The hottest Health & Wellness Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Health & Wellness Topics

Not Blaming Fat People For Failed Weight Loss Isn't Enough

Weight and Healthcare • 738 implied HN points • 23 Aug 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Weight Loss Healthcare Weight Stigma Fat Activism Body positivity
  1. Healthcare practitioners often blame and shame fat patients for failed intentional weight loss, creating barriers to compassionate care.
  2. The weight loss industry acknowledges the failure of behavioral weight loss interventions, but their push for risky methods like drugs and surgeries is dangerous.
  3. Instead of blaming fat people for weight loss failure, healthcare should focus on respecting and affirming their humanity while supporting their health.

Extra! Extra! Sunlight is Good For You!!!

The Corbett Report • 23 implied HN points • 25 Jan 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Preventive Health Public Health Nutrition Exercise Health Policy
  1. Sunlight in moderation is genuinely good for you — it can calm inflammation and may help reduce risks of autoimmune problems like multiple sclerosis, so getting outside a bit each day can support your immune system.
  2. Powerful industries (Big Food, Big Pharma, and global health interests) have financial reasons to keep people unhealthy, and their influence can shape public messaging and discourage simple healthy choices.
  3. Grassroots efforts to promote healthy eating, exercise, and sensible sun exposure are valuable, but watch out for political co‑option or techy schemes; focus on practical, low‑tech steps to Make Everyone Healthy Again.

The point of perspiration

Jeff Giesea • 219 implied HN points • 30 Apr 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Fitness Mental health Yoga Self-care Mindfulness
  1. The point of perspiration is a moment when effort shifts to a flow state, making tasks feel easier and more natural. It's like finding a groove where you forget about your worries and enjoy what you're doing.
  2. We often experience this point in different areas of life, like parenting or work, where after a struggle, we get into a rhythm and just go with the flow.
  3. Instead of dreading the tough moments, we should embrace them as a chance to find our flow. Anticipating the sweat can lead to greater acceptance and joy in our activities.
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Can Biotin Help Detoxify Oxalate?

Harnessing the Power of Nutrients • 1318 implied HN points • 06 Feb 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Nutrition Supplements Detoxification Alternative Medicine
  1. The hypothesis presented suggests that biotin-dependent enzyme pyruvate carboxylase may detoxify oxalate by converting it to formate, which could then be utilized in methylation or further metabolism.
  2. Biotin deficiency might lead to oxalate intolerance, implying the importance of biotin in promoting oxalate clearance.
  3. The interesting discussion around biotin and oxalate interactions opens up possibilities for further research into how biotin may play a role in detoxifying oxalate, potentially impacting how we approach certain health conditions.

The Greatest Error in Microbiome Research

Harnessing the Power of Nutrients • 1198 implied HN points • 03 Mar 23
🏥 Health & Wellness
  1. Lab animals, like rats and mice, eat their own microbiome as a normal part of their diet, which researchers often overlook in microbiome studies
  2. The process of coprophagy, where animals consume their feces, is more common in smaller herbivorous mammals and serves as a nutritional strategy for nutrient recycling and absorption
  3. Food and vitamin absorption in the colon may offer some support to colonic cells, but its impact on overall nutritional status for the body is likely minimal compared to the small intestine

How Are You Crazy?

What's Important? • 36 implied HN points • 18 Jan 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Mental health Relationships Therapy Neurodiversity Marriage Parenting Self-Improvement
  1. Understand your partner's cognitive strengths and their matching weaknesses — a trait that feels like a superpower in one setting can be a curse at home, and recognising that breeds compassion.
  2. Speak about feelings instead of blaming — saying how something makes you feel (not what they did wrong) lowers arguments and invites cooperative problem-solving.
  3. Invest in self-awareness and couples work — therapy and deliberate inner growth build resilience and help marriages survive big crises.

The alarm hurt today

My Home Office Hacks • 2 implied HN points • 09 Mar 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Sleep Productivity Mental health Routine Lifestyle
  1. Daylight savings makes mornings lighter, so it's a good opportunity to try getting up earlier. Starting at 6am during the transition can feel more manageable than jumping straight to 5am.
  2. An early-morning routine can boost solitude, mood, and productivity, but forcing a 5am wake-up can create anxiety and even make you wake up too early.
  3. If a newsletter stops arriving and it’s not in spam, your Gmail might be full or marking mail undeliverable; deleting unnecessary messages and freeing up space can restore delivery.

