In a world where hustle culture is glorified and work emails never stop, clocking more than 40 hours a week has become less of an exception and more of a rule. But this relentless grind might be doing more than just exhausting you—it could be straining your heart.

A number of large-scale studies, such as one in The Lancet of more than 600,000 people, have determined that working more than 55 hours a week is associated with a 33% higher risk of stroke and a 13% greater risk of coronary heart disease. Likewise, statistics gathered by the World Health Organization and International Labour Organization support this worry, citing a 35% increased risk of stroke and a 17% increased risk of death from ischemic heart disease in those who work more than 55 hours a week.

But here's the catch: a simple shift in when you eat—not what you eat—can potentially counteract some of this risk, even if your work hours remain the same.

As reported in a new study published in Nature Communications, scientists have found that daytime-only eating greatly minimizes cardiovascular risk factors in night shift workers. Which is to say, you might not need to leave your night shift job to keep your heart safe, just modify your window of opportunity.

Guided by Dr. Sarah Chellappa and Frank Scheer of Brigham and Women's Hospital, the research put 20 healthy volunteers in a highly regulated sleep lab for two weeks. Everyone went through a simulated night shift, remaining awake for 32 hours to throw their internal body clocks off.

Here's what was so innovative about the study: although everyone had the same sleep schedule, only a portion of them were allowed to eat during the day. The others could eat through the night, replicating usual shift-worker behavior.

Those who ate at night saw a marked increase in heart-related risk factors, but those who ate just during the day did not experience such an increase, even though both groups were eating the same meals.

What is Circadian Alignment?

Why it works comes down to a process known as circadian misalignment—when your behaviors such as eating and sleeping are not aligned with your internal body clock. Your circadian rhythm not only dictates your sleep-wake pattern, but also how your body processes food and controls blood pressure, inflammation, and hormone secretion.

Breaking this cycle, particularly by consuming food when your body is anticipating to be in rest mode, results in metabolic confusion. This can raise your risk of insulin resistance, elevated blood pressure, and systemic inflammation—prime drivers of cardiovascular disease.

"Coordinating eating with the body's internal clock might be a simple intervention," according to Dr. Chellappa. "Even if your sleep is disrupted by work needs, confining eating to daylight hours may provide significant protection."

Why Long Work Hours Remain a Red Flag?

Despite the best meal timing, long work hours remain hazardous. Longer workdays tend to be linked to:

• Sedentary living, particularly in office jobs
• Ate-on-the-run, which contributes to making unhealthy food choices that are rich in processed fat and poor in nutrients
• Chronic stress, which can cause an increase in cortisol levels and blood pressure
• Sleep deprivation, which on its own raises heart disease risk
• Overlooked self-care, such as forgotten doctor visits and infrequent exercise

These bad habits accumulate over time, and in the process, may cause undiagnosed conditions such as hypertension or type 2 diabetes—both leading causes of heart disease.

Is There an Escape from Shift Work Dilemma?

Numerous professionals—nurses, factory workers, emergency responders—are stuck with night shifts. But they don't have to be trapped. Research like this provides a glimmer of hope and emphasizes that even slight lifestyle adjustments can provide immense benefits.

By limiting food to daytime, employees can cut cardiovascular risk indicators in half. This adjustment does not involve adopting a new regimen, gym membership, or pricey supplements. It merely entails dining with the sun, not the shift.

Strategic Tips to a Healthier Work-Life Balance

Should you be working long hours or saddled with odd shifts, here's how to care for your heart while maintaining work pace:

Plan your food: Prepare healthy meals on days off so you're less likely to be tempted by processed or late-night foods.

Create eating windows: Attempt to be done with meals by early evening—even if you stay up late. Keep water on hand, but avoid the snacks.

Guard your breaks: Go outside, stretch, and walk—activity throughout your workday can balance out sitting-associated dangers.

Schedule your check-ups: Don't let work cause health to become a backburner activity. Standard screenings can identify silent problems early.

Reduce stress: A short meditation session, writing in a journal, or even a brief phone conversation with someone you love can help de-stress.

Yes, your work might be intense. And yes, there might be long hours certain times of the year. But shielding your heart doesn't necessarily mean an entire lifestyle change. According to this new research, how you eat might be just as important as what you eat.

In an breakthrough scientific discovery, scientists have found that a common diabetes medication taken by millions globally—metformin, may provide unexpected protection against acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a fast-growing and frequently fatal type of blood cancer. This has been established by a new study by the University of Cambridge, which has been published in the highly-respected journal Nature. The study suggests metformin to be a low-cost, safe preventative therapy for individuals who are at high risk of developing AML.

