Strengthening your bones is not something that can happen overnight, it takes years for your body to build strong bones and even then, it is natural for them to lose their dexterity. All you can do is keep your body healthy to make sure it is prepared for any unexpected situations. For years, many older adults have been told to take vitamin D and calcium supplements to keep their bones strong and prevent falls. However, a new report from U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is changing that advice. This report suggests that for most older people, these supplements don't actually prevent falls or broken bones. This might be surprising news, we must understand why falls happen more often as we age, what vitamin D and calcium do in the body, and most importantly, what you can do to stay safe and prevent fractures.

What the Report Says

According to the report, vitamin D supplements don't seem to help prevent falls or broken bones for most people over 60. They also found that these supplements, especially with calcium, might increase the risk of kidney stones. This report doesn't mean people with weak bones (osteoporosis), low vitamin D, or who take vitamin D for other health reasons shouldn't take it. It just means that for most healthy older people, these supplements don't prevent falls and fractures.

Why Older People Fall and Break Bones More Easily

There are many reasons why older people are more prone to breaking their bones. Our bones are strongest when we're in our 20s and 30s, and they get weaker as we age so naturally, they can break easily. It can also be harder to move around as we get older, sometimes because of problems like arthritis this can affect how we walk and make us less steady.

There are also different issues like neuropathy, which is a nerve problem that can also make it harder to feel your feet and keep your balance. Eyesight is also a culprit as it can cause you to feel dizzy and fall. Some medicines can also make people feel unsteady, and older people often take more medicines than younger people. Low vitamin D itself can also increase the risk of falls, so keeping vitamin D levels up is still important.

Better Ways To Protect Your Bone Health

USPSTF recommends a few better ways to protect your bone health and prevent broken bones and falls.

Walk Regularly

Regular walks strengthen your muscles and bones, which helps you stay steady on your feet. It is as simple as practice makes perfect so the more you walk, the better it is. Walking also improves your balance, making you less likely to fall.

Do Strength Training

Strength training, like lifting weights or using resistance bands, makes your bones stronger and helps prevent fractures if you do fall. It is like a safety cushion, but you must be careful while doing so because it can lead to injuries if done too much.

Practice Balance

Activities like tai chi, Pilates, and yoga can improve your balance and coordination, making you more stable and less prone to falls. These can also help you improve your muscle flexibility and strength that in turn helps your body be stronger.

Check Your Medicines

If you have osteoporosis, talk to your doctor about medications that can help strengthen your bones and lower your risk of fractures. Many medications can also have unsavory side effects like weakened joints, losing muscle strength, etc.

Eat Enough Protein

A proper diet goes a long way when it comes to your entire body health. So to keep up with your body’s nutrition and muscle health, eat more protein along with a balanced meal that includes loads of fiber, healthy fats and carbs.

Get Your Eyes Checked

Having poor eyesight can be difficult, not only does it make life difficult without glasses, but it also increases the possibilities of getting into minor accidents like bumping into people and missing objects placed in front of us.

Get Enough Sleep

Getting enough sleep is also important because when you are not sleeping, you get disoriented and can ignore even obvious things like the last stair in the staircase. Make sure you get enough sleep to keep you fresh and focused.

Make Your Home Safe

There are many things that can cause you to have accidents, even in your home. To avoid such falls, make sure there are no lose ends like crooked floor panels, rugs that are sticking out or protruding furniture that can hurt your knees

India has approximately 101 million people living with diabetes, one of the largest such populations in the world. Blood sugar levels, HbA1c targets, and medication compliance tend to dominate the clinical conversation around the condition. What receives considerably less attention, from both doctors and patients, is what diabetes does to the feet, and what the consequences of that neglect look like over time.

How Diabetic Foot Ulcers Develop

Diabetic foot ulcers develop when nerve damage caused by prolonged high blood sugar, referred to as diabetic neuropathy, reduces sensation in the feet. A small cut, blister, or pressure sore that a person without neuropathy would notice and address goes unfelt. In the absence of pain as a warning signal, the injury progresses. Infection sets in. By the time the patient presents for medical attention, the wound has often reached a stage where conservative management is no longer sufficient.

