Архив рубрики: Здоровье Америка

Psilocybin—a notorious hallucinogen found in “magic mushrooms”—is a federally controlled substance that the U.S. deems to have “no currently accepted medical use” and “a high potential for abuse.”

But not everyone agrees with that assessment: New Zealand on Wednesday became the latest country to approve the use of the substance for therapeutic purposes.

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David Seymour, New Zealand’s Associate Minister for Health, told reporters that the new policy, which allows a single approved psychiatrist to prescribe psilocybin to patients with treatment-resistant depression, represents a “real breakthrough.”

Seymour said that the psychiatrist, identified as Cameron Lacey, a professor at the University of Otago, “has previously prescribed psilocybin in clinical trials and will operate under strict reporting and record-keeping requirements.” Seymour added that he is hoping more psychiatrists will apply for clearance to prescribe the drug to patients, though he cla..

Many years ago, I became a Phaal Curry Monster, meaning I was brave (and dumb) enough to accept a restaurant’s challenge to eat a plate of chicken drenched in curry made of the spiciest peppers on Earth. Each swallow felt like shards of glass scraping my throat. After finishing, I celebrated my achievement by throwing up in a bush across the street. The health benefits of spicy food could not have been further from my mind.

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But emerging research links chili peppers—if consumed more reasonably than I did at that restaurant—to better health. Data “suggest spicy food can help metabolism, enhancing feelings of fullness and weight control,” says Dr. Long Nguyen, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Here’s why chili peppers may be good for you and how to heat up your diet for both taste and health.

The benefits of spicy food

Several studies find that people who regularly eat spicy food have better overall health and fewer disease..

The Brief June 17, 2025Updates on the rise of political violence in the U.S., Israel and Iran, and morePodcast ID – Short Length: d172b396-a05f-49a8-91f4-5e9ecff5874e
Podcast ID – Long Length: 34e224e1-2194-42f7-a6bb-b33a19e61436

Erin Moriarty—an actress known for her role as Annie January on the Amazon Prime Video show The Boys—recently announced on Instagram that she has Graves’ disease. While Moriarty, 30, didn’t share exactly what led to her diagnosis, she noted that she initially brushed off her symptoms: “If I hadn’t chalked it all up to stress and fatigue, I would’ve caught this sooner,” she wrote, urging her followers to pay close attention to their own health. “Don’t ‘suck it up’ and transcend suffering; you deserve to be comfy.”

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What exactly is Graves’ disease? We asked experts how the condition shows up and what managing it looks like.

What is Graves’ disease?

Graves’ disease—which affects about 1% of people in the U.S.—is an autoimmune ..

People across the world have been having fewer and fewer children, and it’s not always because they don’t want them.

The global fertility rate has, on average, dropped to less than half what it was in the 1960s, the United Nations has found, falling below the “replacement level” required to maintain the current population in the majority of countries.

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Amid that historic decline, nearly 20% of adults of reproductive age from 14 countries around the globe believe they won’t be able to have the number of children they want to, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN’s sexual and reproductive health and rights agency, said in a report released this week. For most of them, the report found it isn’t infertility keeping them from doing so. They pointed to factors including financial limitations, barriers to fertility or pregnancy-related medical care, and fears of the state of the world that they say are hindering them from making their own ferti..

Some foods simply radiate star power. Apples and bananas? They’ve got their own song. Peanuts, potatoes, and pepperjack cheese? They’re in your pantry—and the cooking hall of fame.

But the obvious choices aren’t the only ones—and they’re not even necessarily the best. “People tend to fall into certain patterns—we’re creatures of habit,” says registered dietitian nutritionist Mindy Haar, assistant dean at New York Institute of Technology’s School of Health Professions. “But from a nutritional point of view, by varying your diet, you’re going to get ahead.” In addition to exposing yourself to nutrients you might not be getting from the same old foods, switching up your standard fare can also be a delightful surprise for your taste buds.

