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Scientists find a simple daily routine linked to less pain and depression
A consistent daily routine may do more for your health than you realize. Researchers at the University of Missouri have found that older adults who follow regular daily schedules tend to experience less physical pain and fewer symptoms of depression, even when they struggle to get a good night’s sleep.
The findings suggest that everyday habits, such as waking up, eating meals, socializing, and going to bed at consistent times, may play an important role in physical and mental well-being. By helping the body maintain its natural internal clock, a predictable routine could offer health benefits that extend beyond improved sleep.
The discovery could be especially important for older adults, who frequently experience sleep difficulties. According to the National Council on Aging, roughly half of adults age 60 and older report symptoms of insomnia, a condition that can make it difficult to fall asleep, stay asleep, or get restful sleep.
Daily Routines Linked to Less Pain and Depression
To investigate the relationship between sleep, daily habits, and overall health, Eunjin Tracy, an assistant professor in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Missouri, examined survey responses from 67 older adults. Among the participants, 37 reported experiencing insomnia.
As researchers expected, those with insomnia generally reported more physical pain and higher levels of depression than participants without the condition. However, another pattern emerged when Tracy examined their daily routines.
Participants who maintained more consistent schedules tended to report less pain and fewer depressive symptoms, regardless of their sleep quality. This suggests that keeping regular daily habits may be associated with better health even when sleep problems persist.
“Regardless of sleep quality, those who reported having a regular daily routine had lower levels of physical pain and less depression compared to those without a daily routine,” Tracy said. “If we are consistent with when we wake up, eat, work or study, interact with others and go to bed, those time cues help synchronize our internal body clocks. Over the long term, that seems to be linked with improved health outcomes.”
Why Your Body’s Internal Clock Matters
One possible explanation involves the circadian rhythm, the body’s natural 24-hour timing system. This internal clock helps coordinate when we feel awake or sleepy and influences numerous biological processes, including hormone activity, metabolism, and mood.
Rather than operating independently of our surroundings, the circadian system responds to signals that help it keep time. Light and darkness are especially important, but regular activities such as eating, working, interacting with others, and sleeping can also provide timing cues.
When these signals follow a predictable pattern, they help keep the body’s biological rhythms aligned. Irregular schedules, on the other hand, can interfere with that coordination.
“When we regulate our circadian rhythm well, our bodies function well, but if it gets too distracted, our bodies don’t function as well,” Tracy said.
Although the study did not establish that regular routines directly reduce pain or depression, the findings point to circadian regulation as one possible explanation for the connection.
The Hidden Effects of Social Jet Lag
Even relatively small changes in daily schedules may disrupt the body’s internal clock. One common example is social jet lag, which occurs when a person’s sleep schedule shifts between workdays and days off.
Someone who wakes up early throughout the week but stays up late and sleeps in on weekends may experience this mismatch. The resulting disruption resembles some of the effects of traveling across time zones, even though the person has never left home.
Tracy suggests that maintaining reasonably consistent schedules throughout the entire week, including weekends, may help limit these disruptions and support healthier circadian rhythms.
“As someone who wakes up and goes to bed at the same time every day, I think a daily routine can be helpful for people of all ages across their lifespan,” Tracy said. “There is growing awareness about the concept of social jet lag — waking up and going to bed at different times on weekends compared to weekdays — and the disruptions it causes to our circadian rhythm, so hopefully this research helps more people consider the health benefits of a daily routine. Since one-third of our lives will be spent sleeping, I think health and well-being research should be looked at holistically from a 24-hour perspective and not just focus on when we are awake.”
A Simple Habit With Potential Health Benefits
The research highlights an aspect of healthy living that can be easy to overlook. While getting enough quality sleep remains important, the consistency of activities throughout the day may also be connected to how people feel physically and emotionally.
Because the study relied on survey data from a relatively small group of older adults, it cannot prove that adopting a regular routine will relieve pain or depression. Larger studies would be needed to establish whether changing daily schedules directly improves these outcomes.
Still, the findings suggest that a predictable daily routine may be a useful component of a broader approach to health, particularly for people experiencing insomnia.