The High Cost of Delayed Treatment

The clinical outcomes associated with delayed presentation are sobering. A 2024 study published in Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome, drawing on real-world data from a tertiary care facility in India, found that amputation was required in 43.4 percent of diabetic foot ulcer patients. Ten-year mortality among those who underwent amputation reached 30.9 percent, compared to 24.5 percent among those who achieved primary healing.

A 2025 cross-sectional study published in Cureus found a significant disparity in mortality rates between individuals with diabetic foot ulcers and those with diabetes alone, at 231 deaths per 1,000 person-years compared to 182. Globally, 18.6 million individuals develop diabetic foot ulcers annually.

Prevention Requires Daily Foot Care

The gap between the clinical evidence on diabetic foot complications and the attention the condition receives in routine diabetes management is where the preventable harm accumulates. Most patients presenting with advanced diabetic foot disease describe a history of minor symptoms that were attributed to something else, ignored, or left unaddressed because they were painless.

Regular foot inspection, appropriate footwear, avoidance of barefoot walking, and early medical review of even minor foot injuries are the practices that interrupt this progression before it reaches the point of irreversibility. Dedicated foot care clinics are built around exactly this philosophy, bringing together the multidisciplinary expertise needed to catch complications early and treat them before the window for limb salvage closes.

Why Multidisciplinary Care Matters

Eastern India carries a significant share of this burden, with patients across West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, and the Northeast frequently facing limited access to the multidisciplinary care that diabetic foot management requires. Diabetologists, vascular specialists, wound care experts, reconstructive surgeons, and rehabilitation teams working in coordination produce outcomes that sequential, single-specialty care cannot consistently achieve. Where such integrated care is available and accessed early, limb salvage rates improve, and amputations are reduced.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s recent advisory on diabetic foot care reinforces that foot health in diabetes management warrants systematic attention, not as an afterthought to glycemic control, but alongside it.

(Dr. Anupam Golash, Consultant - Plastic Reconstructive Surgery, CK Birla Hospitals, CMRI)

A small implanted device that stimulates the vagus nerve may offer substantial and lasting relief for people with severe treatment-resistant depression, according to a large multicenter clinical trial.

The findings, published in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, showed that improvements in depressive symptoms, quality of life, and daily functioning were sustained for at least two years in most patients who responded to treatment.

Notably, more than 20% of treated participants (39 patients) were in remission after two years, meaning their depressive symptoms had improved enough for them to function normally in daily life.

"We were shocked that one in five patients was effectively without depressive symptoms at the end of two years," said lead author Charles Conway, professor of psychiatry and director of Washington University's Treatment Resistant Mood Disorders Center.

Depression Remains A Major Health Burden

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Earlier this week, Republican Tom Kean Jr. revealed that he had been diagnosed with depression, explaining his absence from public life for more than 100 days.

He is far from alone. About 20% of U.S. adults experience major depression during their lifetime. While most people improve after antidepressants or psychotherapy, up to one-third develop treatment-resistant depression, in which standard treatments fail to provide adequate relief.

Study Focused on the Most Severe Cases

The RECOVER trial, led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, enrolled nearly 500 patients across 84 sites in the US. On average, participants had:

• Lived with depression for 29 years
• Tried 13 unsuccessful treatments
• Undergone therapies including electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
• Three-quarters were too ill to work.

"We believe the sample in this trial represents the sickest treatment-resistant depressed patient sample ever studied in a clinical trial," Conway said.

"There is a dire need to find effective treatments for these patients, who often have no other options. With this kind of chronic, disabling illness, even a partial response to treatment is life-altering, and with vagus nerve stimulation, we're seeing that benefit is lasting," he added.

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Benefits Lasted for Two Years

The VNS Therapy System, manufactured by LivaNova USA, Inc., involves implanting a small device beneath the skin of the chest. The device delivers carefully calibrated electrical pulses to the left vagus nerve, which serves as a major communication pathway between the brain and internal organs.

Although every participant received an implant, only half had their devices activated during the first year, allowing researchers to compare outcomes.

The latest analysis focused on 214 patients whose devices were activated from the beginning of the study.

