MONTHLY BAROMETER – WELLNESS EDITION A new study published by think-tank Rand Europe and commissioned by the Vitality Group states that being physically more active for a few extra minutes a day could give the global economy a boost in the hundreds of billions of dollars. This may sound excessive, if not slightly provocative or unrealistic (if it were that easy to engineer extra economic…
Hibernation works for bears. Could it work for us, too? – The New York Times, November 15, 2019 A grizzly bear’s body can slow down for months without damage. Researchers wonder if the ability can be harnessed to aid human health. Sweet spot: Norwegians cut sugar intake to lowest level in 44 years – The Guardian, November 20, 2019 Norway has had a sugar tax…
December is the time of year when we pause to be grateful, but if we shift from gratitude as a passing season to a way to live daily, science says the mental, physical and emotional health benefits are plentiful. Eastern and Western healing traditions have long incorporated gratitude as part of a holistic wellness strategy. Gratitude reduces our hassles in life and work (as well as our complaints), decreases anxiety…
One of the largest sleep studies ever (Michigan State University) just revealed that sleep deprivation has a much more negative effect than earlier studies indicated. Prior studies showed how too little sleep hurts a person’s ability to maintain attention, but this one also looked at how it impacts placekeeping, or the ability to complete a series of steps without losing one’s place. The impact, the…
The US is currently one of the rich world’s fastest-growing economies, but from a wellbeing perspective, the dissonance between the macro and micro pictures it offers is quite striking. In particular, the US economy shows why focusing on GDP data to the detriment of more qualitative indicators can be so misleading when evaluating wellbeing. Here is the reason why: The US currently has the most…
When people promote time in nature as the key to wellbeing, they usually focus on green spaces. But a new article in the Guardian explains why and how “blue space” (the ocean, rivers, lakes, canals, waterfalls, even urban fountains) positively impacts our mind and body—from boosting Vitamin D to having a stronger psychologically restorative effect than other natural environments. Support for the idea of “blue”…
