Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2025 i Prevention

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HEARD THAT? Whenever it was, I’m sure you could use an appreciation booster shot. I sometimes feel that way—we’re all expected to do waaaay too much, and we don’t tend to thank people for things we expect. But still… That’s why, on behalf of Prevention, I’d like to pull you into a giant (pretend) group hug in appreciation of the community you—our curious, skeptical, wise readers—inject with new energy every day. I’m Stephanie, and I head up the crack team that cranks out this magazine each month. Nothing makes us more jazzed than to help you parse the often complex, scary, or bogus health info being beamed into our brains via our devices. But the magazine is only one part of Prevention—prevention.com, led by Digital…

It’s not surprising that when it comes to getting clean, the vast majority of Americans prefer to take a shower—it does the job, and you’re done in minutes. But if you’re using your tub mainly as a place to stash laundry when friends come over, you’re missing out on one of the great pleasures in life: Luxuriating in a soothing, healing bath helps your mood and health in multiple ways. A reason that people from the ancient Romans to modern-day Finns and Japanese have bathing rituals is that they understand how stopping and soaking is the ultimate act of self-care. “The solitude and the sensory experience of warm water can elevate your mood by promoting feelings of comfort and well-being,” says Sham Singh, M.D., a holistic psychiatrist at Winit Clinic.…

If you nearly keeled over from extreme heat last summer or watched in shock as the California wildfires destroyed more than 16,000 structures in January, you know that climate change is already wreaking havoc. The United Nations calls the crisis “the single biggest health threat facing humanity.” Weather disasters, the spread of temperature-sensitive diseases like malaria, and carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels already sicken and kill many Americans each year. Meeting the climate goals set out in the 2016 multinational Paris Agreement would save about a million lives per year across the world by 2050, according to the U.N.—but Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of that agreement the day he took office. With a new administration that has vowed to roll back even more climate-protection measures, many of…

Lately it seems as if everyone is obsessed with protein. Paleo and keto diets are all the rage, and the Pure Change program (celeb model Bella Hadid swears by it) has gone viral on social media. “For some time now, protein has been the golden child of the nutrition world,” says New York Times best-selling author Joy Bauer, R.D.N., C.D.N. The International Food Information Council’s 2024 Food & Health Survey indicated that 71% of Americans were trying to eat more of it—that’s a big leap from 59% in 2022. In fact, a greater chunk of us are trying to eat more protein than is the case for any other nutrient, including those we don’t get enough of—digestion-friendly fiber, bone-strengthening calcium, and the iron we need for energy. Some protein prioritizers (not…

ACTIVE 20 MIN. TOTAL 20 MIN. MAKES 5 1 cup store-bought pancake mix (we used Bob’s Red Mill Buttermilk)½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder1 cup whole milk or water, plus more if needed¼ cup natural creamy peanut butter2 large eggs1 Tbsp pure maple syrup or honey, plus more for servingNonstick cooking sprayYogurt and ground cinnamon, for serving 1. Heat oven to 225°F. Preheat waffle maker per manufacturer instructions. 2. In large bowl, whisk together pancake mix and cocoa powder. 3. In medium bowl, whisk together milk, nut butter, eggs, and maple syrup. Add to cocoa mixture and stir until just combined (small lumps are OK), stirring in additional milk as needed. 4. Spray waffle maker with cooking spray. Add ½ cup batter and cook until crisp, 2 to 5 min. Keep…

ANAGRAM PARTY Finish the sentence below by filling in the blank with an anagram of one of the words in the sentence. At the class reunion, no one was ------- except for the woman who preferred to listen to the music and dance. WORD MATH Use the clues to decipher the final phrase. 191125 = SALE 15141225 = ONLY 511925 = EASY 201516 8120 = TOP HAT ▶ 5118208 4125 = ---------- ----------- ODD ONE OUT In each of the sets below, which item doesn’t belong? SHAPE SORTER Which three pieces will make the shape below? ANSWERS: Anagram Party: silent. Word Math: Earth Day. Odd One Out: Reno (not a state capital), cherry (there is no green variety), K (not a Roman numeral). Shape Sorter: A, B, D.…

