Serotonin — also known as 5-hydroxytryptamine or 5-HT — is typically referred to as “the happiness hormone” and deficiency is thought to be the source of depression. That’s why depression is routinely treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) that raise serotonin levels in your brain. The problem is, serotonin is NOT responsible for depression, and raising your serotonin is the last thing you want to do, as it destroys empathy, love and wisdom. Elevated serotonin also impairs thyroid function, reduces your metabolism, and contributes to premature aging by increasing reductiv ..read more

Editor's Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published July 29, 2017. Yawning starts before you're born and has often been associated with boredom or being tired. But, research now suggests there is more to this simple behavior than you may have imagined. It is as involuntary as breathing in many cases and likely has more than one trigger. Scientists are split into two camps — one believes yawning has a physiological cause and physical benefit, while the other believes yawning is psychologically triggered and once was used as means of communication.1 What we do know is that all ..read more

Editor's Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published August 14, 2017. When you think of aloe vera, you may remember it as a spiky plant with tiny spines along both sides of the thick, variegated leaves that fan out from their base. A succulent plant that grows wild in tropical regions, including the warmest areas and arguably thousands of households across the U.S., aloe vera has had a plethora of uses for thousands of years, both medicinal and nutritional. An open access website of peer-reviewed journals and blogs, Biomed Central, notes: "Such extensive human use of aloe ver ..read more

My colleague Pam Schoenfeld, MS, recently put me onto an eye-opening article on vitamin A. Titled “Tissue Changes Following Deprivation of Fat-Soluble A Vitamin”1 by S. Burt Wolbach, MD and Percy R. Howe, MD, the article was published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine in 1925. This paper is interesting for several reasons. Primary Effects of Vitamin A Deprivation The first concerns the changes these researchers observed when they deprived rats of vitamin A. The main effect was keratinization of the epithelial tissues. The epithelial tissues are thin tissues that cover all the exposed sur ..read more

The International Day of Happiness takes place on March 20 each year to spread awareness that "happiness is a fundamental human goal."1 In 2024, it also marked the day the World Happiness Report was released. It includes a happiness ranking of 39 countries, based on six factors — social support, income, health, freedom, generosity and the absence of corruption.2 Finland took the top spot, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and Israel.3 By looking into the happiness hacks embraced by some of the world’s happiest people, you may be able to find ways to weave more lasting joy into your own dail ..read more

The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) released a daunting prediction of the global cancer burden. It estimates more than 35 million new cancer cases in 2050 — a 77% increase from the estimated 20 million cancer cases that occurred in 2022.1 While WHO named an aging population as a key driver behind the increasing cancer burden, along with tobacco, alcohol, obesity and exposure to air pollution, what they’re ignoring is the concerning trend of turbo cancers that occur shortly after COVID-19 shots. Cancer Cases Set to Increase Significantly by 2050 T ..read more

Editor's Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published May 2, 2017. Every year, 700,000 people worldwide die from drug-resistant illnesses like bacterial infections, malaria, HIV/AIDs and tuberculosis.1 It's estimated that by 2050, antibiotic resistance will have killed 300 million people, with the annual global death toll reaching 10 million. The cost for treatment, meanwhile, is estimated to hit $100 trillion by 2050.2 Clearly, alternatives to antibiotics are needed — and fast. It's been estimated that the pharmaceutical industry will need upwards of $37 billion over the next ..read more

Research1 published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology found an association between drinking sweetened beverages and atrial fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation, also called AFib, is an abnormal and often rapid heartbeat that occurs when the upper chambers in the heart (atria) beat out of sync with the lower chambers (ventricles).2 It's a common symptom in people with heart failure or heart disease and one of the most common arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats) that affects more than 2 million U.S. adults. AFib can sometimes go away on its own, b ..read more

One of the easiest ways to assess your metabolic health at home is a simple body temperature measurement. Body temperature is a sign of how well your body is creating and utilizing energy. So, a lower body temperature is a sign that our body is not producing a lot of energy (meaning, hindered metabolic function). Measuring my body temperature for the first time five years ago was my lightbulb moment when I finally accepted and realized that my previous restrictive lifestyle (keto, fasting, and carnivore) was no longer serving me. The oral thermometer reading was 96.5 degrees Fahrenheit (F), wi ..read more

Toxic chemicals found in hand sanitizers and other disinfectants, as well as household items like furniture and electronics, could be harming brain development in children and future generations. This includes quaternary compounds — used widely in disinfecting agents — and organophosphate flame retardants, which are found in many household items. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio found quaternary compounds were damaging to oligodendrocytes, a type of glial cell in the central nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord, while flame retardants increased the risk of ..read more