It’s normal for parents, or anyone, to have questions about vaccinations — but what happens if your pediatrician urges a shot that’s under attack by the Trump administration?
That’s getting more likely: The nation’s leading doctors groups are in an unprecedented standoff with federal health officials who have attacked long-used, lifesaving vaccines.
The revolt by pediatricians, obstetricians, family physicians, infectious disease experts and internists came to a head when an advisory panel handpicked by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. urged an end to routine newborn vaccination against hepatitis B, a virus that can cause liver failure or liver cancer.
That vaccine saves lives, helped child infections plummet and has been given safely to tens of millions of children in the U.S. alone, say the American Academy of Pediatrics and other doctors groups that vowed Tuesday to keep recommending it.
But that’s not the only difference. That Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices now is examining possible changes to the entire childhood vaccination schedule, questioning certain ingredients and how many doses youngsters receive.
Pushing back, the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued its own recommendations for youngsters. Other medical groups — plus some city and state public health departments that have banded together — also are issuing their own advice on certain vaccines, which largely mirrors pre-2025 federal guidance.
This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.
“We owe our patients a consistent message informed by evidence and lived experience, not messages biased by political imperative,” Dr. Ronald Nahass, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, told reporters Tuesday.
But Nahass acknowledged the inevitable consumer confusion, recounting a relative calling him last weekend for advice about hepatitis B vaccination for her new grandbaby.
“Most Americans don’t have a Cousin Ronnie to call. They are left alone with fear and mistrust,” he said, urging parents to talk with their doctors about vaccines.
New guidelines without new data concern doctors
Hepatitis B isn’t the only vaccine challenge. Kennedy’s health department recently changed a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention webpage to contradict the longtime scientific conclusion that vaccines don’t cause autism. Federal agencies also moved to restrict COVID-19 vaccinations this fall, and are planning policy changes that could restrict future flu and coronavirus shots.
But when it comes to vaccine advice, “for decades, ACIP was the gold standard,” said Dr. Jake Scott, an infectious disease physician and Stanford University researcher.
The panel once routinely enlisted specialists in specific diseases for long deliberations of the latest science and safety data, resulting in recommendations typically adopted not only by the CDC but by the medical field at large, he said.
Last week’s meeting of Kennedy’s panel, which includes vaccine skeptics, marked a radical departure. CDC specialists weren’t allowed to present data on hepatitis B, the childhood vaccine schedule or questions about vaccine ingredients. Few of the committee members have public health experience, and some expressed confusion about the panel’s proposals.
At one point, a doctor called in to say the panel was misrepresenting her study’s findings. And the panel’s chairman wondered why one dose of yellow fever vaccine protected him during a trip to Africa when U.S. children get three doses of hepatitis B vaccine. The hepatitis B vaccine is designed to protect children for life from a virus they can encounter anywhere, not just on a trip abroad. And other scientists noted it was carefully studied for years to prove the three-dose course offers decades of immunity — evidence that a single dose simply doesn’t have.
“If they’ve got new data, I’m all for it — let’s see it and have a conversation,” said Dr. Kelly Gebo, an infectious disease specialist and public health dean at George Washington University, who watched for that. “I did not see any new data,” so she’s not changing her vaccine advice.
Committee members argued that most babies’ risk of hepatitis B infection is very low and that earlier research on infant shot safety was inadequate.
Especially unusual was a presentation from a lawyer who voiced doubt about studies that proved benefits of multiple childhood vaccines and promoted discredited research pointing to harms.
“I don’t think at any point in the committee’s history, there was a 90-minute uninterrupted presentation by someone who wasn’t a physician, a scientist, or a public health expert on the topic — let alone someone who, who makes his living in vaccine litigation,” said Jason Schwartz, a vaccine policy expert at Yale University.
By abandoning data and the consensus of front-line doctors, the ACIP is “actively burning down the credibility that made its recommendations so powerful,” added Stanford’s Scott. “Most parents will still follow their pediatricians, and AAP is holding the line here. But the mixed messages are precisely what erode confidence over time.”
Parents already have a choice — they need solid guidance
Trump administration health officials say it’s important to restore choice to parents and to avoid mandates. That’s how the panel’s hepatitis B recommendation was framed — that parents who really want it could get their children vaccinated later.
Parents already have a choice, said Dr. Aaron Milstone of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The government makes population-wide recommendations while families and their doctors tailor choices to each person’s health needs.
But many doctors don’t — or can’t — do their own lengthy scientific review of vaccines and thus had relied on the ACIP and CDC information, Yale’s Schwartz noted.
They “rely on trusted expert voices to help navigate what is, even in the best of times, a complicated landscape regarding the evidence for vaccines and how best to use them,” he said.
That’s a role that the pediatricians and other doctors groups, plus those multistate collaborations, aim to fill with their own guidelines — while acknowledging it will be a huge task.
For now, “ask your questions, bring your concerns and let us talk about them,” said Dr. Sarah Nosal, of the American Academy of Family Physicians, urging anyone with vaccine questions to have an open conversation with their doctor.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
NEW YORK (AP) — While reflecting on what we’re thankful for during the holiday season, we often focus on the external: the company of loved ones. The nourishment of a shared meal. The homes in which we gather.
It’s fairly uncommon, because people generally are more comfortable expressing gratefulness to others. But psychologists say taking the time to thank ourselves for the qualities that carried us through life can be healthy and important, even if doing it feels awkward or arouses fears of appearing egotistical.
One reason self-gratitude doesn’t come naturally: the human brain evolved to look for problems and dwell on the negative when everyday life required an awareness of immediate dangers, said Kristin Neff, associate professor in the educational psychology department at the University of Texas, Austin.
Our ancestors who kicked back and relaxed were more likely to be eaten by lions, while the ones who dwelled on where the lions might be tomorrow were more likely to survive, Neff said.
“It’s not that it’s hard to do, but we have to overcome the natural tendency of the brain to always be looking for problems as a way of staying safe,” she said.
If people spent five minutes a day looking at themselves with compassion, their days would be different, said Maryanna Klatt, director of the Center for Integrative Health at Ohio State University. She recommended acknowledging our strengths, but also our challenges, which we can view as opportunities that may lead us to a place we never would have discovered.
In this story, several people approached in parks share what they appreciate about themselves.
Seeing the positive
Lorenzo Cruz, 26, grew up in the Dominican Republic, where he recently earned a bachelor’s degree in business before moving to Boston.
As a child, he experienced not having basic necessities, but as a teenager he moved and had a more comfortable life which enabled him to travel, receive an education and expand his perspective, he said.
“I’m grateful for the rough childhood I had because that made me appreciate so many different things that I’ve noticed people don’t look at or don’t appreciate enough,” Cruz said. “The way I see life, I’m grateful for that.”
To express thanks to himself, Cruz gives himself permission “to go for that trip, to binge watch that show, to go have fun at the bar, to eat that pizza at 12 a.m. I think we all tend to judge and put too much pressure on ourselves. Sometimes I just have to give myself a break and thank me for everything.”
Giving
As a single mother in her 40s, Ana Anitoaie appreciates the way she manages her family life and gives back to her community through teaching.
“I’m an immigrant. I came to the United States in 1995, and I’m really grateful for being on-task and following my education, and I have achieved so much by myself. I help my family back in Europe,” said Anitoaie, a secondary school math teacher.
“Today’s society is not really looking for what we’re grateful for,” Anitoaie said. “I think we should practice that more and we’ll be living in a happier Earth.”
Taking chances
Lara Furac, a primary school teacher who lives in Switzerland, is thankful for her courage and caring for others. She was in New York attending a bartending class with the goal of switching careers.
“I’m very grateful that I’m someone who gives everyone a fair chance, and I’m not scared to open up to people and meet new people,” said Furac, 29. “I always said I’m not scared to make steps in life that are uncomfortable to some, but for me, the most important thing in life is that I can look back one day and be like, yes, I really lived, and I’m grateful that I really tried to do that, even if it’s scary sometimes and if it means something new, but also saying goodbye to something you know. I’m grateful that I’m brave enough to do that.”
Self-care
Jose Santiago, a student at Mercy University in New York, recognizes his optimism as an asset. “You know, I don’t see the negative or anything,” the 18 year old said. “I always see the situation as a way to get better. I always see each day as a blessing because someone didn’t get to wake up today.”
“I express gratitude to myself in sometimes just the way I get ready for the day and the way I approach it,” he said. If he’s in a bad mood, he starts his day “with a nice shower, go through a skin care routine, hair care routine, maybe play a certain song that makes me think of a good memory in my life, back to when I was a child.”
Determination
As an actor in New York City, Joe Osheroff, 54, is “grateful for my persistence when it pays off. And by payoff, I mean if I’m able to do things in life, in my career, and outside of my career that are fulfilling and justify all the parts of it that are difficult.”
To thank himself, Osheroff takes time to slow down and sit in the park, especially with a good cup of coffee. He also searches for small treasures at antique shops, enjoying browsing even if he doesn’t buy anything.
Taking action
Souzanne Eng, who retired from the fashion industry, said she always appreciates what the higher powers have given her, “but I never really say to myself, ’You know, a lot of these things, it’s because I put them in action.”
“I’m grateful that I am kind. I’m grateful that I’m good to people. I am grateful that I am patient,” Eng said. “Grateful that I am able to put in action, to go for it. I’ve always been a goal-oriented person, and I never let things stop me. So I guess I’m grateful for those attributes.”
Eating right
Dea Shpati, an accountant, said she doesn’t excel at physical activity, but “I am grateful that I try to take care of my body, especially by nutrition. I’m really grateful that I do that.”
“I push myself to walk or to run or to exercise, but for the eating part, it comes naturally and for that I’m grateful,” said Shpati, 24.
“I’m grateful that I want to work. I would hate if I don’t have a job. I’m grateful that I have the desire to do so, to earn for myself and to contribute in the family budget.”
Self-love
College friends Emily Milner, 33, and Meagan Hicks, 32, were walking together during a visit in New York.
“I like to show gratitude to myself by just giving myself thought time, and in that time, I thank my past self for my current life,” said Milner, a marketing professional who lives in Sedalia, Colorado.
“In a lot of ways we live in a self-deprecating society, and when you care for other people, you don’t have to reflect inwards, because that’s a difficult thing to do,” Milner said. “So people use caring about other people and being grateful for other people as a way to avoid introspection.”
“It is the greatest form of self-love, giving gratitude to yourself,” Hicks said.
With a runway of smoking-hot coals laid out before them, residents in San Pedro Manrique, Spain, steel themselves as thousands of onlookers cheer them on. The crowd roars when they walk across the fire, sometimes carrying another person on their back.
Although the walkers and the crowd perform very different roles during the annual June ritual, they report similar feelings: an ineffable feeling of togetherness, as if the entire group becomes one, said Dimitris Xygalatas, a cognitive anthropologist at the University of Connecticut, who witnessed the Spanish ritual years ago as a researcher.
He has experienced similar feelings in a stadium while chanting and cheering together with 30,000 fans of his hometown soccer team. Both are instances of collective effervescence, said Xygalatas, author of “Rituals: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living.”
It’s that feeling that happens when people engage together in a meaningful activity that sparks positive emotions. Such as when you get goose bumps at a concert, feel the rush of adrenaline in group exercise classes or get swept up in religious festivals.
Recently, collective effervescence has been referred to as “we mode,” and it’s something that can be cultivated to improve your life, said Kelly McGonigal, a Stanford University health psychologist.
“When you are connected through shared positive emotion, expressions often act as this aerosolized joy, where you catch other people’s smiles, laughter, their physical expressions,” McGonigal said. “It becomes contagious.”
When hearts beat as one
“We mode” has also been called physiological synchrony, and McGonigal calls it “collective joy.” The concept was documented more than a century ago by French sociologist Emile Durkheim, who described cultural effervescence after studying aboriginal Australian societies.
Xygalatas’ research has focused on measuring it in various group activities. To quantify “autonomic responses,” he has fitted people with heart monitors and electrodes and extracted thousands of stills from videos to analyze facial expressions.
He found that people’s physiological responses synchronize during exciting events. The heartbeats of sports fans who attend a game, for instance, sync up, while those of fans watching the same game on TV don’t. Fans at the game also have higher levels of endorphins, which have been linked to bonding, he said.
On a basic level, collective rituals involve meeting and connecting with people, which is a key to psychological well-being, Xygalatas noted.
“If we all dress alike and we move alike and we feel alike, we express the same emotions that trigger mechanisms in our brain,” Xygalatas said. “There’s a fundamental need for synchrony.”
Activities that create ‘we mode’
What kinds of activities should you look for to tap into “we mode”? McGonigal, who has studied the science of emotion and wrote “The Joy of Movement” about the emotional benefits of exercise, named these criteria:
The activity must be in person. McGonigal noted that during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, people who tried to recreate positive interactions online found it more difficult than in person.
“If you’re not physically present with people, a lot of the signals that create the shared state, they just aren’t there,” she said.