■ Each of us has a collection of daily habits that drive us, and there’s always room to tack on more. “A healthy lifestyle is a foundation. It supports every aspect of our lives, enabling us to thrive physically, mentally, and emotionally. By making conscious choices today, we pave the way for a happier, healthier tomorrow,” says Vaughn Gray, NASM-CPT, a wellness expert and personal trainer in New York City. “It’s all about balance and finding what works best for you.” Here, inspiration straight from experts. Stretch more. It feels incredible and has tons of body benefits. “Stretching can improve your flexibility and posture to reduce the risk of injury and alleviate muscle tension, and it helps increase blood flow to promote recovery after exercise,” says Gray. Make it part…

Just one terrible night’s sleep can leave you feeling awful the next day. For those who struggle with insomnia, the frustration, fatigue, and other symptoms multiply quickly. Fortunately, there are ways to find relief. Simply put, insomnia is a sleep disorder in which you have diffculty falling asleep and/or staying asleep, says sleep specialist Raj Dasgupta, M.D., who serves on the Prevention medical board. Stress, anxiety, and having an irregular sleep schedule are big insomnia triggers, and it can also be linked to health issues like pain, depression, and breathing problems. Some medications, such as ones for asthma and blood pressure, can affect sleep too. Since so much of insomnia has to do with stress, it’s well worth it to give certain natural fixes a go before seeing a doctor.…

Joni Mitchell sang, “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.” The song wasn’t about the strength of the pelvic floor—the muscles and connective tissue slung beneath the torso—but it could have been. This apparatus keeps our internal organs in place and facilitates daily activities such as peeing, pooping, and enjoying sex. Think of the pelvic floor as a mini hammock suspended between your pubic bone and your tailbone. When it’s properly strong and flexible, we don’t notice it. But when it malfunctions—as it eventually does in up to half of American women—the repercussions can be serious: urine leaks, bowel problems, protruding organs, and/or pain anywhere from the genitals or butt to the lower back. You can identify various pelvic floor muscles by squeezing as if you were stopping…

NICER RICE Cook the grain on the weekend, then freeze it. Cooling it transforms some of its digestible starch into resistant starch; this helps your gut, even after you reheat it during the week. SHELL GAME Think beyond salmon to hit your ideal weekly seafood amount (about 8 oz for most adults, per the FDA). Mussels are a fresh source of omega-3 fatty acids, and they steam in less than 10 minutes. ONE AND DONE Reach for a healthy spice blend like za’atar. The fragrant, herbaceous Middle Eastern staple lets you use just a single ingredient to add savory depth. SUREFIRE SHORTCUT No need to drain or rinse these beans—the liquid from the can adds flavor and heft to the broth. Concerned about salt? Opt for low-sodium varieties, which can…

HAVE A LAUGH. April is National Humor Month, a great excuse to seek out hilarity. Laughter can boost mood and mental health in the short term, and consistent cackling can relieve pain and improve immunity. Spread giggles: Tell jokes, share amusing videos, or reminisce with friends about crazy-funny experiences. MOVE YOUR BODY. Celebrate the end of sitting season by spending just an extra five minutes a day doing moderate to vigorous physical activity; research suggests that this may help lower blood pressure. Walking is an excellent way to lean into physical activity—if you’d like to spice up your regular routine, flip to page 36 for fun ways to rack up steps. GET DOWN AND DIRTY. Science shows that gardening can help relieve stress and keep you moving. Cultivating a bed of…

Prevention’s readers are walking superfans, and for great reasons: Walking is a simple way to get exercise, costs nothing, and is something most of us can do at any time, anywhere. But even the most passionate step collector can start to feel a little blah about their routine, and it’s true that the same-old, same old won’t push you through plateaus. “Any repetitive motion in one plane of motion, such as walking forward, will activate the same muscles each time,” says Amy West, M.D., a sports medicine physician at Northwell Health in New York. Not only does doing the same type of walk day after day get dull, but it also means you may not be working complementary muscle groups. Mixing things up will get those muscle groups engaged, enabling…

■ If you’ve been feeling anxious, depressed, or angry, you’ve got company. More than half the adult respondents in a poll by the American Psychological Association reported being anxious about climate change, and Google searches for “climate anxiety”are at an all-time high. In response, a rapidly expanding field of “climate-aware” psychotherapy has developed in recent years, spawning organizations like the Climate Psychiatry Alliance and the Climate Psychology Alliance. We asked two experts in the field for their advice on coping with feelings of helplessness. TALK IT OUT Working with a climate-aware therapist (look for one at climatepsychiatry.org) can help you identify, validate, process, and channel complicated eco-related emotions. “Cognitive restructuring” may allow you to look at the problem in a different way, which can create hope rather than pessimism and…

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