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As Lisa Mosconi, Ph.D., neuroscientist, nutritionist, and associate director of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medical College, previously explained in a mindbodygreen podcast episode, reproductive hormones help protect our brains from the development of amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease. As women hit menopause, their estrogen levels plummet, leaving their brains more susceptible to dementia.
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The food we eat has a tremendous impact on our health—both today and in the years to come. According to research published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, in fact, adopting a particular diet in midlife could help you prevent cognitive decline down the road. Here’s what they found.
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When celebrity Kim Kardashian recently revealed she was diagnosed with a small brain aneurysm—reportedly detected during a routine MRI and attributed by her doctors to stress—her disclosure sparked interest in a condition most people don’t know much about. A brain aneurysm is a bulging or ballooning blood vessel in the brain, which can be life-threatening if it ruptures. With growing interest around cannabis use—both medically and recreationally—it’s worth exploring what to know about cannabis and a brain aneurysm.
RELATED: The Science Behind Cannabis And Happiness
A brain aneurysm (sometimes called an intracranial aneurysm) occurs when a weakened area of a blood vessel in the brain bulges outward. If the aneurysm ruptures, it can lead to a major bleed called a subarachnoid hemorrhage—a medical emergency. Many aneurysms remain small and never rupture, but risk factors include high blood pressure, smoking, genetic predisposition, and possibly vascular stress. Kim Kardashian’s case underlines how even individuals with public profiles and access to healthcare can face this silent risk.
Cannabis—or more precisely its components such as cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)—has been studied for a variety of health issues. For some conditions like chronic pain, certain forms of epilepsy, or spasticity in multiple sclerosis, cannabinoids may offer symptomatic relief. There is emerging evidence medical marijuana can improve quality of life for some patients: reducing pain, improving sleep or mood, and even decreasing reliance on opioids in certain contexts.
In the broad sense, in jurisdictions across the U.S., many patients use it under medical supervision for conditions like migraine, nausea from chemotherapy, or chronic neuropathic pain. “Medical” use does not equate to “safe in all contexts”—especially when other serious medical issues are present.
When it comes to brain aneurysms—particularly after diagnosis or treatment—the research raises caution flags about cannabis use:
RELATED: Evidence About Burning Mouth Syndrome And Cannabinoids
If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with a brain aneurysm (ruptured or unruptured), here are some practical steps:
The public disclosure by Kim Kardashian highlights how common aneurysms may be, but it also reminds us the decision to use cannabis in a medical context should be made carefully. While cannabis offers genuine medical benefits for some conditions, when a brain aneurysm is in the picture—especially one which has ruptured or is being observed—caution is warranted. Speak with a neurologist familiar with cerebrovascular risk, weigh the benefits and the unique risks, and make an informed choice rather than assuming “legal = safe.”
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For years, scientists have sounded the alarm on microplastics—tiny plastic particles found in our food, water, air, and even our blood. But now, groundbreaking research has confirmed something even more alarming: These plastic fragments are accumulating in the human brain at higher levels than ever recorded.
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Cognitive decline and even just normal brain changes associated with aging threaten to impact our memories and way of thinking—two things we very much want to hold on to as long as possible. But some people are more resilient to signs of memory loss than others, even when there’s physiological evidence of memory loss.
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She is animated now, in full lecture mode. Patients, she says, should have access to therapists and trainers as soon as they’re diagnosed with Parkinson’s, not just after a fall or injury or when symptoms become debilitating. Insurance companies should pay for it, she says. Studies show that exercise is good for patients — for Parkinson’s symptoms, yes, and maybe for the progress of the disease itself, but also to help stave off problems and comorbidities that come when people stop moving much, like heart disease and diabetes.
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John Branch and Sophie Park
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SUNDAY, Oct. 12, 2025 (HealthDay News) — A new study from Case Western Reserve University suggests a major shift in schizophrenia treatment: One that focuses on helping patients better interpret social cues.