It also helps to make noise and move your body, whether you cheer, applaud, move, dance or sing. McGonigal said you’re more likely to feel this kind of collective joy when you’re dancing with people than when you’re sitting in a theater watching a dance performance.
Also, try to let go of shame or self-consciousness, and get into the activity. Passive observers don’t get the same effect, McGonigal said.
“You’ve got to do the wave at the sporting event,” she said. “If you’re at a group exercise class, and your instructor is like, ‘Can I get a whoop, whoop?’ You gotta whoop, whoop.”
After spending two college semesters in northern Thailand, Sarah Jongsma found herself back home in the rural Nevada town where she grew up, surrounded by everything familiar yet feeling strangely out of place.
“It caught me off guard,” she said. “I didn’t know what was going on.”
Only later, after a summer studying in India and while preparing to go to France for another semester abroad, did Jongsma understand what she had been feeling: reverse culture shock.
The 22-year-old’s experience shows that studying abroad can be challenging in unexpected ways. Experts say that’s why students need to study up on not only safety precautions and cultural differences, but also the emotional shifts that may come with leaving home — and returning to it.
Planning for low points and potential disappointments, experts say, can help students focus on making the most of a trip that is exciting, challenging and life-changing.
“The value and purpose of studying abroad is to learn about the rest of the world as well as learn about yourself. In fact, it is the juxtaposition of having your assumptions tested that you can gain from studying abroad and helps you understand yourself even better,” said Bill Bull, vice president of risk management for the Council on International Educational Exchange, which facilitates high school, college and faculty study-abroad programs.
Here are some tips that experts and students recommend for anyone heading off to learn in a foreign country:
Before you travel
Along with having an up-to-date passport and a visa, if their host country requires one, students need to be aware of potential risks and cultural expectations based on their ethnicity, nationality, race, gender, sexual orientation and religion.
Many countries do not recognize same-sex unions, so experts suggest being careful of open interactions with a partner of the same sex. Women may face cultural expectations around dress or hair, or find it hard to obtain birth control or feminine hygiene products they didn’t think to bring with them.
“Make plans for what you will do when things go wrong, because things can go wrong and things will go wrong,” said Bull, who recommends connecting with students who studied abroad, as well as their parents, for advice they wished they’d had. “It doesn’t mean it has to be the end of your experience. It just means that you need to be ready to manage it.”
Some study-abroad programs offer basic health coverage, but students should consider medical evacuation insurance and check whether any of their regular prescribed medications are illegal abroad. The U.S. Department of State also recommends enrolling in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, a free safety and security alert service for U.S. citizens.
Advance research also is important for students still thinking about whether to apply for a study-abroad program.
Financial and academic planning are equally important, as they are among the biggest barriers for students seeking to study abroad, said Phoebe Stears-Macauley, a Germany and Spain program advisor for the University Studies Abroad Consortium, which offers study-abroad programs for university students.
“Meet with your academic advisors, talk through the classes you will take and how those will transfer back, and meet with your financial aid office,” she said.
While a lot of the preparation and precautions are about practical needs, experts and students say it’s just as much about setting realistic expectations.
When Jongsma left for the Thai city of Chiang Mai in 2023, it was her first time traveling internationally and being away from her parents.
“When you’re getting ready to leave, you get really focused on your own personal goals and how you’re going to meet them,” she said. “I don’t think you realize that when you get there, you’ll miss your community a lot.”
Homesickness may feel even sharper around holidays like Thanksgiving, especially for students who have not spent them away from family before. Jongsma suggests bringing small reminders of home with you and keeping a journal. She also packed a small portable printer for her summer studies in Bengaluru, India, in case she wanted to print out pictures of family and friends.
While abroad
Once students arrive at their destination, experts suggest slowing down and observing their surroundings. A common regret Stears-Macauley said she hears from returning students, especially those who studied in Europe, is that they spent every weekend traveling and not getting to know their host city.
Bull advises students to think about why they are studying abroad in the first place and what they hope to get from the experience. Choosing to be present in the moment instead of constantly taking photos can make the time far more meaningful and yield cultural clues that help you fit in, he said.
“Anyone can go be a tourist,” Bull said. “You want to notice what’s going on around you. You want to look at what people are wearing and what they’re not wearing. You want to see, do people stop at the red lights or do they cross anyway?”
Programs can last anywhere from a few weeks to more than a year, and students may face mental health challenges such as loneliness, depression or language-related anxiety. Many programs offer on-site support, but experts say students should have a plan in place before those symptoms occur.
For Dominic Motter, who spent a semester in London in 2023, familiar routines helped when homesickness struck. Like Jongsma, Motter’s trip abroad was his first time away from family and friends for an extended period of time, and he was surprised when confronted with the feeling of homesickness.
“I’d never known that feeling before,” he said.
An avid runner, Motter would jog in the park whenever he felt overwhelmed, a simple ritual from back home that helped him feel more grounded. He also found comfort in decorating his room, both with items from home and new souvenirs from his travels. At the end of the day, he said it helped him feel like he was “coming home.”
“Instead of it feeling like a temporary dorm room or hotel room,” he said, it put him in the mindset that “this is now my new home.”
Upon return
Experts say many students returning home are going through a transition and may struggle with reverse culture shock without realizing it.
“You’ve had this transformative experience. You’ve changed and grown so much, and you come back to the place where you were before and it’s all different because you’re so different,” Stears-Macauley said. She suggests joining local international clubs or alumni associations from the foreign school you attended to find support.
Students can also prepare by answering the following questions, Bull said: How will you contextualize your experience? What aspects are most important to share? Which details are suitable for brief conversations, and which are better saved for deeper conversations with people who want to understand what made the experience meaningful?
For Jongsma, it helped to create new experiences in a familiar place — even something as simple as checking out a new museum, she said. Motter, who spent his first few weeks wishing he were back in London, said it helped to talk with the friends he’d made there because they actually understood what he was feeling.
As he put it: “It’ll eventually feel like home again.”
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Mumphrey reported from Flagstaff, Arizona. Yamat reported from Las Vegas.
Olympic gold-medalist Rowdy Gaines has swimming tips if you’re an older swimmer, or returning to the pool after years away.
Gaines won three Olympic gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Games and is widely known as the “voice of swimming” for his coverage of the Olympics with American network NBC.
Swimming is an all-around exercise with water providing mild resistance. It’s low-impact, offers a complete workout and is suitable for all ages.
“Of course I’m biased, but I will stack swimming against any other exercise out there, especially as we age,” Gaines told The Associated Press. “And swimming is one of the few sports you can do forever.”
Gaines missed out on a shot at winning a handful of medals at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, which the United States boycotted. Gaines set 10 world records between 1978 and 1984 and was the heir in American sprinting to Mark Spitz and a predecessor to Michael Phelps.
Gaines is 66 and said his 90-year-old father, Buddy, is back training for a meet for older swimmers early next year. He said his father has not swum seriously in, perhaps, 70 years.
Gaines stayed away from advice around strokes, detailed workout plans, and specific training suggestions. His tips are geared for older swimmers and those retuning after a long layoff — perhaps decades.
Defog your goggles, slip into the pool, grab your kickboard and let’s get motivated.
Get your technique down
Take time to work on your technique. Most recreational swimmers use the freestyle stroke, also known as the front crawl. But his advice also applies to breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly.
With freestyle, Gaines preaches taking long, smooth strokes — not short, choppy ones. And for freestyle swimmers, keep your head in the water and aligned with your body.
“Water rewards efficiency,” said Gaines, who won his three gold medals in the 100 free and two relays. “It has nothing to do with power. I think a lot of first-timers feel like they have to power their way through the water and that is not true.”
Be patient
Build distance and endurance slowly. Maybe a few decades ago you could swim non-stop for 30 minutes. You won’t be able to after a long time away.
Start with a 200-yard (meter) workout. Swim 25 yards (meters) and rest until your heart rate slows. Do this eight to 10 times “and then get the heck out of the pool,” Gaines said.
“You don’t want to overdo it to start with and then get frustrated and think you can’t do it,” he said. “You need to increase your total distance little by little.”
Gaines suggested the goal is a 20-30 minute workout, three times per week. Swimming relies on getting a feel for the water, which requires steadfastness.
“Three days a week is the sweet spot,” he said. “If you are doing less than three days a week, it’s really tough to develop the consistency you need.”
Injury prevention
This is common sense, but take time to warm up. Do this on dry land, perhaps, before hitting the water. Do stretches, work your shoulders, and work on some strength training.
It’s no secret that some swimmers experience lots of shoulder pain.
“You have to listen to any pain,” Gaines said. “Pain is a lot different than fatigue or strain. Pain is real. If you are feeling fatigue and strain, that’s good. If you are feeling pain, that’s bad.”
If something hurts, stop and change your workout.
If you swim freestyle, Gaines suggested adding in a bit of backstroke to loosen the shoulders and add strength. Breaststroke in also easier on the shoulders. Butterfly, however, is tough on the shoulders.
Mind set — the mental game
Gaines emphasized keeping it fun and getting comfortable in the water. Not fighting it.
“Learn to feel the water,” he said. “The small goal of just feeling the water is much more important than many other things. Swimming is not easy. You are not always going to feel good swimming. But you are going to feel great when you’re done.”
He also emphasized varying your workout — meaning time, distance and strokes to keep in fun and interesting.
Hydration and training aids
Swimmers need to stay hydrated. It’s not generally a problem for recreational swimmers, but swimmers perspire while swimming. The warmer the pool, the more this might be a problem.
Gaines reminded that pool temperatures vary, but 80 degrees F (27 degrees C) is about right. Warmer temperatures can lead to more dehydration.
He also suggested training aids such a swim fins, paddles or pull-buoys, which are also another part of adding variety.
“I really don’t like to swim, but I love the feeling of being done,” Gaines said. (Remember, this revelation is from a decorated Olympic athlete.) “I crave that feeling when I get out of the water. It’s the endorphins. It’s definitely mental for me.”
Gaines said he swims six days a week, usually between 2,000 and 2,500 yards (meters). He said about 40% is freestyle with three 20% sections of backstroke, breaststroke and kicking.
“You want to have variety for that recreational swimmer because swimming can be boring,” Gaines said. “However, swimming can almost be meditation, even for that three-day a week, recreational swimmer.”
U.S. consumers who have had their fill of finding protein added to everything from cereal to ice cream are about to meet the next big food fad: fiber.
Americans have been boosting their protein intake for years; even Pop-Tarts and Starbucks are selling protein-enhanced products. But the number of new products promoted with high or added fiber saw a big uptick in the U.S. this year, according to market research firm Mintel. Hundreds of videos on social media celebrate the benefits of dietary fiber and share recipes to help viewers get more of it.
There’s even a term for trying to meet or exceed the recommended daily fiber intake: fibermaxxing.
“I think fiber will be the next protein,” PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said during a recent conference call with investors. “Consumers are starting to understand that fiber is the benefit that they need.”
Boxes of cereal promoting fiber sit on a shelf at a Kroger grocery store, in Ann Arbor, Mich., Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Dee-Ann Durbin)
Boxes of cereal promoting fiber sit on a shelf at a Kroger grocery store, in Ann Arbor, Mich., Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Dee-Ann Durbin)
Fiber’s benefits
Unlike muscle-building protein, fiber isn’t sexy. It’s a carbohydrate found in plants that your body can’t break down. It helps feed gut bacteria and move food through the digestive system.
“Folks don’t want to talk about it at a dinner party,” said Debbie Petitpain, a registered dietitian nutritionist and a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
There are two main types of fiber. Soluble fiber dissolves in water and forms a gel-like material that feeds gut bacteria. It’s found in foods like oats, peas, beans, apples and carrots. Insoluble fiber doesn’t dissolve in water and moves food through the digestive system. It’s found in whole wheat flour, popcorn, wheat bran, nuts, green beans and potatoes.
This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.
Studies have shown that fiber lowers cholesterol levels, regulates blood sugar and promotes weight loss, since high-fiber foods tend to make eaters feel more full. It may also protect against heart disease, diabetes, diverticulitis and colon cancer, according to the American Heart Association.
Petitpain said rising use of GLP-1 weight loss drugs could be one reason for the renewed focus on fiber, since GLP-1s naturally slow digestion and fiber can prevent constipation. She said fiber has seen similar spikes in interest when people wanted to alleviate symptoms from high-fat diets like Atkins or keto.
How much fiber do we need?
Most people in Western countries could use more fiber because their diets are low in vegetables, fruits and whole grains, said Sander Kersten, director of the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University.
Under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s guidelines, adults should aim for 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories they consume. That’s about 25 grams of fiber for women and 38 grams for men each day. Petitpain said Americans generally only get about two-thirds of that amount.
For reference, 1 cup of raspberries contains 8 grams of fiber, while a banana contains 3.2 grams, according to the USDA. One-half cup of avocado contains 5 grams of fiber and 1 cup of lima beans contains 13.2 grams. Fiber One, a bran cereal, packs 18 grams of fiber into a 2/3-cup serving.
