Should recreational drugs like heroin and cocaine be legalized? Dr. Carl L. Hart, a professor at Columbia University, makes a compelling case for decriminalization in Drug Use for Grown-Ups. The US government has been embroiled in the War on Drugs since the 1970s. But even with these expensive efforts, the number of Americans who use drugs has […]
How to Stay Sharp
Great news from the forefront of neuroscience: brain decline and memory loss can be prevented, and even reversed. A gradual decline in the brain’s hardware is a normal part of the aging process. The organ shrinks, its folds become more prominent, and its blood vessels harden. But we can maintain (and in some cases, enhance) […]
Forget Big Leaps. Try Small Steps.
Society measures our success in terms of big achievements. This can lead us to doubt our own progress when a change doesn’t look like a revolution. To be successful, we need to shake off this mindset and embrace breaking down large goals into tiny steps that take 30 seconds or less to accomplish. The 30-second […]
Why You Should Consider Sobriety
We do all sorts of things to better our health. We avoid gluten and do yoga. We eat healthfully and do cardio. And then we have a beer during happy hour or wine with dinner, erasing many of those healthy gains. Alcohol has been normalized to the point that we don’t realize how bad for […]
How to Live Honestly
For Laura McKowen, it was alcoholism. She battled her problem for decades before she won the war. People numb their feelings and escape from themselves in many other ways, whether it’s a vice, an addiction, or some other demon. McKowen thinks that we need to have more open, honest discussions, even though people tend to run from […]
Your Diet Needs Room for Mistakes
If you’ve found yourself gorging on sugary foods, salty snacks, and alcohol recently, you’re not alone. More than a year into the global pandemic, researchers are finding that adults have put on unwanted weight at an unprecedented rate. Whether you’re dieting for weight loss or simply trying to roll back bad eating habits, it’s critical […]
Go Ahead, Blame Someone Else
What if your deepest fears, most destructive behaviors, and worst failures aren’t your fault? A new area of scientific research called epigenetics suggests that the traumas of our parents, grandparents, and earlier ancestors may manifest in our daily lives. Any repeating pattern of emotion, including depression and anxiety, may be a tendency you inherited from […]
The Dark Side of Meditation
The path to enlightenment isn’t always easy. Enthusiasts often focus on the inspirational side of meditation. But here’s a dirty little secret: there will be times when meditation will make you feel afraid, almost as though you’re going to fall off the edge of the world. Fear is a natural part of life. The purpose […]
Go Against the Grain
You don’t need a coach to eat right. Humans have known what to eat for most of human history. So why, all the sudden, do some people seem to need nutritionists and scientists to tell them what to do? The answer is: we don’t. For the most part, nutritionists profit from our confusion. And the […]
Extreme Sports with Wim Hof
Have you heard of the Iceman? Wim Hof is a Dutch athlete who has set records for enduring freezing temperatures, swimming under ice, and running barefoot on ice and snow. Hof has been enduring extreme conditions since birth, living dangerously from his very first moments. Hof was a twin, but doctors didn’t know that his […]
