You can take a rest, but is it possible to rest your brain? Consider when you’re zoning out on the couch — is your mind inactive too? All indications are the answer is no, your brain is still very much engaged. Through about 20 years of research, scientists have found what they’re calling a default
When I was a preschooler (I can’t remember my exact age), a first cousin died from a ruptured appendix. I barely remember her, but I still vividly recall every detail of the night she died. All my life, I’ve had the impression the appendix was a useless organ. It simply existed in our digestive tracts,
An image of the Castle Bravo nuclear detonation. (Image credit: Shutterstock) When I was growing up in the 1950s and 60s, the Cold War was a very real thing. The great fear was a major nuclear exchange could virtually end civilization itself. Recently an article headline jolted me back to that time — “Mass Starvation After
Modern medicine has extended human life expectancies, and that’s certainly a good thing. But as people live longer, age problems multiply. According to Alzheimer’s Disease International, a nonprofit federation of Alzheimer and dementia associations, there were about 35 million people living with dementia around the world circa 2009. Unfortunately, today that number is over 55
Have you ever felt exhausted at the end of a day when all you did was sit at a desk? It could be that you thought too hard. In a recent study, researchers from Pitie-Salpetriere University Hospital in Paris organized two groups of people. One group was given easy cognitive assignments, while the other group
During one of my substitute-teaching assignments, at the last minute I was asked to cover a class in the vocational area of the high school. All I was given was a room number, so I was surprised to find a classroom with a hospital bed, examination table, and other medical equipment. It was a pre-nursing
I have several friends who are constantly tracking their steps. Their goal is 10,000 steps a day, supposedly an important milestone for staying fit. Fine, but why is 10,000 the magic number? Good question, one that is answered in the May 2023 issue of Scientific American magazine. In an article entitled “The ‘10,000 Steps’ Gimmick,”
The current record for human longevity is 122 years, held by Jean Louise Calment who died in 1997. Living to age 100 is quite an achievement, and only a handful become super-agers at 110. So has the maximum human lifespan been reached? Some think we may still have a ways to go. A team lead by
“Your brain’s health may be the most powerful indicator of how long you will live.” I’m at the age where an article about longevity really gets my attention. So the National Geographic piece “How to take better care of your aging brain” by Michael S. Sweeney really caught my eye (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/longevity-life-brain-care-health-age?). The article’s conclusion is
It’s one thing to achieve medical breakthroughs, but something else entirely to get people to adopt them. Sometimes people will only listen to someone they trust. Like their barber. That was Michael DeVore’s thinking when he founded Live Chair Health. He knew there was a high trust factor between barbers and their customers. He also