This finding may represent a paradigm change in the approach to cancer prevention in medicine—particularly in hematological malignancies where early intervention is usually restrictive.

In contrast to solid cancers like breast or prostate cancer, which at times may be removed surgically, blood cancers are more difficult to localize and destroy. As Cambridge Stem Cell Institute Professor George Vassiliou describes it, "With blood cancers, we must first find people at risk and then apply medical treatments to halt cancer growth across the body." AML, which begins in the bone marrow and develops quickly, is an example of this difficulty.

Approximately 3,100 individuals in the UK are diagnosed with AML every year. It has a poor prognosis and few treatment options, especially in the elderly. Although the latest advances in blood testing are able to indicate individuals at risk years earlier than before, to date, there has not been a sure way to stop AML from forming.

How Diabetes Drug Interrupts Cancer Development at the Cellular Level?

Scientists targeted their research on DNMT3A, a gene commonly mutated in AML patients. This one mutation is thought to trigger as much as 15% of all AML. Metformin seems to break the energy metabolism of these pre-leukemic cells, targeting their aberrant growth pathways. By disabling the cells' capacity to produce energy, metformin stops them from developing into full-blown leukemia.

Additional analysis of health information from more than 412,000 UK Biobank participants reinforced the link. Metformin users had a significantly lower incidence of damaging mutations in the DNMT3A gene, whether or not they had diabetes. The results indicate a protective effect that is independent of the drug's initial purpose.

What is Metformi?

The origins of metformin trace back to medicinal plants used during medieval Europe. Isolated from Galega officinalis, a plant used in traditional medicine to cure urinary and metabolic problems, its active ingredient—guanidine—was discovered to lower blood sugar in the early 20th century. Although it was disfavored for a period, metformin was re-released and approved in Europe in the 1950s and subsequently by the FDA in 1995. It's now most commonly prescribed diabetes medication globally, especially in patients who have type 2 diabetes and are unable to regulate blood sugar levels by diet and exercise alone.

How Metformin Works?

Decreasing the level of glucose absorbed by the intestines through food.

Suppressing the liver's release of glucose.

Increasing insulin sensitivity, so that the body can utilize glucose more effectively.

These metabolic actions are not only helpful for controlling diabetes, but potentially for stopping or slowing other disease processes—such as cancer.

Benefits of Metformin

What's even more amazing is how metformin's benefits go beyond controlling blood sugar. According to Harvard Health and other medical centers, the medication has been linked with:

• Reduced cardiovascular mortality among diabetics
• Moderate weight loss
• Decreased risk for type 2 diabetes in persons with prediabetes
• Help with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
• Lower risk for cancers such as breast, colon, and prostate
• Possible diminishment of risk for dementia and stroke

Off-label prescriptions have also been used for some of these indications in metformin, highlighting the drug's versatile utility and solid safety profile.

One of the main advantages of metformin is its long history of safety. Taken by millions of people over many decades, it tends to have only minor side effects—e.g., nausea, bloating, or altered taste. Serious side effects, such as lactic acidosis, are infrequent and typically only occur in those with existing kidney disease.

As Blood Cancer UK's Director of Research Dr. Rubina Ahmed put it, "Repurposing existing, safe drugs such as metformin allows the possibility that new treatments might get to people earlier, without going through the extensive drug development pathways."

Most of us, use the restroom is an effortless way, there is an urge to pee and so it is an easy, unconscious act. For 27-year-old Anna Gray from Bath, England, such a simple function was an impossible task—a task that defined her life for six long years! Diagnosed with Fowler's Syndrome, a rare and painful urinary disorder, Anna has spent more than a half-dozen years having to use catheters just to empty her bladder.

Anna's health emergency started in November 2018 when she was hospitalized with a severe kidney infection—brought on by not being able to urinate for several days. Physicians initially thought it was an isolated incident. But when her bladder had to be drained of almost two liters of urine and the issue continued, it was evident this was no typical infection.

Just weeks after that, another hospitalization uncovered something disturbing: Anna's bladder was not functioning at all. After invasive procedures, the reason still eluded her. Specialists eventually diagnosed her with Fowler's Syndrome—a condition so uncommon, even seasoned urologists had encountered only a handful of cases.

