Feeling stressed?

You may be tempted to soothe your tension with ice cream or crunch it away with potato chips. Reading an article from the Healthy Heart section on hopkinsmedicine.org, you learn that snacking on tryptophan-rich nuts is a healthier way to foster relaxation. So you munch a handful of almonds instead.

Healthy Heart, introduced in February, is the latest addition to the robust offering of online consumer health information and tools found on the health portal of hopkinsmedicine.org (hopkinsmedicine.org/health).

Providing insights drawn from Johns Hopkins expertise and research, Healthy Heart follows in the digital footprints of Healthy Aging, the health destination for adults over 50 and family caregivers, which launched in May 2014. The Johns Hopkins health portal also features a comprehensive Health Library—an A–Z reference guide to diseases, conditions, tests and procedures—and a physician directory, videos, and links to online health seminars.

Healthy Aging and Healthy Heart contain consumer-friendly, informative articles written in collaboration with Johns Hopkins clinicians and researchers, says Stacia Jesner, director of digital content strategy. “We want to bring the best insights and expertise of Johns Hopkins faculty to consumers all over the world,” she says.

The sites also “increase the relevance of Johns Hopkins in the average person’s daily life,” she adds, “building trust and preference so they turn to us when they have a need to become a patient.”

In this digital age, health care for many people begins with typing a search term into a browser. A 2013 Pew Research Center study found 72 percent of Internet users looked online for health information the previous year. Healthy Aging, with more than 60 original articles, surpassed 157,000 user sessions and 20,000 social media shares in its first six months.

Chris Durso, director of the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, praises the Healthy Aging site for presenting evidence-based information clearly and without hyperbole. A search engine at the top right of the landing page helps patients and their caregivers find additional information and doctors, he notes. 

Roger Blumenthal, director of the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease, plans to refer more patients and employees to the Healthy Heart site. “Once they understand the basics, they have a better idea of what to discuss with the doctors,” he says. “It’s a nice resource for people to go to for more information. And it has our Johns Hopkins touch on it.”