NIH News in Health · Source article Health Capsule Uncontrolled hypertension, or high blood pressure, is the leading cause of death in the U.S. It develops when the force of the blood pushing against the walls of arteries becomes too high. This puts more pressure on the heart and arteries, which puts you at risk for heart disease. Hypertension is more common in low-income populations. Studies have found that people are better at lowering their blood pressure when they have more medical support. But low-income patients are often treated in places with less health care resources. An NIH-funded research team looked at whether providing additional medical support to low-income patients with hypertension could help them lower their blood pressure. The team enrolled 1,200 participants. About half received standard care. The other half received standard care along with additional provider support. They met with healthcare providers more often and received care from multiple types of providers. The patients who received extra care were better able to lower their blood pressure. The additional support helped them more closely follow their personal wellness plans. “This trial showed that a team-based approach to supporting and treating patients with uncontrolled blood pressure in low-income rural and urban areas can effectively lower high blood pressure,” says Dr. Katherine Mills of Tulane University, who led the study. Source: NIH News in Health. Originally published July 2026. Republished by Graymedy on 11 October 2026. This is a sourced NIH article, not a Graymedy interview or original study. Read the original article and its research references. NIH News in Health permits republication of its articles and illustrations with acknowledgement. Research findings retain their original study context. Further reading and research references Halting Heart Attack and Stroke: Get Medical Help Fast Healthy Body, Happy Heart: Improve Your Heart Health High Blood Pressure High Blood Pressure (Older Adults) Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT) Multifaceted strategies for hypertension control in low-income patients Illustrative archival photograph: National Cancer Institute / Unsplash, used under the Unsplash License. The people or equipment shown are not identified as participants in the research or interviews described here.

NIH News in Health · Source article A stroke can change your life in an instant. Symptoms come on suddenly. Facial drooping, arm weakness, or slurred speech can all signal that a stroke is happening. A stroke can take away the ability to walk, talk, or do other daily activities. But survivors can often relearn skills affected by the stroke and overcome losses in ability. Strokes happen when the brain doesn’t get enough blood flow. This can be caused by blood vessels getting blocked or rupturing. Not enough blood flow means the brain doesn’t get the oxygen it needs. And that can damage the brain. Depending on how much damage there is, a stroke can lead to life-long disabilities or even death. What problems it causes depends on where damage occurs in the brain. Survivors may have trouble using their arms or legs, talking, or thinking clearly. In more severe strokes, one side of the body may become weak or paralyzed. Stroke rehabilitation, or “rehab,” is designed to help stroke survivors return to their daily activities. It can help them recover and improve their quality of life. NIH-funded scientists are studying how to make rehab more effective for people recovering from a stroke. Benefits of Rehab Rehab can help survivors build back skills they have lost after a stroke. It uses exercises and other therapies to help restore physical function. It also provides strategies to handle remaining problems. For example, a stroke survivor may no longer be able to grasp things with one hand. Rehab can help them learn to use their other hand. Rehab usually starts at the hospital within 48 hours of a stroke. It relies on a team of specialists who tailor rehab to specific needs. The rehab team may include nurses, physical therapists, and Health professionals trained to evaluate and treat people with speech and language disorders. speech-language pathologists. Skills are lost when brain cell connections become damaged. To regain those skills, brain cells need to form new connections. That process is called remapping. Studies suggest that stroke survivors get better results when they spend more time doing rehab. “Rehab can boost re-mapping when tasks are repeated and specific,” says Dr. Scott Janis, a neuroscientist at NIH who oversees clinical research on strokes. Researchers