Boxes of cereal promoting fiber are for sale at a Kroger grocery store, in Ann Arbor, Mich., Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Dee-Ann Durbin)
Boxes of cereal promoting fiber are for sale at a Kroger grocery store, in Ann Arbor, Mich., Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Dee-Ann Durbin)
What are good ways to increase fiber?
Kersten said long-term studies about the benefits of fiber have looked at the consumption of whole foods and not packaged products with added fiber.
“The way it is consumed as an additive and part of a diet that doesn’t contain a lot of fiber may be different than a naturally fiber-rich diet,” Kersten said. “You can eat a very processed, Western diet and consume foods that are enriched, but we don’t know if it confers the same benefit.”
Whole foods also help the body in other ways, Petitpain said. An apple contains 4.8 grams of fiber as well as water, vitamins and minerals, for example.
Here are some recommendations from the Mayo Clinic for adding fiber to your diet:
— Choose a breakfast cereal with 5 grams or more of fiber a serving. Top it with a sliced banana or berries.
— Choose breads with at least 2 grams of fiber per serving and try other grains like brown rice, whole-wheat pasta and quinoa.
— When baking, substitute whole-grain flour for white flour. Add wheat bran to muffins and cookies.
— Try to eat five or more servings of fruit and vegetables daily. If you eat canned fruit, make sure it’s canned in fruit juice and not syrup, and make sure canned vegetables are low in sodium.
Think twice about fibermaxxing
There is no defined upper limit for fiber intake, Kersten said. But increasing fiber can cause painful gas and bloating, especially if it’s done quicky.
Petitpain said people should increase their fiber intake gradually and drink plenty of water.
“You’re feeding gut bacteria a food, and you can’t break it down. You rely on them, and if you give them second, third and fourth servings, there’s not enough of them to handle the extra load,” Petitpain said.
Certain populations should also be extra careful about their fiber intake, Petitpain said. People who are sensitive to gluten or allergic to foods like soy, shellfish or psyllium husk should read labels carefully since some foods with added fiber contain those ingredients.
More broadly, Kersten questions the trend of focusing on one nutrient, whether it’s protein or fiber.
“We don’t need nutrients, we need foods. Ultimately, what you want to be striving for is a healthy diet, and you should choose foods that are considered to be an important part of a healthy diet,” he said.
NEW YORK (AP) — Online betting is more accessible than ever, with 14% of U.S. adults saying they bet on professional or college sports online either frequently or occasionally, according to a February poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. It’s also in the news, with a growing list of sports betting scandals making headlines.
Public health advocates and personal finance advisers say it’s important to know the risks if you’re going to gamble online.
“Gambling and ‘responsibly’ seem to be oxymoronic, because if you’re gambling it’s all about risk,” said Caleb Silver, editor in chief of personal finance site Investopedia. “But people still do it. Online gambling and sports betting are only becoming more popular.”
Since the Supreme Court struck down a ban on sports betting in 2018, 38 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized gambling, according to the American Gaming Association.
For those new to online gambling, it can be helpful to set limits in advance on how much you’re willing to lose and how much time you’re willing to spend. Many of the platforms and apps that offer gambling, such as FanDuel and DraftKings, include optional safeguards to limit time or losses. Other apps can block access to the platforms for set amounts of time.
Here’s what to know:
This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.
Online gambling can be riskier than gambling in person
The potential losses of digital betting can occur more quickly than in a physical casino, according to Heather Eshleman, director of operations at the Maryland Center for Excellence on Problem Gambling, since people can bet so much so easily and quickly on the internet or apps, with less friction.
The new prevalence of prediction markets, such as PredictIt and Kalshi, has also created new opportunities to place wagers online on everything from election outcomes to celebrity news to the weather.
How to tell if you have a problem with online gambling
According to public health advocates, the biggest warning sign of a problem is if you’re devoting time to online betting that’s taking away from other things in your life — especially your relationships with friends, family, and work. If you’re spending money on gambling that could instead go towards unmet basic needs, that’s also a warning sign.
“We encourage people to only use money they would use for fun and entertainment, not money that should be used to pay the mortgage or the rent or to pay for food,” said Eshleman.
Silver echoed this.
“You have to know before you do it how much you can afford to lose,” he said. “What is your ‘tap out point?’ Those rules have to be firmly established.”
Ways to limit online gambling
Most sports betting platforms offer “responsible gambling tools,” according to Eshleman.
“You can set limits on time, money, deposits, wins, and losses,” she said. “The goal is to set those limits before you start, because if you don’t set them in advance, they’re not really going to work for you. Once you’re into the excitement of it, you’re not going to stop and use those tools.”
Eshleman recommends apps such as GambBan and BetBlocker, which limit access to gambling sites externally. She also directs those who suspect they may have a problem to use the 1-800-GAMBLER hotline or contact Gamblers Anonymous.
Know the risks and downsides
Silver, the head of Investopedia, said he started adding definitions of online betting and gambling terms to the personal finance site when he saw an increasingly “closer connection between sports betting, day trading, options trading, and cryptocurrency trading.” He encourages those who are interested in digital betting to make sure they know what they’re getting into.
“Before anyone even gets an online (gambling) account, they should be required to know the fundamental terms and rules about the way sports betting works,” he said. “What’s the ‘money line’ or ‘parlay?’ How do odds work? What is the maximum I could lose on this bet?”
The other thing to do is to “play with no expectation of a return,” he said. “The likelihood is that you will lose. So, if you’re willing to lose, how much are you willing to lose?”
Cory Fox, senior vice president of public policy and sustainability at FanDuel, who handles the site’s responsible gambling initiatives, compares using the safeguards to wearing a seatbelt when driving in a car and said FanDuel is committed to setting standards for being a responsible operator in the online gambling space.
Lori Kalani, chief responsible gaming officer at DraftKings, said the site is committed to the same goal and compared using the limit-setting tools to taking Ubers instead of driving on a night when you know you’ll be drinking.
Fox added that responsible gambling tools are important to help allow FanDuel to maintain its social license. He said that it’s in the interest of the site to make sure its users can be on the site and play for a long time to come.
Make sure it’s not a coping mechanism
“If you’re taking care of your mental health, you’re less likely to have a problem with gambling,” Eshleman said.
Rather than turning to the thrill of placing online bets, Eshleman encourages people to find positive ways to cope with stress — listening to music, taking walks, getting more sleep and exercise, and spending more time socializing. Social gambling is safer than hidden, private gambling, she said.
“If you’re doing it alone, that’s a red flag that it’s not an activity that’s healthy for you,” said Eshleman. “It all ties in to our basic wellness. I think if people focus on wellness, it will prevent a lot of gambling.”
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The Associated Press receives support from the Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.
NEW YORK (AP) — When Jennifer Austin met Molly in second grade, they quickly became best friends. They giggled through classes until the teacher separated them, inspiring them to come up with their own language. They shared sleepovers and went on each other’s family vacations.
But they gradually drifted apart after Austin’s family moved to Germany before the girls started high school. Decades passed before they recently reconnected as grown women.
“Strong friendships really do stay for the long haul,” Austin, 51, said. “Even if there are pauses in between and they fade, that doesn’t mean they completely dissolve or they go forgotten. They’re always there kind of lingering like a little light in the back.”
Early friendships are some of the deepest: the schoolmates who shared bike rides and their favorite candy. The roommates who offered comfort after breakups. The ones who know us, sometimes better than we know ourselves.
But as adults take on jobs and the responsibilities of homes and families, it can be challenging to stay connected with everyone we’ve loved.
Technology plays a role, too. Loneliness has increased since the television was invented and intensified with the introduction of smartphones, according to psychologist Marisa Franco, a University of Maryland assistant clinical professor and author of “Platonic,” a book about the science of attachment.
Once they’ve lost touch with friends, some people are reluctant to reach out, fearing rejection. But most of those on the receiving end appreciate the effort more than we expect, Franco said.
This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.
“People are delighted to hear from their old friends and open to connections,” she said.
Franco suggests reminiscing about a shared memory to span the time and distance. It can be something as simple as, “This pic came up and I just realized I wanted to check in on you,” she said. Propose a meetup. If the friend lives far away, try scheduling a phone date to catch up.
Below, six people who tried to rekindle lost friendships reflect on distance, loss and reconnection.
A missing piece
Heather Robb and Laine DiPasquantonio were nearly inseparable in their 20s, when they both lived in Boston. They went to concerts and vacationed together. DiPasquantonio was there when Robb met her future husband and attended their wedding as a bridesmaid.
But sometime after Robb married and DiPasquantonio moved to Colorado, their circle of friends scattered. They became busy raising children, juggling jobs and caring for aging parents.
“It’s terrible because you don’t know it’s happening,” Robb, 60, said in a joint interview. “I think it was simply space and time. We were all in different cities, we were all in that busy time of toddlers.”
Years passed with occasional holiday cards and texts but few meaningful interactions. DiPasquantonio saw photos on social media of Robb skiing and traveling with other friends. “I wasn’t sure there was so much room for me, from a distance,” she said.
“Aww, I feel badly about that,” Robb replied. “I would argue that’s the bad side of social media.”
The women found their way back to each other when Robb, president of Heather Robb Communications, had a business trip to Denver in April. She called to see if DiPasquantonio wanted to get dinner. “I didn’t know if she was going to be that happy to hear from me. I actually had some trepidation in reaching out,” Robb said.
When she did, Robb learned her friend was about to undergo surgery for breast cancer. Instead of meeting for dinner, DiPasquantonio, a placement specialist at Harmony Senior Referrals, invited Robb to stay for the weekend. A mutual friend flew out to join them.
“I was so tickled that you called and wanted to get together. It was awesome,” DiPasquantonio, 63, said during their interview. “What took us so long, right?”
They’ve remained close since.
“It just feels so good. It feels like there was a missing piece,” Robb said.
Just do it
Reyna Dominguez, 18, had the same best friend since first grade. But when Dominguez moved from Long Island to Brooklyn, her friend began college. Dominguez started working in a salon and their schedules didn’t align. About six months passed without communication.
After graduating cosmetology school, Dominguez texted her friend to share the news.
“I was a bit anxious that she was not going to respond. But she did, and I was so relieved and happy,” Dominguez said.
Now they’re in touch about once a month and planning to get together.
“It’s important to stay in touch because sometimes I do get lonely, like I have no one to really talk to,” Dominguez said. “But with her, she knows all about my life.”
Dominguez encourages anyone considering reaching out to an old friend to go ahead. “I say just do it. You have nothing to lose,” she said. “I guess the worst they could do is not respond to you, but I feel like you’ll still be happy with the thought, ‘I tried.’”
Staying close
Andrew Snyder’s best friend since 5th grade lives a plane ride away, but that hasn’t stopped them from keeping in touch. They call or email each other at least once a month and see each other several times per year.
At key points in their lives, they’ve visited each others’ homes “so when we talk about things, we actually can understand,” said Snyder, 50, who teaches philosophy and economics in New York City.
Living in different cities means it requires work to stay connected, but it’s important to Snyder, who feels that friendships are thinning out as people spend more time looking at cellphone screens.
“Friendship and cooking your own food, and exercising and being outside, these are the things that used to be real life, and now I think they’re all fading,” Snyder said. “I don’t think the real issue is time anymore. I think the real issue is a sense of overwhelm and a sense of depletion that we all feel.”
No regrets
Kim Ventresca, 22, drifted from her best friend while attending college. She reached out a few times and they reconnected when the friend was having a rough time. But they stopped talking again when Ventresca was going through mental health and relationship challenges. Eventually, the other young woman told Ventresca she no longer wanted to be friends.
“I’ve got some new friends now, and I feel like it’s probably better because some things happen for a reason,” she said. “I’m hoping that she’s alright and that she is doing OK.”
Ventresca, who works as a social media manager and receptionist in New Jersey, said she still recommends reaching out to missed friends, even if it’s awkward.
“The worst thing that happens is you get ‘left on read’ or delivered or declined,” she said.
Secret language
After Austin’s family moved to Germany, she didn’t see her childhood best friend again for 20 years, through a chance meeting on a New York City subway platform. They reconnected briefly, but contact lapsed again.
Molly’s 2021 visit with one of her children to a college near Austin’s home provided another chance to restore the friendship. They’ve remained close since.
“Something at that point just shifted,” Austin, owner of KindPoint Communications, said. “Things really picked up and we just basically outright said, ’Let’s just keep this momentum going. Let’s not wait another 20 years.’”
Shilpa Gajarawala struggled with hot flashes, night sweats, sleep problems and brain fog. But given her history of breast cancer, treating these menopausal symptoms with hormone therapy wasn’t an option.
“For two years, I tried to kind of power through,” said the 58-year-old physician assistant from Jacksonville, Florida.
But doctors say women like Gajarawala don’t need to suffer.
Though many women take hormone therapy medications to ease menopause symptoms, recently announced label changes may encourage even more to start. But others choose not to use these medications that circulate throughout the body. And doctors advise some to avoid them because they have medical problems such as severe liver disease or a history of heart attack, stroke, blood clots or a type of breast cancer that grows in response to hormones such as estrogen.
“The key here is that there’s something for everybody,” said Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director at the Menopause Society. “There’s always a solution. We have lots of other options available.”
