The Health Effects of Daylight Savings Time

Getting out of bed for a particular week in mid-March is often associated with heavy eyelids and foggy brains – the consequences of losing an hour of sleep when we push our clocks forward for daylight saving time. [Read more…]

How Long-Term Partners Influence Each Other’s Health

Many people seek a silver bullet that will help them age gracefully and maintain wellness in their later years. A growing body of research suggests there is an overlooked element that helps determine health status later in life: the health and wellness of one’s long-term partner. Researchers are finding that as long-term couples age together, they develop biological similarities that affect their health in the long run. [Read more…]

What We Know About Radicalization

Terrorist attacks – acts of violence with the purpose of creating ideological change – are on the rise in the U.S. and globally. In 2019, there were 68 terrorist attacks in the U.S., up from 18 in 2008. Globally, deaths from terrorism rise and fall each year depending on international relations and politics. Over the past decade, terrorists have killed an average of 21,000 people a year. [Read more…]

What We Know About Preventing Teen Dating Violence

Approximately 18 percent of teens in the U.S. experience sexual or physical abuse from a romantic partner, according to the National Survey on Teen Relationships and Intimate Violence. And more than 60 percent report psychological abuse from their romantic relationships. Not surprisingly, this abuse is associated with depression, anxiety, substance use, and suicide ideation, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [Read more…]

To Excel in Sports, Try Them All

Tennis champions Venus and Serena Williams started playing tennis at age 4 and began playing professionally as teenagers. Similarly, golf phenomenon Tiger Woods first held a club at age 2 and won his first junior world championship at age 13. [Read more…]

Clear Evidence: Giving Is Good for You

This week, Thanksgiving kicks off the holiday season in the U.S.—a time typically filled with family gatherings, delicious meals and, for many Americans, philanthropy.

You may be more likely to drop money into an iconic red Salvation Army bucket or donate meals to your local food bank to spread the holiday cheer. Or maybe you plan to make a larger cash donation for tax purposes before the end of the calendar year. [Read more…]

How Has COVID-19 Impacted Our Sleep?

You probably know from personal experience that the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on sleep for many people. If your own sleep hasn’t been affected, chances are you know someone who has experienced sleep problems in the past year and a half. [Read more…]

Scientific Consensus: Humans Are Causing Climate Change

When former Vice President Al Gore launched the movie An Inconvenient Truth in 2006 to explain the science behind climate change to the American public, surveys showed that many Americans didn’t believe in climate change, even though scientific data was building that humans actions were causing global warming. [Read more…]

You Have More Power Over Others Than You Realize

Imagine that your cell phone battery died while you were out shopping and you needed to make a phone call urgently. Your only choice would be to approach strangers and ask if you could use their phone. The thought of asking for this kind of favor sends prickles up the spines of most people. [Read more…]

The Pros and Cons of Social Media for Youth

More than 90 percent of teenagers in the U.S. have a smartphone. Access to this type of technology and social networking changes the playing field for young people who are simultaneously developing a sense of identity and new social relationships. [Read more…]

What You Thought About Your Metabolism May Be Wrong

Talk to people who are middle-aged or older about body weight, and you’ll likely hear them complain about how their metabolism has slowed down. But our commonly held beliefs about metabolism – primarily, that it slows for older people and women – are likely completely wrong, according to a new groundbreaking study published in the journal Science this month. [Read more…]

How the Most Exceptional 100-Year-Olds Keep Their Minds Sharp

Nearly 15 percent of people age 70 and older experience some form of dementia; that number jumps to nearly 35 percent for people over age 90. And yet other people live more than 100 years with sharp minds.

What helps some people protect their brain health well into the later years of life? That’s the question researchers from the Netherlands asked in a new, longitudinal study published in JAMA Network Open that examines mentally sharp 100-year-olds. [Read more…]

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