Is empathy always good?

Research has shown how important empathy is to relationships, but there are limits to its power.

  • Empathy is a useful tool that allows humans (and other species) to connect and form mutually beneficial bonds, but knowing how and when to be empathic is just as important as having empathy.
  • Filmmaker Danfung Dennis, Bill Nye, and actor Alan Alda discuss the science of empathy and the ways that the ability can be cultivated and practiced to affect meaningful change, both on a personal and community level.
  • But empathy is not a cure all. Paul Bloom explains the psychological differences between empathy and compassion, and how the former can "get in the way" of some of life's crucial relationships.
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Meditate, work out, and sleep better with help from the experts

Learn from 100+ of the world's best athletes, sleep coaches, and psychologists with a subscription to Ultrahuman.

  • Instead of powering through basic workouts and meditation routines and getting nothing out of it, upgrade to something much better.
  • A lifetime subscription Ultrahuman gives you access to over 100 of the world's best psychologists, athletes, and sleep coaches.
  • For a limited time, a lifetime subscription to the award-winning platform is discounted to just $79.99.
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Mindfulness may cause the human brain to transcend racial biases

The present-moment awareness that stems from mindfulness practices may be the cost-effective tool that our society needs.

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  • Mindfulness practices may lead to the human brain's transcendence of previously established associations that lead to racial biases.
  • A mindfulness-based program, which has a myriad of benefits, may be more effective than a specific racial bias training program and may benefit BIPOC youth and police officers alike.
  • Professionally known as Director X, Julien Christian Lutz of the Toronto-based mindfulness organization Operation Prefrontal Cortex believes that many young people that identify as BIPOC lash out violently due to past traumas, the hopelessness that they experience in the face of systemic racism, and other stressors that mindfulness can alleviate.
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An extra half-hour of sleep shown to improve mindfulness

A new study of nurses shows the importance of sleep—and staying aware on the job.

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  • A study of nurses found that an extra 29 minutes of sleep dramatically improved job-related mindfulness.
  • Nurses that reported higher mindfulness scores were 66 percent less likely to experience symptoms of insomnia.
  • Roughly 70 million American adults suffer from some form of sleep disorder.
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4 breathing techniques to get you through high-stress moments

You're always in control of your breath.

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  • Anxiety is triggered environmentally and emotionally, but a physiological response quickly follows.
  • Calming breathing techniques help to tamp down the physiological response of anxiety.
  • The following four exercises are known to help calm anxiety and develop focus.
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