Read Online | February 28, 2026

Your Mind Can Make Muscles Stronger, Here’s How

Illustration by The Epoch Times, Shutterstock

Arnold Schwarzenegger used to visualize his biceps growing “as big as mountains” before heavy lifting sessions. It wasn’t just for show.

The bodybuilding legend was tapping into a now scientifically backed phenomenon known as the “mind-muscle connection.”

From thinking about movement to “psyching up” before a workout, research has revealed that muscle strength and performance start in the brain, and that can play a powerful role in unlocking your hidden strength, if you know how to tap into it. (Read more)

The American Heart Association says within 25 years, six in 10 adult women will have some form of cardiovascular disease—including heart attack or stroke.
Water samples from six brands of bottled water had three times as many nanoplastic particles as water from four treatment plants, researchers found.
A UCLA discovery that bacteria may be a key factor in kidney stones could offer new therapeutic targets.

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Matthew Little

Senior Health Editor

I’d like to hear from you - wellness@epochtimes.nyc

🏥 Health News

Is Social Media Addiction Real? Expert Testimony Takes Center Stage in Landmark Trial

A jury is considering whether social media companies have engineered their platforms to addict young people despite knowing the potential harms in an ongoing trial in Los Angeles.

So far, the jury has heard theoretical arguments and seen forensic evidence, in the form of internal documents, largely centered on what the companies knew and when, and whether their actions, or lack thereof, constitute a “willful and conscious disregard for safety.”

This bellwether trial will determine how thousands of related personal injury cases play out.

But even as some experts say instances of social media addiction are skyrocketing among young people, the phenomenon is new enough that consensus about its meaning and implications is far from clear, diagnosis and treatment are not standardized, and a sense of its scope remains out of focus. (More)

😌 Mindset

Courtesy of Li Bijuan

From Crippling Pain to a Second Life: One Woman’s Recovery From Fibromyalgia

After seeking medical treatment from multiple doctors, Bijuan Li was finally diagnosed with fibromyalgia. She suffered chronic body pain, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and cognitive and emotional difficulties.

Li’s doctor prescribed morphine to dull the pain, and the side effects left her mentally foggy.

When Li’s doctor told her that the disease was incurable and that she would “never get better,” a deep sense of despair washed over her.

“I kept telling my daughter where my insurance papers and bankbooks were. I was terrified that one day I wouldn’t be able to endure the pain anymore—that I might end my life.” Li said, “I felt like I had no future.”

That was the moment she shifted her focus from her body to her mind. (More)

☀️ A Few Good Things

✍️ Health Viewpoint: Love in the Small Things by Mollie Engelhart
🍿 Watch: Patience can help people live longer by slowing their biological clock and the aging of their DNA. (Watch on EpochTV)
🎵 Music: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (Listen)

🔬 Premium Article of the Week 👇

Illustration by The Epoch Times, Shutterstock

Melanoma: The Aggressive Skin Cancer That Can Spread Quickly–Here Are the Signs

🍵 Food & Nutrition

bogubogu/Shutterstock

Periodic 5-Day Fasting Eases Crohn’s Symptoms in 70 Percent of Patients, Stanford Study Finds

A diet that mimicked fasting eased symptoms of patients with Crohn’s disease and brought some people into remission, in a new Stanford study.

For five consecutive days each month for three months, study participants ate a carefully designed, plant-based diet very low in calories—700 to 1000—but nutritionally defined.

Seven out of 10 participants with mild to moderate Crohn's disease had reduced symptoms and reduced inflammation markers in their blood and stool.

The diet activates autophagy, a cellular repair process that allows damaged gut cells to clear debris, recycle components, and regenerate.

This cell cleanup allows damaged gut cells to repair and regenerate, while simultaneously calming inflammatory immune activity.

The research team is now working to better understand how to generalize the findings and identify which patients are most likely to benefit.

(More)

Thank you for reading 🙏

Have a wonderful day!

- Matthew Little and Wanlun Lu.

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