12 symptoms ENT doctors say never to ignore

Plus: Jalen Hurts has deep vein thrombosis and blood clots in his lungs  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Mandy Oaklander | October 19, 2026     Cold and flu season might as well be called ENT season. Ear, nose, and throat doctors—formally known as otolaryngologists—specialize in the body parts that tend to suffer most when it gets cold and germy. For her new piece in TIME, my colleague Angela Haupt asked three ENTs the symptoms people should never ignore. More than one of them surprised me. Angela shares some behind-the-scenes reporting below. TODAY’S TOPICS Jalen Hurts’ DVT diagnosis How much you spend on trashed food Why your ears keep popping Yoga: the next Olympic sport?         TODAY I LEARNED Blood thinners don’t dissolve blood clots Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis and blood clots in both lungs, the NFL team announced today. He needs blood thinners—but those medications don’t actually dissolve clots, I learned. It’s a common misconception, Dr. Stephan Moll, a hematologist at the University of North Carolina, told me. Instead, blood thinners help keep existing clots from growing and prevent new ones while the body gradually breaks them down. Treatment generally lasts at least three months—and because the medications make bleeding harder to stop, getting tackled is off-limits while you’re taking them. In my piece for TIME out today, I wrote about Hurts’ new diagnosis and what to know about these serious conditions. —Angela Haupt, Editor, Health & Wellness         SPONSORED BY HUBSPOT FOR STARTUPS Build Your First GTM Agent Workflow Logging. Enrichment. Routing. It’s the GTM work that eats a startup’s week. Agents can own it so your team gets back to selling. On October 28, HubSpot and Dust run Build, Buy, or Hire? live. No panel. We build your first automated workflow in HubSpot and Dust, including a post-call automation and a Slack account ownership layer, and you take the build home. Join the Live Build         BIG NUMBER $2,913 That’s how much a U.S. household of four spends each year on food that goes uneaten, according to a report last year from the Environmental Protection Agency. I wrote a new piece for TIME about how to keep more of your grocery budget out of the trash. One of the clever strategies I discovered: shop your freezer first. —A.H.         SPONSORED BY TLDR AI Why 1.1M+ readers open this AI newsletter every day From ML engineers to founders, 1.1M+ readers use TLDR AI to spot new tools and research before they go mainstream. One free email, every morning. Subscribe for free         QUICK CHAT Why your ears won’t stop popping I recently spent nearly an hour interviewing ENT Dr. Ryan Salvador about the ear, nose, and throat symptoms people should never ignore. Near the end of our conversation, I couldn't resist sneaking in a personal question: Why do my ears sometimes feel clogged and keep popping, even when I'm not on an airplane?  Salvador, who had already switched to FaceTime to show me medical diagrams, happily pulled up another one. Here's what I learned. —A.H. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. Photo-Illustration by Chloe Dowling for TIME (Source Images: PM Images/Getty Images, Plume Creative/Getty Images (2) First of all, why do our ears pop? There's a little tunnel called the Eustachian tube that connects the middle ear to the back of the nose. Its job is to help equalize pressure on either side of the eardrum. When you swallow, chew, or yawn, that tube opens and allows air to move through. Why might my ears keep popping when I'm not flying? It could be Eustachian tube dysfunction. If you have allergies, sinus infections, or other inflammation inside your nose, the tube might not open the way it should. That can create a feeling that you need to keep popping your ears. Can that actually affect your hearing? Yes. If the tube isn't working properly for days or weeks, fluid can accumulate behind the eardrum. That makes it harder for the eardrum to vibrate normally, so your hearing can become muffled. You also mentioned that your jaw might have something to do with it? Sometimes the sensation is coming from the temporomandibular joint, or TMJ, rather than the ear itself. The joint is so close to the ear that problems there can create a similar feeling of pressure or fullness. Read the full story here.         SPONSORED Is your company shaping the future? TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2027 entries are now open. Every year, TIME asks what it means for a company to be influential. Every year, the answer changes. With expanded recognition opportunities to celebrate influence across industries, impact initiatives, and, for the first time, workplace innovation, there are more ways than ever to stand out. Submit your company.          WHAT WE’RE READING Could yoga become an Olympic sport? Anita Chaudhuri at the Guardian explores the heated debate over turning an ancient practice into a competitive spectacle. Americans can finally buy sunscreen with bemotrizinol, a sun-protection ingredient that's long been used in Europe and other parts of the world, the Associated Press reports. For TIME, film critic Stephanie Zacharek reviewed You Can See Everything, the buzzy new documentary about Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes.       More Newsletters from Click to sign up. THE BRIEF +FUTURE PROOF +INSIDE TIME +IN THE LOOP +WORTH YOUR TIME + Subscribe to TIME Email us: healthmatters@time.com Received this from a friend? Sign up here Connect with TIME PRIVACY POLICY   © 2026 TIME USA, LLC. 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Why aren’t we teaching every student CPR?

