The Evidence for Enhancing Calm

For the last decade or so, mindfulness as been increasingly labeled as a panacea for all life’s problems. It is not, but that does not mean it is not one important tool in your toolbox toward overall wellness. In the same way we benefit from building habits like regular walks after meals or regular check-ins with our friends and loved ones, mindfulness helps to build toward a more calm and centered daily experience. But what is the evidence behind this?

Maureen Salamon, Executive Editor at Harvard Women’s Health Watch, and Howard E. LeWine, MD, Chief Medical Editor at Harvard Health Publishing recently published an article looking at the evidence base for mindfulness’ influence on our wellness, and what we can do to improve our mindfulness practice. You can read the entire article on the Harvard Health Publishing website, and a summary of the evidence and recommendations are below:

  • In one study, MRI scans examining the amygdala (the neural home of fear and other emotions) showed that an eight-week regimen of MBSR lead to a decrease in the denticity of participants amygdalae, and these brain changes correlated to lower reported stress levels.
  • In additional study took the same approach with participants diagnosed with GAD and provided evidence that MBSR aided this individuals in having more subdued reactions to provocative stimuli.
  • A significant amount of extant literature suggests that these approaches can be generalized to the public and positively impact all, not just those with diagnosed psychological conditions.

If you are ready to try, start with small habits and build on them!

  • Start with as brief as a 3 minute meditation, then try adding minutes, just as you might for exercise
  • Try meditating outdoors, by which the authors mean pause for 1-2 minutes to simply observe the outdoor surroundings through all of your sense
  • Pause to notice how you feel after you meditate, this is a form of meditation unto itself and increases the likelihood you will do it again!

Three simple mindfulness options to help with concentration, distraction, and everyday stress.

Matthew Solan is the Executive Editor at Harvard Men’s Health Watch and previously served as executive editor for UCLA Health’s Healthy Years and as a contributor to Duke Medicine’s Health News and Weill Cornell Medical College’s Women Nutrition Connection and Women’s Health Advisor.

Recently, Mr. Solan reviewed the evidence surrounding the degree to which practicing mindfulness in daily life can help address issues of concentration, distraction, and stress management.

You can read the full article at Harvard Health Publishing online, entitled “Evoking calm: Practicing mindfulness in daily life helps,” his 3 tips are summarized below.

Simple meditation

A quick and easy meditation is an excellent place to begin practicing mindfulness.

  • Sit on a straight-backed chair or cross-legged on the floor.
  • Focus on an aspect of your breathing, such as the sensations of air flowing into your nostrils and out of your mouth, or your belly rising and falling as you inhale and exhale.
  • Once you’ve narrowed your concentration in this way, begin to widen your focus. Become aware of sounds, sensations, and ideas. Embrace and consider each without judgment.
  • If your mind starts to race, return your focus to your breathing. Then expand your awareness again.
  • Take as much time as you like: one minute, or five, or 10 — whatever you’re comfortable with. Experts in mindfulness meditation note that the practice is most helpful if you commit to a regular meditation schedule.

Open awareness

Another approach to mindfulness is “open awareness,” which helps you stay in the present and truly participate in specific moments in life. You can choose any task or moment to practice open awareness, such as eating, taking a walk, showering, cooking a meal, or working in the garden. When you are engaged in these and other similar routine activities, follow these steps.

  • Bring your attention to the sensations in your body, both physical and emotional.
  • Breathe in through your nose, allowing the air to fill your lungs. Let your abdomen expand fully. Then breathe out slowly through your mouth.
  • Carry on with the task at hand, slowly and with deliberation.
  • Engage each of your senses, paying close attention to what you can see, hear, feel, smell, and taste.
  • Try “single-tasking,” bringing your attention as fully as possible to what you’re doing.
  • Allow any thoughts or emotions that arise to come and go, like clouds passing through the sky.
  • If your mind wanders away from your current task, gently refocus your attention back to the sensation of the moment.

Body awareness

Another way to practice mindfulness is to focus your attention on other thoughts, objects, and sensations. While sitting quietly with your eyes closed, channel your awareness toward each of the following:

Urges: When you feel a craving or an urge (for instance, to eat excess food or practice an unwanted behavior), acknowledge the desire and understand that it will pass. Notice how your body feels as the craving enters. Replace the wish for the craving to go away with the specific knowledge that it will subside.

Sensations: Notice subtle feelings such as an itch or tingling without judgment, and let them pass. Notice each part of your body in succession from head to toe.

Sights and sounds: Notice sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches. Name them “sight,” “sound,” “smell,” “taste,” or “touch” without judgment and let them go.

Emotions: Allow emotions to be present without judging them. Practice a steady and relaxed naming of emotions: “joy,” “anger,” “frustration.”

Autumn Wellness

While many assume that Andy Williams was singing about Christmas in his well known song many would argue the most wonderful time of the year is fall. Leaves are changing colors, there are ample excuses to leave hearty meals simmering in the crockpot, and pumpkin spice is everywhere! But how do we maintain our wellness as the days get shorter and the weather gets cooler? Here are some tips to consider:

  1. Get Outdoors – Spending time outdoors has been shown to improve mental health, concentration, and focus while lowering heart rate, blood pressure, and cortisol levels. Consider a daily walk to enjoy the color of the changing leaves, or lean into the yard work you know you need to get done. Want something more fun? Head to your local farm to pick apples, pumpkins, and other spoils of the season.
  2. Stay Hydrated – While we associate the summer with dehydration cooler weather can also dehydrate you as you sweater under layers of warm clothes, so be sure that while you out and about your requisite water based on this chart.
  3. Eat Autumnal – Fall gives us many delicious and healthy nutrition options including pumpkins, apples, pumpkins, pears, squash, cranberries, sweet potatoes, eggplant, and beets. All of these are perfect for a warm and healthy soup!
  4. Mind Your Mental Health – Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) often sets in during the fall and affects million Americans. But even if you don’t suffer from seasonal depression, autumn is a good time to refocus on your mental health as it’s easy to get down when the days begin to turn cold and sunlight wanes. Practice mindfulness or start journaling, focusing on the positives in your life without invalidating any difficulties you are experiencing and the emotions that come with them, or do a digital detox.
  5. Get Social – Cooler weather often means more time indoors, but that can put you at risk of social isolation during the fall. Considering that social isolation can increases premature death risk, staying connected is every bit as important as other wellness activities. You can stay connected as the weather cools by attending holiday celebrations, volunteering, attending or hosting backyard bonfires, or joining in person or online clubs (books, films, cooking, sports, etc.)

Adapted from https://www.wellsteps.com/blog/2024/09/16/fall-wellness-tips/

Life coach or therapist? Know the differences

Many people at present are seeking help solving problems and coping with a variety of concerns that have become a typical but unwelcome part of daily life. But how do you know who to turn to when you need a hand making sense of life’s challenges?

Emily Hemendinger is an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Recently, Dr. Hemendinger offered her perspective on the increasingly popular field of coaching. As a licensed clinical social worker who specializes in mental health and public health, she has observed coaching’s growing popularity and how patients’ interest appears to stem from a lack of affordable and accessible mental health care. Coaches have the potential to fill a gap and work alongside therapists to assist clients. Many people seek coaching to help them make a big decision or hold them accountable for making progress toward a set goal – from launching a business to sticking to their wellness routines. Because the industry is unregulated, however, it’s important for people to understand its limits before using a coach’s services.guidance on how to seek the right type of professional to help you to continue to work through whatever life brings your way.

Dr. Hemendinger full article can be read at NPR.org, but in sum she recommends that following considerations if you are considering coaching.

  • What training does the coach have? What’s their background? I recommend looking into their education and licensing, as well as any titles or certificates that you find unfamiliar.
  • Is someone telling you that they can cure you or that they have a product that can fix your problem – a meal plan, diet, coaching course, etc.?
  • Do they have research and evidence, not just anecdotes, to back up the claims they are making? If something is being touted as “tested” or “proven,” make sure you ask about the data.
  • Is the person touting their service as the “only” way to get better? Are they making unrealistic claims, such as being able to cure someone of their trauma symptoms in one month? A credible life coach is not going to promise to completely change your life or cure you.
  • Is there a formal contract with the services provided clearly laid out? Does this contract discuss limitations of services provided? Is there clarity around fees and charges
  • Is the coach willing to be flexible about their approach? Do they become defensive when you ask questions?

ACTing On Values: The Midlife Relationship Tune-Up

Welcome to the first part of a series of occasional posts meant to help us think about some of the most common areas humans value through the lens of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Today we will be focusing on the ACT value area of Partnership. No matter which of the 35 or more terms that you use to describe your most intimate relationship types and dynamics, it is worth asking ourselves some important questions from time to time to assess the status of those relationships and, if they need a tune-up, how.

ACT starts by asking some foundational questions. Setting aside the most fundamental question of what kind of partner you want, one might ask themselves “what kind of partner do you want to be?” You might also ask what are the qualities that would describe a relationship you want to be a part of.

To that end, Catherine Pearson at the New York Times recently interviewed therapists and relationship researchers who shared 6 additional questions that can bring couples closer after the relationship has been up and running for a while. You can read the full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/10/well/family/marriage-midlife-counseling.html, the questions are summarized below.

