The day before I meet with Vivek Murthy, MD, current Surgeon General of the United States, I spend an hour with my therapist working on how to breathe through the unpleasant interpersonal interactions I’ve been having with increasing frequency as of late. For some reason, people seem to have suddenly forgotten what it’s like to treat others with kindness; one complete stranger to whom I’ve shown nothing but respect is so inexplicably rude to me over email that I cry. Is everyone okay, I wonder?  The answer, according to Dr. Murthy, is not really. Throughout our conversation in which we un ..read more

Most people would think twice about inviting a stranger into their homes for dinner, but this isn’t the case for Anita Michaud, who, on a recent Saturday afternoon, asked me over to her apartment in Brooklyn Heights, New York, to make and eat dumplings with eight total strangers. What might be an uncommon affair for the guests involved, myself included, is a typical day of the life for Michaud. She estimates that she’s had close to 40 such get-togethers with friendly strangers who sign up for Dinner With Friends, events thrown by Michaud and her co-hosts in which they invite “new and old frien ..read more

The men are not alright. Around the country, men are hurting—and all the more because they often won’t admit it. Propped up by the idealization of the “male breadwinner” throughout history, much of society still glorifies the idea of “a man’s man” (i.e., rugged, stoic, aggressive, dominant), leading 8 in 10 men to feel pressure to “be emotionally strong,” according to a 2017 Pew Research Study. While subscribing to this concept of male toughness has been shown to put men at risk for poor mental health, it’s also the very thing keeping them from reaching out for support, while also reducing the ..read more

  It took a near-fatal incident in 2014 for Larissa May, then a sophomore student at Vanderbilt University, to even realize she was hooked on a dangerous substance. To be clear, the “drug” in question wasn’t the typical type you might expect to find on a college campus—it was her phone. Or, more specifically, her Instagram account, where she was growing a rapid following as a fashion blogger. May had become so invested in gaining likes and followers that she was spending upwards of 10 hours a day posting and scrolling, well before anyone knew the mental-health destruction the habit could ..read more

In 2024, there’s no denying that most of us are hyper-connected with each other. Between social media apps like Instagram, X, and Tiktok, and the growing technology that makes staying in touch easier than ever, there’s hardly an excuse for anyone to be truly disconnected anymore.  That’s what makes our current loneliness epidemic and friendship crisis so ironic. With so many ways to feel connected, how could the opposite be happening? Well, the numbers don’t lie. According to a recent Gallup poll, nearly one in four people worldwide feel lonely. The detrimental mental and physical effects ..read more

We all know that humans need daily nourishment to survive. But to thrive? That’s a bit more complicated than vitamin and mineral counts. We’re social creatures, too, meaning we crave—require, actually—connection on a regular basis. So much so that social isolation has been found to be as detrimental to our health as smoking 15 cigarettes per day. Yet one oft-forgotten opportunity remains key to satisfying both of these innate human needs: mealtime. “Eating is a powerful tool that supports one’s physical and mental well-being, and nurtures our relationships with others,” says Uma Naidoo, MD, a ..read more

There’s no denying that our food system is broken. According to the USDA, in the U.S. alone, nearly 33.8 million people—or about 10 percent of U.S. households—experienced food insecurity at some point in 2021. Yet, it’s estimated that food waste accounts for about 30 to 40 percent of the food supply in America. Then, when you look at the number of people facing hunger worldwide—which was approximately 345 million in 2022 (that’s more than the entire U.S. population altogether)—the reality is even more unsettling. Clearly, the answer is change. That’s where Food Tank, a nonprofit organization a ..read more

What Will It Take for Wellness To Finally Leave Behind Its Ableist Origins? By including folks with disabilities and chronic illnesses in the wellness conversation—and evolving wellness to better suit their needs—we’d be creating a version of wellness that better serves everyone. After being diagnosed with debilitating psoriatic arthritis, Nitika Chopra wholeheartedly embraced wellness culture. She sought healing through holistic methods like acupuncture and “clean eating” and gobbled up self-help texts like The Secret and the works of Deepak Chopra (no relation).  For a time, Chopra ..read more

In health, fitness, nutrition, and, well, life, it’s time for the winds of change to turn into a gale force. Wellness is far less accessible than it should be for people who don’t have access to resources like money and time, and those who have been shut out of ways to live healthy lives through limited access to outdoor space or fresh foods, for instance. “Systemic racism and other inequalities do not leave us with a level playing field,” says author, activist, and TV host Alison Mariella Désir “So if you’re living in poverty, no matter how much you hope to exercise or take care of yourself ..read more

Get To Know the Food-Industry Trailblazers Who Are Evolving How We Nourish Ourselves—And Our Planet The future of wellness starts with food. And when we talk about food, we aren’t just speaking about sustenance or survival. Food is fuel, of course, but it’s also deeply personal. Our culinary habits are rooted in tradition, enrichment, connection, and—in every sense of the word—evolution.  When we look to 2023, several individuals—named our Well+Good 2023 Changemakers—will be at the forefront of the food industry's next wave of reform and representation. From how we flavor our dishes to ..read more