The five most-read stories on Scope this week were:
Can yoga help women suffering from fibromyalgia?: A study recently published in the Journal of Pain Research shows that practicing yoga boosts levels of the stress hormone cortisol and could help ease some symptoms of fibromyalgia such as pain, fatigue, muscle stiffness and depression.
The science of willpower: In a just-published bookbased on her popular Stanford Continuing Studies course, Stanford health psychologist Kelly McGonigal, PhD, took a closer look at the science of willpower and examined the latest research on the topic. She shares some of her thoughts in this Q&A.
The wrong reason to lionize Christopher Hitchens: Stanford Professor Keith Humphreys, PhD, examines how lifestyle choices, such as regular, heavy drinking, may have led to the recent death of Christopher Hitchens and argues that tributes making light of Hitchens's prodigious consumption of alcohol are foolish, and potentially dangerous.
What personal DNA testing can reveal about your potential health and future well-being: Douglas Brutlag, PhD, professor emeritus of biochemistry, discuses how the billions of bits in our biological code shape who we are and how tapping into this information can reveal a lot about your potential health and future well-being.
My top medical reads of 2011 (aside from those I edited): Stanford Medicine editor Rosanne Spector selects her top 10 long-form journalism reads for 2011.
