Shutters down all over Europe: life in the time of the new coronavirus

These days we all need to hear good news—that life will soon return to normal and that we will be able to return to the troubles of yesterday, which now seem small to us. In the meantime, our lifestyle has seen changes that we could not have imagined just a few weeks ago.

COVID-19: A hundred remedies for solitude

I open the window and breathe in the air, trying to guess the weather. Floating around, mixed, are scents and miasms alike; it's hard to decipher these intricate clues.

Spanish flu to COVID-19: Lessons from a forgotten pandemic

The Spanish flu filled graves in almost every cemetery in the world. However, surprisingly, this tragedy had largely been forgotten until recently. A century later, the issue returned to the centre of attention, with specialists wondering if they can identify a pattern in the evolution of the COVID-19 health crisis based on the pandemic from a century ago.

Is sugar the most dangerous drug?

While few people can remember the details of their first hit, everyone can identify with the rush of satisfaction, the tingling delight that starts on the tip of your tongue and then courses through your entire body.

Why you should make your bed in the morning | Daily routine and its benefits

A daily routine can be an ace in the hole in the time crunch that modern people complain about. But our efforts to organise our time are rewarded with a host of benefits, including those related to our mental health.

Love in the Time of COVID-19

As we know all too well, life can be hard. Even in the best of times, life can be hard. But now this, a pandemic? How are we to cope?

COVID-19: What people on the front line think and feel

While most of us have been staying inside for several weeks, many leave the safety of their homes every day to help us live our lives as normally as possible.

COVID-19: Hope ordinances and a divine governance

Fines, military ordinances, police and army patrolling the streets – this is the reality we have suddenly found ourselves living in. It is a tightening reality, a rigid corset-like structure of rules.

Do you have a Vitamin D deficiency?

Studies have increasingly shown that vitamin D, also known as the sun vitamin, plays a vital role in protecting the body from a number of chronic illnesses. It is important to know both the symptoms of a deficiency in vitamin D, and the valuable sources that can provide us with a daily healthy dose.

COVID-19: How do you recognise a conspiracy theory in a pandemic?

The Colorado beetle that threatened the potato crop of the former GDR in 1950 might have been an American method of sabotage against the Eastern bloc. A sinister German plot might have been the cause of the Spanish flu. Perhaps AIDS emerged as a biological weapon developed by the United States and has been tested on prisoners and minorities. Every crisis humanity has...

Dealing with negative emotions in times of crisis

Many years have passed since I last lived with my brother. Recently, I decided to go and stay with him for a while. One day we both decided to visit a place in nature that neither of us had been to before. When we got there, it started to rain—while not very heavy, rain was not what either of us had wanted. But...

Under pressure

While for many the experience of pregnancy is full of excitement, for some first-time mothers, it can be a struggle with the unknown. For newlywed Shannon Toledo, her complicated health issues were adding another variable to the morning sickness, mood swings and the uncertainty with her job during the peak of Covid-19. A part-time martial arts instructor with a third-degree black belt in Taekwondo...

Help is on the way. Hope is the way

1. I remember that day, 9/11. It was chaos. Violence, shortage of food. For several days, it was uncertain if there would be more...

What diet can and cannot do for depression

Anyone who suffers from depression is likely to be fed up with advice from otherwise well-meaning friends who send them all sorts of online articles promising yet another secret to curing depression.

A healthy old age is built decades before

An old saying states: "If youth knew; if age could". This truth is reflected by countless studies showing that lifestyle adjustments made in middle age (or even earlier) favour a transition to a healthier old age.