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fromPsychology Today
4 hours agoIs Recovery Too Serious to Be Funny?
Recovery literature often overlooks humor, focusing instead on serious tones despite the potential for laughter in the journey.
Special needs summer camps are specialized programs designed for children and young adults with a range of disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), ADHD, Down syndrome, and other developmental or physical challenges.
A true wellness gathering is something far more ancient and far more urgent: it's any intentional space where humans are invited to arrive whole, body, mind, spirit, and leave more alive than when they walked in. That's it. That's the whole definition.
Beauty, it turns out, is capable of launching not just an armada of ships, but a cascade of the same feel-good chemicals you get from being in love, eating chocolate, exercising, and having orgasms- dopamine, endorphins, serotonin, oxytocin. It also lowers stress, blood pressure, and heart rate.
Research shows that in the days following the spring transition, there are measurable increases in sleep disruption, impaired alertness, workplace errors, motor vehicle accidents, and even short-term elevations in cardiovascular events and blood sugar variability.
Monet, a special-ed high school teacher, clarified that the kids aren't the problem. It's the rest of it: the endless paperwork, shifting lesson plans, and constant assessments. Inside the rage room, Monet was tentative at first, but then entered a flow state, conjuring up something that was bothering her before taking each swing.
That someone "should get out more" is usually said as a joke, a light comment aimed at someone who seems stuck or overly absorbed in a narrow concern. It can sound dismissive or even sarcastic. Yet what if it contains serious psychological truth? We often praise people for being open-minded, creative, or flexible, as if these are stable personality traits that some individuals simply possess. We admire those who seem to think differently and assume they have access to something rare.
It makes sense, right? Every day, we're told how shitty our attention spans are because of our phones. We can't get through 90-minute movies anymore without a quick scroll. We can't just sit down and read a book off our shelf. We have decision fatigue trying to pick a recipe to cook instead of just looking in a cookbook. So turning to more analog things for the betterment of our bodies and minds makes total sense.
Despite being alone, I say this loudly over and over and over again as I make my way up the brick walkway that leads to our house. That I had to go back seventeen years to find this reassurance for myself is troubling, back to when the dog was just a wish, albeit a persistent one coming from our daughter Meredith. That was when I voted no.
Spring ends the winter season like light ends the darkness. The coming of spring reminds us of the peaks and valleys of life. If you are in a valley, know that there is light at the end of the tunnel and a peak will come soon. Just as the seasons change, so too will your life.
This is part of Wet February, a series about America's increasingly muddled relationship with drinking-and how to sip your way through it wisely and well. Alcohol is my only vice, and boy, it does not feel good to have my vice validated by the new food pyramid, which also suggests that steak is the foundation of a healthy diet. But I can't deny that a happy hour martini makes me feel as if I sparkle,
Some experts have mischaracterized smoking fentanyl as "safer" than injecting, seeking to reduce risks among users. Narrowly considered, the statement is accurate, as inhalation avoids needle-sharing, reducing risks for HIV, hepatitis C, bacteremia, abscess formation, and infective endocarditis among users. However, there's no clinical-trial-level evidence (randomized trials with real patients) showing smoking illicit fentanyl is safer than injecting it. It isn't, and that conclusion is unsupported by toxicology, environmental exposure science, or emerging data.
The Alaska Department of Corrections does not provide comprehensive access to this life saving medication. "I'm gonna give you a little pinch," Spencer said, sliding the needle into a fold of skin on the patient's belly for the subcutaneous injection. Alaska's not an outlier. Despite the fact that those recently released from incarceration are some of the most vulnerable to dying from drug overdose, addiction experts say that many jails and prisons around the country don't provide medication treatment.
Enjoy a free, monthly outdoor walk on the first Saturday of every month as part of the "Healthy Parks, Healthy People" program. First Saturday Programs are introductory walking/physical activity programs that occur on the first Saturday of each month throughout the Bay Area. Please note that occasionally these events are canceled in the winter or due to wet weather. Please always double check on the website first to ensure this month's event is still taking place.
Every time Elizabeth Lamphere looked at her daughter, all she saw was her late fiancé. Ian had died in an avalanche while skiing in the Colorado backcountry when Madelyn was just a baby. The tragedy had plunged Lamphere into single parenthood, changing diapers, making meals, doing the bedtime routine all by herself, all while trying to bring in what money she could as a massage therapist.
The question of whether mental health retreats allow social media access does not have a universal answer. Different facilities approach digital connectivity in varying ways, reflecting their treatment philosophies and therapeutic goals. Most mental health retreats limit or completely restrict social media use during the initial phases of treatment, though specific policies can range from total digital detox to supervised access at designated times.
I am a professor of public health who studies health behaviors and the gap between intentions and outcomes. I became interested in this self-care paradox recently, after I suffered from a concussion. I was prescribed two months of strictly screen-free cognitive rest-no television, email, Zooming, social media, streaming, or texting. The benefits were almost immediate, and they surprised me. I slept better, had a longer attention span, and had a newfound sense of mental quiet.
Hi, I'm Cullen, and I'm an alcoholic. At least that's what I recited in front of hundreds of strangers once a week while attending virtual Alcoholics Anonymous meetings last year. I mumbled the words, but often didn't believe them or give their depth of meaning to my life. But when I turned the legal drinking age, even though I swapped out plastic bottles for premium glass ones, that frenzied "teenage" spirit didn't go away.