Must-Reads from the Wellness World (Week of January 15, 2019)

7 Ways to Age Well in 2019 — The New York Times, December 24, 2018 Different contributors from the “Well” section of the NYT offer advice on what research can teach us about living longer and better (or just looking younger!). It ranges from exercising often (at least four times a week) to slowing the decline of aging with simple but smart choices related to the…

January | Awareness

The focus of the January Wellness Moonshot Calendar is Awareness, the foundation from which positive change can take root and ultimately succeed. The following ideas and information are designed to help you engage and inspire your colleagues, employees and community to become Wellness Aware. They are curated with the support of Renee Moorefield, chair of the GWI Wellness at Work Initiative and CEO of Wisdom…

Wellness Trends for 2019

The wellness trends forecasts keep rolling in, and Fast Company’s recent report on the “most promising” for 2019 identifies everything from the home fitness revolution to the “Drybar Effect” to a wave of wellness companies by and for people of color to “plant-based foods getting meatier.” One key trend: wellness real estate, a sector put on the map by GWI research. The prediction: In the…

Employers & Insurers Increasingly Track Our Health Behavior

An unsettling story is being played out in the field of tech. It touches the boundaries of privacy and personal freedom—a bonsai version of China’s plan by 2021 to assign a grade to all 1.3 billion citizens on their “social behavior.” More and more, tech AI companies are selling recruitment technology to both large employers and individuals (to choose a babysitter for example) that assess…

Study: Six to Eight Hours a Night the Sweet Spot for Healthy Sleep

A large, new study in the European Heart Journal (116,632 people across 21 countries) found that getting at least 6–8 hours of sleep a night is optimal, but getting more might not be. People who slept 8–9 hours had a 5 percent increased risk for cardiovascular disease or death; those who slept 9–10 hours had a 17 percent increased risk; and those sleeping more than…