There is a lot of scientific research showing how regular exercise can have a positive effect on one’s physical health, but its effect on mental health is relatively unclear. A study recently published in the British medical journal The Lancet sought to change that. Dr. Adam Chekroud , assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, and other researchers published a study in The Lancet Psychiatry that examines the association between physical exercise and mental health.

Finding one’s body mass index (BMI) is as simple as typing in height and weight measurements into a BMI calculator. Those easy results, though, can sometimes be misleading, which is why the widespread use of BMI is troubling, according to a doctor at the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Francisco Lopez-Jimenez joins us on "Take Care" this week. He's division chair of preventive cardiology at the Mayo Clinic. Lopez-Jimenez said the concept of having a standard definition of obesity is relatively new in medicine,

Though current research showing mental health and physical health affect each other in many ways has come a long way, there is still more progress that needs to be made to better understand these two closely connected areas of overall health. Dr. John Campo joins us on "Take Care" to discuss. He's the chief behavioral wellness officer in the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute and assistant dean for behavioral health professor at West Virginia University School of Medicine . Campo said mental and

Our current understanding of public health is the result of modern advancements in health data collection and analysis, but that change was slow, with still more work to be done, according to our latest guest on "Take Care." Dr. Wayne LaMorte is a professor of epidemiology and assistant dean for education at Boston University School of Public Health . He said for much of history, people did not understand public health because there was no analysis of it.

The health of a community depends on many things, like race, income and access to care. Because of that, there continue to be barriers to health care in particular communities. But there is one model that works in central New York that has impacted a hard to reach urban community. One area where there is a big racial disparity in health care is among women diagnosed with breast cancer. Overall, white women are slightly more likely to develop the disease, but African-American women are more

For today's latest in health segment, we look at ways to make services more accessible to seniors both in and out of the home.

If you look back on your life, you can probably pick out a few major transitions: from high school to college or maybe from one job to another. The transitions experienced as we reach our later years can sometimes be more complex. Carol Levine joins us today on "Take Care" to discuss common transitions in old age, including Medicare. Levine is the director of the Families and Health Care Project at the United Hospital Fund, called “ Next Step in Care .” She is also the author of the recent AARP

Cellular senescence -- when stress causes cells to change their function in the body -- is common and sometimes harmful in older adults, but scientists are working on medications that can help kill them. Senolytics drugs can selectively induce death of senescent cells. Dr. Judith Campisi , a researcher and professor of biogerontology at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging , joins us today on “Take Care” to explain this new class of drugs and their potential use. She said senolytic drugs

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, more than 6 million Americans over the age of 65 suffer from depression. A large percentage of those cases, though, are never identified or treated. One of the problems in diagnosing depression in an individual over 65 is that it does not look the same as depression in a younger person. Dr. Tarun Kumar, a Syracuse psychiatrist, said younger adults will often come to a health care professional and identify themselves as depressed with a list

How do you help mothers and babies in need? One door at a time. WBFO's Avery Schneider spent an afternoon in an upstate New York neighborhood to see how a local agency does it.