When you’re already plagued with relationship spats and financial woes, why is it that your immune system seems to abandon you too?
Stress
Decision-Making Under Stress: The Brain Remembers Rewards, Forgets Punishments
It’s counterintuitive, but under stress we tend to focus more on the rewards than on the risks of any decision.
Boot Camp: Do Food Diaries Really Work?
Month three of boot camp has begun, but the pounds stubbornly refuse to budge. Could a food diary — or lack thereof — be the culprit?
Mysterious Tics in Teen Girls: What Is Mass Psychogenic Illness?
About a dozen upstate New York girls have been diagnosed with a psychogenic disorder. Does that make their symptoms any less real?
Q&A: Jon Kabat-Zinn Talks About Bringing Mindfulness Meditation to Medicine
Meditation isn’t just for hippies any more. And it’s not all about saying ommmm
The Parenting Trap: Why You Shouldn’t Care What Others Think of How You Raise Your Kids
Take a load off, Mom and Dad: pressuring yourself to be perfect parents isn’t always helpful
The Goldilocks Principle of Stress: Too Little Is Almost As Bad as Too Much
Stress isn’t all bad. You need just the right amount of adversity in life to learn to cope with the troubles ahead.
Why American Presidents (and Some Oscar Winners) Live Longer
American presidents seem to age before our eyes. But the common belief that high-office stress grays our leaders faster than usual — possibly even hastening death — may be a myth, new research finds. In fact, the majority of …
The Science of Stage Fright: How Stress Causes ‘Brain Freeze’
When presidential candidate Rick Perry froze during a recent GOP debate — unable to remember the name of a government agency he wanted to eliminate — his brain was clearly under stress. Now new research helps explain why at …
How a Mother’s Love May Counter the Negative Health Effects of Poverty
Being raised in poverty can have lifelong negative effects on children’s health, increasing their risk of chronic disease in adulthood. But new research suggests one factor that may help protect poor kids from later illness: …
The Stress of Divorce, Writ on Women’s Heads
In men, baldness is due mostly to an unlucky roll of the genetic dice. But in women, hair loss appears to be linked much more strongly to lifestyle factors like stress — from divorce or the death of a spouse, for example — …
Study: Your Hostile Workplace May Be Killing You
“My job is killing me.” Who among us hasn’t issued that complaint at least once? Now a new study suggests that your dramatic grousing may hold some scientific truth.
Can High Heels Trigger Migraines?
Sarah Palin managed to campaign as a vice presidential candidate in Naughty Monkey heels, but don’t expect presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann to do the same.