  1. What is our next chapter? Orna Guralnik, a Manhattan-based clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst who stars in the Showtime documentary series “Couples Therapy,” encourages her clients to consider their plans for the third chapter of their relationships (when the marriage is neither fresh and new, nor consumed by domestic demands). It’s a conversation she sees many couples having organically, particularly those in their 50s and 60s whose children have left home. “Where are they going to turn that attention?” she often asks. “And how is that going to inflect the couple?” Galena Rhoades, a psychologist and research professor at the University of Denver, has advised clients to ask one another: “What are our big hopes and dreams?”
  2. What are we modeling for our children or other couples? What do we want others to learn from our relationship? How might that shape their own relationships? For instance, maybe you want to make it clear that relationships take work, Dr. Rhoades said, so you talk to your children about how you handle conflict. Perhaps it’s emphasizing the importance of date nights and prioritizing coupledom.
  3. How do I contribute to any problems we have or are currently facing? This kind of self-reflection is easier said than done, admitted Adam R. Fisher, a psychologist and sex therapist based in Salt Lake City. But by midlife, most of us have learned something about ourselves and our relationships. Dr. Fisher said that taking time to reflect on the type of partner they want to be — regardless of what their partner does or doesn’t do — ultimately gives his clients a greater sense of agency within their relationships.
  4. What skills have we developed? By the time couples reach middle age, many have fallen into decades-long communication patterns, some better than others, said Jeffrey Chernin, a marriage and family therapist based in Los Angeles and the author of “Achieving Intimacy.” So he often encourages partners to think about the positive communication skills they have developed. “You want to fortify those,” he said. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Maybe you’re both good at listening without interrupting, for example. Maybe you are pros at apologizing. Simply acknowledging some of those strengths can be a useful bonding exercise, Mr. Chernin said. “Let’s strengthen what’s going well,” he said, “not just address what needs to be improved.
  5. Is this relationship worth it? With experience, most people come to understand that no one gets everything they want from one person, said Terrence Real, a family therapist and author of “Us: Getting Past You and Me to Build a More Loving Relationship.” Which is why middle age can be a good time to have what he calls a “relational reckoning.” “A relational reckoning is a question,” he explained, “and the question is: Am I getting enough in this relationship to make grieving what I don’t get OK with me?”
  6. Should we get outside help? It is important to approach the questions above with a sense of curiosity and openness, said Tiana Frazier, a licensed marriage and family therapist based in Texas. Try to stay present and avoid becoming defensive, she said, and “if the conversation becomes overwhelming, it’s OK to take a break.” Couples who are contemplating whether they want to stay together — or perhaps to radically change the structure of their relationship — may want to engage professional help. Discernment counseling is an option for couples who are pondering big changes, Ms. Hershman said. Depending on your circumstances, you might consider a specific form of counseling, like sex therapy, or individual therapy if your partner is reluctant to join you.

You 2.0: Taking Control of Your Time

“Hidden Brain” is a podcast that explores the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior and questions that lie at the heart of our complex and changing world. Hosted by Shankar Vedantam, NPR’s social science correspondent, former reporter and columnist at The Washington Post, and columnist, and wrote the Department of Human Behavior column for the Post, and fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, the series transforms what are sometimes dry, academic research topics into compelling stories that offer a total and complete escape.

Recently, Vedantam explored a topic the hits close to home for many of us: time as a limited resource. As Shankar puts it: “many of us feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day. We struggle to make time for all the competing demands at work and at home, and inevitably feel like we’re letting someone down. But what if there were a way to reclaim our time and, as a result, get more joy out of our lives? This week, psychologist Cassie Mogilner Holmes explains how we’ve fallen victim to the illusion of time scarcity, and what we can do to spend our time more wisely.”

If this is something you can identify with be sure to listen to the full episode at https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/taking-control-of-your-time/.

Forest Bathing

Marielle Segarra hosts the show Life Kit on NPR and Philadelphia native, recently revisited the topic of forest bathing. For those unfamiliar with this, it is the act of spending time in the forest in what the Japanese call shinrin-yoku, a term originating in the 1980s that means “bathing in the forest atmosphere.” Qing Li, a researcher on this topic and a professor at Nippon Medical School in Tokyo, says that “This is not exercise or hiking or jogging, it is simply being in nature, connecting with it through our sense of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch.”

Not only is “forest bathing” a magical way to explore nature, decades of research has shown that it’s good for your health. It can boost your immune system, lower blood pressure and help with depression. It can also reduce the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline and turn down the dial on your body’s fight-or-flight response.

You can read Segarra’s full piece at https://www.npr.org/2023/08/22/1195337204/a-guide-to-forest-bathing, and a starters guided is offered below.

1. Find a location where you’re surrounded by trees – The ideal place to forest bathe is well, in a forest. But if you live far away from one or don’t have the means to get there, any place that has a lot of trees and quiet spaces will do.

2. Set aside a good chunk of time – To reap the ultimate rewards of shinrin-yoku, plan to spend two to six hours in the woods, says Li. A 2019 study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that walking just 15 minutes through the woods can help relieve stress and anxiety.

3. Aim to reduce heart rate – Your forest bathing session is a good time to sit or walk or do some gentle yoga or tai chi. It’s not the time to squeeze in your hardcore cardio for the week.

4. Breathe in the scents of the forest – Many of the benefits of shinrin-yoku come when we inhale the chemicals that trees release into the air, called phytoncides, says Li. They can reduce our stress hormones and increase our levels of white-blood cells known as natural killer cells, according to his research. In one study from 2009, his team ordered special concentrated essential oils made from Japanese cypress trees and then pumped them into the hotel rooms of test subjects using a diffuser. The people staying in those rooms saw about 40 to 50% of the health benefits as those who did a forest bathing session.

5. Bolster your forest bath with meditation – When you get to the forest or the park, walk a little bit and then find a spot that speaks to you. Now sit down, says Evans, and try this exercise. “Inhale for a count of one, two and then exhale for double the length of time, so it’s one, two, three, four. Then keep that going.” “When the exhale is slower than the inhale, it sends a physiological message to your body that says: ‘I’m safe. I can relax. It’s OK,’ ” he adds.

(mini)Vacations Between Vacations

Vacations often find ourselves behaving the way we would want to behave everyday were it not for our mountains of responsibilities and the toll they take. We slow day, have more in-depth conversations with loved ones, move more, eat better, and engage in activities that bring us joy. And there is research suggesting connections between vacations and lower stress, a healthier heart rate and increased creativity, the benefits of which can last for weeks after the vacation is over!

But how do we keep the good vibes going? Dr. Sarah Pressman, a professor of psychological science at the University of California, has a few suggestions:

Do a “mini version” of your favorite thing: The first step, Dr. Pressman said, is to reflect on your vacation: What did you love doing the most? Was it family dinners with great conversations? Was it daily naps? Then, she said, “try to find a mini version of that.” If you loved biking on vacation, she said, start with a weekly bike ride.

Get outside: Some people spend more time outdoors on their vacations, and the research is robust that green spaces provide health benefits galore. If you miss being outside, aim for “snackable bits of nature” near your home, e.g go to a park for a few minutes or hang a bird feeder just outside your door.

Engage your senses: If certain scents, tastes or sounds lifted your spirits on vacation, try to replicate them at home. Cook a meal that you loved on vacation or play some local music that you heard.

Display a memento: Don’t discount the value of souvenirs. They can have a lasting effect on our happiness. In fact, research has found that items with high sentimental value can bring us sustained happiness.

How to get through a bad mental health day

The folks over at Calm recently wrote a post discussing how to spot the signs of a bad mental health day and what to do about.

“Feeling down is the mental health version of having a cold,” they say.

“We all get a cold (mental or physical) sometimes. It could be more serious (depression or flu) but it’s still a bummer. And most of us try to force
ourselves to push through it.

Some of the symptoms of a mental health cold include:

  • Wanting to stay in bed more than usual
  • Small tasks feel overwhelming
  • General mood is “ugh”
  • You can’t imagine feeling better

So the next time you feel down,
take care of yourself like you’d nurse a cold:

  • Rest & hydrate.
  • Listen to your body’s needs.
  • Let your heavy feelings flow through (and eventually) out of you.”

Need something to get you started getting unstuck? Check out the RAIN Mindfulness Practice.

Wellness Tips from the U.S. Olympics Team

Kweku Smith, PhD, is a former Milwaukee Bucks team psychologist and is now experiencing his first Olympics and Paralympics as a Team USA mental health care provider. While he and his colleagues are on call 24/7 throughout the Games for crises big and small, Smith encourages his patient athletes to check in for well visits when their mental health is in a good place. He recommends the general public take charge of their mental well-being the same way.

“I tell people, seek out services before you need it. That way, you have a person who can get a baseline on what’s average for you,” Smith says. “If they see things slowly deteriorating, they can pull a mirror to you to say, hey, let’s try these things. Or, unfortunately, if a trauma or tragedy happens, you have a professional as a part of your team who can be there.”

Smith adds, “Look at mental health just as you do your physical health—as we get a yearly physical, as we go to the eye doctor, as we go to the dentist on a regular basis. We don’t go every day. Sometimes you go on an as-needed basis until something happens, and then maybe you do a few more.”

Read more about Smith, his contributions to Team USA, and discover more tips to take care of your mental health at https://fortune.com/well/article/mental-health-wellness-paris-2024-olympics/

It’s Ok Not To Be Happy… Sometimes

Some days it may feel like literally every area of our life is faltering. There is too much work, we are fighting with our partners, we can’t lose those last 5 pounds, and the current geopolitical situation is…bad. And through this many folks might encourage is to simply shift our focus to more pleasant things, but what if it is OK to not be happy and optimistic sometimes?

Recently the content curators at Mellowed published an article entitled “It’s Ok Not To Be Happy… Sometimes” that examines why uncomfortable emotions like sadness and anxiety can sometimes hit is out of the blue and stick around longer than we would like, and also what we can do about it. In addition to their recommendations, today might be a good day to review our archived piece “Mindfulness for Difficult Emotions.”

Reframe your relationship with dread: 5 exercises to help accept what scares you

The list of things we dread is almost endless: the Sunday scaries, climate change, deadlines, the holidays, simple errands, you name it.