For older adults and potentially people of other ages, simple habits such as maintaining regular waking times, eating meals on a consistent schedule, and limiting major changes in weekend sleep patterns may help support the body’s natural rhythms.
The study, “Behavioral-social rhythms and insomnia symptoms: associations with pain, body mass index, and depressive symptoms among older adults,” was published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine.
A new fiber supplement could help millions suffering from irritable bowel syndrome
A specially designed fiber supplement may offer a promising new way to improve gut health for millions of people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Researchers at Edith Cowan University (ECU) have developed and tested a fiber combination that supports beneficial gut bacteria without making common digestive symptoms worse.
The research team at ECU’s Nutrition and Health Innovation Research Institute (NHIRI) found that the supplement, called ur gut®, improved gut health in people with IBS without increasing abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea, or constipation.
IBS affects people around the world, including nearly 11 percent of Australians. Although its exact cause remains unclear, stress, infections, and certain medications may contribute to the condition. Symptoms can also become worse because of particular foods, inadequate sleep, psychological stress, hormonal changes, and lifestyle factors.
Why Common IBS Diets Can Affect Gut Health
People with IBS are frequently advised to follow a low-FODMAP diet, which limits certain carbohydrates that are easily fermented by gut bacteria. Although this approach can help control uncomfortable symptoms, restricting these foods may also have unintended consequences for the gut microbiome.
“For years we’ve known that a diet low in Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monesaccharides and Polyols (FODMAPs) can relieve symptoms, but they can also reduce beneficial gut bacteria and negatively impact fiber intake over time,” lead author Dr. Tina Yan said.
“We wanted to find a way to build better gut health while following a low-FODMAP diet.”
The new findings suggest that a carefully formulated fiber supplement could help address this problem, allowing people with IBS to support a healthier gut microbiome while continuing to manage their symptoms through dietary changes.
How the New Fiber Blend Works
The researchers attribute the supplement’s promising effects to its combination of two ingredients: resistant starch and psyllium husk.
Psyllium appears to slow the breakdown of resistant starch by gut bacteria, allowing more of it to reach deeper sections of the colon before fermentation occurs. This process may increase the production of beneficial compounds that support intestinal health.
Ordinarily, fermentable fiber can be challenging for people with IBS because bacterial fermentation can produce excess gas and increase digestive discomfort. The new formulation appears to offer a way to obtain the benefits of fermentation without aggravating these symptoms.
“Traditionally, fermentable fibers can be difficult for people with IBS because they can increase gas production and discomfort,” Dr. Yan said.
“What’s exciting about this study is that participants maintained stable symptoms while showing meaningful improvements in their gut microbiota as well as in their gut-related anxiety.”
Significant Changes in Gut Bacteria and Anxiety
The researchers observed substantial shifts in the composition of participants’ gut bacteria during the intervention. These changes were particularly notable because they occurred over a relatively short period.
“Changes of this magnitude are rarely seen with such a short intervention,” ur gut® co-creator Professor Amanda Devine said.
“The study demonstrated that our targeted dietary fiber blend positively reshaped the gut microbiome in people with IBS following a low-FODMAP diet, supporting beneficial bacteria linked to gut and mental health. This was great to see.”
Alongside improvements in gut bacteria, participants also experienced reductions in gut-related anxiety. These findings suggest that the supplement’s potential benefits may extend beyond changes in the digestive system, although further research will be needed to establish its broader effects.
A New Approach to Managing Irritable Bowel Syndrome
The researchers believe their findings could help shift IBS care toward improving the underlying health of the gut rather than focusing exclusively on avoiding foods that cause discomfort.
“For many people with IBS, success has traditionally meant simply avoiding certain foods,” ur gut® co-creator Associate Professor Claus Christophersen said.
“Our findings suggest we may also be able to actively rebuild gut health and the microbiome while not making IBS symptoms worse. That’s an important step forward.”
By demonstrating that beneficial gut bacteria can be supported without increasing IBS symptoms, the study points toward new dietary strategies that could complement existing treatments.
