Some say the holidays are the best time of the year. But for some, the busy holiday season can be the most stressful.

A new national survey of 1,000 Americans commissioned by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine shows that 46% of Americans say they don’t get the private time they need during the holidays.

In addition, 56% of survey respondents say that it is very important for their mental health to have enough private time.

Sophie Lazarus, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist at Ohio State’s Department of Mental and Behavioral Health, says that in a world that glorifies being busy, taking a short break can be good for the mind and body. .

Taking a few minutes alone can reduce seasonal stress and help mental health, she said.

“Just by taking a short break, our nervous system can calm down, our mind can calm down, our body can calm down. And I think that can be important. We know that the stress of a chronic mind is not good for us,” said Lazarus.

It’s important to put yourself first, and this can be achieved by adding something simple to your routine that doesn’t require a lot of time or effort, Lasaro said.

Lazarus, who focuses on mental, emotional and anxiety interventions, has a few suggestions to help stressed people stay present throughout the busy holiday season.

“Try putting your phone in a completely different room when you decide to spend some time alone, you know how hard it is to not pick it up, to attract our attention and things to come first in our lives,” said Lazarus. “Or take two or three minutes in the car before you go to pick up your kids or before you go home after work to be alone.”

Lazarus says to think about what works best for you when making these changes in your schedule.

“One level does not suit everyone. Flexibility and finding the best balance,” Lazaru said.

Lazarus reminds patients that it’s okay to take time alone.

“I think it’s important to remember that just because you’re putting yourself first right now doesn’t mean you’re selfish and it doesn’t mean you always make the choice to put yourself first,” Lazarus said.

Private time doesn’t have to be solitary, either.

“Some people might have time to go to the movies alone or go to a park where there are a lot of people, or go to a coffee shop,” Lazarus said. “It may also be the absence of having to do or interact with the community in a more direct way.”

This survey was conducted by SSRS on its Opinion Panel Omnibus platform. The SSRS Opinion Panel Omnibus is a national, bimonthly, probability-based survey. Data collection was conducted from October 4-October 7, 2024, among a sample of 1,004 respondents.

The survey was conducted online (n=974) and telephone (n=30) and was administered in English. The margin of error for the overall respondents is +/- 3.5 percentage points at the 95% level. All data in the SSRS Opinion Panel Omnibus is averaged to represent the population of US adults age 18 or older.

Prince and Princess Michael of Kent’s daughter, Lady Gabriella Kingston, said her husband died after deciding on an ’emergency operation’ to take his own life after suffering adverse effects from the treatment he was given.

Thomas Kingston, 45, died of a gunshot wound to the head at his beloved parents’ home Cotswolds on 25 February.

Rachel married Queen Gabriella at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, in 2019 with the Queen and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh among the guests.

At an inquest into her death held at Gloucestershire Coroner’s Court on Tuesday, Lady Gabriella, 43, said people needed to be warned about the effects of drugs used to treat mental health conditions or more people could die.

In a statement read by senior detective Katy Skerrett, Miss Gabriella said: “(The job) has been challenging for her for many years, but I strongly doubt that it would have led to her taking her own life, and it seemed to and weight.improved.

‘If there was something that was bothering him, I’m sure he would have said that he was struggling a lot.

‘The fact that he took his own life in the home of his beloved parents suggests that the decision was the result of sudden impulse.’

He said he believed her death “may have been precipitated” by an adverse reaction to medication she had started, and then stopped, weeks before her death.

Thomas Kingston (left) died of a gunshot wound to the head, a pathologist found

Mr Kingston (pictured), the husband of Lady Gabriella Windsor, took his own life after an adverse reaction to the medication he was prescribed, an inquest heard.

Mr Kingston watched the race with Queen Camilla from the Royal Box at Ascot in June 2023.

He was initially prescribed Sertraline – an anti-depressant – and Zopiclone, a sleeping pill, by a GP at the Royal Mews Surgery – a practice used by royal staff – after complaining of difficulty sleeping after of stress at work.

Mr Kingston complained that this did not make him feel better and his doctor switched him from Sertraline to Citalopram, a serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) used as an anti-depressant. .

‘The lack of any evidence of propensity seems to me very likely that he had a bad reaction to the pills that caused him to kill himself,’ Lady Gabriella said.

‘I believe that anyone taking pills like these should be warned about the side effects to prevent future deaths.

‘If this can happen to Tom, it can happen to anyone.’

In the first days of his death, Mr. Kingston had stopped taking medication, and toxicology tests showed caffeine and a small amount of zopiclone in his system.