So how can we feel better when we’re expecting the worst? We’ve been exploring this theme in a miniseries in Season 2 of More Than a Feeling, a podcast on emotions from the meditation and mindfulness platform Ten Percent Happier. And we’ve learned that dread isn’t all that bad.

It turns out there are some benefits in starting an open conversation about the things that worry us. “The purpose of dread is to help prepare you,” says psychologist Ali Mattu. “It’s to help you think about what might happen. It’s to help you take actions that you can right now.”

We talked to researchers, art therapists and death doulas to find out how to dread better.

1. Rewrite your dread

We often struggle to talk about dread because it can feel so heavy. Poet and clinical psychologist Hala Alyan has a suggestion: Write down the things you’re concerned about.

Exercise: She shares a journal prompt to help you emotionally distance yourself from your dread: “Write yourself a letter from your Dread’s point of view. The letter should answer the following questions: What are you hoping to achieve? How do you think it’s going? What is your intention?”

2. Draw your dread

What happens when we express our dread without words? Art therapist Naomi Cohen-Thompson and meditation teacher and writer Jeff Warren explain why reframing our attitudes toward dread nonverbally can help us accept what scares us.

Exercise: Draw how you are feeling inside; then “take note of how you feel when you look at your drawing,” according to Ten Percent Happier’s website. “If it amuses you, you could even try sticking it up on the wall near your work space, or by the bathroom mirror, to help it feel welcome, instead of like an enemy you want to reject.”

3. Find the joy in dreading … death

Fear of death may be the ultimate type of dread we face, but clinical psychologist Rachel Menzies and death doula Alua Arthur say that facing death can be a joyful exercise. They make a compelling case for why remembering we will die — instead of trying to forget — can help us accept the inevitable.

Exercise: “At some point in the next 24 [hours], wherever you are — in your home, or out on a walk — take 3-5 minutes to pause. … Then, take a look around you. … Look at — and name — the things that are either dying or have died,” according to Ten Percent Happier. That includes the wood on your desk or the kitchen light bulb that just blew out.

4. Schedule your dread

This is how my dread works: I dread something. I try to avoid thinking about it. I fail. Before I know it, I’ve spent an entire day stuck in an endless loop of worry. Mattu says to carve out “worry time” to keep dread from becoming too overwhelming.

Exercise: “Block off about ten minutes,” says Mattu. “Then, simply sit with the running list of things you’re dreading. … When the timer dings, you can leave dread behind, knowing that there will be more time to address it later.”

5. Notice your surroundings

After speaking with More Than a Feeling listeners, it became clear that one of the biggest issues they’re worried about right now is the state of our planet. Therapist Patty Adams helped me understand how connecting to the environment can help us build emotional resilience — so that even if we feel discouraged by “eco-dread,” as it’s called, we don’t stay there for too long.

Exercise: “This evening, some time around sunset, stop what you’re doing, and step outside,” according to Ten Percent Happier. “Take time to notice things around you: the quality of the light, the color it makes on your skin or the other structures or living things around you. … When you turn around to go back in, does a little bit of that evening glow follow you back in?”

Tips for a Happy & Healthy Summer

We hope everyone’s summer is off to a fantastic start! While everyone is enjoying the (sometimes too) warm weather we want to be sure you keep an eye on your wellness at the same time. As such, we offer these 21 tips from the folks at wellsteps.com. Check them out below, and click through to their site for the full details!

1. Have fun (or just relax) in the sun
2. … But don’t forget your sunscreen
3. Stay hydrated
4. Adopt a daily stretching routine
5. Go for daily walks
6. Fire up healthy grilling recipes
7. Do a digital detox
8. Bike to work
9. Try a new sport or activity
10. Meditate daily
11. Watch the sunrise and sunset
12. Participate in 5K or OCR races
13. Take a summer class
14. Read summer books
15. Have a reunion
16. Practice grounding techniques
17. Start a garden
18. Summer savings
19. Travel
20. Volunteer
21. Get your ZZZ’s

Mental Health America: Pride and Mental Health

As we continue to observe Pride Month we are invited to continue to understand the relationship between Pride and mental health, and what we can do about it. As such, Mental Health America has put together a useful guide on this issue. The full resource can be found at https://mhanational.org/lgbtq/pride, and a summary is provided below. We encourage everyone to continue to explore these resources to promote equality and good mental health for all.

“Pride Month is a time for LGBTQ+ folks to gather and celebrate their freedom to live authentically. The LGBTQ+ community deserves affirmed, safe, supported, joyful, and mentally healthy lives. Anti-trans legislation, hate-based crimes, and discrimination shouldn’t overshadow Pride, but they can’t be ignored. We hope those struggling with their identity or living in unsupportive environments find these resources helpful to living a life of well-being and resilience.”

Exploring and affirming your gender

Affirming your loved one’s gender exploration and identity

Providing gender-affirming mental health care

Pride Month: Neuroqueer Identities and Mental Health

Gender-nonconforming people are three to six times more likely to be on the autism spectrum. There are also higher rates of ADHD among gender-nonconforming peopleIdentifying as neuroqueer means that a person sees their neurodivergent and queer identities as interacting with each other.

The term “neurodivergent” has been gaining popularity recently. It often refers to people who have ADHD and/or are on the autism spectrum. There is a strong connection between LGBTQ+ identities and neurodivergent identities.

Please take some time today to explore the below resources from Mental Health America discussing challenges faced as neuroqueer individuals as well as how to find and give support. https://mhanational.org/neuroqueer

Pride Month: SOGIESC

From: https://www.who.int/activities/improving-lgbtqi-health-and-well–being-with-consideration-for-sogiesc which contains a wide variety of resources to aid us in better educating ourselves and helping others.

“LGBTIQ+ health refers to the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex or queer (LGBTIQ+). The plus sign represents the vast diversity of people in terms of sexual orientation, gender identity, expression and sex characteristics (SOGIESC). The LGBTIQ+ acronym is dynamic and can vary depending on the region or country, highlighting the multitude of LGBTIQ+ communities across cultures. 

While recognizing the diversity of LGBTIQ+ people, evidence suggests some common experiences affecting their health and well-being. They are less likely to access health services and engage with healthcare workers due to stigma and discrimination, resulting in adverse physical and mental health outcomes.  They can also experience human rights violations including violence, torture, criminalization, involuntary medical procedures and discrimination. In addition, they can face denial of care, discriminatory attitudes and inappropriate pathologizing in healthcare settings based on their SOGIESC. 

WHO’s support to countries is founded on the fundamental human rights principle that all persons should have access to health services without discrimination. The adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its pledge to “leave no one behind”, based on the normative framework of international human rights law, has reinforced the need to understand and improve the health and well-being of LGBTIQ+ people. WHO develops guidelines, provides technical support and conducts research to help countries develop and strengthen inclusive health systems and policies for the health and well-being of all people, regardless of SOGIESC.”

Pride Month: Allyship in Action

Pride Month is a month dedicated to the celebration and commemoration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) pride that began after the Stonewall riots, a series of gay liberation protests in 1969. As we observe Pride this year, here is a reminder from the Trevor Project of what it means to be an Ally and promote wellness in the community all year long.

From https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/guide/allyship-in-action/

Educate Yourself

We should never stop learning, because education can help save lives. It’s important to educate yourself, so that the burden of education isn’t on the LGBTQ+ people you want to be an ally to. Luckily, there are a lot of resources that can help you know more about the LGBTQ+ community.

Support LGBTQ+ Young People

  • Be a safe space when discussing difficult topics and utilize empathetic listening practices such as reflecting language, validating experiences, staying present, being non-judgemental and expressing care, concern and encouragement.
  • Use colleagues’ pronouns correctly and consistently. Model sharing pronouns in meetings, in email signatures, and on web platforms.

Advocate for LGBTQ+ People

Through advocacy at all levels of government, public education, and litigation we leverage our expertise and cutting-edge research to advance protective policies, increase public support, and create the world each LGBTQ+ young person deserves. This includes efforts to…

  • Protect LGBTQ+ young people from the dangerous practice of conversion “therapy.”
  • Ensure trans and nonbinary young people can access the care they need and live as their authentic selves.
  • Create safe and affirming school environments.
  • Ensure the nation’s 988 Lifeline is able to adequately and competently support LGBTQ+ young people in crisis.

Be a Visible Ally When Working With LGBTQ+ Young People

  • Introduce yourself with your name and pronouns. Invite others to do the same.
  • If you’re able, decorate your space with items that signify allyship. This could be a pronoun button, a flag, or a poster of an LGBTQ+ film or artist.
  • Do not tolerate bullying or harassment in your space at all. If bullying
    or harassment happens, enact consequences and hold the person causing harm accountable.
  • Talk positively about LGBTQ+ people. Even in instances where it’s not appropriate to share their identity, this can show allyship. Always condemn acts of erasure if you’re able.
  • Encourage visual cues of allyship, such as ‘safe space’ stickers or rainbow flags.

Let the Sunshine In

Memorial Day is considered the unofficial beginning of summer here in the United States, and with that in the rearview many are considering their plans for the next few months. But whether you will be staying at work or headed to the shore it is important to let the sunshine in! See below for 8 benefits of catching some rays from our friends over at Calm.

1. Vitamin D synthesis: When our skin is exposed to sunlight, it creates vitamin D, a crucial nutrient that helps the body absorb calcium and phosphorus. This is vital for building and maintaining strong bones and teeth. Vitamin D also supports the immune system in protecting against illnesses and infections.

2. Regulation of sleep cycles: Sunlight influences our body’s internal clock, which controls when we feel awake and when we feel sleepy. Natural light exposure during the day helps regulate the production of melatonin, the hormone responsible for sleep. Aligning our sleep-wake cycles with natural sunlight can help improve the quality of our sleep and can make it easier to wake up feeling refreshed.

