Over the last few years, tart cherry juice has been heralded as a “superfood” containing nutrients that can help critical aspects of our health, including:

• Improve sleep
• Reduce inflammation caused by gout and other forms of arthritis
• Lower blood pressure
• Reduce the risk of heart disease
• Prevent or slow cancer growth
• Improve brain function

But is there enough research to support these claims?

Sources of potential benefits

Tart cherries contain a wide variety of vitamins and minerals, including a significant percentage of the recommended daily intake of vitamins A and C for adults. But their anthocyanins are the source of most of the potential benefits that have so many people talking.

Anthocyanins are the pigments that give red, purple and blue fruits and vegetables their color. Aside from making these foods look pretty, these pigments are also high in antioxidants, which play a key role in destroying harmful cells known

With this news going around, you might have heard about it too: we are facing the resurgence of measles worldwide! Yes, sadly, it is happening all over again for real, and this time’s count is the greatest since its elimination in 2000. The next question that pops would be: why, though? Well, we are all aware that the measles vaccination campaigns have been halted worldwide due to the coronavirus pandemic, and that, people, is exactly the cause of this rebirth. The under-vaccination of millions of children for measles has certainly blown up on our faces with this imminent global threat, says the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to their report, approximately 25 million children missed their first dose of the measles vaccine in 2021, and another 15 million children missed their second dose. A further dig into this topic…

1. Measles

For most cancer patients, especially those with an early stage of cancer, surviving cancer is the goal of treatment. You want to go from being a cancer patient to being a cancer survivor.

At what point does a person achieve the status of cancer survivor, and what does life after cancer look like?

The definition of “cancer survivor” can be different depending on whom you ask and why. It’s not completely black and white.

According to the American Cancer Society, the term “cancer survivor” is defined as anyone with cancer regardless of what stage of treatment they are going through.

Erin Mclaughlin is an oncology nurse navigator for OSF HealthCare whose job is to support cancer patients and serve as their advocate through every step of their cancer journey.

“We have cancer patients who are going through maintenance therapy as part of a palliative care plan,” Erin said. “Their

Cancer patients going through chemotherapy often experience difficulty with memory and focus. It’s a phenomenon common enough that it has earned a nickname: chemo brain.

Although chemo brain fog is common, it shouldn’t be ignored, according to Erin Mclaughlin, an oncology nurse navigator at OSF HealthCare. You should definitely let your oncologist know if you are experiencing any chemo brain symptoms.

“It’s not just one issue, it’s an umbrella of things that can go wrong,” Erin said. “It needs to be addressed because it impacts your quality of life. Your body is very delicately balanced, so we have to know about everything.”

Chemo brain causes

Chemo brain got its name because it’s often believed to be caused by chemotherapy, but that’s only one of the possible causes for the brain fog a patient experiences.

“Chemo itself is toxic poison we use to kill cancer,” Erin said. “Cancer is strong and

Exercise is known to reduce stress and release good endorphins in the body that restore cells and help you feel good. Physical activity is great for both your body and mind.

So what about exercise and cancer? You may be wondering, “Can I exercise during my ongoing treatment? Will it help my recovery?”

The simplified answer is yes, according to Erin Mclaughlin, an oncology nurse navigator at OSF HealthCare.

“Physical activity is wonderful. It’s a plus,” Erin said.

The benefits of exercise for cancer patients

Cancer treatment – whether it’s radiation therapy, chemotherapy or surgery – can take a toll on your body. These treatments use extreme measures to fight cancer, and the effects can wear you down physically and mentally.

Combined with sedentary lifestyle effects, the side effects of cancer treatment can be more severe and harder to recover from.

Physical activity can help with regaining strength. It can

Chemotherapy – the use of toxic chemicals to kill cancer cells – is one of the most common cancer treatments. And while chemotherapy has a long history of proven success, it can take a physical and mental toll on patients.

Chemo can make you feel awful, and patients often want to know, “Can we have a normal life after a cancer treatment?”

It can be hard to imagine getting back to normal life.

“Sometimes the treatment can be as rough as the disease,” said Erin Mclaughlin, an oncology nurse navigator at OSF HealthCare. “It’s important to remind patients that treatment will pass, and they will regain normalcy.

“When you’re going through chemo, it’s easier to push through mentally when there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”

What to expect after chemo

Patricia Ramirez is an oncology nurse navigator at OSF HealthCare who specializes in breast cancer, for

It’s easy to tell when you get good sleep. You feel rested, alert and ready to tackle the day. 

But good sleep quality isn’t always easy to achieve. For some people, they breathe through their mouth, which might lead to trouble sleeping. 

Mouth breathing can be a nuisance. It can cause a dry or scratchy throat, bad breath and snoring. Some people who have trouble breathing through their noses while sleeping turn to a practice called mouth taping. 

People tape their mouths shut while sleeping in order to force themselves to breathe through their noses. And while over-the-counter mouth tape for sleep product is sold, it begs the question – is it a safe and effective practice?

Is mouth tape dangerous?

Mouth taping not only doesn’t help you to breathe through your nose, it’s also highly dangerous. It can cause obstructed breathing and create other more serious sleep disorders like

Rising to the blaring of the clock early in the morning, some of us like to follow those annoying wake-up calls with a dose of natural breeze by walking a mile or until sunrise. Walking offers great health benefits to all age groups. However, there is walking, and then there is walking with the right form. This is especially important for those walking on a daily basis. You could be doing it wrong without ever realizing it. This blog should help make you a better walker with our pointers on fixing your common walking mistakes.

1. Map Your Steps – Become An Explorer!

Walking outdoors is interesting; however, taking a different route every day could stave off the boredom and keep you interested in your daily step count. Get your map out – mark the spots that you would like to cover this week. Your curiosity to explore new places

Have trouble sleeping? Do you snore?

If so, your doctor may suggest undergoing a sleep study to help diagnose whether you have a sleep disorder such as obstructive sleep apnea, narcolepsy, parasomnias or insomnia.

How does a sleep study work?

These are tests that record specific body functions during sleep, according to John Sand, DO, an OSF HealthCare sleep specialist.

It takes place overnight in a sleep lab, although there are situations where a home test can be conducted. As you sleep, instruments measure things like heart rate, breathing rate and airflow, brain wave activity, eye movement, blood oxygen level and muscle movement.

“They wire you up like an astronaut – there are things on your fingers to measure your pulse and blood oxygen level, electrodes on your head – you think right off the bat that you’re not going to be able to sleep, but you do,” Dr.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, OSF Innovation and OSF OnCall Digital Health rapidly set up a virtual program to treat sick people at home while also reducing stress on hospital capacity and medical providers. The idea grew out of a Trailblazer Challenge, a competition that helps Mission Partners bring their ideas to life.

In just three months, OSF HealthCare was among a few health systems in the country successfully leveraging technology to care for more than 100 patients at their own homes across Illinois. As a result, OSF became one of three health care systems in the state granted a waiver to provide hospital-level, inpatient care at peoples’ homes. The next step was to determine what this concept would look like for the Ministry.

“We needed to pause what we were doing and really think about how to design and build a program that ensures patients are offered