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Mandy Oaklander | October 18, 2026     If you know CPR, you have the power to save a life. Speed matters most in a cardiac arrest. In a new essay for TIME, Dr. John Maa and Meng Yang make the case for why students should learn this emergency technique in schools. TODAY’S TOPICS Reading, writing, resuscitation Got a question for us? The bench connoisseur         SUNDAY READ Why aren’t we teaching everyone CPR? By Meng Yang and John Maa Justin Sullivan—Getty Images In 2024, two Michigan high school students were sitting in the bleachers during a student-teacher basketball game when their physical education teacher collapsed from cardiac arrest. They had both recently learned cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) at a career-focused technical nursing center and rushed to help, beginning chest compressions and using an automated external defibrillator (AED) before emergency responders arrived.  Thanks to their actions, their teacher survived, and is one of approximately 350,000 Americans who experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest each year. Roughly nine out of ten will not survive.  We often describe the difference between life and death as a matter of speed: how quickly emergency services arrive and how fast a hospital can intervene. But in reality, cardiac arrest outcomes often depend on whether someone nearby begins CPR in the first few minutes, which rarely belong to emergency responders, but instead to whomever is standing closest: a classmate, teacher, stranger at a basketball game, or someone waiting for a train. Every minute without CPR sharply reduces the chances the patient will live long enough to reach a hospital. Read the full story here.         SPONSORED BY ANGELINOS COFFEE Your K-Cups Sat in a Warehouse for Months Grocery store pods spend months going factory → warehouse → truck → shelf, losing the flavor oils that make coffee taste like coffee. Angelino's roasts, packs, and ships within days — 50+ flavors, compatible with Keurig®, from 39¢ a cup. New customers save 15%, no code needed. Try Fresh-Roasted Pods         PLEASE ADVISE Ask the health team Have a burning health or wellness question? Wondering how to handle a tricky social situation? Please write to healthmatters@time.com, and we’ll weigh in weekly in the newsletter.         SPONSORED Is your company shaping the future? TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2027 entries are now open. Every year, TIME asks what it means for a company to be influential. Every year, the answer changes. With expanded recognition opportunities to celebrate influence across industries, impact initiatives, and, for the first time, workplace innovation, there are more ways than ever to stand out. Submit your company.          WHAT WE’RE READING Patients treated at for-profit hospitals had higher mortality and readmission rates, a new study from Penn Nursing’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research found. Sam Wilmot tells the Guardian how his unusual hobby—rating park benches—led him to love. We need to bring back matchmaking our friends, writes Meehika Barua for TIME. Here's why.         SPONSORED BY COOKUNITY Explore 500+ meals by culinary legends. Done with the same leftovers? Add more variety to your week with CookUnity. Discover 500+ meals nationwide handcrafted by world-class chefs, featuring 60+ cuisines and diets. Delivered fresh and ready to heat in minutes, this is a great way to explore authentic global flavors, and the best of your local food scene at home. See What’s Fresh Near You       More Newsletters from Click to sign up. THE BRIEF +FUTURE PROOF +INSIDE TIME +IN THE LOOP +WORTH YOUR TIME + Subscribe to TIME Email us: healthmatters@time.com Received this from a friend? Sign up here Connect with TIME PRIVACY POLICY   © 2026 TIME USA, LLC. All rights reserved. TIME Customer Service, P.O. Box 37508 Boone, IA 50037-0508, United States Unsubscribe