3. Lower blood pressure: Sunlight on the skin can stimulate the production of nitric oxide. This can widen blood vessels, helping reduce blood pressure. Lower blood pressure can decrease the risk of heart attacks and strokes, and contribute to overall cardiovascular health.

4. Immune system boost: Beyond vitamin D production, sunlight can help increase white blood cell count, helping defend the body against infections. More exposure to sunlight might mean a potentially better-prepared immune system to fight off illness.

5. Mood enhancement: Sunlight may directly influence mood by increasing the production of the neurotransmitter serotonin. Often called the “feel-good” chemical, it can contribute to feelings of happiness and wellbeing. Regular exposure to sunlight can help elevate your mood, reduce feelings of sadness, and increase overall emotional stability.

6. Reduction in stress levels: Sunlight can have a calming effect by helping regulate stress hormones, like cortisol, making it easier to relax. This soothing effect of natural light can make day-to-day challenges more manageable and improve mental clarity and focus.

7. Relieving symptoms of anxiety and depression: The boost in serotonin may help reduce anxiety by bringing a sense of calm. For those affected by seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which is a type of depression related to changes in seasons, sunlight can help counteract the symptoms that come with the decrease in natural light during the darker months.

8. Improved sleep quality: Sunlight helps regulate melatonin, the sleep hormone, which can help you fall asleep more easily and can enhance sleep quality.

Help Yourself to Happiness

According to a recent survey published by Oracle, seventy-eight percent of those polled said they would pay a premium for true happiness if it were possible. Given that doing so is not possible, positive psychology researcher Stephanie Harrison took time to consider other ways of moving toward happiness. One undepreciated way, she found, is through serving others.

In her recent book, “New Happy“, she shared that she thinks “the secret to happiness is using who you are to help other people, and to do that, you have to discover who you are, who you really are, away from the conditioning that we’ve been given by our society.”

Here are some quick tips to get started. To learn more visit https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/16/this-is-the-secret-to-happiness-from-a-happiness-researcher.html

  • Send a note to a loved one letting them know how much you appreciate them
  • Write a nice email to someone praising their work
  • Call a friend you haven’t heard from in a while
  • Give a call to a store or business that you enjoy and thank them
  • Smile at a stranger
  • Speak up about a cause that holds value to you

3 Resiliency Habits

The topic of resiliency was popular pre-COVID and, in the last four years, has become a necessary concept to understand and promote.

Recently, Ashton Jackson at CNBC reviewed the work of Penn’s Adam Grant on the subject.

Everyone experiences unexpected hardships. You can bounce back and learn from them with an important soft skill: resilience.

The more mentally resilient you are, the more quickly you can recover from challenges or persist in the face of them, according to Wharton psychologist Adam Grant. The trait helps you take smarter risks, beat burnout at work and live a happier life. Without it, you can more easily get stuck on your problems and fall into a negative mental state.

Building resilience takes time, but finding ways to foster wellness, healthy thinking and connection with others can help you strengthen your adaptability and mental flexibility, according to the American Psychological Association.

Here are three habits that can help you become highly resilient, experts say:

Tend and befriend

If your typical response to stress is to get away from it or shut down, you’re not alone. But resilience is all about finding ways through life’s stressors and learning from them, and creating social connections can help.

“We all know about fight-or-flight — the stress response that can occur when we encounter a perceived threat,” executive coach and author Jason Shen wrote for CNBC Make It in March. “But social scientists have uncovered a different and equally important stress response called ‘tend-and-befriend,’” which involves seeking contact with others when you’re facing a tough situation.

To cultivate this response, Shen recommends trying these activities:

  • Schedule chats with friends or family to discuss the stressful situation, or simply boost your mood.
  • Join a support group where you can discuss your problems, in depth, with people who might be experiencing similar circumstances.
  • Give someone a hug. The action boosts “happy” chemicals like oxytocin and endorphins, which can help calm you down in the face of stress.

Take a digital break

Content on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook can be a nice distraction. It can also cause mental health-related challenges like anxiety, depression, low self-esteem and increased isolation or loneliness.

To build resilience, take a digital break every now and then, says University of Pennsylvania humanities professor Justin McDaniel — otherwise known as the teacher of Penn’s “monk class.”

McDaniel spent almost a year living like a monk, and found that limiting digital use can help you clear your head and make you more available for meaningful, in-person connection — both of which can help you strengthen your resilience.

“I always tell my students that the difference in a lot of things in life is dealing with 30 seconds of discomfort,” McDaniel told Make It last year. “What if you got in an elevator or onto the subway with someone else and didn’t immediately pull out your phone?”

Help other people

Doing acts of service for other people, like volunteering, can help you build mental resilience and find community, the Mayo Clinic noted in a blog post last year.

Reflecting on the experience afterward can show you the impact of your work and help you maintain motivation, according to Grant. His advice is simple: Keep a journal of your contributions to others.

Grant found the journaling approach to be effective after conducting a study with two groups of employees. One wrote about what they were grateful for every day, and the other wrote about three ways they helped others each day.

“Attending to gratitude made people happier. It certainly made them more satisfied with their jobs. It didn’t affect their resilience, though,” Grant told Make It in 2017. “What really boosted resilience was focusing not on contributions received from other people, but rather, contributions given to other people.”

Insights Into Nursing Wellness

This week’s DD comes to us via Jennifer Garefino, Operational Excellence Specialist, in honor of National Nurses Week.

Let’s start with a question: How much does a nurse walk during their shift?

According to recent data, an average 12-hour day shift will require a nurse to walk about 5 miles. The authors of this article suggest that nurses walk much more than many other professions, and because of this, nurses will be able to reach their fit goals and stay healthier because of the increased amount of exercise they receive on the job, at least in this one regard. But what else going into nursing wellness? Read more at NurseToghether.com!

Gut Check

According to a recent paper, “The number of individuals experiencing mental disorders (e.g., anxiety and depression) has significantly risen in recent years. Therefore, it is essential to seek prevention and treatment strategies for mental disorders. Several gut microbiota, especially Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, are demonstrated to affect mental health through microbiota–gut–brain axis, and the gut microbiota dysbiosis can be related to mental disorders, such as anxiety, depression, and other mental disorders. On the other hand, dietary components, including probiotics (e.g., Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium), prebiotics (e.g., dietary fiber and alpha-lactalbumin), synbiotics, postbiotics (e.g., short-chain fatty acids), dairy products, spices (e.g., Zanthoxylum bungeanum, curcumin, and capsaicin), fruits, vegetables, medicinal herbs, and so on, could exert protective effects against mental disorders by enhancing beneficial gut microbiota while suppressing harmful ones.”

So what do we do about this? The folks over at the blog “Well+Good” recommend 9 areas you can focus on, perhaps one area per week over the next few months, to attend to the importance of guy health. Full details are at https://www.wellandgood.com/how-to-improve-gut-health/, but the list boils down to this: Eat more plants, add fiber wherever you can, try fermented foods like miso or sauerkraut, reduce processed food intake, drink plenty of water, and avoid unnecessary antibiotics. Check the article above for specific tips on how, or consult with your doctors at your next appointment.

Get Dirty!

Science says grab a handful of soil or hike a muddy trail, it can benefit everything from your mood to your microbiome!

Holly Burns at the New York Times recently provided a summary of these findings in her article “A Little Bit of Dirt Is Good for You.” She interviewed Christopher A. Lowry, a professor of integrative physiology at the University of Colorado Boulder, and his recommendations are below.

  • Embrace the dirt while you move. Activities like mountain biking, camping and hiking are easy ways to come into contact with a diverse microbial ecosystem, Dr. Lowry said. “I think we underestimate how much exposure we get from simply being outside.”

  • Plant or pick something. Gardening has long been associated with reduced depression, anxiety and stress, and it calls for plenty of time spent working in the dirt. When people ask him how to get started, Leigh Johnstone, a gardener and mental health advocate in Southampton, England, who goes by “The Beardy Gardener” to his 21,000 Instagram followers, asks them one question: “Well, what do you like to eat?” Tomatoes are one of the easiest things to grow, said Mr. Johnstone, because they need very little maintenance and can be planted in a pot or hanging basket on a balcony. He also suggested strawberries and herbs like basil, mint or chives.

  • Do like the kids do. Jill Dreves, the founder of Wild Bear Nature Center in Nederland, Colo., has a simple recipe for getting dirty: Make a mud pie. She suggested throwing something similar to a sip and paint event: Ask everyone to bring an old cake pan and get creative with mud. “Bring out some rocks and beads to press into them, collect some pretty leaves, press your hands or feet in,” said Ms. Dreves, who has organized mud pie parties with her staff. “We save that kind of thing for little kids, but really, as adults, we need to be doing more of it.” If you have actual kids to entertain, build a fairy garden, Ms. Yurich said. Gather leaves and moss to create a miniature, magical landscape, using sticks to construct huts, bark for the floor and stones for seating. Mr. Johnstone and his 2-year-old daughter like making bug hotels, which encourage insects to shelter inside. They also make seed bombs, which you can assemble any time of year, then store until spring or autumn to throw around the yard, Mr. Johnstone said. “A lot of people still have this nervousness around touching soil,” he said. But for him, “it makes me happy.”

Psychological Wellbeing Through Decluttering

Research suggests that clutter can affect our wellbeing broadly, being associated with anxiety, poor sleep, and inability to focus. It can also make us less productive, triggering coping and avoidance strategies that make us more likely to snack on junk and watch TV shows (including ones about other people decluttering their lives). More globally, clutter can influence our cognition, emotions and subsequent behaviors, including our relationships with others.

