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“That (recovery) usually takes about 10 to 14 days before starting therapy,” said Dr. Maciej Lesniak, chair of neurological surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. The treatment is usually very well tolerated, Lesniak said. “Generally, people can maintain normal quality of life during therapy including their work in the majority of cases.”

Even though some in the medical community have expressed concerns that efforts to lower readmissions might give doctors an incentive to inappropriately keep patients out of the hospital who need to return for additional care, the study offers fresh evidence that this doesn’t happen, said Dr. Karl Bilimoria , director of the Surgical Outcomes and Quality Improvement Center at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “While some may suggest this, most of us have not given this argument credence – doctors will still do the right thing and readmit patients when it is medically needed,” Bilimoria, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email.

It’s called stress-induced cardiomyopathy, and it’s one of the more perplexing disorders for cardiologists. “It’s a fascinating condition,” says Dr. Chintan Desai , a cardiovascular disease specialist at Northwestern Medicine Regional Medical Group in Illinois. “We see it in people who have suffered severe emotional distress – a widow at her husband’s funeral, hearing a child is in a bad accident.”

But not all docs encourage holistic preconception rituals. Lauren Streicher, MD, ,an associate clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University in Illinois, says, “I sometimes worry there’s this false assurance that [if you] eat organic or take yoga classes before you’re pregnant, then everything will work out. And if it doesn’t, if a woman has trouble conceiving or has a baby with a birth defect, then women blame themselves, when there are no studies to show massage or acupuncture or organic foods make a difference in outcome. Bottom line, there’s a lot we can’t control, so women shouldn’t go nuts focusing on these things. They should do them if it feels good, but not at the expense of a balanced life.”

Even so, offering doctors and patients a way to see heart disease risk in relatively healthy and young adults may help people make lifestyle changes while there’s still a chance to significantly reduce their odds of a heart attack or stroke later in life, said Dr. John Wilkins , a researcher at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago who wasn’t involved in the study.

“Fortunately, exercise, particularly resistance exercise, adds muscle to help counteract any potential drop in metabolism,” explains Dr. Micah J. Eimer, co-director of the sports cardiology program at the Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute.

Professional stress also plays a role, said Dr. Daniel Angres, an associate professor of psychiatry at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “Law firms have a culture of keeping things underground, a conspiracy of silence,” he said. “There is a desire not to embarrass people, and as long as they are performing, it’s easier to just avoid it. And there’s a lack of understanding that addiction is a disease.”

Now, researchers, from Northwestern University, have developed an app that can predict the risk of liver transplant patients suffering from complications. “Knowing the patient’s risk is critical to help prevent the frequent cardiac complications that accompany liver transplant surgery and to determine which patients are likely to survive the transplant,” they say.

“Indeed, the guideline also states that adults who adhere to national guidelines for a healthful diet and physical activity have lower rates of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality than those who do not,” write Drs. Philip Greenland Phillip Greenland , of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, and Valentin Fuster, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

The American College of Physicians recommends non-drug methods for sleep improvement as a first line insomnia treatment, study author Jason Ong , of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said in a statement.

“Helping people cultivate a purpose in life could be an effective drug-free strategy to improve sleep quality, particularly for a population that is facing more insomnia,” Ong added. “Purpose in life is something that can be cultivated and enhanced through mindfulness therapies.”