Mind & Stress
Mental health, stress and brain claims checked against the studies: meditation, sleep, phone habits, dopamine, dementia risk and mood supplements. What the trials found, with every source linked.
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The 2025 fluoride IQ study pooled 74 studies and found a real link. Here is why it fades below 1.5 mg per liter, and what that means for your tap water.
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Do brain training games work? 11,430 adults trained for six weeks and gained nothing on untrained tests. What the evidence shows, and what helps instead.
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No. Adrenal fatigue is not a real diagnosis: a review of 58 studies found no support, and its cortisol tests disagreed. What the tiredness usually is.
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The hearing loss dementia link got its first proper trial: 977 adults, three years, hearing aids. Here is what it found, and what the headline number missed.
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Sleep tracker accuracy splits in two: rings nearly match a medical ECG on heart rate, but no device is close on sleep stages. Here is what to trust tonight.
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Does gratitude rewire your brain? Only one study has scanned gratitude writers, and it found a shift in activity, not new wiring. Here is the evidence.
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Eight trials pitted saffron for depression against an SSRI and found no gap in mood scores, with fewer side effects. Why that is still not proof of a tie.
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Does lion’s mane mushroom really help memory? Only about 185 people have been tested in placebo-controlled trials, and the results disagree. See the evidence.
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Meditation works, but modestly. Across 47 trials and 3,515 people it brought a small drop in anxiety and depression. Cortisol claims and apps fall short.
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Slow breathing benefits, audited: six breaths a minute cut stress and anxiety across 24 studies, but the blood pressure effect vanished against sham controls.
