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.
Unmanned Minnesota organic food store transforms grocery store model with technology
At a time when many blame technology for job loss and lack of community, a couple of innovators have recently created unmanned grocery stores in their small towns. Both stores have brought value to their small communities. Best of all, they may have created a new blueprint to solve the grocery Read More...
An olive a day? The preventive power of the Mediterranean diet
You've probably never left a doctor's appointment with a prescription for extra virgin olive oil, almonds, pasta, or a glass of red wine, but one day you might. In fact, I hope that day will come very soon. Even in an era of important biomedical research and drug discovery (both of which remain Read More...
Changing expiration labels would help cut back food waste
Food waste is a hot topic quickly moving into the political mainstream, because it touches so many issues at once — the environment, hunger, household budgets and the overall economy. As it turns out, confusing date labels lead to Americans wasting as much as 40 percent of their food. With the Read More...
Why the world must shift to plant-based diets: A doctor explains
Maybe you already believe in the idea that “you are what you eat.” Now, a powerful new study takes that a step further, suggesting that the health of our planet is also what we eat. In this new study, scientists calculated that eating more plant-based foods—and less Read More...
Mindful meditation may be the answer to relieving chronic back pain, study suggests
In 1992, Harvard neuroscientist Richard Davidson embarked on an unusual research project to study the brains of Buddhist monks who spent thousands of hours meditating. What he found was that not only did the practice activate different parts of the brain, it also seemed to impact the body in ways Read More...
9 people who are changing the future of food
A radical new approach to raising cattle helped fourth-generation rancher Cory Carman save her family’s land. Twelve years ago, Carman Ranch, a 3,100-acre cattle-raising operation in Wallowa Valley, Oregon, was struggling; the grass, fast receding, barely supported the 300-animal herd. So Cory Read More...
Study: Climate change makes French wines better
Climate change is not a good thing, but it doesn’t only have negative effects. A study shows that French wines are getting better because of warmer summers. Warmer summers mean earlier-than-average harvests, more frequently. And winemakers in the Bordeaux and Burgundy regions know that the Read More...
8 million fewer would die if the world went vegan
By eating less meat and more fruit and vegetables, the world could prevent several million deaths per year by 2050, cut planet-warming emissions substantially, and save billions of dollars annually in healthcare costs and climate damage, researchers said. A new study published in the Proceedings of Read More...
Meditation plus running as a treatment for depression
The fitness routine of meditation followed by running may be effective in treating people diagnosed with depression, a new study suggests. In the study, volunteers, some of whom had been given diagnoses of depression, took part in a treatment program twice a week for eight weeks where they did Read More...
From garden to plate: how schools benefit from growing their own produce
When Chris Collins left school aged 16 in the early 1980s, he wasn’t sure where his life was heading. “I just couldn’t sit still in the classroom,” he says. “All I knew was that I wanted to be outside.” Today, Collins has come full circle, dedicating much of his time to championing Read More...