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The number of U.S. adults who died of heart disease and whose death record cited obesity as a contributing factor was three times greater in 2020 than in 1999, according to research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. (Searing, 9/18)

The dangerous effects of high blood pressure are highlighted in a new report by the World Health Organization that identifies the condition as one of the world’s leading risk factors for death and disability. Published Tuesday, WHO’s first report on the global impact of high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, offers recommendations on ways to combat the “silent killer.” (Musa, 9/19)

An estimated one in three adults worldwide live with hypertension but most people with the risky cardiovascular condition are not adequately treated, according to a new report by the World Health Organization. A 2020 study published in The Lancet found high blood pressure is “the single most important risk factor for early death,” the WHO report says. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, leads to an estimated 10 million deaths every year, but almost half of adults with high blood pressure don’t know they have it. (Amenabar, 9/19)

Doing puzzles, playing memory-boosting games, taking classes and reading are activities that we often turn to for help keeping our brains sharp. But research is showing that what you eat, how often you exercise and the type of exercise you do can help lower your risk of dementia to a greater extent than previously thought. ... And living a healthy lifestyle can produce brain benefits no matter what your age. (Lee, 9/18)

Is morning the best time of day to exercise? Research published Tuesday in the journal Obesity finds that early morning activity — between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. — could help with weight loss. “My cautious suggestion from this study is that if we choose to exercise in the early morning, before we eat, we can potentially lose more weight compared to exercise at other times of the day,” said lead researcher Tongyu Ma, a research assistant professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. (Sullivan, 9/19)

With the start of a new school year comes the inevitable battle to get kids back into a healthy bedtime routine. In many cases, this likely means resetting boundaries on screen use, especially late in the evenings. But imposing and enforcing those rules can be easier said than done. A growing body of research is finding strong links between sleep, mental health and screen time in teens and tweens — the term for pre-adolescent children around the ages of 10 to 12. Amid an unprecedented mental health crisis in which some 42% of adolescents in the U.S. are suffering from mental health issues, teens are also getting too little sleep. (Chen, 9/19)

Several years ago, another dad reached out to me after reading my work about being a stay-at-home dad. He was married, had two toddlers and was not coping well. He couldn’t find another person to talk to outside his family. He didn’t say it, because most of us men won’t, but fatherhood was taking a toll on his mental health and self-worth. He felt alone — but not because he didn’t have a good relationship with his significant other. He told me it was because he didn’t have friends. (Carpenter, 9/18)

The prospects of enacting soon an overdue North Carolina budget, permitting more state-sanctioned gambling and implementing Medicaid expansion stayed uncertain Monday as Republicans suggested dividing the topics between two bills. But most Democratic colleagues sound unwilling to provide the necessary votes. Action for passing a two-year state government spending plan idled last week when House Republicans said they didn’t have enough votes to pass the budget on their own if it contained language that would authorize four additional casinos and legalize video gambling machines statewide. (Robertson, 9/18)

Phil Mickelson, the golf great whose issues with gambling have made headlines throughout the years, took to social media on Monday to share details about his addiction, and to offer a warning to potential bettors ahead of this year’s N.F.L. season. As the 2023-24 football season kicked off in earnest, Mickelson posted on X to say that he would not be gambling on any games. “I crossed the line of moderation and into addiction which isn’t any fun at all,” said Mickelson, who has won six major golf tournaments. (Lindner, 9/18)