Just a few seconds of activity once or twice an hour may be enough, research finds. — Last weekend I watched the movie Wall-E with my kids. I hadn’t seen it in years, and I’d forgotten how it depicts humans of the future as hovercraft-bound blobs who spend their days staring at screens, relying on AI-powered robots do all the work. The movie is set in 2805…

Here’s what they told me. — According to a recent report from the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Department of Energy has concluded, albeit with “low confidence,” that SARS-CoV-2 most likely arose from a lab incident. The FBI has come to a similar determination. While some other government branches and intelligence agencies disagree and lean toward…

The ideal number of cups, how late in the day you can drink them, and other coffee-related health topics. — The average American adult ingests 173 mg of caffeine per day, which is roughly the amount in two 8-oz. cups of coffee. That’s according to a 2016 study from researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle. That UW study is full of interesting nuggets. It found that while caffeine…

One type depletes your attention (and maybe also your health) while the other restores it. — Phone interviews are a big part of a journalist’s job, and last Wednesday afternoon I had four scheduled one after the other, without breaks in between. By the middle of the last call, as a very nice gastroenterologist was telling me about immune cytokines, I had an epic, involuntary space-out…

Sleep restriction may be the most effective standalone insomnia treatment, but experts say almost no one tries it on their own. — If you’re among the 20% of Americans who struggles with insomnia, you probably feel like you’ve tried every remedy in the book. Your bedroom is as peaceful as a Buddhist temple and your medicine cabinet is stocked with sleeping pills and melatonin. And yet you still can’t get to sleep…

Chicken is the most popular meat in American, but its health effects have attracted little scrutiny. — The United States is known around the world as a land of big burgers and even bigger steaks. While our red meat consumption still dwarfs that of most other countries, chicken, not beef, is now the undisputed king of American meats. Since the mid-1970s, a time when the average American…

Old friends and new ambitions offer protection from the perils of middle age. — Sometime in early adulthood, usually around the age of 20, the average person’s wellbeing will begin to decline. It’s not a steep drop, but it is predictable and it is persistent. A few decades later — somewhere between the ages of 45 and 50 — the average person’s wellbeing will…

Atheism is linked to well-being deficits. Experts say religion offers psychological bulwarks that can be hard to find elsewhere. — Karl Marx famously called religion “the opium of the people.” So what happens when the people stop taking their opium? According to data from the Pew Research Center and the Public Religion Research Institute, nearly a quarter of Americans now claim no religious affiliation. That represents a steep jump in…

To support sleep, make that last hour distinct from the rest of your day. — A majority of Americans — a little over 50% of the population — watches TV just before bed. If you’re one of them and you tend to fall asleep easily, don’t change a thing. In fact, stop reading right now! A lot of us would sacrifice a family member in…