Heart disease is often linked to high cholesterol, obesity, or lack of exercise. However, there is mounting evidence that suggests that mental health plays a crucial role in cardiovascular well-being. Stress, anxiety, and depression can silently strain the heart, increasing the risk of serious complications.

A recent study, published in Nature Human Behaviour, showed that loneliness has a significant impact on proteins present in a person's blood. For the study, researchers used data from more than 42,000 participants to explore whether the 9.3% who reported social isolation and 6.4% who reported loneliness had different levels of proteins in their blood compared with those who did not. The researchers then studied data that tracked the health of participants over an average 14-year period.

"We found around 90% of these proteins are linked to the risk of mortality," Dr Chun Shen, Fudan University in China, who is also the lead researcher said. "In addition, about 50% of the proteins were linked to cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke," he added.

Dr Shrey Kumar Srivastav, senior consultant at Sharda Hospital, said that subtle symptoms of heart disease, such as fatigue, shortness of breath, swelling in the lower legs, dizziness, and jaw pain, are often overlooked or attributed to stress and ageing. "Women, in particular, may experience atypical signs like extreme fatigue, indigestion, or upper abdominal pain instead of classic chest pain, leading to delayed diagnosis," he added.

Can Mental Health Issues Trigger Heart Diseases?

Chronic stress can trigger harmful cardiovascular effects, including elevated blood pressure, increased heart rate, and inflammation—key contributors to heart disease. Anxiety and depression further impact heart health by disrupting sleep patterns, raising stress hormone levels, and encouraging unhealthy habits like poor diet and inactivity.

Mental health issues like depression and anxiety have a profound impact on the heart. They don’t just affect emotions but can increase inflammation and put extra strain on the cardiovascular system, warns Dr Srivastav.

Certain risk factors, such as obesity and diabetes, disproportionately affect women, making them more vulnerable to heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). However, due to gender-specific symptom variations, heart disease in women often goes undiagnosed for longer.

Obesity is more prevalent in women than men and is a major risk factor for heart failure. Diabetes, too, has a greater impact on women’s heart health, yet diagnosis and treatment delays are common. Addressing this gap requires increasing awareness, training healthcare providers, and promoting early diagnostic tools,” explains Dr Srivastav.

How Can You Protect Your Heart?

A simple yet effective way to support heart health is by committing to a brisk 30-minute walk daily. Walking not only helps regulate blood pressure and manage weight but also improves circulation and reduces stress.

"Regular physical activity, paired with a heart-healthy diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins, significantly lowers cardiovascular risks," advises Dr Srivastav.

Heart disease can often go undetected until a major event occurs, making routine screenings essential.

- For women: Begin screenings around age 30 and continue with regular checkups.

- For men: Start screenings at age 35.

Health screenings, including blood pressure checks, cholesterol tests, and electrocardiograms (ECGs), are critical for early detection of silent heart conditions.

Diabetes isn't just costing Indians their lifelong savings, it's also costing the country INT11.4 trillion.

According to a Nature Medicine study, India faces the second highest economic burden due to this chronic condition. Only the United States ranks higher, with costs touching INT 16.5 trillion, while China comes in third at INT 11 trillion.

While excluding informal care provided by family members, the global costs comes around INT 10 trillion which is about 0.2 per cent of the world’s annual gross domestic product (GDP).

However, if informal care is factored in, costs goes up to INT152 trillion or 1.7 per cent of the world’s yearly GDP, as per the study. (An international dollar, or INT$, is a statistical unit that has the same purchasing power as a US dollar).

The scientists estimated that the economic impact of diabetes was much more than Alzheimer’s disease or cancer in the top three countries.

The Diabetes Crisis In India

Diabetes is a chronic condition affecting several aspects of physical and mental health. It occurs when either the body can’t make enough insulin or can’t use it effectively, which impairs several functions.

Often referred to as the 'Diabetes capital of the world', over 100 million people across India suffer from the chronic condition while another 136 million are living with prediabetes.

According to Pharmeasy 2025 Diabetes Report, one in two people show high blood sugar levels when tested and over 90 percent of reports with high blood sugar also showed abnormality in one or the other parameters for liver, lipid, heart or thyroid issues.

Also known as a 'Silent Killer', diabetes can develop and progress quietly in the body, often without clear or early symptoms. Multiple studies show that over 50 percent of people with diabetes in India are undiagnosed or unaware of their condition.

When left undiagnosed and untreated, diabetes can cause severe complications across the body including heart disease, kidney damage or vision loss. These complications disproportionately affect vulnerable parts of the population, especially those in rural areas without access to proper testing and treatment.

Despite the growing economic burden, India faces systemic challenges in addressing diabetes, including inadequate healthcare infrastructure, low public awareness and fragmented policy responses.

What Did The Study Find?

They evaluated costs based on medical expenses, productivity losses and caregiving.

While the burden in the US is largely due to high treatment costs and loss of physical capital, the high costs are mainly driven by the sheer number of people affected in India and China, the researchers said.

Author Klaus Prettner, professor of macroeconomics and digitalization at the Vienna University of Economics and Business noted of the results: "Caregivers often drop out of the labor market, at least partially, which creates additional economic costs."

"This is a stark illustration of how medical treatment regimes for chronic diseases such as diabetes are accessible to high income countries only," co-author Michael Kuhn, acting economic frontiers research group leader at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, added.

Based on the results, the scientists said promoting healthier lifestyle, regular physical activity and a balanced diet is the most effective way to prevent diabetes and reduce its economic impact in each country in the long run.