So what can be done about this? Jancee Dunn at the New York Times Well Blog suggests three projects you can likely accomplish when you get home tonight and that may move you closer to a sense of wellbeing.

Let go of mystery chargers and cords: According to Melissa Dilkes Pateras, an organizing expert and author of “A Dirty Guide to a Clean Home,” Many of us have a dusty box or bag of mystery cords, chargers, remote controls and reusable batteries. We have no idea what they’re for, but we’re afraid to throw them out. It’s time to dump out the container, said Pateras, who is known to her 1.6 million TikTok followers as the “Laundry Lesbian.” Separate the chargers, batteries and phones into piles. “Think about all of the things in your house that have cords or chargers, and go through and try them,” she said. If nothing fits, she said, out they go. “You don’t need your Razr flip phone charger,” she said. To drop off electronic waste, contact your city’s sanitation department or search on sites such as Call2Recycle, Earth911 or GreenCitizen. Stores like Best Buy offer electronics recycling programs. And if someday you find that you truly need that discarded cord, Kennedy said, a replacement is usually easy to find.

Clear the clutter out of your car: Kennedy has found that even the most committed neatnik may have a different attitude when it comes to their car. “Some people will say, ‘My car is my one place where I can just do whatever, it’s my nest space. So I’ve got wrappers all over. I’ve got bills. I’ve got my requisition for blood work.’” To start, Kennedy said, bring a garbage bag, wet wipes, glass cleaner and a dry cloth out to the car. Check the doors, the cup holder, the center console, the glove compartment, under the front seats, the back pockets of the car seats and the trunk. Throw away anything that’s outdated or doesn’t belong, said Kennedy, such as old paperwork or fast food toys your kids played with for two seconds. “There’s a joke in the organizing community that we keep donations in our car that you mean to drop off, and then we leave them in there for a year,” Kennedy said. If you keep reusable shopping bags in your trunk, Pateras said, “the rule of thumb is to have as many as you use for your biggest grocery shopping trip.” And if you haven’t used something in the past few months, and if it’s not for an emergency, Kennedy said, return it to its proper place in the house. (A first aid kit can stay in the car, Kennedy said, but out-of-season sports equipment doesn’t need to join you year-round.)

Dig out from under the kitchen sink: Shira Gill, organizing expert and author of “Minimalista,” calls this area a “shove-and-pile zone.” “Even if you’re the only one that sees it,” she said, “clear it out as a treat for yourself.” First, Pateras said, pull out every single thing under the sink. Then wipe off the surfaces, and get rid of expired products and worn-out items like sponges and cracked rubber gloves. Toss specialty cleaning products that you haven’t used in at least a year, like that curdled grout cleaner, Gill said. (The American Cleaning Institute provides instructions for safe disposal). Gill also puts her dishwasher pods in a container like a Mason jar, she said, “which takes up less room and looks nicer.” Kennedy recommends getting a caddy for your cleaning products. Stock it with multipurpose cleaners, which will lighten your load, and some microfiber towels, she said. I finally chipped out the loaf under my sink, and now that area is clear and tidy (and dry). My new motto: No shoving, no piling.

Otherish

We’ve all heard the age-old wisdom that “it is better to give than to receive” from parents or spiritual teachings. Psychologist Adam Grant extends this idea to suggest that a culture of giving can lead to higher productivity, morale, and efficiency.

According to his research, generosity fosters a sense of community and trust, encouraging collaboration and support among team members. This environment enables individuals to flourish, as they feel valued and supported. To foster a culture of generosity, leaders need to step up and lead by example. They need to create an environment where generosity is recognized and rewarded and where employees feel safe giving without fear of being exploited.

Grant coined the term “otherish” giving, which refers to offering help to those you choose to, and which ultimately benefits you by lifting your spirits. Economists describe this feeling as the “warm glow” of giving, while psychologists call it the “helper’s high.” Neuroscience also indicates that when we engage in these acts of giving, our brain’s reward and meaning centers are activated, which emit pleasure and purpose signals as we act for the benefit of others. The bottom line? The social connection tied to giving–whether to a person in need in your community or organization or a grassroots charity close to your heart–gives the giver the greatest psychological benefit and boost of happiness.

You can read the full article and learn more about Grant’s work at https://www.inc.com/marcel-schwantes/adam-grant-says-your-overall-happiness-comes-down-to-1-word.html

Worry Well About Your Health

Robert H. Shmerling, MD is the senior faculty editor at Harvard Health Publishing; and member of the editorial advisory board at Harvard Health Publishing. He recently published a piece entitled “How well do you worry about your health?” in which he describes how many of us worry about our health, yet a lot of what we focus on poses little risk.

Dr. Shmerling says “it’s impossible (and ill-advised) to never worry about your health” and asks id we are worrying about the right things. Below is a summary of his comparisons which lead him to his advice: “try not to focus too much on health risks that are unlikely to affect you,” he says. “Instead, think about common causes of poor health. Then take measures to reduce your risk. Moving more and adding healthy foods to your meals is a great start.

And in case you’re curious, the average number of annual deaths due to quicksand is zero in the US!

Spring Renewal

Spring has sprung, and in many cultures this is looked at as a time of renewal. While those renewal efforts are often physical, we can also use this period as a reminder to renew our overall wellbeing. Enter Calm’s recent article “10 ways to (re)find joy in life.” Read the full article, or just scan the list below and choose one to try to work on for the next week or two!

  1. Explore new hobbies and activities: Broaden your horizons by trying new things. This can add excitement to your life and help you discover new passions. Make a list of activities you’ve always wanted to try and take the first step towards trying one this week.💙 Take some time to find out what activities bring you happiness and joy. We recommend beginning with the Discovering Happiness series by Shawn Achor, which dives into habits and activities that are destined to make you feel happier.
  2. Prioritize a healthy diet: What you eat affects your mood. Focus on balanced, nutritious meals that fuel your body and mind. A simple first step could be including more fruits and vegetables in your diet and staying hydrated with water or herbal tea.💙 Change your life by prioritizing what you eat and learn about the importance of a healthy diet in The 4 Pillars of Health series. Remember that food is used for both fuel and fun, and incorporating treats into a healthy lifestyle can ramp up those happiness levels, too.
  3. Practice self-care: Taking care of yourself is crucial. This means getting enough rest, managing stress, and doing things that make you feel good. Set aside a few minutes each day for relaxation or a favorite activity.💙 Discover the tools of self-care and create a nourishing practice of reflection and rest in the Radical Self-Care series. 
  4. Stay active: Exercise releases brain chemicals thought to boost your mood. Start with short, enjoyable physical activities that fit into your daily routine, like a daily walk or some stretching exercises. Bonus points for noticing how you feel after the workout and writing it down in a journal to motivate yourself in the future.💙 Lace up your sneakers and head out for a 30-minute Mindful Run (or walk) with Mel Mah and tune into the world around you. 
  5. Build positive relationships: Positive interactions with friends and family can greatly enhance your happiness, so surround yourself with people who uplift you. Reach out to a friend or family member for a chat or a get-together this week.💙 Practicing Empathy can have positive effects on your own happiness, as well as the happiness of those around you. Give it a try and witness how your connections can blossom.
  6. Connect with nature: Spending time in nature can be calming and rejuvenating. Whether it’s a walk in the park, gardening, or just sitting outside, try to spend some time outdoors every day.💙 If you can’t get outside, you can mentally escape to a more tranquil place with a soundscape like High Sierra Lake or Forest Ambience
  7. Cultivate patience: Finding happiness is a journey. Be patient with yourself as you explore what brings you joy, and understand that happiness can ebb and flow. Acknowledge your feelings and know that it’s okay to have ups and downs.💙 Follow along in this guided meditation with Tamara Levitt on how to cultivate and practice Patience.
  8. Reach out for social support: Speaking about your feelings and experiences can be therapeutic, so talk to friends or family members. Consider joining a local support group to boost your social circle.
  9. Perform acts of kindness: Doing something nice for others can boost your own happiness. Try giving a compliment, volunteering, or helping a neighbor this week, and notice how it makes you feel.💙 Learn how to perform Random Acts of Kindness, which are scientifically proven to increase happiness for both the giver and receiver. 
  10. Seek professional help when necessary: It’s important to recognize when you need additional support and to seek it out. Whether it’s talking to a healthcare professional, joining a support group, or simply confiding in a trusted friend, reaching out is a sign of strength, not weakness.

Well-being Insights from Unlikely Places

Jancee Dunn has been writing about health and science for more than 20 years, and currently published the Well newsletter for The New York Times, a weekly update on personal health and fitness. Recently, she covered a secret to well-being that may surprise you. You can read the full article here, and below is a summary and some thoughts on how you can adopt her findings into your life.

In short, experts say that toddlers — full of energy, curiosity and laughter — have a lot to teach adults! She interviewed Dr. Hasan Merali, an associate professor of pediatrics at McMaster University and a pediatric emergency room physician, who shares the following:

Try positive self-talk.

Young children tend to coach themselves out loud, a practice known as private speech (such as this popular clip from a 4-year-old snowboarder).

Toddlers aren’t shy about self-talk, Dr. Merali said, and you shouldn’t be, either. Research suggests that for adults, positive self-talk can help with problem-solving, learning, confidence and managing your emotions. I told Dr. Merali I tend to speak harshly to myself, but would try to sub in phrases like “You can do it” instead.

Take any opportunity to move.

Two-year-olds are active for almost five hours a day, according to a review of 24 studies. They move joyfully and instinctively, Dr. Merali said.