In his final weeks, Ms Gabriella said, her husband “seemed normal”, except the morning after he first took zopiclone, which she said made him seem ” want to faint”.

In her statement, she described their marriage as one of ‘deep love and trust’ and said she had never expressed suicidal thoughts to herself or others.

He also said he was deeply affected by his friend’s suicide and “the negative impact it had on other people’s loved ones”.

Miss Gabriella cried as she sat in the court of inquiry when her statement was read.

The couple are pictured here at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in July 2019

Lady Gabriella and Thomas Kingston had official photos taken on their wedding day – here with the Queen and Prince Philip sitting to their right.

Thomas Kingston and court side Lady Gabriella Kingston on day two of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships last year

Mr. Kingston’s father, William Martin Kingston, wept as he described finding his son in the locked bathroom of the annexe, having used a doorknob to break the door.

He told the court that his son has always had a strong, unstable character, as he previously suffered from pain that left him needing help to climb the stairs.

Mr Kingston added that before his son’s death there did not appear to be a suicide investigation, and there was no will or note, describing the process as ‘very active and it was just ‘out of character’.

Closing the story, Ms Skerrett, Gloucestershire’s chief constable, said: ‘Mr Kingston took his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

‘The evidence of his wife, his family and his business partner all support the lack of intent to kill himself. He was having bad side effects from the medication he had just been given.’

Dr David Healy, a psychiatrist who gave evidence at the hearing, said zopiclone could also cause anxiety, while sertraline and citalopram were both serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), and while exactly the same.

Dr Healy said Mr Kingston’s complaints that sertraline continued to bother him was a sign SSRIs were ‘not working for him’, and he should not have been prescribed the same thing again.

He said the guidelines and labels for SSRIs were not clear enough about using the drug first, or what the effect would be when switching from one to another.

He said: ‘We need a clearer statement that these drugs can cause people to kill themselves who otherwise wouldn’t.

Speaking to the doctor, Martin Porter, the family’s adviser, said: ‘The family is not to blame (her doctor) Dr Naunton Morgan, he worked like a good doctor.

‘But the question is whether there is enough advice to doctors about SSRIs.’

Queen Camilla, King Charles III, Lady Gabriella Windsor and Thomas Kingston watch the Royal Box Race as they attend day 5 of Royal Ascot 2023.

Miss Gabriella paid tribute to her husband in a joint statement with his family after his death, describing him as ‘a special man who brightened the lives of all who knew him’.

They described his death as ‘a huge shock to the whole family’.

The King and Queen sent their ‘heartfelt thoughts and prayers’ to Miss Gabriella, known as Ella, and Mr Kingston’s parents and siblings.

Mr Kingston was buried in a private service on March 12.

Around 140 friends and family, including Prince William, Queen Gabriella’s parents Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, and Princess Alexandra, gathered at the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace in London for the funeral.

Lady Gabriella is King’s second cousin. Both are great-grandsons of King George V.

Mr. Kingston was a director of Devonport Capital, which specializes in providing financing for companies in the economic market.

The University of Bristol graduate had also worked in Baghdad, Iraq, to ​​secure the release of hostages after joining the Foreign Office embassy.

When an inquest opened in March, Gloucestershire chief constable Katy Skerrett said Mr Kingston’s body was found in an outhouse at his parents’ home.

Mofekotsana said that Mr. Kingston was visiting his parents, and after lunch, his father went out to walk the dogs.

‘When he came back, Mr Kingston was not in the house’, he said, and after about 30 minutes his mother went to look for him.

‘His father forced his way into the locked building when no answer could be found.’

For free, confidential support, call Samaritans on 116 123, visit samaritans.org or visit www.thecalmzone.net/get-support.

Donald Trump’s decision to nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. leading the Department of Health and Human Services is a daunting choice, given Kennedy’s controversial medical views and history of making misleading and often inaccurate statements about health issues. To make matters worse, the president-elect chose to surround RFK Jr. with a series of conspiracy theorists and equally inept people.

However, one of the news about Kennedy’s plans as HHS secretary gives liberals a glimmer of hope. Reports indicate that Kennedy is considering efforts to change the Medicare payment system. Currently, Medicare’s coding system favors surgery and specialty care over primary care and prevention. Private insurers often base compensation levels from this formula, too.

As Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research notes, “This is a big part of the story of why we pay our doctors so much more than doctors in other countries.” other riches.”

Calley Means, Kennedy’s top adviser, recently wrote in X that the Medicare payment codes “implement a system that represents sick Americans and profits.” Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Super PAC, which seeks to run his campaign, says it aims to support “policies that promote preventive health care.”

