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.
Diet change can impact biomarkers of cancer risks in just two weeks
Let thy food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food. Hippocrates’ words of wisdom have been validated yet once again by a new research study at the University of Pittsburgh. Twenty fast food loving African Americans and 20 rural South Africans swapped diets for two weeks. Guess whose health Read More...
Smartphones help alleviate depression in rural India
India has among the highest rates of depression in the world and only one psychiatrist for more than 300,000 people on average. Rural areas fare the worst, with a higher rate of suicides among farmers than the rest of the population. A program launched by the government’s National Rural Health Read More...
America’s #1 poultry producer renounces antibiotics
Superbugs have become a major public health hazard in America. Scientific research has conclusively shown that they are caused by the routine sub-therapeutic use of antibiotics by the meat industry. Early March, food giant McDonald’s, one of the largest buyers of chicken in America, announced it Read More...
Vigorous exercise will keep you fit, strong and healthy way past your primetime
Contrary to popular belief, declining level of physical capacity over the years and age-related illnesses are less due to the curse of age than to the compounded effect of a sedentary lifestyle. The recent trend of older competitive runners outnumbering younger athletes in a case in point. It also Read More...
School children to stand at their desks for increased health and focus
America’s sedentary lifestyle is linked to a host of public health issues, including obesity. Schoolchildren are no exception, who spend an estimated 90% of their waking hours sitting down. A California couple started a health revolution by replacing traditional classroom furniture with standing Read More...
Regular physical exercise shown to help prevent dementia
Dementia affects one in six people over the age of 80. Five key evidence-based prevention strategies are moderate physical exercise, brain exercise, not smoking, a healthy diet and looking after your heart. Those are derived from the converging findings of several long-term studies. And it seems Read More...
DNA-altering protein programs pancreatic cancer cells into healthy cells
Positive news about cancer cures are not exactly a dime a dozen. This one definitely got our attention: researchers in America have been able to program pancreatic cancer cells back into normal cells by introducing a protein that bonds with particular DNA sequences. E47 can essentially control Read More...
Community labor creates an oasis in the Ethiopian desert
Moving mountains is not just a biblical image when political will is present and the community rallies around a common goal. Some 20 years after a severe drought and political turmoil caused a devastating famine that claimed more than a million victims in Ethiopia, a village has successfully Read More...
Science confirms alpha wave oscillations in the brain foster creativity
A creativity boost is as simple as a 10-Hertz current run through electrodes attached to the scalp, according to a new research study on the impact of alpha wave oscillations in the brain. Meditation yields the same result, as people who have incorporated the practice regularly can attest to. The Read More...
Food Forward prevents waste and puts food on the table of thousands
As we discussed last week, 40% of food in America gets wasted. To put things in perspective, a third of the food produced globally gets spoiled or squandered before it even reaches consumers, according to the FAO’s conservative estimates. It is a shocking fact that eliminating food waste Read More...