First things first, the best way to prevent illness is to be proactive. Whether this is the first time you’re hearing about the CDC’s recommended protocol for prevention of illness or you’ve almost memorized it, repetition is the mother of all skill, so let’s talk about the basics for a minute: Acupuncture is an effective alternative medicine that boasts a 5,000-year history treating a variety of disease conditions and has recently shown to have an effect on physiological activities, specifically immune function....

“If you have light exposure at night too close to bedtime it’s almost like your brain is seeing a sunrise at a time when it should be seeing a sunset,” says Daniel Rifkin, M.D., the medical director of Sleep Medicine Centers of Western New York. When this happens, it can throw off our body’s circadian rhythm and suppress sleep-promoting hormones like melatonin, Nerina Ramlakhan, Ph.D., physiologist, sleep expert, and author of The Little Book of Sleep: The Art of Natural Sleep, explains....

While historically, many experts saw weight and obesity as the main issue, it’s now clear that’s far from the truth. “Obesity is just another marker of metabolic health; it’s not the cause,” says neuroendocrinologist Robert Lustig, M.D., and author of the upcoming book Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine. “It’s downstream of the metabolic problem; it’s not the metabolic problem itself.” That’s a pretty big issue considering metabolic dysfunction increases your risk of complications down the road, like heart disease, stroke, heart attack, diabetes, and more, Julie Foucher-Urcuyo, M....

First, know this: All your feelings are valid—and completely normal. It’s overwhelming to find out that you have a chronic illness such as Type 2 diabetes. And it can make you feel as if you don’t have much control over your health and life right now. We get it. The very empowering silver lining is, there are a number of things you can do–from monitoring your glucose levels with the most accurate tools to tweaking your diet without depriving yourself–to make this journey more manageable....

Other research reported that for every 30-minute increase, per day, in moderate to vigorous exercise, men had a 43 percent reduced chance of developing erectile dysfunction. If you can’t do a proper push-up yet, start progressing with your knees on the floor and work up to doing just one push-up. Over time increase the amount of repetitions you can do until you can get to 10. At a minimum, you should be able to hold yourself in a “plank” position for at least 20 to 30 seconds....

“Enmeshment” means that both of you have lost your individual identities to the friendship; you share opinions, emotions, major decisions, and needs. It’s impossible to engage in self-care if you’re not in touch with your own needs and feelings! And while it’s healthy to be able to depend on your friends, it’s not healthy or sustainable to rely on one friend to meet all of your needs all the time. Burnout is inevitable....

That means, yes, serious relationships involve some sort of commitment—though not necessarily a commitment to exclusivity, not necessarily a commitment to get married someday, not necessarily a commitment to be together forever. (Though for some people, those things might be important!) Everyone might have slightly different needs and preferences, but a relationship that’s serious does involve a baseline commitment to continue being together and caring about each other indefinitely. There’s usually a direct conversation about this, according to relationship therapist Aimee Hartstein, LCSW....