We have always been told to drink water and keep ourselves hydrated. But did you know there is also a drinking limit for your body and over drinking water may not be a good thing for your body and your health.

A recent study published in JAMA Network Open explores the conventionally believed thought that drinking more and more water is universally beneficial. The study is conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and it reviewed the clinical trials to assess whether increasing water intake offers any significant health benefits.

Study's senior author and chair of UCSF's Department of Urology, Dr Benjamin Breyer, said, “For such a ubiquitous and simple intervention, the evidence hasn’t been clear, and the benefits were not well established, so we wanted to take a closer look".

Water Matters, But Why?

Water makes up about 60% of the human body and plays a critical role in essential functions like:

• Regulating body temperature
• Flushing out waste
• Acting as a shock absorber for the brain and spinal cord
• Creating saliva
• Lubricating joints

Dehydration can disrupt these processes, but does drinking more water beyond daily requirements truly enhance health? Here’s what the study found.

Weight Loss

Three studies showed that drinking 51 fl oz (1.5 L) of water daily before meals led to significantly more weight loss among overweight and obese adults over 12 weeks to a year, compared to control groups. However, a separate study found no weight changes when participants consumed 68 fl oz (2 L) daily for six months.

Fasting Blood Glucose

There were mixed results on people with type 2 diabetes. While one study showed a significant reduction in fasting blood glucose levels after participants drank water before meals for 8 weeks, another study found a slight increase in fasting blood glucose after participants drank water in the morning and before bedtime for 12 weeks. Which raised the question that the benefits noted in the first study may have stemmed from decreased food intake or weight loss.

Headaches

Here too, we have conflicting results. One study showed improvement in migraine quality of life and fewer moderate headache days after increasing water intake. However, the results were not statistically significant.

Another trial involving fewer participants reported no notable effect on migraine intensity or frequency.

Bladder Health

We all know that drinking water prevents UTI. In fact, a trial of 140 women prone to recurrent UTIs found that increasing water intake reduced UTI episodes and antibiotic use over a year.

However, there was a small study that found no significant change in urinary bacteria among women who drank more water. Interestingly, reducing fluid intake by 25% helped adults with overactive bladder experience fewer urges and nighttime trips to the bathroom.

Kidney Stones

Here, the evidences supported increased water consumption for reducing kidney stone risks. In one study, healthy adults drinking an additional 68 fl oz (2 L) of water daily had a lower risk of developing kidney stones. Another trial showed a significant drop in kidney stone recurrence over five years among those who increased water intake.

So, what does it really mean?

While drinking more water was associated with clear benefits in areas like weight loss and kidney stone prevention, the evidence for other conditions—such as headaches, bladder health, and diabetes—was less conclusive.

“The amount of rigorous research turned out to be limited, but in some specific areas, there was a statistically significant benefit,” said Dr. Breyer. “There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach for water consumption," said Dr Breyer.

In mid-2023, the tech mogul and self-proclaimed biohacker, the anti-age crusader Bryan Johnson began a new chapter in his longevity journey. He is already known his extreme anti-aging regimen - Project Blueprint. He has turned his attention to something unconventional. However, it is a telling health metric: nighttime erections.

He has now started a daily dose of 2.5mg of tadalafil (Cialis). He has set out to track and enhance what he calls a crucial "vital sign". His goal is not performance, but optimization. He tells his followers on X, the results were "titanic".

By early 2024, Johnson had added focused shockwave therapy and Botox injections to the mix. Within three months, he says, his nighttime erections improved by 34%. It has clocked in at quite an impressive three hours, with biological equivalent of an 18-year-old.

It Is Not Just About Sex

While the idea of three-hour erections may sound like a punchline, Johnson is pretty serious about it. "Nighttime erections," he explains, "are a strong biomarker of cardiovascular, psychological, and sexual health." These spontaneous erections during sleep can reflect a man’s overall physical and vascular health.

What is interesting to see is that he also maintains that Cialis itself is unlikely to be the sole driver of his sexual function improvements. While the drug is FDA-approved to treat erectile dysfunction, Johnson says it mainly supports long-term health. His claims are that it helps with improved heart function, cognitive health, and reduced urinary symptoms in men.

The Therapy Protocol

In order to push his results further, Johnson also turned to shockwave therapy. This is a treatment that involves acoustic pulses delivered via a wand to the penis.

The shocks cause micro-injuries that stimulate blood flow and tissue repair - not unlike how muscles grow after a workout. However, it is not a spa day. Johnson rated that the pain is 7 on a scale of 10. When it is "at the tip", the pain goes up to 9 on a scale of 10.

