Health

Diamonds may be formed under intense pressure, but we are flesh and blood, and sometimes pressure can crush us.
Stress. It can result from the day-to-day rush to get out the door in the morning. Deadlines. Workplace pressures. The weather’s impact on crops. Spring calving. Financial worries. Even mindless scrolling through the phone, getting agitated about information we don’t agree with or negative posts.

Daily living can be stressful, but recognizing stress and taking steps to simply breathe can sometimes reduce the long-term effects of stress.

Millions of Americans tuned in to the first “Monday Night Football” broadcast of the year. Two NFL powerhouses, the Cincinnati Bengals and the Buffalo Bills, faced off in a Jan. 2 game the oddsmakers had tipped in the Bills’ favor by two-and-a-half points. According to preliminary ratings, the game was the most-watched “Monday Night Football” telecast in ESPN history with 23.8 million viewers, surpassing a 2009 Packers-Vikings game in which many Upper Midwesterners likely were among the 21.8 million viewers.

It was not the game, however, that drew the massive audience.

A new study on the health and well-being of North Dakotans reports slight improvements in overall health, yet social and economic disparities persist across communities.