ICYMI: Easy Cooking Is A Lie And Why Living Alone Is Good For Your Health

ICYMI Health features what we're reading this week.

During this difficult week, we took time to try to process the horrifying mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. We read about how excessive media coverage can instigate copycat crimes and why "smart gun" technology, developed to reduce violence in the early 2000s, never gained political traction.

And in lighter fare, we were pleasantly surprised to learn -- and can anecdotally confirm -- that living alone isn't just freeing, it can also have a slimming effect. Who knew hanging out alone in your underwear was so good for your health?

Read on and tell us in the comments: What did you read and love this week?

1. New Trauma Therapy May Help Yazidi Survivors Of ISIS Massacre -- The Huffington Post

For survivors of ISIS violence, the lack of access to psychological care, a shortage of providers and stigma and are very real problems.

There are millions of traumatized people in our country, and the need is bigger than what we can do. 

 

2. Is Facebook Luring You Into Being Depressed? -- Nautilus

Instead of brining us closer to our friends, social media can spur what's known as an "envy spiral."

Facebook’s News Feed didn’t feel entertaining; it loomed like a long list of demands. Cheer me up. Comfort me. Wish me a happy birthday. Fund my Kickstarter.

 

3. Is There A Doctor In The Marriage? -- New York Times

In "Modern Love's" latest column, a young writer learns the difference between dating a doctor and marrying one.

At our wedding, we had made vows to each other, but before I met him, at his medical school graduation, he had made vows to his future patients. Our marriage was private, but his profession was not.

 

4. People Who Live Alone Tend To Be Thinner -- Science Of Us

While the "divorce effect" diminishes over time, according to a new study, the "appearance effect" has staying power.

Single people are thinner and likely more concerned about how they look because they are in the dating market.

 

5. The Contagion Of Mass Shootings -- The Huffington Post

Some researchers blame media coverage for perpetuating copycat crimes.

'We need to remember that if we assign celebrity status, pay homage, glorify and sensationalize those who commit horrific crimes, we are only adding to the likelihood that similar crimes will be carried out by those craving the same attention.

 

6. The Myth Of 'Easy Cooking' -- The Atlantic 

Dismissing our increasingly complex cooking culture as simple puts a huge burden on women, who do most of the cooking, and parents. 

Despite what we’re told, cooking the way so many Americans aspire to do it today is never fast, and rarely easy compared to all the other options available for feeding ourselves.

 

7. Can A Smarter Gun Prevent A Massacre? -- Popular Science 

In the early 2000s, one engineer designed a reflexive gun that will only fire when the owner is holding it. Why won't anyone make it?

We lost all the public [funding] and we can't get private funding because no one believes pro-gun activists would ever allow this smart gun to see the light of day.

 
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