Two words freed Mel Robbins from taking care of everyone else

Popular GLP-1 medications may have health benefits that extend beyond weight loss and blood sugar control

View in browser 01.24.25 It might feel uncomfortable or even painful, but that doesn't mean boredom is necessarily a bad thing. I'll tell you how to use boredom to your advantage, but first, here are this week's top health stories ... — Sanjay Two words freed Mel Robbins from taking care of everyone else At 54, motivational speaker Mel Robbins has found a way to free herself.   It starts with two simple words: "Let them" — a phrase she picked up from her 20-something daughter.   "I was the person that was pissed off in the grocery store, stressed out gripping the steering wheel, annoyed by inconsiderate behavior, bending over backwards because people made me feel guilty," Robbins told my colleague Sara Sidner, "trying to make other people happy, trying to change other people, controlling other people because I thought it would make me feel more in control. That's when I stumbled onto these two words: Let them."   "Let them" doesn't mean you are giving up on them, she said. It simply allows you to do something else.   You can't change people; any psychologist will tell you that. But you can influence them in a way that does not stress you out, Robbins said. And that's why another two words are also just as important. "Let them" must be followed by "let me." Read More Sponsor Content by LendingTree Borrow from your home while keeping your current mortgage rate Unlock the potential of your home and access the cash you need. Quickly calculate your equity in minutes and discover how to turn it into financial flexibility. Start now! Is drinking alcohol bad for your health? New dietary guidelines will weigh risks and benefits Most adults in the United States drink alcohol, but there is steadily growing public concern about the health effects of moderate drinking.   The latest science supports those concerns, but two recent government reports suggest potential benefits exist alongside potential risks — and some experts say that formal dietary recommendations, due to be reviewed this year, could take a more nuanced approach.   The current Dietary Guidelines for Americans, from the US Department of Health and Human Services and the US Department of Agriculture, say that men should limit their daily alcohol intake to two drinks or less, and one drink or less for women.   These guidelines are up for review this year, and two recent reports meant to inform that process came to seemingly competing conclusions — continuing a longstanding debate on how to weigh the potential risks and benefits of alcohol.   But public attitudes in the US are already changing.   A new CNN poll conducted by SSRS finds that half of US adults say that moderate drinking is bad for health, more than double the share who said the same two decades ago. Read More Popular GLP-1 medications may have health benefits that extend beyond weight loss and blood sugar control, a new study finds Popular GLP-1 medications approved for weight loss, diabetes and heart disease may have untapped potential to reduce the risks of substance abuse disorders, psychosis, infections, some kinds of cancer and dementia, a sweeping new study suggests.   The research also points to important and perhaps underappreciated risks of these drugs. These risks primarily involved the digestive system and included nausea and vomiting, stomach pain, heartburn and gastroparesis, or stomach paralysis.   Out of 175 different outcomes researchers included in the study, they found people who took GLP-1 medications had lower risks of 42 different health outcomes and higher risks for 19. Some of the biggest risk reductions were for shock, aspiration pneumonia, liver failure, lung failure and cardiac arrest.   Though they found more benefits associated with the GLP-1 drugs than risks, study author Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of research and development at the VA St. Louis Health Care System, said people shouldn't take that as an unconditional green light. Read More Antibiotic prescribed to millions can cause rare, dangerous reactions WATCH: The antibiotic widely referred to by the popular brand name Bactrim is prescribed to an estimated 3 million people in the US each year. For most, it's a helpful and important drug, but in rare cases, some patients have had serious and even fatal reactions to it. CNN Medical Correspondent Meg Tirrell reports. Blue Monday isn't real, but seasonal depression affects millions of people. Here are ways to treat it. But wait, there's more! What you should know about about carbonated water and weight loss People with ADHD have shorter life expectancy and higher risk of mental health issues, study finds FDA approves standalone use of J&J's ketamine-derived depression treatment Men got taller and heavier at twice the rate of women over the past century, study says What sweat can tell us about our health  Chasing Life From Dr. Sanjay Gupta —    I have always thought of boredom as an emotion — a painful one I think most of us actively try to avoid.   And now, thanks to smart phones and social media, there's an easy distraction at our fingertips.   But if you're trying to turn away more from distractions like social media in the new year, boredom may be something we have to face head on.   And you can start by thinking of boredom not as an emotion, but a motivational state, cognitive neuroscientist James Danckert told me on a recent episode of Chasing Life.   "I like, when I give a definition of boredom, to resort to this quote from Leo Tolstoy, from [his novel] 'Anna Karenina,' where he talks about ennui, or boredom, as 'the desire for desires,' " he said. "Boredom is a motivational state. You want to be doing something that matters to you, but you just don't want anything that's currently available to you.   So how should you deal with boredom?    Create a list: The list I have on my phone is actually just called "stuff." The purpose of this is to have a list of activities, tasks or projects that you can turn to when you're bored. Remember, boredom is trying to tell you to get out there and do something. Stop scrolling: No matter how good it feels in the moment, Danckert warns that it can actually make boredom worse because you're not giving yourself a sense of agency. "If you're just sort of mindlessly scrolling through your social media feeds, that's not being very agentic. … It's going to make your boredom worse in the long run," he said. Don't expect boredom to make you creative: This is a popular notion that drive Danckert "nuts." "The evidence for that claim is very weak, and we actually published something fairly recently showing that if I make you bored, you're actually less creative," he said. Downtime on the other hand, can be good for creativity. Don't try and avoid boredom: You don't have to embrace it but don't try to outrun boredom, Danckert says. "It's neither good nor bad, so we should just learn to listen to it and figure out what it tells us in that moment. We need to adapt it and respond to it in good ways."   So the next time you're bored, don't get frustrated, get motivated. Dr. James Hamblin doesn't take regular showers. And no, he doesn't stink. The doctor and journalist joins Dr. Sanjay Gupta to explain why he set out to challenge this social norm and the science behind doing less to stay clean. CNN Health's The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows up in your inbox every Friday.   Did a friend forward you this newsletter? Sign yourself up! 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