Helaina Hovitz Regal

The very first time I attempted to arch myself into a downward dog, I was 16 and didn't own a single pair of yoga pants. I'd only signed up for yoga to get out of having to go to my high-school gym class, and I'd gone in knowing that flexible, I was not. I set myself up in the back of a sunlit studio packed full of tall, blonde goddesses and struggled like hell to hold myself up in that down dog, arms quivering, instantly getting a headache as the blood rushed to my skull. I watched in horror...

Holiday Cheer, Scientifically Speaking: Why Decorating for the Holidays (and engaging in other cheerful activities) May Boost Your Mental Health, especially during a year that may have been collectively even more difficult on our collective wellness.

If you did not die or lose a loved one on 9/11 or to COVID-19—or if you did not get tear gas thrown at you during a protest, or if you did not lose your home or become displaced—you can still be very much impacted by these events, and you have every right to find help. You just have to know where to look and where to start. Now, we’ve all been living with COVID-19 for a year and a half, which has made existing trauma-informe...

"How do you feel reflecting back on that day twenty years later?" It's a question I've been asked many times this year, and it's far too big of a question to be able to simply answer.

No matter how magical our sexual chemistry is during the honeymoon phase of any courtship or relationship, life has a way of just being life again.
That means falling into the same sexual routines, positions, and—gulp—dry spells. That means your partner may be stressed at work and it’s affecting their sex drive. That means they may be in the mood and for some reason, you’re just not, and you can’t get there. Our sexual desires, preferences, and libidos are constantly changing, and when you’re...

In this essay, Helaina Hovitz recalls her experience near Ground Zero on 9/11. Helaina is an editor, journalist, and author of the memoir After 9/11. You can read more from her at HelainaHovitz.com, find her on Facebook, or follow her on Twitter @HelainaHovitz.
Content warning: This story contains descriptions of the moments during and after a terror attack.

About eight years ago, when a well-known addiction writer told me she stopped going to meetings after seven years, I could not believe it. I was in my first few months of sobriety, and from day one, meeting one, I followed my specified recovery program to the letter. I was almost afraid for her at the time, that she was making a terrible mistake.
One-hundred months later, I’m still sober, but I have experienced a series of realizations. Around the four year mark, I started to sense that I did...

As adults, we likely feel confused and overwhelmed imagining all of the various needs out there as we continue to be flooded with scary, upsetting, and worrisome news each day. Good news: there are kids around the country getting creative and taking action to help others during this COVID crisis, and their stories are just amazing.It will come as no surprise that each of them has previously won an award this year for their work giving back to their communities....

“Everyone has masks on. It’s a ghost town. The hospital across the street is geared up for casualties. They’re telling us not to go outside.”
That’s an excerpt straight out of “After 9/11“, and before it was there, it was originally written in my journal at the time. I was 12 years old. Now 19 years later, it’s happening again right outside.
Before I get into my list, I want to give you a quick rundown on why I wrote it.
Sept. 11, 2001 was the second day of seventh grade at I.S. 89, a middle ...

Health News
We spoke with health experts about why it’s important to ask and how to evaluate your risk if you decide to spend the holidays with unvaccinated loved ones.
Within every family, there’s almost always a touchy subject best avoided during the holidays — politics, perhaps, or an ongoing issue that can’t seem to stay buried.
This year, however, there’s one question many people will likely need to ask one another if they plan to visit in person during the holidays: Have you been vaccin...

In our Instagram feeds, our Google Ads, and on our Facebook pages, we’re seeing a surge in advertised “remedies” that promise to take some of the physical consequences out of the equation after heavy drinking and “get you going the next day.”

When times are tough, it's important to look for the everyday heroes who still spread kindness throughout the world around them.

I even decided to test my boundaries and go on a scary “haunted hay ride”(made for adults). I was grossly disappointed. It was just a ride through occasional sketchy looking scenes and people assaulting our tractor. That’s pretty much how it is to drive in NYC rush hour traffic. 👻

With all the pressures today’s teenagers experience around academic work and extracurricular activities, while keeping up a social life, it’s truly remarkable to come across a young person who is not only running his own nonprofit and taking the time to volunteer, but doing it with the goal of bringing joy to a much older demographic.
Jacob Cramer, of Cleveland, is truly remarkable.

A recent study out of the University of Buffalo shows that not only is binge drinking bad for your health when you’re in college, it also causes you to develop some pretty bad eating habits as an adult. As the writer of this article points out, kids aren’t drinking kale smoothies at 4 a.m. after a night of drinking. This should come as a surprise to virtually nobody who has ever gotten drunk in his or her life, of course.