Want to add healthy years to your life? Here’s what new longevity research says–Washington Post, October 4, 2021
Recent research points to interventions in diet, exercise and mental outlook that could slow down aging and age-related diseases without risky bio–hacks such as unproven gene therapies. According to a biochemist who runs the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California, a multidisciplinary approach involving these evidence-based strategies “could get it all right.” What’s now become clear is that certain lifestyles help individuals live longer than they otherwise would — including the genetically blessed. According to Harvard researchers, healthy habits add nearly 15 years of life expectancy–equivalent to trillions in healthcare savings
What is an ‘emotional push-up’? Exploring the concept of mental health gyms–Washington Post, October 19, 2021
A new breed of gyms focuses on strengthening the mind as much as–and along with–the body. Liberate offers live classes in mindful movement, meditation, conversation and journaling. Coa takes a therapist-led approach to help people get “emotionally fit”: to become self-aware, empathetic, resilient, mindful and communicative.
Employers have been offering the wrong office amenities: Workplaces need fresh air, not foosball tables and coffee barsIs going to the office a broken way of working?––Atlantic, October 3, 2021
Joseph Allen, professor at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health (and a 2021 Global Wellness Summit keynote speaker) argues that the lack of attention to the air we breathe indoors looks positively reckless in hindsight. He argues that workplaces need to stop focusing on the showy amenities (fancy gyms and coffee bars) and start paying attention to ventilation, which determines whether diseases circulate in a company and whether employees can actually think well. The cool amenity post-pandemic: clean air, what we should have focused on decades ago.
Factory farms of disease: how industrial chicken production is breeding the next pandemic–Guardian, October 18, 2021
We’ve got enough to worry about, but this is a weak signal getting ever stronger. Global attention is fixed on COVID-19, but eight or more variants of avian flu, all of which can infect and kill humans and are potentially more severe than COVID-19, now regularly rattle around the world’s factory farms. Despite reassurances from governments and the poultry and livestock industries that intensive farming is safe, scientific evidence shows that stressful, crowded conditions drive the emergence and spread of many infectious diseases, and act as an “epidemiological bridge” between wildlife and human infections.
A Striking Stat
One million people in England stopped exercising during the pandemic. The number of people taking part in physical activity or sport dropped 4.1% (1.6 million people) compared to the 2019.
