When you are facing stressful situations with another person, is it better for them to stay calm or be stressed out alongside you? Though it may seem intuitive that it is preferable for one party to remain calm, a study published in Frontiers in Psychology suggests that when the stress is validated, reactivity can decrease, but only for women.

However you like to take time for yourself, from reading to hiking to playing video games, leisure time can be a vital way of relaxing, promoting good mental and physical health, boosting social relationships, and inducing happiness. But whether we fully experience those benefits, a new study suggests, may depend on the way we view leisure time itself.

Stress, anxiety, productivity: mindfulness is often touted as a solution to nearly everything. But research shows that you can actually take meditation too far.

On September 1st, 2019, the category five storm Hurricane Dorian slammed into the Bahamas with gusts of 354 kilometres per hour and storm surges of over six metres. Instead of sweeping up what it could before steadily moving on, Dorian was patient, pummelling the islands for over forty hours straight. More than 70,000 people were displaced and 13,000 homes destroyed. On land, as the morgues filled up, bodies were piled high in refrigerated containers.

Scientists say they may have discovered why stress makes hair turn white, and a potential way of stopping it happening without reaching for the dye (Readers may find some of the details distressing). In experiments on mice, stem cells that control skin and hair colour became damaged after intense stress. In a chance finding, dark-furred mice turned completely white within weeks. The US and Brazilian researchers said this avenue was worth exploring further to develop a drug that prevents hair colour loss from ageing.

Most people are only thinking about themselves. It's a simple concept, however, one that's hard for a lot of people to grasp. If you can train your mind to realize that most people are too self-absorbed to care about your actions you will sleep better at night.

2020 has been a stressful year. Iceland wants to help. A group developed an app that will let you record and broadcast a scream, pent up by the pandemic, into the Icelandic wilderness.

According to the Stress in America survey from the American Psychological Association, released in May, this year marks the first significant increase in reported stress since the survey began in 2007. On a 10-point scale, the average stress level is 5.9. For parents with children younger than 18, it’s 6.7.

The quest to explore Mars and more distant worlds is more than an engineering challenge: it’s a challenge to the human mind

There’s a lot that can stress you out these days, but Tara Calishain has recommendations for web sites that can help you take the edge off.

Fight-or-flight response nerves pump out hormone that wipes out pigmentation cells

For many Americans, the anxiety surfaced on Election Day of 2016. As the possibility of a Hillary Clinton victory began to slip away—and the possibility of a Donald Trump presidency became more and more certain—the contours of the new age of American anxiety began to take shape. In a 2017 column, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank described this phenomenon as "Trump Hypertensive Unexplained Disorder":

New research from The University of Texas at San Antonio reveals that youths who experience intrusive police stops are at risk of heightened emotional distress. The findings come from a study by assistant professors Dylan Jackson, Chantal Fahmy and Alexander Testa in UTSA’s Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, who collaborated with professor Michael Vaughn from St. Louis University’s College for Public Health and Social Justice.

It seems like there’s so much to be stressed out about these days — from work to relationships to finances to world events. There are bills to pay, misbehaving kids, angry bosses, home repairs … it seems like the list of stressors never ends. (We may not be fighting saber-toothed tigers like our cave-dwelling ancestors — but we’ve got plenty of issues of our own.)

You’re preparing for an important meeting, and the pressure’s on. If it’s bad now, how will you cope when you actually have to perform? Will you fly? Or will you sink?

New research suggests that employees use cyberloafing to cope with abusive and stressful workplace conditions, such as being treated in a disrespectful manner or facing unreasonable deadlines. The findings appear in the journal Computers in Human Behavior.

Changing jobs isn’t always the answer.

You know that petting your dog feels good, now science is backing you up. A recent study conducted by Washington State University scientists found that cuddling and stroking a cat or dog for just a few minutes can reduce your cortisol levels. “Just 10 minutes can have a significant impact,” Patricia Pendry, an associate professor in WSU’s Department of Human Development, said in a statement. “Students in our study that interacted with cats and dogs had a significant reduction in cortisol, a major stress hormone.”

The long read: It is sold as a force that can help us cope with the ravages of capitalism, but with its inward focus, mindful meditation may be the enemy of activism

“Burnout” is big this year. The term has been applied to everything from being tired at the weekend to the malaise of an entire generation. Now the World Health Organization, an international body to which many others look for guidance, is giving burnout victims legitimacy by including what it calls “burn-out” in the latest version of its International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health problems, a handbook for recognized medical conditions. It’s the first time time burnout has been recognized by the organization, Tarik Jasarevic, a WHO spokesman, told reporters.