Lifting weights has become very fashionable in the world of sports. If a few years ago running became the trend of the moment, now more and more people are signing up for the gym to do strength training. However, unlike aerobic training, which is known to have good consequences for health, until now there was little evidence of the benefits of lifting weights. But that has just changed: a new study has shown that doing moderate strength training, between 90 and 120 minutes a week, reduces mortality.

Lola Casademunt, one of the benchmark Catalan fashion brands, celebrated its 45th anniversary this Wednesday with a fashion show at Barcelona's Llotja de Mar, where it presented the spring-summer 2027 collection, a proposal greatly inspired by the city's spirit. "La Joya [collection name] aims to pay homage to Barcelona, the city that is part of our DNA and has inspired us for 45 years. The architecture, the light, the colors, and this unique blend of tradition, art, and modernity have guided the entire collection," explains Maite Casademunt, president and creative director of Lola Casademunt.

Imagine for a moment that you are in a room and you close the window because it is cold. You leave for a few minutes to get something and, when you return, the window is open again. Surprised, you tell your partner what just happened to you and they tell you that you are not well in the head, that you are making it up and that it has always been open. And now imagine that not only have they called you crazy, but that the one who actually opened the window while you were out was your partner.This manipulation technique is called gaslighting and was powerfully depicted in George Cukor's film Gaslight in 1944. In the film, a man manipulates his wife and makes her believe she is going crazy because she claims the gaslights in the house are dimming for no reason, unaware that he is behind this mystery. "He denies doing it to create doubt and terror in the woman's mind and, literally, to extinguish her reason," explains philosopher Hélène Frappat in Gaslight, or the Art of Silencing Women (Paidós, 2025). In this book, the author analyzes the history of this phenomenon, which she claims has transcended the boundary of personal relationships to reach historical revisionism itself. But, above all, she focuses on how gaslighting is a form of physical and psychological abuse towards women. A concept that, as early as the fifties, became a psychological category in the United States: "It is defined as a maneuver intended to manipulate someone into doubting their perceptions, experiences, or understanding of events," explains Frappat.The concept of gaslighting appeared shortly before Betty Friedan wrote her famous 1963 book The Feminine Mystique, in which she spoke of the "nameless" malaise that housewives living in the suburbs of the United States had. According to Friedan, this "mystique" was based on modeling the lives of these women according to an image that transformed them into "puppets". "The mystified woman comes to doubt her personality, her intelligence and her existence as an adult human being", explains Frappat.Psychological trap

For her part, North American researcher Jennifer Freyd analyzed the roles of the victim and the aggressor, and how they come to be exchanged between them during a process of gaslighting. "The aggressor is keen to give the impression that they are being unfairly attacked and that their victim is the real aggressor," she explains. In other words, a double strategy is carried out: "I destroy you, while convincing you that this destruction never existed, except in your sick mind," she qualifies.Suffering a gaslighting situation can be very detrimental to the victim, who can be subjected by their aggressor not only from a psychological point of view, but also sexually, and end up engaging in practices they would not really want to do. Doctor David W. Wahl discusses this in Psychology Todaymagazine, where he explains the case of a study analyzing a couple having sex under the influence of alcohol. Although she, under normal conditions, would not consent to anal sex, he ignored it, taking advantage of her state. The next day, if she complained, he would assure her that, in reality, she was the one who had asked him to do it. In this way, he distorted the victim's reality, making her believe his version and even making her feel guilty for having drunk.Knowing whether one is suffering or has suffered a gaslighting situation is not always easy. At the University of Michigan, there is The Gaslighting Project, where victims are invited to share their experiences to further investigate this process, whether in the context of romantic relationships, family, or even work. Detect danger

Toxic relationships have always existed. Fortunately, we now have many more tools to detect them and escape in time. Silvia Llop talks about all this in her new book Ahí no es, Mari Carmen (Plataforma Editorial, 2025). The psychologist assures that, of all the manipulations that can occur in a couple's relationship, gaslighting is one of the most destructive, because it is not always seen. “You don't always realize you are being manipulated, that the tables are being turned, or that you are being deceived, and then you end up not trusting yourself”, she laments.According to Llop, behind a person who gaslights, all sorts of traumas and emotions that they don't know how to manage can be found. “Most of them learned it at home, where they saw or directly experienced a situation of gaslighting,” she assures. It is possible that they are not even aware that they are practicing this, but it is a tool they have learned when faced with situations or feelings they don't know how to confront. On the other hand, to understand a person suffering from gaslighting, it must be taken into account that, previously, there has been a history that has been gestating. “You don’t see these attitudes on the first date. At first, 95% is magical and perfect and there is a 5% conflict that, over time, will grow larger,” explains the psychologist. In this way, at first you fall in love with a person who appears charming, and it is this that hooks you little by little, without realizing that you are falling into the trap of a toxic relationship. “Since at the beginning they have been such a wonderful person, later, when they get angry or have bad behavior, you excuse them thinking they are having a bad day,” Llop continues.Focus and self-esteem