Adults can look for ways to move more, even if it’s just for a minute. Take a quick walk around the block, or schedule a meeting on foot rather than sitting down. If you’re home alone, do what Kelly McGonigal, a health psychologist at Stanford University, has called “full-body karaoke,” singing and moving to your favorite song. Brief bursts of activity have been shown to increase longevity if they add up to 10 minutes per day. Standing up for three minutes every half-hour can help control your blood sugar, too. You can also find ways to be around young kids, “a happiness that is unmatched,” Dr. Merali said. (The nonprofit Generations United features a national database of intergenerational programs and activities.)

Ask questions.

Young kids are not afraid to pose questions, Dr. Merali said. One study found that they asked an average of 107 questions an hour. (This will not surprise their parents.)

I have written a few children’s books, and my favorite part of library readings was question time: “Have you ever been to the moon?” “Can you turn into a cheetah?”

Adults have been socialized to hold back our questions because we’re often worried about what other people think, Dr. Merali said. But asking questions not only helps us to gain information, it’s also an important way to build relationships, he said.

Fix your sleep schedule.

Toddlers thrive on routine, and having a schedule with consistent sleep and waking times will help you, too, said Alberto Ramos, a sleep neurologist and researcher with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. If your schedule permits, and if you have the urge, napping also has a host of benefits, including sharper thinking and reaction times and improved memory. As long as you’re not dealing with insomnia, which can be worsened by napping, Dr. Ramos recommended a short nap — 20 to 30 minutes maximum — in the early afternoon.

Look for opportunities to laugh.

Toddlers “see the world as a comedy club,” Dr. Merali writes. One study found that young children laugh six times as much as adults. But we can seek ways to build playfulness and humor into our day. Listen to a comedy podcast or trade silly texts with someone, Dr. Merali said. Research shows you laugh more when you are with friends, so make time for them, he said. “I get a daily dad joke mailed to me,” Dr. Merali told me. “And during my lunch break, I watch videos.”

What does he watch? “Funny toddler videos,” he said. Of course.

6 Tips to Relieve Work Stress

Adapted from Calm.com, read the full article there.

In small doses, stress can motivate you to meet deadlines and achieve goals at work. However, when work-related stress becomes chronic, it can lead to mental health problems like anxiety and depression, and physical health problems such as heart disease and high blood pressure.

Recognizing the signs of work stress

  • Emotional symptoms: These may include irritability, frustration, anxiety, depression, or low morale.
  • Physical symptoms: Signs of stress include headaches, muscle tension, fatigue, and sleep disturbances.
  • Behavioral symptoms: Increased absenteeism, reduced productivity, and withdrawal from work-related activities are a few examples.

What to Do About It

1. Identify your stressors

Observe and reflect on when and why you feel stressed to help you see patterns and develop strategies to cope.

  • Keep a stress diary: Record the moments when you feel stressed. Note the situation, your thoughts, how you reacted, and what could have been done differently. 
  • Analyze your diary: Look for recurring themes in your diary. Are there specific tasks, times of day, or interactions that consistently cause stress?

2. Ask for help

Seeking support is a sign of strength, not a weakness.

  • Talk to your supervisor: If workload or a specific task is a source of stress, discuss it with your manager. They may offer solutions or adjustments to your workload.
  • Seek support from colleagues: Talking about stressors with a trusted colleague can provide relief. They might also offer practical advice or assistance.
  • Consider professional help: If work stress is severely impacting your life, seek advice from a mental health professional.

3. Practice mindfulness and meditation

Mindfulness and meditation can help you stay centered and calm.

  • Start with short sessions: Begin with a few minutes of meditation or a mindfulness practice daily. Use guided sessions if you’re a beginner.
  • Incorporate mindfulness into your day: Try to be fully present in whatever you’re doing, whether it’s eating lunch or attending a meeting, to help yourself stay present and reduce feelings of stress and overwhelm.

4. Establish boundaries

Establishing clear boundaries between work and personal life is important for stress management.

  • Set work hours: Define clear start and end times for your workday. Avoid checking emails or taking work calls outside these hours.
  • Create physical or virtual boundaries: Designate a specific area for work and avoid using it for personal activities to help separate work from relaxation time.

5. Take breaks

Regular breaks, even short micro-breaks can help clear your mind, improve focus, and reduce stress.

  • Step away from your desk: Take short breaks throughout the day to walk around, stretch, or do a quick relaxation exercise.
  • Use breaks wisely: Rejuvenate yourself with a few minutes of deep breathing or a brief walk outside.

6. Commit to work-life balance

Ensuring a healthy balance between work and your personal life is essential for reducing stress.

  • Prioritize non-work activities: Make time for hobbies, exercise, and spending time with loved ones. 
  • Learn to disconnect: Physically and mentally disconnect from work after hours. Turning off notifications or setting limits on work-related activities in the evening.

A New Way to Say No

People have the right to ask the question and favors of you, and you have the right to say no.

Some of us are taught early on that saying no to requests from those around us are acts of violation of the relationship but are actually nothing of the sort. It is our right and also our responsibility to draw my own boundaries, rather than expect another person to draw them for me. Author Leslie Jamison learnt this lesson over many years and recently wrote about the art of saying no.

She created a “Notebook of Noes.” On every page, she wrote down an opportunity she had decided to decline: a speaking gig, a magazine commission, an invitation from a friend. Then she drew a line across the page. Underneath, she wrote what saying no had made room for: more time with her partner. More time at home. More time to write. More time to call her mother and ask about her day, and tell her about hers.

What she wound up writing was the story of learning to live a different way. She realized that each time she uttered the word, the world continued just as it always had. The people she had been anxious about disappointing? They were OK. The fear of losing something for good? It often came back, or something else did.

More than anything, however, the Notebook of Noes helped her see absence as a form of presence — instead of lamenting the ghost limb of what she wasn’t doing, she could acknowledge that every refusal was making it more possible to do something else.

Read her full article her, and start your Notebook of Noes today!

Sleep and Mood

While we know poor sleep can be associated with depression, anxiety, and other mental health concerns we often feel powerless to do anything about this. Christina Caron as a writer on the New York Times Well desk where she aims to share expert advice and reputable research in a useful and empathetic, helping others to live better lives. And, while she often write about depression, anxiety and other mental health problems, she also likes to focus on solutions.

In a recent piece she shared that Americans are chronically sleep deprived: one-third of adults in the United States say they get less than 7 hours a night. Teenagers fare even worse: About 70 percent of high school students don’t get enough sleep on school nights. She also shared that an analysis of 19 studies found that while sleep deprivation worsened a person’s ability to think clearly or perform certain tasks, it had a greater negative effect on mood. And when the National Sleep Foundation conducted a survey in 2022, half of those who said they slept less than 7 hours each weekday also reported having depressive symptoms. Some research even indicates that addressing insomnia may help prevent postpartum depression and anxiety. So what do we do about it?

Ms. Caron says “We’ve all heard how important it is to practice good sleep hygiene, employing the daily habits that promote healthy sleep. And it’s important to speak with your doctor, in order to rule out any physical problems that need to be addressed, like a thyroid disorder or restless legs syndrome. But this is only part of the solution. Conditions like anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder can make it harder to sleep, which can then exacerbate the symptoms of mental illness, which in turn makes it harder to sleep well.”

But what else is there? In addition she came across “Say Goodnight to Insomnia” by Gregg D. Jacobs. The book, which uses C.B.T.-I. techniques, helped Emily to reframe the way she thought about sleep. She began writing down her negative thoughts in a journal and then changing them to positive ones. For example: “What if I’m never able to fall asleep again?” would become “Your body is made to sleep. If you don’t get enough rest one night, you will eventually.” These exercises helped her stop catastrophizing.

It may also be helpful to check out some apps with empirical support for efficacy in treating sleep and mood issues, specifically CBT-i Coach.

Be YOUR Valentine

Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate love. But for many, the holiday can be stressful, especially for singles, those mourning lost love, or anyone who may be unhappy with the status of their relationship. One way to cope with this is to shift the love you offer this Valentine’s Dat from others back to yourself! The folks over at Embark Behavioral Health offer these 5 tips for shifting the focus back to you today:

1. Celebrate your most important relationship – the one you have with yourself! The relationship you have with yourself will be your longest relationship in life, so it’s important to treat yourself well. If you are not spending Valentine’s Day with a significant other, plan your own night. Think about what reenergizes you. Take a bath, spend some time with a good book or plan your own at-home spa night. Buy yourself chocolates or flowers. Valentine’s Day is a time to feel loved, so show yourself how much you love you.

2. Invest in all your relationships. Valentine’s Day is a day for love, but not just romantic love. Send Valentine’s Day cards to your family and friends, small gifts of love to your nieces and nephews, or maybe bake cookies for a neighbor. Make the day a day of gratitude where the people in your life feel your appreciation.

3. Practice mindfulness. Meditation and mindfulness can be found in a variety of forms. Find a mindfulness app or a free podcast, turn down the lines, and focus your attention on your breath and your emotions. If sitting quietly and journeying through meditation does not sound helpful, consider coloring in a calming book or writing a journal entry. Doing this regularly has been shown to reduce feelings of anxiety and stress and can help you cope if emotions become too strong.

4. Seek support if necessary. If you are really struggling this Valentine’s Day, speak to a trusted family member, friend or therapist, and get the help you need. If you consider harming yourself or others, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for immediate support by calling, texting, or chatting 988.

5. Turn off social media. You love to see your family and friends happy, but consider avoiding social media for the days leading up to Valentine’s Day. It can be difficult to see others having something you want and turning off social media will give you time to focus on what’s really important this holiday. Always remember that a person’s social media page is often their “highlight reel,” never showing the full story, and usually finding the best parts of their life to show the world.

Do Good, Eat More Cookies!

Launched in 2017, Girl Scouts of Greater New York’s Troop 6000 is a first-of-its-kind program designed to serve families living in temporary housing in the New York City shelter system.

