June 7, 2025 — Mental health often, but not always, improves after metabolic and bariatric surgery. But new research tells us that this is not really a direct consequence of weight reduction. Instead, it seems that better mental health very likely comes from the reduction in experiences of weight stigma. In fact, Larissa McGarrity and colleagues found that the […]
May 21, 2025 — We do not think for a minute that Lilly or Novo Nordisk will be pursuing any sort of mental health indication for semaglutide or tirzepatide. But it increasingly appears that the effect of GLP-1 use for either diabetes or obesity is more positive than negative for mental health. A new systematic review and meta-analysis in […]
October 22, 2024 — Adolescence is hard. With respect to mental health, especially of late, the environment is especially harsh. Even harsher if an adolescent is living with obesity. So a recent study in JAMA Pediatrics showing teens with obesity are having fewer suicidal thoughts when they get a GLP-1 is welcome news. Authors Liya Kerem and Joshua Stokar […]
October 21, 2024 — “We conclude that exercise and video gaming have differential effects on the brain, which may help individuals tailor their lifestyle choices to promote mental and cognitive health, respectively, across the lifespan.” This conclusion comes from a preprint published on PsyArXiv. Science, health, and lifestyle reporters got even more bold with their conclusions. For instance, the […]
August 18, 2024 — The mental health of youth is in serious decline around the world – a decline that is a mirror image of rising obesity. These overlapping tragedies may be independent. But common threads are easy enough to find. An editorial from the Lancet Psychiatry distills perspective from the new Lancet Psychiatry Commission on Youth Mental Health: […]
May 26, 2024 — Skimming the headlines, it would be easy to think that the combination of mobile phones and social media are responsible for quite a range of our current ills – including mental health and obesity. If you want to dig deeper, you can find a whole tome on the subject from Jonathan Haidt. He has woven […]
March 17, 2024 — Professor Bruce Hood at the University of Bristol wants us to know that we can indeed learn to be happier. He has been teaching the Science of Happiness there since 2018 and measuring the results over time. Collaborating with Catherine Hobbs, Sarah Jelbert, and Laurie Santos in Higher Education, he reports that coursework in positive […]
January 23, 2024 — A new study of social isolation in people living with obesity tells us that this might be among the most important complications of obesity. In fact, it points to the possibility that reducing isolation could yield longer lives for people living with obesity. These results are nothing more than the observation of an association. But […]
December 25, 2023 — Yes, we are ready for a little lot more peace and goodwill in this world we have filled lately with too much pain and strife. Thousands of children dying in a war of retribution, famine, gun violence, mistrust, and animosity. It is all simply too much to bear at times. But we have options. “The […]
September 27, 2023 — Travelling on a train recently you couldn’t help but overhear two women deep in conversation about a mutual obsession with food, including emotional triggers that pushed them towards chocolate and pizza. They shared feeling guilty about a perceived lack of willpower around food and regularly rummaging through the fridge looking for tasty treats to help […]
