(Popmarleo/iStock via Getty Images) Breathing polluted air may trigger irregular heart rhythms in otherwise healthy teens – even when pollution levels fall within standards set by the government, new research suggests. The study found teens experienced skipped heartbeats within two hours of breathing fine particulate matter, the type of pollution that comes from car and…

(TomFoldes/iStock via Getty Images) For more than a decade, the cloud of vaping has encompassed more and more kids in the United States. Now, with a new school year underway, educators and health experts are building on recent progress as they enter the latest round of the vaping fight. Research into the health impact of…

Congenital heart defect survivor Marcus Parrish. (Photo courtesy of Jenn Parrish) With three children over the age of 10, Delaware couple Mark and Jenn Parrish thought they might be finished growing their family. Finding out Jenn was pregnant was a pleasant surprise. “It was more of a surprise when we saw the ultrasound and there…

(XiXinXing via Getty Images) In the past, school cafeterias might have served as a source for more punchlines than nutrition. But lunch is a more dynamic and, these days, healthy part of students’ lives than many people realize. Some of its importance is obvious. “You really don’t need to do a study showing that if…

(vgajic/E+ via Getty Images) The consequences of heart disease often don’t show up until someone is well into adulthood. Why should busy parents be thinking about it in their kids? “Because it’s probably way easier to prevent the development of cardiac risk factors than to try and get rid of them once they’ve developed,” said…

On New Year’s Day, Reina Pomeroy’s 7-year-old son saw what was left of his home in Louisville, Colorado, after a wildfire ripped through the area. (Photo courtesy of the Pomeroy family) Lea en español The day Reina Pomeroy unintentionally became an expert on how natural disasters affect children began pleasantly enough. On that sunny December…

(Fiordaliso/Moment via Getty Images) People born with heart defects face a higher risk for anxiety and mood disorders as children and adults and should have mental health support built into their routine health care, according to a new report meant to spur research on the lifelong effects of living with such heart conditions. The scientific…

Trivie CEO Lawrence Schwartz. (Photo courtesy of Lawrence Schwartz) Amid pulsating music, flying bodies and all the other stimulation radiating from his 8-year-old daughter’s dance class, Lawrence Schwartz felt as if he’d lost his balance. Yet he was sitting in a chair, working on his laptop. Realizing how odd the sensation was, Schwartz looked up,…

Buckled into the driver’s seat, on his way to a Dallas hospital, Tyler Morgan put his phone’s video camera into selfie mode and hit record. Peeking his reddened eyes toward the lens, he started talking. “So, my, my son almost … just … drowned. Or he did drown. He almost just died.” The Morgans were…

(Marta Shershen/iStock via Getty Images) Congenital heart defects may be much more common among children of women with heart defects than of men with heart defects, according to new research. Smaller studies had already reported a higher offspring risk for mothers with congenital heart defects, or CHDs. But researchers wanted to confirm those findings in…