Each stage has a different function, and getting enough Stage 3 (also known as slow-wave sleep, deep sleep, and delta sleep), is essential if you want to wake up feeling restored. Here’s what happens while you’re in deep sleep, plus how to make sure you’re spending enough time in this stage nightly. About 20 to 25% of our time asleep is spent in this stage. This is also the stage in which delta brain waves—slow waves that signal relaxation—start to occur....

Grof, who is still considered a thought leader in spiritual psychology, has since taught this method of breathwork to hundreds of facilitators (a list of practitioners who are Grof-certified to teach the method can be found here), and it’s now a popular technique for safely exploring the subconscious. As alluded to earlier, it requires participants to get really comfortable: The technique is typically performed lying down with the eyes covered. Music plays the entire time, and while facilitators are present, they don’t speak much and instead let the music guide the experience....

As a result, we reinforce a behavioral pattern in our brains that says, “You need to eat this to help you feel better.” When we do this, it reduces or blunts the stress activation system, which does actually make us feel better in the moment. In other words, we use yummy, addictive foods to self-regulate our stress-activation system, which involves the adrenal glands and the stress hormone cortisol. And that’s just the beginning of the story....

But is there a magic number of times you should hop under the spray, be it a quick wash or luxurious lather? Here’s what the derms say. Of course, it entirely depends on your lifestyle habits and schedule. To start, there are a few factors to consider: On a similar beat, consider the water in your area: “If you live in an area of hard water, where there is a lot of calcium and other minerals in the water, you may want to limit showering,” says Ciraldo....

But in the last year, it’s also become the unlikely home to another beauty consumer and brand: The kind that cross-references the Environmental Working Group’s website on a regular basis and whose routine defaults to less is more. Sephora, in what seemed nearly unthinkable only a few years prior, became a clean beauty hub—if not the go-to clean retailer for many. But by the time they launched their clean section last year—which included a verified stamp of approval, designated section on the website, and an official list of nasties—things had changed....

The menstrual cycle also affects our sensitivity to the insulin hormone and, in turn, our insulin resistance. In the beginning half of the cycle, we are more sensitive to the effects of insulin and therefore able to take up glucose into the cells more effectively. This means that in the follicular phase, before ovulation, women are better able to efficiently metabolize carbohydrates for energy. One reason for this is that estrogen increases insulin sensitivity....

Of course, truly sustainable diets need to take human livelihoods into account too. “Sustainability encompasses not only the environmental but also the social and economic equity aspects of the food system,” Kristin Reynolds, Ph.D., chair of food studies at The New School and lecturer at Yale School of the Environment, explains. In a study published earlier this year1, Rose and a team of researchers measured the carbon and water footprint of 16,800 Americans’ daily diets....