Which Arm Should You Get Your COVID-19 Booster In?

LIL Science • 727 implied HN points • 21 Aug 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Immunity Vaccination COVID-19 Research Public Health
  1. The arm in which you receive your COVID-19 booster might make a difference in your immune response.
  2. Getting the booster in the same arm as the previous dose could lead to higher neutralizing antibodies and specific T cells.
  3. Memory B cells may persist in the draining lymph node, potentially aiding quicker immune response upon re-exposure to the antigen.

Heart Health Workshop Puts Weight Stigma and Poor Science on Display

Weight and Healthcare • 698 implied HN points • 18 Oct 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Weight Stigma Heart Health Workshop
  1. The workshop highlighted weight stigma issues in healthcare, emphasizing the harmful effects of reinforcing stereotypes based on body weight.
  2. The promotion of weight loss as a solution to health issues was criticized, raising questions about the effectiveness and ethics of focusing on weight reduction.
  3. The financial ties between speakers at the workshop and pharmaceutical companies were exposed, leading to concerns about potential conflicts of interest in the healthcare industry.

Your brain 🧠 on exercise: How movement fuels you

Brain Pizza • 1059 implied HN points • 21 Dec 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Exercise Brain health Cognition Metabolism Mental health
  1. Aerobic exercise is great for your brain. It helps improve mood, increases brain volume, and boosts cognitive function.
  2. Resistance training is also important. Regular strength workouts can help maintain brain health, especially as we age.
  3. Metabolism is more complex than just calories in and out. Regular exercise and what we eat play big roles in how our body burns energy.

Movers and Shakers: Losing Your Voice

Rory’s Always On Newsletter • 793 implied HN points • 15 Oct 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Parkinson's Treatment Therapy
  1. The podcast episode discusses the lesser-known symptom of speech impairment in Parkinson's disease.
  2. People with Parkinson's, like Mark Mardell and Gillian Lacey-Solymar, can experience significant voice changes.
  3. DBS treatment for Parkinson's can have side effects on speech, but specialized training like LSVT can help improve voice quality.

The Uncertain Origins of Aspirin

Asimov Press • 373 implied HN points • 14 Jul 25
🏥 Health & Wellness Pharmacy Medicine History Epidemiology Research
  1. The origins of aspirin are complicated and often mixed up with myths and folklore. Many believe it comes from ancient uses of willow bark, but the evidence is not clear.
  2. While willow bark contains salicin, which can turn into salicylic acid in the body, it takes an impractical amount to achieve effects similar to modern aspirin. Real studies on its effectiveness in pain relief are limited.
  3. Aspirin's actual history can be traced back to the late 18th century, with significant contributions from figures like Reverend Stone and chemists at Bayer, showcasing how important accurate references and evidence are in understanding scientific developments.

Should Kentucky spend $42 million on ibogaine research? 5 Questions for drug abuse researcher William Stoops

The Microdose • 412 implied HN points • 16 Jan 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Addiction Treatment Research Funding
  1. Ibogaine research proposal in Kentucky faces skepticism and concerns about effectiveness and safety.
  2. Complications in ibogaine research include lack of rigorous scientific evidence and potential dangerous cardiac effects.
  3. Alternative ways to spend $42 million to address opioid use disorder, including improving access to evidence-based treatments and behavioral interventions.

The 3 things Bryan Johnson is missing from his longevity routine.

Harnessing the Power of Nutrients • 499 implied HN points • 17 Dec 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Longevity Anti-aging Self-experimentation Healthy Lifestyle
  1. Bryan Johnson is dedicated to finding anti-aging strategies and sharing them with the world, even if his methods are extreme.
  2. It's important to seek high-impact actions that can improve longevity without sacrificing important aspects of life like relationships, enjoyment, and financial freedom.
  3. Taking steps to optimize health and longevity sooner rather than later is crucial, as aging processes can accelerate and become irreversible if left unaddressed.

