Students, rejoice, your sleepless nights may have more benefits than earning you an A. That all-too-familiar feeling of “tension but fatigue” from not getting enough sleep for just one night may actually have antidepressant effects, according to a study led by a team at Northwestern University. Although chronic sleep deprivation has been studied extensively, scientists … Read more
If you don’t have time for a relaxing walk in the woods, try a nature video instead. A new study found that watching even a brief video of nature scenes significantly improved viewers’ mental health, especially compared to the effect of watching scenes of urban environments. The researchers focused on late adolescence, a period of … Read more
Does scrolling through social media contribute to a mental health problem? Probably, according to the author of a recent study, which found that addiction to computer screens, smartphones, TVs, game consoles and other digital devices is linked to mental illness. And while most studies have looked at the effects of screen time on children and … Read more
Fear is a fickle beast. When my oldest daughter was in the grip of a deep-seated clinical phobia, her fear took over everything. She practically became a hermit at 16, afraid of going anywhere. Luckily, we found an excellent therapist who taught him how to tame his fear, to manage it gently, to approach it … Read more
If you’re American, you probably are using drugs or soon will be. A new study finds that people born today in the United States will spend about half their lives taking prescription drugs. And for women, that figure is closer to 60% of their lifetime. “The years people can expect to spend taking prescription drugs … Read more