“Your Brain Can Only Take So Much Focus” – Harvard Business Review, May 12, 2017
The ability to focus drives excellence. Yet as helpful as focus can be, there’s also a downside to it. Excessive focus exhausts the focus circuits in our brain and can drain our energy. In keeping with recent research, both focus and un-focus are vital.
Young generations, like Millennials, face a stressful economic future: rising unemployment, student debt and housing prices – making them asset-poor and debt-rich. So, despite the fact that they have not lived through a catastrophic war or depression, they are often dubbed the “anxious generation.”
In general, populist politicians tend to disregard the relevance of climate change/global warming, but the wellness industry will ignore this to its peril. Two examples show that change is coming much faster than many realize. For one, after a series of rather dismal snow seasons in the Alps, hospitality and real estate businesses are beginning to understand that it pays to be higher up where the snow is guaranteed. The French resort of Val Thorens (the highest in the Alps) is proof of that. It has moved from underdog status – an ugly, purpose-built concrete town for cheap student ski breaks – to a high-end wellness resort, with a flurry of openings promoting the idea that “wellness and adventure go hand-in-hand.”
A new, first-ever study from Johns Hopkins University revealed the incredible healthcare costs that societies would save if all the children who are currently inactive (a skyrocketing number) exercised just an hour a day. Using complex computer simulations, the researchers found that the U.S. alone would save $120 billion annually. This is a mounting global problem, as research shows that in Europe and the U.S., physical activity tends to peak at age seven and plummets throughout adolescence.
In the hospitality (and “wellness hotel”) space, big brand and independent hotels can have very different mindsets. Watch this video, which features execs from companies like Accor and Six Senses, about how they can learn from one another.
Buildings like The Cholera Treatment Centre in Port-au-Prince, Haiti show how innovative design can fight disease and save lives.