Reducing Stigma by Ending the Pathologizing of Fatness - Part 1

Weight and Healthcare • 718 implied HN points • 12 Jul 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Weight Stigma Healthcare Research Interventions
  1. Pathologizing fatness contributes to weight stigma and can dehumanize fat individuals, perpetuating discrimination and exclusion.
  2. Traditional weight stigma reduction methods that shift blame or rely on empathy fail to address the root cause of pathologizing fatness and are ineffective in dismantling weight stigma.
  3. Efforts to eradicate weight stigma should focus on depathologizing fatness, creating interventions that challenge stigma's underlying foundations and embracing collaboration with stigmatized communities.

Op-ed on the US Dietary Guidelines: the problems and how to fix them

Unsettled Science • 1158 implied HN points • 22 Nov 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Nutrition Dietary Guidelines Public Health Wellness Trends Food Science
  1. The US Dietary Guidelines have some serious flaws that need addressing. Many people think these guidelines aren't based on solid science.
  2. Experts are suggesting changes to improve the guidelines. They believe the rules should be more flexible and better reflect current nutrition research.
  3. There's a call for a broader discussion on diet recommendations. It’s important for everyone to have a say in what healthy eating looks like.

What Happens When You Stop Doomscrolling

OK Doomer • 347 implied HN points • 23 Jul 25
🏥 Health & Wellness Mental health Personal Growth Community support Emotional Wellness Social Behavior
  1. Doomscrolling can feel like aimlessly consuming bad news, but really it's about trying to find information to stay safe in tough times.
  2. Many people avoid discussing serious issues like climate change or politics, which leads to a reliance on uplifting content that ignores real problems.
  3. When you stop doomscrolling, you can find better communities that help you face anxieties and encourage real conversations about important issues.

You can just not do things...

David Spinks' Newsletter • 22 implied HN points • 02 Feb 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Mindfulness Self-care Mental health Work Life Personal Growth Parenting
  1. You don’t have to keep doing more to find meaning or calm; choosing not to do things can create real spaciousness and a sense of enoughness.
  2. When you feel pressured to start something, pause and ask what that urge is really looking for or afraid of, and allow yourself to feel those emotions instead of instantly acting.
  3. Let action come from ease and joy — if it feels like being rather than doing, it’s worth doing; for unavoidable tasks, surrender to them but still check whether you truly must do them.

Is Dry January a Good Idea?

Are You Okay? • 1078 implied HN points • 03 Jan 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Alcohol Addiction Mental health Self-reflection Recovery
  1. Alcohol use can have negative effects on our bodies and minds, even if it seems pleasurable in the moment.
  2. The appropriate amount of alcohol to drink varies for each person, and self-awareness is crucial in evaluating alcohol consumption.
  3. Identifying and addressing the underlying reasons for drinking, such as uncomfortable emotions or bodily sensations, is important to develop healthier habits.

I'm sick / Hot water bottles / Universe breakers

The Egg And The Rock • 707 implied HN points • 10 Mar 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Health Recovery Support Wellness Illness
  1. The author has been ill with Covid, leading to slow recovery and brain fog affecting work.
  2. Paid subscribers are being appreciated and subscriptions are suspended for a month to reduce pressure.
  3. Excitement over a recent discovery of mature galaxies in the early universe and plans to write about it when energy levels recover.

Why Leukemia Risk is Higher in Hispanic/Latino Children

Holodoxa • 179 implied HN points • 22 Apr 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Evolutionary biology
  1. Hispanic/Latino children have a higher risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, potentially due to a risk variant more common in their population.
  2. Understanding genetic histories and population histories is crucial in explaining health disparities and disease risks.
  3. The study highlights how a specific gene variant, influenced by evolutionary selection pressures, can contribute to differential disease risk across populations.

10x happiness increases are possible, and this is an underrated fact

Sasha's 'Newsletter' • 2454 implied HN points • 14 Mar 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Mental health Therapy Physical health Social Connections Medication
  1. Happiness is not a fixed state; significant increases in happiness are achievable through various factors like medication, career growth, physical activities, and personal growth.
  2. Factors contributing to increased happiness include therapy, meditation, improved social connections, financial stability, and positive life changes.
  3. Belief in static happiness levels may limit people from realizing their potential for significant happiness increases, preventing them from actively working towards a happier life.