"I was informed there was nothing further that could be done," Anna remembered in an interview. "I couldn't comprehend how it could occur to me."

By 2020, after years of repeated infections and hospital stays, Anna was fitted with a suprapubic catheter—a tube inserted through her belly directly into her bladder. The catheter empties urine into a collection bag, which she has to empty several times a day.

"Coming to terms with this being my life now was really hard," she said. "There were mental health issues. I was in the hospital last year for depression."

In January 2024, Anna developed sepsis around her catheter site—a life-threatening complication that led to three weeks in intensive care. Yet despite the setbacks, she refuses to hide her condition.

“I wear shorts, tops—you can see the bag. It doesn’t bother me. People ask questions, and I’m fine with that.”

Because of the paucity of her condition, Anna first felt extremely isolated. "I felt like I was the only person in the world experiencing this," she said. But that ended when she learned about online support groups for Fowler's Syndrome patients.

"Meeting others who understood was life-altering. I finally didn't feel alone," said Anna.

Community support has become a lifeline for so many with chronic illnesses, especially those such as Anna whose conditions are under-recognized or misunderstood by the public and even the medical community.

Anna summed up, "I'm learning to live with it. I want people to know they're not alone. Even with a condition like this, life can still be full."

What is Fowler's Syndrome?

Initially identified in 1985, Fowler's Syndrome is an uncommon etiology of urinary retention in females, generally aged between 20 and 30 years. Fowler's Syndrome affects the urethral sphincter—the muscle that controls the release of urine—making the muscle remain constricted, even when the bladder is full. This leads to a lack of ability to urinate spontaneously.

In contrast to most other causes of urinary retention, Fowler's Syndrome is not associated with neurological disease. It may come on suddenly in some cases with no apparent cause. In others, it may follow surgery or delivery.

Symptoms of Fowler's Syndrome

Symptoms differ from patient to patient. Some may be able to urinate but not completely empty the bladder, while others—such as Anna—are completely retained. With the filling of the bladder, severe pain and frequent infection ensue. Many women experience recurring cystitis, kidney infections, and constant pain.

What Causes Fowler's Syndrome?

To this point, the true cause of Fowler's Syndrome has not been discovered. Scientists are still trying to determine why the urethral sphincter does not relax. Some speculations include hormonal connections, particularly because approximately 50% of patients also suffer from polycystic ovaries, yet no cause has been determined.

The syndrome could develop spontaneously or after surgery—most often gynecological or urological—or after delivery. Without an established cure, symptom management becomes the main priority.

Treatment for Fowler's Syndrome

Treatment of Fowler's Syndrome depends on severity.

Mild Cases: Patients with the ability to urinate partially might only require monitoring to assess residual bladder volume.

Moderate Cases: Those with high residual volumes might need intermittent self-catheterization several times a day to avoid infection and bladder damage.

Severe Cases: In complete retention cases, patients can be considered for sacral nerve stimulation—a treatment involving the use of electrical pulses to stimulate nerves and return bladder function. This is still the only treatment with hope of restoring natural urination in some patients.

Have you or someone you know recently made the switch to e-cigarettes believing they're a better alternative to smoking? With slim packaging, sweet flavors, and less toxins than regular cigarettes, vapes appear to be the smarter choice but new studies are ringing the alarm- e-cigarettes could be causing more damage to your lungs than you think. From free radical damage to heightened risk for COPD, the "safe" image of vaping is rapidly disintegrating.

Over the last decade, vaping has become the new smoking alternative. A large new study conducted by scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine has implicated sole use of e-cigarettes with permanent damage to the lungs, including development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Free radicals and toxic chemicals inhaled when vaping that attack lung tissue.

Vaping or Smoking: Is It Really the Lesser of Two Evils?

E-cigarettes or vapes have quickly grown to become the second-most prevalent use of tobacco in America. Middle and high school students alone account for more than a million regular e-cigarette users, based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) figures. For adults, user rates increased from 4.5% in 2019 to 6.5% in 2023 — an alarming upward trend.

Unlike cigarettes — which have been thoroughly researched for decades — the long-term effect of vaping is not well understood, especially among older adults. That is, until now.

How E-Cigarettes Harm Your Lungs?

A recent study, released in Nicotine & Tobacco Research and conducted by Dr. Michael Blaha, a professor of cardiology and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has completed an important piece of the puzzle. Based on a solid sample of nearly a quarter-million participants between the ages of 30 and 70, the study followed participants over four years to identify the health consequences of different tobacco-use behaviors — including vaping exclusively.

