Cannabis is a group of plants with psychoactive properties that are used to produce industrial hemp, CBD oil, and medical and recreational marijuana. Unfortunately, many people don't realize that cannabis plants can absorb a lot of dangerous heavy metals.

Your brain is comprised of networks of neurons – electrically excitable cells. These networks are the building blocks of your nervous system and the basis of basis of brain activity. They transmit information to and from your brain and the rest of your body to help you think, feel and interact with your environment.
 

When you think about healthy foods, what comes to mind? Acai fruit? Yogurt? Oatmeal? Our perception of what food is healthful is influenced by a wide range of factors: scientific studies, stories in the media, what our mother told us and what food manufacturers want us to believe.

If you’re a walker, you’ve probably heard the recommendation to walk 10,000 steps (or about five miles) every day for health. Did you ever wonder how experts arrived at this amount? 

Not through science. The original concept came from a 1964 Japanese marketing campaign to promote an early pedometer called Manpo-Kei, which is literally translated 10,000 steps meter. Naturally, as the pedometer craze hit the U.S. around 2005, the 10k-step concept became popular here — and it has stuck

When it comes to your heart, being obese is a real killer. Researchers have known for years that obesity raises the risk of heart failure for men (11 percent) and women (14 percent), but a new study shows that for some women, being obese can double — or triple — the risk of heart failure.

Have you ever volunteered for a good cause? If yes, how did it make you feel? Did it boost your mood? What about when you donated to your favorite charity? It turns out volunteering and giving are two activities associated with good health and longevity. 

Let’s focus on volunteering first.

How can volunteering improve my health?

Studies show that people who volunteer tend to have:

Does your life have meaning? Does it have purpose? If you answered yes, here’s some good news: Studies show that having a purpose can lead to better health outcomes.

That’s the bottom line, but from there it gets a little murky. Let’s start with how we define what gives us meaning or purpose in life.

Of all the things we eat, nothing perhaps does more harm than foods that are awash in sugar. Cakes, cookies, sugar-sweetened beverages like gourmet coffee and sodas come to mind. But sugar is everywhere — in low-fat yogurt and barbecue sauces, in granola, protein bars and canned soup, in canned fruit, smoothies and even spaghetti sauce and ketchup.

Depression is often thought of as women’s health issue. Women are almost twice as likely as men to experience symptoms of depression, according to the Office on Women’s Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

But the truth is: Depression also affects men and in large numbers — about six million American men struggle with depression. Unfortunately, they’re less likely to address their depression than women. 

Most men aren’t too concerned about their own bone density. Understandably so. Bone thinning affects far more women than men. Take hips for example. Hip osteopenia is prevalent in 56 percent of women and 18 percent of men and hip osteoporosis affects 16 percent of women and 2 percent of men, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine Research.