Winter 2016
Table of Contents
The Good Health Issue
In Depth
Explore SectionFrom the Editors
Mind + Body + Community
Winter can be a difficult season. Shorter days and bleak weather leave us drained of energy. And then come the holidays, with celebrations and family get-togethers, which are a source of joy for some and anxiety for others. If we succumb to the weather and the stress, we might start mistaking our mental and physical struggles for personal failure. We’ve all heard the message that our health is our own problem, that if we get sick or depressed, it’s because we did something wrong or are not “taking care of ourselves.”
Read moreGabor Maté: How to Build a Culture of Good Health
Physical well-being depends on more than keeping our bodies fit. Emotions and the people who come into our lives matter just as much.
Gabor Maté, M.D.Income Inequality Is a Health Hazard—Even for the Rich
A public health researcher explains why life expectancy in the United States is falling, and it has to do with income inequality rising.
Yessenia Funes
How Strong Friendships Defy Dementia
The Momentia movement uses strong social ties to ward off the effects of Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Marcus Harrison Green
Why Manning Up Is the Worst Thing to Do
Can we cure the toxicity of male trauma and the resulting illnesses it creates?
Mark Greene
The Curious Case of the Antidepressant, Anti-Anxiety Backyard Garden
Whether it's microbes in the dirt or fresh air—or both—researchers do know this: Gardening is strong medicine.
Daphne Miller
It’s OK If Winter Makes You Sad
Four scientific strategies for an emotionally authentic holiday season.
Jason Marsh
After Trauma: A Graphic Journey Through Wild Healing
In this collection of watercolor illustrations, a comics artist illustrates her journey through grief after the sudden death of her first child.
Leela Corman
6 Cities Designing for Health
From Detroit to Edinburgh, these cities are helping residents live more healthful and equitable lives.
Anna Clark
How College Students Are Resisting the Mental-Illness Stigma
Student-led organizations are bringing mental illness into the light to lower the suicide rates of young people.
Donna Jackel
My Year of Magical Tidying
How getting rid of two-thirds of my belongings created more space for joy.
Erin Sagen
What Our Breasts Are Telling Us
Author Florence Williams and her daughter discovered they had high levels of toxins—like flame retardants—in their bodies. Getting rid of the chemicals was harder than they expected.
Sarah van Gelder
Latinos Live Longest Despite Poverty. Here’s Their Secret
U.S. Hispanics who pass down a tradition of food, family, and healing are healthier. But can they sustain that as generations become more assimilated?
Jasmine Aguilera
Drug Use Down, Hope Up: A Canoe Journey Inspires Native Youth
Reversing the trauma of assimilation isn’t easy, but tribes believe that bringing ancestral values directly to the youth is the answer.
Yessenia Funes
Solutions We Love
Explore SectionThe Deal That Brought the Colorado River Back to the Sea
A new amendment to the 1944 water treaty between Mexico and the United States aims to create a fair, cooperative system for restoring the Colorado River.
Diondra Powers
People We Love
How to Stop a Pipeline: The People Behind the Unist’ot’en Encampment
In British Columbia, a clan of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation has reoccupied its traditional lands in order to stop several proposed energy pipelines.
Tony Manno
Waging Life in a War Zone
From Gaza’s colorful neighborhood to its underground theater, resistance is an art.
Jen Marlowe
The New Face of Hunger: How Statistics Underestimate the Food Problem
Today, 800 million of us are considered “hungry,” but we produce enough calories to feed us all. Rather than a lack of food, we’re dealing with a lack of democracy.
Frances Moore Lappé
The Page That Counts