We asked researchers, couples counselors and sex therapists for some simple strategies to strengthen your romantic relationship in 2025.Traditional New Year’s health resolutions can feel punishing: Eat better, drink less, hit the gym. Worthy goals … but also, kind of a drag.The good news? Relationships have a big effect on health and happiness, too. So in 2025, why not focus on a different wellness goal: Give your romantic life a little T.L.C.Well reached out to couples counselors, sex therapists and relationship researchers and asked a simple question: What is one resolution you recommend for couples looking to experience greater connection and intimacy in the coming year?1. Cultivate curiosity.Approaching your partner with a sense of curiosity can help you learn new things about who they are — and open up conversations you’ve never had before — even if you’ve been together for years, said Justin Garcia, executive director at the Kinsey Institute, the sexuality and relationships research center at Indiana University.“Curiosity is a powerful, powerful tonic — that we should all invest in more,” Dr. Garcia said. It sends an irresistible message: I am interested in you.One simple way to foster a more curious mind-set within your relationship is to ask your partner something new every week or so, he suggested.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Getty ImagesWelsh ambulance service chiefs have urged the public to “drink sensibly” at New Year to help reduce demand on emergency services that suffered a 340-call backlog on Monday.

Getty ImagesOlympic gold-medallist Dame Laura Kenny is Britain’s most successful female athlete. She has two young boys but also had a miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy, and has always wondered if the physical toll of elite sport had damaged her fertility. The BBC News Health team has investigated.

TEAM MIKAYLAA teenager who has lived with cancer since she was four has been recognised in the New Year Honours List for raising money for other children with the disease.

Getty ImagesMyleene Klass has been recognised in this year’s New Year Honours for services to women’s health, miscarriage awareness and to charity.

The Welsh Ambulance Service has declared a critical incident because of increased demand across the 999 service and extensive hospital handover delays.

The World Health Organization has urged China to share data on the origins of the Covid pandemic, five years on from its start in the city of Wuhan.

These tips can help you fortify your friendships and romantic partnerships in the year ahead.Relationships are beautiful, tricky things that affect our well-being every bit as much as what we eat and whether we get enough sleep.That’s why The New York Times’s Well section takes relationships seriously, tapping some of the world’s leading researchers and therapists for guidance about what strengthens our friendships, marriages and family relationships — and what threatens those bonds.Sometimes, they give sweeping advice that seems as if it would take a lifetime to accomplish. Other times, they offer a simple but effective nugget. With that in mind, here are seven of our favorite pieces of relationship advice from experts over the past year.1. ‘Repot’ your friendships.If you are looking to strengthen your platonic bonds, consider “repotting,” a strategy that fosters closeness by refreshing how you connect with a friend, said Marisa G. Franco, a psychologist and the author of “Platonic.” Perhaps you ask a co-worker to come to your next book club meeting. Or ask the friend you typically meet for happy hour to go for an “awe walk.” Novelty can enliven your connection, and spending time in different contexts lets you experience different sides of a friend’s personality.2. Dating? Mind the ‘yellow flags.’If you are on the dating scene, you may have become pretty darn adept at spotting “red flags,” but “yellow flags” — behaviors or attitudes that signal you should proceed with caution — can be trickier for even the savviest dater to identify. Jancee Dunn, Well’s newsletter columnist, looked at the subtler signals to watch out for in a potential romantic partner: Does your date think all of his or her old partners are crazy? Does your inner circle have reservations about your new relationship? Those aren’t necessarily deal breakers, Jancee found, but they are warning signs that are worth your attention.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Adopting even just one of these easy strategies can make a meaningful difference in how you feel and function.Are you feeling mentally ready for 2025?Whatever your answer, there are some tried-and-true habits to help you feel sharp, alive and well in the coming year — and they’re easy to practice.As journalists who cover the mind and brain, we are continually asking experts about the behaviors, conditions and outlooks that influence mental and cognitive health. The tips listed here — some of our favorites from the past year — aren’t meant to ensure you’ll be upbeat and performing at your best 24/7 (frankly, that just isn’t realistic), but they can help you build resilience, find balance and prioritize the things that you hold most dear.1. Move your body.If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it 1,000 times: Physical activity is one of the best things you can do for your brain.Immediately after a workout, people tend to report feeling better emotionally, and their performance on tests of working memory and other cognitive functions improves. But the real benefits come from exercising consistently over time: People who do have a lower risk of developing depression and dementia.How can exercise do all this? Scientists think that moving your body leads to extra blood flow and chemicals released in the brain, which can help build new connections between neurons. In both depression and dementia, many of these connections are lost, so a beefed-up brain can serve as a buffer against impairment.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Kevin Lopez had just stepped out of his house, on his way to meet his girlfriend for Chinese food, when it happened: He began to hallucinate.It was just a flicker, really. He saw a leaf fall, or the shadow of a leaf, and thought it was the figure of a person running. For a moment, on a clear night last month, this fast-moving darkness seemed to hurtle in his direction and a current of fear ran through him.He climbed into the car, and the door shut and latched behind him with a reassuring thunk.“It’s nothing,” he said. “I don’t know why — I think there’s a person there.”Light had always caused problems for Kevin when symptoms of schizophrenia came on. He thought that the lights were watching him, like an eye or a camera, or that on the other side of the light, something menacing was crouched, ready to attack.But over time, he had found ways to manage these episodes; they passed, like a leg cramp or a migraine. That night, he focused on things that he knew were real, like the vinyl of the car seat and the chill of the winter air.He was dressed for a night out, with fat gemstones in his ears, and had taken a break from his graduate coursework in computer science at Boston University. A “big bearish, handsome nerd” is the way he styled himself at 24.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.