The ur gut® supplement is already available for purchase. The research team has also created a cookbook featuring recipes designed to help people incorporate the supplement into a healthy diet.
The study, “Dietary fibre blend improves gut health in patients with irritable bowel syndrome following a low FODMAP diet: a randomised, double-blind control trial,” was published online in the European Journal of Nutrition.
Could Our Noses Help Cause, Spot, And Even Manage Dementia?
Did you know that our ability to smell a range of scents, including leather and mint, could be linked to our dementia risk? In one study, participants who couldn’t correctly identify at least four of five aromas were about twice as likely to develop the condition as those who could.
We also know that Alzheimer’s disease might affect your sense of taste and smell years before diagnosis. So strong is the link that losing your sense of smell is considered by some researchers to be about as much of a dementia risk factor as carrying the Alzheimer’s-related gene, APOE-e4.
Not only that, but some studies have suggested that bacteria which enter our nose, i.e., through nose-picking, could increase our likelihood of dementia (though this has been debated). Still, another paper involving mice found dementia-like changes in the rodents’ brains after nasal exposure to the respiratory tract pathogen chlamydia pneumoniae.
In case you think the nose-related connections end there, spoiler alert: they don’t.
A paper published in the Journal of Extracellular Vesicles. showed that a nasal spray which contained helpful bundles of genetic information made the “brain’s own repair systems switch on, healing inflammation and restoring itself”. It appeared to reverse some signs of brain ageing in just two weeks.
And scientists are trying to find out whether nasal swabs could one day help to detect early signs of Alzheimer’s, too.
So what’s going on here?
Why could the nose be relevant to dementia?
Speaking to HuffPost UK, Emma Taylor, the senior information officer at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said that the nose “probably” contains a uniquely vulnerable area point for the brain.
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The neurons that detect smells are the only ones “directly exposed to the outside world,” a University of Auckland article notes.
So, Taylor told us, “Scientists are… investigating whether factors such as air pollution, inflammation and infections could affect brain health through the nose”.
However, while she says the idea that dementia might “start” in the brain is “intriguing”, the expert doesn’t think we have enough evidence yet to say that’s true.
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After all, she explained, “Changes in a person’s sense of smell can happen years before symptoms of some diseases that cause dementia appear.
“Researchers are exploring whether this means the nose is simply an early warning sign, or whether it could be involved in some of the earliest stages of disease. For now, the evidence isn’t strong enough to say that dementia begins in the nose.”
Still, the area could “potentially” offer a point of intervention.
“Because of the close connection between the nose and the brain, researchers are exploring whether smell tests, nasal samples or medicines delivered through the nose could help diagnose or treat diseases that cause dementia,” Taylor ended.
“While these approaches show promise, more research is needed before they become part of routine care.”
In other words, the functionality of our nose seems linked to dementia, though working out the exact direction of that relationship is difficult. And while its unique structure could help scientists to both administer tools to relieve symptoms and spot the condition early, until we know more about how it works, nobody properly… you guessed it…
nose. (Sorry.)
The Internet Has Quietly Destroyed This Mindset – And We Need It Back
We live in a society where more of us turn to the internet than go to therapy.
To be fair, therapy isn’t for everyone all of the time, and it can be expensive. Plus, therapy isn’t the sole place where we can learn helpful, prosocial mindsets.
That said, many of us need to practice a certain therapeutic skill (though scrolling on social media will convince you otherwise). It’s called “dialectical thinking,” and guess what? You just read an example of it.
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“Dialectical thinking essentially means being able to hold two seemingly opposing ideas or feelings simultaneously, recognising that both can be true,” said Rebecca Lesser Allen, a clinical psychologist in Los Angeles who integrates dialectical behaviour therapy into her work with clients.
“In practice, it looks like taking opposing views into consideration at the same time to get a better understanding of whatever is being considered,” added Golee Abrishami, a clinical psychologist and the vice president of clinical care at Octave, who helps oversee the program’s DBT Center of Excellence. “Think of it as the fulcrum in the middle of a seesaw.”
