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Must-Reads from the Wellness World (Week of March 9, 2016)

“Harvard Researchers Discovered the One Thing Everyone Needs for Happier, Healthier Lives”
– The Washington Post, March 2, 2016
(Hint: It’s close, intimate relationships)

Waldinger, a Harvard psychiatrist in charge of the Grant Study (it began in 1938 – the longest study of human development) presents its conclusion: the happiest and healthiest participants were the ones who maintained close, intimate relationships. It is that simple! By contrast, commercial projection of a good life – wealth, fame, career success – won’t bring health or happiness (contains a TED video presentation).

Surprising Findings from the new 2016 Future of Wellness At Work Research: “Programs” Will Give Way to Real Company “Caring” and Culture Change

On Feb. 17, at a very unique press event in Manhattan, the GWI released two related pieces of research on workplace wellness.

1) “The Future of Workplace Wellness” (an 80-page report) analyzes everything from the realities of the increasingly unhealthy, aging, stressed global workforce to the state of workplace wellness programs worldwide. The report includes predictions on how both work itself, and workplace wellness strategies, will change radically in the future.

More Nations Taxing Sugary Beverages and a U.S. Ruling for Workplace Wellness

This month, there are two major wellness issues to watch:

1) How the global rise in obesity is driving the debate on a sugar tax

2) How the debate over “mandatory versus voluntary” employee wellness plans is evolving in the U.S.

Connect with Key Thought-Leaders re “Future of Well Work” Initiative

The future of workplace wellness isn’t just the subject of GWI’s new research – it’s one of its year-long Initiatives. Chaired by Renee Moorefield, PhD (CEO, Wisdom Works), its members include companies innovating employee wellness (from Humana to Virgin Pulse) and medical experts in the field (like Dr. Fikry Isaac, Johnson & Jonson and Dr. Kenneth Pelletier, Universities of California and Arizona).

Now There is Proof! Mindfulness Meditation Changes Both the Brain and Body

For the first time, a study showed that mindfulness meditation, unlike a placebo, changes both the brains and bodies of regular people (not just long-time meditators). Read more about how a few days of meditation changed areas of the brain that process stress reactions, and how the trial meditators also saw much lower levels of unhealthy inflammation markers in their blood – even months later.

Must-Reads from the Wellness World (Week of February 23, 2016)

“Too Cautious About Food? That’s Dangerous” – Bloomberg View, Jan. 19, 2016
This article claims that, in the case of food guidelines, too much caution can do more harm than good, and asserts that the scientific literature is full of contradictory claims.