Modern life can feel defined by low-level anxiety swirling through society. Continual reports about terrorism and war. A struggle to stay on top of family finances and hold onto jobs. At the heart of issues like these lies uncertainty – the unknown likelihood of how ongoing crises will evolve over time.
For years, conventional wisdom held that growing older tends to be bad news for brains. Past behavioral data largely pointed to loss in cognitive – that is, thinking – abilities with age, including poorer memory and greater distractibility. Physical measures of brain structure also showed...
Placebos are sham treatments that work even though they lack an active ingredient. Pills made of sugar or corn starch have improved Parkinson’s disease, anxiety and pain. Now research suggests placebos may be as good as real drugs for treating depression...
How old would you be if you didn't know your age? It’s an interesting thought isn’t it? Why not test it for yourself. How would you feel if you didn’t know your age? Would you be 20, 17, 95 or 5?
“On a scale from one to ten, with one being no pain at all and ten being unbearable pain, how would you rate your pain today?” It was the umpteenth time I had heard that question. Because of my ongoing battle with chronic pain...
Unfortunately, there is no universally miraculous herbal cold cure. However, herbal medicine can do more than most therapies in treating and preventing this all too common problem. Herbs can be selected to fit the individual’s unique needs, while at the same time immune support...
If you’re an adult and have ever visited a doctor, you’ve probably had your blood pressure measured. General practitioners tend to obsess over blood pressure.
Masculinity plays an important role in dealing with problems such as depression. Men often don’t feel able to reach out for assistance because both the symptoms of depression and the act of seeking help goes against a stereotypical view of how us blokes should or shouldn’t behave.
A recent survey suggests that yoga can be a substantial help for people with bipolar disorder, though the practice isn’t without risks. “There is no scientific literature on hatha yoga for bipolar disorder,” says lead author Lisa Uebelacker, associate professor (research) of psychiatry and human behavior...
In the time that it will take you to read this article, millions of your body’s cells will have died via a self-destruct mechanism known as programmed cell death. This process is part of your body’s normal healthy function and is used to eliminate cells that are no longer needed or which have been damaged...
Mindfulness training eases depression and improves sleep and quality of life for both people with early-stage dementia and their caregivers, research shows.
- By Kat Duff
We are too awake, rather than not sleepy enough. The result, combined with a genetic propensity toward anxiety, makes for a chronic insomniac. While most of us who struggle with sleep fall short of that label, I suspect the same...
One morning more than 26 years ago, Kathy Lubbers woke up and found that she could not bear to lift the sheet from her body because the pain was so great. Although she had been experiencing pain in both hands, nothing had prepared her for this.
Just as foods we are sensitive or allergic to can cause reactions in our digestive tract and lead to chronic inflammation, chemicals in our environment can also contribute to poor mood and physical problems. We have long known the correlation between neurological problems and toxic chemicals...
Chronic pain, defined as disabling pain that persists despite attempts at treatment and often without obvious cause, has become a serious challenge for health professionals. It is not surprising that someone suffering from this level of pain might become depressed, but most studies consider depression a “comorbidity”...
- By Nick Inman
There is a process going on inside me all the time that I don’t like to talk about, but which must be mentioned for the sake of completion. This is my identity of pain: the pattern of suffering that marks me out from everyone else as definitively as my fingerprints....
Can you imagine being so desperate for food that you would eat yourself to survive? Our cells do exactly this. When cells are deprived of energy and nutrients from their external environment, they look internally, packaging up and consuming their own components to survive until an energy source becomes available...
Today is the day you can ease your alarm about sudden memory gaps and quiet your fear that you’re on the cusp of dementia. Changes in memory and concentration at midlife are very common, but you don’t have to live with them. You can improve your...
Before I got sober, just shy of my twenty-fourth birthday, the last thing I felt was the freedom and happiness that the promises speak of. I was sick: not just physically sick from the amount of chemicals in my system, but soul-sick, completely bereft of a sense of...
Most American adults say that they believe in God and that their religious beliefs affect how they live their lives. However, people have different ideas about life after death, belief in miracles, and other religious beliefs...
Teen smokers are better at getting friends to start than nonsmokers are at getting friends to quit.“What we found is that social influence matters, it leads nonsmoking friends into smoking and nonsmoking friends can turn smoking friends into nonsmokers,
An awareness of our own death is potentially extremely distressing. Go ahead and contemplate your own mortality. How does it feel? Would you be surprised to learn that it can potentially improve your mental health to think about your death more often?
Oxytocin is released with a warm hug, a grasped hand, or a loving gaze, and it increases libido. The hormone kicks into high gear during and after childbirth, helping new mothers bond with and breastfeed their new babies. While oxytocin is found in both young boys and girls, it is not yet known when levels of the hormone start to decline in humans, and what levels are necessary for maintaining healthy tissues.