Health
Too Sentimental to Declutter? Start Here.
Kim Allen doesn’t like clutter. But when it comes to some of her most sentimental items, she finds it hard to let go.
Near the top of the list is a ceramic creature that her daughter made years ago. It has one eye, a lolling tongue and a crop of blue hair. She displays it in a prominent place near her bathroom sink because it always makes her smile.
But there are other keepsakes that don’t bring the same kind of joy — such as memorabilia and artwork handed down from her relatives — that are only taking up space, physically and emotionally.
“Hopefully I will be retiring at age 67,” said Ms. Allen, who is 52 and lives in Sherrill, N.Y. “Do I really want to deal with all of this excess stuff then? No, I want to be having fun with my friends and family, enjoying the life I worked so hard to build.”
And yet for a long time, Ms. Allen felt uneasy about discarding the family heirlooms.
Sentimental items are among the hardest belongings to part with. The mementos can feel intertwined in our identity, particularly if they once provided us comfort or belonged to a loved one. Getting rid of them can signal that certain chapters of our lives have closed, said Selena Jones, a grief and trauma therapist in Ontario who coaches older adults in the art of decluttering.
“People get caught up in the fear that if they let something go that is sentimental, that they will forget the memory,” she said. But our memories live inside us, she added, not in our things.
If you’re looking to pare down some of your most meaningful items, here are gentle ways to get started from decluttering experts.
Build Your Decluttering ‘Muscle’
To kick off the process, reflect on why you want to declutter in the first place, said Dr. Carolyn Rodriguez, an expert in hoarding disorder and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford Medicine.
The “why” will serve as your motivation. For example, maybe you want to avoid leaving behind a slew of items for your children to sort through after you’ve died. Maybe you simply want a room or space to be more functional.
For Lee Shuer, 50, who lives with symptoms of hoarding disorder, making the choice to trim back his sentimental items was an enormous challenge at first.
His drive to collect things began in childhood. When he got his own space, stuff filled his home in Northampton, Mass., spilling onto the porch and choking the hallways. He eventually realized that he was clinging to things that reminded him of people, places and experiences from his past.
“I wanted to make room for my future,” Mr. Shuer said. He envisioned having a space that would be welcoming for friends, family and, eventually, a romantic partner. Now, he helps people declutter their homes, and leads workshops, which he helped develop, for those with hoarding disorder.
Once your motivation becomes clear, Dr. Rodriguez advises tackling the low-hanging fruit: the common areas that you use every day.
By focusing on decluttering the living room and the bathroom, for example, your efforts will be immediately visible and rewarding, Dr. Rodriguez said.
Then work your way up to the items that feel the toughest to discard.
Prioritize the Items That ‘Amplify Joy’
After his mother died, Joshua Fields Millburn, a host of the podcast “The Minimalists,” learned that the fewer sentimental items he had, the more value he got out of them.
“Because if everything’s sentimental, then nothing’s sentimental,” he said.
So rather than putting everything in a “clutter mausoleum,” he said, choose the few things that amplify your joy and consider displaying them, he advised.
Also ask yourself whether you would pay money for any given item again. If not, that’s a sign you should let it go, Mr. Millburn said. If you think you might want to look at it again, consider taking a picture and storing it in the cloud or a special folder in your computer.
Ms. Allen, who has managed to whittle down some of her more sentimental items, faced a tougher challenge when considering her deceased relatives’ hand-me-downs — but eventually she had to admit that she and her daughter didn’t want them.
At first, this made her feel guilty.
Emotions like this “keep us stuck, and it can lead to procrastination,” she said.
Do a Little at a Time, but Do It Consistently
To avoid becoming overwhelmed, Ms. Jones suggested making your task as small as possible. You might pick one room; one type of item, like a big stack of paper; or a pocket of time, such as every Saturday at 3 p.m. Then stick with it. Even if you only spend 10 minutes at a time decluttering, you’ll see progress.
Susan Litt, 49, in Richmond, Va., is continually sorting through the artwork that accumulated from her two children. “You can’t have 10 bins of things for your kids,” she said. “It’s overwhelming.”