This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.
Lifestyle changes
Boosting physical activity can make a difference. While exercise hasn’t been shown to alleviate menopausal symptoms directly, it can help to shed pounds, which is associated with reductions in hot flashes and night sweats.
Doctors suggest a mix of aerobic exercise, such as running or walking, and strength training, which slows the loss of bone density.
Along with exercise, doctors advise watching what you eat.
Emerging science shows that a “plant-forward diet,” rich in produce and soy and low in oil, may help with managing hot flashes in particular, said Faubion of the Mayo Clinic Center for Women’s Health. Experts aren’t sure why this is true, but some suggest it may be because it also helps with weight loss.
Another key, doctors said, is to avoid things in the diet that may trigger hot flashes, like caffeine or alcohol.
Eating well and exercising also help with other midlife health issues, like rising heart and diabetes risks.
During menopause, the body’s production of the hormones estrogen and progesterone declines greatly. The drop in estrogen levels can lead to higher blood pressure and cholesterol.
“It’s important that we focus on maintaining cardiovascular health” such as stopping smoking, getting enough sleep and watching stress levels, Faubion said.
Prescription drugs
Beyond lifestyle changes, some nonhormonal prescription medicines have been shown to ease menopausal symptoms.
Antidepressants can help with hot flashes and mood issues. Recent data suggest that a drug for an overactive bladder called oxybutynin may reduce hot flashes while also treating frequent urination that’s common during menopause.
And doctors pointed to a new drug on the market – Veozah, a brand name for fezolinetant — which works in the area of the brain that controls body temperature and blocks a source of hot flashes and night sweats. Another nonhormonal drug called elinzanetant — marketed as Lynkuet — was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It works similarly, except it blocks two molecules in the nervous system instead of one.
One downside of such medications? Possible side effects.
Veozah’s label includes a federally required warning about the risk of a rare but serious liver injury. Lynkuet’s possible side effects include difficulty staying awake, fatigue and others. Some antidepressants can cause weight gain, although generally in doses higher than those used for menopause symptoms. And oxybutynin can cause dry mouth and, in some people, a condition in which they can’t completely empty the bladder.
“There’s no medication out there that’s entirely free of risk,” said Dr. JoAnn Manson at Harvard Medical School.
Other nonhormonal options
Over-the-counter products can also treat some menopausal symptoms. Lubricants available at drugstores can help women struggling with vaginal dryness.
Cognitive behavioral therapy, which focuses on changing unhealthy thought patterns and behaviors, has been shown to help women cope with hot flashes.
“It’s not like it’s going to make you not have a hot flash,” Faubion said. “But it makes them less significant for you and less burdensome.”
Manson said there’s “moderate evidence” that clinical hypnosis might also help, with some studies showing reductions in the frequency and severity of hot flashes.
“That seems a promising option,” she said. “But more research is needed.”
The bottom line is that women don’t have to simply “get through” menopause, said Dr. Juliana Kling, a women’s health expert at Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine in Arizona. “I would implore women to have that conversation … about what treatment might be beneficial for them.”
Gajarawala did that. She now skips red wine, walks at least 10,000 steps a day, practices tai chi and takes an extended-release antidepressant to address her symptoms.
“It’s been a significant improvement,” she said.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
NEW YORK (AP) — As workers face frozen salaries, inflation and fear of layoffs, some have decided to branch out from their traditional careers. They’re taking on side jobs to bring in additional income and provide a backup plan should they find themselves out of work, or adding second, third and sometimes fourth jobs — what some call “polyworking” — to the mix.
Take Katelyn Cusick, 29. She beautifies displays as a visual merchandiser for Patagonia at her full-time job. Then she works a side gig managing social media influencers for a German shoe brand for 10 to 15 hours per week. She also has an Etsy shop where she sells paintings. If that wasn’t enough, she ushers at concerts in the San Francisco Bay Area — a way to see live shows for free.
“Every day is different and every day feels like a new day,” Cusick said. “That is ultimately why I started doing all these side hustles, just because I wanted to switch it up. I don’t want to just do the same thing every day.”
Some are drawn to side jobs because of instability in their workplace, or the perception that they may lose their income. Still others, reluctant to trust one employer to provide a steady job that lasts, are supplementing their main roles with gig work on apps such as Uber and Grubhub.
This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.
“We have seen stagnant salaries, we’ve seen inflation, we’ve seen the cost of living overall increasing, even beyond our inflation measures,” said Alexandrea Ravenelle, sociologist and gig economy researcher at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “So people are looking for ways to supplement and to build themselves a little bit of a safety net.”
Some are creating “portfolio careers” where they work a variety of jobs, each building different valuable skills. In Cusick’s case, side work keeps her social media marketing skills current.
“Rather than having one job that you can have for many, many years and thinking about your career progression as a linear pathway, some people are putting together multiple side hustles based on their skills and interests and making the money work by having multiple revenue streams,” said Elaine Chen, director of the Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts University.
Career experts and those with side jobs share tips on how to get started and what to avoid if you’re considering branching out from your 9-to-5.
Follow a passion
If you’re embarking on a side business on top of a full-time job, consider picking something you’re naturally interested in, since you’ll spend a lot of free time on the venture.
“You have to love it,” Chen said. “Usually it is something that the person is really passionate about.”
For Josie White, 31, that passion was mental health. After struggling with schizoaffective disorder and finding effective treatment, she wanted to help others who have mental health challenges feel less alone.
While working full-time as a fundraiser for Shelter the Homeless, a nonprofit organization in Salt Lake City, White decided to pursue public speaking on the side and began looking for opportunities to address groups and conferences where she could share her own experiences with mental illness “to reassure people that there is hope and a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Be realistic about money
Launching a side hustle may require initial investment, and it can take a considerable amount of time before it generates income.
When White started her side business, she began by offering her speaking services as an unpaid volunteer. She landed some gigs training nonprofit staff and speaking about fundraising, which wasn’t her original goal, but those opportunities helped her gain experience.
Over the past year she’s booked 10 speaking engagements, and four of those will be paid, she said. She’s taken the money she earned so far and re-invested it into developing her public speaking skills.
“The goal is ultimately to get paid, but right now I’m putting in the legwork to reach that,” White said. “It’s starting to snowball.”
Know the risks of gig work
Some side jobs, such as gig work delivering groceries or driving passengers, may generate income right away.
Tom Ritter of Syracuse, New York, was supplementing his income as a workforce management specialist at a nonprofit by making deliveries for Instacart and Spark, Walmart’s delivery platform, on top of his full-time job. The side work helped him pay his bills, especially when he recently lost his day job.
“For me, even that extra couple hundred dollars a month went a long way, and it still does,” Ritter, 39, said.
Ravenelle cautioned against relying too heavily on gig work for income. It can be hard to transition back to full-time, permanent jobs, where workers typically wait two weeks or more for a first paycheck, and gig work carries a stigma among some employers, she said.
Plus, if gig workers are earning good wages, the platforms will typically change the algorithms so they earn less money, Ravenelle said. “The house always wins when it comes to the gig platforms,” she said.
Be skeptical
Once people are looking for side jobs, they should be cautious if an opportunity found online seems too good to be true. Some online influencers promote business ideas that are more akin to scams.
In Ravanelle’s research she’s spoken with people who saw online videos about making money selling microgreens.
“They thought they could make thousands of dollars a month, working from home, growing microgreens in their kitchen, and then selling them to high-end restaurants,” Ravenelle said. “No. The person who sells you the grow lights and gives you the classes is the person who’s making the money.”
Finding the time
Starting a second job or career can dig into personal time, reducing opportunities to exercise or be with family and friends.
White works Monday through Thursday at Shelter the Homeless, clocking 40 to 45 hours per week. With Fridays off, she spends that day practicing speaking skills or generating new business.
“I wouldn’t describe my life as balanced,” she said. “But am I enjoying it? Yes. And I think that matters.”
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Share your stories and questions about workplace wellness at [email protected]. Follow AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health at https://apnews.com/hub/be-well
You won’t find dumbbells or weight machines in the gym Sean Keogh runs. At Calisthenics Club Houston, it’s all about training with body weight.
“That’s all we do,” Keogh said — but that’s enough to keep new members coming through the doors, excited to learn moves like handstands and pullups.
Keogh and his members have plenty of company. These days, content creators, independent gyms and megachains alike are promoting calisthenics, an age-old form of fitness that uses little or no equipment and instead relies on body weight for resistance.
In July, President Donald Trump even reestablished the Presidential Fitness Test, intending that youth across the country will again practice old-school exercises like situps, pushups and pullups.
It’s little surprise that these no-frills moves are making a comeback in our over-scheduled society, said Anatolia Vick-Kregel, director of the Lifetime Physical Activity Program at Rice University. “We don’t always have time to go to the gym,” she said. “This is what you can do at home or in your office.”
Another reason might be economic, said Michael Stack, an exercise physiologist and president of the Physical Activity Alliance, a coalition of groups that promote physical activity. With no equipment required, calisthenics-based programs are affordable for exercisers and profitable for gyms that offer them. Plus, people may have gotten used to exercising with few accoutrements during the pandemic.
“This trend has been building,” Stack said. “The pandemic definitely accelerated it.”
This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.
How effective are calisthenics?
There’s plenty of research to suggest that calisthenics can improve everything from muscle strength to aerobic conditioning, Vick-Kregel said.
“Body weight is phenomenal,” she said.
But there are limits to its effects, said John Raglin, a professor of kinesiology at the Indiana University School of Public Health, Bloomington. “It can be effective,” Raglin said. “But I think the idea that it can or should replace the use of even simple equipment is wrong-headed.”
Sometimes, Raglin said, using equipment can actually make exercises simpler or safer to perform. Many people, for example, do pushups with improper form.
“If you’re not strong enough or you have joint issues or arthritis, then lying on a bench and using small hand weights can actually be safer and more practical,” he said.
It all depends what your goal is
Beyond safety, people looking to significantly increase their strength or muscle size will likely see more dramatic results if they use weights, Raglin said. Doing so “utilizes more of your muscle and generates more force than you could otherwise,” he explained.
Lifting weights also damages muscle tissue in a way that can be productive, as muscles grow larger through the body’s repair process. Over time, though, it may take larger amounts of weight to keep seeing gains. Progress plateaus as the body gets used to exercises it’s done before.
It’s not impossible to grow muscle through calisthenics, Vick-Kregel said; it’s just harder to continuously level up exercises for sustained progress without increasing external weight.
“After you’ve done a couple workouts of squatting with your body weight, your body’s going to need external load to get stronger or to build muscle tissue,” Stack agreed.
In other words, if you’re after bulging biceps, you may need more than calisthenics to get there. But if you’re just looking to get moving and improve your health, your body is probably enough.
Particularly for the roughly 75% of Americans who aren’t meeting federal physical activity guidelines — which call for at least 75 minutes of vigorous or 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week, plus two strength-training sessions — calisthenics are a great option, Stack said.
“Body weight is the simplest apparatus you can use,” Stack said. “I would encourage anyone who’s not exercising to start exercising with just their body.”
How to begin a calisthenics routine
First, assess your current fitness and mobility, Vick-Kregel said. With the help of a mirror, workout buddy or trainer, see if you can do exercises like planks, pushups and squats with correct form. If not, look for modifications, such as doing pushups from your knees.
Once you feel confident with the fundamentals, aim to perform calisthenics in 10- to 30-minute chunks, two to three times a week, she suggested. (For a little more structure, you can consult the The Five Basic Exercises Plan, or 5BX, a classic calisthenics program developed by the Royal Canadian Air Force in the 1950s.)
Progressively increase the duration and intensity of your workouts as you get fitter. “Gradual progression is critical,” Vick-Kregel emphasized.
As you get more experienced, though, calisthenics can be performed at high intensity. Keogh maintains that these exercises are not just for beginners. There are plenty of ways to increase the difficulty of body-weight exercises over time, making them both highly challenging and effective, he said.
For doubters, Keogh has a blunt message: “Try it.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — Don’t lose sleep over headlines linking melatonin to heart failure.
That’s the message after some scary-sounding reports about a preliminary study involving the sleep-related supplement. It raised questions about the safety of long term use of melatonin for insomnia.
Doctors have long known that too little or interrupted sleep raises the risk of heart disease. But heart experts say this kind of so-called observational study can’t prove that melatonin use plays any role — instead of the insomnia patients were trying to treat.
“We should not raise the alarm and tell patients to stop taking all their melatonin,” said Dr. Pratik Sandesara, an interventional cardiologist at Emory Healthcare who wasn’t involved with the research.
Our bodies naturally produce melatonin, a hormone that regulates our sleep cycles. Levels normally increase as it gets darker in the evening, triggering drowsiness.
People may take lab-produced melatonin to help them fall asleep or to adjust for jet lag or time changes.
The new study used international electronic health records, tracking adults diagnosed with insomnia who had a melatonin prescription that suggested they used the supplement for at least a year.
Over five years, 4.6% of the chronic melatonin users developed heart failure compared to 2.7% of insomnia patients whose charts showed no melatonin use, the researchers found. The study is being presented at an American Heart Association meeting but hasn’t undergone peer review.