are trying to find out how intense rehab needs to be to get the best results. They are also looking for ways to make rehab more engaging and easier to access. Ongoing studies are focused on restoring language and limb function. Restoring Muscle Use After a stroke, survivors can have trouble moving certain muscles. Muscles can become weak, uncontrollable, or paralyzed. Rehab programs can help address these issues. But some survivors have difficulty finding a provider in their area or getting to a clinic. Dr. Steven Cramer, a stroke neurologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, wants to make rehab easier to access. He’s designed an in-home intensive rehab program for people who need to restore their arm function. All that’s needed is a computer and an internet connection. “We give participants 1,000 arm movements per session, six days a week, for six weeks,” Cramer explains. “This is massively more than what the typical American patient gets in usual care.” By ramping up intensity and access, Cramer’s team hopes to boost stroke survivors’ recovery and make rehab more engaging. “We’re not doing typical stroke rehabilitation,” Cramer explains. “Participants are playing video poker, Mahjong, and shooting ducks. They can also play Stroke Jeopardy to learn more about stroke.” But the “secret sauce is socialization,” he adds. Every other day, a licensed therapist meets with the program participants online. They give new exercises, review previous ones, and answer questions. Cramer’s team compared their in-home rehab program to a traditional program conducted in the clinic. Both increased arm functioning and movement a similar amount. Now, they’re testing the impact of adding the in-home program to usual care. Restoring Language Strokes can also damage the part of the brain that controls language. At least one out of every four stroke survivors have a condition called “aphasia.” It affects speaking, reading, writing, and/or understanding language. Not all stroke survivors recover from aphasia, even with speech-language therapy. They often have chronic (long-lasting) problems with language. Dr. Julius Fridriksson, a neuroscientist at the University of South Carolina, is testing a new approach for patients with chronic aphasia treatment. His group is trying intensive speech-language therapy with brain stimulation. “We think that applying electrical currents to the brain areas that control language could stimulate the remaining brain cells,” says Fridriksson. Activating those cells could help build back brain connections for language. To stimulate the cells, the team uses a technique called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). The team places patches that conduct electricity on the outside of the participants’ scalp. It’s used during speech-language therapy. “Aphasia is a serious condition because people are unable to communicate,” Fridriksson explains. “People with chronic aphasia need better therapy so they don’t experience it the rest of their lives.” His team has been testing what parts of language therapy brain stimulation can enhance. They’ve found that it can help with remembering names of objects. Survivors with aphasia often have difficulty recalling names of objects they knew before their stroke. Now the team is testing if brain stimulation with language therapy is more effective than therapy alone. See the Wise Choices box for tips on how rehab can help stroke survivors. Source: NIH News in Health. Originally published May 2026. Republished by Graymedy on 11 October 2026. This is a sourced NIH article, not a Graymedy interview or original study. Read the original article and its research references. NIH News in Health permits republication of its articles and illustrations with acknowledgement. Research findings retain their original study context. Further reading and research references Halting Heart Attack and Stroke: Get Medical Help Fast What Is a Stroke? Stroke: Signs, Causes, and Treatment Stroke Recovery Know Stroke Recovery Through Rehabilitation Post-Stroke Rehabilitation Aphasia About Stroke (CDC) Moving Forward After a Stroke (VA) Telerehabilitation following stroke Efficacy of home-based telerehabilitation vs in-clinic therapy for adults after stroke Improved naming in patients with Broca's aphasia with tDCS. Transcranial direct current stimulation vs sham stimulation to treat aphasia after stroke: A randomized clinical trial Illustrative archival photograph: National Cancer Institute / Unsplash, used under the Unsplash License. The people or equipment shown are not identified as participants in the research or interviews described here.

