Why is it that we desire things but don’t always enjoy them when we get them? In this longish (but pleasant to read) article, an explanation based on neuroscience is offered. Desire and pleasure are separate chemical systems in the brain. Dopamine is linked with desire, while opioids and endocannabinoids correlate with pleasure. The dopamine system is “vast and powerful”; the pleasure system is “anatomically tiny, has a far more fragile structure and is harder to trigger.”
Global Wellness Day is June 13. Use This Handy Press Release Template
The Global Wellness Institute (GWI) is joining hundreds of companies worldwide in “Saying Yes!” to Global Wellness Day (GWD), a one-day event celebrating health and wellbeing and taking place this June 13. The idea is to increase global consciousness of living a better life, even if for one day.
We would like to encourage you to spread the word by supporting proactive wellness among your customers and employees. To help, we have put together a press release you can use as a template to send out to local media telling them just what you’re “saying yes” to this GWD.
New Study Shows Success of Financial Incentives to Quit Smoking
Results of a University of Oxford (UK) meta-analysis of 8,500 adult smokers revealed that financial incentives to quit generally carried higher sustained success rates when 1.) subjects were required to make a cash deposit (refundable upon quitting, along with additional cash incentive); and 2.) when the cash reward was significantly higher.
GWI Initiatives: Global Wellness Day is June 13, 2015
Exactly two months from today the first “Global Wellness Day” will be celebrated worldwide (June 13). The buzzed-about brainchild of Belgin Aksoy, founder of Richmond Nua, Turkey’s first destination spa, Global Wellness Day is to make us aware of the value of our lives: to make us stop and think, get away from the stress of city living and our bad habits, and find peace with ourselves.
World Happiness Report: People in Mexico Happier than U.S.
The third edition of the World Happiness Report just came out, research which uses six variables to identify the differing levels of happiness in countries around the world. And economist Thierry Malleret explains that while money and health are keys to happiness, factors like “social support” and “generosity”—and the fact that people are happier when they’re socially fulfilled as members of a group—that make Mexico (less wealthy and institutionally strong) a happier place than the richer U.S. Read which are the happiest countries and why.
Officials to Drop Longstanding Warning about Cholesterol in Foods
Nutrition science seems to be undergoing an enormous state of flux, and according to this article, a lot of recent scientific research suggests we know far less than we think about which particular food is good (or bad) for us. U.S. officials, for example, are poised to drop their longstanding warning about cholesterol in foods, while the evidence for the government’s warning about salt has shifted. This is food for thought!