So, how can we realize that we are entering a destructive spiral with our partner? “We have to learn to separate between feelings and reason: we cannot control the feelings and the attraction that a person generates in us, but there is another more mental part that we can evaluate, such as what kind of relationship they offer us and how they make us feel”, reflects Llop. Some of the questions we could ask ourselves are: What kind of dynamic do they offer us? Some days they make us feel good and others we spend crying? Is this what we want in life?Of course, leaving a toxic relationship where practices like gaslighting are practiced is not easy, but it is not impossible either. According to Llop, before taking any step, you have to start working on your self-esteem. “Do activities that fulfill you, go to therapy, connect with yourself, and don't allow the other person to distance you from all the people you love,” says the expert, who assures that it is very common for the abuser to isolate the victim from their entire environment. Rebuilding self-esteem is basic to being able to realize the abusive situation you are in and to be able to face the aggressor. “When you start focusing on the red flags is when you can start to get out of it,” she continues. Once out, it is important to maintain zero contact with that person to avoid falling back into the relationship, a situation that becomes complicated when children are involved.Even though a toxic relationship may have ended, it can take the victim some time to recover psychologically. For this reason, Llop advises them to undergo therapy for a while. “There has been such great destruction that it is as if a bomb had been dropped inside you. You have to rebuild yourself, understand what happened and, above all, not allow yourself to feel guilty for having “allowed” it, but rather understand where you came from and why you got involved. Only then will you be able to ensure that it does not happen to you again,” she concludes.

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It seems difficult to imagine that a book about human anatomy can be entertaining, passionate, exciting, and educational, but Gabriel Weston, a British surgeon, writer, and communicator, has achieved it with Con vida, published by Salamandra. The book begins with a detailed narration of an autopsy that immediately alerts us to everything we can discover during the reading, and the author's statement of intent arrives very soon: she explains that science only makes sense if it can be linked to something personal. In this regard, she states that the body cannot be viewed as a purely mechanical entity, but must be looked at from a more human perspective. Weston is a woman of letters who came to the world of medicine almost by chance and explains that she decided to write the book about 10 years ago. "Initially, I wanted to write it as a surgeon who had realized that much of the anatomy we used and that was still taught in medical school was outdated," she says. And she adds: "As a person with an artistic background, I also wanted to write a book that would bridge the gap between the arts and sciences. I wanted to look at the body through this dual lens."

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Jan and Flo are very different, but they have shared an apartment for years. Taking advantage of a few days of vacation, they have gone to Mallorca. The first night they went out to dinner and, afterwards, to party. Flo takes care of himself, and after having another glass of Ribera del Duero, he preferred to go back to the apartment. On the other hand, Jan, more of a bon vivant, first indulged in two good plates of macaroni, then had gin and tonics, and at the club, he drank straight from a Moët magnum that was circulating on the dance floor while he danced, sang, and hugged friends he had met that very morning. It was already daylight when he went to bed, tired but happy. When he woke up, Flo had already been doing his yoga exercises for a while, had eaten yogurt with cereal for breakfast, and was now answering some emails. Jan loves sobrassada and ensaïmadas, and there is nothing better than this combination to start the day if you are on vacation in Mallorca. Then he put on his swimsuit and dived into the pool, splashing Flo, who at that moment was on his third lap. Jan prefers the butterfly style. Flo protects himself from the sun with a hat under the umbrella. Jan, on the water mattress, closes his eyes while feeling the sun warm and tan him.

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For a few years now, the anticipation for red carpets has shifted to film festivals. Beyond the big award galas, venues like the Cannes Film Festival have become major fashion showcases. La Croisette closes its 79th edition this Saturday and, in terms of fashion, it will be remembered for its boldness and, above all, for one name: Demi Moore. The American actress, who was part of the festival jury this year, has made her mark by showing a playful approach to all the looks she has worn at various premieres. Moore has demonstrated such aesthetic personality that it's difficult to choose just one of the dresses she has worn, but undoubtedly the voluminous Barbie pink dress with a giant bow at the neckline is very high on the ranking.