Now that her children are teenagers, she asks for their input on what holds meaning and what can go. She also avoids trying to sort everything in one sitting — “that’s too drastic for me,” she said. Instead, she’ll return to the same pile of things in a few months.
Try These Decision-Making Techniques
If you’re not sure where to start, Dr. Rodriguez suggested, pick up an item and ask yourself two questions: 1) What comes to mind when you hold this item? 2) What if you got rid of it?
It’s often helpful to share your answers with a friend or family member, Dr. Rodriguez added. Simply talking about the item and the time period that it represents can sometimes help people let go, she added.
You can also ask a friend or neighbor to hold onto something you are considering parting with for a week, Mr. Shuer suggested. Then see how you feel when the week is up. Was it as difficult as you anticipated?
Steve Wobrak, 67, of Latrobe, Pa., said this strategy helped him to finally give away one of his daughter’s many elephant figurines — years after she died.
“I got some tears out,” he said. Parting with one sentimental item made getting rid of others a bit easier. He soon realized that the memories didn’t disappear, even if the items did.
“It’s OK to have emotional attachments,” Dr. Rodriguez said. “You just can’t keep all of the things.”
Health
‘Weight Loss Has Never Been About Calories’: How This Low-Insulin Diet Helped Lillie, 58, Drop 70 Lbs!
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Big moves are continuing in the weight loss landscape in the new year following breakthrough research of GLP-1 medications and other methods.
Weight-loss experts spoke with Fox News Digital about their predictions for the most major changes to come in 2026.
No. 1: Shift to whole-body treatment
Dr. Peter Balazs, a hormone and weight loss specialist in New York and New Jersey, shared that the most important shift is likely to label GLP-1 drugs as “multi-system metabolic modulators” rather than “simple weight loss drugs.”
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“The treatment goal is no longer just BMI reduction, but total cardiometabolic risk mitigation, with effects now documented across the liver, heart, kidneys and vasculature,” he said.
“We are seeing a significant reduction in major adverse cardiovascular events … and progression of renal disease,” he went on.
The focus of GLP-1 drugs will widen beyond weight loss and diabetes, according to experts’ predictions. (iStock)
Philip Rabito, M.D., a specialist in endocrinology, weight loss and wellness in New York City, also shared that “exciting” advancements lie ahead for weight-loss drugs, including GLP-1s and GIPs.
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“These next‑generation agents, along with novel combinations that include glucagon and amylin agonists, are demonstrating even more impressive weight‑loss outcomes than currently available therapies, with the potential for better tolerability and sustained results,” he told Fox News Digital.
“There is also tremendous optimism around new federal agreements with manufacturers that aim to make these medications more widely accessible and affordable for the broad population of patients who need them most.”
No. 2: More convenient dosing
The typical prescription for a GLP-1 medication is a weekly injection, but delivery and dosing may be changing to more convenient methods in 2026, according to Balazs.
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A daily 25 mg pill version of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, a semaglutide designed to treat obesity, is now approved and available for chronic weight management, offering a non-injectable option for some patients.
A once-weekly oral GLP-1 is currently in phase 2 trials, as well as an implant that aims for three to six months of drug delivery, Balazs noted.
Incisionless weight-loss procedures will rise as a lower-risk option, according to experts. (iStock)
No. 3: Less invasive surgery
In addition to decreased risk during surgery for GLP-1 users, Balazs also predicted that metabolic surgery without incision will rise as a better option.
“Incisionless endoscopic procedures — like endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (non-surgical weight-loss procedure that makes the stomach smaller from the inside) and duodenal mucosal resurfacing (non-surgical procedure that resets part of the small intestine to help the body better handle blood sugar) — [may become] more durable and widely available,” he said.
TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ
“These offer significant metabolic benefits with shorter recovery and lower risk than traditional surgery.”
Rabito agreed that “rapid progress” in minimally invasive weight‑loss procedures is “opening powerful new options for patients who are hesitant to pursue traditional bariatric surgery.”
Bariatric surgery remains the most effective weight loss method, one specialist says. (iStock)
This avenue offers “meaningful and durable weight reduction with less risk, shorter recovery times and no external incisions,” the expert added.
