If you don’t have a pet, you may think about what caring for an animal entails: feeding, training, cleaning up after and paying veterinary bills. But most pet owners understand that pets provide them with benefits as well.
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A Pet Could Boost Your Mental Health
March 1, 2021 By Leave a Comment
What We Know About Exercise for Older Adults
February 4, 2021 By Leave a Comment
People around the world are living longer than ever before, which has led to an increase in the overall age of the global population. Over the past 50 years, the number of people over age 65 has tripled. If this trend continues, older adults will make up more than 25 percent of the global population by 2050. [Read more…]
New Evidence on Face Masks to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19
January 25, 2021 By 3 Comments
Nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed approximately 2 million people, wearing face masks in public has become the norm almost everywhere and a requirement in many places.
In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommended that Americans wear cloth face coverings in public after they learned that COVID-19 spreads via droplets produced when someone coughs, sneezes or even speaks, and that people can spread the virus without having any symptoms. [Read more…]
How To Mend A Family Rift
January 18, 2021 By 1 Comment
We often think of family bonds as unbreakable, no matter the circumstances. But, in fact, most American families experience an estrangement that leads to anger, sadness and heartache.
A new book – Fault Lines: Fractured Families and How to Mend Them — by Cornell sociologist Karl Pillemer takes a deep dive into why family rifts occur and how to heal them. [Read more…]
What To Do About Vaccine Hesitancy During COVID-19
December 19, 2020 By Leave a Comment
Developing a COVID-19 vaccine in record time is a major accomplishment for the U.S. health care system. Now, as drug companies begin to distribute the vaccine across the country, public health experts must confront another challenge: convincing enough people to take it. [Read more…]
Gratitude Isn’t Cancelled This Thanksgiving
November 23, 2020 By Leave a Comment
Like many events this year, Thanksgiving will be a starkly different holiday for most people. Rising cases of COVID-19 mean that many will forgo gathering with family and friends, instead staying home during what used to be America’s biggest travel holiday.
While big dinner parties may not be possible, there is one element of Thanksgiving that can stay despite the global pandemic: the notion of giving thanks. [Read more…]
Natural Solutions Can Ease the Effects of Climate Change
October 14, 2020 By Leave a Comment
The last decade was the hottest ever recorded since scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began keeping records 140 years ago. On average, annual temperatures hovered 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit higher compared to the years from 1950 to 1980.
Although that increase might not sound like much, small shifts in the overall amount of heat stored in the oceans, air, and water can have significant effects on the planet, including rising sea levels, increased severe storm activity and droughts. [Read more…]
How to Offer Mental Health Interventions in School
August 17, 2020 By Leave a Comment
Approximately one in six youth ages six to seventeen in the U.S. have a mental illness; depression, anxiety and behavior disorders are among the most common. Data suggest that youth today are five times more likely to experience mental health problems compared to decades past. Today, the uncertainty that comes along with the COVID-19 pandemic is certainly detracting from students’ mental health and well-being. [Read more…]
Evidence-Based Suggestions to Help Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease
July 30, 2020 By Leave a Comment
One in ten Americans older than 65 develop Alzheimer’s disease. While there are medications available to treat the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, there are no treatments to cure the disease or slow its progression.
But a new systematic review from researchers at the University of Shanghai Medical College outlines steps that everyone can take to help prevent Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. [Read more…]
An Evidence-based Policing Strategy Shows Promise
July 22, 2020 By Leave a Comment
As many people in the U.S. feel outraged about the killings of Black Americans by local police, protesters across the country are calling for reforms of our law enforcement systems. Proposals for change run the gamut. One of the more popular plans calls for shifting public funding away from police departments to social services that support people who experience mental health problems, addiction or homelessness – individuals who typically interact with police officers. Protesters are also calling for more stringent policies and training on officers’ use of force. [Read more…]
What We Know About Emotional Eating
May 27, 2020 By Leave a Comment
The internet if full of memes about gaining weight during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s no surprise; being stuck at home without normal activities and constant access to food can easily lead to overeating. On top of boredom and proximity to food, the worries and stress that accompany a global pandemic can easily lead to emotional eating. [Read more…]
How Not to Get COVID-19: What We Know and What We Don’t
May 15, 2020 By Leave a Comment
As states across America begin to reopen after months of closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, people must make individual decisions about how much exposure they have to other people. Meanwhile, scientists across the globe are racing to learn as much as they can about how COVID-19 spreads and the best ways to keep people from contracting the disease. [Read more…]
