A large majority of people will suffer serious back pain in their lives, but few studies have examined what really works to prevent it…and what doesn’t. A recent meta-review of studies shines new light: education on its own, orthotics/shoe insoles and back belts provided zero prevention against lower back pain – but exercise’s preventive effect was significant. No matter what kind of exercise program, it basically halved the likelihood of another back pain episode within the next year.
Must-Reads from the Wellness World (Week of February 9, 2016)
“Rethinking the Calorie” – The Atlantic, January 26, 2016
This article claims that the simple weight-loss formula—burn more energy than you consume—may actually be holding us back in the fight to curb obesity. Progress to understand this is critical: in the U.S. alone, the inability to curb the extraordinary prevalence of obesity costs more than $147 billion in healthcare, as well as $4.3 billion in job absenteeism and yet more in lost productivity.
Financial Wellness Will Become Hot Topic in Future
With a painfully slow global economic recovery, and with money being people’s top source of stress (in countries with less generous social benefits), Malleret predicts that “financial wellness” will become an increasingly important concept in the future. Read about why and how financial wellness programs will become as important as physical wellness initiatives for both companies and individuals going forward. Consider the implications for spa and wellness establishments.
The 2016 Wellness Trends Are In
At the turn of each year, flurries of global trends reports on the future of wellness appear. To help businesses understand what’s around the bend across every wellness sector, the GWI recently added a “Trends Resource” to its site, aggregating the 2016 global trends reports from organizations and companies as diverse as the World Economic Forum, Euromonitor, Mind Body Green and Spa Business.
Wellness for Cancer Becomes GWI Initiative
Wellness for Cancer is a non-profit educational organization that trains spas to heal those who need it most: those that have, or who have survived, cancer. Read about how it recently became a Global Wellness Institute Initiative, which has created momentum for the project, and Founder Julie Bach’s vision for this important training program
Bad Sleep? Low-Fiber, High-Fat & Sugary Foods May Be to Blame
A new study by Columbia University suggests that eating low-fiber, high-fat and sugary foods leads to waking up at night and less time in “slow wave sleep,” the critical restorative phase. If studies have shown that sleep deprivation leads to bad diet choices (which lead to obesity and diabetes), this new study suggests the whole “bad diet thing” is a vicious circle.