This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.
But only certain countries require a melatonin prescription. It’s over-the-counter in the U.S., meaning Americans in the study might have used the supplements without it being recorded, said Northwestern University cardiology chief Dr. Clyde Yancy, who wasn’t involved in the study. The study also did not show dosages.
Also, U.S. supplements don’t require government approval, meaning brands can vary in their ingredients. The researchers, from SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, characterized the findings as a call for more research.
Meanwhile, patients wondering about melatonin should talk it over with their doctors, said Emory’s Sandesara. Generally doctors recommend it for short-term use, like for jet lag.
Yancy noted that while the study doesn’t prove there’s a danger from long term melatonin use, there’s also no evidence that people should use melatonin indefinitely.
“When we expose ourselves to blue light in particular at night, we are diminishing our melatonin levels. That’s science,” he said. Sleep problems aren’t about “just being sleepy and tired — they’re putting yourself at risk.”
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This story has been corrected to show that the Northwestern University cardiology chief is Dr. Clyde Yancy, not Yancey.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
NEW YORK (AP) — You keep your trusty reusable bottle filled with only clear, delicious water. Do you still need to wash it?
Experts say reusable bottles get grubby no matter what liquid they’re filled with, and it’s important to clean them regularly.
Water bottles pick up germs from our mouths when we take a sip, and from our hands when we touch the straw or lid. They’re covered in tiny, tough-to-reach nooks and crannies which can become breeding grounds for mold, bacteria and other microbes if left un-scrubbed.
“It seems like something mundane, but it is extremely important,” said nurse practitioner Michele Knepper, who works at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Unclean water bottles can cause stomach aches and itchy throats and even exacerbate allergies and asthma.
Experts disagree on when and how you should wash them, but they’re all in agreement on one thing: Give your water bottle a tender loving clean, because something is better than nothing at all.
“Is it that big of a deal? No. But it’s also not difficult to just wash your water bottle,” said Dr. Mike Ren, a family medicine physician at Baylor College of Medicine.
Some tips for a squeaky clean water bottle
Experts say the gunk doesn’t care what your water bottle is made of. Reusable metal, plastic and glass bottles all grow germy, but plastic bottles are more likely to get scratches or dings on the inside where microbial life can cozy up.
The best cleaning routine is a simple one: Use a sponge or bottle brush to scrub inside and out with warm, soapy water, rinse it out and let it dry so it’s ready for the next refill. A narrow or pipe cleaner-shaped tool can be useful to get into straws and tight crevices.
For a deeper wash, scientists recommend popping the bottle in the dishwasher if it’s safe to do so, or dissolving a denture or retainer-cleaning tablet in the bottle overnight. Scrubbing with a warm water solution of vinegar or baking soda works too.
Many experts recommend doing a simple, soapy water clean every day and a deeper clean once a week. If daily cleaning feels a little extra, Ren said to try to get to it at least every other week or so while maintaining other good habits like rinsing the mouthpiece over the sink during each refill.
But if you fill your reusable bottle with other beverages like protein shakes or exercise drinks, it really is important to clean every day. Sugary drinks leave a residue that bacteria love to snack on.
Do you need to dump the water in your bottle every day?
Is it okay to leave water in a reusable bottle overnight? Experts disagree.
Some say to dump the dregs out every refill, while others recommend emptying every few hours. Ren says it’s likely okay to leave some inside overnight, but to empty old water at least every few days.
“Guidelines are guidelines,” Ren said. “Everyone’s going to do it a little bit differently.”
If there’s visible mold on the bottle or the liquid inside has a weird smell, don’t drink it. Avoid refilling disposable plastic water bottles since chemicals can leach into the water, and they’re even more full of cracks and crevices that can harbor germs.
Water bottle cleaning routines may not all look the same — but it’s important to keep up the habit, said Ivy Sun, a hospitality expert at Georgia Southern University who has studied water bottle contamination. She washes her and her kids’ bottles with soapy water every day.
“This is just a very small step that we do, but it can largely help with our health,” Sun said.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Our immune system has a dark side: It’s supposed to fight off invaders to keep us healthy. But sometimes it turns traitor and attacks our own cells and tissues.
What are called autoimmune diseases can affect just about every part of the body – and tens of millions of people. While most common in women, these diseases can strike anyone, adults or children, and they’re on the rise.
New research is raising the prospect of treatments that might do more than tamp down symptoms. Dozens of clinical trials are testing ways to reprogram an immune system-gone-rogue, with some promising early successes against lupus, myositis and certain other illnesses. Other researchers are hunting ways to at least delay brewing autoimmune diseases, spurred by a drug that can buy some time before people show symptoms of Type 1 diabetes.
“This is probably the most exciting time that we’ve ever had to be in autoimmunity,” said Dr. Amit Saxena, a rheumatologist at NYU Langone Health.
Here are some things to know.
What are autoimmune diseases?
They’re chronic diseases that can range from mild to life-threatening, more than 100 with different names depending on how and where they do damage. Rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis attack joints. Sjögren’s disease is known for dry eyes and mouth. Myositis and myasthenia gravis weaken muscles in different ways, the latter by attacking how nerves signal them. Lupus has widely varied symptoms including a butterfly-shaped facial rash, joint and muscle pain, fevers and damage to the kidneys, lungs and heart.
They’re also capricious: Even patients faring well for long periods can suddenly have a “flare” for no apparent reason.
Why autoimmune diseases are so difficult to diagnose
Many start with vague symptoms that come and go or mimic other illnesses. Many also have overlapping symptoms – rheumatoid arthritis and Sjögren’s also can harm major organs, for example.
Diagnosis can take multiple tests, including some blood tests to detect antibodies that mistakenly latch onto healthy tissue. It usually centers on symptoms and involves ruling out other causes. Depending on the disease it can take years and seeing multiple doctors before one puts the clues together. There are efforts to improve: The National MS Society is educating doctors about newly updated guidelines to streamline diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
How the immune system gets out of whack
The human immune system is a complex army with sentinels to detect threats like germs or cancer cells, a variety of soldiers to attack them, and peacemakers to calm things down once the danger is over. Key is that it can distinguish what’s foreign from what’s “you,” what scientists call tolerance.
Sometimes confused immune cells or antibodies slip through, or the peacemakers can’t calm things down after a battle. If the system can’t spot and fix the problem, autoimmune diseases gradually develop.
Autoimmune diseases are often set off by a trigger
Most autoimmune diseases, especially in adults, aren’t caused by a specific gene defect. Instead, a variety of genes that affect immune functions can make people susceptible. Scientists say it then takes some “environmental” trigger, such as an infection, smoking or pollutants, to set the disease into motion. For example, the Epstein-Barr virus is linked to MS.
Scientists are zeroing in on the earliest molecular triggers. For example, white blood cells called neutrophils are first responders to signs of infection or injury — but abnormally overactive ones are suspected of playing a key role in lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases.
Women are at highest risk for autoimmune diseases
Women account for about 4 of 5 autoimmune patients, many of them young. Hormones are thought to play a role. But also, females have two X chromosomes while males have one X and one Y. Some research suggests an abnormality in how female cells switch off that extra X can increase women’s vulnerability.
But men do suffer from autoimmune diseases. One especially severe one named VEXAS syndrome wasn’t discovered until 2020. It mainly affects men over 50 and in addition to typical autoimmune symptoms it can cause blood clots, shortness of breath and night sweats.
Certain populations also have higher risks. For example, lupus is more common in Black and Hispanic women. Northern Europeans have a higher risk of MS than other groups.
Treatment for autoimmune diseases is complicated
According to investment research company Morningstar, the global market for autoimmune disease treatments is $100 billion a year. That’s not counting doctor visits and such things as lost time at work. Treatment is lifelong and, while usually covered by insurance, can be pricey.
Not so long ago there was little to offer for many autoimmune diseases beyond high-dose steroids and broad immune-suppressing drugs, with side effects that include a risk of infections and cancer. Today some newer options target specific molecules, somewhat less immune dampening. But for many autoimmune diseases, treatment is trial and error, with little to guide patient decisions.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
MONTCLAIR, New Jersey (AP) — On a sunny fall morning, children wearing helmets and backpacks gathered with their parents in Montclair, New Jersey, for a group bicycle ride to two local elementary schools. Volunteers in orange safety vests made sure everyone assembled in a neighborhood shopping area was ready before the riders set off on their 5-mile “bike bus” route.
Every few blocks, more adults and kids on bikes joined in. Eventually, the group grew to over 350 people. Older students chatted with friends, while younger ones focused on pedaling. Cars along the way stopped to let the long line of cyclists pass. Pupils and parents peeled off toward the first school before the remainder reached the group’s final stop.
It’s a familiar Friday scene in Montclair. For the past three years, what began as a handful of parents hoping to encourage their kids to bike to school has grown into a weekly ritual for both the township of about 40,000 residents and many of its families.
“It was so fun,” second grader Gigi Drucker, 7, said upon arriving at Nishuane Elementary School. “The best way to get to school is by bike because it gives you more exercise. It’s healthier for the Earth,” she added.
But traveling to school on two wheels isn’t just for fun, according to organizer Jessica Tillyer, whose are 6 and 8 years old. She believes that biking together each week helps promote healthy habits for the children and strengthens the sense of community among parents.
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“And it really started because a small group of us, about five parents, all wanted to ride to school with our kids and just felt like it wasn’t safe. And for me, I felt kind of lonely riding by myself to school. So, bike bus just took off as a small effort. And now we can have up to 400 people riding together to school,” Tillyer said.
The bike bus movement isn’t new. Hundreds of them exist throughout the U.S. and Europe, as well as in Australia, Brazil, India, Indonesia and Israel, according to Bike Bus World, a nonprofit organization that promotes and provides information about bike buses.
Co-founder Sam Balto, who established a bike bus in Portland, Oregon, more than three years ago, said interest has grown so much that he offers free coaching calls to help others launch their own. He estimates there are more than 400 routes worldwide, and the number continues to grow.
“Children and families are craving community and physical activity and being outdoors. And when you present that versus a school car line, people naturally gravitate to something that’s super joyful and community-driven,” Balto said.
While starting a bike bus may not be difficult, keeping it running year-round through different seasons takes more effort. Organizers of successful rides shared advice for parents hoping to create their own.
Plan and communicate
Andrew Hawkins, one of the leaders of Montclair Bike Bus, said that once enough families express interest, the first step is to plan a route carefully. That means identifying streets with low traffic while considering how many students can join at the starting point and along the way.
“It took us a while to come up with a route we were happy with, but we’re still ready to adjust if necessary,” Hawkins said. “Things can change. It could be that new groups of students move into a certain block, or traffic patterns shift, and you have to adapt.”
The Montclair group started via word of mouth and social media posts. As the number of participants grew, the organizers created a chat group to coordinate and share weekly updates. They also reached out to other families through PTAs, school forums and other parent communication channels.
One unexpected benefit, several parents said, is the bike bus motivates children to get up and out the door more quickly on Friday mornings.
“He’s more excited to get out of bed for the bike bus than for the regular bus. So actually, I have an easier time getting him ready for school,” said Gene Gykoff, who rides with his son to the boy’s elementary school.
To keep momentum going all year, the Montclair Bike Bus team organizes themed rides on weekends and holidays. These events also allow families who can’t join on weekday mornings to experience what the bike bus is all about before committing to a regular schedule.
Start young and go slow
Montclair Bike Bus consists of multiple adult-led groups and routes that encompass all of the township’s elementary schools and middle schools. Organizers think the primary grades are when children benefit most from cycling with a group. Students in the first few years of school can learn about riding safely and apply those skills when they bike on their own or in small groups as they get older.
The Montclair parents found that most elementary school students can handle a distance of 3-5 miles, and the group travels at a speed of around 6 miles per hour so the younger kids can keep up.
“The slow speed can be tough for some of our older kids who want to go a little bit faster. We tell them there’s no racing on the bike bus — everyone gets to school at the same time. But there have been occasions where we’ve had to split the ride into two groups so that some of the older kids can go a little bit faster than the younger kids,” Hawkins said.
Be consistent no matter the weather
Keeping a bike bus going year-round requires consistency, which means preparing to pedal when it’s raining or cold outside, Balto and Hawkins said. Leaders monitor weather forecasts and decide whether to cancel a Friday ride due to unsafe conditions or to proceed as planned while reminding families to dress appropriately.
“As it gets colder, we tell everyone to make sure they have the right gear — gloves, neck warmers, warm jackets,” Hawkins said. “The idea is that kids should feel comfortable riding all year.”
The Montclair bike bus secured reflective vests and bike lights from sponsors to increase visibility on dark winter mornings. Leaders also carry basic maintenance tools, such as tire pumps.
Weather is often more of a concern for adults than it is for children, Balto observed. “Kids want to be outside with their friends,” he said. “If you’re going to do this in all weather, just do it consistently. People will get used to it, and they’ll start joining you.”