Outbreak Outlook - National - Dec 14

Force of Infection • 72 implied HN points • 14 Dec 25
🏥 Health & Wellness Infectious Disease Epidemiology Public Health Disease Surveillance Food Safety Animal health Outbreak Response
  1. Flu season has begun — outpatient ILI is above baseline and test positivity rose to 8.1%, with H3N2 making up about 86% of samples and hotspots in New York, New Jersey, Colorado, and Louisiana. A small Thanksgiving-related dip in pediatric cases looks temporary and activity usually rebounds in the following weeks.
  2. COVID-19 is starting to climb from recent lows, with wastewater and regional indicators rising (especially in the Northeast), though severe illness remains very low and increases in ED visits and hospitalizations are small. Expect a typical winter uptick even if current burden is still low.
  3. RSV is still low nationally but is increasing in most states, with higher wastewater activity in places like DC, Florida, Kentucky, Colorado, and Louisiana, while ED visits and test positivity remain well below last year. Other respiratory viruses (adenovirus, parainfluenza) are still active, rhinoviruses are falling, and human coronaviruses and metapneumovirus are beginning to rise.

Study Tests the Validity of Weight Loss Research Claims

Weight and Healthcare • 758 implied HN points • 29 Apr 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Weight Loss Research Health Benefits Dieting
  1. Weight loss research often relies on the energy deficit approach despite a high failure rate, leading to misrepresentation of evidence.
  2. Claims suggesting 5-10% weight loss offers significant health benefits lack substantial evidence and may not be accurate.
  3. Weight loss studies tend to overlook adverse effects of dieting, neglect other clinical outcomes beyond weight loss, and maintain an overly optimistic tone despite high failure rates observed in long-term interventions.

Higher-Weight People Have Best Hip Surgery Outcomes in New Study

Weight and Healthcare • 698 implied HN points • 22 Jul 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Medical Research Patient Care
  1. The outcomes of hip surgery for higher-weight individuals were found to be better in a new study, which challenges common beliefs about weight and healthcare.
  2. It's important to consider various factors impacting surgical outcomes beyond just weight, such as individual characteristics, bias, and pre-surgery weight loss attempts.
  3. Even if there are complications, all individuals, regardless of weight, should have access to healthcare and surgeries to reduce pain and improve quality of life.

Friday Q&A: masks; long COVID; new COVID treatments; & waning immunity

Are You Okay? • 698 implied HN points • 28 Apr 23
🏥 Health & Wellness COVID Long Covid Masks Immunity
  1. The effectiveness of population-level mask mandates is debatable, but wearing a high-quality, well-fitted mask consistently can provide some individual protection against infections.
  2. It's important to acknowledge that COVID is a persistent risk, and while vaccines and immunity help, individuals should assess their personal risk tolerance and take actions to mitigate their exposure.
  3. Stay informed and proactive in managing personal health, including staying up-to-date on vaccinations, addressing underlying health conditions, and boosting overall immunity through nutrition, exercise, sleep, and stress management.

The Truth About Courage

Play Permissionless • 139 implied HN points • 14 May 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Mental health Self-Improvement Courage
  1. Internal barriers to courage often find support in the world around us, such as fear of damaging our ego or social status.
  2. Overcoming these barriers involves understanding and reframing the opinions of those who mock failure - their views may not align with our values or goals.
  3. Many fears lose their power when we make them specific, evaluate them objectively, and question the worst-case scenarios, revealing that the risks are often not as severe as perceived.

Where There's a Will, There's a Way

Ladyparts • 698 implied HN points • 28 Jul 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Mortality Personal Reflection
  1. Having a will is crucial for planning your affairs, and many people, especially men, avoid thinking about it.
  2. A significant 67% of Americans do not have any estate planning, indicating a widespread lack of preparedness for the inevitable.
  3. Taking steps to create a will and consider your mortality is essential to protect your loved ones and ensure your wishes are carried out.

Why You Need THIS Supplement On a High-Protein Diet

Harnessing the Power of Nutrients • 1837 implied HN points • 08 Oct 22
🏥 Health & Wellness Supplements Nutrition Fitness
  1. A high-protein diet may lead to biotin deficiency, especially for athletes and pregnant individuals.
  2. Many biotin supplements on the market have doses that are too high, causing adverse effects.
  3. It is crucial to understand the importance of balancing protein intake with sufficient biotin to avoid long-term neurological issues.