Each week, Girl Scouts meet in shelters across the city to take part in activities that help them make new friends, earn badges, and learn to see themselves as leaders. All fees, uniforms, trips, and program materials are provided at no cost.

As a permanent fixture of the program, we also established the Troop 6000 Transition Initiative, which supports Girl Scouts and their families as they transition to permanent housing. The average stay for a family in a city shelter is 18 months. Remaining connected to the community and opportunities introduced to them through Troop 6000 can help facilitate a successful transition for girls and young people, and it is essential they continue to receive the financial support that allows them to do so.

For Troop 6000 members, not only does Girl Scouting mean fun, it means consistency and community – a network of supportive peers and adults who, even if they’ve never met before, have similar experiences and are part of the same club.

If you want to support this, and do not have a local troop to buy from, or need an ethically driven reasons to buy even more, you can buy cookies to support Troop 6000 at https://digitalcookie.girlscouts.org/scout/sixk347668/

To learn more about Troop 6000’s expansion to serve recent immigrant and asylum-seeking families, click here.

Rebooting the Resolution

This post will be published on the last day of January. Statistically speaking, many of us have already had to rethink or abandon our resolution for the new year. But is there another way of thinking about this?

Christina Caron, a writer, clinical researcher, and ethicist publishing at the New York Times, recently authored a piece examining why we get stuck and describing 5 ways we can try to get unstuck from common traps that can impede progress toward our goals. You can read her full article at NYTimes.com and these 5 tips are summarized below.

Do a ‘friction audit’: The friction audit is one way organizations weed out areas of inefficiency. Individuals can apply the same principles to their own lives by identifying the things that create obstacles and add complications or stress, Dr. Alter said. To get started, try asking: Am I repeating certain patterns that are unhelpful? Are there certain things I do regularly that I don’t enjoy? The next step is to either trim away or smooth out each friction point. Say you dread your commute but feel powerless to change it. Dr. Alter suggested asking yourself: “What’s the part that makes it most unappealing?” What specific changes can you make to address the problem? Will it help to listen to a great podcast or audiobook? If you drive, can you start a car pool with other co-workers? Is there a way to work from home more often?

Reframe negative thoughts: Maybe you engage in “catastrophizing,” or thinking the worst will happen. Or maybe you are overly harsh with yourself and have a case of “the shoulds,” as in: “I should have gotten more done at work,” even when you accomplished a good amount. Persistent thoughts like these can create stress and interfere with your goals, said Judy Ho, a clinical neuropsychologist and associate professor at Pepperdine University. Try to reframe your thinking, Dr. Ho suggested. For example, instead of “I’m going to fail at this project,” you can think, “I’m going to do the best I can, and if I’m struggling I will ask for help.” Finally, she said, aim to evaluate your thoughts objectively: “I’m having this thought. What’s the evidence for it? And what’s the evidence against it?”

Try ‘futurecasting’: “Imagine a future life where you are unstuck,” said Sarah Sarkis, a clinical psychologist and executive coach in Boston. What does it look like? How do you feel? Then think about the specific steps that would help you work toward that vision. Write those steps down — ideally by hand. This helps us commit to them, Dr. Sarkis said. And don’t wait until you feel “ready,” she added. Do at least one step each day if you can — but be kind to yourself if you cannot. If you skip a day or two, just start again tomorrow. “Paint the future that you’re seeking,” Dr. Sarkis said. “Map a plan to get there.”

Share your goal: Telling other people about your plans can also be helpful. Adam Cheyer, the co-creator of Siri and the vice president of A.I. Experience at Airbnb, has said that this was crucial to his success. “Just the force of putting the words into the world now makes you believe — makes you commit,” he told an audience at the University of California, Berkeley. The added benefit is that people may want to help you out. “Somehow, the universe will help you achieve this goal,” he said. “It’s been a huge, huge tool for me.”

Do something meaningful: Spending time on activities that align with your values “moves you forward if you feel stuck in completely unrelated domains of your life,” Dr. Alter said. When he was feeling unmotivated early in his teaching career, he came across a poster at his gym — a group was looking for volunteers to help raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by running in the New York City Marathon. It felt almost like fate, he said; one of his friends had died from leukemia years earlier. While training, he ended up making several friends. “I felt like a more productive person and it gave me confidence to tackle other areas of my life,” he said. “We need meaning more than ever when we’re feeling stuck.”

Mindful Management of Type 2 Diabetes

Matthew Solan is the Executive Editor of Harvard Men’s Health Watch, and Howard E. LeWine, MD is the Chief Medical Editor for Harvard Health Publishing. They recently collaborated on a piece for Harvard Health Publishing examining how mindfulness practices and similar interventions such as yoga may help people with diabetes control blood sugar. The pair cite a recent analysis of multiple studies, published in the Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine, that suggests how and why these might help.

The findings suggest that “those who participated in any of the mind-body activities for any length of time lowered their levels of hemoglobin A1C, a key marker for diabetes. On average, A1C levels dropped by 0.84%. This is similar to the effect of taking metformin (Glucophage), a first-line medication for treating type 2 diabetes, according to the researchers. A1C levels are determined by a blood test that shows a person’s average blood sugar levels over the past two to three months. Levels below 5.7% are deemed normal, levels from 5.7% to less than 6.5% are considered prediabetes, and levels 6.5% and higher are in the diabetes range.”

They suggest that one’s ” “ability to reduce stress may play a big part. “Yoga and other mindfulness practices elicit a relaxation response — the opposite of the stress response,” says Dr. Shalu Ramchandani, a health coach and internist at the Harvard-affiliated Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. “A relaxation response can lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol. This improves insulin resistance and keeps blood sugar levels in check, thus lowering A1C levels.” A relaxation response can help people with diabetes in other ways, such as by improving blood flow and lowering blood pressure, which protects against heart attacks and strokes.

You can read the full article at https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/a-mindful-way-to-help-manage-type-2-diabetes-202302062885

Popular Myths About Sleep, Debunked

Marielle Segarra is a reporter and the host of NPR’s Life Kit, the award-winning podcast and radio show that shares trustworthy, nonjudgmental tips that help listeners navigate their lives. Ms. Segarra recently published an article looking at popular myths about sleep many of us believe and why we should think twice about them! You can read the full article at https://www.npr.org/2024/01/09/1196978496/debunking-popular-myths-about-sleep and have a look at some of the debunked items below.

MYTH 1: It doesn’t matter what time of day you sleep – “Unfortunately, the time of day does matter,” says Robbin. Our circadian rhythm — the internal circuitry that guides the secretion of the essential sleep hormone melatonin — is “significantly influenced by natural sunlight in our environment.” When the sun comes up and we go outside, that sunshine “stops the floodgates of melatonin and switches the ‘on’ phase of our circadian rhythm,” she says. “Conversely, going into a dark environment is what allows for the secretion of melatonin,” she adds.

MYTH 2: One night of sleep deprivation will have lasting effects – Your sleep isn’t going to be perfect every night, says Robbins. “Every now and then we might struggle. If we experience some stress during the day, our sleep suffers that night.” Sleep deprivation, or lack of sleep for at least 24 hours, can lead to short-term adverse effects such as a lapse in attention or an increase in resting blood pressure, write Robbins and her colleagues in their research paper. But they likely resolve with recovery sleep. So if you have an off night, don’t beat yourself up about it, says Robbins. Instead, try to get back on track with your normal sleep schedule as soon as possible.

MYTH 3: Being able to fall asleep anytime, anywhere is a good thing – “It’s a myth that a good sleeper would be able to hit the pillow and fall asleep right away,” says Robbins. “This is because sleep is a process.” It takes a well-rested, healthy person about 15 to 20 minutes or maybe a little bit longer to fall asleep, she adds. If you’re able to fall asleep immediately, it may be a sign of a chronically sleep-deprived state, write Robbins and her colleagues in their study. “If you were starved for food and sat down at any opportunity to eat a huge meal and ate voraciously, that would probably be a sign you’re not getting enough nutrition. It’s the same thing with sleep.”

MYTH 4: You can survive on less than 5 hours of sleep – Some people brag about needing only a few hours of sleep at night. That may come from the notion in our high-performing society that “well-rested people are lazy,” says Robbins — “which is a myth.” The reality is that adults need about 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night, she says. “That’s where we see the most optimal health [outcomes]: improved heart health, longevity and brain health into our older years.” Sleeping less than 7 hours a night can result in weight gain, obesity, diabetes and hypertension, according to a statement from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society. It’s also associated with impaired immune function, impaired performance and increased errors — like “sending an email to the wrong person or entering incorrect numbers in a spreadsheet,” says Robbins. So if you can, try to hit that goal of sleeping 7 to 9 hours as many nights of the week as possible, she adds. You’ll know that you’ve hit your sweet spot when you “wake up feeling refreshed, have energy throughout the day and are not reaching for coffee or energy drinks in the afternoon.”

MYTH 5: Watching TV is a good way to relax before bedtime – Some people like to wind down before bed by watching TV. But that’s not a good idea, says Robbins. “You’re starting to associate your bed with things other than sleep.” Watching a show on a device that emits heat, like a laptop positioned on your stomach, can also deter your ability to fall asleep. “Keep the body cool as you approach bedtime,” she says. Your bedroom should ideally be under 70 degrees. Hotter temperatures can lead to “tossing and turning, sleep disruption and more nightmares.” In addition, watching upsetting programs like the nightly news could cause the stress hormone cortisol to spike in your body and “hinder your ability to power down,” she says. But if watching 20 or 30 minutes of a comforting TV show like Friends or Seinfeld is a big part of your sleep routine and helps you relax before bed, then “carry on,” she adds. If your sleep routine “isn’t broken, don’t worry about fixing it.”

