soressuperbright

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) teaches people to challenge negative thought patterns and turn less often to unhelpful behaviors. These strategies can improve your mood and the way you respond to challenging situations: a flat tire, looming deadlines, family life ups and downs. Yet there’s much more depth and nuance to this well-researched form of psychotherapy. […]

Pop quiz: what is Salmonella? If you’ve ever had a run-in with this bacteria, you know it can cause a food-borne illness called salmonellosis, a form of food poisoning. But you may not know that Salmonella bacteria sicken an estimated 1.35 million people and hospitalize 26,500 every year in the United States. What’s more, it […]

Before going any further, here’s the main thing parents should know about swimming lessons: all children should have them. Every year, over 4,500 people die from drowning in the United States — and, in fact, drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 4. Swimming lessons can’t prevent all of those […]

Americans love their ultra-processed foods, whether they come as cereal (like Cap’n Crunch, a favorite of mine as a kid), snack foods (like Cheetos), entr’es (like hot dogs), or desserts (like Twinkies). Sure, loading your plate with vegetables, fruits, fish, healthful oils, and grains in a Mediterranean-style diet boosts heart and brain health. But if […]

On the Gulf Coast of Florida where I live, the telltale sign of summer is not an influx of beachcombers, afternoon storms that arrive exactly at 2 p.m., or the first hurricane warning, but the appearance of hundreds of paddleboarders dotting the inlet waters. From afar, paddleboarding looks almost spiritual — people standing on nearly […]

When you live in a coastal area, preparing early for potential hurricanes is a must. Storms can develop quickly, leaving little time to figure out where you’ll be safe or which items to pack if you have to evacuate. And health care necessities, such as medications or medical equipment, are often overlooked in the scramble. […]

It’s undeniable: modern medicine offers ever-expanding ways to heal and prevent disease. But it’s also true that health care can cause harm. One analysis found that about 6% of health care encounters caused preventable harm, leading to thousands of deaths each year. And it’s not just errors that cause trouble. Highly skilled health care providers […]

Animals renowned for their outstanding night vision include owls, cats, tarsiers (a tiny primate in Southeast Asia) — and even the dung beetle. But humans? Not so much. Over time, many people suffer from night blindness, also known as nyctalopia. This condition makes seeing in dim or dark settings difficult because your eyes cannot adjust […]

Do you ever read the notes written by your doctor or health practitioner during a medical visit? If not, you might want to check them out. Usually, these medical notes are full of helpful insights about your health and reminders of recommendations discussed. And there’s medicalese, of course: hard-to-pronounce illnesses, medications, and technical terms. But […]

Nantucket, a beautiful, 14-mile-long island off the coast of Massachusetts, has a 40-point resiliency plan to help withstand the buffeting seas surrounding it as climate change takes a toll. Perhaps we can all benefit from creating individual resilience plans to help handle the big and small issues that erode our sense of well-being. But what […]