“We’ve been treating schizophrenia with a one-size-fits-all approach for decades,” Jessica Wojtalik, an assistant professor at the Cleveland university’s school of applied social sciences, said in a news release. “Now we have a specific target that could help young patients get their lives back on track much faster.”
The findings — published recently in the journal Psychiatry Research — identify a key brain function known as social inference skills as a potential new focus for early treatment. It’s a person’s ability to “read between the lines” in social situations.
Schizophrenia, a serious mental illness that affects how people think, feel and behave, often begins during the teenage years when the brain is still developing, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
This timing can have lifelong effects on relationships, learning and emotional control.
The new study found that improving patients’ ability to interpret tone, body language and sarcasm — skills essential for navigating everyday interactions — could help them function better in everyday life.
“Think of social inference as your brain’s social detective work,” lead author Anju Kotwani, a doctoral student in applied social sciences at Case Western, said in a news release. “It’s how you figure out what someone really means when they say ‘fine’ in a certain tone or how you know when someone is being sarcastic versus serious.”
The research team studied 102 patients in the early stages of schizophrenia and found that social cognition (the brain’s ability to understand and respond to social cues) serves as a critical link between basic thinking skills and day-to-day functioning.
Their results suggest that training programs that strengthen social inference skills through structured computer games or guided worksheets could be more effective than traditional methods focused on memory or attention alone.
Researchers hope the findings will help shape new community-based treatment programs aimed at young folks newly diagnosed with schizophrenia.
“Addressing both thinking skills and social understanding offers the best hope for functional recovery in early schizophrenia,” Kotwani said.
SOURCE: Case Western Reserve University, news release, Oct. 8, 2025
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Technically, it’s not the actual list-making that’s so stellar for brain health—it’s isolating your tasks, from beginning to end, and physically (or mentally) checking them off. You see, the Sherzais are not huge fans of multitasking: “We say there’s no such thing as multitasking; it’s doing multiple things badly,” says Dean. Attention and cognitive decline are deeply intertwined (your attention naturally depletes as you age), and when you multitask, your attention becomes further compromised, which creates a perfect storm for cognitive decline.
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Though oolong tea is low in nutrients, it’s packed with plant compounds that have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects in the body. It’s a concentrated source of polyphenols, including theaflavins3
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It’s no secret that sleep is essential for a number of our body’s functions—from cellular repair to muscle growth and, of course, brain health. And one study published in the journal Nature Communications just put forward some evidence on the link between sleep duration and dementia risk1
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Contraception is often used to prevent pregnancies and manage menstrual cycles—which is exactly why Sandra Somarakis, now 61, and Nicole Ryan, 60, chose it for over a decade.
Both women opted for medroxyprogesterone (a type of birth control injection) called Depo-Provera, owned by Pfizer, valuing the convenience of no periods and a quick doctor’s visit every three months.
However, both Somarakis and Ryan later developed a type of benign brain tumor called meningioma and required surgery to remove it. While these tumors are not cancerous, both women have suffered long-term side effects.
In January, researchers from the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Medicine reported that women who used Depo-Provera for more than a year were roughly 3.5 times more likely to develop meningiomas compared with women using other forms of hormonal birth control.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 24.5 percent of sexually active women have used the injectable contraceptive. Sandy began using Depo-Provera in 1996, until 2010.
Somarakis, from Oregon, told Newsweek that, during a routine mammogram in July 2008, doctors urgently summoned her back when they noticed swelling in her left eye.
“I thought my eye was watering and sore because of hay fever,” Somarakis said. “They sent me for an MRI, and an ophthalmologist called almost immediately: they’d found a tumor in my left eye socket.
“Within days, I was diagnosed with a meningioma,” Somarakis added.
The following year, the tumor was removed, and Somarakis continued to use the contraception.
“I was never told that Depo-Provera might be linked to meningiomas,” Somarakis said. She added that, 16 months later, she started suffering from severe headaches, and another tumor was found. “The neurologist was shocked,” Somarakis said.
In January 2010, she underwent surgery to remove her second tumor, followed by six weeks of radiation. She stopped using the injection after being told that radiation would leave her infertile.
