Rarely do we consider loneliness as a factor in determining how long we live. Yet according to loneliness expert Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University, “social connections have potent influences on health and longevity, and lacking social connection qualifies as a risk factor for premature mortality.” Here, Dr. Holt-Lunstad (pictured above) joins Medcan MIND station team lead Jennifer Baldachin to explore how social connections promote wellness—with guidance on how to create new relationships.

Many of us are spending more time on screens. The constant buzz and beeps of phone notifications, increasing work demands—does anyone else feel like the pace of contemporary living is harming attention spans and creating more of a need to engage in mindfulness and meditation practices? Here, Medcan clinical psychologists Dr. Jack Muskat and Dr. Amanda Beaman (pictured above) explore the practice of mindfulness. What is it? How does one do it? And can it help to relieve anxiety and increase our focus?

Romantic relationships are key to personal wellness, and texting is the main way people communicate when dating. Here, Dr. Mimi Winsberg (pictured above), a Harvard- and Stanford-educated psychiatrist and Facebook’s former in-house psychiatrist, provides guidance in conversation with Medcan’s Dr. Jack Muskat. Texting, says Dr. Winsberg, “is now the lingua franca of love.”