Should you suddenly find yourself with more time on your hands, perhaps for pandemic-related reasons, consider this: Studies have found that enjoyable leisure activities are actually good for your health.
In this cultural moment when we’re all trying to be really good at a lot of things, it can be…
Here’s a mental exercise to try in these distressing, distractible times: Fill a bathtub with warm water. Take off your clothes. Step in. And, here’s the truly challenging part: Do it in the middle of the day.
Don’t bring a book, or candles, or wine, or an $8 bath bomb…
As a freelance writer, sometimes I forget to leave the house, and I had been cooped up for 48 hours when I stepped out into my backyard to try working outside. Still, under the open sky, I hunched over my laptop screen, mindlessly clicking back and forth between a dozen…
In Inner Hygiene, a medical history of constipation published in 2000, author James C. Whorton describes the 18th century advent of “patent medicines,” or herbal compounds that were unregulated, unproven, and peddled straight to the consumer. …
Like kitten heels or mom jeans, diet trends have a Hydra-like way of resurrecting themselves. The low-carb rallying cry of Atkins dieters in the early 2000s eventually died off, then assumed its new form as paleo. In the ’90s, Americans faxed each other about the cabbage soup diet; in 2018…
Situation: Your friend or co-worker is 10 minutes out from a crucial job interview, a high-stakes client pitch, or an annual review with their scary boss. They text you that they’re feeling nervous, anxious, panicked. Do you text back: a) “You’ve got this!”; b) “You’ve got this. Don’t be nervous!”…
In August 2018, I spent four days hiking a 40-mile route through Grand Teton National Park, and another five days and 50 miles through Yellowstone National Park with my husband, Dane. Each night at camp, I wrote in a weatherproof notebook (one of these — thanks, Muriel!). …
By Gray Chapman
In the year 2051, the Chinese have a space elevator. Lamb chops, Irish coffee, and sexual pleasure are all consumed via hologram. And, thanks to the research and innovations of neuroscientists like Dr. …
