Category: health and well being
A guest post from the ever-fabulous Lara Zielin: I probably spend too much time online and, if my increasingly strobe-light-like brain is any indication, it might not be doing me as much good as I think. But I will say one thing about the experience: being online, and utilizing social media tools in particular, has connected me to some…
I’ve written quite a bit about how grateful I am for my fabulous piano teacher, but today I need to give a little equal time to my personal trainer, Cory. It’s a little confusing why I’m paying someone to torture me – after our first session, I literally could not walk down stairs without a sad, painful little…
Have you heard about Dan Savage’s It Gets Better project? Upset by yet another gay young person committing suicide, Savage used his relationship column to call on gay adults to tell their stories and assure teens that if they can endure the persecution they’re experiencing, life will get better as adults. There was so much I hated about high school.…
We all get mad about something — coworkers, family, neighbors, bad drivers, lousy service, too much to do … I’m getting mad just thinking about the possibilities. That’s why I liked this post from “How To Become a Better You in 365 Days.” It’s a normal human reaction to get angry, but if you can’t control the things that make…
The first time I visited Sara Grace’s blog and read her profile, I was hooked. Here’s the opening from her profile on My Thousand Mile Year: I’m Sara Grace. I seek pleasure and spent a lot of years firmly convinced that it was best found at a dinner table, in recline, or in bed. I nourished my indulgent and excessive sides…
I liked this blog post because it’s an example of someone who set a life goal — doing her first triathlon — and is using her blog for motivation and accountability. She’s reaching out to her community for support, too, including being able to sponsor her hands and feet. This was a big, big week. Not only did I hit…
I don’t know if I agree that it’s rare for New Yorkers to share special experiences, but I am totally on board with the idea that the shared oppression of triple-digit heat is bonding. It’s like we’re all in the foxhole together. A hot, sweaty, sticky foxhole. If you’re sweating like crazy, what’s something good to come from it? Is…
A friend recently lost his wife. She was just 47 when she was hit by a car and died.
After getting a divorce a few years back, my friend had remarried and was as giddy as a high school girl talking about his new wife. His eyes twinkled when he talked about her influence on his health, his home and his outlook on life.
I never met his new wife, but my heart gets hot and my eyes tear up when I think about these two people just having found each other, then having it suddenly, unexpectedly, end.
Certain phrases are like music to my ears. “I love you” is probably at the top of the list, provided it’s from someone I want to have loving me. Others that closely follow include: The next round is on me. You look great. Take the rest of the day off. Recently I added a new phrase to that list: “Your…
Some people idealize high school and college as the happiest times of their lives. I am not one of those people. You couldn’t pay me to be a teenager again, and my 20s weren’t much better. Naturally I found this recent HealthDay story interesting, reporting on a new Stony Brook University study that shows people over 50 are generally happier:…
John and I finally watched Food Inc. this weekend. If you haven’t seen this challenging documentary on how the American food supply works, now is a good time to put it in your Netflix queue — Earth Day is Thursday and if you have any doubts now that what you put on your plate affects the environment, you won’t after…
I have an appointment next month to get a lump removed. I have had three doctors tell me it’s nothing to worry about so I’m trying my best not to be a drama queen about it. It’s a challenge. My mom died of cancer at 51. Her mom died of cancer at 36. Three of my grandmother’s sisters died of…
Do you long to retire early and enjoy a life of leisure? Not so fast. A study from the national Health and Retirement Study followed about 12,000 retirees and found that those who worked part time or on a temporary basis were significantly less likely to be diagnosed with high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, lung disease, heart disease, stroke, arthritis…
If happiness is good for your health, what are you doing about it? Yesterday I blogged about new research that shows a connection between mental and physical health. Deborah Kotz at U.S. News and World Report blogged about the same topic — but took it much farther by interviewing Gretchen Rubin, a New Yorker who spent a year working on…
We spend a lot of time wishing each other happiness at this time of year — happy holidays, happy new year, merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah. So this recent NY Times article about who’s most happy and least happy seems especially well timed. a study by two economics professors, newly published in Science magazine. The academics — Andrew J. Oswald, of…
I started getting migraine headaches in high school. Actually, I was diagnosed with cluster headaches — a rare treat with the nickname “suicide headaches.” They get their name because they come in clusters. Once I got one headache, I could pretty well count on getting several more that week. If you know anything about migraines, which involve intense pain, nausea,…
Keith Ferrazzi, author of Who’s Got Your Back and Never Eat Lunch Alone, recently tweeted: Over time, we will be within 10 % of income of our closest friends. Similar for weight, health. A story in this weekend’s New York Times magazine, headlined Is Happiness Catching?, went deeper than 140 characters on the influence of our friends. The story about…