Okay, you've made it through Christmas and somehow had enough willpower to avoid seconds of ham, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, buttered biscuits, and whatever else was on the table that packs on the pounds.

•	How to make it through the holidays without overeating and drinking

 

Here's an oxymoron -- a contradiction in terms -- for you: The spiciest of foods may dull your taste buds, making it more difficult for you to discern subtle flavor differences. Fortunately, the condition is temporary, researchers say, but the aftertaste -- pardon the pun -- can linger for a while.

•	Some hot and spicy foods can actually deaden your sense of taste

 

Migraines are almost always painful, often so much so that the victim is incapacitated.

•	MRI measures intensity, duration of migraines

 

While most of us experience the holiday season as a happy -- even joyous -- time, the heightened emotions associated with it can have a bad effect on some people, especially the elderly.

•	'Holiday blues' in elderly can also lower the immune system

 

Almost everyone has a memory of staying up too late on Christmas Eve as a child, trying to get a glimpse of Santa. And sometime during the next 48 hours, you would pay the price, usually by dropping off to sleep in the middle of a meal or playing with your presents in the afternoon.

•	Excitement from the holidays can disrupt good sleep habits

 

Fashion may dictate how good we look, but practicality is a much better indicator of how well we play.

•	Handsome new sports shoes need a good break-in to be effective

 

To slightly alter an old saying: One person's meat is another person's... dessert. Tazarotene cream (brand name Tazorac) has long been an effective prescription treatment for acne. But in recent years, additional research found that it also could moderately reduce sun damage in older people.

•	Acne Ointment Can Also Smooth Older People's Wrinkles

 

Even some of the best-conditioned athletes can find themselves wheezing and winded after exercising.

•	Losing your breath after exercise? Asthma could be the culprit

 

Can playful jostling -- a "love tap" to the chest -- kill a child?

•	Beware of the playful 'chest thump' to a child -- it could be fatal

 

Those aches and pains that come on us suddenly for no reason may indeed be symptomatic of something that is indeed real: depression.

•	Those aches and pains you feel may be symptoms of depression

 

It's generally accepted that alcoholism is a disease, triggered by a terrible, compulsive addiction for a person to drink, often until he or she passes out. Alcoholism has been classified as a disease by a number of national medical and psychological organizations.

•	Are Addiction Risks Greater for Children of Alcoholics?

 

Just about everyone loses his or her balance every once in a while. And for the elderly, a number of conditions or illnesses can contribute to an increasing frequency of falls: an ear infection, osteoporosis, arthritis, neuropathy from diabetes, to name a few.

•	Heart rhythm may be responsible for many falls among the elderly

 

How do you know if that sore throat you have is a strep infection? Better yet, how does your doctor know?

•	Strep throat or sore throat: it's all in the diagnosis

 

More and more uses are being found for the device known as the MRI -- magnetic resonance imaging -- and sometimes, what it finds can be used to improve specific treatment of a disease or condition.

•	MRI scan offers remedial options for dyslexic children

 

Even for the most finely-tuned runners, pain in feet shouldn't be ignored. You can't run "beyond” the ache, using your mind to overcome what your body is telling you.

•	Tip to runners: When it comes to your feet, don't push past the pain

 

Slightly distorting an old adage: It may be a good idea to keep 'em on the farm before they see the big city.

•	Childhood exposure to farm animals seems to help those with asthma

 

Here's a version of the old Johnny Carson routine using the Great Karnak: The answer: Exercise, exercise, exercise. The question: What three things can help improve knee pain from osteoarthritis?

•	Osteoarthritis Pain Improves With Regular Exercise

 

The old TV commercial termed anemia as "iron-poor blood," and the condition's symptoms have been popularized as being tired and listless.

•	Anemia Linked to Elderly Mobility Problems

 

Kayaking can be an exciting sport, shooting the rapids of a boulder-filled river, the kayaker enduring the bumps, twists and turns of a hair-raising ride.

•	Kayaking injuries don't usually happen when the rapids are rough

 

The statistics identify it, but they don't explain it: kids are suffering from wrist and forearm breaks much more often than they did 30 years ago.

•	Is lack of calcium contributing to more arm fractures in children?

 

The latest nationwide outbreak of food poisoning -- this time from the salmonella bacterium -- places a big explanation point on the fact that even in the United States , consumers have to be careful about what they eat and drink.

•	Some ways to protect yourself from food-borne illnesses

 

With just about every study and survey showing that a significant part of the American population is getting fatter and more sedentary, it might be difficult to believe that some people are damaging their health by training too much.

•	There is such a thing as too much exercise… and it's dangerous

 

Despite some efforts to adjust attitudes among overweight children that would make them -- at the very least -- accepting of their condition, obese kid are very unhappy, so much so that a recent study compared their misery with those children who had cancer.

