Many parents spend countless nights on exploratory journeys, devising ways to convince their children that sleep is a good idea. In nature, animals fall asleep naturally and easily. Their bodies respond to the environmental cues around them, such as the shift in temperature and change in light, that signal to their bodies that it’s time ...

The coronavirus is causing quite a scare worldwide. Reactions to the news of it spreading have ranged from relative nonchalance to absolute terror, with the media, unsurprisingly, favoring the latter.  ...

We’re used to coughing when we have a cold, but what about those coughs that seem to linger even after all other symptoms have disappeared? It turns out that what may seem like a nuisance can actually be the body’s innate intelligence at work. At the first sign of foreign invaders, coughing acts as a ...

Perhaps you have a picky eater at home. Maybe she takes after mom or dad, or maybe this is a quality uniquely her own. Whatever the case, it’s important to recognize that we can change our perception around this. Being particular about foods is indeed a feature and not a flaw. Neophobia Timing Around the ...

Ear infections appear so common that at times they seem almost like a childhood rite of passage. Often associated with redness, swelling, and pain within the ear, they are the number one reason antibiotics are prescribed for children. However, we’re finding more and more that the prolific prescription of antibiotics is not the panacea it ...

In nature, there are some biological processes that are almost unstoppable. Once the process is started it creates a cascade of reactions and, like a freight train barreling down the track, stopping it takes an immense amount of effort. One of the most classic of these, and perhaps the strongest in human biology, is labor. ...

Recently, I sat across from an accomplished high school athlete who had just told me that he did not smoke and had not used any drugs. But when I asked directly about whether he vaped he openly said, “Of course!” He went on to explain that vaping isn’t smoking, isn’t unhealthy, and that THC is ...

When it comes to food, the colors you see in plants provide powerful information. They often signal the rich nutrient density of the plant. When you look at a blueberry and see that color, you see delphinidin-3-galactoside. When you look at a carrot and see that color, you see beta carotene. Our eyes are adapted ...

Podcast Transcript of Altitude Sickness & The Brain Stage of O2 Dr. Greene: (00:01) Hi, this is Dr. Greene MsGreene: (00:02) and Ms. Greene and greetings from Chile. Hola!. Dr. Greene: (00:06) Hola! We are on a surprising trip and today we went to see the Atacama Cosmology Telescope high in the Andes Mountains, which ...

What is a CT Scan? A machine whirs in an arc around a patient, snapping a rapid-fire series of x-rays from different angles. These x-ray snapshots are combined by a computer to produce virtual cross-section images of the body. These are called CT scans, which stands for computed tomography (computer-generated cross-sectional images). CT Scans Compared ...

Listen to the Podcast or Read the Transcript [00:00:03] Hi I’m Dr. Alan Greene pediatrician and I’d like to talk with you tonight about The Brain Stage. [00:00:10] I remember vividly when I was a pediatric resident in training go to a Grand Rounds about a surprising topic. [00:00:18] The function of the brain and ...

In many ways, the eyes are the windows of the body. When children have itchy eyes, it can disrupt their days – and nights. Itchy eyes often distract kids and decrease their ability to learn new material. If this weren’t bad enough, they can cause kids to sleep less well. For some kids, the difference ...

Claims that the MMR vaccine might cause inflammatory bowel disease or autism continue to haunt parents. I’m asked about the connection every week. The group that began the controversy, researchers from the Royal Free Hospital in London, have since done further research vindicating the MMR. But the fears continue. ...

Kids are not small adults. That may seem like something so obvious that it goes without saying. Yet for decades the doses for many medicines, including over the counter cough and cold medicines were set by just starting with adult doses and reducing them according to children’s smaller size. It turns out, this often does ...

When the wildfires hit Northern California, I knew it would be only a matter of time before the smoke drifted into the Bay Area and the air quality worsened. Predictably, children with asthma would be showing up in emergency rooms and urgent care centers to get breathing treatments for their increased wheezing. And three weeks ...

Ear infections can hurt! Topical drops can ease the pain while watching to see if antibiotics are necessary. And if antibiotics are needed, while waiting for antibiotics to take effect. A study in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine evaluated prescription anesthetic ear drops versus an herbal product from Israel. Otikon Otic Solution in olive oil augmented ...

Maternal and infant mortality is a huge issue, world-wide. When I met Arlene Saman, the founder of One Heart Worldwide I was excited by the results they were seeing and I had ideas for ways to make the work even stronger… ...

Many processes in our bodies are orchestrated on a ~24 hour schedule called the circadian rhythm. Body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, the immune system, melatonin and other hormones, alertness and sleepiness, and much more, rise and fall over the course of a day timed by our internal clock. When we travel between time zones ...

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that between the years of 2011 and 2015 nearly 350,000 children in the US were taken to the emergency department for adverse drug events caused by antibiotics – and that at least one-third of antibiotic prescriptions given to children are unnecessary. Seven of the top ten ...

Button battery ingestion is a big deal. So much so that The National Battery Ingestion Hotline (NBIH) was created in 1982 to study and advise best practices. They look at all types of batteries but swallowed button batteries account for 94% of batteries ingested. Until recently the agreed-upon first aid guidelines for a swallowed button ...

For years the standard way to give iron supplements was one dose a day. But when iron supplements are given to treat iron deficiency, only a small amount of the iron is actually absorbed — 2% to 28% depending on the circumstances and the study. This means if someone were to take a 25mg iron ...