NIH News in Health · Source article Many kids start talking later than expected. Most eventually catch up with other kids their age. But some kids have language difficulties that persist. This can be a sign of a condition called developmental language disorder, or DLD. DLD is a communication disorder that persists into adulthood. It can interfere with learning, understanding, and using language. “DLD is incredibly prevalent, but many people don’t know about it,” says Dr. Mary Alt, a speech and language expert at The University of Arizona. It’s one of the most common developmental disorders. DLD can affect a child’s speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The exact causes of DLD aren’t known. It tends to run in families. But both genes and other factors are thought to play a role in changing how the brain develops. Building stronger language skills is key for kids with DLD. Scientists are developing ways to boost their learning. They’re also trying to identify kids with DLD earlier to get them support sooner. Noticing Signs Late talking can be one of the earliest signs of DLD. Young kids with DLD may struggle learning words. They might have difficulty talking. “If you have a young child who isn’t using a language to communicate, but is more using body language and gestures, that’s a sign that they’re having difficulty with learning language,” says Dr. Jim Montgomery, a professor of communication sciences at Ohio University. Another early sign of DLD is using simple language. By the time they reach preschool, most kids start using sentences. “The sentences that a child with DLD might use are much simpler,” says Alt. “Instead of saying, ‘Look, the dog is running,’ the child with DLD might say, ‘Him run.’” Alt’s team recently tracked the progress of kids who were late talkers at ages 2 to 3 years. Her study showed that late talking can be a red flag for language and reading struggles later on. Over one-half of the late-talking kids in her study were diagnosed with a learning disability once they reached school. DLD is a risk factor for developing a learning disability, but it’s not the same. DLD affects basic language skills, which can affect a child’s school performance. Kids with DLD may struggle to learn vocabulary. They may have difficulty structuring sentences. Or they may not be able to tell or write stories in an organized way. “Signs of DLD fall along a continuum, from quite mild to pretty profound,” Montgomery explains. Kids with a learning disability struggle with skills, such as reading, writing, or math. Dyslexia is one example. Kids with dyslexia struggle with linking speech sounds to letters and words. They have difficulty with sounding out letters and spelling or recognizing words. “Dyslexia and DLD often go hand in hand because both involve language,” Alt explains. “Dyslexia is the problem with written language. DLD is a problem with oral language. Often, once a child gets the dyslexia label, they’re never tested for oral language. There is a difference between kids who have dyslexia only and kids who have dyslexia and DLD.” Many kids show signs of both DLD and dyslexia. People with DLD are six times more likely to be diagnosed with reading and spelling disabilities by the time they’re adults. Difficulties with understanding language can make math more challenging, too. Kids with DLD are four times more likely to have a math disability. Screening for Differences DLD can be difficult to recognize, as the signs aren’t the same for every child. “A very mild case of DLD might be something that may not affect a child that much in their everyday conversation or in everyday functioning,” Alt explains. But it may become apparent as reading and writing get more complex in school. “More severe DLD could mean having difficulty getting your basic needs met because you can’t express them,” she adds. “Language differences can be subtle to notice for those with mild DLD,” says Dr. Suzanne Adlof, a speech-language researcher at the University of South Carolina. “But school is a place the impact of DLD is going to be noticed. Right now, schools don’t have systems that assess oral language before the academic impacts are noticed.” Adlof’s team is developing oral language screening tests for schools. To do so, her group is first tracking how language typically develops across school-aged children. They’re looking at kids from kindergarten through 3rd grade. The team will use their findings to develop standards to design a screening test. Such a test could identify kids whose language skills are falling behind their peers. The test could also be used to measure if treatments are helping kids catch up with their peers. Personalizing Progress Certain specialists can help kids with DLD improve their language skills. Speech-language pathologists are experts in communication. They can test for DLD and provide treatment. Interventions are tailored to support a child’s individual challenges. “The nature of the treatment is going to change as kids get older because their language changes and their deficits change,” Montgomery says. Montgomery’s group is testing ways to teach complex sentences to school-aged kids with DLD. They’re comparing two strategies. One