Are you familiar with the feeling of your heart pounding in your chest, your blood pulsing through your veins or when the frequency increases as you get scared or stressed or work out a lot at the gym? This is how your heart reacts to different situations. But how many have you ever noticed your heart rate when you are resting?

Resting heart rate or pulse is the number of times your heart beats per minute when you are at rest. It is also an essential sign that provides a glimpse into your heart and overall health, especially your age, says the American Heart Association (AHA).

Resting heart rate can change as per one's age as there is no one-size-fits-all metric. Other than age, there are other factors such as stress, hormones, anxiety, medication and physical activity that can also contribute to your heart rate.

As per AHA, a resting heart rate between 60 to 100 beats per minute (bpm) is considered "normal" in most adults. Athletes or very active individuals may have a resting heart rate as low as 40bpm, as Michael Phelps, an Olympian swimmer maintained 38bpm at the peak of his career.

This means the harder your heart has to work to pump blood throughout the body while you are not exerting yourself, the higher your resting heart rate will be. This is why a lower resting heart rate indicates a healthier body. Experts also suggest that the more exercise and regular cardiovascular exertion that you have, the lower your resting heart rate will be.

Normal Resting Heart Age

How to check your pulse?

• Locate the artery on your inner wrist of either arm and place your index and middle fingers on the artery. You should feel each beat against your fingers.
• Count the number of beats in 60 seconds.

What happens if your resting heart rate is too high or low? If you are getting sick, then you may notice a higher pulse.

If you have a pulse over 100bpm is called tachycardia and can be brought on by anything from dehydration or excessive caffeine intake, to smoking or anxiety. The AHA recommends talking to your doctor in case you notice abnormal heart rate,

One must be very careful about what they consume. One of the easiest ways to get sick is by eating food or having beverages from unsafe and unsanitary places. That is why people are discouraged from eating at roadside stalls or food from street hawkers who do not follow the food safety protocol.

Many people do not know how unsafe tap water can be. While the tap water available at home goes through treatment, it is best to only drink it after boiling or opting for water from the filter. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains that these health issues can range from mild to serious, depending on what germs are being transmitted.

In a TikTok, Doctor Suraj Kukadia who goes by Dr. Sooj, a practicing NHS GP and emergency doctor, issued a critical warning. urgent warning that if you use regular tap water to rinse your nose, you could be exposed to a very rare but dangerous "brain-eating amoeba." Even though tap water in the UK is perfectly safe to drink, it's a different story when it comes to cleaning out your nose.

Why Tap Water Is Risky for Your Nose

Rinsing your nose is a common thing people do when they have a cold, allergies, or a sinus infection. You usually flush water or salt water into your nose to wash away snot, dust, pollen, and anything else that might be irritating your nasal passages. But in a video, a doctor known online as Dr. Sooj, explained why tap water is risky for this. He said that "tap water has bacteria. It has amoeba, it has protozoa. There are tiny living things in the water." When you drink these, your stomach acid usually kills them, but when they go up your nose, it's a different story.

Brain-Eating Amoeba

The main worry is a "brain-eating amoeba" called Naegleria fowleri. This tiny creature loves to live in warm fresh water, like lakes, rivers, and hot springs. The Cleveland Clinic explains water that contains this amoeba goes up your nose, it can travel to your brain. Once there, it causes a very serious and almost always deadly infection called Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM). While this infection is rare, it's not worth the risk.

If the amoeba gets into the brain through the nose, it can cause a severe infection called Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM). Early signs of PAM can be a headache, fever, feeling sick to your stomach (nausea), and throwing up (vomiting). This infection moves incredibly fast. Most people who get PAM unfortunately die within just 1 to 18 days after they start showing symptoms, often falling into a coma before death. Other symptoms can include a stiff neck, feeling confused, not paying attention to people around you, losing your balance, and seeing things that aren't real (hallucinations).

When to Seek Medical Help

Health experts like the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) agree with this advice. They also warn about another amoeba called Acanthamoeba. If you or someone you know starts to have a headache, fever, confusion, or vomiting soon after rinsing your sinuses or nasal passages, it's crucial to get medical help right away.

A new study has revealed a sharp rise in cases of a rare cancer—appendiceal adenocarcinoma—particularly among younger generations. Generation X and millennials are seeing significantly higher rates of this cancer than previous generations, prompting concern among experts.

What Is Appendiceal Adenocarcinoma?