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The immersive exhibition created with more than 600,000 recyclable balloons will transform, starting this Thursday, the Inmersa space, located in the Poblenou neighborhood, into a large-scale visual and sensory universe. The experience promises to surprise visitors with a journey full of color, light, movement, and scenographies that turn ephemeral art into a different cultural proposal.

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40% of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed with good prevention from an early age. This is stated by David Pérez Martínez, a neurologist with extensive professional experience focused on the study of cognitive decline and Alzheimer's, who assures that it is never too late (or too early) to start taking care of our brain. The neurologist recently published the book Cuida tu salud cerebral" (Alienta Editorial), a guide with which he aims to offer a practical approach that brings readers closer to the importance of having information at hand to adopt preventive measures. Prevention that we must carry out throughout our lives, which is why, in the book, he proposes a personal action plan suitable for all audiences. He states, emphatically, that the challenge, beyond having information and knowledge, is deciding to act. As Pérez explains, "for ten or fifteen years we have known that diseases like Alzheimer's do not begin when the symptoms start, but rather much earlier, probably fifteen or twenty years earlier. Therefore, if we intervene early with preventive measures, we could try to slow down the course of these types of diseases or delay their onset".

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It is an ordinary spring day. Someone, from their home, is preparing a letter. The envelope also contains a series of illustrations. The ritual is repeated, a gesture that transports us to a past century, when algorithms did not yet exist. The one writing could be Mercè Rodoreda; the one receiving the letter, Joan Sales. But we are not in 1960 nor facing a classic literary correspondence, but rather a trend that emerged on social networks, called mail club, which points to a timid return of postal mail in a scenario of digital saturation and the search for analog alternatives.Through a model we already know, that of the monthly subscription, artists and illustrators from all over the world send letters, stickers, illustrations, photographs, or recipes to a group of subscribers. "Receiving a well-cared-for and beautiful letter in your mailbox every month, in a world saturated with information and mediated by screens, seems like a stroke of luck to me," explains Lorena, a young woman who is subscribed to two mail clubs different, Bunny Mail Club and La Mamarrracha. "I believe that, in addition, it is a way to support artists, because their work is often lost in the immensity of content distributed on social networks," she reflects.A new way to connect

While other digital trends are born and stay in the online universe, the mail club, on the other hand, has managed to make the leap to the offline world, and has gained special strength among generations like Z. “We need community in all areas, and this component is especially important for generations like Z. In Spain, 35% of young people between 18 and 24 years old feel lonely; we have a very significant situation of unwanted loneliness. Initiatives like mail clubs can contribute to creating community and connecting with objects in another way,” reflects Liliana Arroyo Moliner, director of the SoReDI (Chair for Socially Responsible Digital Innovation) at Esade.The phenomenon, which has been operating in the United States for a couple of years through crowdfunding platforms like Patreon, has found its niche in Catalonia thanks to profiles like communicator Berta Aroca or illustrator Irina Torres Conejero, creator of Bon Profit Club, who prepares a surprise content each month, often related to a time of year like Valentine's Day, Christmas, or seasons like spring.“I always include a letter written and signed by me, a sheet of A5 cotton paper, and some small details like a sticker, a postcard, a template for journaling, and other surprises”, explains Irina, who started this project in November 2025 and already has over forty subscribers. As with most of these mailings, her letter is much more than a simple piece of paper: “You don’t just open and read the letter, but you also decide what to do with the materials I send”.Unlike a newsletter, which can go unnoticed among countless emails, a paper letter fills a space and accompanies us. “It can be smelled, framed, and can live in a drawer, in the fridge, on a wall, or in furniture. Besides being more subtle and erotic, it is tangible, and we are short on experiences that involve the use of hands, and not just eyes and ears,” explains Bea Salas, psychologist, illustrator, and creativity teacher.Following this line, the artist Laura García, from León, created in June 2024 Garlic Yaya Club, a monthly mail club that combines unpublished recipes, letters, and various artistic objects designed by herself. “I wanted to create something physical that people could touch, collect, and enjoy beyond the screen.” In Laura's case, each edition revolves around a theme and a recipe that inspires her: “When I discovered the format, I realized it had to be about cooking. It was something I hadn't seen before, so I decided that Garlic Yaya Club would have its own recipes to convey my passion for home cooking, slow processes, and carefully made things,” explains this entrepreneur, co-owner of Antisouvenir®, a bookstore specializing in independent publications that she runs with her partner.This slowness, in contrast with the immediate gratification of algorithms, seems to be the key to these postal deliveries. Even though in 2011, with the creation of the first social networks, users acted as true "internet inhabitants", today networks have become a publicity showcase, both of ourselves and of all kinds of products, as Marta G. Franco explains in the book Les xarxes són nostres. Una història popular d’internet i un mapa per tornar a habitar-la, published in Spanish by the editorial Consonni. We scroll without looking, we accumulate links that we never open and, amidst so much digital chaos, we all seek the feeling of belonging to something more real, especially at a time marked by the generation of images with artificial intelligence.“Faced with empires like ChatGPT, Spotify, Google, Amazon, and Apple, phenomena naturally emerge in the opposite direction, in this case, spaces that protect and celebrate our humanity: handmade art, dedicated communication, the use of senses, and face-to-face interaction. Mail clubs seem to be a response to a real need to express ourselves, communicate, and belong without major intermediaries,” explains Salas. mail clubs seem to be a response to a real need to express ourselves, communicate, and belong without major intermediaries,” explains Salas. The value of physical experience

