Welcome back to your weekly dose of science-backed health and wellness insights from Wise & Well, to help you make tomorrow a little better than today. The links below are “friend links” to Medium stories, as always, so you’re free to enjoy the entire stories even if you’re not a Medium member.
Learn from Failure (or Don’t!) Without Feeling Crushed
We're often told failure is normal, even good, and we just need to learn from it. This psychologist is here to tell you it's not always that simple. Sure, under certain conditions, failure can be motivating or whatever. But often it's just devastating, and it pays to acknowledge that and figure out how to deal with it (new research fully supports her contention, by the way).
I have seen clients who hold unrealistic expectations for immediate recovery after a devastating failure. They suffer even greater pain in response to their harsh self-criticism and a reluctance to appreciate the learning necessary to achieve their goals.
—Gail Post, Ph.D.
On a Statin? You May Be Able to Stop
For more than a decade, #statins have been all the rage among doctors prescribing meds to lower the risk of heart attacks and other heart problems. But—oops—way too many people are on them, new research suggests. Our resident doctor sorts through the mess so you can decide if you should see your doctor to learn if you might need statins, or if you might be eligible to get off them.
In 2023, the AHA developed new equations called Preventing Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Events (PREVENT) which were essentially an update to the 2013 guidelines. As a result of this update, there is a very large subset of people who may no longer need statins, leading to a reduction of 17.3 million prescriptions.
—Dr. Julian Barkan
Your Lousy Diet Might Be Keeping You Awake at Night
There are a million ways to ruin sleep. You’ve likely heard many of the obvious ones—too much alcohol, not enough exercise, inconsistent bedtimes. But if you struggle to sleep, a lousy diet could be among the chief reasons, new research finds. Ignoring the fact leads to lousy moods, poor concentration, and higher risk for diabetes, heart disease, and a range of chronic diseases.
An evaluation of 39,000 adults revealed a significant association between greater ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption and chronic insomnia.
—Annie Foley
The Problem with Dopamine
Dopamine is often thought of as the reward hormone, pleasure all the way down... until #addiction. This oversimplistic view creates a big misperception, framing substance abuse "as a bad choice by those who are too weak to avoid the temptation," this neuroscientist explains. That, in turn, lessens our collective compassion. Get the real dope on dopamine:
Understanding more about dopamine’s complexity aids in better comprehending ourselves and each other. Learning how dopamine plays a broad role in a range of addictive behaviors may eventually help save lives.
—John Kruse MD, PhD
Why Heavy Alcohol Use Increases Emotional Dysregulation
A common misconception about alcohol is that it helps regulate emotions. It may calm you down at first, or when used only occasionally, but heavy use does just the opposite, as this former heavy user explains.
In fact, heavy alcohol use can subsequently make our ability to emotionally regulate so fragile that it can compromise our ability to feel and respond to regular life stressors.
—Gillian May
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The Truth About Our Teen Mental Health Crisis
When US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy this week called for warning labels on social media apps to battle the mental health crisis in American youth, he addressed only a fraction of the issues behind rising anxiety and depression among kids and teens.
The surgeon general’s plan is arguably worth pursuing. But if we want to improve the mental health of young people, we need to dig deeper into the problem. Evidence is far clearer showing that physical inactivity, poor diet and insufficient sleep conspire to fuel the increasingly common spiral into anxiety and depression.
—Robert Roy Britt
How to Avoid the Infectious Diseases of Summer
In summer, gangs of germs are lurking in the woods, in the soil, in the water and in your food. A microbiologist offers up what to know about E. coli, Giardia, Cryptosporidium, and a whole bunch more disease carriers you're likely to encounter if you dare to... live a little. Like, did you know…
Unfortunately, some germs can remain infectious in chlorine for several minutes or days, which is plenty of time to spread from one person to another. These include viruses such as norovirus, bacteria such as E. coli, and parasites such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia.
—Bill Sullivan
Here We Go Again
Excessive heat, settling in this week to much of the eastern US and parts of the Southwest. More broadly, hotter summers are pushing the limits of human tolerability. Last summer, in a 15-part special report, Extreme Heat and Human Health, Wise & Well’s physicians, research scientists, mental health experts and journalists examined how hot is too hot, how heat attacks body and mind in insidious ways, and what we can do to survive this rapidly warming world. The stories are as relevant today as they were last summer, because, as we report in our other newsletter, Aha! Science, another scorching summer is in store, if the past 12 months are any indication:
PLUS: This Week in Cool Science
If you enjoy learning about amazing stuff in our world, check out my new Substack Newsletter: Aha! Science. The mission: Celebrating science by revealing amazing discoveries and images from our world and beyond and exploring life’s most intriguing, strange and unexpected questions. This week you’ll find: Shrinking Animals, Japanese Baby Bust, and Oops on Jupiter's Great Red Spot. Plus: What Happens if Kids Swallow Toothpaste Every Day?
Cheers,
Rob