“Radiation was horrible,” Somarakis said. “It completely changed me. I had been a 911 operator and a project manager—sharp, fast, making good money.
“It felt like my mind was wiped. My hair started falling out; I couldn’t swallow; and, for a time, I lived on yogurt and crushed crackers with milk.
“Even now, I’m not the person I used to be. I’ve lost many cognitive skills, and I can no longer work in the kind of high-pressure jobs I once excelled at,” Somarakis said.
“I have tinnitus and have lost the hearing in my left ear—I’ll need a hearing aid for the rest of my life. I still get terrible headaches; it feels like my frontal lobe is about to explode. My left eye is still watery, swollen, and sometimes it pops out slightly.”
In 2024, both Somarakis and Ryan learned of an ongoing multidistrict litigation (MDL) involving lawsuits filed against Pfizer over Depo-Provera and its alleged link to an increased risk of meningioma brain tumors.
“When you go through something like this as a healthy person, you wonder what you did to cause it,” Somarakis told Newsweek. “I was crushed when I found out.”
Ryan, who lives in California, was diagnosed in 2014 after suffering from constant lightheadedness, near fainting spells and hearing loss in her left ear.
“I wasn’t surprised, but I was relieved to finally have confirmation of what was causing all my symptoms,” Ryan said. “Although the surgery was successful, I was left with permanent side effects such as permanent ringing in my left ear, poor balance, and headaches where the tumor was taken out.”
Newsweek also spoke to Ellen Relkin, an attorney who is currently representing hundreds of women who claim they developed meningioma from Depo-Provera. The plaintiffs are seeking financial compensation and litigation has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division.
Relkin said: “Meningioma, the majority are ‘benign’ only in the sense that they do not metastasize to other organs. But it is in the brain and can grow.
“The brain controls sight, cognitive abilities, hearing. Clients have lost vision, some have become blind, others lost hearing.”
Relkin is a partner at Weitz & Luxenberg and chair of the firm’s Drug & Medical Device Litigation group. She has decades of experience representing thousands of plaintiffs in pharmaceutical, medical-device, and toxic-tort cases and has served in numerous court-appointed leadership roles.
Relkin told Newsweek about the core legal arguments: “One is failure to warn. They never warned about this risk of meningioma or to be on the lookout for the symptoms. Many of our clients had excruciating headaches or dizziness for years, and no one connected it to the drug.
“The second is safer alternative design. Depo-Provera is extremely high dose—150 milligrams. Pfizer got approval in 2004 for a lower-dose version, Depo-SubQ Provera—104 milligrams, which is equally effective. If you can give a lower dose that’s equally effective, why give more? The dose makes the poison.”
In the plaintiffs’ latest filing on September 22, in response to Pfizer’s attempt to have the case dismissed on federal preemption grounds, they say that Pfizer “refused to study or warn” about the risk of meningiomas for decades despite growing scientific evidence.
They add that when the company finally requested approval for a label change it “omitted crucial information and peer-reviewed studies,” failing to give the FDA the full picture of the dangers to patients.
Relkin claims there aren’t warnings about meningioma. She said: “Gynaecologists and clinics don’t tell patients because it’s not in the label.
“When women get these symptoms, doctors assume it’s something common like migraine and don’t make the causal connection. Then they keep taking the drug as the tumor grows.”
At minimum, Relkin added that the most-serious type of warning the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issues—known as a black-box warning—should be applied.
“A black box would be ideal because then everyone would know. They’ll say it’s rare, but it’s not so rare—thousands of women are impacted because the drug is so widely used,” Relkin said.
The Pfizer label highlights the following possible serious side effects of the drug. However, Somarakis and Ryan said that they were only made aware of weight gain when they opted for the injection in the late 1990s and 2000s:
A Pfizer spokesperson told Newsweek: “The Company stands behind the safety and efficacy of Depo-Provera, which has been used by millions of women worldwide and remains an important treatment option for women seeking to manage their reproductive health.”
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