Abrishami believes that dialectical thinking is “a universally effective skill” that holds weight in many areas of our lives, from political differences to mental health to relationships to physical health. Consider these examples:
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- “I’m doing well, and I have room to improve.”
- “My parents did their best, and they still hurt me.”
- “Technology connects us, and it can also isolate us.”
- “Getting myself to the gym is hard, and I can do it.”
- “I don’t have perfect lab results, and I’m generally healthy.”
- “I don’t agree with their opinion, and I can still be their friend.”
- “I feel fulfilled and grateful for my life, and I also feel frustrated, exhausted and resentful of how much I manage.”
- “I’m trying to feel more confident about my body, and I’m upset about gaining weight.”
- “I feel hurt by what my partner said, and I can understand why they were frustrated.”
Notice all the ands and the lack of buts? That’s a cornerstone of dialectics.
“When teaching clients to think more dialectically, I talk about thinking in terms of ‘yes, and’ or simply trying to replace the word ‘but’ with ‘and,’” Allen said.
How the internet has reduced dialectical thinking
Does that perspective sound less familiar, especially when you’re doomscrolling? That makes sense: the internet has reduced this type of thinking.
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“With the rise of social media and increased political polarisation, I’ve noticed an enormous increase in black-and-white thinking,” Allen said. “In my experience, the online world has very little tolerance for this kind of complex thinking, which is unfortunate because this is often where true growth actually happens.”
MementoJpeg via Getty Images
Allen and Abrishami listed some explanations:
- Algorithms reward strong sentiments instead of balanced views.
- Short formats inherently favour “hot takes” over nuanced takes on complex problems.
- Extreme statements are more likely to get engagement.
- Social media favours speed and quick reactions, leaving little time for reflection.
- A lot of content is optimised as clickbait, which reduces nuance.
- We’re consuming information rapidly, which also lessens nuance.
Plus, a study found that X can quickly shift your politics to the right. It’s scary.
“It’s unlikely that the influencer or social media personality who takes a long time to talk all around a point they are trying to make would have many followers or likes,” Abrishami added.
Again, this affects many facets of our lives. Influencers may have “hot takes” about certain fitness trends, political beliefs, dating tips and much more.
Why we need more dialectical thinking as a society
Why would Abrishami consider dialectical thinking a “universally effective skill”? For several reasons, really.
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“When you use dialectical thinking, it helps you arrive at better decisions because you’ve considered more perspectives, leading to more confidence and resolve in the final decision,” she said. “Between people, it’s an effective way of approaching problems because it lowers defensiveness and shows openness to diverse ways of thinking, effectively opening room for a dialogue.”
Democracies depend on different people and different viewpoints, she continued, and leaders need to consider them all. That builds trust.
“In politics, not too long ago, it used to be commonly referred to as ‘working across the aisle,’ and sadly, this is a phrase we rarely hear,” Abrishami said. “Imagine if our leaders were able to say something like, ‘Individual freedom matters, and so does the common good.’”
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Allen added that, while it may sound counterintuitive, this “grey thinking” can be powerful in political spaces. She said it’s “one of the most powerful ways to help someone reconsider a firmly held belief”.
Why? It makes change easier; it’s a “baby step” and a middle ground.
Being able to hold both of these truths doesn’t mean dismissing your own feelings or excusing someone else’s behaviour. It means recognising that two different experiences can coexist.
– Rebecca Lesser Allen, clinical psychologist
“If we’re trying to shift someone’s political opinion, for example, or help them become more tolerant of something they find threatening, approaching them with rigidity and certainty is unlikely to get us very far,” Allen explained.
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“Gently making space for conflict, ambiguity, nuance and different perspectives creates much more opportunity for someone to reconsider their position without feeling that they have to abandon everything they believe.”
Dialectics also benefit relationships on a micro level. Allen referred to the example of feeling hurt by your partner’s words and understanding their frustration.
“Being able to hold both of these truths doesn’t mean dismissing your own feelings or excusing someone else’s behaviour,” she explained. “It means recognising that two different experiences can coexist.”