Just do it
Despite all the planning and coordination involved in running a regular bike bus, experienced organizers say the key is simply to start. It can be as informal as two families riding to school together and sharing a flyer to spread the word, Balto said.
“If you’re consistent — once a week, once a month, once a season — it will grow,” he said.
Tillyer said she gives the same advice to anyone who asks how to begin: just go for it.
“Don’t ask for permission. Don’t worry about what it’s going to take,” she said. “Find a small group of people, get on your bikes and ride to school. Once people experience it and enjoy it, more will want to join.”
NEW YORK (AP) — Judges around the world are dealing with a growing problem: legal briefs that were generated with the help of artificial intelligence and submitted with errors such as citations to cases that don’t exist, according to attorneys and court documents.
The trend serves as a cautionary tale for people who are learning to use AI tools at work. Many employers want to hire workers who can use the technology to help with tasks such as conducting research and drafting reports. As teachers, accountants and marketing professionals begin engaging with AI chatbots and assistants to generate ideas and improve productivity, they’re also discovering the programs can make mistakes.
A French data scientist and lawyer, Damien Charlotin, has catalogued at least 490 court filings in the past six months that contained “hallucinations,” which are AI responses that contain false or misleading information. The pace is accelerating as more people use AI, he said.
“Even the more sophisticated player can have an issue with this,” Charlotin said. “AI can be a boon. It’s wonderful, but also there are these pitfalls.”
Charlotin, a senior research fellow at HEC Paris, a business school located just outside France’s capital city, created a database to track cases in which a judge ruled that generative AI produced hallucinated content such as fabricated case law and false quotes. The majority of rulings are from U.S. cases in which plaintiffs represented themselves without an attorney, he said. While most judges issued warnings about the errors, some levied fines.
This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.
But even high-profile companies have submitted problematic legal documents. A federal judge in Colorado ruled that a lawyer for MyPillow Inc., filed a brief containing nearly 30 defective citations as part of a defamation case against the company and founder Michael Lindell.
The legal profession isn’t the only one wrestling with AI’s foibles. The AI overviews that appear at the top of web search result pages frequently contain errors.
And AI tools also raise privacy concerns. Workers in all industries need to be cautious about the details they upload or put into prompts to ensure they’re safeguarding the confidential information of employers and clients.
Legal and workplace experts share their experiences with AI’s mistakes and describe perils to avoid.
Think of AI as an assistant
Don’t trust AI to make big decisions for you. Some AI users treat the tool as an intern to whom you assign tasks and whose completed work you expect to check.
“Think about AI as augmenting your workflow,” said Maria Flynn, CEO of Jobs for the Future, a nonprofit focused on workforce development. It can act as an assistant for tasks such as drafting an email or researching a travel itinerary, but don’t think of it as a substitute that can do all of the work, she said.
When preparing for a meeting, Flynn experimented with an in-house AI tool, asking it to suggest discussion questions based on an article she shared with the team.
“Some of the questions it proposed weren’t the right context really for our organization, so I was able to give it some of that feedback … and it came back with five very thoughtful questions,” she said.
Check for accuracy
Flynn also has found problems in the output of the AI tool, which still is in a pilot stage. She once asked it to compile information on work her organization had done in various states. But the AI tool was treating completed work and funding proposals as the same thing.
“In that case, our AI tool was not able to identify the difference between something that had been proposed and something that had been completed,” Flynn said.
Luckily, she had the institutional knowledge to recognize the errors. “If you’re new in an organization, ask coworkers if the results look accurate to them,” Flynn suggested.
While AI can help with brainstorming, relying on it to provide factual information is risky. Take the time to check the accuracy of what AI generates, even if it’s tempting to skip that step.
“People are making an assumption because it sounds so plausible that it’s right, and it’s convenient,” Justin Daniels, an Atlanta-based attorney and shareholder with the law firm Baker Donelson, said. “Having to go back and check all the cites, or when I look at a contract that AI has summarized, I have to go back and read what the contract says, that’s a little inconvenient and time-consuming, but that’s what you have to do. As much as you think the AI can substitute for that, it can’t.”
Be careful with notetakers
It can be tempting to use AI to record and take notes during meetings. Some tools generate useful summaries and outline action steps based on what was said.
But many jurisdictions require the consent of participants prior to recording conversations. Before using AI to take notes, pause and consider whether the conversation should be kept privileged and confidential, said Danielle Kays, a Chicago-based partner at law firm Fisher Phillips.
Consult with colleagues in the legal or human resources departments before deploying a notetaker in high-risk situations such as investigations, performance reviews or legal strategy discussions, she suggested.
“People are claiming that with use of AI there should be various levels of consent, and that is something that is working its way through the courts,” Kays said. “That is an issue that I would say companies should continue to watch as it is litigated.”
Protecting confidential information
If you’re using free AI tools to draft a memo or marketing campaign, don’t tell it identifying information or corporate secrets. Once you’ve uploaded that information, it’s possible others using the same tool might find it.
That’s because when other people ask an AI tool questions, it will search available information, including details you revealed, as it builds its answer, Flynn said. “It doesn’t discern whether something is public or private,” she added.
Seek schooling
If your employer doesn’t offer AI training, try experimenting with free tools such as ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot. Some universities and tech companies offer classes that can help you develop your understanding of how AI works and ways it can be useful.
A course that teaches people how to construct the best AI prompts or hands-on courses that provide opportunities to practice are valuable, Flynn said.
Despite potential problems with the tools, learning how they work can be beneficial at a time when they’re ubiquitous.
“The largest potential pitfall in learning to use AI is not learning to use it at at all,” Flynn said. “We’re all going to need to become fluent in AI, and taking the early steps of building your familiarity, your literacy, your comfort with the tool is going to be critically important.”
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Share your stories and questions about workplace wellness at [email protected]. Follow AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health at https://apnews.com/hub/be-well
When she was in fifth grade, Anna Goddard’s daughter started to worry about getting wrinkles. She used adult skin care products she saw on social media and the harm was more than skin deep.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — When she was in fifth grade, Scarlett Goddard Strahan started to worry about getting wrinkles.
By the time she turned 10, Scarlett and her friends were spending hours on TikTok and YouTube watching influencers tout products for achieving today’s beauty aesthetic: a dewy, “glowy,” flawless complexion. Scarlett developed an elaborate skin care routine with facial cleansers, mists, hydrating masks and moisturizers.
One night, Scarlett’s skin began to burn intensely and erupted in blisters. Heavy use of adult-strength products had wreaked havoc on her skin. Months later, patches of tiny bumps remain on Scarlett’s face, and her cheeks turn red in the sun.
“I didn’t want to get wrinkles and look old,” says Scarlett, who recently turned 11. “If I had known my life would be so affected by this, I never would have put these things on my face.”
Scarlett’s experience has become common, experts say, as preteen girls around the country throng beauty stores to buy high-end skin care products, a trend captured in viral videos with the hashtag #SephoraKids. Girls as young as 8 are turning up at dermatologists’ offices with rashes, chemical burns and other allergic reactions to products not intended for children’s sensitive skin.
This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.
“When kids use anti-aging skin care, they can actually cause premature aging, destroy the skin barrier and lead to permanent scarring,” says Dr. Brooke Jeffy, a Scottsdale, Arizona, dermatologist who has posted her own social media videos rebutting influencers’ advice.
Scarlett Goddard Strahan, 11, poses for a portrait at her home on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Juliana Yamada)
Scarlett Goddard Strahan, 11, poses for a portrait at her home on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Juliana Yamada)
More than the physical harm, parents and child psychologists worry about the trend’s effects on girls’ mental health — for years to come. Extensive data suggests a fixation on appearance can affect self-esteem and body image and fuel anxiety, depression and eating disorders.
The skin care obsession offers a window into the role social media plays in the lives of today’s youth and how it shapes the ideals and insecurities of girls in particular. Girls are experiencing high levels of sadness and hopelessness. Whether social media exposure causes or simply correlates with mental health problems is up for debate. But to older teens and young adults, it’s clear: Extended time on social media has been bad for them, period.
Viral skincare products from Bubble, West & Month, and Bolero sit on 11-year-old Scarlett Goddard Strahan’s dresser at her home on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Juliana Yamada)
Viral skincare products from Bubble, West & Month, and Bolero sit on 11-year-old Scarlett Goddard Strahan’s dresser at her home on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Juliana Yamada)
Young girls’ fascination with makeup and cosmetics is not new. Neither are kids who hold themselves to idealized beauty standards. What’s different now is the magnitude, says Kris Perry, executive director of Children and Screens, a nonprofit that studies how digital media impacts child development. In an era of filtered images and artificial intelligence, some of the beautiful faces they encounter aren’t even real.
“Girls are being bombarded with idealized images of beauty that establish a beauty standard that could be very hard — if not impossible — to attain,” Perry says.
Scarlett Goddard Strahan, 11, and her mom Anna Goddard pose for a portrait at their home on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Juliana Yamada)
Scarlett Goddard Strahan, 11, and her mom Anna Goddard pose for a portrait at their home on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Juliana Yamada)
Saving allowances for Sephora hauls
The obsession with skin care is about more than the pursuit of perfect skin, explains 14-year-old Mia Hall.
It’s about feeling accepted and belonging to a community that has the lifestyle and look you want, says Mia, a New Yorker from the Bronx.
Skin care was not on Mia’s radar until she started eighth grade last fall. It was a topic of conversation among girls her age — at school and on social media. Girls bonded over their skin care routines.
Mia Hall, 14, poses for a portrait in her neighborhood park while holding some skin care products she uses regularly on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in the Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)
Mia Hall, 14, poses for a portrait in her neighborhood park while holding some skin care products she uses regularly on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in the Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)
“Everyone was doing it. I felt like it was the only way I could fit in,” says Mia. She started following beauty influencers like Katie Fang and Gianna Christine, who have millions of young followers on TikTok. Some influencers are paid by brands to promote their products, but they don’t always mention that.
Mia got hooked on “Get Ready With Me” videos, where influencers film themselves getting ready — for school, for a night out with friends, packing for a trip. The hashtag #GRWM has over 150 billion views on TikTok.
“It’s like a trance. You can’t stop watching it,” Mia says. “So when they tell me, ‘Go buy this product’ or, ‘I use this and it’s amazing,’ it feels very personal. Getting what they have makes me feel connected to them.”
Mia started saving her $20 weekly allowance for trips with friends to Sephora. Her daily routine included a face wash, a facial mist, a hydrating serum, a pore-tightening toner, a moisturizer and sunscreen. Most were luxury brands like Glow Recipe, Drunk Elephant or Caudalie, whose moisturizers can run $70.
Mia Hall, 14, poses for a portrait in her neighborhood park on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)
Mia Hall, 14, poses for a portrait in her neighborhood park on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)
Mia Hall, 14, watches Katie Fang GRWM videos on Tik Tok on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)
Mia Hall, 14, watches Katie Fang GRWM videos on Tik Tok on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)
“I get really jealous and insecure a lot when I see other girls my age who look very pretty or have an amazing life,” she says.
The level of detail and information girls are getting from beauty tutorials sends a troubling message at a vulnerable age, as girls are going through puberty and searching for their identities, says Charlotte Markey, a body image expert and Rutgers University psychologist.
“The message to young girls is that, ‘You are a never-ending project to get started on now.’ And essentially: ‘You are not OK the way you are’,”’ says Markey, author of “The Body Image Book for Girls.”
Products promoting youth, purchased by kids
The beauty industry has been cashing in on the trend. Last year, consumers under age 14 drove 49% of drug store skin sales, according to a NielsonIQ report that found households with teens and tweens were outspending the average American household on skin care. And in the first half of 2024, a third of “prestige” beauty sales, at stores like Sephora, were driven by households with tweens and teens, according to market research firm Circana.
Mia Hall, 14, regular skincare products on display on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)
Mia Hall, 14, regular skincare products on display on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)
The cosmetics industry has acknowledged certain products aren’t suitable for children but has done little to stop kids from buying them. Drunk Elephant’s website, for example, recommends kids 12 and under should not use their anti-aging serums, lotions and scrubs “due to their very active nature.” That guidance is on the site’s FAQ page; there are no such warnings on the products themselves.
Sephora declined to comment for this story.
Ingredients like retinol and chemical exfoliants like hydroxy acids are inherently harsh. For aging skin, they are used to stimulate collagen and cell production. Young or sensitive skin can react with redness, peeling and burning that can lead to infections, acne and hypersensitivity if used incorrectly, dermatologists say.
A California bill aimed at banning the sale of anti-aging skin care products to children under age 13 failed this spring, but Democratic Assemblymember Alex Lee says he plans to continue pursuing industry accountability. Lee and other critics say popular brands use colorful packaging and product names like “Baby facial” to attract younger buyers in the same way that e-cigarette companies and alcohol brands created fruity flavors that appeal to underage users.
Lee points to Europe as setting the right example. The European Union enacted legislation last year that limits the concentration of retinol in all over-the-counter products. And one of Sweden’s leading pharmacy chains, Apotek Hjartat, said in March it would stop selling anti-aging skin care products to customers under 15 without parental consent. “This is a way to protect children’s skin health, finances and mental well-being,” the company said.
