As spring gives way to summer, seasonal allergies are in full swing. If you've ever suffered from allergies, you know how miserable they can make you feel. A runny nose, sneezing, coughing, headaches, and watery, itchy eyes are the most common symptoms of seasonal allergies. It can get so bad that you don't even want to step foot outside. But staying inside until allergy season passes (which means September in New England), isn't an option for most of us. That's why it's important to learn ways you can minimize the impact seasonal allergies have on your health and your family's health. Here are four areas where you can make inroads into fighting seasonal allergies. Outdoors Minimize your exp
If you suffer from depression or anxiety and have tried medication, but still struggle with symptoms, your body may have difficulty with a biochemical process called methylation. Proper methylation is important for cognitive and emotional health. It also plays a vital role in cardiovascular health as well as detoxification. But that's not all it does. Methylation affects cellular health by influencing how your genes express themselves for better - suppressing certain cancer genes & keeping underlying inflammation in check - or for worse - silencing genes that suppress certain tumors and influencing genes associated with the development of autoimmune disorders. 1,2 Methylation & Your Mind A
Confused about how to best manage sun exposure in order to get enough vitamin D without increasing your risk for skin cancer? Spending too much time in the sun has long been regarded as being bad for your health due to the increased number of cases of skin cancer. In fact, rates of skin cancer are increasing worldwide.1 That said, vitamin D deficiency has become a major health problem, especially for people over the age of fifty.2 So what is the best approach to spending time in the sun? To best answer this question, let's look at a few important factors involved in this dilemma. Got Vitamin D? Vitamin D is actually a hormone that plays an essential role in the body's absorption and use of c
What if you could look into the future and manage or even prevent an illness before it occurs? Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) is taking personalized healthcare to a whole new level. It's about identifying your particular genetic variations - what makes you different from other people and what makes your body respond to a virus or to a medication differently than someone else. It can also reveal if you have a genetic predisposition to a disease - invaluable knowledge which can prompt early intervention and treatment. The One and Only You Each species has its own genome. The human genome consists of over 20,000 genes. These genes are made up of DNA expressed in the form of sequences of letters.