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Last but not least, “finding the grey space,” as Allen would put it, can help internally. It can reduce painful internal conflict, increase tolerance of conflicting feelings and foster self-compassion and resilience in the face of uncertainty.
How to think more dialectically
In today’s America, it’s hard to imagine more dialectical thinking — and it’s possible. (See? A dialectic!)
“Increasing dialectical thinking is something anyone can do, [even] when the problems are highly emotional,” Abrishami said. To do so, she and Allen recommended the following:
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- Notice when you’re engaging in black-and-white thinking versus dialectical thinking. (Hint: It’s often a response to anxiety, fear or uncertainty.)
- Talk to a DBT therapist.
- Prompt an internal dialectic by asking yourself, “What would someone who disagrees with me say?” and try to answer thoroughly.
- Slow down and take time to think before responding.
- Draw a line on a piece of paper, write the most extreme views on each end and work toward the middle with increasingly balanced views to show yourself different perspectives.
- Swap “but” for “and” to show your brain that opposing truths can coexist.
“Very few things in life can actually be characterised as all good or all bad, all right or all wrong,” Allen concluded.
“The more comfortable we become holding those contradictions within ourselves, the more capable we become of making room for complexity in other people, our relationships and the world around us.”
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‘Tear This S**t Down’: People Are Horrified By ‘Hideous’ New Pic Of Trump’s Ballroom
There’s new outrage over US President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project after an image went viral on Wednesday showing just how big the building is when compared to the main residence.
The image, which appears to be a screenshot from an aerial video, was initially shared by British market researcher Ben Page.
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Later in the day, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) also shared the image.
“I hope everyone takes a good hard look at this picture,” Clyburn wrote. “Trump’s under-construction ballroom is now bigger than the rest of the White House. Much bigger. The contrast says everything you need to know about this President and his priorities.”
Trump has indeed prioritized design and decor by adding golden embellishments, signs and more around the White House and focused on projects around Washington, including the botched Reflecting Pool renovation.
Kevin Carter/Getty Images
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Trump has been practically obsessive about the ballroom.
Last year, he knocked down the East Wing to make way for the project, which he initially claimed would cost $200 million and be paid for entirely by private donors. But later reports indicated that the price had ballooned to $600 million, with taxpayers on the hook for half of it.
Trump often mentions the ballroom unprompted, working it into conversations, speeches, rallies, interviews and more, and frequently posts about it on social media.
During a meeting with oil executives in January, Trump suddenly stood up so he could gaze out the window at the construction site.
“Wow, what a view,” he gushed.
Critics didn’t like it last year. And, with the new images making the rounds, they like it even less now, as they lashed out at the president over the project on X:
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Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.
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Yale scientists reveal what really slows aging and what doesn’t
A growing body of research suggests that aging may be more flexible than once believed. Now, scientists at Yale have taken an important step toward identifying which treatments can actually influence biological aging and which ones show little measurable benefit.
Their findings suggest that certain prescription medications and lifestyle changes can reduce biological age as measured by DNA-based blood tests. Popular over-the-counter supplements examined in the research, however, showed little evidence of producing the same effects.
The findings, published in Nature Medicine, could help scientists evaluate anti-aging treatments more effectively, although researchers emphasize that changes in biological age markers do not necessarily mean people will live longer or avoid age-related diseases.
From Fighting Cancer to Understanding Aging
When Raghav Sehgal began graduate school at Yale several years ago, he planned to use advanced computer science techniques to investigate cancer. His background in engineering and experience launching a computational biology startup had given him a strong foundation for that work.
However, a question from his Ph.D. adviser at the Yale School of Medicine changed his research direction. Rather than focusing on individual diseases such as cancer or cardiovascular disease, why not investigate the aging process that contributes to their development?
“That put me on a different path,” said Sehgal, now an associate research scientist in psychiatry who specializes in computational biology and bioinformatics. “As researchers, we have a long way to go in understanding the aging process and whether the steps we take to manage it really work.”
