A quick cure for anxiety

How to calm a cough

Chelsea Beck/NPR To Ease Anxious Thinking, Practice ‘Radical Compassion’ — Here's How   Feel stuck in a storm of to-dos and regrets? Psychologist and author Tara Brach has a new strategy to help us cut through all that rumination to get to the good stuff happening right now. As Brach explains to NPR’s Allison Aubrey this week, she’s named the easy, four-step practice “RAIN,” which stands for “Recognize, Allow, Investigate and Nurture.” It's a simple tool for accepting yourself where you are right now. Mindfulness won’t keep you from aiming high and achieving goals, Brach says -- instead it quells the anxieties that often lead to more mistakes, less empathy and less effectiveness. “Fear doesn’t make us more intelligent,” Brach says. “If we can trust the goodness, then we can help to bring it out in ourselves and each other.” Learn how to turn around negative feelings with the RAIN mindfulness practice. BONUS: How meditation can ease pain    Joe Raedle/Getty Images When’s The Last Time You Saw Your Doctor? Even adults with good health insurance are visiting primary care providers less often than they did about a decade ago, a big study found this week. And the percentage of people who went a year or more without such a visit has risen to about 46%. If that’s you, it’s a problem for your health, research suggests. Sure, you can hit a minute clinic when you have a super sore throat or lingering cough — or send an email. But those convenient alternatives may be less valuable to your long-term health than building a trusting relationship with a provider who can catch symptoms that might signal a serious health problem, such as heart disease, diabetes, depression or cancer. Read on to learn more about who’s not seeking care and why. BONUS: How to pick a doctor (or break up with one)   Rachen Buosa/Getty Images/EyeEm For Kids' Coughs, Honey May Work Better Than Cough Syrup There’s nothing like a kid’s persistent cough to ruin an entire family’s night sleep. The hacking, followed by crying, and more coughing can go on all night. And when desperate parents run to the drugstore for cough syrups, they’re met by an array of bottles of cough-suppressing drugs like dextromethorphan (in Robitussin, for example) or antihistamines like diphenhydramine (in Benadryl). The bad news, most of these don’t work well on kids and have side effects. The good news? Honey works better.  Read more about what works and what doesn’t for helping with kids’ coughs. BONUS: Giving medicine to young children? How to get the dose right More of this week's health stories from NPR How to help a kid who's parent suffers from addiction A new theory for how autism affects the brain Worried about coronavirus? Here’s one way you won't catch the virus. What it’s like living under the first federal quarantine in half a century  We hope you enjoyed these stories. Find more of NPR's health journalism on Shots and follow us on Twitter at @NPRHealth. Your editor, Carmel Wroth   What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: shots@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Goats & Soda, Daily News, Best of NPR and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to Health emails. This email was sent by National Public Radio, Inc., 1111 North Capitol Street NE, Washington, DC 20002 Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy