HIGHLIGHTS Owning any pet can have a significant role in reducing depression, anxiety, and stress. The physical and psychological benefits in the form of a pet have genuine physiological underpinnings and is thought to affect both sympathetic and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal reactivity. Even short-term exposure to a novel dog in an unfamiliar or anxiety provoking setting can lower cortisol and heart rate levels. Pet ownership may be a protective factor for individual and c

Highlights More than 30% of men (Generation Z and Millennials, in particular) reported feeling lonely in 2018 and this number is rising, with estimates as high as 45%. Low income, low education, unmarried, poor health status, and social isolation are known predictors of loneliness for men. Men benefit more from marriage than do women and fare less well than women when single or widowed. A dramatic rise in unmarried, unpartnered men coexists with the rise in male loneliness. H

It was a rainy Thursday morning. With umbrella and purse in hand, I clumsily opened the entrance door of my favorite bread store. Its overhead bronze bell made a familiar clamor reminiscent of the candy shop that once inhabited this space, a shop my sister and I as children would patron with pockets full of coins and hearts oversized with sweet treat wishes. As I approached the counter I was greeted by the slightly sweet, yeasty, tang of baking bread and ready to take my orde