It doesn’t take a scientist to understand that laughter feels good, while anger feels awful. But it does take one to explain why one of these feelings can boost the immune system, while the other can wear it down, damage the heart and increase the risk for dementia. Simply put: […]
Features
Bike BOOM – Boosters hope cycling surge outlasts the pandemic
It doesn’t seem right to put “silver lining” and “pandemic” in the same sentence. But the past year of COVID-19 has been a boon for bicycling, an indisputably healthy activity. “Bikes have been one of those bright spots, as we’ve been getting through this last year,” Secretary of Transportation Pete […]
Mind games – Keeping your brain sharp isn’t about working more puzzles
Mental decline is one of the most feared aspects of growing older. People will do just about anything to prevent it, from swallowing supplements touted as memory boosters to spending hours solving Sudoku and crossword puzzles. But do these things really keep the aging brain sharp? The short answer is, […]
Cue the music-Calming us down or revving us up, music can be good for the heart
Stuck in traffic, with a nasty storm making a stressful commute even worse, Joanne Loewy reached for the car radio. “I felt my heartbeat rise,” said Loewy, director of the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine at Mount Sinai Beth Israel in New York City. “So I switched to […]
Old habits die hard-The secret to good health is no secret, so why is it so hard to achieve?
It ought to be a no-brainer, so to speak: Research has pinpointed seven ways people can achieve ideal heart and brain health. And — bonus — if Americans did those things, they also could help prevent many other chronic illnesses. But most people don’t, at least not consistently. What’s stopping […]
