Updated on Oct 19, 2026 | Neurology, Your Health
Having a stroke is not inevitable. According to the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association, approximately 80 percent of strokes can be prevented through lifestyle changes and managing important risk factors such as hypertension (high blood pressure) and diabetes over time.
How much do you know about strokes? Take the quiz below, then click “Done” to see your score and correct answers.
This quiz was developed with Carolyn Brockington, MD, Director of the Stroke Center at Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai Morningside, and Associate Professor of Neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
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Oct 14, 2026 | Your Health
Changing the clocks by an hour can disrupt your sleep and leave you tired for a few days. It can also throw off your circadian rhythm, your body’s internal clock.
Andrew Varga, MD, PhD, a neuroscientist and physician at the Mount Sinai Respiratory Institute Integrative Sleep Center, explains how the time change affects your body—and what you can do to help adjust.
“In our Sleep Disorders Program, we research, diagnose, and treat sleep issues such as insomnia, sleep apnea, and changes in circadian rhythms,” says Dr. Varga. “And we know that twice a year, everyone experiences a pretty dramatic shift in their biological rhythms because of the time change.”
How does the time change affect your body?
Any time change, including travel to another time zone, can force your body to adjust its internal clock. Your circadian rhythm is a roughly 24-hour cycle that responds to light and darkness. It helps control when you sleep and wake, along with other body processes.
When your body clock does not match the time on the clock, you may lose sleep and feel tired. The time change is also linked with increases in heart attacks, strokes, and car crashes caused by sleepy driving.
How long does it take to adjust?
It depends on how large the time change is and your age.
For a one-hour clock change, most people adjust within a few days. Larger changes, such as travel to Europe or Asia, can take about a week. Older adults may need two weeks or more.
What can help you adjust before bedtime?
“There are several things that I recommend to patients in my practice,” says Dr. Varga.
Take a low dose of melatonin.
I recommend a dose of 0.5 to 1 milligram of melatonin, at most, about three hours before the bedtime you want. If you want to go to bed at 11 pm, for example, take it between 7 and 8 pm.
This dose is much lower than many melatonin products, which may contain up to 10 milligrams. A low dose more closely matches the slow rise in melatonin your body normally produces in response to cues such as light, food, and physical activity.
I don’t recommend a higher dose for adjusting your body clock. Some people take higher doses to feel sleepy right away, but it’s not recommended for long-term use. If you have been taking melatonin regularly, especially at higher doses, I suggest to my patients to take a break and use it only when you want to adjust your body clock.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia, a treatment that uses practical exercises and changes in thoughts and habits to support healthy sleep, may help during a break from melatonin.
Limit blue light at night.
After taking melatonin, try to reduce blue light. Avoid phones, tablets, TVs, and other screens when possible. If you still want to use screens, try a blue-light filter or blue-blocking glasses. The glasses can also reduce light from overhead sources.
What is blue light?
Blue light is part of the light that reaches your eyes. White light contains blue light along with other types of light. Many screens give off a higher share of blue light, even though you may not notice it.
Blue light is a strong signal to your body clock. That is why reducing blue light at night may help when you are trying to adjust your sleep schedule.
What can help you wake up after the time change?
“In the morning, light decreases the amount of melatonin in your body,” says Dr. Varga. “This is one of the cues, known as ‘zeitgebers,’ that help you wake up in the morning. To help this process, there are a couple of things I recommend to patients.”
Get plenty of blue light in the morning.
The morning is the time when you want plenty of blue light. I primarily recommend natural outdoor light, but if you awaken well before sunrise, I recommend blue-light boxes, therapeutic devices that emit small amounts of blue light, for adjusting the body clock.
If you travel often, especially between the United States and Europe or Asia, I suggest placing a blue light box on your kitchen table in the morning. You can eat breakfast or have coffee while the light shines toward your face for 20 minutes.
Use social and environmental cues
Light is the strongest cue that helps reset your body clock. But eating and exercise are other cues that can help your body know it is time to be awake. Morning meals and physical activity may help you adjust to the new schedule.
Oct 12, 2026 | Featured, Women's Health, Your Health
For generations, the six-week postpartum visit has served as a kind of finish line: an appointment marking the end of pregnancy-related care and the beginning of “normal” life again. But for many women, six weeks is hardly the end of recovery.
Physical healing can continue for months. Sleep deprivation and hormonal changes can affect emotional well-being. Pelvic floor symptoms, changes in sexual health, nutrition concerns, and questions about returning to exercise may emerge gradually. For women who experienced complications during pregnancy or delivery, the postpartum period can also be an important time to consider longer-term health.
In recent years, that understanding is beginning to reshape the way clinicians think about postpartum care. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists describes postpartum care as an ongoing process rather than a single encounter, with care tailored to a woman’s individual physical, social, and psychological needs.
It is within this changing landscape that the Carolyn Rowan Center for Women’s Health and Wellness at Mount Sinai is developing MyPath Moms, a 16-week guided postpartum care journey for women seeking a more coordinated approach to recovery. MyPath Moms is designed to complement, not replace, routine postpartum care with a patient’s obstetrician, including the standard postpartum visit.
“Postpartum care shouldn’t be about checking a box and telling a woman she’s cleared to move on,” says Francesco Callipari, MD, an obstetrician/gynecologist and Medical Director of the Rowan Women’s Health Center. “There are many aspects of recovery that deserve attention, and every woman’s experience is different. Our goal is to create space for those conversations and make sure that new moms get the care and support available to them.”
MyPath Moms brings several areas of postpartum health into a planned health journey, including physical recovery, emotional health, nutrition, sexual wellness, and pelvic floor care.
“Rather than requiring a woman to navigate each concern independently, the members of her care team communicate with one another and work from a shared understanding of her needs,” says Dr. Callipari.
