Smoking withdrawal symptoms and how long they last
Smoking withdrawal is what your body and brain go through after you put down cigarettes. Common symptoms include intense cravings, irritability, anxiety, low mood, restlessness, poor sleep and trouble focusing. Federal health resources such as Smokefree.gov say symptoms usually peak in the first few days and fade over the following weeks, though a stray craving […]
Why your brain shuts down before you make one more decision
Decision fatigue builds quietly until the brain simply runs out of energy By the end of a long day, even simple choices like what to eat for dinner can feel overwhelming. That exhausted, foggy feeling is not just stress. Researchers say it is a sign that the brain has reached its limit on making decisions, […]
10 causes of zoning out that hurt your focus
Losing focus for a moment, staring off without quite registering what is happening, is something almost everyone experiences from time to time. Zoning out is considered a mild form of dissociation, a temporary disconnect between the present moment and a person’s thoughts, feelings, memories, and actions. It tends to show up during periods of tiredness, […]
Intimacy may be the secret ingredient behind a longer and healthier life
Intimacy is not just an emotional experience. It is a biological one. Every time two people share a moment of genuine closeness, whether physical or emotional, a cascade of chemical activity unfolds inside the body that influences everything from heart rate to immune function to how long a person is likely to live. Scientists have […]
Self-medicating and the mental health care gap in Black America
Self-medicating means using alcohol, drugs or other substances on your own to cope with anxiety, depression, trauma or stress, without a doctor’s guidance. It can feel like relief in the moment. Over time, it tends to make mental health symptoms worse and can lead to dependence, addiction and dangerous withdrawal. Alcohol withdrawal, for example, can […]
Could 5 simple changes stop stress from taking over?
Stress is a familiar part of modern working life, but constantly feeling under pressure should not become the baseline. A recent Gallup survey of more than 141,000 employed adults across more than 140 countries found that 40% said they had experienced stress during the previous day. In the United States and Canada, that figure climbed […]
This nighttime habit may raise depression risk by 30%
A common nighttime habit may be worth reconsidering, especially for people who spend much of their day indoors. Research published in Nature Mental Health found that adults exposed to greater amounts of light at night had higher odds of experiencing several psychiatric conditions, including depression. The study involved 86,772 adults and found that those with […]
First therapy session? Here is exactly what to expect
For many people, booking the first appointment is the hardest part of therapy. The second hardest is not knowing what happens once you sit down or log on. This is how a typical first session tends to go, what a therapist will likely ask and the details most people only learn afterward. Before your first […]
Mental health maintenance, the daily practices that protect emotional wellbeing before crisis arrives
Mental health conditions rarely arrive without precursor signals. The shift from ordinary stress or sadness into a clinically significant condition is almost always preceded by behavioral and emotional changes that are recognizable in retrospect, and often recognizable in real time by people who know what to look for. Identifying these warning signs early, in oneself […]
Why do big emotions leave you so drained?
You do not have to spend the night drinking to wake up the next day feeling completely wiped out. Sometimes an emotionally intense experience can leave you feeling similarly depleted. A major celebration, an important conversation, a family gathering or an especially stressful day can all take more out of you than expected. Psychologists refer […]