Alongside the shockwaves, Johnson began Botox injections, which might sound bizarre but are backed by emerging science. Botox, typically used to reduce facial wrinkles, is thought to relax the smooth muscle in blood vessel walls, allowing more blood flow and potentially firmer erections.

ALSO READ: The Longevity Diet: Bryan Johnson Eats 3 Meals In 6 Hours—With Extra Virgin Olive Oil

What Are The Results Like?

After three months on this combined protocol, Johnson says his nighttime erections rose from 2 hours and 15 minutes to 3 hours. Despite the gains, he reportedly sleeps alone, keeps an 8:30 p.m. bedtime, and schedules sex, if at all.

His larger aim? To maintain all his organs — brain, liver, teeth, even his rectum — at peak teenage condition through strict diet, 111 daily supplements, and intensive routines.

While Johnson’s methods are extreme, he hopes they help reduce stigma. “Men, if you’re not performing how you’d like, there are many paths to improvement,” he said. “There’s no shame in this — in fact, it will make you more of a man to address it head-on.”

If you're trying to conceive or even think you might be pregnant, the wait and anticipation for a pregnancy test can be nerve-wracking—hope, worry, excitement, or fear all in one little plastic stick but before you rip open that foil package, there's something important you may be forgetting: the expiration date.

Yes, pregnancy kits do have expiry dates. And taking one which has passed that date may cause false results. This article touches on why checking that date on the kit first is important before you test, how pregnancy kits work, and what dangers such expired kits possess. Supported by expert opinion and scientific knowledge, this guide endeavors to equip you with the knowledge you require for making informed reproductive health choices.

Home pregnancy tests detect the human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) hormone in your urine, which your body begins making shortly after the fertilized egg implants in your uterus. The test sticks use special antibodies with chemicals that have been treated to respond to hCG and report a positive finding—usually lines, plus symbols, or messages on a display.

With time, though, the delicate components break down. After the test has reached or exceeded its expiration date, the chemical reagents can no longer act dependably. That is, the test might not register hCG when it's actually there, providing you with a false negative result, or—much less often—report a false positive based on poor chemical reactions.

What Happens When a Pregnancy Test Expires?

The date of expiration on a pregnancy test is not merely a courtesy. Companies test their products extensively to find out how long the ingredients will be stable and consistent under normal storage conditions. A pregnancy test will usually be effective for one to three years from the date of manufacture.

Once that time has passed, the antibodies that are employed to identify hCG start to weaken. This weakening is subtle but significant—making the test incapable of giving accurate results. The older the test, the greater the likelihood that you'll leave with a result that doesn't accurately represent your pregnancy status.

Just as important as the expiration date is how the test is stored. According to healthcare professionals, the performance of a pregnancy test can deteriorate even before its listed expiry if it’s stored improperly.

Avoid exposing the test to heat, moisture, or direct sunlight. A bathroom medicine cabinet, while convenient, is often not ideal due to the humidity from showers and temperature fluctuations. Instead, keep pregnancy tests in a cool, dry place, and avoid unwrapping individual tests until you’re ready to use them. Unsealing the protective foil can introduce air and moisture that degrade the chemicals faster.

How to Identify an Expired Test?

Always inspect the outer package and test wrapper individually for a printed expiration date. If it is absent or smudged, better not take a risk. Also, beware of buying tests from third-party retailers or online stores where expired stock may go unnoticed.

It's also good to know that even tests just purchased can be old inventory. If you've had a test kit in your bathroom drawer for more than one year, verify the printed date before you use it.

Can You Trust an Expired Test?

Technically, it's possible for an outdated pregnancy test to return a correct result—but it's not reliable. The odds of false negatives grow more sharply with time, which can cause confusion, worry, and delay in obtaining critical prenatal care.

Under FDA recommendations, most erroneous results from past-due tests are likely to be false negatives. This may lead one to continue habits or drugs that are not best practiced in early pregnancy—or lose the opportunity to start early prenatal supplements or tests.

The effect of depending on an out-of-date pregnancy test isn't only medical—it's psychological as well. Inaccurate results can induce undue distress, confusion, or early rejoicing. Even worse, they may stall time-critical health choices like verifying the pregnancy through a physician, making blood work appointments, or starting lifestyle modifications to facilitate a healthy pregnancy.

In medical situations where time is of the essence—like watching over high-risk pregnancies or starting specific treatments—true, timely information is paramount.

