Why You Need Less Noise for Your Work and Your Health – Life Hacker, Feb. 5, 2017
We welcome sound into our lives, but sometimes it’s to our detriment. Silence, perhaps, is our most under-appreciated productivity tool.
Loneliness Actually Hurts Us on a Cellular Level – VOX, Jan. 30, 2017
Loneliness makes us sick in ways reaching far beyond the psychological pain – it’s a biological “wound” that wreaks havoc on our cells. The main reasons are twofold: (1) In lonely people, genes that code for the body’s inflammation response are turned on to a degree not seen in non-lonely people, and (2), at the same time, researchers see in lonely people down-regulated, or suppressed activity, in a block of genes involved in fending off against viral infections.
A New Theory Promises to Unlock Your Body’s Full Potential – And Is Actually Scientifically Sound – Quartz, Feb. 3, 2017
The conventional wisdom about maintaining good physical health rests on the twin pillars of diet and exercise. Those are vital, but there is an ignored, third pillar: environmental stimulation. A growing consensus exists among many scientists that human biology needs a degree of physical discomfort to thrive.
Cancer Rates Set to Increase Six Times Faster in Women than Men – The Guardian, Feb. 3, 2017
This article explains why obesity is partly to blame, as cases of ovarian, cervical and oral cancers are predicted to increase the most over the next 20 years.
Lessons on Aging Well, from a 105-Year-Old Cyclist – The New York Times, Feb. 8, 2017
At the age of 105, the French amateur cyclist and world-record holder, Robert Marchand, is more aerobically fit than most 50-year-olds… and appears to be getting even fitter as he ages, according to a revelatory new study of his physiology.
A Striking Stat:
How much income inequality exists in our world today? Eight of the richest people on earth own as much wealth as half of the human race (3.6 billion people).
Source: Oxfam research, 1/2017
