When scientists revved up the production of an enzyme called GPLD1 in older mice, it stimulated nerve growth in their brains and the animals navigated a maze better.
With many Americans dying of COVID-19, it's important to document your wishes for your care should you get seriously ill. Doing so can ease the way for family in difficult moments.
Experiments in people have long shown that the presence of indifferent bystanders hurts the chances that someone will help a stranger in an emergency. Rats, it turns out, behave the same way.
Sex educators and sexologists have some advice for safe coronavirus socializing. Just like in the bedroom, overcommunicate about your needs and seek consent.
Structures inside healthy brain cells nimbly move from one state to the next to perform different functions. But in certain degenerative brain diseases, scientists now think, that process gets stuck.
Family violence increases in places that have been severely burned in bushfires, Australian research finds. The isolation and financial stress of COVID-19 appear to be exacerbating the problem.
As gyms open for business, new rules aim to limit the spread of COVID-19, including spacing equipment, regular cleanings and limiting attendance. But experts say it's still safer to exercise at home.
It's not that young adults aren't worried about the pandemic, psychologists say, but they are at far greater risk of dying by suicide. Finding ways beyond screens to foster social bonds is crucial.
Young African American doctors say they hope to change the lack of access to medicine in underserved communities. But many say the system that trains them also alienates them.
Unrest over social injustice spotlights the acute need for, and the high historical barriers to, mental health treatment for Black people facing layers of emotional pain.
Children keep staying mostly at home, as the pandemic continues with hot spots emerging around the country. With daycare and summer camps up in the air, many children are facing confusion and stress.
For Susan Burton, decades of disordered eating was about power. "As long as I was bingeing, I didn't have to think. I didn't have to think about any loss or pain or wanting or yearning."
Dr. Julie Holland thinks psychedelic drugs can be used in psychiatry to make treatment more efficient and effective. "This is sort of a new paradigm," she says, "a revolutionary way to treat trauma."
In The Turnaway Study, Diana Greene Foster shares research conducted over 10 years with about 1,000 women who had or were denied abortions, tracking impacts on mental, physical and economic health.
Alcohol and drug consumption have increased recently, but fewer patients have sought treatment. Most treatment centers face possible closure even as they anticipate a post-pandemic surge in need.
About 40% of people with obsessive compulsive disorder struggle, as I do, with contamination anxiety. Balancing the need to sanitize a home in pandemic times with the need to tame OCD can be tricky.
Social justice advocates and psychologists point to a range of strategies to promote racial justice, including using your creative energy and talents. Political engagement and self-care help, too.
The unconscious man was a Beatles fan, his sister said. When she couldn't be with him in his final ICU hours she asked Dr. Daniel Colón Hidalgo to play music and say the words she wanted him to hear.
Many people are struggling with insomnia like never before. Specialists explain why these times put an extra strain on our ability to get needed rest — and what to do about it.
Loosened quarantine restrictions have given some people an opportunity to flee violence at home, but cyberstalking and high unemployment have also made it harder to completely escape after moving out.
Relaxed regulations in response to the pandemic means more access to addiction treatment medications. But recovery programs are accepting fewer people, and the danger of overdose remains high.
All you need is a sheet of paper and a pen. Read the comic for directions on how to fold and what to write in your zine. Then share it with Life Kit on social media. We'd love to see it!
While researching his book, Breath, James Nestor participated in a study in which his nose was completely plugged for 10 days, forcing him to breathe solely through his mouth. "I felt awful," he says.
Clinical psychologist Dr. Amelia Aldao answers listener questions about anxiety, and listeners share their stories of founding silver lining in a new reality.
