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.
Restoring Alzheimer’s memory loss could be possible
It’s been a long held notion that memories are stored in the synapses of the brain—the parts that connect one area to another. Alzheimer’s degrades the synapses, and thus destroys memories; even if you could regrow the synapses you cannot regrow the memories. A new study from University of Read More...
Nigeria, and the world, one step closer to eradicating polio
Nigeria is one of the last remaining strong holds of polio. Whenever the African continent is close to becoming polio free, more cases pop up in Nigeria. Now it’s been reported that there hasn’t been a new polio diagnosis in Nigeria since July, and only six total in 2014—a 90 percent decrease Read More...
Cure for Ebola could lie in survivor’s blood
A few months ago we reported on a drug company called ZMapp that was testing, and having some luck, treating Ebola patients with a drug sourced from a tobacco plant. Now ZMapp, working alongside Vanderbilt University, have received a donation of blood from an Ebola survivor, hoping to extract and Read More...
Copper bedrails would reduce hospital infections
When it comes to the risk of nasty infections—paradoxically—hospitals are the worst places to go. It’s estimated that one in 25 patients will receive an infection from the hospital they are going to for treatment. Now a new startup, Copper Biohealth, has found that copper bedrails reduce the Read More...
Research shows that we’re not victims of our genes
According to the dominant view in medicine whatever happens to our health is a consequence of the genes we received at birth. This so-called “genetic determinism” means we don’t create our own lives. We are victims of our genes. That’s a rather depressing perspective that aligns with the Read More...
Yoga prevents heart disease
Yesterday we reported that yoga along with meditation might play a role in keeping you healthy during cancer treatment. Now a study has been released that says yoga might help protect against heart disease—especially if you can’t do more rigorous exercises. Dutch researchers reviewed some 37 Read More...
Mind control can change DNA and prevent disease
The disconnect between our minds and bodies is unfounded, one impacts the other and vice versa. A new study found that meditation keeps telomeres intact. Telomeres are basically caps on the end of our DNA that keep them from unraveling, they don’t cause a disease directly but are found to be Read More...
Feeling younger means living longer
It makes sense to fool yourself. New research shows that feeling young actually makes your body age slower. A British study found that seniors who felt at least three years younger in age had a lower chance of dying over an eight year period than those who felt their age or older. The study also Read More...
Mushrooms or plastic? An unlikely solution to pollution
Could poisonous plastic turn into a healthy food? A Dutch design studio has announced a prototyped incubator that grows oyster mushrooms—and other fungi—on plastic. The current design takes months to grow mushrooms and decompose plastic, but researchers believe that expediting the growth time Read More...
Researchers get closer to Alzheimer’s cure
Researchers at Stanford University have discovered what causes Alzheimer’s—potentially leading to a cure. The scientists noticed that disease sets in when a particular type of cell in the brain, called microglia, stops working. Microglia clean your brain, they keep out viruses and prevent Read More...