Sehgal now studies the biological mechanisms behind human aging, how scientists can measure those changes, and why getting older increases the likelihood of conditions such as cancer, diabetes, and dementia. His work also explores whether interventions might reverse certain aspects of biological aging, even if eliminating aging itself remains beyond reach.
New DNA Tests Reveal Which Anti-Aging Treatments Work
Sehgal is the lead author of the new study, which was conducted in the laboratory of Albert Higgins-Chen, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. The research team set out to determine which existing approaches to slowing aging produce changes that can be reliably measured.
Their analysis found encouraging results for certain medications and lifestyle interventions. In contrast, the over-the-counter supplements included in the study generally failed to produce meaningful reductions in biological age.
The project involved the entire Higgins-Chen laboratory, including Daniel Borrus, Jenel F. Armstrong, John Gonzalez, Jessica Kasamoto, and Yaroslav Markov.
“For the first time we’ve shown that certain therapies have measurable impacts,” said Sehgal. “This wasn’t previously possible, because we didn’t have enough data to say these biomarkers are consistently responsive to these interventions.”
Biomarkers provide measurable information about what is happening inside the body. In aging research, they can help estimate a person’s biological or functional age, which may differ from their chronological age.
How Scientists Measure Biological Age
To investigate whether treatments could influence aging, the Yale team relied primarily on blood-based measurements called epigenetic clocks.
These tools analyze chemical patterns attached to DNA, particularly methyl groups (basic chemical structures that act like tags). Previous research has shown that these chemical markers change as people grow older. Some interventions may reverse certain age-associated patterns, and computer algorithms use those changes to estimate a person’s biological age.
The researchers brought together findings from 51 clinical studies investigating different anti-aging strategies. These ranged from dietary supplements and medications to lifestyle changes and medical procedures.
Across those studies, the team examined more than 110 DNA methylation biomarkers (including 16 major epigenetic clocks). By comparing measurements taken before and after interventions, they could evaluate which approaches were associated with reductions in biological age.
“What we did was pretty unique,” Sehgal said. “We already know that certain things might prolong health span and lifespan. There is data from retrospective analysis as well as from animal models. We took all that knowledge along with the real-world clinical studies to identify which interventions in humans were slowing down aging across the board in these known biomarkers.”
Which Anti-Aging Treatments Showed the Best Results?
The researchers divided the interventions into four main groups: prescription drugs, lifestyle modifications, over-the-counter supplements, and medical procedures.
One of the clearest findings involved diet and exercise. Combining regular physical activity with a healthy eating plan consistently reduced epigenetic age. The dietary approaches examined included Mediterranean, low-fat, and low-carb diets.
The strongest reductions in biological age markers were associated with certain pharmaceutical treatments. These included metformin and semaglutide, prescription medications used to manage metabolic conditions and body weight, as well as anti-TNF therapies that target a protein involved in the body’s inflammatory response.
(TNF, or tumor necrosis factor, is an immune-system protein that helps fight inflammation-related injury.)
The findings were less encouraging for over-the-counter supplements and some medical procedures. In the studies examined, these approaches did not produce measurable reductions in epigenetic age.
The researchers also discovered that newer biological age clocks performed better than older versions. Another important finding was that people living with diseases generally experienced larger changes in their aging biomarkers than healthy participants.
Could DNA Blood Tests Transform Anti-Aging Research?
According to Sehgal, the next priority is to test these findings in larger, more diverse populations. This would help researchers determine how consistently different treatments influence biological aging across people with different health conditions and backgrounds.
The improved blood tests could also dramatically shorten the time needed to evaluate potential anti-aging therapies.
“If these new biomarkers are eventually validated to predict long-term health, scientists will be able to evaluate anti-aging therapies much faster,” he added. “Instead of waiting decades for evidence from clinical trials, we’ll be able to see which interventions are effective and in which people in a few years or even months.”
That possibility could represent a major advance for aging research. Instead of relying entirely on clinical studies that follow participants for decades, scientists might eventually use validated biological age measurements to identify promising treatments much earlier.
However, senior author Higgins-Chen stressed that scientists must be careful about interpreting what changes in aging biomarkers actually mean.