One mother ‘got rid of them all’
Around the country, concerned mothers are visiting dermatologists with their young daughters, carrying bags filled with their child’s skin care products to ask: Are these OK?
“Often the mothers are saying exactly what I am but need their child to hear it from an expert,” says Dr. Dendy Engelman, a Manhattan dermatologist. “They’re like, ‘Maybe she’ll listen to you because she certainly doesn’t listen to me.’”
Mia’s mother, Sandra Gordon, took a different approach. Last spring, she noticed dark patches on Mia’s face and became alarmed. Gordon, a nurse, threw all her daughter’s products into the trash.
“There were Sephora bags on top of bags. Some things were opened, some not opened, some were full. I got rid of them all,” she says.
Mia wasn’t happy. But as she starts high school, she now feels her mother was right. She has switched to a simple routine, using just a face wash and moisturizer, and says her complexion has improved.
Mia Hall, 14, poses for a portrait in her neighborhood park on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)
Mia Hall, 14, poses for a portrait in her neighborhood park on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)
In Sacramento, California, Scarlett missed early signs the products were hurting her skin: She developed a rash and felt a stinging sensation, within days of trying out viral skin care products. Scarlett figured she wasn’t using enough, so she layered on more. That’s when her cheeks erupted in blistering pain.
“It was late at night. She came running into my room crying. All of her cheeks had been burned,” recalls Anna Goddard, Scarlett’s mother, who hadn’t realized the extent of Scarlett’s skin care obsession.
When Goddard read the ingredients in each product, she was shocked to find retinol in products that appeared to be marketed to children — including a facial sheet mask with a cat’s face on the packaging.
What worries her mother most is the psychological consequences. Kids’ comments at school have caused lingering anxiety and self-consciousness.
Goddard hopes to see more protections. “I didn’t know there were harmful ingredients being put in skin care that is marketed to kids,” she says. “There has to be some type of warning.”
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WESTPORT, Conn. (AP) — Kate Bulkeley’s pledge to stay off social media in high school worked at first. She watched the benefits pile up: She was getting excellent grades. She read lots of books. The family had lively conversations around the dinner table and gathered for movie nights on weekends.
Then, as sophomore year got underway, the unexpected problems surfaced. She missed a student government meeting arranged on Snapchat. Her Model U.N. team communicates on social media, too, causing her scheduling problems. Even the Bible Study club at her Connecticut high school uses Instagram to communicate with members.
Gabriela Durham, a high school senior in Brooklyn, says navigating high school without social media has made her who she is today. She is a focused, organized, straight-A student with a string of college acceptances — and an accomplished dancer who recently made her Broadway debut. Not having social media has made her an “outsider,” in some ways. That used to hurt; now, she says, it feels like a badge of honor.
With the damaging consequences of social media increasingly well documented, some parents are trying to raise their children with restrictions or blanket bans. Teenagers themselves are aware that too much social media is bad for them, and some are initiating social media “cleanses” because of the toll it takes on mental health and grades.
This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.
But it is hard to be a teenager today without social media. For those trying to stay off social platforms while most of their peers are immersed, the path can be challenging, isolating and at times liberating. It can also be life-changing.
This is a tale of two families, social media and the ever-present challenge of navigating high school. It’s about what kids do when they can’t extend their Snapstreaks or shut their bedroom doors and scroll through TikTok past midnight. It’s about what families discuss when they’re not having screen-time battles. It’s also about persistent social ramifications.
AP AUDIO: Life as a teen without social media isn’t easy. These families are navigating adolescence offline
AP correspondent Jocelyn Gecker reports on the social ramifications some families saw for their teenagers after cutting out social media.
The journeys of both families show the rewards and pitfalls of trying to avoid social media in a world that is saturated by it.
A FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE
Concerns about children and phone use are not new. But there is a growing realization among experts that the COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed adolescence. As youth coped with isolation and spent excessive time online, the pandemic effectively carved out a much larger space for social media in the lives of American kids.
No longer just a distraction or a way to connect with friends, social media has matured into a physical space and a community that almost all U.S. teenagers belong to. Up to 95% of teenagers say they use social media, with more than one-third saying they are on it “almost constantly,” according to the Pew Research Center.
More than ever, teenagers live in a seamless digital and non-digital world in ways that most adults don’t recognize or understand, says Michael Rich, a pediatrics professor at Harvard Medical School and head of the nonprofit Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Gionna Durham, 13 , left, holds her phone as she has dinner with her sister Gabriela Durham, 17 years old, unseen, on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Gionna Durham, 13 , left, holds her phone as she has dinner with her sister Gabriela Durham, 17 years old, unseen, on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
“Social media is now the air kids breathe,” says Rich, who runs the hospital’s Clinic for Interactive Media and Internet Disorders.
For better or worse, social media has become a home-base for socializing. It’s where many kids turn to forge their emerging identities, to seek advice, to unwind and relieve stress. It impacts how kids dress and talk. In this era of parental control apps and location tracking, social media is where this generation is finding freedom.
It is also increasingly clear that the more time youth spend online, the higher the risk of mental health problems.
Kids who use social media for more than three hours a day face double the risk of depression and anxiety, according to studies cited by U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who issued an extraordinary public warning last spring about the risks of social media to young people.
Those were the concerns of the Bulkeleys and Gabriela’s mother, Elena Romero. Both set strict rules starting when their kids were young and still in elementary school. They delayed giving phones until middle school and made social media off limits until 18. They educated the girls, and their younger siblings, on the impact of social media on young brains, on online privacy concerns, on the dangers of posting photos or comments that can come back to haunt you.
Cell phones charge on a ledge between the living room and kitchen as Steph Bulkeley helps Kate select school courses, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in Westport, Conn. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Cell phones charge on a ledge between the living room and kitchen as Steph Bulkeley helps Kate select school courses, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in Westport, Conn. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Elena Romero, second from left, and her daughters Gabriela Durham, 17, left, Gionna Durham, 13 second from right, and Grace Durham, 11, have dinner together on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Elena Romero, second from left, and her daughters Gabriela Durham, 17, left, Gionna Durham, 13 second from right, and Grace Durham, 11, have dinner together on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
In the absence of social media, at least in these two homes, there is a noticeable absence of screen time battles. But the kids and parents agree: It’s not always easy.
WHEN IT’S EVERYWHERE, IT’S HARD TO AVOID
At school, on the subway and at dance classes around New York City, Gabriela is surrounded by reminders that social media is everywhere — except on her phone.
Growing up without it has meant missing out on things. Everyone but you gets the same jokes, practices the same TikTok dances, is up on the latest viral trends. When Gabriela was younger, that felt isolating; at times, it still does. But now, she sees not having social media as freeing.
“From my perspective, as an outsider,” she says, “it seems like a lot of kids use social media to promote a facade. And it’s really sad. Because social media is telling them how they should be and how they should look. It’s gotten to a point where everyone wants to look the same instead of being themselves.”
There is also friend drama on social media and a lack of honesty, humility and kindness that she feels lucky to be removed from.
Gabriela is a dance major at the Brooklyn High School of the Arts and dances outside of school seven days a week. Senior year got especially intense, with college and scholarship applications capped by an unexpected highlight of getting to perform at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre in March as part of a city showcase of high school musicals.
After a recent Saturday afternoon dance class in a Bronx church basement, the diverging paths between Gabriela and her peers is on full display. The other dancers, aged 11 to 16, sit cross-legged on the linoleum floor talking about social media.
Gabriela Durham, 17, arranges items on her dresser inside her room on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Gabriela Durham, 17, arranges items on her dresser inside her room on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
“I am addicted,” says 15-year-old Arielle Williams, who stays up late scrolling through TikTok. “When I feel like I’m getting tired I say, ‘One more video.’ And then I keep saying, ‘One more video.’ And I stay up sometimes until 5 a.m.”
The other dancers gasp. One suggests they all check their phones’ weekly screen time.
“OH. MY,” says Arielle, staring at her screen. “My total was 68 hours last week.” That included 21 hours on TikTok.
Gabriela sits on the sidelines of the conversation, listening silently. But on the No. 2 subway home to Brooklyn, she shares her thoughts. “Those screen-time hours, it’s insane.”
As the train rumbles from the elevated tracks in the Bronx into the underground subway tunnels in Manhattan, Gabriela is on her phone. She texts with friends, listens to music and consults a subway app to count down the stops to her station in Brooklyn. The phone for her is a distraction limited to idle time, which has been strategically limited by Romero.
“My kids’ schedules will make your head spin,” Romero says as the family reconvenes Saturday night in their three-bedroom walkup in Bushwick. On school days, they’re up at 5:30 a.m. and out the door by 7. Romero drives the girls to their three schools scattered around Brooklyn, then takes the subway into Manhattan, where she teaches mass communications at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Grace, 11, is a sixth grade cheerleader active in Girl Scouts, along with Gionna, 13, who sings, does debate team and has daily rehearsals for her middle school theater production.
Grace Durham, 11, checks her wardrobe inside her room on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Grace Durham, 11, checks her wardrobe inside her room on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Gionna Durham, 13, reads a book on the sofa on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Gionna Durham, 13, reads a book on the sofa on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
“I’m so booked my free time is to sleep,” says Gabriela, who tries to be in bed by 10:30 p.m.
In New York City, it’s common for kids to get phones early in elementary school, but Romero waited until each daughter reached middle school and started taking public transportation home alone. Years ago, she sat them down to watch “The Social Dilemma,” a documentary that Gabriela says made her realize how tech companies manipulate their users.
Her mom’s rules are simple: No social media on phones until 18. The girls are allowed to use YouTube on their computers but not post videos. Romero doesn’t set screen-time limits or restrict phone use in bedrooms.
“It’s a struggle, don’t get me wrong,” Romero says. Last year, the two younger girls “slipped.” They secretly downloaded TikTok for a few weeks before getting caught and sternly lectured.
Romero is considering whether to bend her rule for Gionna, an avid reader interested in becoming a Young Adult “Bookstagrammer” — a book reviewer on Instagram. Gionna wants to be a writer when she grows up and loves the idea that reviewers get books for free.
Her mother is torn. Romero’s main concern was social media during middle school, a critical age where kids are forming their identity. She supports the idea of using social media responsibly as a tool to pursue passions.
“When you’re a little older,” she tells her girls, “you’ll realize Mom was not as crazy as you thought.”
STRUGGLING NOT TO MISS OUT
In the upscale suburb of Westport, Connecticut, the Bulkeleys have faced similar questions about bending their rules. But not for the reason they had anticipated.
Kate was perfectly content to not have social media. Her parents had figured at some point she might resist their ban because of peer pressure or fear of missing out. But the 15-year-old sees it as a waste of time. She describes herself as academic, introverted and focused on building up extracurricular activities.
That’s why she needed Instagram.
“I needed it to be co-president of my Bible Study Club,” Kate explains, seated with her family in the living room of their two-story home.
As Kate’s sophomore year started, she told her parents that she was excited to be leading a variety of clubs but needed social media to do her job. They agreed to let her have Instagram for her afterschool activities, which they found ironic and frustrating. “It was the school that really drove the fact that we had to reconsider our rule about no social media,” says Steph Bulkeley, Kate’s mother.
Schools talk the talk about limiting screen time and the dangers of social media, says Kate’s dad, Russ Bulkeley. But technology is rapidly becoming part of the school day. Kate’s high school and their 13-year-old daughter Sutton’s middle school have cell phone bans that aren’t enforced. Teachers will ask students to take out their phones to photograph material during class time.
Kate and Sutton Bulkeley talk in the living room, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in Westport, Conn. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Kate and Sutton Bulkeley talk in the living room, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in Westport, Conn. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
The Bulkeleys aren’t on board with that, but feel powerless to change it. When their girls were still in elementary school, the Bulkeleys were inspired by the “Wait Until 8th” pledge, which encourages parents to wait to give children smartphones, and access to social media, until at least 8th grade or about age 13. Some experts say waiting until 16 is better. Others feel banning social media isn’t the answer, and that kids need to learn to live with the technology because it’s not going anywhere.
Ultimately they gave in to Kate’s plea because they trust her, and because she’s too busy to devote much time to social media.
Both Kate and Sutton wrap up afterschool activities that include theater and dance classes at 8:30 p.m. most weeknights. They get home, finish homework and try to be in bed by 11.
Kate spends an average of two hours a week on her phone. That is significantly less than most, according to a 2023 Gallup poll that found over half of U.S. teens spend an average of five hours each day on social media. She uses her phone mainly to make calls, text friends, check grades and take photos. She doesn’t post or share pictures, one of her parents’ rules. Others: No phones allowed in bedrooms. All devices stay on a ledge between the kitchen and living room. TV isn’t allowed on school nights.
Kate has rejected her parents’ offer to pay her for waiting to use social media. But she is embarking slowly on the apps. She has set a six-minute daily time limit as a reminder not to dawdle on Instagram.