The US health care system is riddled with policy scams that pile up costs for patients and taxpayers, generate huge profits for corporate interests or a privileged few, and produce negative outcomes. especially for health. There are many such frauds that HHS, and the agencies it oversees, could lead to — if Republican policy hands don’t get their way, and if Trump’s health care administration, including RFK Jr., undisturbed by pseudoscientific science.

So far, conservative think tanks and Trump allies have telegraphed plans to advance private health interests.

In recent years, conservatives have developed two competing policy programs. One was the infamous 2025 project, led by the Heritage Foundation. One was at the America First Policy Center, a think tank assisted by top Trump allies such as Linda McMahon and Brooke Rollins, both of whom were appointed to serve in the presidential candidate’s Cabinet. .

Both Project 2025 and AFPI plan to fully privatize Medicare, the government’s health insurance program for seniors and people with disabilities, and to do so quickly. The 2025 plan includes a plan to “make Medicare Advantage an enrollment option” for newly eligible beneficiaries. AFPI says it will “allow Medicare to enroll new beneficiaries in Medicare Advantage instead of traditional Medicare, with clear information about the two options for all new enrollees.”

Most Americans who qualify for Medicare are already in private Medicare Advantage plans — a change that was accelerated by the first Trump administration — but Project 2025 and AFPI’s plans would mean an early end to the program. traditional Medicare, and its basic premise: seniors can go to any doctor or provider they choose.

Their proposals would be a great help for health insurers – who generate huge profits and increasing portions of their income from the Medicare Advantage program – and strengthen the control of company over the American health system.

Health insurers and their regulators are publicly expressing their excitement about the incoming Trump administration. After Trump’s victory last month, the Better Medicare Alliance, an advocacy group for Medicare Advantage plans, said in a statement: “President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance understand that protecting Medicare is what’s next.” before seniors, including Medicare.”

And insurers are even more excited by Trump’s selection of TV personality Mehmet Oz to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, an agency overseen by HHS. Oz once proposed putting “every non-Medicaid American” in private Medicare Advantage plans — an idea he dubbed “Medicare Advantage for All.” Oz also created Medicare Advantage plans in his program, the Dr. The Oz Show.

The Better Medicare Alliance said that Oz “recognizes the importance of Medicare Advantage,” adding: “We look forward to working with Dr. Oz to protect and strengthen this important program for seniors.”

Republicans are also pushing to stop the Biden administration’s program to have Medicare pay the negotiated prices of some drugs for the first time. Project 2025 said the Biden administration’s “government price controls will reduce access to medicines and reduce patient access to new medicines,” and added: “This ‘dialogue’ program should be canceled.”

A majority of House Republican lawmakers have signed a budget plan this year that similarly commits to repealing the Democrats’ Medicare drug program, calling it a “socialist price control that will reduce access to life-saving drugs.”

Almost all other countries negotiate drug prices. Congress’s decision to prevent Medicare from negotiating drug prices two decades ago is a big reason why Americans pay so much more for the same treatment than people in other wealthy countries, even The US government supports the research and development of almost all drugs that are approved for use. sales.

When he first ran for president, Trump pledged to negotiate drug prices “like crazy,” but failed to follow through.

In September, after endorsing Trump, Kennedy bluntly urged him to “play Americans internationally at the expense of drugs.”

“Today in Germany, Ozempic costs less than a tenth of what it does in the US because while Berlin is negotiating prices for the benefit of all Germans, Washington will not do the same,” Kennedy wrote in the op -ed. “Legislators should lower drug prices so companies don’t charge Americans more than Europeans pay.”

There, Kennedy realizes a fundamental truth that Republican politicians and policymakers ignore.

On the other hand, he and several other incoming Trump health officials tend to spread junk science about pharmaceutical products. It’s easy to see Kennedy and co. wasting time and fighting political battles that don’t matter – or that could endanger society.

Kennedy falsely claimed that vaccines could be linked to autism and suggested that antidepressants could be to blame for mass shootings. He called the Covid-19 vaccines “the deadliest vaccine ever made,” and said they could be used to microchip people to track them.

There is no evidence for such claims. Indeed, the Covid vaccines – which rely on government-backed technology, and have benefited from support from Trump’s Operation Warp Speed ​​- have been a huge success.

However, even though the US government has invested heavily in Covid vaccines, America has ended up paying more for these products than other countries. Someone without insurance can pay more than $200 for the jab.

This is a real pharma scam. It’s one that the next administration could eliminate, if Trump and RFK Jr. they want.

Will they choose that important – or fake, battle instead?