Katie's Take

While hearing loss can be challenging and frustrating, it isn't really surprising in elderly people. But what if you're only 40?

Hearing loss in younger people is an increasingly common problem. In fact, sixty five percent of people under 65 experience it. I wanted to find out why and what can be done to prevent it, so I spoke to audiologist Dr. Craig Kasper.

I assumed that headphones were to blame, as we've become a nation of people with our own personal soundtrack blaring in our ears all day.
They turned out to be only partially to blame. Dr. Kasper told me that using headphones or earbuds alone isn't the real reason for hearing loss. It's not the proximity of the sound, it's the duration and volume. To truly prevent hearing loss, we need to touch that dial…and turn it down. If you're listening to your MP3 player at 80% volume, you should not exceed 90 minutes per day, but if you keep the volume at 60% or lower you can listen for much longer without damaging your

Katie's Take

Not to be a "Debbie Downer" as you head off for your holiday fun in the sun, but a bad sunburn can lead to more than a night of agony—it could cause permanent damage or even lead to skin cancer down the road.

That probably isn't news to any of us, because we're inundated all summer long with ads and articles discussing sunscreen and sunblock, SPFs and UV rays.

We know we should be using sunscreen, but which one and what SPF?  I asked Dr. Audrey Kunin, a dermatologist, to give us some simple tips for staying safe in the sun.

She told me sunscreens that claim to be above SPF 30 don't offer any more protection, although they frequently tout a higher price tag. We should look for the words "broad spectrum" and SPF 30 on the label to get the best protection.

And reapplying is the name of the game. Slather on a layer of sunscreen 30 minutes before you head outside, and every two hours after, for optimal protection from dangerous UV rays, even if the sunscreen is labeled water

Katie's Take

I'm not necessarily a fan of sweeping generalizations about entire generations made by cultural anthropologists who are looking for a catch phrase to capture a zeitgeist (whoa, where did THAT come from?), but here's the rap on Millennials:  People say they're overcoddled, overprotected and ill-equipped to handle the setbacks and disappointments of the real world.

If that's true, it's largely because they have been overparented.  And before I go any further, let me say, "Guilty as charged."  I am a parent, too, and I have from time to time been a "helicopter mom" hovering a bit too close and making sure my daughters aren't too far out of reach.

I was really struck by an article I read in The Atlantic called "How to Land Your Kid in Therapy," so much so that I cited it in my commencement address this year at the University of Virginia.  The piece quoted a number of experts who offered some very frank…and frankly jaw-dropping…wake up calls about the consequences of fixing