HappierHealthier.Blog
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Lily King, ‘Heart the Lover’, A Story of Love in Young and Older Age
A tender, fragile book by a talented writer (this book review includes some spoilers) Article originally published in Counter Arts on Medium on March 25, 2026 You’d think that with all the suffering in the world, we would like to read only happy books. And some of us women are, indeed, addicted to romance novels. But for all those women, there are many who read horror fiction, which is hard for me to countenance, especially…
Losing Weight with Tasty Food and Moderate Exercise at 50
Weight loss can be easy with the right mix of nutrition and exercise. Article originally published in Middle-Pause on Medium on March 11, 2026 I’m almost fifty years old and, despite my interest in health and wellness, I have fatty liver disease and dyslipidemia. I eat healthy, but with my body making less estrogen, my cholesterol levels went up, and so did my triglycerides. True, I do eat my share of sweets, even though fewer…
‘Altered Traits’: The Goals of Meditation and Some of Its Risks (Part 2)
Article originally published in Counter Arts on Medium on July 29, 2024 In Part 1, I introduced the book Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body (Avery, 2017), by science writer Daniel Goleman and psychologist and neuroscientist Richard J. Davidson, and I discussed the general goals of meditation, types of meditation, and health benefits of meditation, some of them arising through lasting changes on the brain. Here’s Part 2 The authors…
‘Altered Traits’: The Goals of Meditation and Some of Its Risks
Article originally published in Counter Arts on Medium on July 29, 2024 Part 1 I’ve been wondering for many years about meditation styles and their effects on biology and behavior. After about eight years of daily practice, I still am, because I’ve been picking my way through meditation more by spending time with myself than learning about it from others. This had a lot to do with the fact that I kept coming across books…
We’re Not Getting Any Younger. Or Can We?
Dr. Kara Fitzgerald’s research on DNA methylation (lowering your bio age via nutrition and lifestyle) suggests we can, actually, get younger. Originally published in Middle-Pause on Medium on January 3, 2026 I’ve written elsewhere a long review of Dr. Kara Fitzgerald’s book Younger You: Reduce Your Bio Age and Live Longer, Better (Hachette Go, 2022), but I feel that review has not found enough readers, and so I’d like to reiterate some of its points…
Some Recent Modern, Elegant We’ve Moved Photo Announcement Cards
I love experimenting with colors and creating photo collages. The result this month is a series of photo moving announcements featuring multiple photos, accompanied by the text “We’ve Moved! Come visit us soon!” along with the new address, phone number, and names of family members. The colors I have chosen are wine red, two shades of turquoise blue, ocean blue, aquamarine teal, plum pink, and others. Here are some of the designs, some more minimalist…
How My Weakness for Chocolate Led Me to Better Health Choices
Originally posted in Middle-Pause on Medium on June 1, 2025 I have only a few weaknesses when it comes to food, but one reigns supreme: chocolate. I don’t have to have it all the time, at least not daily, but if I buy chocolate, I will eat it rather quickly. If it’s not dark chocolate, I may eat the whole 100-gram tablet in one day. If it’s dark chocolate, then I’ll eat one, two, three,…
OpenAI Model Writes Literary Metafiction on Grief and AI. An Analysis
Sam Altman said he was “really struck” by it. I was more confused than struck, which is why I was driven to unpick it. Originally published in Counter Arts on Medium on March 20, 2025 I admit I was mesmerized as I started reading “A Machine-Shaped Hand,” because the machine dove in with a powerful voice. And it wasn’t that of a robot either — at least not the way Ishiguro imagined it in Klara and the Sun.…
Microplastics Now up to One 200th of Our Brains. What We Can Do
How to fight plastic pollution in ourselves and our environment Originally posted in Middle-Pause on Medium on March 5, 2025 I read a highly distressing article a few days ago, spurred by nothing other than a poem: “Your Brain May Have a Spoon’s Worth of Microplastics.” The poem is about a man who struggles with dementia and about how little control we have on what we remember — and, ultimately, on what happens in the brain. The…
My Dance with Blood Pressure and How to Take Your Blood Pressure Correctly
Both lowering and monitoring BP involve more than just a few elements. A version of this article was originally posted in Middle-Pause on Medium on February 19, 2025 I’ve been taking my blood pressure for a while now, but I wasn’t taking into account everything that such a reading involves. Also, my position, on a couch with the arm in my lap, wasn’t right. My situation does not surprise me, because I did learn how…
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