HEALTH

This course asks, ‘What is mindfulness?’ – but don’t expect a clear-cut answer. Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching. Title of course: “What is Mindfulness?” What prompted the idea for the course? As a professor of religion and ethics, particularly Asian traditions, I had already been interested in teaching a course about mindfulness. Its popularity seems to be surging: I see “Mindful” on magazine racks, and almost everyone I’ve met at my university has used the word at some point. But oftentimes people say to be “mindful” when they mean “pay attention” or “don’t forget”: being “mindful” of a slippery road, say, or telling students to be “mindful of the deadline.” I started wondering what other people me...

Social Media Isn’t the Main Reason Teens Are Depressed. Politicians and media are in their latest wave of ascribing young people’s mental health problems to anything but their real source: dysfunctional adults. The “dangers” of social media lend themselves to alarmist headlines, especially when there are high-profile cases of abuse or violence with a social media component. That’s why many commentators, advocates, and Congress members are simply blaming teens for their increased stresses and advancing proposals to ban persons under age 16 from social media like Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok. Like many policy efforts when it comes to youth, this misses the mark and ignores the real crises afflicting teenagers. The real crises the most troubled teens face involve their parents’ rising...

From trippy drugs to therapeutic aids – how psychedelics got their groove back. For many years, drugs such as LSD, psilocybin and Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) were viewed only as highly dangerous drugs. However, in recent years they have had a bit of rebrand. Now they’re believed by some to have the power to heal, to reconnect us with nature – even resolve political tensions. Use of these drugs is on the rise. At the start of the pandemic in 2020, the UK Home Office released data showing a 230% rise in confiscations of LSD compared to the previous year. The pandemic itself might be changing drug preferences. Almost half of those using magic mushrooms reported using more during the pandemic according to a recent survey. The changing view of psychedelics can in part be attributed to the renewe...

For most American workers who commute, the trip to and from the office takes nearly one full hour a day – 26 minutes each way on average, with 7.7% of workers spending two hours or more on the road. Many people think of commuting as a chore and a waste of time. However, during the remote work surge resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, several journalists curiously noted that people were – could it be? – missing their commutes. One woman told The Washington Post that even though she was working from home, she regularly sat in her car in the driveway at the end of the workday in an attempt to carve out some personal time and mark the transition from work to nonwork roles. As management scholars who study the interface between peoples’ work and personal lives, we sought to understand what ...