Â鶹ŮÓÅ

If you enjoy having a glass of wine or a cocktail before dozing off during long airplane flights, you might want to reconsider it, a new study suggests. A series of lab experiments discovered that when people fall asleep after consuming alcohol at the low air pressures typically experienced during airline flights, blood oxygen drops to worrisome levels and heart rates increase even in those who are healthy and young, according to the report published Monday in the journal Thorax. (Carroll, 6/3)

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and disability in the United States — and new projections find it may become even more common in the next 30 years. In a report released Tuesday, the American Heart Association says more than 6 in 10 U.S. adults (61%) will have some type of cardiovascular disease, or CVD, by 2050. This is particularly driven by a projected 184 million people with hypertension, or high blood pressure, which is expected to increase from 51.2% in 2020 to 61% in 2025. (Moniuszko, 6/4)

Is eating a lot of salt harmful to your gut? Some scientists think so. They have found that diets high in sodium can have a detrimental impact on your gut microbiome, the community of trillions of bacteria, viruses and other microbes that live in our intestines. In studies, scientists have discovered that consuming high levels of sodium can suppress some of the beneficial microbes that live in our guts. Cutting back on salt seems to have the opposite effect. (O'Connor, 6/3)

Increased attention to patients' spiritual needs would improve U.S. public health, researchers argue in a new Health Affairs article. Why it matters: A growing body of scientific evidence shows that spiritual beliefs and practices positively affect health, but patients' spiritual needs are still under-addressed in clinical settings, a group of Harvard-affiliated researchers say. (Goldman, 6/4)

When the U.S. launched its invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq in the early 2000s, the military's surgeons were severely out of practice. ... Facing hundreds of injured soldiers per month, surgeons were thrust into performing procedures they might never have seen before serving in a war zone – like double amputations. Soldiers were often getting to surgeons far too late for their contaminated wounds to be treated. But as the fighting continued and the casualties mounted, the medical corps was forced to innovate. (6/3)