Colleen Hoover, the best-selling author of 'Regretting You' and 'Verity', has revealed that she has undergone treatment for cancer.

On January 12, Hoover announced via her Instagram Stories that she has one more day of radiation left at Texas Oncology.

"Second to last day of radiation," she captioned the post on her Instagram Stories. "I wish I could blame my hair and facial expressions on @Texas.Oncology, but they've been great. Hope you never need them, but highly recommend them."

In December 2025, the 46-year-old writer wrote on her Facebook page that she had been diagnosed with cancer and had undergone surgery. The film producer also noted that she would only need radiation, but not chemotherapy as a treatment plan.

Hoover said she had been in Canada filming Reminds of Him when she noticed she “had recurring health issues that I continued to put off until the movie was finished" and a check-up revealed that she had developed cancer.

What Kind Of Cancer Does She Have?

While she is yet to reveal which kind of cancer she is receiving treatment for, Hoover has confirmed it was not caused by family genes, HPV or excessive hormones.

In a Facebook post from January 9, she noted that the reason for her illness is 'more than likely' to be environmental/lifestyle, which can be credited to a lack of exercise, poor diet and stress.

"I’m happy and grateful to be alive but I hate vegetables. I hate when I have to get off the couch. I hate sweating. I hate when science is right. If you see me at the gym, don’t even tell me good job. If you see me at a restaurant eating grilled chicken and drinking water, I’m probably real mad about it," she wrote in a heartfelt moment.

Why Has Hoover Been Missing From Public Eye?

Hoover's health updates and cancer treatment come amid a series of cancelled public events. In October 2025, she announced she would not attend the premiere of Regretting You, her latest movie adaptation.

In a sentimental Instagram post, she told her fans: "I’m super bummed, but am having an unavoidable surgery and can’t travel for a while,” Hoover wrote in her Instagram post at the time. I’ll live vicariously through you guys. So sad to miss this movie release and premiere, but so grateful to all the actors and the team who put this together.”

Woman Down is Hoover’s next book release set for January 13. However, the author has had to tell fans that a book-signing tour has not been set up yet and she will not be meeting with the public for now.

“I wanted to make this post and be transparent about why that is. I’m not saying I won’t be up to doing at least one signing, but I just won’t know until I know," she said.

Meanwhile, throughout 2025, production on her hit novel, Verity, has begun in 2025, with Anne Hathaway and Josh Hartnett, being photographed during scenes last February. Additionally, her third movie adaptation, Reminders of Him, is also set to hit theaters on March 13, 2026.

It remains unknown if she will be attending the premiere for Reminders of Him.

Barbie. A name too familiar for everyone growing up, now Mattel Studio has launched its first autistic Barbie. This is after Greta Gerwig's 2023 blockbuster movie that introduced the concept of diverse characters of Barbie, that Mattel launched its first Barbie with type 1 diabetes. The studio is definite about creating a diverse range of Barbie character, as an animated Barbie film too is in the development.

Why Is The Launch Of Autistic Barbie Important?

Autistic Barbie is the latest addition to Barbie's Fashionistas range, which is designed so more children can "see themselves in Barbie". The Barbie is created in collaboration with the US charity the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. The Barbie is designed to represent the ways autistic children may have experienced, including the way they communicate.

Barbie With Autism: What Are Her Features?

The Barbie's eyes gaze slightly to one side, which could represent how some autistic people avoid direct eye contact. The Barbie also comes with completely bendable elbows and wrists, which enables her repetitive physical movements such as stimming and hand-flapping that help people with autism to process sensory information, or even express excitement.

She also holds a pink fidget spinner on her finger, which helps her reduce her stress, wears noise-cancelling headphones, also in pink, to reduce sensory overload, and carries a pink tablet with symbol-based augmentative and alternative communication buttons on its screen that helps with her everyday communication.

Barbies earlier came in one-size-fit-all, often lacking the diversity and representation, this Barbie, however, wears a loose-fitting purple pinstripe A-line dress. This has minimized fabric to skin contact, and her shoes have flat soles that promotes stability and ease of movements.

Read: Hundreds Of US Children Have Type 1 Diabetes, Now Their Barbie Has It Too

Barbie's Representation Matters

The first Barbie came in 1959, and until 2019, there were no dolls with disabilities. Now, there are Barbies with diabetes, blind dolls, and Barbies with wheelchairs, Down syndrome, prosthetic limb, vitiligo, and hearing aids. There is also a Ken doll with a prosthetic leg, and another one who uses a wheelchair with a ramp, and one with hearing aids.

Jamie Cygielman, the global head of dolls at Mattel while announcing the autistic Barbie said, "Barbie has always strived to reflect the world kids see and the possibilities they imagine, and we’re proud to introduce our first autistic Barbie as part of that ongoing work. The doll helps to expand what inclusion looks like in the toy aisle and beyond because every child deserves to see themselves in Barbie."

She also added: “We engaged with the autistic community throughout the design process, always mindful that autism is experienced differently by every individual and is not always visible. The elements of this doll reflect how some people on the spectrum may experience and express the world, and we hope that by partnering with influential voices within the community, Barbie can continue to showcase a broader range of authentic experiences.”

What Is Autism?

As per the American Psychiatric Association, ASD is a complex developmental condition involving persistent challenges with social communication, restricted interests and repetitive behavior. While autism is considered a lifelong condition, the need for services and supports because of these challenges varies among individuals with autism.

As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated one in 36 children have been identified with ASD.