Best Practices for Taking a Home Pregnancy Test

To ensure most accurate results, follow these steps:

• Inspect the expiration date before taking any test, even if the package appears new.
• Take first-morning urine when hCG is most concentrated in the urine.
• Wait until the first day of your missed period to take the test; testing earlier riskily produces a false negative.
• Take directions exactly, including timing when to read the results.
• Dispose of unused tests properly, in a dry, cool environment and in their original sealed package.

How Expired Pregnancy Tests Impact Health and Results?

Taking an expired pregnancy test can result in incorrect results, which might lead to undue confusion or undue delay in taking the appropriate next step. Here's what you should know regarding the effectiveness of an expired pregnancy test:

Increased Chance of False Negatives

One of the most significant problems with using an outdated pregnancy test is the increased likelihood of getting a false negative result. This is where the test will show that you're not pregnant when you actually are. This is due to the chemical compounds, especially the antibodies employed to identify hCG, breaking down over time, thus it becomes hard for the test to give a true result.

Degraded Antibodies

Pregnancy tests detect human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG), a hormone that is formed during pregnancy. After a while, the antibodies in the test, which cause a response when hCG is present, become weakened. So even if you are pregnant, the test may fail to measure the hormone at a level that is high enough.

Health Risks

As per the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), expired pregnancy tests tend to give false negatives rather than false positives. A false positive may also occur but is less so with expired tests.

Exposure to External Factors

The reliability of a pregnancy test is also affected by the way it's stored. Incorrect storage, for example exposure to sunlight, humidity, or heat, causes the components to degrade faster and results in more opportunities for getting incorrect results prior to reaching expiration.

Waste of Time and Money

Using an expired test not only reduces the likelihood of getting an accurate result but also wastes your time and money. It's best to check the expiration date before using the test and, if expired, purchase a new one for peace of mind and more reliable results.

Emotional Stress

The effect of depending on an out-of-date pregnancy test isn't only medical—it's psychological as well. Inaccurate results can induce undue distress, confusion, or early rejoicing.

Though home pregnancy tests are an efficient and convenient means of early pregnancy detection, their accuracy relies on a number of major factors, foremost among them their expiration date. Testing with one that has expired may cause emotional distress and delay medical attention at a time when it's needed most.

Malaria is a life-threatening disease that is spread to humans by a specific type of mosquito. It is preventable and curable, but only if detected on time. People who are at high risk include travellers, pregnant women and those with HIV/AIDS. On Friday, while marking World Malaria Day, the World Health Organisation (WHO) asserted that half of the total global population is at risk of this vector borne disease. So now, the question arises: how does it spread?

Malaria is a vector-borne disease. It is spread through female anopheles mosquitoes. These mosquitoes carry single-cell P. Falciparum, which is a pathogen behind this disease. There are five types of Plasmodium parasite, with P. Falciparum (which is found in the African region) and P. Vivax ( common outside the sub-Saharan region) being the most popular. Left untreated, P. Falciparum malaria can progress to severe illness and death within 24 hours.

Malaria Can Be Spread Through Blood Transfusion

But there is empirical evidence that it can also be transmitted through blood transfusion and contaminated needles. Transfusion-transmitted malaria (TTM) occurs when an uninfected person receives blood from a donor who is infected with malaria parasites. While malaria transmission through transfusion is rare, especially in non-endemic areas, it remains a significant concern in certain regions.

According to a systematic review of studies conducted by National Library of Medicine, Plasmodium parasites were shown to survive in whole blood and plasma when stored at 4°C for up to 18 days, and detectable parasites can present even up to 28 days when frozen, although with diminished infectivity.

How To Identify Malaria?

The early symptoms of Malaria are fever, headache and chills, which can usually start within 10 to 15 days of getting bitten by an infected mosquito. Some types of malaria can cause severe illness and death. Infants, children under 5 years, pregnant women, travellers and people with HIV or AIDS are at higher risk. Severe symptoms include:

• extreme tiredness and fatigue
• impaired consciousness
• multiple convulsions
• difficulty breathing
• dark or bloody urine
• jaundice (yellowing of the eyes and skin)
• abnormal bleeding

People with severe symptoms should get emergency care right away. Getting treatment early for mild malaria can stop the infection from becoming severe. Malaria infection during pregnancy can also cause premature delivery or delivery of a baby with low birth weight.

Disproportionate Share Of Global Malaria Burden

The WHO African Region continues to carry a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden. In 2023, the region was home to about 94% of all malaria cases and 95% of deaths. Children under 5 years of age accounted for about 76% of all malaria deaths in this region. Over half of these deaths occurred in four countries: Nigeria (30.9%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (11.3%), Niger (5.9%) and United Republic of Tanzania (4.3%).