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Imagine being held up at gunpoint. Do you trust you could remember the perpetrator’s face? The gun? Or would you have a better recollection of how loud the birds were chirping at that moment? “The memory does not operate like a videotape machine faithfully recording every single detail,” said Richard J. McNally, a professor of psychology at Harvard University and the author of “Remembering Trauma.” “The thing that is happening is that you’re focusing on the most dangerous thing,” he said. “That is the function of fear: to alert you to imminent threats.” (Garcia, 1/6)

Mental health advocates are lobbying Congress to help them get schizophrenia classified as a brain disease like Parkinson’s or Alzheimers, instead of as a mental illness, a move that could reduce stigma and lead to more dollars for a cure. Federal health officials, scientists and doctors say conditions that cause psychosis, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, are poorly understood and, in the public mind, often associated with violent behavior. Patients are more likely to be homeless, incarcerated, commit suicide and die younger than those with any other neurological diseases. (Ehley, 1/5)

He was a retired factory worker, living with his wife outside a small town in Wales, in the United Kingdom. Once outgoing and sociable, engaged in local activities including a community choir, he’d been jolted by a diagnosis of early dementia. A few months later, at 70, he wouldn’t leave the house alone, fearful that if he needed help, he couldn’t manage to use a cellphone to call his wife. He avoided household chores he’d previously undertaken, such as doing laundry. When his frustrated wife tried to show him how to use the washer, he couldn’t remember her instructions. (Span, 1/4)

In the 1950s, the health interventions we may consider routine were still revolutionary. Antibiotics had only recently become available, and chemotherapy was still new. Even the ideas that children had distinct personalities and that child development was worth studying were novel. And in those days of the Cold War, midcentury Americans had to wonder: was it possible for the communist world to brainwash them? (Blakemore, 1/5)

Many more Americans say they have a food allergy than actually have one. Researchers surveyed 40,000 adults about food allergies, carefully eliciting details about which foods produced the allergies and what specific symptoms they had. (Bakalar, 1/4)

In 2018, the WSJ Experts wrote about some of the ways people can age in better health and with more financial security than ever before. Below are five of the most-popular Experts blog posts about aging well from 2018. And you can read what they had to say throughout the year here. (1/4)

Programs like those offered at the Comprehensive Cancer Center, which includes the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital, seek to encourage people to pile plates with plant foods — everything from cauliflower and peaches to quinoa, lentils and nuts. Some steer patients toward plant-heavy meal plans; others say the way to go is to exclusively eat foods that grow from the ground. (Viviano, 1/6)

A good topic to start the New Year. Figuring out just what illnesses you should be poked and prodded for, and when, is one of the most important ways you can take care of yourself. Unfortunately, many of us probably know more about the tests and shots our pets need than the ones we need. Example: Men and women who are at average risk for colon cancer should first be screened at age 45, according to the American Cancer Society. But only 58% of Americans age 50 to 64 have been tested. (Ruffenach, 1/6)

During Carrie Wells’s first OB/GYN visit after learning she was pregnant this summer, the 30-year-old was surprised when her doctor suggested a blood test that could detect her baby’s risk of Down syndrome and other chromosomal abnormalities as early as 10 weeks. At her age, she hadn’t been worried about conceiving a child with a genetic disorder. Wells’s obstetrician/gynecologist explained that the test, called a “cell-free DNA” screen, analyzes the fetal genetic information that travels from the mother’s placenta and poses no risk to the baby. The doctor had been routinely prescribing it for her patients who were older and higher risk, now she was prescribing it to younger women, as well. (Richards, 1/5)

It's that time of year again. You wake up with a scratchy throat, stuffy nose, a little achy — maybe a fever. Is it a classic head cold, or do you need to be more concerned? Could it be the flu? "There's lots of confusion out there, because both are viral respiratory illnesses," says Dr. Yul Ejnes, an internal medicine specialist in private practice in Rhode Island and spokesperson for the American College of Physicians. "No one likes to get a cold, but people are more fearful of the flu." (Neighmond, 1/6)

In the ledger of evils perpetrated by humans, Operation Reinhard holds a distinct place. Over 21 months starting in March 1942, Nazi forces and their collaborators rounded up 1.7 million Jews from 393 Polish towns and ghettos and dispatched them in tightly packed rail cars to three camps in German-occupied Poland — Sobibor, Treblinka and Belzec. At these three killing centers, members of Poland’s once-thriving Jewish community were murdered with such efficiency and ruthlessness that, of roughly 1.5 million Jews who passed through their gates, a mere 102 would survive to bear witness. By November 1943, when Operation Reinhard ended, essentially no Polish Jews were left for the Germans to kill. (Healy, 1/5)

Whether they are trying to keep their 34-year-old playmaker Jose Juan Barea spry or aiming to help their 19-year-old phenom Luka Doncic dodge the infamous rookie wall, the Dallas Mavericks turn to the same resource: A blood test. It is not just any blood test. The Mavericks import frequent testing from the Irish company Orreco, which is in its third season making personalized recommendations for Mavericks players regarding athletic workloads and diets, largely through the study of blood analysis. (Stein, 1/7)

After a busy stretch of work this fall, I found myself with both a sense of accomplishment and an unexpected problem: pain in my hand that made me wince every time I typed an ‘O’ or ‘L.’ I’m a veteran of muscle soreness and joint damage from a lifetime of sports. But an injury from sitting at my computer? It seemed so boring. (Sohn, 1/6)