Appendiceal adenocarcinoma (AA) is a rare form of cancer that originates in the appendix, a small pouch attached to the large intestine. While appendix cancers are not commonly diagnosed—about 3,000 new cases per year in the U.S.—they appear to be rising at an alarming rate among younger adults.

Generational Surge in Cases

According to a new paper published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the rate of AA has tripled among Generation X and quadrupled among millennials compared to those born in the mid-20th century. Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center used data from the U.S. National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program, which tracked cancer cases from 1975 to 2019.

The numbers are telling: the study found that for people born in 1985, the incidence of appendix cancer is four times higher than for those born in 1945. For individuals born in 1980, it is about three times higher.

A Broader Gastrointestinal Trend

Experts say this rise mirrors trends in other gastrointestinal cancers—such as colorectal and stomach cancer—which are also being diagnosed more frequently in adults under 50. Between 1975 and 2019, the researchers recorded 4,858 cases of appendix cancer, with a noticeable uptick in recent decades.

Possible Causes: Lifestyle and Diet

Although the exact reasons for this generational increase remain unclear, researchers suggest that lifestyle and environmental factors may be playing a major role. The consumption of ultra-processed foods, sugary beverages, and processed meats has increased sharply in recent decades. Additionally, obesity and metabolic syndrome—both risk factors for various cancers—are more prevalent among younger people today than in past generations.

Lead researcher Dr. Andreana Holowatyji highlighted that the increase in cases is not due to more appendectomies being performed. Surgical removal rates of the appendix have remained largely stable over time, suggesting that other factors, possibly related to diet, lifestyle, and environmental exposure, are contributing to the spike in cases.

The Challenge of Early Detection

One of the major hurdles in combating appendiceal adenocarcinoma is the lack of clear early symptoms. Many of the signs—such as bloating, appetite loss, and changes in bowel habits—are vague and can easily be mistaken for more common digestive issues. This often leads to delayed diagnoses and limited treatment options.

Urgent Need for Research

With no definitive causes identified, scientists are calling for more research into environmental exposures, genetic factors, and molecular changes that might contribute to the development of appendix cancer. Understanding these elements could help in early detection and potentially lower the rising risk among younger populations.

As per the World Health Organization (WHO), globally, over 1.2 billion people ages 30 to 79 have hypertension. The number has increased from 650 million in 1990 to 1.2 billion in 2021. This increase is attributed to many factors, including lifestyle factors, which include salty indulgence, stress, and screen time which has been increased. These three impact your blood pressure levels, know how.

What Are The Three S Worsening Your Blood Pressure?

Salt

As per the Harvard Heart Publishing, an average American consumes the equivalent of about 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt per day, which is 50% more than the recommended amount.

About a third of healthy people and about 60% of people with high blood pressure are salt sensitive.

How does salt affects blood pressure?

When you consume too much sodium, your body holds on to extra water to balance the sodium levels. This added fluid increases the volume of blood in your vessels, which in turn raises your blood pressure and forces your heart to work harder. High sodium intake can also reduce the effectiveness of certain blood pressure medications. For example, diuretics help eliminate excess sodium and water, while vasodilators work by relaxing the blood vessels. However, a high-sodium diet makes your body retain fluid again, refilling those relaxed vessels and undoing the medication's effects.

Stress

As per the official publication of State Medical Society of Wisconsin, stress can cause hypertension through repeated blood pressure elevations as well as by stimulation of the nervous system to produce large amounts of vasoconstricting hormones that increase blood pressure. Factors affecting blood pressure through stress include white coat hypertension, job strain, race, social environment, and emotional distress.

As per National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, around 50 million American adults live with hypertension, defined as a systolic blood pressure over 139 mm Hg or diastolic pressure over 89 mm Hg. In about 95% of these cases, the condition is classified as "essential" hypertension, meaning there’s no single identifiable cause. However, experts agree that multiple factors—including stress—can contribute to rising blood pressure in these individuals.

Screentime

As per a 2024 study published in Cureus, hypertension is a major risk factor for coronary artery disease. The study links the increased accessibility of smartphones with the increasing hypertension.

This study explored the relationship between screen time and blood pressure (BP) among young adults.

The study also noted that higher screen time was more common among individuals using multiple devices. The prevalence of elevated BP in the sample was 35.8%, aligning with national data and raising concerns about the cardiovascular health of young adults.

Previous studies support these concerns. For instance, Nang et al. and Martinez-Gomez et al. linked prolonged TV viewing to higher BP and an adverse cardiovascular risk profile in adolescents. However, these relied on self-reported data. Other risk factors, such as age, gender, obesity, inactivity, and substance use, have also been linked to hypertension.