Much of the experience is designed to take place virtually, an approach that acknowledges a practical reality of new parenthood: Getting to appointments can be difficult when there is a newborn at home. A smaller number of visits will take place in person at the Rowan Women’s Health Center on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
The MyPath Moms care journey is intended for women who are eight weeks to one year postpartum following a delivery at or after 24 weeks of pregnancy. For women whose pregnancies included conditions such as hypertension, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, postpartum depression, or a more complicated delivery, MyPath Moms+ adds specialty care when clinically appropriate. Those services may include cardiology, endocrinology, psychiatry, or maternal-fetal medicine.
“Sometimes women think that once the baby is born, the focus naturally shifts away from them,” says Melanie Lucks, MMS, PA-C, Senior Physician Associate, Rowan Women’s Health Center. “But this is a time when women may have symptoms they weren’t expecting or are having difficulty managing. We want them to feel that those concerns are worth bringing forward and that they do not have to figure everything out on their own.”
That philosophy reflects a broader shift in women’s health by recognizing that a healthy postpartum experience is not simply about whether a woman has physically healed from delivery. It is also about how she is feeling, functioning, adapting, and planning for her future health.
Oct 12, 2026 | Featured, Women's Health, Your Health
For many women, pregnancy is a season of appointments, ultrasounds, and anticipation. At the end of it, there is a new baby. But doctors and researchers are increasingly looking at pregnancy through another lens: as an early window into a woman’s future health.
Pregnancy asks a lot of nearly every system in your body. Your heart works harder. Your blood vessels adapt. Your blood sugar and metabolism shift. Your blood volume increases. How the body responds to these demands can sometimes provide early clues about a woman’s risk for health conditions years or even decades later.
“Pregnancy is almost like a natural stress test,” says Joanne Stone, MD, MS, a maternal fetal medicine specialist and Chair of the Department of Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “It puts demands on the cardiovascular and metabolic systems that can reveal risks that might otherwise go unnoticed.”
That makes your pregnancy history an important chapter in your lifelong health story. It is also why Mount Sinai is introducing MyPath Moms, a comprehensive, personalized care experience.
When pregnancy sends a signal
Conditions such as preeclampsia (high blood pressure that occurs generally later in pregnancy), gestational hypertension, and gestational diabetes are often viewed as complications that end when pregnancy ends. But research increasingly suggests they can also be markers of future cardiovascular and metabolic health.
Women who experience preeclampsia, for example, have a higher risk of developing high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease later in life. Gestational diabetes (diabetes that develops during pregnancy and then resolves after birth) is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and other metabolic problems. Preterm birth and having a baby who is small for gestational age may also signal increased cardiovascular risk for the mother.
“That doesn’t mean that having one of these complications means you are destined to develop heart disease or diabetes,” says Francesco Callipari, MD, Medical Director of the Carolyn Rowan Center for Women’s Health and Wellness and Assistant Clinical Professor and Vice Chair of Operations, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science at the Icahn School of Medicine. “It means we have information we can use. And information gives us an opportunity to be proactive.”
Your pregnancy and postpartum history belongs in your medical history
Once a baby arrives, however, a mother’s health can quickly take a back seat. The routine postpartum visit is an important part of care, but recovery does not end at six weeks. Nor does the health information revealed by pregnancy and the postpartum period stop being relevant once that visit is over.
Pregnancy and postpartum experiences can provide clues about future health across several domains. High blood pressure, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, preterm birth, and fetal growth problems can signal increased cardiovascular or metabolic risk. Depression, anxiety, or other significant mood symptoms during pregnancy or postpartum can also be important markers of a woman’s future mental health, including during later periods of hormonal change. “Postpartum care shouldn’t be viewed as a finish line,” says Melanie Lucks, MMS, PA-C, Senior Physician Associate at the Rowan Women’s Health Center. “It’s really the beginning of the next phase of a woman’s health.”
Make sure your health care team knows If you experienced any of the following during your pregnancy:
- high blood pressure
- preeclampsia
- gestational diabetes
- preterm birth
- complicated delivery
- significant emotional challenges during or after pregnancy
Turning a health challenge into an opportunity
The good news? A pregnancy complication is not a forecast. It is an opportunity to pay attention earlier.
That might mean monitoring blood pressure, checking cholesterol or blood sugar, addressing nutrition and physical activity, treating iron deficiency, supporting mental health, and connecting with a specialist when appropriate. Sometimes the most powerful intervention is simply recognizing that a woman deserves continued care after the baby is born.
This is the thinking behind MyPath Moms+, an enhanced 16-week postpartum care experience from the Rowan Women’s Health Center for women whose pregnancies revealed added complexity.
Designed for women eight weeks to one year postpartum following a delivery at or after 24 weeks of pregnancy, MyPath Moms+ combines whole-person postpartum care—including physical recovery, emotional health, nutrition, sexual wellness, and pelvic floor care—with additional specialist visits when clinically appropriate. Depending on your individual needs, that may include seeing specialists in cardiology, endocrinology, psychiatry, or maternal-fetal medicine.
Instead of navigating disconnected appointments on your own, a coordinated team shares information and helps guide your care.
Your pregnancy is not simply a chapter that has closed. It may be the earliest glimpse you will ever have of the health you want to protect for decades to come.
Ready to look beyond the six-week checkup?
MyPath Moms and MyPath Moms+ may be right for you. Enrollment is based on clinical fit. The 16-week guided experience includes an $800 program fee for supplemental services and care coordination not covered by insurance; medical visits and testing are billed to insurance according to individual coverage. Full financial details are reviewed before enrollment.
Find out more about MyPath Moms or call the Rowan Women’s Health Center to make an appointment: 212-731-3609.
