Lighting up in a restaurant or a bar affects more than your own lungs. The secondhand smoke is inhaled by those around you as well — unless you live in an area with smoke-free legislation.

Taking any medication requires patients to balance the risks and benefits of the drug. But these vary by person because every person is unique. Antidepressants, for example, affect different people in different ways.

Chemotherapy can be heartbreaking. Literally. A drug that has been used for half a century to treat a broad array of tumors, also destroys heart tissue. Why this happens is finally becoming clear.

There are a wide range of risk factors for heart arrhythmias, but could a symptom such as simple inflammation be enough to increase your risk?

When snoring indicates someone has sleep apnea, it's more than annoying. It can be harmful to your health — especially if you already have high blood pressure.

When we think of exercise, we often think of activities like running or swimming. But weightlifting counts as exercise too. In fact, lifting weights may cut risks linked to a number of health problems.

Losing weight has been shown to reduce the risk of heart problems and other complications of diabetes. However, one weight loss program did not seem to protect diabetes patients from heart-related risks.

A decade ago, when a woman reached menopause, she likely reached for hormone replacement therapy to calm the symptoms associated with the change in life. Then a large study called the Women's Health Initiative challenged that treatment.

A small percentage of the population snores even without having an underlying sleep problem. But a woman who starts snoring during pregnancy may want to talk to her doctor about it.

Understanding how and why some people's brains deteriorate as they grow into old age involves many possible factors. It may even be linked to a baby's brain before birth.