On the recent death of Fidel Castro, it’s worth asking why, in such a brutal dictatorship and poor country, do people live as long as Americans at a tenth of the cost?
How can that be? Read more…
Research: Economic Shifts that will Impact the Future of Wellness (Video)
At the recent Global Wellness Summit, GWI’s partner economist, Thierry Malleret, keynoted on the many “macroeconomic shifts that will impact the future of wellness” – from skyrocketing mental illness to the air pollution crisis. A key paradox he explored was how, despite our age of unprecedented global economic abundance, global unwellness (obesity, early mortality, mental illness/depression) is on the rise.
New Study: Exercise Prevents People from Developing Depression
A global analysis of past studies (aggregating data on more than 1.1 million people) found that the connection between fitness/regular exercise and mental health is extremely strong. Those in the lowest third of fitness levels were 75 percent more likely to have received a diagnosis of depression than those in the top third.
Workplace Wellness is now a Strategic Priority in the U.S.
A wellness issue to watch is workplace wellness. In the U.S., workplace wellness programs have become a strategic priority. A recent survey reports that 35 percent of U.S. employers have come to the conclusion that such programs are effective at controlling health costs, compared with 22 percent saying the same about disease management and 20 percent about consumer-driven health plan design.
Mental Wellness Initiative Launches at GWI
The Global Wellness Institute has just launched an important new initiative on mental wellness. Its goal is to understand those pathways that help people thrive mentally as well as physically. This initiative will have a strong focus on collecting and communicating the clinical evidence for a wide range of mental, nutritional, and physical modalities that support lifelong growth of mental wellbeing and happiness, creativity and inner peace.
Must-Reads from the Wellness World (Week of November 22, 2016)
Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded
The New York Times, November 4, 2016
This op-ed addresses the central question of our time: why, when there has never been a better time to be alive, is there so much anger and discontent? The Dalai Lama and the NYT editorialist explain that this is due to the fact that “we all need to be needed.” The problem in the world’s richest nations is not a lack of material riches, but the growing number of people who feel they are “no longer useful, no longer needed, no longer one with their societies.”