Among them:

• About 69% (147 patients) achieved a meaningful improvement in at least one outcome after 12 months.
• More than 80% of those responders maintained or improved those benefits after 24 months.
• Among patients with a substantial response after one year, 92% continued to experience benefits two years later.

Conway noted that even a 30% improvement can dramatically change the lives of patients with severe depression, who often struggle to carry out basic daily activities and face a higher risk of hospitalization or early death.

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Some Patients Improved Later

The study also found that recovery may take longer for some people.

Nearly one-third of participants who had not responded after the first year reported meaningful improvements by the end of the second year, suggesting prolonged stimulation may continue to produce benefits.

Researchers also observed consistently low relapse rates among patients who improved, particularly among those with the strongest responses.

In the last few years, biohacker and longevity entrepreneur Bryan Johnson has become famous for maintaining a picture-perfect health in order to defy the norms of aging.

But this week, Johnson shared a shocking health update with his followers. He said that he has been diagnosed with Autoimmune Gastritis (AIG), a chronic autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the stomach lining. He said, “My stomach is eating itself.”

Bryan Johnson's Diagnosis Of Autoimmune Gastritis

Despite years of optimizing his body, Bryan’s Johnson Autoimmune Gastritis diagnosis shocked the internet. While his strict routines, meticulous diet, and million-dollar anti-ageing protocol continue to inspire millions, they also receive equal amounts of skepticism and criticism.

Johnson recently revealed that he had struggled with persistently low iron stores for nearly 11 years, despite taking supplements.

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He said that a detailed evaluation confirmed Autoimmune Gastritis, an illness that damages the acid-producing cells of the stomach. The condition can impair absorption of iron and vitamin B12 and may increase the long-term risk of gastric cancer.

He also disclosed that he has autoimmune thyroid disease, suggesting that multiple autoimmune conditions may be interconnected in his case.

Amid his diagnosis, Johnson's journey raises a practical question: Which of his longevity habits are genuinely backed by science and worth adopting, and which remains experimental?

Five Bryan Johnson Habits That Are Actually Worth Copying

Prioritising Sleep

Among all longevity interventions, sleep has the strongest scientific backing. Johnson consistently aims for a regular sleep schedule and treats sleep as a primary health priority. Unlike expensive biohacks, sleeping 7 to 9 hours consistently benefits almost everyone.

Research has linked quality sleep with:

• Better immune function

• Lower cardiovascular risk

• Improved memory

• Better metabolic health

• Reduced inflammation

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Eating Whole, Plant-Based Foods

Johnson follows a predominantly plant-based diet rich in vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, and healthy fats.

While optimal health is not connected with veganism, evidence supports that diets including vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, and nuts are associated with lower risks of heart disease, diabetes, and several cancers.

Exercising Consistently

Johnson combines strength training, cardiovascular exercises, mobility exercises, and walking throughout the day to stay healthy and fit.

Research, too, recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week to enhance longevity.

Tracking Basic Health Markers

One of Johnson's greatest takeaways from his blueprint is tracking basic health markers. His long-standing low ferritin eventually prompted further investigation that disclosed his autoimmune gastritis.

It reminds us that routine health check-ups often identify silent diseases before symptoms appear. For most people, daily monitoring should include:

• Blood pressure

• Blood sugar

• Cholesterol

• Iron levels

• Vitamin B12 if deficient or vegetarian

• Thyroid function when indicated

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Avoiding Smoking And Drinking Alcohol

Bryan avoids alcohol and tobacco completely. Research consistently suggests that avoiding smoking and limiting alcohol significantly reduce risks of cancer, liver disease, heart disease, stroke and other chronic lifestyle disorders.

Which Parts Of Bryan Johnson's Routine Are Controversial?

• Hundreds of daily supplements

• Intensive biomarker testing far beyond routine medical recommendations

• Experimental anti-ageing therapies

• Frequent advanced imaging

• Highly personalised protocols based on proprietary algorithms

Many of these approaches have not been proven to extend lifespan in humans, and experts caution against assuming that more testing or consuming supplements automatically leads to better health.