Health

Human performance, public health, biology, and the science of living well.

A professional scuba diver swimming underwater

Twelve professional divers spent 20 minutes at 10 meters and their cortisol climbed while sustained attention and response speed slipped soon after they surfaced

Twelve professional scuba divers completed a short dive to 10 meters, then showed slower responses, weaker sustained attention, more mental fatigue and higher cortisol soon after they came back up. The study points to a brief window after surfacing when mental sharpness may dip, even in people who work underwater on a regular basis. Researchers…

A man taking a winter swim in icy water beside a dock

Health News

Cold water immersion looked very different across 11 studies and 3,177 healthy adults, with inflammation rising right away, stress easing 12 hours later and mood showing no reliable lift even as sleep quality and sickness absence hinted at narrower benefits

Woman floating calmly with her eyes closed

Health Explainer

Seventy-five adults with anxiety and depression tried 6 sessions of floating or chair-based rest and both water groups finished more sessions with no serious adverse events

A view of the Puget Sound area from Dune Peninsula Park in Tacoma, Washington

Health Explainer

More than 16,000 people across 18 countries reported better mental health when they frequently visited coasts and other natural spaces rather than merely living nearby

Health Explainer

96 U.S. service members with depression tried 6 weeks of surfing or hiking, and both groups improved while neither outdoor therapy clearly pulled ahead

A young surfer riding a gentle ocean wave

Health Explainer

36 young people completed 6 weeks of surf therapy and reported less depression and anxiety, but the gains had faded 6 weeks after the program ended

Three athletes swimming freestyle in a bright indoor pool

Health Explainer

22 college students completed a 15-week swim program, and they reported calmer moods, stronger social confidence and less academic strain than 22 classmates

Cambria wooden walkway along the sea at sunset, California-USA

Health Explainer

A 44-student experiment compared 4 virtual coastal scenes after a stress test, and a seaside walkway produced the strongest recovery in mood, heart rhythm and brain activity

Stress recovery sits at the center of this study, because the researchers were testing whether a brief look at a coast inside virtual reality could help the mind and body settle after strain. In a paper published on May 19, 2025, in Scientific Reports, a team led by Jing Shi and Nan Zhang reported that…

Health Explainer

People with panic disorder put their faces in cold water before a carbon dioxide challenge and later reported less anxiety, while their breathing sensitivity stayed unchanged

A small human study found that a brief spell of cold facial immersion did not measurably blunt later breathing sensitivity to a carbon dioxide challenge, yet it still eased how distressed some participants felt afterward. For people with panic disorder, that split result is important because panic often rises when the body suddenly feels short…

Researcher handling pills in a petri dish for medicine testing

Health News

NIH clears a kratom compound for its first human safety test in opioid use disorder

The National Institutes of Health has opened a long-awaited clinical question: can a purified compound from kratom be studied safely in people as a possible treatment for opioid use disorder? NIH announced on June 1, 2026, that its Investigational New Drug application for mitragynine has taken effect with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The…

Health

More in Health