Do most of us need an annual health check at the doctor’s office? You may think this to be a very silly question, especially coming from me a family doctor who constantly discusses preventive medicine in my articles. I love to see my patients every year just to check in and make sure they are living a healthy lifestyle, as well as to offer a “medical tune up.”… Read the rest
Another holiday season is rapidly approaching, and most of you made flight and hotel reservations months ago — but have you spent equal efforts preparing for good health on your hard earned holiday? Each holiday season I see a massive rush of patients in my hospital just a few days before their vacations, looking for travel medicines and advice.… Read the rest
In our busy lives, it’s all too easy to be short tempered with strangers, especially in crowded cities such as Beijing. A grumpy waitress; a busy doctor; a biker whizzing past you. Instead of our usual initial reaction of stress and anger, wouldn’t it be great to stop ourselves first and think, “maybe they’ve just had a long day.… Read the rest
If you are reading this, you or a loved one have probably been told by your doctor that you have abnormally high sugar levels. The doctor may have called it Impaired Fasting Glucose or Impaired Glucose Tolerance, but both of those are just fancy medical words for prediabetes.… Read the rest
During these hot summer evenings, my wife and I love to bike around Beijing’s hutongs. On every street corner and in every park, generations of families, friends and neighbors dance en masse, sing along to a classic tune, and chat away while walking — often backwards.… Read the rest
“Leaves of three, let them be.” Sounds familiar to many of us, yes? This quote refers to the dreaded poison oak and poison ivy, plants which line the hiking trails and woods of much of the world. To protect themselves from being eaten, these hardy weeds have developed a very effective defense: their shiny leaves are coated in an incredibly reactive oil which causes a severe local, swollen and weeping rash, which often burns but mostly is incredibly itchy.… Read the rest
