What makes life worth living? Good question, huh? I just read the book When Breath Becomes Air. It is the memoir of Dr. Paul Kalanithi who died in 2015 from lung cancer at age 37. Dr. Kalanithi was a neurosurgery resident when he was diagnosed with advanced cancer. It is a beautiful book. Dr. Kalanithi…
I like to think that I am different. That the typical issues other people face are not a problem for me, like weight loss. I have been heavier than I wanted to be in the past, but as soon as I started paying attention and taking care of myself, eating right, exercising, sleeping well, the…
Are you confused by all of the seemingly conflicted nutritional advice out there? I know I am, and I’m a doctor. I actively seek out nutritional information and for the most part feel like I am well informed. Yet I still question my food choices. Both what I chose to eat for myself and my…
What did you do last weekend? I spent the whole weekend at a Masters swim meet. Sounds super fun doesn’t it? NOT. I almost didn’t go, but my husband was going to be away, and I figured instead of a weekend at home, my daughter and I could take a trip to Boston. She could…
Last weekend I ran a 10-mile race, the Mid-Winter Classic in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. I realized afterward that it has been exactly three years since I received the call that changed my life. I remembered the race, three years ago. I did not compete, but my husband did. That year the race was a few…
I have been struggling with blank page syndrome. I have tons of ideas about what I want to write about, and then when I sit down to do it, the blank page is staring at me. I cannot seem to get started. When I do finally start something, I don’t like it and don’t finish…
The new year is upon us. Time to reflect on the year that is over and consider what you want to accomplish in the year ahead. Otherwise known as New Year’s Resolutions. I have mixed feelings about NYRs. On one hand, NYRs are all about changing or establishing new habits, which is a good…
Did you see these headlines last week? The New York Times said, “Happiness Doesn’t Bring Good Health, Study Finds” and similarly, the Atlantic stated, “Happiness Doesn’t Help You Live Longer.” These headlines came from a study published in the Lancet last week on happiness and mortality. It was a large prospective study, which lends validity…
Happy and healthy go hand in hand. Happier people are healthier. They live longer, have less chronic disease, become sick less often, and if they do get sick, they get better faster. Being happy is clearly in our best interest, and we do have some control over our own happiness. We control approximately 40 percent…