Literally and metaphorically, a light went on for me last week. I had the privilege of attending an event hosted by Lighting Science, a company devoted to marshaling light to work with our bodies, not against them. Fred Masik, the company founder, Dr. Michael Bruce, a sleep expert, and Dr. Smith Johnston, a flight surgeon working with NASA, presented on the panel.
He’s been hailed as “the pioneer of alternative medicine” by former U.S. President Bill Clinton and named “one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century” by TIME magazine—and Deepak Chopra will be a keynote speaker at the 2015 Global Wellness Summit in Mexico City. His accomplishments are too extraordinary to list: He’s authored over 80 books, founded the Chopra Foundation and received countless honors for his work and humanitarian efforts.
In a thought-piece on why, today, it’s governments, not markets, that really call the shots, Malleret speculates on how it’s pretty inevitable that the unbearable cost of healthcare means that many governments will soon be unable to foot the bill. So, while it’s not “politically correct,” more governments will start to legislate against (and penalize for) unhealthy behaviors. Just look at how a new bill introduced in Puerto Rico would penalize parents for not tackling childhood obesity.
In 1993 I served on “Pete Wilson’s California Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports”. Bruce Jenner was one of the other 14 board members and we worked together for quite a few years. I remember Bruce as a down to earth, likeable guy with a good sense of humor and a very collaborative attitude.
The Global Wellness Institute recently released data showing the powerful role wellness tourism can play in helping countries recover from tourism crises and “image problems” (i.e., wars, terrorist and drug violence, natural disasters).
It looked at 10 nations with either more recent tourism shocks (like India, Mexico), or those building tourism markets after historic conflicts (such as Nicaragua, Cambodia). And just look at what a serious recovery-driver wellness tourism can be…these nations using it as a re-branding tool will drive so many more.
In recent years, a growing number of senior citizens have begun competing in marathons and triathlons, causing experts to question much of the conventional wisdom about age-related changes in physical capacity. One of the most interesting insights: a lot of the deterioration we see with aging can be attributed to a more sedentary lifestyle rather than aging itself. Check out this interesting article that turns the relationship between aging and wellbeing upside-down.
