Monday, January 12

HEALTH

Something Strange Is Happening With Therapy
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MENTAL HEALTH

Something Strange Is Happening With Therapy

Is a ‘friend-apist’ what we really want from therapy? When I read the recent New York Times article “Therapy Is Good. These Therapists Are Bad,” I couldn’t help but think of the Apple TV+ series “Shrinking.” The article details the troubling prevalence of ethical and legal boundary violations by therapists: riding an exercise bike during appointments, bringing a dog into sessions despite a patient’s fear of animals, flirting with patients and even having sex with them. In “Shrinking,” Jason Segel stars as Jimmy Laird, a cognitive behavioral therapist who becomes increasingly entangled in his patients’ lives. His skeptical boss, Paul Rhoades – played by Harrison Ford – critiques Jimmy’s unconventional methods while facing struggles of his own. Everyone seems enmeshed with everyone else...
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How Much Does Your Ego Rule Your Life?
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MENTAL HEALTH

How Much Does Your Ego Rule Your Life?

Discover the extent to which your ego influences your decisions and behaviors. This quiz assesses ego influence and automatically recommends relevant personal development resources based on results. Ready? Take The Quiz Outgrow offers startup founders and tech-first businesses a range of well-designed tools to engage their audience in a smart way. Start Your Free Outgrow Trial Now! Every product is selected by editors. Things you buy through our links may earn The IRL News a commission.
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Why Eat Three Meals A Day
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NUTRITION

Why Eat Three Meals A Day

Our ancestors didn’t eat 3 meals a day. So why do we? Pop quiz: name the world’s most famous trio? If you’re a foodie, then your answer might have been breakfast, lunch and dinner. It’s an almost universally accepted trinity – particularly in the Western world. But how did it come about? Carefully designed formulas to naturally boost your energy levels, support lean muscle development, and streamline your digestion. That way, nothing can hold you back from being your best self. The first meals Early humans were nomadic. Forming small communities, they would travel with the seasons, following local food sources. While we can only guess what daily mealtimes rhythms looked like, evidence dating back 30,000 years from the South Moravia region, Czech Republic, shows people visited spe...
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Can Wealth Buy Health
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SELF-CARE

Can Wealth Buy Health

Americans die earlier at all wealth levels, even if wealth buys more years of life in the US than in Europe. Americans at all wealth levels are more likely to die sooner than their European counterparts, with even the richest U.S. citizens living shorter lives than northern and western Europeans. That is the key finding of our new study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine. We also found that while the wealthiest Americans live longer than the poorest, the wealth-mortality gap in the U.S. is far more pronounced than in Europe. We are a team of health policy researchers who study health systems and how their performance compares across countries. We analyzed survey data from 73,838 adults ages 50 to 85 across the United States and 16 European countries over a 12-year peri...
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Could Reading Social Media Before Bedtime Wreak Havoc On Your Sleep?
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SLEEP

Could Reading Social Media Before Bedtime Wreak Havoc On Your Sleep?

Social media before bedtime wreaks havoc on our sleep − a sleep researcher explains why screens alone aren’t the main culprit. “Avoid screens before bed” is one of the most common pieces of sleep advice. But what if the real problem isn’t screen time − it’s the way we use social media at night? Sleep deprivation is one of the most widespread yet overlooked public health issues, especially among young adults and adolescents. Despite needing eight to 10 hours of sleep, most adolescents fall short, while nearly two-thirds of young adults regularly get less than the recommended seven to nine hours. Poor sleep isn’t just about feeling tired − it’s linked to worsened mental health, emotion regulation, memory, academic performance and even increased risk for chronic illness and early mortal...
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Doctors Across Numerous Fields Are In Short Supply
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SELF-CARE, VIDEO REELS

Doctors Across Numerous Fields Are In Short Supply

Doctor shortages have hobbled health care for decades − and the trend could be worsening. Americans are increasingly waiting weeks or even months to get an appointment to see a health care specialist. This delay comes at a time when the population of aging adults is rising dramatically. By 2050, the number of adults over 85 is expected to triple, which will intensify the strain on an already stretched health care system. We wrote about this worsening challenge and its implications for the health care workforce in a January 2025 report in the New England Journal of Medicine. We are health care scholars who are acutely aware of the severe shortfall of specialists in America’s health care system. One of us, Rochelle Walensky, witnessed the consequences of this shortage firsthand as the d...
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The Downside Of Daylight Saving Time
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SLEEP, VIDEO REELS

The Downside Of Daylight Saving Time

Daylight saving time and early school start times cost billions in lost productivity and health care expenses. Investigations into the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster revealed that key decision-makers worked on little sleep, raising concerns that fatigue impaired their judgment. Similarly, in 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil spill resulted in a massive environmental catastrophe. The official investigation revealed the third mate, in charge of steering the ship, was running on too little sleep, among other problems. While these specific disasters were not caused by daylight saving time, they are conclusively linked to fatigue, based on postaccident investigations and reports. They underscore the well-documented dangers of sleep deprivation and fatigue-related errors. Yet a vast body of...
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Why You Feel Better When Waking Yourself Instead Of Relying On An Alarm
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SLEEP, VIDEO REELS

Why You Feel Better When Waking Yourself Instead Of Relying On An Alarm

Why do I feel better when I wake myself up instead of relying on an alarm? A neurologist explains the science of a restful night’s sleep.   Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. Why do I feel better rested when I wake myself up than I do if my alarm or another person wakes me up? – Calleigh H., age 11, Oklahoma We’ve all experienced this: You’re in the middle of a lovely dream. Perhaps you’re flying. As you’re soaring through the air, you meet an eagle. The eagle looks at you, opens its beak and – BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Your alarm goes off. Dream over, time to get up. Many people – kids and adults alike – notice that when they wake up naturally from sl...
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Do You Know Your Numerology Lucky Number?
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SELF-CARE

Do You Know Your Numerology Lucky Number?

Numerology is an interesting discipline. Believers of numerology are found all over the world. There are ancient numerology systems and calculations in China, Greece and India that people even today believe in. Do you have a lucky number? A number you feel is the luckiest for you? A number that is preferred by you for your car license plate number, your phone number, mail ID, passwords, or simply to bet on. Many people choose their date of birth as their lucky number while some go for the date of birth of their spouse or kids. Many people across the world believe in deriving a lucky personal number for themselves with the help of numerology. Generally the numeric digit derived from the calculations based on date of birth can be considered as your lucky number. However, there are a lot of...
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When Did Coffee Become A Status Symbol?
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NUTRITION

When Did Coffee Become A Status Symbol?

Odds are when you go to the grocery store, you see many people with a Starbucks coffee cup in hand. At some point, this has made it to almost a "right of passage" to get into the grocery store. What's funny about this is most of these cups are filled up with low-quality "coffee" beverages which are mostly made up of sugar and chocolate. Those who have one of these cups in their hand probably wouldn't be able to tell a cup of coffee from Starbucks from a cup of your regular old gas station coffee. Another thing that gets lost in this is why not support the local guy? While Starbucks, Dunkin and Tim Horton coffee chains boom, there are many local coffee shops that provide a better product at a similar price. Plus you are helping someone in your community build and maintain their business, ...
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