Why are we so bad at getting better? We must re-embrace convalescence–The New Yorker, October 18, 2023
Convalescence used to be central to medicine. Now we don’t talk about it. After an infection, a surgery, or even a panic attack, people rush back to daily life at half strength, feeling they need “permission to recover,” and neglecting the sleep, rest and follow-up care that could help them do so. This is a perilous mistake, according to the new book by a UK doctor, Gavin Francis, “Recovery: The Lost Art of Convalescence.” He argues that when we prize efficiency over healing/recovery, we risk ending up with far less of both. We must re-embrace the concept of convalescence, and the wellness world would certainly have a role to play here.
Centenarian blood tests give hints of the secrets to longevity–The Conversation, October 9, 2023
A new study from Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet is the largest one to date that compared biomarker profiles measured throughout life among exceptionally long-lived people and their shorter-lived peers. The researchers found that those who made it to their hundredth birthday tended to have lower levels of glucose, creatinine and uric acid (a waste product caused by the digestion of certain foods) from their sixties onwards. For instance, very few of the centenarians had a glucose level above 6.5 earlier in life, or a creatinine level above 125.
Great news—social media is falling apart–Insider, October 3, 2023
Welcome to the Great Social Media Splintering! People are spending less and less time on traditional social media platforms, migrating instead to closer-knit private circles such as group chats, and a new crop of platforms that have emerged in the past few years. Some researchers predict that social media’s future might be “more private and more fragmented,” envisioning a “pluriverse” consisting of existing platforms and an ecosystem of “very small online platforms.” In short: the future of social media is looking more like a network of platforms that offer people a more intimate experience.
The Good Life – What can we learn from the history of utopianism? – The Nation, October 16, 2023
This is a review of “Everyday Utopia: What 2,000 Years of Wild Experiments Can Teach Us About the Good Life”, a book in which Kristen Ghodsee looks at the past to explore utopian visions for our future. It’s wide-ranging, with alternative ways of building our homes, raising our children, educating our youth, sharing our property, and defining what counts as family. More specifically, Ghodsee argues that we can’t approach the creation of a good or just society without real changes for women, that is: changes that would relieve the pressures of work in the home to the benefit of all.
A Striking Stat: A “Social Life”?
Just over half (51%) of US teens report spending at least 4.8 hours each day on social media, with girls spending an hour more than boys (5.3 vs. 4.4 hours).
Source: Gallup survey, 10/23
Read more findings.
