Author: Michelle Korhonen
Recently, I drove along Israel’s northern border, west to east. To my American sensibility, it is the best road trip in Israel—a 90-minute version of a trip that would take many hours on California back roads—from the ocean through scrubby hills and finally to the Golan Heights. These days there is no illusion of peace, and every few miles I was reminded that across the border in Lebanon is Hezbollah, a threat that would make Hamas look like a nasty but minor nuisance by comparison. At checkpoints, I was forbidden from turning left, toward the border, because the Israel Defense…
An oral drug is proving an effective treatment for the acute strain of this potentially fatal disease — an alternative to injections of drugs that posed serious risks to the patient. (Image credit: Xavier Vaheed-DNDi)
When my husband and I got married, we decided we should share a last name, and that the name should be hyphenated. He didn’t want to lose a marker of his Chinese heritage, and I didn’t want to co-opt one—or give up my name if he wasn’t giving up his. So we just smushed our names together on the marriage license, figuring this was a normal thing to do, or at least unobjectionable.But objections have indeed been raised. Not yet to my face—the worst I’ve heard has been along the lines of “I’d never hyphenate, but that’s great for you.”…
In 2015, a horror movie came to life. The mosquitoes that swarm almost all tropical climates began infecting people with a strange new virus. In most, Zika caused no symptoms, or a mild rash and fever. But if it happened to infect a pregnant woman, her baby could be born with severe birth defects. Zika dramatically increased the risk of a condition called microcephaly, or a clinically small head. Over the following years, about 4 to 9 percent of infected pregnant women gave birth to babies with permanent brain damage.Suddenly, pregnant women in America and elsewhere were told not to…
Every year, an estimated 100,000 young adults or adolescents in the U.S. experience a psychotic episode. Only 10-20% of them gain access to the holistic treatment approach recommended by the National Institute of Mental Health as the gold standard of care for early psychosis, due to lack of space or because insurance won’t cover it. Illustration by Anna Vignet/KQED hide caption toggle caption Illustration by Anna Vignet/KQED Every year, an estimated 100,000 young adults or adolescents in the U.S. experience a psychotic episode. Only 10-20% of them gain access to the holistic treatment approach recommended by the National Institute of…
A new law brings in changes for mental health patients and providers. Christophe Archambault/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Christophe Archambault/AFP via Getty Images A new law brings in changes for mental health patients and providers. Christophe Archambault/AFP via Getty Images Starting Jan. 1, the more than 65 million Americans who rely on Medicare will have better access to mental health coverage. Medicare now covers therapy appointments with licensed marriage and family counselors, and licensed professional counselors. These are two types of therapists who make up around 40% of the Master’s level mental health providers in the country,…
A new law will allow more mental health providers to accept Medicare patients. Could this help close the mental health gap for millions of older Americans?
A new calendar year frequently conjures up visions of radical self-transformation. This year, we tell ourselves, will be the one where we finally lose 20 pounds, take up gratitude journaling, or read 100 books. New year, new you! But then inertia slowly creeps in, inconveniences arise, and by June our New Year’s resolutions are a distant memory.Changing oneself is harder than perky how-to guides and self-help books suggest. The genre is so popular because its titles briefly allow us to imagine that reinvention is a matter of performing specific actions, rather than an ongoing battle with our own recalcitrant nature.…
People typically take stock and resolve to make healthy changes around the new year. Blue zones, the longest-lived communities on earth, offer lessons on habits that promote health and longevity.
Between making time for work, family, friends, exercise, chores, shopping—the list goes on and on—it can feel like a huge accomplishment to just take a few minutes to read a book or watch TV before bed. All that busyness can lead to poor sleep quality when we finally do get to put our head down.How does our relationship with rest affect our ability to gain real benefits from it? And how can we use our free time to rest in a culture that often moralizes rest as laziness? Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, the author of several books on rest and director…