explicitly teaches kids about grammar. The kids learn specific rules about the different parts of a sentence. The other gives lots of examples of complex sentences verbally. This taps into the kids’ natural ability to learn the sentence structures. Montgomery is testing which teaching strategy works better for kids with DLD. “Typically, kids learn grammar without trying. You don’t have to teach them,” Alt says. “Kids with DLD aren’t always going to pick up on that naturally.” Alt’s team is studying which treatment strategies work best for kids aged 2 to 5. And they’re trying to understand why some kids don’t respond to current interventions. Researchers are continuing to develop better ways to support kids with DLD. But there are many interventions a child can get right now. If you have concerns about your child’s speaking or language abilities, talk with their doctor. “Anytime a child is showing difficulty with reading and writing in the classroom, it is important to check how their oral language skills are progressing,” Adlof advises. “It could be a sign of DLD.” Source: NIH News in Health. Originally published April 2026. Republished by Graymedy on 11 October 2026. This is a sourced NIH article, not a Graymedy interview or original study. Read the original article and its research references. NIH News in Health permits republication of its articles and illustrations with acknowledgement. Research findings retain their original study context. Further reading and research references Decoding Dyslexia: Helping Kids Who Struggle With Reading Keeping Up in School? Identifying Learning Problems Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) Speech and Language Developmental Milestones Early Learning What Are Some Signs of Learning Disabilities? How Can Parents and Caregivers Promote Early Learning? Child Development (CDC) Enhancing syntactic knowledge in school-age children with developmental language disorder: The promise of syntactic priming. Beyond toddlerhood: Rates of impairment, strengths, and challenges in the communication outcomes of former late talkers Reading and math achievement in children with dyslexia, developmental language disorder, or typical development: Achievement gaps persist from second through fourth grades Examining the associations between parent concerns and school-age children’s language and reading abilities: A comparison of samples recruited for in-school versus online participation. Illustrative archival photograph: National Cancer Institute / Unsplash, used under the Unsplash License. The people or equipment shown are not identified as participants in the research or interviews described here.

NIH News in Health · Source article Health Capsule Patients often stress and worry about an upcoming surgery. But stress can lessen your body’s ability to heal. It can increase inflammation—the swelling or heat your body makes to protect against injury or illness. You can take steps to improve your health before surgery. This is called prehabilitation. A new study showed that personalized prehabilitation programs lowered problems after surgery. Fifty-four participants were enrolled. They were divided into two groups. One group had a standardized program. The other had a personalized program. Everyone was given information on exercise, healthy eating, and how to improve mental health. The standardized program group was given an information booklet. The personalized program provided one-on-one coaching. It included online exercise programs and guided meditation. It also gave daily reminders and meal suggestions. The personalized group showed better physical and mental health after surgery. Only four of 27 in this group had mild to serious problems. Some showed fewer signs of inflammation. Eleven of 27 people in the standard group had mild to serious problems after surgery. They showed improvement in one measure of physical health. But they didn’t show improvements in mental health or inflammation. “You can think of prehab as a way to really prepare for this major trauma of surgery,” says Dr. Brice Gaudillière at Stanford University. Better health before surgery can ease your recovery. Source: NIH News in Health. Originally published February 2026. Republished by Graymedy on 11 October 2026. This is a sourced NIH article, not a Graymedy interview or original study. Read the original article and its research references. NIH News in Health permits republication of its articles and illustrations with acknowledgement. Research findings retain their original study context. Further reading and research references Feeling Stressed? Ways to Improve Your Well-Being Mindfulness for Your Health: The Benefits of Living Moment by Moment Dejunking Your Diet: The Drawbacks of Ultra-Processed Foods Breaking Down Food: A Closer Look at What You Eat Plan Your Plate: Shifting to a Healthy Eating Style Healthy Habits Special Collection Immune modulation by personalized vs. standard prehabilitation before major surgery: A randomized controlled trial Illustrative archival photograph: National Cancer Institute / Unsplash, used under the Unsplash License. The people or equipment shown are not identified as participants in the research or interviews described here.

