Health
Finding good health news amidst a pandemic can be quite daunting. That’s not the case with The Optimist Daily, where positive news is in high supply. Our Health section covers the latest good news from the health sector, featuring solutions ranging from mental and physical health to immunity, nutrition, and cutting edge medical research.
Turning Americans' bad food waste habit into renewable energy
America has a bad habit. About 40% of food purchased ends up in the trash each year, but in some cities, they have found a way to turn this waste into energy. As food decomposes, it release methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that’s fueling climate change. What cities are doing is diverting that Read More...
Britain is building special new towns to tackle the obesity crisis
LONDON — Ten new "healthy towns" designed to get people to exercising more, eating healthily and live independently during old age are to be built across the country, NHS England announced on Tuesday. The towns — comprising more than 76,000 affordable homes — will include fast Read More...
An ambitious genome sequencing project is tackling Africa's nutrition crisis
Malnutrition affects 40% of children in Africa. Part of the issue is that the staple crops in the formal food system lack the nutrients needed to properly feed a person. Traditional foods like amaranth, okra and breadfruit are incredibly healthy, but these have never been grown in agriculture Read More...
Practicing mindfulness can help us have healthy glucose levels, study shows
Mindfulness is helping us having a sense of mastery over our own thoughts and feelings. That's how it could help us protect against diabetes. Researchers wanted to find out if people practicing higher degrees of mindfulness are better able to motivate themselves to exercise, resist cravings for Read More...
The future of healthcare is self-care and the future is now
As a boomer, it has become evident that the only way to remain healthy in this toxic world is to take responsibility for my own health. I confess, sometimes I enjoy over indulging in some of the sinful stuff, like too many glasses of red wine, or a mindless binge on organic chips and salsa at my Read More...
A healthy Mediterranean diet is cheaper than a junky American one
A healthy Mediterranean diet is often perceived as expensive, but a new study shows it's not. In fact, fresh veggies and fancy olive oil are cheaper. A new study out of the Miriam Hospital and the Rhode Island Community Food Bank shows that a Mediterranean-style diet costs around $750 per person Read More...
Denmark opens first food waste supermarket selling surplus produce
In a bid to tackle the problem of food waste, the world’s first ever food surplus supermarket has opened in Denmark. The store in capital city Copenhagen called Wefood will sell produce at prices 30 to 50% cheaper than normal supermarkets by getting its produce from markets and other suppliers Read More...
Five ways to improve your mental health
The mental health charity Mind says every year one in four people in the UK will experience mental health problems, which could be anything from depression, panic attacks, eating disorders, OCD, and everything in between. The charity also says people with mental illnesses are more likely to suffer Read More...
Mindfulness program may ease chronic low back pain
An eight-week group program focused on mindfulness-based stress reduction may help with short-term function and long-term pain for people with chronic low back problems, according to a new study. “Most people would think mindfulness meditation would help stress,” said lead author Dr. Natalia Read More...
Wilderness as a therapy. ‘Be wild’
The World Health Organisation (WHO) state that 1 in 4 people in the world will be affected by mental health issues at some point in their lives. This in theory means that if we ourselves are not affected someone close to us will be. In the past 5 years particularly, I have seen a rise in people, Read More...