Wellness Evidence A large new study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings shows that for overweight people, all weight loss is healthy, but the more pounds shed the more dramatic the impact on cutting one’s risk for metabolic syndrome – unhealthy conditions including high blood pressure, insulin resistance, excess waist fat, high triglycerides and low HDL (“good”) cholesterol. Compared to people who maintained less than a…
Why Prosperity Has Increased but Happiness Has Not – The New York Times, August 21, 2018 Observing that the impressive postwar rise in material wellbeing in the US has had zero effect on personal wellbeing, the author of The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50 elaborates on two key findings: (1) All happiness is local: people’s wellbeing depends mainly on their immediate…
In the wellness space, there is always a vexing question: Do corporate workplace wellness programs work as well as we think they do? New research based on the first large randomized controlled trial (much more reliable and useful than the more common observational trials) suggests perhaps not. The study focused on a wellness program at the University of Illinois in which almost 5,000 employees volunteered…
Over the past few weeks, all-time temperature records have been set around the world. They are consistent with the idea of “global weirding”—extremes becoming the norm. All global issues and risks are intertwined, but in the medium and long-term, climate change is the one that matters more than anything else. Climate change has already ceased to be a distant threat and has become an issue…
The Business of Wellness A recent article in Fast Company indicates that what could be called “life stage” wellness is on the rise. A new company, Blume, has launched a line of self-care products (from feminine care to skin care) for tween girls to make that often uncomfortable stage in a young woman’s life less so. It has also launched Blume University, a YouTube series…
A new review of the medical evidence published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings found that people who take regular saunas have lower rates of cardiovascular disease and fewer problems with everything from lung disease to mental issues. Depending on the study, those who utilize the sauna more often see their risks of strokes, high blood pressure, heart attacks, or death drop by 37–83 percent,…