NIH News in Health · Source article Q&A Excerpts from our conversation with Dr. Jonathan Himmelfarb, a kidney-health researcher at Mount Sinai in New York City. Read the story Curbing Chronic Kidney Disease in NIH News in Health. NIHNiH: How can diabetes, obesity, or heart disease lead to kidney damage in some people? Himmelfarb: The kidneys get exposed 24/7 to whatever is in the blood, and some of that can be damaging to the kidneys. In diabetes, people have high blood sugar. There are changes in the amount of fats in the blood, and other Related to metabolism, the chemical changes in the body that create the energy and substances you need to grow, move, and stay healthy. metabolic changes as well. All this creates added work for the kidneys, and over time that can cause damage. It takes around 10 to 15 years for this to happen, but you can eventually get irreparable damage to the kidneys, which can ultimately lead to kidney failure. That’s also true for obesity. Even if your blood sugar is normal, in obesity there are other metabolic changes in the body that can impact the kidneys. High blood pressure is another common condition that directly affects the kidneys. Because the kidneys have so much blood flow through them, a high proportion of their structure is blood vessels. And those blood vessels can be damaged by constant pressure and stress. NIHNiH: Why is developing more personalized therapies for chronic kidney disease important? Himmelfarb: Chronic kidney disease is really a syndrome more than it is a specific disease. It’s a syndrome that’s defined by how well the kidneys are functioning. If there’s a loss of the ability of the kidneys to filter the blood or to prevent leakage of proteins from the blood, that’s chronic kidney disease. But there are many, many different causes that can lead to that syndrome. Even for people with a specific risk factor, like diabetes or obesity, their kidneys can be affected differently. Different cell types in the kidney can be injured in different ways. And the response to injury can vary by the cell type, what’s causing the injury, and your genetic background as well. We’re in an exciting era where, for the first time, we have some very effective drugs for chronic kidney disease. But say you have diabetes and chronic kidney disease, you may improve with drug A. Or your disease may stay stable. But some people will continue to have loss of kidney function on drug A, and might have done better with drug B. Right now, we have no way to know that up front. What the Kidney Precision Medicine Project is designed to do is eventually help doctors pick the right drug or drug combination at the beginning of treatment, rather than through trial and error. NIHNiH: Your team is also building ‘kidney-on-a-chip’ models with human cells. What are the potential advantages over this approach compared to using animals to test new drugs? Himmelfarb: We’ve cured a lot of diseases in animals, but that hasn’t translated to the same benefits when you use those treatments in people. Most drugs still fail when they go into clinical trials. They either turn out to be too toxic, or they’re just not effective. If we can improve that by working with human models from the beginning, and we can shorten the period of time it takes to bring new drugs to patients, that would be a win not just for treating kidney diseases, but other diseases as well. And with organ-on-a-chip models, we can take into account the genetic variation you have in people. Genes can also contribute to what would be the best treatment for an individual, or even for their risk of getting a certain disease in the first place. Source: NIH News in Health. Originally published January 2026. Republished by Graymedy on 11 October 2026. This is a sourced NIH article, not a Graymedy interview or original study. Read the original article and its research references. NIH News in Health permits republication of its articles and illustrations with acknowledgement. Research findings retain their original study context. Further reading and research references Curbing Chronic Kidney Disease: Keep Your Body’s Filters Healthy Preventing Diabetes: Small Steps Can Make a Big Difference Managing Diabetes: New Technologies Can Make It Easier Blood Pressure Matters: Keep Hypertension in Check Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Diabetes High Blood Pressure Coronary Heart Disease Kidney Precision Medicine Project Illustrative archival photograph: National Cancer Institute / Unsplash, used under the Unsplash License. The people or equipment shown are not identified as participants in the research or interviews described here.

