Many diseases share the same symptoms, causing people to get confused and either undermine or overwhelm themselves with worries. With the current flu season on the rise, people in the United States are being very careful about their health and are taking necessary precautions to make sure they do not catch any more respiratory illnesses. Often these diseases show symptoms like coughing and wheezing, nothing that warrants anything more than a general doctor’s visit, sometimes people even think it it is a simple cold, but it could be something worse!

The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report on 28 February, last Friday on Respiratory Virus Activity Levels reported a moderate number of people are seeking medical help for respiratory illnesses. The flu is sending many people to the emergency room, RSV Respiratory syncytial virus has been sending many people to the ER along with COVID-19.

While flu test results are slightly less positive than last week, COVID-19 and RSV test results are about the same. In our community's wastewater, the flu virus is still very high, COVID-19 is moderate, and RSV is low. Looking forward, we expect COVID-19 emergency room visits to stay low. While flu visits are still high, they should start to go down soon.

So, even though it might feel like winter is ending, these viruses are still active, and we need to be careful. They are not going away quickly and can still spread easily. Here are some symptoms that should be treated with urgency right now.

Severe Dehydration

When you're really sick, you might not feel like eating or drinking. This can lead to dehydration, which is when your body doesn't have enough water. If your pee is dark yellow, or you feel dizzy, you might be dehydrated. If you pass out, get confused, or your heart beats really fast, you need to go to the hospital right away. Healthcare professionals can give you fluids through a needle to help you feel better. Being dehydrated is very dangerous, and it is important to take it seriously.

Breathing Difficulties

If you're having trouble breathing, or if you're breathing really fast, that's a big sign. It could mean that you have pneumonia or that your body isn't getting enough oxygen. Shortness of breath is always a reason to go to the emergency room. Your body is telling you that something is seriously wrong. It is very important to seek help right away. Do not wait it out at home.

Low Oxygen Levels

If your lips or fingers start to turn blue, that means you're not getting enough oxygen. Also, if you're so tired that you can barely get out of bed, that's another sign that you need to go to the hospital. These are serious symptoms that mean your body needs help right away.

Who’s Most at Risk for Severe Symptoms?

Some people are more likely to get very sick from these viruses. Pregnant people, little kids, and older adults are at higher risk. Also, people who have health problems like heart or lung disease, or people with weak immune systems, are more likely to have serious problems. Older adults are often hospitalized with the flu, COVID, and RSV. These groups need to be extra careful to avoid getting sick. It is very important that these groups get vaccinated.

RSV is especially dangerous for babies and young children. It's one of the main reasons why young kids end up in the hospital. This virus can make it very hard for them to breathe. It is very important to protect young children from this virus, especially in the first few years of their lives.

It's hard to find anyone these days whose day doesn't involve a phone, a laptop, or a tablet at some point, often for several hours. We work off them, study off them, unwind by scrolling or watching something on them. All that convenience comes at a cost, though, and it isn't limited to the eyes. Sleep, hearing, posture, general well-being- screens end up touching all of it.

Long Screen Hours Can Strain Your Eyes

Eye strain is usually the first thing people notice. Stare at a screen close-up for long stretches, and the eyes start to dry out, burn, blur, and headaches creep in along with trouble focusing. Part of the problem is that we simply blink less when we're absorbed in something on a screen, which makes the dryness worse.

A few small adjustments help, keeping the screen at a reasonable distance, not having the brightness too high, and something I often recommend to patients: the 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes, look at something roughly 20 feet away for 20 seconds. It sounds minor, but it eases the strain.

Also read: Salt Stomping Before Bed: Does This Viral TikTok Sleep Hack Actually Work?

Long Hours With Earphones Can Affect Hearing

Screens affect more than eyesight. Long hours spent wearing earphones, particularly at high volumes, can gradually affect hearing. The risk depends on both the volume and the duration of exposure.

Keeping the volume at a comfortable level and taking regular breaks from earphones is a simple enough habit to build. Persistent ringing in the ears, muffled hearing or difficulty following conversations should not be dismissed as fatigue and should be evaluated by a doctor.

Screen Use Can Disrupt Sleep

Sleep is one of the most overlooked casualties of excessive screen use. Phones and laptops used late at night keep the brain stimulated when the body should be winding down for rest. Bright light from screens, along with constant notifications, social media and work-related activity, makes it harder to unwind and fall asleep. Poor sleep, in turn, contributes to daytime fatigue, reduced concentration and irritability.

None of this means giving up technology altogether. It comes down to building healthier digital habits, avoiding screens close to bedtime, keeping phones away from the bed, taking regular movement breaks during work, and spending some time outdoors. For people working at computers for extended periods, maintaining good posture and changing position regularly matters just as much.

Also read: Weekend Workouts: Why Sudden Intense Exercise May Put Stress on Your Heart

There Is No Single ‘Safe’ Number Of Screen Hours

Clinical care today increasingly looks beyond treating disease to identifying everyday lifestyle factors that contribute to long-term health problems, and screen exposure is a good example of this. There isn't a single number of hours that is automatically harmful for every adult; the impact depends on what the screen is being used for, the intensity and duration of exposure, and whether it is interfering with sleep, physical activity or daily functioning.

Being screen-smart, rather than screen-free, is really the aim. Regular breaks, sensible volume levels, better sleep routines and more movement can go a long way in protecting the eyes, hearing and overall health, while still letting technology remain a useful part of modern life.