Dr. Muhammad Ghanem, bariatric surgeon at the Orlando Health Weight Loss & Bariatric Surgery Institute, reiterated that surgery remains “the most successful modality for the treatment of obesity … with the highest weight loss and most durable outcomes as of yet.”
No. 4: Younger GLP-1 users
As Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy has been indicated for adolescents over 12 years old as an obesity treatment, Balazs commented that pediatric use of weight-loss drugs is “now a clinical reality.”
He predicted that other alternatives are likely to be approved in 2026 for younger users.
No. 5: High-tech, personalized access
Amid the growth of artificial intelligence, Balazs predicted an expansion in the clinical implementation of AI-driven weight-loss methods.
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This could include categorizing obesity into sub-types like “hungry brain,” “emotional hunger” and “slow burn” to personalize how therapy is prescribed while moving away from “trial and error,” he said.
Ghanem agreed that there will likely be a “big focus” on individualized testing for causes of obesity in 2026, as it’s a disease that can have “different causes in different people,” thus requiring different treatments.
AI and other digital opportunities will drive more access for weight-loss patients, experts say. (iStock)
The doctor anticipates that more patients will seek combinations of comprehensive treatments and programs.
“Patients are more aware that now we have a few weapons in our arsenal to combat obesity, and [they] are seeking a multidisciplinary and holistic approach,” Ghanem said.
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Treatment options will also turn digital with the rise of prescription digital therapeutics (PDTs) for weight loss, Balazs predicted.
“These are software applications delivering cognitive behavioral therapy, personalized nutrition and metabolic coaching through algorithms, often integrated with continuous glucose monitors, and reimbursed as medical treatments,” he said.
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Ghanem added that body composition analyzers, like DEXA scans, will likely be more widely used as awareness grows about the limitations of BMI and weight in assessing obesity.
Congratulations, you’ve reached the final day of the Brain Health Challenge! Today, we’re asking you to do a few things that might feel a bit out of left field — like getting your blood pressure checked.
No, it isn’t as fun as playing Pips, but experts say it’s one of the most important things you can do for your brain. That’s because heart health and brain health are intrinsically linked.
High blood pressure, in particular, can damage brain cells, and it’s a significant risk factor for stroke and dementia. When blood pressure is too high, it places stress on the walls of arteries in the brain. Over time, that added stress can cause the blood vessel walls to thicken, obstructing blood flow. In other cases, the increased pressure causes the artery walls to thin and leak blood into the brain.
These changes to the blood vessels can sometimes cause a large stroke to occur. More commonly, the damage leads to micro-strokes and micro-hemorrhages, which cause fewer immediate problems and often go unnoticed. But if someone has hypertension for years or decades, these injuries can build up, and the person may start to experience cognitive impairment.
High blood pressure “is known as a silent killer for lots of reasons,” said Dr. Shyam Prabhakaran, the chair of neurology at the University of Chicago. “It doesn’t cause you any symptoms until it does.”
Because the damage accumulates over many years, experts say that managing blood pressure in midlife matters most for brain health. Hypertension can be addressed with medication or lifestyle changes, as directed by your doctor. But the first thing you need to do is know your numbers. If your blood pressure comes back higher than 120/80, it’s important to take it seriously, Dr. Prabhakaran said.
While you’re at it, there are a few other aspects of your physical health that you should check on.
Your eyes and ears are two of them. Hearing and vision loss have both been shown to increase the risk of dementia. Experts think that with less sensory information coming in to stimulate the brain, the regions that process hearing and vision can start to atrophy. What’s more, people with sensory loss often withdraw or are left out of social interactions, further depriving them of cognitive stimulation.
Oral health can also affect your brain health. Research has found a connection between regular flossing and reduced odds of having a stroke. That may be because good oral health can help to reduce inflammation in the body. The bacteria that cause gum disease have also been tied to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s.
And have you gotten your shingles vaccine? There is mounting evidence that it’s a powerful weapon for protecting against dementia. One study found that it lowered people’s odds of developing the condition by as much as 20 percent.
To wrap up this challenge, we want you to schedule a few medical appointments that benefit your brain, as well as your body.
After five days of feeding, exercising and challenging your brain, you are well on your way to better cognitive health. Thanks for joining me this week, and keep up the good habits!
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