Mental health
fromPsychology Today
3 hours agoBeyond Fertility: The Messages of Menstruation
Menstruation serves as a vital sign, reflecting overall health and influencing mood, cognition, and social awareness.
Since the first IVF baby was born in 1978, technological advancement of reproductive medicine has enabled millions to have children, marking a significant milestone in medical history.
Economists from King's College London (KCL) and Stanford University in America looked at parents' participation in the workforce in the US between 2023 and 2025, including the proportion who worked from home at least one day per week. They analysed the impact of this compared with those who did not work remotely.
For more than 60 years, contraception has been almost exclusively a women's responsibility. Today, women have more than 14 modern contraceptive options, while men have just two: condoms and vasectomies. That imbalance has pushed women to shoulder physical side effects, financial burden, medical risks, and the career impact of family planning-costs that have been accepted as the "status quo" for far too long.
January might be coming to a close, but the focus on wellness doesn't have to die with it. If anything, it's a good time to check in with those 2026 goals and see what you want to prioritise for the rest of the year. To that end, we've gathered some of the best deals we've seen in the past few weeks that will help you tick off every good intention you set this month.
Petal is a bra insert that uses bio-impedance sensors and electrical measurements to monitor blood flow near the heart. Because wearers position the insert right next to the heart, the device can capture more accurate readings than your typical smartwatch, Petal says. The device comes in one size and fits snug against each breast. It's made with biocompatible materials, including a soft European fabric and a polyurethane-coated interior.
Health trackers like Apple Watches and Oura Rings already do a fine job at providing insights into health patterns and trends. But sometimes, software comes along that offers a little something else as well. Enter Simple Wearable Report, a free tool that transforms Oura Ring data into a helpful, easily scannable report. An Oura Ring user on the r/ouraring subreddit created Simple Wearable Report after wanting to explore their health patterns using AI or easily share data with their PCP.
Last Wednesday morning, I woke up and did what I normally do when I open my eyes. I grabbed my phone and checked my Oura app to see how I slept. This morning, however, Oura's home page looked a bit different. Unlike the sleep and readiness scores I usually see on the home page, a new message appeared on top. While no biomarker deviated strongly from my baseline, Oura's Symptom Radar feature warned me that my biometrics indicated "major signs of strain." It encouraged me to take it easy -- a tall task given that I was headed into the office for the workday.