Health
Vaccinated Vulnerable People Are Still At Risk for COVID. Here Are Ways To Mitigate That Risk This Holiday Season
The death of former US secretary of state Colin Powell from COVID-19 complications shows the importance of precautions for at-risk individuals.
Ellie Hall
Jonah Hill Asked Fans Not To Post Comments About His Body Because "It's Not Helpful And Doesn't Feel Good"
"Good or bad I want to politely let you know it's not helpful and doesn't feel good."
Ben Henry
Going Through Menopause Changed The Way I Think About Gender
I've experienced menopause as a kind of "ungendering." The transition has been disorienting, thrilling, and freeing. (An excerpt from Flash Count Diary.)
Darcey Steinke
I Know It's Okay That I Chose Not To Breastfeed. But I Still Feel Guilty.
During those first months with my newborn, I was overwhelmed by sadness. The doctor said it was just baby blues. (An excerpt from Teresa Wong's Dear Scarlet.)
Teresa Wong
My Breast Reduction Surgery Finally Gave Me The Body I Was Meant To Have
We’re told breasts should inspire lust and envy — but what about self-loathing?
Olivia Niland
10 Life-Changing Moments That Happened Since My Cancer Went Into Remission
For the past 10 years, I’ve celebrated the anniversary of my remission as a way to pause and reflect on my life: what’s changed, what’s the same, what’s worse, what's better.
Erin Chack
OB-GYNs Are Using Reddit To Help People Who Desperately Need Advice
Facing public budget cuts and restrictive anti-abortion legislation, some medical providers are using Reddit to connect with people who can't find answers anywhere else.
Kristen Bahler
The Worst Thing About “The Goop Lab” Is How Reasonable It Seems
The mostly harmless new Netflix series The Goop Lab makes it easy to forget the damage Gwyneth Paltrow’s pseudoscience-y brand of "wellness" can do.
Scaachi Koul
I Started Vomiting While I Was Pregnant. Two Years Later, I’m Still Sick.
I know that the intense nausea and vomiting that started during my pregnancy is linked to my anxiety. What I don't know is how to make it stop.
Laura Turner
The Gym Isn’t Usually A Safe Space For Fat Women, But It’s Become My Sanctuary
After a lifetime of assuming I would never excel in a sport, my body is proving me wrong.
Fancy Feast
What Does It Mean To Live With A Body That Can’t Be Fixed?
Three new books by Ada Limón, Sonya Huber, and Sandra Gail Lambert change the narrative around what it means to live with illness — and be well.
Anna Leahy
These Volunteers Are Battling Idaho’s Government To Expand Medicaid
State legislators in Idaho have refused to accept federal funding that could help thousands without health insurance get coverage. Meet “Reclaim Idaho,” the group that’s trying to do what elected officials won’t and put Medicaid expansion up for a vote in November.
Anne Helen Petersen
Just Because I Have Depression Doesn't Mean I Shouldn't Be Pregnant
Many people have suggested that I shouldn’t try to address how bad I’ve felt during my pregnancy — or say that I shouldn’t have gotten pregnant at all.
Rebecca Vipond-Brink
There’s A Christian Alternative To Health Insurance, But It's Not For Everyone
For a growing number of Christians in the US, faith-based health care sharing ministries seem like the perfect alternative to an expensive, volatile insurance marketplace. But there may be serious drawbacks for some members — and for everyone else.
Laura Turner
Do I Have To Choose Between A Good Life And Good Teeth?
After growing up poor in West Virginia, I thought I had made it out and built a better life for myself. But my teeth are only getting worse.
Jonathan Corcoran
Overweight Men Need Your Empathy, Not Your Jokes
Obesity is a medical condition, not an opportunity for comic relief. But when I express this emotion, the response is “chup be rondhu, yeh le samosa kha”.
Kunal Kamra
Why I’ve Given Up On Being Healthy
My mitochondrial disease has no treatment or cure. But after years of focusing on what I can’t do because of my disability, I finally see what I can do — and how I can do it.
What It Feels Like To Have A Chronic Illness
A story of the body I’ve kept, and even loved, despite itself.
Jeremy Sorese
16 Personal Essays About Mental Health Worth Reading
Here are some of the most moving and illuminating essays published on BuzzFeed about mental illness, wellness, and the way our minds work.
Rachel Sanders
7 Essays To Read: Finding Feminism, Loss, And Having Brain Surgery While Awake
This week, Susan Grey Blue writes about parting from her right-ring Christian fundamentalist lifestyle after discovering feminism. Read that and other essays from Racked, The New Yorker, The Toast, and others.
Susan Cheng
How I'm Learning I Don't Always Have To Be In Control
I've always felt like I needed to be perfect. But after a string of tragedies in my life, I've learned that sometimes God has other plans.
Amanda Bast
7 Essays To Read This Weekend: Baltimore, Bruce Jenner, And Black Exhaustion
This week, BuzzFeed News editor Adam Serwer asks how a city with black representation in power erupted in riots not seen since Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. Read that and others from Medium, the New York Times, and The Nation.
Susan Cheng
What Happens When Your Body Image Nightmare Comes True
I'd always been self-conscious about my abdomen. When I got endometriosis, everyone else became conscious of it too.
Virginia Sole-Smith
Why You Still Feel Like Crap
Every drug has side effects — take enough of them, and you're back where you started.
Anna North
How Politicized Abortion Threatens Clinic Safety
Keeping abortion separate from other medical procedures and regulating it in different ways paves the way for unsafe clinics like the one Kermit Gosnell allegedly operated.
Anna North
8 Weird And Shocking Ways People Ended Up In Hospital In 2015
The BMJ Case Reports journal records strange and unexpected illnesses and injuries. Here are some of the strangest from last year. Warning: Maybe don't read this while you're eating your lunch.
Tom Chivers
KJ Apa Revealed How "Riverdale" Is Doing Makeout Scenes During The Coronavirus Pandemic, And People Have Questions
"Our new normal..."
Ben Henry
We Know What Bodily Fluid Matches Your Personality
Do you have the work ethic of blood? The mediating influence of urine? What is your spirit fluid?
Alex Kasprak
Can You Pass This Gross-Ass Bodily Fluid Quiz?
Blood, sweat, and tears, sure...but also pus, semen, and piss.
Alex Kasprak
19 Tweets You'll Totally Get If You Google Your Symptoms
"WebMD would be more accurate if every search result diagnosed you as a hypochondriac."
Elizabeth Pears