In fact, for Generation Z, the internet is a central element in their daily lives and also their main leisure activity: 90% spend two or more hours a day online, according to the 2023 Youth Survey, collected in the 2024 Report on Youth in Spain. the 2024 Report on Youth in Spain. "I don't know if this model will last as is, but it does respond to a deep need that will probably remain: generations that have grown up with digital find more value in non-virtuality and in what is tangible," confirms Arroyo.Marina, who was subscribed for two months to a mail club from the United States, confirms this theory that we have already seen in trends like Sonny Angels: “I was very excited about opening the letter, not knowing exactly what was coming, discovering the postcards and stickers; more than the letter, it was the whole package that surrounded it. However –she explains–, being in another language, I didn't end up feeling part of the community”.This is not the case for Irina and Laura. They do maintain direct communication with their subscribers: “I always encourage them to write to me whenever they want, even by letter, because I love getting to know them. In fact, I always send a personalized welcome email, encouraging them to tell me who they are, what they like, and what motivates them to cook,” says the creator of Garlic Yaya Club, who, despite not being able to live solely off this format, sees it as a viable alternative. “I always ask in the letter how they are, and I receive quite a few messages replying to me on Instagram, and that’s really cool because I do feel that a different bond is created,” says Irina.Like any trend born on social media, mail clubs cannot be disconnected from their digital component, nor can they foresee the behavior of some users, who will probably limit themselves to photographing the content and posting it on their social networks. Nevertheless, artisanal work and analog creation exist beyond these subscriptions. The format only shows us that, faced with a lack of intimacy and connection, "human beings are more intelligent and creative, and look for ways like these to recover what they miss: connection, contact, and a shared experience," reflects psychologist and illustrator Bea Salas.

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Why is it so hard for us to stop eating processed foods, scrolling on our phones, or binge-watching series all night? Around the world, there's an epidemic of problems related to mental health and addiction, especially among young people, and they don't seem to be related. But nothing could be further from the truth: it all stems from superstimuli.

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When Sergi arrived, it started to rain. He strategically positioned himself at one of the small round tables and ordered a coffee. It's spring. It rains and it's sunny, and it's as hot as it is cold, but here, leaning against the wall under the awning, Sergi is having a blast, watching the world go by right in front of him. Like a movie. Now it's raining hard and a boy walks quickly, covering his head with his backpack; a stylish couple, with matching trench coats, advance slowly under a black umbrella, a bulldog watches Sergi while a huge drool hangs from its mouth, and a girl in flip-flops types on her phone. Today he'll have a spill.

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A very floral carpet with reminiscences of Van Gogh saw the top brass of global celebrities pass by this Monday night, who gathered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to raise funds for the Fashion Institute. The traditional Met Gala was held, not without controversy due to the participation of Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon, and his wife, Lauren Sanchez, as the main financiers of the event, a fact that has led to calls for a boycott. Nevertheless, the gala continues to be the big fashion party and this year the chosen theme –Fashion is art– has given rise to the most diverse interpretations: on the carpet we have seen sober dresses but also very outlandish options, the most direct way to make an impact.

