Wise & Well Weekly for 4.19.25
Helping you make tomorrow better than today
Welcome back to your weekly dose of wisdom and wellness, written by Wise & Well’s editor, Robert Roy Britt. This has been an incredibly busy week for me, doing offline life stuff, so I’m skipping the usual health news brief and going straight to our informative and actionable stories by our team of journalists, topical experts and practicing professionals.
Pets May Not Provide a Mental Benefit, According to Science
I love dogs. Let me rephrase that. I love good dogs. But dogs can frustrate the heck out of me, causing anxiety when they bark incessantly for no discernible reason, as does our dog Mango. Cats, well, I suppose they’re lovable too. Anyway, there’s this notion that pets are great for our mental health. But research suggests the opposite. Hmm, we need a PhD to sort through this, and fortunately we know one. Story by Sam Westreich, PhD
Nature Nurtures Us: 3 Theories Explain Why
You’ve probably heard that being in nature is good for the body, mind and soul. But what is it about the natural world that is so soothing and healing? There are three main theories that help explain it all, and the way this neuroscientist/psychiatrist explains it all, we learn a lot about ourselves before we even step outside — which we should do! By John Kruse MD, PhD
The Hair Loss You Didn’t See Coming
When a woman I know started losing her hair in gobs, she figured she’d soon be bald. She didn’t go bald. When the same thing happened to me a few years later, I knew for sure I was going bald. As with her, the excessive hair loss stopped. The episodes have remained a mysterious until I read this story, and learned that we humans shed constantly, and sometimes a lot more than other times. By Annie Foley
Can You Spot Fake News? Many Can’t When Scored on a Validated Test
We all like to think we’re good at spotting misinformation, but are we really? Researchers have developed a new test you can take to inform yourself on your gullibility. And if you score poorly, this writer has suggestions for how to be more skeptical, in a healthy way, with the goal of being more thoughtfully informed. By Andrea Romeo RN, BN
FYI: Plz Think Twice Before Using ‘thx’ or ‘k’ in Your Texts
I’m a prolific user of BTW and FYI in emails and texts, but now I think I’ll be more judicious when I use abbreviations and with whom. I mean, as a recipient, I do feel they suck the soul out of what might be a meaningful missive, and sometimes I find those from younger people hard to decipher. New experiments find that abbreviations can suggest to the recipient not efficiency but a lack of effort and care. By David Fang
How Writing Heals My Chronic Pain
There are few effective treatments for many types of chronic pain. This writer knows, having tried them all. So he writes about it. And it helps ease the pain. It might seem farfetched, but scientific research has demonstrated that writing can reduce symptoms of stress, anxiety and mental anguish in general, and because chronic pain has a significant mental component, writing can help ease physical pain, too. By Randall H. Duckett
Our Quest to Find the Perfect Mattress
My wife and I went through multiple mattresses trying to find one as good as our old favorite. What we found was totally not what we expected, offering a lesson about sleep having little to do with mattress technology. By Robert Roy Britt
I hope we’ve helped make your tomorrow a little better than today.
Cheers,
Rob