NIH News in Health · Source article Q&A Excerpts from our conversation with Dr. Meryl Waldman, a kidney specialist at NIH. Read the story “Curbing Chronic Kidney Disease” in NIH News in Health. NIHNiH: What is the role of diet in treating chronic kidney disease? Waldman: Dietary changes are part of a larger picture. It’s best to view them as part of a holistic strategy that combines, diet, other lifestyle changes, medicine, and management of the underlying conditions that are often associated with chronic kidney disease. The balance of each of these elements will vary from person to person, depending on the stage of their chronic kidney disease. There are five different stages of chronic kidney disease, where 1 is just beginning and 5 is kidney failure. Your stage will change what your dietary restrictions are. So dietary changes for chronic kidney disease aren’t a one-time thing. They’re something that evolve over time. NIHNiH: What are the advantages of medical nutritional therapy for chronic kidney disease? Waldman: Working with a dietitian is usually targeted towards a healthier lifestyle in general and dealing with things like obesity. Medical nutritional therapy is based on a particular medical problem. And chronic kidney disease may have more dietary restrictions than other diseases. So if you can, work with a renal (kidney) dietitian who specializes in this. They can take into consideration the stage of your CKD, your other health needs, and your ability to access the recommended foods. A dietitian can also take into consideration cultural things and dietary preferences in general. There’s a lot to take into consideration, and it’s not one-size-fits-all. It can become overwhelming to deal with on your own. NIHNiH: How do you advise patients to approach dietary changes for chronic kidney disease? Waldman: Patients tell me that, often, doctors have just told them, “You can’t eat this, or this, or this, or this,” and it just becomes restriction of everything. That’s not empowering, that’s taking away control. It shouldn’t be “what can’t I eat,” but “what can I substitute? How can I make satisfying meals?” Dietary changes should be something that can flip people from passive recipients of care to active participants in their own health. They can have power every day, at every meal. They can make decisions that help themselves. And even if they’re not perfect all the time, they should know they can try again at the next meal. It’s not all-or-nothing. Your kidney function isn’t going to decline based on one meal. You can reset and figure out how the next meal can be healthier. Source: NIH News in Health. Originally published January 2026. Republished by Graymedy on 11 October 2026. This is a sourced NIH article, not a Graymedy interview or original study. Read the original article and its research references. NIH News in Health permits republication of its articles and illustrations with acknowledgement. Research findings retain their original study context. Further reading and research references Curbing Chronic Kidney Disease: Keep Your Body’s Filters Healthy Preventing Diabetes: Small Steps Can Make a Big Difference Managing Diabetes: New Technologies Can Make It Easier Blood Pressure Matters: Keep Hypertension in Check Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Diabetes High Blood Pressure Coronary Heart Disease Kidney Precision Medicine Project Illustrative archival photograph: National Cancer Institute / Unsplash, used under the Unsplash License. The people or equipment shown are not identified as participants in the research or interviews described here.

NIH News in Health · Source article Q&A Excerpts from our conversation with Dr. K.C. Brennan, an expert on migraine and headache treatment at the University of Utah. Read the story “Tension Headaches, Migraine, and More” in NIH News in Health. NIHNiH: How do you approach treating migraine? Brennan: Migraine is a disorder of human brain networks. So if you don’t treat the whole person, you’re not going to get the best results. The nervous system’s “volume knob” is turned up in many different places in migraine. It’s turned up in sensory systems, so light hurts, sound hurts, smells are noxious. Even your gut sensations are amplified. People get nauseous and vomit. This is part of what makes migraine awful. But each one of those things is also something you can target with treatment. So you can reduce the effects of light on the eyes without using any medication. You can treat the gut as well as the brain. You can treat the muscles that are sore, that trigger a migraine attack, with things like physical