Many people are wired to seek and respond to rewards. Your brain interprets food as rewarding when you are hungry and water as rewarding when you are thirsty. But addictive substances like alcohol and drugs of abuse can overwhelm the natural reward pathways in your brain, resulting in intolerable cravings and reduced impulse control. A...
The rising cost of health insurance is an ongoing concern in the United States. New research shows that increasing health insurance costs are eating up a growing proportion of worker’s compensation, and have been a major factor in both flattening wages and increasing income inequality over the past 30 years. In a study from the...
It’s winter, that cozy season that brings crackling fireplaces, indoor gatherings — and a wave of respiratory illness. Nearly four years since the pandemic emerged, people are growing weary of dealing with it, but the virus is not done with us. Nationally, a sharp uptick in emergency room visits and hospitalizations for covid-19, influenza, and...
In recent years, there has been rising concern that tiny particles known as microplastics are showing up basically everywhere on Earth, from polar ice to soil, drinking water and food. Formed when plastics break down into progressively smaller bits, these particles are being consumed by humans and other creatures, with unknown potential health and ecosystem...
An average of 22 adolescents 14 to 18 years of age died in the U.S. each week in 2022 from drug overdoses, raising the death rate for this group to 5.2 per 100,000– driven by fentanyl in counterfeit pills, new research finds. Adolescent overdoses had more than doubled among this group between 2019 and 2020,...
A study conducted by researchers at Ruppin Academic Center in Israel and Columbia University documents the broad impact on the mental health of Israelis, both Jews and Arabs, with sharp increases in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety in the aftermath Hamas’ attack in October. The study, published in the Lancet’s EClinicalMedicine Jan. 5, 2023, found the...
A slew of studies in recent years has shown that exercise can reduce stress, anxiety and symptoms of depression. Jacob Meyer, associate professor of kinesiology at Iowa State University, wants to know whether different types and doses of exercise benefit individuals, either on their own or integrated into a treatment plan. Unlocking the underlying mechanisms between physical and...
People are less likely to adopt new health policies if they don’t have faith in their government, and a new tool from University of Waterloo researchers aims to fix that. The tool – designed by a team based in Waterloo’s School of Public Health Sciences – aids lawmakers in how trustworthy they may appear to the public...
Many emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, especially zoonotic diseases such as ebola or new coronaviruses, emerge as the result of intensified human activities such as deforestation, expansion of agricultural land, and increased hunting and trading of wildlife. In a new study, published in the scientific journal Lancet Planetary Health, researchers identified public and private companies operating...
911 is the most well-known phone number in the country. When 911 launched in 1968, its original intent was to alert responders to emergency situations such as fire, crime, and accidents. Today, though, about two-thirds of calls to 911 are for nonemergency situations like power outages or general requests for information: What time is it? What day is recycling...
