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What’s in a word? Or, even one letter of an acronym? Some people use the terms “electronic medical record” and “electronic health record” (or “EMR” and “EHR”) interchangeably. But here at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), you’ll notice we use electronic health record or EHR almost exclusively. While it may seem a little picky at first, the difference between the two terms is actually quite significant.The EMR term came along first, and indeed, early EMRs were “medical.” They were for use by clinicians mostly for diagnosis and treatment. In contrast, “health” relates to “The...

The human body needs sleep to function properly and stay healthy. Some may think of sleep as a passive state where the brain turns off to rest, but this isn’t true. The brain stays active during sleep and may even be more active than when awake. This brain activity is broken up into several phases that, together, make up the sleep cycle. One cycle takes between one and two hours to complete and consists of rapid-eye-movement and non-rapid-eye-movement phases. Sleeping Processes By using electroencephalography to view brain waves, scientists and researchers studying sleep discovered that brain activity varies throughout the...

Have you ever noticed how good it feels to walk barefoot on a sandy beach, or in a forest? There is a reason for that—it’s called the grounding effect. The reason for this sense of well-being is due to the fact that you’re receiving a surge of potent healing electrons from the ground. The earth has a slightly negative charge, so when you stand barefoot on that sand, electrons from the earth flow into your body, giving you a virtual “transfusion” of healing power. The featured documentary, The Grounded 2, is a sequel to the film The Grounded, released in 2013. The sequel features...

Cooking with a microwave oven is highly convenient, as it’s simple and incredibly fast. However, many people believe that microwaves produce harmful radiation and damage healthy nutrients. Therefore, you may wonder whether it’s safe to use these appliances. This article explains whether microwave ovens affect your food quality and health. What are microwave ovens? Microwave ovens are kitchen appliances that turn electricity into electromagnetic waves called microwaves. These waves can stimulate molecules in food, making them vibrate, spin around, and clash with each other — which turns the energy into heat. This is like how your hands heat up when...

Being on the receiving end of a massage can be thoroughly remedial, pain-relieving, relaxing, and even blissful. Thanks to the skill, energy, and passion of the massage therapist you typically come away feeling like a million bucks. But for purveyors of such relief — the therapists — it’s hard, hard work. Repeated treatments can generate overuse problems such as tendonitis and carpal tunnel, affecting the wrists, elbows, and shoulders, as well as problems with the hand and fingers. There’s fatigue as well from the draining exertion. Over time, the demanding nature of the work frequently contributes to burnout. A widely-quoted...