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We asked dietitians to reveal their favorite underrated healthy foods, plus ideas on how to incorporate them into your diet.

Celery

The simple celery stalk—often thought of only as a hummus-dipping vehicle—deserves to..

At the height of the tuberculosis epidemic in the 19th century, doctors began advising people to venture outside to escape the “bad air” in their homes. In the 1960s, by contrast, AC became widespread in the U.S., increasing the appeal of staying inside. These days, many of us—the so-called “indoor generation”—spend summer mostly inside, relying on AC to beat the heat.

This technology saves lives; our sealed, climate-controlled spaces keep us healthy during dangerous heat waves. AC also helps many people avoid pollution outside. But did the 19th century physicians have a point about the downsides of stale indoor air?

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It depends. “Multiple studies show that spending too much time in air-conditioned rooms can lead to more respiratory symptoms,” says Dr. William Checkley, a pulmonary and critical care physician and professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Here are the benefits, risks, and simple ways to make AC healthier this summer.
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Several months ago, Dr. Andrew Clark, a psychiatrist in Boston, learned that an increasing number of young people were turning to AI chatbot therapists for guidance and support. Clark was intrigued: If designed correctly, these AI tools could increase much-needed access to affordable mental-health care. He decided to test some of the most popular bots on the market, posing as teenage patients in need.

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The results were alarming. The bots encouraged him to “get rid of” his parents and to join the bot in the afterlife to “share eternity.” They often tried to convince him that they were licensed human therapists and encouraged him to cancel appointments with actual psychologists. They also crossed the line into sexual territory, with one bot suggesting an intimate date as an “intervention” for violent urges.

Clark shared his report exclusively with TIME; he also submitted it for publication to a peer-reviewed medical journal, though it has not yet been ..

If your dad is a man of few words, you’ve probably already figured out that silence doesn’t necessarily mean distance. “Some men were taught to love in presence, not paragraphs—and that still counts,” says Melanie Preston, a therapist in Atlanta whose dad has always shown up strong but quiet. She remembers him comforting her during life’s hard times with a pat on the back or a hand on her knee.

“That was all I needed, because it spoke volumes,” she says. “We’re talking even when we’re not speaking.”

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Still, sometimes it would be nice to hear, well, actual words. A Pew Research Center survey found that dads are more likely than moms to say they communicate with their kids less often than they’d like—and many young adults feel the same desire to connect more with their fathers.

We asked experts to share simple strategies to get silent dads to talk more (and maybe even enjoy it).

Meet him where he is—literally

Some dads are doers who like to keep thei..

When Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. began his tenure as Health and Human Services Secretary, he pledged, “We won’t take away anyone’s vaccines.” However, recent policy changes under his leadership—coupled with the unprecedented dismissal of all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on June 9—have proven that statement false, raising grave concerns for our nation’s COVID-19 response and broader vaccine policies. These shifts not only jeopardize public health but also threaten to erode trust in our health institutions at a critical time.

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In May 2025, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) introduced a new COVID-19 vaccine framework, limiting access to updated vaccines for Americans aged 65 and older or those with specific risk factors. Furthermore, Secretary Kennedy announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccines for “healthy” children or pregnant wome..

Doctors at Columbia University Fertility Center have reported what they are calling the first pregnancy using a new AI system, in a couple that had been trying to start a family for nearly two decades.

The pregnancy was possible due to an advance developed by the Columbia team, led by Dr. Zev Williams, director of the center, to address azoospermia, or a lack of detectable sperm in the ejaculate. Male factors account for about 40% of infertility in the U.S., and azoospermia is responsible for about 10% of those cases. Until recently, there was little doctors could do to address the lack of sperm needed to fertilize an egg, other than using donor sperm.

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While to the naked eye, a sperm sample from a man with azoospermia might look normal, the microscope tells a different story, Williams says. Highly trained technicians rarely find any sperm in these samples, which are often filled with other debris. Add to that the fact that sperm are the smallest cell..