If symptoms such as persistent eye discomfort, hearing changes, recurrent headaches or ongoing sleep difficulties continue despite cutting down on screen time, it's worth seeking professional medical advice rather than relying on lifestyle adjustments alone.

TikTok has a new sleep obsession every few months. Mouth taping, "cognitive shuffling," and now this: pouring salt onto a tray and stomping on it barefoot before bed. It's called "salt stomping," and doctors have doubts.

What Is Salt Stomping?

The trend was popularised by TikTok creator Tammy Weatherhead, who films herself pouring Epsom salt onto a baking sheet and shuffling her feet on it, according to the New York Post. "If you are not standing on salt before bed, you are missing out," she says in her videos. Other creators pour the salt onto baking sheets, towels or straight onto the shower floor, according to the New York Post.

The practice is framed as a type of "grounding," or direct contact with the earth, which some people normally do by walking barefoot on grass or sand, the New York Post notes. Weatherhead claims the salt version also exfoliates feet, reduces inflammation, and shifts the body into "rest mode" by lowering cortisol and raising serotonin.

Also Read: Heart Valve Clips Explained: How a Tiny Clip Can Help Repair a Leaking Valve

Does It Actually Work?

Doctors say no. Saema Tahir, a board-certified sleep physician, told the New York Post, "There's no evidence that standing on salt calms anything." IOL, a South African outlet, reported the same conclusion. There is currently no scientific evidence that standing directly on salt improves sleep.

There is some research on grounding in general, separate from salt. A small 2004 study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine found that people who slept in contact with a grounding mat had lower night-time cortisol levels. But the study didn't test salt, involved a small group of people, and hasn't been repeated at a larger scale since.

What might actually help is the ritual itself, not the salt. Jacqueline Geer, a sleep medicine specialist at Yale School of Medicine, told Vogue, as reported by Yahoo, that the benefit "lies in the fact that this trend requires a certain level of focus and disconnect" from a busy day. A psychologist identified as Dr. Bostock told the Huffington Post UK there's likely a placebo effect too: "If you believe something helps you sleep, the odds are you will fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer."

The Real Risk: Your Skin

Standing barefoot on salt can cause harm. Chris Winter, a neurologist and sleep specialist, told Vogue, as reported by Yahoo, that salt stomping can cause skin irritation, worsen cracks on the feet, and create small cuts that let bacteria into the body.

What To Do Instead

Sleep experts point to simpler, low-risk habits: calming, repetitive routines before bed that signal to the nervous system it's time to rest, per IOL. Geer's advice, per Yahoo, is to build in a period of focus and disconnection from screens and stress, rather than a specific trick. If anxiety is what's keeping you up at night, that's worth raising with a doctor directly, rather than testing viral hacks with no real evidence behind them.

Heart clips—also referred to as heart valve clips—are part of a minimally invasive medical procedure known as Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair (TEER). Designed to repair leaking heart valves without open-heart surgery, this advanced treatment restores proper blood flow, relieves debilitating symptoms, and helps patients return to their daily lives.

Understanding Valve Leakage and Symptoms

The heart's valves rely on thin flaps of tissue called leaflets to regulate blood flow.

• The mitral valve (located on the left side of the heart) typically has two leaflets.

• The tricuspid valve (located on the right side of the heart) usually consists of three leaflets.

When a valve is leaking, the leaflets fail to close completely, leaving a gap. Blood leaks backward through this opening toward the lungs, increasing lung pressure and directly causing chronic breathlessness and fatigue.

Also read: 100% Blockage At 18, 25% Patients Under 40: On World Heart Day, Cardiologists Reveal An Alarming Heart Attack Pattern

How the Clip Repair Procedure Works

During a Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair, cardiologists repair the valve using a tiny clip delivered through the vascular system:

1. Catheter Access: Guided by continuous echo imaging, doctors insert a catheter into a blood vessel in the groin and navigate it directly to the heart.
2. Targeting the Valve: The catheter goes to the left side of the heart for a mitral valve repair or to the right side for a tricuspid valve repair.
3. Identifying the Leak: Imaging pinpoints the exact spot where the leaflets fail to seal.
4. Deploying the Clip: The doctor positions and deploys the clip across the leaking gap, grasping the two opposing leaflets and pulling them closer together.
5. Evaluating the Seal: Before releasing the clip completely, doctors perform an echocardiogram to confirm that the clip is strongly anchored, that the backward leak is fixed, and that the risk of clip detachment (embolization) is negligible.

Immediate Relief and Long-Term Healing

Once the clip brings the leaflets together, backward leakage stops immediately, allowing the entire volume of blood to pump forward as intended.

• 24-Hour Recovery: Pressure inside the lungs drops rapidly once the leak is sealed. Many patients notice a dramatic improvement in their breathing within 24 hours of the procedure.

• 3 to 6 Month Integration: Over a period of three to six months, surrounding heart tissue naturally grows over the clip (endothelialization), permanently integrating it into the heart structure.

Smooth Hospital Stay and Recovery

Because the procedure is catheter-based rather than open-chest, patient recovery is remarkably swift:

• In-Room Extubation: Patients are taken off the ventilator right on the procedure table.

• Minimal Closure Site: The groin entry point is closed cleanly using specialized sutures (such as ProGlide or a figure-of-eight suture).

• Quick Discharge: Patients typically spend just one day in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) before moving to a standard room, after which they can return home and resume normal daily activities.