therapy, with yoga. And then when people are in pain, there’s an imbalance in the nervous system. There’s an increase in the volume knob of what we call affective or emotional networks. So if you’re in pain every day of your life, you’re likely to be depressed and anxious. We need to address this wiring in the nervous system for someone to heal. I prefer the word “heal” rather than “cure.” We don’t have a cure for migraine yet. But healing is getting to a place where it’s no longer an overwhelming part of your life, whatever that means to you. You can still have some pain but feel healed from your disease. NIHNiH: Some people with migraine experience aura. What and why is that? Brennan: Migraine aura happens to about a third of people with migraine. For a lot of people, aura is flashing lights in their vision or numbness and tingling that moves along their arm or their face right before a migraine attack. And we actually know what causes that: It’s called spreading depolarization. You can think of the nervous system as a really complex bunch of wires with little light bulbs at different places that light up and send messages to each other. These are really fast messages moving almost at the speed of light. When the nervous system functions normally, it’s sort of on and off, zigging and zagging. Spreading depolarization is almost the opposite of that. It’s like a tsunami, a huge wave. The electrical activity is bigger than what happens in a seizure. And that wave moves through that bunch of “wires” and forces every neural cell, every blood vessel cell, every supporting cell to fire off and deplete all its energy. And then it moves on, and it leaves a large silence in its wake. Instead of the on/off, zigging and zagging of normal nervous system activity, imagine a giant wave of lights going off, spreading like a ripple in a pond, and then going dark. At the front of this wave is a bunch of activity. So when people see the flashing lights or prisms in their vision with the migraine aura, that’s the wave of activity. But an equally prominent part of the migraine aura, for a lot of people, is after it’s passed, there’s often a loss of sensation. NIHNiH: What have you learned about migraine aura from your research? Brennan: It’s been very difficult to explain how such a massive wave of activity could start, apparently spontaneously, in an otherwise healthy brain. We’ve been looking at glutamate, which is the main excitatory neurotransmitter of the brain. Glutamate is a known actor in any excitable brain disorder, not just migraine but things like epilepsy and pain. We’ve been using a new glutamate indicator. It’s essentially a dye we can put into the nervous system in mice. We can put the gene that produces it into mice, and you’ll get little fluorescent signals in the brain when glutamate is released. And what we discovered was that, before the onset of spreading depolarizations, there was a flurry of little plumes or puffs of glutamate. Almost like little popcorn kernels going off, first a few then a bunch together. And these became more frequent and then coalesced and formed the origin point of a spreading depolarization. And these puffs of glutamate predicted the location and onset of a spreading depolarization. This is the first clue about what might start these mysterious spreading waves in the first place. Now we’ve got to figure out what the mechanism behind the plumes is. And that may help us develop a more tailored approach to migraine prevention. Source: NIH News in Health. Originally published September 2025. Republished by Graymedy on 11 October 2026. This is a sourced NIH article, not a Graymedy interview or original study. Read the original article and its research references. NIH News in Health permits republication of its articles and illustrations with acknowledgement. Research findings retain their original study context. Further reading and research references Tension Headaches, Migraine, and More: When Headaches Disrupt Your Life Mindfulness for Your Health: The Benefits of Living Moment by Moment Feeling Stressed? Ways to Improve Your Well-Being Caring for Concussions: More Than a Bump on the Head Headache Headaches: What You Need to Know Migraine Neurological Diagnostic Tests and Procedures NIH Pain Consortium Good Sleep for Good Health: Get the Rest You Need Non-canonical glutamate signaling in a genetic model of migraine with aura. Illustrative archival photograph: National Cancer Institute / Unsplash, used under the Unsplash License. The people or equipment shown are not identified as participants in the research or interviews described here.