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Life is too short not to walk it. Between the emails that keep filling our inbox, the noise of the cities, and that absurd rush we carry with us, going for a walk has become almost a necessity. This is demonstrated by the almost 20 million members of the most recognized route community in the world, Wikiloc. It is clear that "boot tourism" is the new luxury. In a world where everything goes too fast, Wikiloc's best ratings take us to places where time stands still, or at least, where photos (over 20 million have been taken this year worldwide!) make the moment last forever.

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Scents have the power to transform atmospheres, modulate behaviors, and can seduce, comfort, or heal. The sense of smell is the mirror of a society and also a historical portrait. This is stated by Dr. in neurosciences and research professor at CSIC, Laura López-Mascaraque, in her book El fascinante universo del olfato, published by geoPlaneta. A volume that aims to highlight the sense of smell, probably the greatly forgotten one, as priority has always been given to what we see and hear, when, in reality, smell is the gateway to memory and emotions and a way to explore the world.

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Pol, Nil, Jan, Roc and Jacobo have met at Sol Soler on Plaça del Sol in Gràcia for some beers. As soon as they entered, Roc saw a girl who caught his attention.

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Yaya Buschraft asks us not to say her real name, nor where she lives. She is in the mountains, that's for sure. Anyone who follows her on social media knows this, where she has thousands of followers, to whom she explains her day-to-day life building cabins. She decided this would be her life project when she was nearing 70, and now she tells her story in the book Living without asking permission (Penguin).

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The 080 Barcelona Fashion closes its 37th edition with proposals from 26 brands, a clear international commitment, and its classic combination of established designers and young emerging talents. The move to Port Vell was experienced with a certain duality, as the spectacularity of the new location could not be fully enjoyed since the runway area was closed off by large black curtains that blocked the sea views. Nevertheless, we have selected some of the most prominent trends we saw over these four days of fashion.

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What do localities like Tossa de Mar, Cardona, Bielsa, or Aýna have in common? Well, among other things, their undeniable tourist appeal, but also the fact that they have been the setting for landmark films such as Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, Chimes at Midnight, Palmeras en la nieve, or Amanece, que no es poco. These are four examples of locations that fit perfectly into what is known as screen tourism, a type of cultural tourism that drives visits to destinations, landscapes, or cities that have appeared in or are related to films, television series, or audiovisual productions of all kinds, such as documentaries, video games, or commercials, as well as events linked to the audiovisual world, such as festivals or themed gatherings. It is an upward trend that has been experiencing significant growth since the advent of streaming platforms and leads viewers to visit the settings where their favorite stories were filmed.

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The new edition of 080 Barcelona Fashion begins this Tuesday full of novelties: the first and most obvious is the change of location, as after years at the modernist complex of Sant Pau, the Catalan catwalk moves to Port Vell, specifically to the Trencaones promenade, where an ephemeral structure of more than 50 meters long will be installed to host the different proposals of the participating designers. The change of location had long been considered by the organization because Sant Pau had become too small for a catwalk that has been growing in recent years. The entry of the Barcelona City Council into the organization of the event – another of the novelties –, which materializes with a contribution of 500,000 euros, has been decisive in choosing the new location, by the sea, which, as Moisès Rodríguez, director of the Consorci de Comerç, Artesania i Moda, explains, turns Barcelona "into the only catwalk that is by the sea". For Rodríguez, this new location also has a message linked to the city's past, as "the sea is fundamental to the history of the Industrial Revolution in Catalonia and the development of the textile industry". "The port was a strategic location for the transport of cotton and this past connects us with the present of the industry and fashion," he highlights. With the contribution of the City Council, and the support of the Diputació de Barcelona, which this edition has joined the project to boost the fashion sector, the total budget for 080 Barcelona Fashion is 2.8 million euros.

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We've seen it in countless movies: "Hello, my name is so-and-so and I'm an alcoholic." We know the acronym Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and what it represents. But what we might not know is that behind these initials –and this recurring phrase– lies a twelve-step therapeutic method created by two men from Ohio in 1935, which has since helped millions of people worldwide. This method is now applied in 68 countries, including Spain, where there are up to 586 active Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) groups. A study by Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital concluded in 2020 that this AA twelve-step therapy "is more effective than other established treatments for increasing abstinence" and improves outcomes, especially "in the long term," helping people stay sober for longer. The survival and constant global expansion of this system for nearly a century also attest to its effectiveness.

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