Posts by Neil Petersen

More and more of us can be considered “heavy” smartphone users; we carry them everywhere (including the bathroom!) and refer to them hundreds of times a day.  In fact, according to the Pew Research Center 64% of American adults own a smartphone, 44% of cell owners admit to sleeping with their phone next to their bed,…

Burnout doesn’t just mean being tired, or stressed out, after a long day or before a big deadline – occasional stress is a normal part of a busy and healthy life.  Burnout syndrome is a psychological term that refers to long-term exhaustion and diminished interest in work, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information,…

Alzheimer’s is a devastating disease, and we all know someone who has been affected by it, either as a patient or caregiver.   Every 67 seconds someone in the US develops the disease, and an estimated 5.3 million Americans of all age groups currently have Alzheimer’s in 2015,  according to the Alzheimer’s Association. And these other…

We may think of ourselves as smart, rational, educated folks – but we all face biases when making decisions that make most of them less than rational, called cognitive biases.  As humans, we have an inherent inability to interpret events objectively and  a tendency to make decisions based on limited information, our own self-interest, an…

Are people who face maltreatment in early life primed for a future of recurring or chronic mental, emotional and physical health issues?  More and more studies indicate the answer is unfortunately, yes. The World Health Organization defines child abuse, or child maltreatment, as the abuse and neglect that happens to children less than 18 years of…

Opinions about eye color have varied over time and culture, with light eyes favored among some cultures and dark among others. To demonstrate this, a recent survey done by Impulse Research in Los Angeles of over 1,000 women found that different eye colors were associated with different personality traits. 34% considered brown eyed people intelligent,…

You know the image of the hyper-active child with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) – they’re loud, restless, can’t sit still or control their emotions and this leads to trouble in school and with peers.  According to the CDC, approximately 11% of children 4-17 years old have been diagnosed as of 2011, and that number continues to…

It may seem harmless, when you’re stuck inside in front of the TV over a long weekend blizzard or after a surgery or bout of the flu – and find yourself binge-watching TV for a loooong stretch of time.   This is a relatively recent phenomenon, with the label popping up in the last couple years…

Traveling to Europe or an island in the Caribbean this summer or considering a gap year in a foreign country?  If you’re US born, speaking a second language like Spanish or French can certainly make foreign travel easier.  Plus, after your sunburn fades and you’re back in class, you may find additional opportunities from bilingualism…