Defining Mental Wellness Mental wellness is a term that is increasingly used in the popular lexicon, but it is vague and not well-understood. People associate mental wellness with many different types of activities: meditating, listening to music, talking to a friend, taking a walk in nature, taking a vacation, getting a massage, taking a bubble bath, squeezing a stress ball, or just carving out some…
An interesting new study from Brown University dispels any myth that positive outcomes from mindfulness-based meditation come exclusively from the practice because the more active ingredient seems to be the social factor of the instructor and the group. It’s one of the first studies to look at the role of relationships in meditation programs, and the person-to-person factors led to a more positive impact on…
Wellness Will Be #1 Driver of Consumer Spending Growth Worldwide—Coresight Research Coresight Research’s 2021 Retail and Technology Outlook looks at the key global retail and consumer trends for 2021—from how “doing good is good business” to how physical retail will change. Key prediction: Wellness will be the number-one driver of discretionary spending growth worldwide. The rise of the wellness app—They’re everywhere, but they can’t address…
A new study from the University of Graz (Austria) found a direct link between everyday physical activity (simple walking or moderate exercise) and greater creativity and inventiveness. The researchers found that active people came up with significantly more—and more innovative—ideas during tests (whether conceiving of new usages for an umbrella or finishing partial drawings) than sedentary people. ACCESS STUDY
With all the challenges of the last year, the mindset of the economic profession has shifted, with a flurry of research papers pointing to the vital importance of social capital. Notions like trust, state capacity, community-building, social cohesion, and social values like empathy and altruism are now seen as a prerequisite for prosperity and welfare. All these social values and other notions pertaining to social…
The dominant narrative about China’s growth (“the only major economy currently growing”) is misleading. China’s GDP rose by 6.5% in Q4 2020 only because the authorities decided it would. In their bid to reach this target, China’s government has moved in areas that previously, for the purpose of rebalancing growth, they were keen to abandon: industrial production, real estate and net exports. Meanwhile, consumption—which the…