“We have developed a rigorous, systematic approach to evaluating and comparing how biomarkers change across a wide variety of interventions, and that is a critical step in the right direction,” he said. “However, the true meaning of that change must be fully understood.”
Important Questions About Slowing Aging Remain
Although the results are promising, several major questions remain unanswered.
For example, researchers still need to establish whether changes in biological age are directly caused by a treatment or influenced by other factors that were not accounted for. They also need to understand how quickly those changes occur, whether they persist after treatment ends, and which biological processes produce them.
Most importantly, scientists have not yet established whether lowering epigenetic age leads to meaningful improvements in long-term health.
“And most importantly – what does the change mean for our long-term risk of age-related disease and functional decline?” Higgins-Chen said.
Further investigations into these questions are underway, with additional studies led by Borrus, Armstrong, and Grace Zou.
The Higgins-Chen laboratory is also affiliated with Yale’s Department of Pathology, the Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Program, and the Y-Age Yale Center for Research on Aging.
What Appears to Work Against Biological Aging?
Based on the improved DNA-based blood tests, the Yale researchers identified two particularly promising approaches for reducing biological age markers:
- Prescription medications: Drugs used for metabolic regulation and weight management, including metformin and semaglutide, were among the treatments associated with the strongest reductions in biological age.
- Healthy eating combined with exercise: Regular physical activity paired with nutritious diets, including Mediterranean, low-fat, and low-carb eating plans, consistently produced favorable changes in aging biomarkers.
The analysis also identified benefits from certain anti-TNF medications, while the tested over-the-counter supplements and some medical procedures showed little measurable effect.
These results provide a clearer picture of which interventions may influence biological aging. However, more research is needed to confirm the findings and determine whether reductions in biological age markers ultimately translate into fewer age-related diseases, better health, or longer lives.
‘No Words Needed’: Ukraine’s President Goes Viral For His Pained Expression Next To Trump’s Envoys
Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s facial expression has gone viral after he made a joint appearance with the US’s negotiation team.
The Ukrainian president spoke to the media alongside Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff in Dublin amid a new push from America to end the Russia–Ukraine war.
Tensions between the US and Ukraine continue to grow as the White House is still trying to force Kyiv into a peace deal with its Russian aggressor, no matter the cost.
Russia has also revived its hardline calls for an overhaul of Europe’s security.
While Kushner said they had “good discussions” about a prisoner of war exchange, and have set up some plans to include European representatives in future negotiations, Zelenskyy looked crestfallen.
Just one video of his face quickly accumulated more than 2.2 million views in less than 24 hours.
Other social media users also spotted his expression, saying: “This is what it looks like when you have to suffer a fool.”
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Kushner and Witkoff promised to include delegates from the European Union in the next round of talks amid growing security concerns for the continent and Ukraine’s plan to one day become a member of the bloc.
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They also revealed the warring countries would undergo the largest prisoner exchange since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, though details are yet to be confirmed.
But, Kushner and Witkoff had just had confirmation from Vladimir Putin in Moscow that he was still not willing to compromise on his demands from Ukraine.
Russia soon contradicted the claim Europe could be part of the peace negotiations, too.
The Russian president controls approximately a fifth of Ukraine’s sovereign land, but he wants more.
Putin is trying to push Kyiv into giving up the remaining parts of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas – which it cannot seize by force – in negotiations with the US.
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At the same time, Zelenskyy has repeatedly expressed concerns about the Ukraine’s restricted access to Elon Musk’s Starlink’s military-grade satellite service, Starshield.
That means Kyiv could not efficiently intercept Russian drones.
On Friday, Zelenskyy said: “We still have no clear explanations. I instructed Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defence to step up contacts with the US Department of State, the Pentagon, and SpaceX to obtain clarification and resolve the situation.”
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has warned that Russia is “setting traps” for Ukraine with these talks, too.
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The Kremlin said on Friday: “Once we understand [Europe’s] real intentions and their willingness to contribute to the peace process, then we can make a decision on holding talks in an expanded format.”
via Associated Press
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