NIH News in Health · Source article Q&A Excerpts from our conversation with Dr. Leonard Epstein, a psychologist who specializes in health behavior change at the University at Buffalo. Read the story Addressing Childhood Obesity in NIH News in Health. NIHNiH: Why are family-based treatments important? Epstein: Obesity occurs within families, across generations. I believe the most effective treatment involves simultaneously targeting the parent and child for behavior change and weight loss. This has benefits for both the child and parent, with a strong correlation between child and parent (and sibling) weight change. This approach is also more cost-effective than treating the child and parent separately by different health care professionals. A pediatrician can tell the parent, ‘don’t bring in junk food’ or ‘make sure your kid is not eating it,’ but if the parent is not changing, it’s going to be very difficult for the child. If the parent tells the child ‘don’t eat this ice cream,’ and they’re eating a chocolate bar, the kid is not going to follow. Our family-based treatment program is based on kids mastering certain skills, like their ability to self-monitor their dietary intake and their activity levels, and to set goals and meet goals. There are also parenting goals: Praising the child for healthy eating. Praising the child for being more active. We do not want the parent to be the food police. Policing is when a parent asks, “Did you eat that food? Did you do this today? I saw you eat an ice cream cone. Why did you do that?” That kind of parenting in the long run doesn’t work—we’ve demonstrated that in other studies. As opposed to having only healthy food around, and when the child chooses a healthy food because all the food’s healthy, then the parent praises them. Then the child feels empowered because now they’re making a positive choice. The parent is happy. The child is happy because the parent is happy. It strengthens the parent child bond, and it strengthens the positive behavior. NIHNiH: What are some of the challenges for preventing childhood obesity? Epstein: We know that kids get heavier throughout childhood. As kids grow, they eat more food. When kids are really young, they don’t have any forward thinking at all. It’s all immediate gratification. But as they get older, they develop more of an ability to understand that maybe I shouldn’t do something now, but I should wait for the better, later benefit. All prevention is based on engaging in a behavior now for future benefits. Kids are developing that skill throughout their life. It doesn’t fully mature until the early 20s. Food is automatically reinforcing. You eat a donut or something sweet, and you feel good right away. Exercise that kids do on the playground is also highly reinforcing. It’s a lot of fun. But when you start getting into sports and higher level things, you have to work at it. Oftentimes, it’s not fun in the beginning until you get a certain level of skill. Then it becomes fun. So you have these foods that are immediately reinforcing for everybody. Then you have these activities that are not immediately reinforcing. It’s so easy to make a choice of being sedentary versus active—watching TV versus going for a walk. And our environments are set up now to prompt people to be sedentary for people who are not physically active. If you took two people who were both the same size and you had them go for a walk, the person who’s a regular exerciser would say, ‘Wow, that was fun.’ But the person who isn't an exerciser would say, ‘Oh, that hurt my legs. And, oh, I'm so tired.’ You have to develop tolerance to the unpleasant aspects of exercise in order for the pleasant aspects to shine through. NIHNiH: How do you get kids to be more physically active? Epstein: The best predictor of kids’ activity is parental activity. It’s easy for kids to be sedentary if their whole lifestyle, everything they see is inactive. Finding things kids like and being physically active with them—going on bike rides together, going on walks together, all that stuff—will help. And so will having peers who also are physically active. Kids tend to end up with peer groups that are pretty much like themselves. But, how do you get a sedentary person, whether they’re a kid or an adult, to start finding exercise more reinforcing? That’s something that a lot of people are trying to figure out. Source: NIH News in Health. Originally published May 2025. Republished by Graymedy on 11 October 2026. This is a sourced NIH article, not a Graymedy interview or original study. Read the original article and its research references. NIH News in Health permits republication of its articles and illustrations with acknowledgement. Research findings retain their original study context. Further reading and research references Healthy Weight Control: Balancing Eating and Exercise Shape Your Family’s Habits: Helping Kids Make Healthy Choices Step It Up! Get Active for Your Health Dejunking Your Diet: The Drawbacks of Ultra-Processed Foods Good Sleep for Good Health: Get the Rest You Need Nurturing Healthy Neighborhoods: Communities Affect Health Positive Parenting: Building Healthy Relationships With Your Kids Helping Your Child Who Is Overweight Childhood Obesity Parent Tip Sheets We Can! Ways to Enhance Children’s Physical Activity and Nutrition Food Portions: Choosing Just Enough For You Obesity and Overweight Tips to Support Healthy Routines for Children and Teens Child and Teen BMI Calculator (CDC) CDC-Recognized Family Healthy Weight Programs Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (HHS) The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (HHS) How to Understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label (FDA) My Plate (USDA) Transgenerational clinical care-The case for family-based treatment. Implementing family-based behavioral treatment in the pediatric primary care setting: Design of the PLAN study. Illustrative archival photograph: National Cancer Institute / Unsplash, used under the Unsplash License. The people or equipment shown are not identified as participants in the research or interviews described here.