Having the app came in handy earlier this year at a Model UN conference where students from around the world exchanged contact details: “Nobody asked for phone numbers. You gave your Instagram,” Kate says. She is resisting Snapchat, for fear she will find it addictive. She has asked a friend on student government to text her any important student government messages sent on Snapchat.
Sutton feels the weight of not having social media more than her older sister. The eighth grader describes herself as social but not popular.
“There’s a lot of popular girls that do a bunch of TikTok dances. That’s really what determines your popularity: TikTok,” Sutton says.
Kids in her grade are “obsessed with TikTok” and posting videos of themselves that look to her like carbon copies. The girls look the same in short crop tops and jeans and sound the same, speaking with a TikTok dialect that includes a lot of “Hey, guys!” and uptalk, their voices rising in tone at the end of a thought.
She feels left out at times but doesn’t feel the need to have social media, since one of her friends sends her the latest viral videos. She has seen firsthand the problems social media can cause in friend groups. “Two of my friends were having a fight. One thought the other one blocked her on Snapchat.”
There’s a long way to go before these larger questions are resolved, with these two families and across the nation. Schools are trying. Some are banning phones entirely to hold students’ focus and ensure that socializing happens face-to-face. It might, educators say, also help cut back on teen depression and anxiety.
That’s something Sutton can understand at age 13 as she works to navigate the years ahead. From what she has seen, social media has changed in the past few years. It used to be a way for people to connect, to message and to get to know each other.
“It’s kind of just about bragging now,” she says. “People post pictures of their trips to amazing places. Or looking beautiful. And it makes other people feel bad about themself.”
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It’s dangerous. It’s addictive. Get off your phone.
Kids constantly hear about the downsides of social media from the adults in their lives, often in the form of dire warnings and commands. But these adults did not grow up with social media themselves.
They didn’t get a phone handed to them as toddlers, just to keep them quiet in a restaurant. They didn’t join TikTok’s predecessor Musica.ly and do silly dances before they even learned to read. They didn’t have their schools shut down in a global pandemic, their connections to friends and peers relegated to phone and computer screens.
Kids coming of age with social media are forging ahead in a whole new world. And now that they are getting older, they have some advice for their younger peers.
Here’s what they wish they knew when they first got online.
Bao Le, 18, sits for a photo on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Bao Le, 18, sits for a photo on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
You don’t have to share everything
“It’s so easy to look at your friends’ stories and feel this feeling of FOMO, of missing out and comparing yourself, like: ‘Oh, my friend just got a new car.’ It’s like this overwhelming sense of comparison. But the things that people post on social media, it’s just the highlight reel, like the 1% of their life that they want to showcase to other people.”
BAO LE, 18, a freshman at Vanderbilt University
This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.
Doreen Malata, 22, a senior at University of Maryland, poses for a photo on Saturday, March 2, 2024, in College Park, Md. (AP Photo/Almaz Abedje)
Doreen Malata, 22, a senior at University of Maryland, poses for a photo on Saturday, March 2, 2024, in College Park, Md. (AP Photo/Almaz Abedje)
Don’t take it too seriously
“My main point of advice would be not to take it too seriously. Be yourself. I feel like what I was exposed to as a 12-year-old was much more limited than what is accessible to 12–year-olds nowadays. Younger kids want to be who they idolize. And when the TikTok stars or the social media stars are 20, 18, 16, they’re going to want to be like them. You’re getting younger kids that are now obsessing over products and brands, and it’s just getting really hard to be young. And it shouldn’t be really hard to be young. You should be enjoying childhood. And we shouldn’t be rushing to grow up. It’s OK to be 12. It’s OK to be young. It’s OK to enjoy childhood.”
DOREEN MALATA, 22, a senior at the University of Maryland
Sienna Keene, 17, poses for photos in Orinda, Calif., Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Sienna Keene, 17, poses for photos in Orinda, Calif., Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
“It seems like it would be really easy to just put your phone down and stop scrolling. But it is not. If there was advice that I could give to my younger self, it would be to tell my parents to set up time limits for me — even though I would have never said that when I was starting social media. Also, I personally would not let my kid have TikTok. I would try to resist it as long as I could. It’s so addictive.”
SIENNA KEENE, 17, a high school senior in Orinda, California
Ava Havidic, 18, poses outside her high school, Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Tamarac, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Ava Havidic, 18, poses outside her high school, Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Tamarac, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Take a social media detox
“When you first get these apps, it hits you — like, BOOM, there is so much content. Styles, fashion models. It really impacts you heavily when you first get it, this feeling of: ‘How do they do it? How do they look like this? How do they get clothes like that?’ When you’re new to social media, these trends can overtake you. I started to use screentime (monitoring) on my phone and limit the amount of time I am on social media. I’ve been taking phone detoxes. On weekends, I’ll take a social media detox for 10 hours or the majority of the day. I’ll hang out with my family, ride my bike. I only have notifications for my messages and workspaces. I don’t have any notifications on for social media apps.”
AVA HAVIDIC, 18, a high school senior in Broward County, Florida
Lea Nepomuceno, 18, a freshman at George Washington University, poses on Saturday, March 2, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Almaz Abedje)
Lea Nepomuceno, 18, a freshman at George Washington University, poses on Saturday, March 2, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Almaz Abedje)
You are the one in control
“Often I hear the term “social media user,” but I felt like I was being used by social media. I had this routine of scrolling mindlessly through TikTok, just scrolling and scrolling and comparing myself to other people. It ultimately really affected my body image, my perception of what was considered beautiful or accepted into society. But the only thing I was getting out of social media was feeling fatigued, or I would feel sad.
You can use social media to amplify your passions, but in order to do that you need to do a lot of work outside of social media, to discover who you are as a person, what matters to you and what contributions you can make to the world.”
LEA NEPOMUCENO, 18, a freshman at George Washington University
Mikael Makonnen, 18, a freshman at American University, poses for a photo in Washington, D.C, on Saturday, March 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Almaz Abedje)
Mikael Makonnen, 18, a freshman at American University, poses for a photo in Washington, D.C, on Saturday, March 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Almaz Abedje)
“I would say just don’t use it. It’s kind of a waste of time. You’re just having conversations about pointless things, random pop culture stuff. It just sucks your time. You’re not really getting anything out of it, just short-term satisfaction. It’s kind of meaningless. I know this is kind of outlandish, but I feel like there should be some sort of age limit because I don’t think children should be on the internet.”
MIKAEL MAKONNEN, 18, a freshman at American University
Nour Mahmoud, 21, a junior at Virginia Commonwealth University, is shown on Saturday, March 2, 2024, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Almaz Abedje)
Nour Mahmoud, 21, a junior at Virginia Commonwealth University, is shown on Saturday, March 2, 2024, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Almaz Abedje)
“A lot of people make their life artificial so that they’re perceived in a certain way. And I think going into social media, I wish I knew it is a tool to learn from. There’s so much information, and you’re able to learn so much about different things. … I wish people had that outlook rather than the whole idea of other people viewing you and having to be seen a certain way.”
NOUR MAHMOUD, 21, a junior at Virginia Commonwealth University
Madeleine Maestre, 18, a freshman at Santa Clara University, poses for photos in Santa Clara, Calif., Friday, May 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Madeleine Maestre, 18, a freshman at Santa Clara University, poses for photos in Santa Clara, Calif., Friday, May 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
It’s OK to put up boundaries and block someone
“You can’t scroll on TikTok or look through Instagram without seeing supermodels who have edited their photos and are promoting unrealistic beauty standards. I don’t want to see these girls who pretend to be fitness influencers but are just promoting an eating disorder like “body checking” on my feed. That is one thing I wish I knew when I started: that it is OK to not want to look at that or want to consume it. It’s OK to protect yourself and your own body image. Another thing I wish I knew is that not everyone on social media is your friend. When you are young and impressionable and people are reaching out to you, just know that not everyone is as friendly as you think they are.”
MADELEINE MAESTRE, 18, a freshman at Santa Clara University
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Interviews by Almaz Abedje, Jocelyn Gecker and Barbara Ortutay
NEW YORK (AP) — With the U.S. experiencing a significant hiring slowdown, it’s a daunting time to be looking for a job. Many workers are staying put instead of changing jobs to secure better pay. Artificial intelligence tools increasingly screen the resumes of applicants. Now may seem like an inappropriate time to request a raise.
But sticking around doesn’t mean wages and salaries have to stagnate. Career experts say it’s not wrong, even in a shaky economy, to ask to be paid what you’re worth. Raises aren’t even necessarily off the table at organizations that are downsizing, according to some experts.
“A lot of people think if their company has done layoffs, the likelihood of getting a raise is pretty low,” said Jamie Kohn, a senior director in the human resources practice at business research and advisory firm Gartner. “And that might be true, but the the other way to think about it is that this company has already decided to reinvest in you by keeping you on.”
This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.
When should you ask?
If you’ve taken on greater responsibilities at work and have received strong performance reviews, or if you’ve learned you’re paid substantially less than colleagues or competitors with similar levels of experience, then it may be the right time to ask for a pay adjustment.
“They know that you’re taking on more work, especially if you’ve had layoffs on your team,” Kohn continued. “At that point, it is very hard for them to lose an employee that you know they now are relying on much more.”
Another signal that it’s time to ask for an adjustment is if you’re working a second job to make ends meet or your current financial situation is causing angst that impacts job performance, said Rodney Williams, co-founder of SoLo Funds, a community finance platform.
“There’s nothing wrong with saying, ’Hey, I need to raise my financial position. I’m willing to do more,” Williams said. “I’m willing to show up earlier, I’m willing to leave later, I’m willing to help out, maybe, and do other things here.”
Some people view asking for more compensation as less risky than switching to a new job. “There is a sense of not wanting to be ‘last in, first out’ in a potential layoff situation,” said Kohn.
Know your worth
Before starting the compensation conversation, do some research on current salaries. You can find out what people with comparable experience are making in your industry by searching on websites such as Glassdoor, where people self-report salaries, or ZipRecruiter, which gathers pay data from job postings and other sources.
Three years ago, a lot of people asked for 20% pay increases because of price inflation and high employee turnover coming out of the coronavirus pandemic, Kohn said. Companies no longer are considering such big bumps.
“Right now, I think you could say that you are worth 10% more, but you’re unlikely to get a 10% pay increase if you ask for it,” she said.
Your success also depends on your recent performance reviews. “If you’ve been given additional responsibilities, if you are operating at a level that would be a promotion, those might be situations where asking for a higher amount might be worth it,” Kohn said.
Compare notes with colleagues
Many people view the topic as taboo, but telling coworkers what you make and asking if they earn more may prove instructive. Trusted coworkers with similar roles are potential sources. People who were recently hired or promoted may supply a sense of the market rate, Kohn said.
“You can say, ‘Hey, I’m trying to make sure I’m being paid equitably. Are you making over or under X dollars?’ That’s one of my favorite phrases to use, and it invites people into a healthy discussion,” Sam DeMase, a career expert with ZipRecruiter, said. “People are way more interested in talking about salary than you might think.”
You can also reach out to people who left the company, who may be more willing to compare paychecks than current colleagues, DeMase said.
Brag sheet
Keep track of your accomplishments and positive feedback on your work. Compile it into one document, which human resources professionals call a “brag sheet,” DeMase said. If you’re making your request in writing, list those accomplishments when you ask for a raise. If the request is made in a conversation, you can use the list as talking points.
Be sure to list any work or responsibilities that typically would not have been part of your job description. “Employers are wanting employees to do more with less, so we need to be documenting all of the ways in which we’re working outside of our job scope,” DeMase said.
Also take stock of the unique skills or traits you bring to the team.
“People tend to overestimate our employers’ alternatives,” said Oakbay Consulting CEO Emily Epstein, who teaches negotiation courses at Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley. “We assume they could just hire a long line of people, but it may be that we bring specialized expertise to our roles, something that would be hard to replace.”
Timing matters
Don’t seek a raise when your boss is hungry or at the end of a long day because the answer is more likely to be no, advises Epstein, whose company offers training on communication, conflict resolution and other business skills. If they’re well-rested and feeling great, you’re more likely to succeed, she said.
Getting a raise is probably easier in booming fields, such as cybersecurity, while it could be a tough time to request one if you work in an industry that is shedding positions, Epstein said.
By the same token, waiting for the perfect time presents the risk of missing out on a chance to advocate for yourself.
“You could wait your whole life for your boss to be well-rested or to have a lot of resources,” Epstein said. “So don’t wait forever.”
Responding to “no”
If your request is denied, having made it can help set the stage for a future negotiation.
Ask your manager what makes it difficult to say yes, Epstein suggested. “Is it the precedent you’d be establishing for this position that might be hard to live up to? Is it fairness to the other people in my position? Is it, right now the company’s struggling?” she said.
Ask when you might revisit the conversation and whether you can get that timeframe in writing, DeMase said.
Laura Kreller, an executive assistant at a university in Louisiana, recently earned a master’s degree and asked for her job description to change to reflect greater responsibilities and hopefully higher pay. Her boss was kind but turned her down, citing funding constraints. Kreller said she has no regrets.
“I was proud of myself for doing it,” she said. “It’s better to know where you stand.”
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