The Medical Advisor

In decades past, a daily low-dose aspirin regimen was frequently recommended as a primary prevention strategy against heart disease. However, the evidence in support of it was rather weak, and kept getting weaker as time went on. I stopped recommending daily “baby aspirin” use for the prevention of heart disease over two decades ago, due to the growing evidence of harmful side effects. The primary justification for a daily aspirin regimen has been that it inhibits prostaglandin production, 1  thereby decreasing your blood’s ability to form dangerous clots. However, in more recent years, most public health authorities have reversed their stance on the practice of using aspirin for primary prevention. ‘Baby’ Aspirin No Longer Recommended as Primary Prevention The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reversed its position on daily low-dose aspirin as primary prevention for heart disease in 2014, 2  citing clearly established side effects — including dangerous brain and stomach bleeding — and

According to the most recent statistics, loneliness is at "epidemic" levels in the U.S. In a 2018 Cigna insurance health survey 1 , 2 , 3   of 20,000 individuals aged 18 and over: 46% report sometimes or always feeling lonely 47% say they feel left out 47% say they do not have meaningful in-person social interactions or extended conversations on daily basis 43% sometimes or always feel the relationships they have aren't meaningful 43% report feeling isolated The loneliest are young adults between the ages of 18 and 22. This age group also rated their health the lowest, which correlates with science linking loneliness with a greater risk for obesity, 4  heart disease, 5  anxiety, 6  dementia 7  and reduced life span. 8  In fact, maintaining strong and healthy social connections has been linked to a 50% reduced risk of early death. 9 , 10  Similarly, emotional loneliness is linked with an increased ri