•	Obese children see their lives in dark shades of misery

 

While the moveable baby seat may be a Godsend for parents and caregivers, it isn't foolproof.

•	The Portable Infant Seat Isn't Protection for Every Situation

 

It seems to be almost a contradiction in terms, but if you use exercise as a primary tool to treat back pain, you may not need anything else to ease the pain.

•	Tailor-made exercise program can help lower back pain go away

 

While more medicines have been found to help fight the pain and discomfort caused by Crohn's disease, some patients will require surgery.

•	Catheters can delay or eliminate surgery for Crohn's disease patients

 

While many people who get Lyme disease have a rash from a tick bite as an early sign they've become infected, the singular "bull's eye" target isn't always there.

•	Altitude headache relief may be a couple of pills away - but which ones?

 

While many people who get Lyme disease have a rash from a tick bite as an early sign they've become infected, the singular "bull's eye" target isn't always there.

•	'Bull's Eye' Rash Not Always First Sign of Lyme Disease

 

Move over, Mr. Spock. The always logical Vulcan Star Trek officer often claimed that emotions got in the way of good decision-making. But at least one study has found that it takes both logic and emotional involvement to come up with a good choice, from where to have dinner to when to change jobs.

•	Decision-making requires both analysis and emotion

 

Nothing can hurt more than a bad tooth, but if you also have heart disease, the time of day you visit the dentist can make a difference.

•	Cardiac patients with a toothache better off with morning dentist visits

 

The computer is the office worker's new best friend in the 21st century. It also can be a real pain… literally.

•	Repetitive stress injuries not just for computer nerds

 

In the late 1980s, extended use contact lenses were viewed skeptically by many ophthalmologists. At that time the theory was, the longer you wear them, the better the chance for developing an infection, especially a bacterial one.

•	Contact Lenses Designed for Extended Use May Reduce Infection Risk

 

Some athletes seem always to come through when the pressure is highest.

•	Sometimes, athletes should 'do' instead of 'think'

 

As the American population ages, so increases the risk of a number of debilitating ailments and injuries.

•	'I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up' is Not a Joke

 

The debate as to whether a baby's brain is "hard-wired" to understand language or whether language skills are acquired over time hasn't stopped.

•	How soon can your baby understand what you say?

 

While it may not equate with knowing the details of brain surgery, being aware of how important exercise is for adolescents can literally be a life-saver.

•	Making exercise part of your routine as a teen creates healthier adults

 

With Spring here, there's little doubt that activity for many will soon switch from the house to the outdoors.

•	Tree Shade is Cool, but How Well Does it Protect You From UV Rays?

 

Does cocaine use cause your blood vessels to constrict, putting so much strain on the heart that a heart attack can occur?

•	Cocaine’s Wicked Double Punch Causes Major Heart Stress

 

Everyone needs to perspire. Sweating as the result of exercise, or emotional stress or being exposed to too much heat is an essential way to cool the body.

•	Unpleasant body odor tied to essential physiological element

 

The first and most important action for alcoholics is to stop drinking. The second is to stay off the booze.

•	Hidden hazards lurk for recovering alcoholics

 

With a late-season flu outbreak affecting hundreds of thousands of Americans, those familiar symptoms your child shows -- difficulty in breathing, coughing and fever -- may actually not be the flu at all.

•	Same symptoms as the flu, but your child may have a different virus

 

When drugs and dietary changes don't provide relief from the pain, bloating and other unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, patients may want to try a different approach.

•	‘Mind Over Matter’ can Control Irritable Bowel Syndrome… Literally

 

It's not the food you eat the may cause halitosis, better known as bad breath. The garlic, onions, coffee alcohol a person consumes could have some detrimental effect on one's breath, but the real culprit may too much or too little of a specific type of bacteria that dominate the back portion of the top of your tongue.

•	Bad Breath Not from What You Eat but from What Bacteria You Have

 

While new research suggests that putting a baby to sleep with a pacifier may reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, putting your baby to sleep on his or her back and not exposing the baby to smoke before or after birth are the two most important steps parents can take to reduce the risk of SIDS, according to child care experts.

•	Pacifiers help prevent SIDS, but baby on its back still the best approach

 

Experience is not only often the best teacher, it also can be the best basis for making decisions.

•	MD’s judgment, experience often best ways to treat a baby’s fever

 

One person's poison can often be another person's salvation, to paraphrase an old axiom.

•	Deadly Ebola virus may be used to treat lung diseases

 

It may seem like a good idea: Use a bit of TV viewing to ease your young child off to sleep.

•	TV viewing before bedtime linked to irregular child sleep patterns, experts say