Mind

Susan Hirsch was visiting her father in the hospital where he was recuperating after a fall and was shocked to find him — long devoted to her mother — flirting with a nurse as if he were “17 and in the Navy again,” she said. Ms. Hirsch, a 67-year-old memory …

For Hope Alcocer, the diagnosis was grim: 11 cavities. Inflamed gums. A tooth in need of a root canal. As the list of problems grew, so did her feelings of shame and fear. Shame that she had waited more than a decade to seek care. And fear because she could …

It’s not uncommon for our minds to unleash a torrent of difficult feelings under the cover of darkness: sadness and negative thoughts may surface at night, making sleep hard to come by. On social media and elsewhere people often refer to this as “nighttime depression.” But is that really a …

Q: I have had a Kacey Musgraves song stuck in my head for two weeks and it’s making me crazy. Why is this happening? First, some reassurance: You’re not alone. Research suggests that catchy songs that get lodged in your head — colloquially known as earworms — are common, and …