The Conversation

This new year -- rethinking gratitude

Written by Jeremy David Engels, Sherwin Early Career Professor in the Rock Ethics Institute, and Associate Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences, Pennsylvania State University

What really is the art of gratitude?Joanne Morton, CC BY-NC

It’s a new year, which means that it’s also time to imagine new beginnings and better futures. It’s time, in short, for New Year’s resolutions.

Gratitude, in particular, has become a popular resolution. For many of us, living gratefully seems to promise more happines...

Research on how self-control works could help you stick with New Year's resolutions

Written by Marco A. Palma, Associate Professor of Agricultural Economics and Director Human Behavior Laboratory, Texas A&M University

Let your self-control gain momentum like a snowball rolling downhill.Sira Anamwong/Shutterstock.com

Many of us have already decided that things will be different in 2018. We’ll eat better, get more exercise, save more money or finally get around to decluttering those closets.

But by the time February rolls around, most of us – perhaps...

What can be done about our modern-day Frankensteins?

Written by Adam Briggle, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religion Studies, University of North Texas

Can technology be tamed? Or have we already lost complete control?Tom Simpson, CC BY-NC-ND

In 1797, at the dawn of the industrial age, Goethe wrote “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” a poem about a magician-in-training who, through his arrogance and half-baked powers, unleashes a chain of events he cannot control.

About 20 years later,...

Why your doctor may not be able to help you lose weight

Written by Jennifer Kraschnewski, Associate Professor, medicine, Pennsylvania State University

Woman in a doctor's office. Overweight people often turn to doctors for help, but doctors often do not know how to help.Africa Source/Shutterstock.com

Obesity was designated a disease in 2013 by the American Heart Association and American Medical Association. Obesity, defined as a body mass index of 30 or higher, had long been identified as a...

New medical advances marking the end of a long reign for 'diet wizards'

Written by David Prologo, Assistant Professor, Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Emory University

The Wizard of Oz promised results he could not deliver but was convincing in his presentation. Diet wizards have done the same for decades. Insomnia Cured Here/Flickr.com, CC BY-SA

For many years, the long-term success rates for those who attempt to lose excess body weight have hovered around 5-10 percent.

In what other disease condition would we...

Our fight with fat: Why is obesity getting worse?

Written by Kenneth Cusi, Professor of Endocrinology, University of Florida

A woman exercising. Thousands of people will be doing the same this week in an effort to lose weight, a perennial resolution.UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, CC BY-SA

Gyms across the country will be packed in the new year with people sticking, however briefly, to their New Year’s resolution to lose weight. Most of them do not...

Why are so many of our pets overweight?

Written by Deborah Linder, Head of Tufts Obesity Clinic for Animals, Tufts University

Pet obesity often says more about an owner's relationship with their pet than the animal itself.Susan Schmitz/shutterstock.com

When I looked at my appointment book for the day, I thought something must be wrong. Someone who worked in the fitness industry was bringing his cat in to the Tufts Obesity Clinic for Animals. Did he confuse us for a...

Why walking with your doctor could be better than talking with your doctor

Written by Brad Biskup, Coordinator of Lifestyle Medicine Clinic, University of Connecticut

A man who is overweight walking alone in a park. Walking with a doctor could be helpful for overweight patients. Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, CC BY-SA

Gyms across the country will be packed this week with people vowing to “get moving” to lose weight this year.

Much of the effort will be for naught. And, in fact, some of it...

What thin people don’t understand about dieting

Written by Traci Mann, Professor of Psychology, University of Minnesota

A plate of fattening food is harder for some people to resist than others. Milan Gordic/Shutterstock.com

Diets do not work.

The scientific evidence is clear as can be that cutting calories simply doesn’t lead to long-term weight loss or health gains.

We suspect most dieters have realized this by now too. And yet, here they are again, setting...

What psychiatrists have to say about holiday blues

Written by Linda Saab, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Wayne State University

Even Santa can get worn out, which can lead to getting the blues.Stokkete

This time of the year brings a lot of changes to the usual day-to-day life of hundreds of millions of people: The weather is colder, trees are naked, snowy days become plentiful and friendly critters are less visible around the neighborhood. Especially in the Western...