Here's what they discovered: out of 3,164 elite e-cigarette users, there was a statistically significant rise in new cases of COPD and, although to a lesser degree, hypertension. Although these rates were lower than among conventional cigarette smokers, they were greater than among non-smokers — confirming that e-cigarettes are not as harmless as previously believed.

"These findings are an important stepping stone for future studies on the health impact of e-cigarettes," Dr. Blaha said in a news release. "We now have a clear link between e-cigarette use and new-onset COPD that will need to be carefully monitored."

Dangerous Link Between E-Cigarettes and COPD

COPD, a chronic lung disease that limits airflow and gets progressively worse, has traditionally been linked to smoking. Indeed, 8 of every 10 deaths due to COPD in the U.S. are caused by traditional cigarettes. But the new information contradicts the conventional wisdom that e-cigarettes are the safer choice.

Scientists determined that even singleton e-cigarette users experienced an increase in risk for developing COPD — a conclusion which is in line with previous, smaller studies that attributed vaping to asthma and other respiratory illnesses.

Alarming as it is, the harm associated with vaping could be due to exposure to oxidative stress and free radicals — unstable molecules that harm cells and tissues. Free radicals are produced when e-liquids are heated and can cause inflammation and permanent structural damage to the lungs.

Chemicals Behind the Lung Damage

In opposition to common assumption, e-cigarette vapor is not harmless at all. Vape juice regularly includes a combination of nicotine, THC, flavorings, and oily solvents — including agents that can ruin lung tissue:

Vitamin E acetate: Safe as a skin product or food supplement but hazardous when breathed in. It has been found in the lungs of people suffering from severe vaping-related illnesses.

Diacetyl: Added to flavor, this chemical causes "popcorn lung" (bronchiolitis obliterans), a condition that destroys the small airways of the lungs.

Formaldehyde: A poisonous compound that raises the risk of lung disease and heart ailments.

Acrolein: A recognized irritant and herbicide capable of causing acute and chronic lung damage.

The act of vaporizing these compounds in an aerosol ensures that consumers are not only inhaling flavored vapor, but they are subjecting their lungs to a mix of chemicals whose known toxic effects.

A second population identified in the research — those who both use e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes — were determined to be at highest risk for respiratory disease, including COPD. These dual users account for a large segment of current tobacco-users and are subject to compounded health risks.

"Vaping isn't the way out that people believe," cautions Dr. Daniel Ouellette, Henry Ford Health Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. "We're just beginning to learn how vaping damages lungs across decades, but what we do know already rings alarm bells."

Why are Young Adults Still Drawn to the Vape?

Even with a recent dip in youth vaping and an FDA prohibition on some flavored e-cigarettes, vaping is extremely popular among young adults. In 2023, 15.5% of U.S. adults between the ages of 21–24 vaped frequently, while only 3.3% of adults between the ages of 50–64 did.

This is especially concerning with the growing evidence that early and extended exposure to vaping increases the risk of chronic lung disease later in life.

While vaping was once positioned as a safer bridge away from smoking, the science tells a more sobering story. Free radicals and toxic chemicals present in e-cigarette vapor are not just irritants — they are agents of irreversible lung damage. And with COPD diagnoses rising even among exclusive vapers, it is clear that the risk is real and growing.

Subtle Signs You’re Damaging Your Lungs

Even apart from the massive coughing fit or readily visible signs, your lungs might be strained by vaping already. Study summarized in the *Journal of Clinical Investigation* reports that e-cigarettes release free radicals—molecules too reactive that harm lung tissue on the cellular level. This type of harm often will not necessarily reveal immediate signs but may subtly work its way towards causing long-term inflammation. With time, you may experience shortness of breath on light exertion, tightness in the chest, or mild wheezing—dismissed until the issue gets serious. Such symptoms, while subtle, are early indicators of possible irreversible lung alterations.

What You Can Do to Protect Your Lungs?

Stopping vaping may seem challenging, particularly if it was your initial departure from conventional cigarettes but going on can raise your risk of getting COPD or chronic lung inflammation. Taking charge begins with knowing what triggers you—stress, boredom, or habit—and substituting them with better ones.

Nicotine replacement therapies (such as patches or lozenges), behavioral counseling, or computer-based cessation programs can help overcome cravings. First and foremost, see a health care provider to evaluate your lungs and receive individualized advice. The sooner you act, the more likely you are to reduce damage.