Mnemonic devices — a set of letters or associations that help you remember things — are certainly helpful. But did you know that sometimes, they could also save your life?

Monk fruit sweetener is a calorie-free sugar alternative. It’s made from monk fruit,also called lo han guo, whichis native to southern China. People have used this fruit for centuries in traditional medicine for constipation, sore throat, and coughing.

Monk fruit is about the size of a lime and looks similar to a kiwi. This fruit is naturally very sweet. Sweeteners made from monk fruit are usually 100-250 times sweeter than sugar, so only a small amount is needed when used as a sugar alternative.

Nettle leaf — also called stinging nettle or Urtica dioica — is a tall weed that grows all over the world. The name comes from the sting you get when you brush against the plant’s hairy stem and leaves. People have used it as an herbal remedy for thousands of years. It’s native to Europe, North Africa, and Asia.

Morning wood is a slang term for nocturnal penile tumescence, which means waking up with an erection. It can happen in the middle of the night or the early morning hours while you’re sleeping. If you have morning wood, you may wake up with an erection often. It’s completely normal.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a type of pulmonary hypertension. It means that you have high blood pressure in the arteries that go from your heart to your lungs. But it’s different from having regular high blood pressure.

With PAH, the tiny arteries in your lungs become narrow or blocked. It’s harder for blood to flow through them, and that raises the blood pressure in your lungs. Your heart has to work harder to pump blood through those arteries.

PAH is a progressive condition that gets worse as time goes on. After a while, the heart muscle gets weak. Eventually, it can lead to heart failure.

There are many methods people use to remove ticks, from burning the tick with a hot match to smothering it in petroleum jelly or painting it with nail polish. But those methods aren’t very effective.

To safely remove a tick, all you need is a pair of pointy, fine-tip tweezers and a good eye.

Male birth control is a way to prevent unplanned pregnancy. When you think about birth control, you may think of the birth control pill for women. That’s because the responsibility of birth control is often placed on women instead of men. Although researchers are working on a birth control pill for men, it’s not a reality yet. Still, there are options.

Urticaria pigmentosa — also known as maculopapular cutaneous mastocytosis (MPCM) — is an itchy rash that shows up most often in children and young adults. The rash may look reddish-brown, gray, purplish, or tan, depending on your skin tone. It may turn into hives or blisters when you rub or scratch it. This reaction is called Darier’s sign.

Usually, your uterus tips forward at the cervix (a cylinder-shaped neck of tissue that connects the vagina and uterus). A tilted or tipped uterus tips backward instead of forward. It’s a fairly common difference in how a uterus is positioned.

Orexins are chemicals in your brain that help your body stay awake. Orexins also make sure that rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep — sleep with intense dreams that happens about an hour after you fall asleep — doesn’t happen at the wrong times.

You might also hear orexins called hypocretins, but they’re the same thing.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is often thought of as a "boys' disorder" because it's nearly twice as common in boys as girls. But it's important to note that ADHD can look different in girls. That's because of the different ways girls' and boys' brains develop and where their focuses lie.

If you find yourself getting stressed at work, know that it happens to everyone and it’s completely normal. But if you realize that stress is constant, overwhelming, and prevents you from living your life, it could be an anxiety disorder.

Having anxiety at work can have a huge impact on you and your career. People who feel anxious at work might even make career decisions based on their anxiety.

An episodic migraine is a painful form of headache that can last for hours. It can happen up to 14 times a month. If you have it, there are many different types of health care professionals you can turn to for help.

If you’re LGBTQ — lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or nonbinary, or queer — your gender and sexuality can affect your mental health and wellness. There are external things that might affect you more than a straight, cisgender person (someone whose biological sex aligns with their gender identity).

Coming out is when you decide to tell people about your gender or sexual orientation. We live in what you might hear called a heteronormative society, which means people usually assume you identify with the sex you were assigned at birth (cisgender) and are attracted to members of the opposite sex (heterosexual). But that isn’t always the case, and it’s just one of many reasons LGBTQ people decide to come out. Here are some things to consider about coming out, along with tips for how to do it. 

HIV status discrimination is when people living with HIV and AIDS face negative attitudes, abuse, and discrimination.

There was a lot of fear and anxiety when HIV became an epidemic in the 1980s. During that time, doctors didn’t know much about how HIV was spread, so people were scared of getting it. That same fear continues, even today.

No matter where you are on the gender spectrum, you might choose to use birth control if there’s a chance you could get pregnant and you don’t want to.

Not all people who are transgender, nonbinary, or gender expansive choose to get gender-affirming care. But some people do take hormone therapy as part of their medical care to help align their sex characteristics with their gender identity. If you do, keep in mind that gender-affirming hormone therapy isn’t made for birth control, so you shouldn’t rely on it for that purpose. 

Maurie Lung, PhD, was in second grade when she realized what she wanted to do when she grew up.

“When I went away to summer camp, my little Strawberry Shortcake diary said, ‘When I grow up, I want to help people in the outdoors,’” Lung says. And that’s exactly what she does today.

Lung oversees the nature-based and adventure-based counseling programs at Prescott College and is also a licensed therapist and counselor who does nature-based and adventure-based counseling for individuals, couples, and families.

Reading blogs created by others living with it (or blogging yourself) can be a good way to connect to other people in the breast cancer community. Here are six of the best breast cancer blogs, recommended by doctors and people living with breast cancer.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease — otherwise known as COPD — is a chronic lung disease. When you have COPD, you might have a cough, shortness of breath, wheezing, or have trouble breathing. Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of COPD.

If you have COPD, managing the symptoms and making lifestyle changes can be one of the most important parts of your treatment plan.

Waking up once or twice during the night is normal. But if you wake up more than a few times during the night or if you can’t fall back to sleep, it might be time to try something else.

At some point, it makes sense to get out of bed. If you do get up, though, don’t worry — you’re not giving up for the night. You still need rest, and your goal is to get back to sleep as soon as possible.

To do that, here are some helpful tips to help you get back to sleep after you get out of bed.

“Having our faces covered has caused distress and frustration for me,” says Greg Reese, a Deaf high school English teacher born and raised in Atlanta. “There is an option of a clear see-through mask, but it is not easily available in sufficient numbers.”

The difficulty of not being able to see faces clearly also affects communication between deaf individuals and interpreters.

Salt is a seasoning that can flavor food and act as a preservative. It’s about 60% chloride and about 40% sodium. Nearly all unprocessed foods — think veggies, fruits, nuts, meats, whole grains, and dairy foods -- are low in sodium. The salt that we do eat helps relax and contract muscles, lends a hand with nerve impulses, and balances the minerals and water we take in.

Gicell Rodriguez, the owner and lead planner of Luna Rosa Weddings & Events in Atlanta, said the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly changed the way she handles weddings. That means following protocols such as mask-wearing and social distancing.

Rodriguez recalls the impact on her business early in the pandemic, when the lockdown put everything on hold. For “a couple of months,” she said, “everyone in the wedding industry was very nervous about when that next inquiry was going to come. It was at a standstill.”