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.
Researchers develop ivy plant that can remove harmful air pollutants from homes
Scientists managed to modify pothos ivy plants so that they can remove harmful air pollutants like chloroform and benzene from homes. The researchers added the noxious gases (benzene and chloroform) to modified and non-modified plants in glass tubes. After 11 days they noticed that, compared to the Read More...
Inhalable RNA could breathe new life into lung cancer treatments
In the body, messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules are in charge of instructing cells to produce specific proteins, and hijacking this natural system is emerging as a promising new way to treat a wide variety of illnesses. Now, researchers at MIT have developed an inhalable mRNA aerosol that can take the Read More...
Ancient Irish healing cure turns out to be a modern lifesaver
One of today’s most deadly challenges to public health is the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In the United States alone, 2 million people are infected with an antibiotic-resistant infection annually; the World Health Organization has warned of the “post-antibiotic era.” An urgent Read More...
The native American healer reviving the medicine of her ancestors
When an elderly Lakota woman limped into the medical tent, one foot sporting a painful burn, Linda Black Elk knew just the herb that would help. She began boiling yarrow, a plant that blossoms golden yellow and has been prized for its healing properties for centuries. Though she had applied the Read More...
Breakthrough study explains how the immune system puts cancer cells to sleep
An exciting new study, led by a team of Australian researchers, has uncovered how the immune system can keep cancer cells in a dormant state. It's hoped the breakthrough insight will offer new pathways for research into immunotherapy techniques that can essentially stop a tumor's growth for an Read More...
Virtual reality to be used as therapeutic treatment for nightmare disorder
Virtual reality could soon be used as a therapeutic treatment for patients suffering from often-occurring nightmares. Researchers conducted a study in which they presented participants with nightmare-like imagery that could then manipulate to be less threatening. The therapy was associated with a Read More...
These foods will help you reset your gut in just 3 days
By now you've probably heard how influential the microbes in your gut are for your overall health. What you might not have known is that the life span of a microbe is about 20 minutes, meaning that it’s possible to make lasting changes to your gut health in just a matter of days. To reset your Read More...
The science of fighting Alzheimer's with brain-health food
There is increasing evidence in scientific literature that healthy eating is associated with retention of cognitive function and warding off dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. A new diet was created by scientists in Toronto and is named the Canadian Brain Health Food Guide. In the United States, Read More...
This woman made Denmark cut food waste by 25 percent in 5 years
Denmark leads the battle against food waste in Europe. That success started with one woman (who was not even born in the country, she came from Russia as an immigrant!). She introduced goody bags for people to take food home from restaurants (Europeans don’t have that tradition). She cut banana Read More...
How a third pillar of physical fitness may exist beyond diet and exercise
An anthropologist poses a theory suggesting that along with diet and exercise, our bodies might need environmental stress—like exposure to cold and hot temperatures—if we’re to reach our full potential. The logic behind this idea is similar to explanations for why we need to eat healthy food Read More...