SIDE EFFECTS
The best gift you can give yourself? Believe it or not, it’s not a cashmere cardi! It’s the gift of giving to others. According to a study in the journal Science, people who donated to charity were happier afterward than those who spent money on themselves. “Prosocial spending” (on family, friends, or strangers in need) has a range of health benefits, including lower blood pressure, increased happiness, and activation of brain areas associated with pleasure. Additionally: “The neural pathways we create through giving can overcome destructive emotions, such as hostility and bitterness,” says Stephen G. Post, PhD, director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics at Stony Brook University. (Giving is cashmere for the soul!) For ideas, go to charitynavigator.org, where the independent nonprofit Charity Navigator lists worthy options.
HEADS-UP
These days, we’re buying everything online—including our medications. In 2021, almost half of Americans filled prescriptions through virtual pharmacies, possibly because the meds were hard to find locally. (The U.S. has been experiencing shortages of more than 300 drugs—for cancer, asthma, ADHD, and more—due to supply chain problems and other issues.) But buying online can be risky. According to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), an estimated 95% of online pharmacies are operating illegally, warns Libby Baney, senior adviser for the global nonprofit Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies. “Most consumers think that if a pharmacy is near the top of the search results, it must be legitimate,” she says. “But that’s just the algorithm working.” Illegal pharmacies are selling unapproved meds, which means you can’t be sure what’s in them, how they’re stored, or how long they’ve been on the shelf. They could be ineffective or, even scarier, laced with foreign substances, like the potentially deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl. Before you buy online, go to safe.pharmacy and enter the pharmacy’s URL to check whether it’s verified by the NABP. And if you’re having trouble finding needed medications, talk to your doctor or pharmacist, who may be able to recommend a substitute.
Illustration by Asia Pietrzyk