight, compared to 14.0% in the non-hormone group — about 35% greater relative weight loss — with more women reaching significant weight-loss thresholds, according to the study.Despite the results, researchers emphasized that the study was observational and cannot prove cause and effect."Because this was not a randomized trial, we cannot say hormone therapy caused additional weight loss," said Dr. Maria Daniela Hurtado Andrade, an endocrinologist at Mayo Clinic and senior author of the study.TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZOutside experts agree that the findings must be interpreted cautiously."As with all observational studies, we need to interpret this study with a grain of salt," Dr. Gillian Goddard, a board-certified endocrinologist, told Fox News Digital. Goddard, who is also an adjunct assistant professor of medicine at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, noted that the findings show a link, but do not prove that hormone therapy, which usually includes estrogen, directly caused the additional weight loss.CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES"There may be important differences between the two groups," she added. "For one thing, the group taking estrogen may be healthier than the groups that didn't take estrogen… [TheTopNews] Read More.

If you’re not sleeping well, there could be a variety of reasons — but one habit stands out as the biggest culprit.Dr. Wendy Troxel, a licensed clinical psychologist and senior behavioral scientist at RAND based in Utah, revealed that phone use at night is the activity that is most likely to have a negative effect on slumber."Most people are aware of this, but probably the No. 1 habit that's contributing to interrupted sleep, and poor-quality sleep, in Americans is the use of phones at night, particularly in bed," she said in an interview with Fox News Digital."About 90% of Americans are using their phones in bed, and as much as I would like to tell everybody to remove the phone entirely from the bedroom, I realize that ship has probably sailed by now."This disruption is driven by both blue light exposure and the stimulating content on phones, according to Troxel."There is blue light emitted from our devices, and blue light can suppress the hormone melatonin, which is the hormone of darkness."CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES"But it's not just the blue light that is causing sleep disruptions from our phones. It's really the stimulating content that we're consuming … social media, which is designed to be addictive, so that you can't put that phone down," she added.This content is also "very emotionally activating," Troxel noted, which is "antithetical to the state we want to be in as we approach sleep."To counteract attachment to phones, the sleep expert recommends setting a boundary with one simple rule.CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER"I recommend that you try to keep your phone more than arms' distance away from you while in bed," she advised. "And set a rule for yourself — if you're going to use the phone, don't do it in bed. In fact, make your feet be on the floor if you're going to use that phone."Setting this boundary creates "behavioral friction," according to Troxel."As a clinical psychologist, I work with people to help them … break habits that aren't serving them," she said. "Having that little bit of behavioral friction makes the habit of immediately grabbing for the phone and scrolling while in bed a little more difficult."TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ"And when that automatic behavior is a little more difficult, it's less likely to occur." [TheTopNews] Read More.

Large, palm-sized spiders are spinning massive golden webs across porches and power lines – and according to experts, they’re here to stay.The Joro spider, which has a leg span up to 4 inches and markings of neon yellow, blue-black and red, was first recorded in Georgia in 2013.Since its arrival – likely as a hitchhiker on a shipping container or an airplane from Asia, experts say – the arachnid has been steadily marching north. DOZENS SICKENED AS POTENTIALLY DEADLY FUNGUS SPREADS IN SOUTHERN STATEThe spiders have so far been spotted in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. They are expected to spread throughout eastern North America – at least as far north as Pennsylvania and possibly further in warmer, coastal areas, according to Penn State.To travel, the spider uses a technique called "ballooning," in which hatchlings release fine silk threads that catch air currents and carry them over long distances.Ian Williams, an entomologist with Orkin, said he counted 200 adult spiders by September of last year on his one-acre property near Atlanta.POPULAR HONEYMOON DESTINATION FACES AVIAN MALARIA THREAT, SPREAD BY MOSQUITOES"They're quite intimidating-looking spiders, and they make very large webs," he told Fox News Digital. "The webbing itself, if it catches the sunlight, has a golden hue to it. And it's very strong."CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIESDespite the arachnid's striking appearance, experts agree that people shouldn't panic. Research shows the Joro is among the "shyest" spiders ever documented. When disturbed, it often sits motionless for over an hour rather than attacking."While they're large spiders, they don't have large fangs. And so, it's difficult for them to bite humans," Williams noted.Even in the rare event of a nip, the expert said the venom is weak, comparable to a localized bee sting, and carries "no medical importance."As an invasive species, the Joro’s impact is still being weighed by scientists."One of the big concerns is that they potentially out-compete native species of spiders," Williams said. A prolific hunter, the Joro spider catches everything from mosquitoes to large, meaty insects like cicadas. It is unclear whether it steals food from native garden spiders.To prevent Joro spiders from nesting on your porch or property, experts recommend using a broom or long pole to knock the web down.CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER"Spiders may get the message, 'Hey, I'm not going to keep remaking my same web in the same area,'" Williams said.TEST YOURSELF… [TheTopNews] Read More.

→ 'Gas station heroin' banned in another state amid nationwide crackdowns→ New COVID variant spreads across US as CDC raises concerns→ The real reasons you’re still exhausted after 8 hours of sleep→ March Madness sparks surprising surge in men's sexual procedure→ Cannabis benefits called into question in major study→ 'Call a Boomer' payphones help cure loneliness across generations→ Eating meat tied to lower dementia risk, study suggests→ Stomach issues might have nothing to do with eating habits→ Why your sugar cravings won't go away, even after cutting sweetsCLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES [TheTopNews] Read More.

New research has identified an association between late-onset dementia and certain infections.The study, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, investigated the link between the two, exploring whether the connection could stem from other health issues stemming from severe infections.Researchers at the University of Helsinki, Finland, considered 170 common hospital-treated diseases that occurred one to 21 years before diagnosis in more than 65,000 patients with dementia aged 65 and older.LOWER DEMENTIA RISK LINKED TO ROUTINE VACCINATION IN MAJOR NEW ANALYSISAfter narrowing the list down to 29 diseases showing the strongest link to dementia, two were infections – cystitis (a bacterial/urinary tract infection) and general bacterial infection.The other diseases were non-infectious, including mental disorders as well as digestive, endocrine, cardiovascular and neurological diseases, as well as injuries.Nearly half (47%) of dementia cases came after one of the 29 identified diseases. Even after adjusting for these diseases, the link between dementia and infection remained intact, the researchers found. These infections typically occurred about five to 6-½ years before dementia diagnosis.CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIESThose with hospital-treated cystitis and bacterial infection, for example, had about a 19% higher rate of late-onset dementia.Overall, the findings "support the possibility that severe infections increase dementia risk," the researchers concluded.As the development of dementia often takes "years or even decades," the findings suggest that severe infections "might accelerate underlying cognitive decline," the study authors commented in a press release.The lack of baseline cognitive assessment and clinical examination data before dementia diagnoses posed some limitations to the study. Infection treatment data was also not available.CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTERStudy co-author Pyry N. Sipila, MD, PhD, a public health lecturer at the University of Helsinki, pointed out that the study was observational."Thus, we cannot prove whether there really is cause and effect between severe infections and dementia," he told Fox News Digital. "Ideally, there would be intervention trials in the future that would test whether the prevention of infections will help reduce or delay the onset of dementia."Sipila recommends that adults stay up to date on vaccinations."Although our study does not prove that vaccinations would help prevent dementia, I think it certainly doesn’t hurt to have that one extra benefit of potentially reducing the risk," he said.Dr. Joel Salinas, a Harvard-trained behavioral neurologist and chief medical officer at Isaac Health, said the study's size suggests it could be applied to other populations."We often assume infections are… [TheTopNews] Read More.