Unlock Your Health Potential
Faizan Ahmed 
Introduction When my aunt was diagnosed, the first question I asked her oncologist, before doing anything about treatment plans or next steps, was the one everyone secretly wants the answer: Will she be okay? The doctor’s answer lingered in my mind, in a careful and specific way that I didn’t fully understand at the time. … Read more
Introduction There was a time, about two years ago, when depression really affected me, when I wasn’t getting a good night’s sleep. Most nights, I would stay up for an hour, wake up at 4 a.m. for no reason, and consider it stressful, busy, and nothing more important than that. I remember occasionally talking to … Read more
What the Research Actually Shows The honest, evidence-based answer to whether depression can cause miscarriage is reassuring — the large majority of miscarriages are caused by chromosomal factors that have nothing to do with a mother’s mental state, and the research linking depression itself to miscarriage risk is weak and heavily confounded. If you’re asking … Read more
A New Study Says It’s Not Depression Itself — It’s These 6 Symptoms When my father’s memory began to decline, I researched modifiable risk factors for dementia and wrote about what I found at the time. Depression was on the list, which is commonly cited as one of several lifestyle risks. I didn’t think much … Read more
Introduction I’ve seen someone close to me go through depression before, the kind I understand, the name I recognize, and the kind I can figure out. What happened in one particular episode was different. There came a time when he stopped trusting what he could see and hear clearly, when his sense of what was … Read more
Introduction At a routine check-up, my doctor asked me about my mood before he looked at my blood pressure readings. I remember thinking it was a strange sequence of questions, almost irrelevant. I was there because of my heart, not because of my mood. Say the vague answers that most people give in this situation, … Read more
Introduction When my mother was first diagnosed with depression in her mid-forties, the word our family used was “breakdown.” No one called it a mental health problem. No one called it major depressive disorder. And no one talked about what it could mean for the rest of us with their DNA, their home, and the … Read more
The Weight I Couldn’t Explain Until I Understood What Was Actually Happening Yes, depression can genuinely cause weight gain, through a combination of stress hormones, disrupted appetite signals, reduced movement, and emotional eating, not through a single simple cause or a lack of willpower. Understanding the actual mechanisms involved matters far more than another diet, … Read more
Introduction There was a time in my life — about three years ago — when I began to forget the things I had no right to forget. I had missed a call I had written on a sticky note. I couldn’t find a single word in the middle of the phrase I always use. I … Read more
Introduction For several months, I slept a full eight hours most nights, sometimes even longer, and woke up feeling like I hadn’t slept at all. It confused me a lot. I wasn’t looking at my phone after staying up late. I wasn’t drinking a lot of caffeine. By all obvious indicators, he was “sleeping well” … Read more