Read more debunked myths at https://www.npr.org/2024/01/09/1196978496/debunking-popular-myths-about-sleep

How to Stay Energized All Year Long

Jancee Dunn is the columnist for The New York Times and who writes extensively on, among other things, wellness. As part of a series she called the 6-Day Energy Challenge, Ms. Dunn shared a few tips to light up the year ahead. You can read the full story at nytimes.com, or have a look at her 6 tips below:

1. Reframe bedtime as the beginning of the next day.

Julie Morgenstern, a productivity consultant and the author of “Time Management from the Inside Out,” said that when we consider sleep to be the last thing we do at night, we’re more likely to push it off — staying up to scroll TikTok or finish our to-do lists. Instead, she suggests thinking of a prompt bedtime as a way to get a head start on the upcoming day. Reframing rest as a new beginning rather than the tail end of the day can inspire better sleep habits, she said.

2. Try monotasking and time-blocking.

Most of us multitask throughout the day, said Cassie Holmes, a professor at U.C.L.A.’s Anderson School of Management and the author of “Happier Hour.” It’s not unusual to be sitting in a Zoom meeting while ordering groceries online and texting.

But this is not only exhausting, it’s also counterproductive, said Dr. Aditi Nerurkar, a physician at Harvard Medical School and author of the forthcoming book “The 5 Resets.” Human brains are wired to do one thing at a time, she added.

Instead, try time-blocking, said Dr. Holmes, in which you schedule uninterrupted time on your calendar for one task.

If you’re most productive in the morning, block that time to do your most important work, she suggested. And grouping similar activities avoids “transition costs,” the mental energy that we use when moving between different kinds of tasks, Dr. Holmes said. (For example, she told me that she does all of her household chores at one time — on Wednesday evening after her kids are in bed.)

3. Set digital boundaries.

We all know instinctively that constantly checking our phones can siphon our energy, so it’s important to put limits on the habit, said Cal Newport, an associate professor of computer science at Georgetown University and author of the upcoming book “Slow Productivity.”

He advised keeping your phone plugged in at a fixed location when you’re home in the evening, such as on a table in the hallway or in the kitchen. Then “if you need to look something up, or call someone, or check in on text messages, you have to go to where your phone is to do so,” he said.

If you want to listen to podcasts or audiobooks while doing chores, he added, use wireless earphones. “In this way, you are still able to get benefits from your phone,” he said, “but it is not with you as a constant companion. You cannot turn to it at the slightest moment of boredom.”

Immediately jumping to answer every text or phone call from a loved one can lead to burnout, added Nedra Tawwab, a psychotherapist and author of “Set Boundaries, Find Peace.” If you can, let the call go to voice mail. Leave the text unread. “You have the right to be unavailable,” she said.

7 tips to keep your New Year’s resolution

Making New Year’s resolutions is a yearly tradition for many people. Yet, some of us fall short of reaching our goals. Below are seven tips to help you make and stick to your New Year’s resolutions. By following these suggestions, UC Davis Health experts say you can set yourself up for success.

1. Be picky about your resolutions

We may want to lose weight, eat more vegetables, volunteer more, quit smoking and spend more time with family. But experts say that’s too many goals to set for a New Year’s resolution. Pick one, maybe two things you’d like to focus on and go all in. This sets you up to achieve specific goals instead of feeling like a failure for hitting none of them.

2. Plan your resolution

It’s best to plan for your goal. Think through how you want to accomplish your resolution and how long it might take to reach your goal. For example, if your resolution is to quit smoking, research how long it takes an average person to kick the habit and the possible setbacks to expect. Proper planning will help ensure you can see it through to the end.

3. Set very specific goals

Many of us will set a New Year’s resolution like “exercise more.” But what does that really mean? Instead, you should be detailed in your resolution. It could be “exercise 30 minutes daily.” This gives you a measurable goal to reach each day that you can check off your list. It will help you feel more accomplished.

4. Don’t take on too much

Start small. Avoid setting an overly high expectation of yourself. If you’d like to lose weight, pick a small but realistic weight loss goal. Maybe that’s 10 pounds in two months. Once you reach that goal, you can think about losing another 5-8 pounds. Setting small goals can help you achieve big results.

5. Choose a new resolution

Avoid picking a goal that you’ve tried in the past but failed. You may set yourself up to fall into the same pitfalls that stopped you previously. Instead, pick something different where you can set up a better path to success. Or maybe you can modify a previous goal if that’s something you still want to accomplish.

6. Identify accountability partners for support

Lean on people – whether it’s a friend to keep your exercise resolution on track, or a spouse to help with healthier eating habits. We function better with community around us, motivating and reminding us why we chose that New Year’s resolution in the first place.

7. Give your resolution time to become a habit

New routines don’t just become habit overnight. A 2009 study found that on average, it takes 66 days to form a new habit. Be patient with yourself. If you have minor setbacks or don’t hit your goal one week, pick it back up the next week. Just keep working at your goal and eventually it can become second nature.

Overcoming Holiday Blues

For many of us our relationship with the holidays can be complicated. At times it can be a joyful experience, at other times very sad, and much of the time some combination of complex emotions based on holidays passed. Recently Dr. Jill Suttie took some time to reflect on these challenges and what we can do to combat the holiday blues. You can read her full piece at https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/a_few_small_ways_to_fight_the_holiday_blues, and below are 5 quick tips to get you started.  

Add small, pleasant activities to your life. Making time every day to do something that brings you a little joy—whether that’s grabbing coffee at the local café, talking to a friend, quilting, or watching a sunset—can help balance the difficulties of the holidays with more positive experiences.

Move your body—even if it’s just a little. Exercise of any kind—walking, biking, weightlifting, dancing—is proven to be mood-boosting and is important for overall health, too.

Try meditating or practicing self-compassion. Making yourself more aware of your feelings and thoughts and learning to accept them (rather than just pushing them away) can help some people manage their moods. And, in the midst of your suffering, it can be good to remember that others feel this way, too, and to offer yourself kindness.

Connect with other people. Sometimes, we just need to stop avoiding social interactions and start connecting with people—friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, even strangers. Try calling an old friend, asking a colleague to coffee, waving at your neighbor, or greeting your local grocer or mail carrier. These small interactions can make you happier.

Give thanks for small blessings. Try starting a gratitude journal, where you write down a few small things you feel grateful for every day. Don’t try to be grateful for things you’re not happy about, though—you don’t have to paint a smiley face on difficult things. But look for the small, good things in your life—like a delicious cup of coffee, your pet’s soft fur, a beautiful winter sky, or your child’s goofy grin—and say thanks to yourself for those small blessings.

Environmental Wellness: Climate-Conscious Holiday Gifts

Francesca Coltrera, editor of the Harvard Health Blog, recently sat down with Wynne Armand, MD, associate director of the MGH Center for the Environment and Health and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, to discuss the issues of environmental wellness and how to promote it this season. You can read the full article at the Harvard Health Blog, and their tips are summarized here below:

  • Channel the 5 Rs:Refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, and only then recycle. Say no to excess. Comic sections from print newspapers or beautiful images from last year’s calendars or magazines make great envelopes and gift wrap. If you’re choosing clothes, consider buying upcycled clothing or at resale shops, as appropriate.
  • Beware of greenwashing: Eco-consciousness is big business, and the benefits of what you buy may be questionable. If you have a small lawn that needs infrequent maintenance, says Dr. Armand, keeping a trusty (albeit gas-fueled) mower could be a better choice for the planet than buying an electric mower, when factoring in upstream costs of natural resources and the carbon footprint required to manufacture and ship the new — and toss out the not-so-old. (Alternatively, maybe it’s time to replant that lawn with wildflowers and vegetables?)
  • Skip what’s not needed: A new backpack crafted from water bottles? Another sweater to add to a closetful? If there’s no apparent need, think twice about purchases.
  • Double down on experiences and connection: Think concert tickets, museum passes, or energetic options like rock-climbing gym passes and outdoor skills classes. “Gifts of experience are great, especially for people who already have all they need. If you buy for two or try a skills swap you also get to enjoy that time together,” says Dr. Armand.

5 Tips to Fight Loneliness

Around the globe, about 1 in 4 adults says they’re lonely. And the consequences of long-term social disconnection can be dire — everything from an increased risk of heart attacks to dementia and premature death.

But social isolation isn’t new or uncommon. And pangs of loneliness aren’t catastrophic. In fact, they’re nearly universal. What’s critical is how people respond to these feelings when they arise.

You can read the full story at NPR.org, but here are 5 tips to try to combat any loneliness you may be experiencing. 

1. Be curious: It’s easier to connect with people if you have shared interests or experiences, so start paying attention to what’s on your mind. What are you thinking about? What motivates you? What excites you? Nobel says knowing yourself can be a first step to bonding with others. “I think connecting authentically with other people is best done — and perhaps only done — if you have some kind of authentic connection with yourself,” Nobel says. If you know what’s meaningful or fun for you, it may lead you to an activity or creative outlet that connects you to people who share your interests.

2. Make something: “When we say make something, people immediately say, ‘Well, I’m not Picasso. I don’t know how to do a fancy painting,'” Nobel says. And, of course, you’re not! But the opportunities for creative expression are endless. “Do a doodle [or] a dance move,” Nobel suggests. Resurrect your grandma’s pie recipe, plant an herb garden, try a textile art. “Make something that puts your thoughts and feelings and vision about who you are and what matters into a tangible artifact that then can express those thoughts and feelings to others,” he says.

3. Take a risk by having conversations: “Share something about yourself,” Nobel says. “It doesn’t have to be the biggest, darkest secret of your life, but just something you think other people might find interesting and compelling, and see where it goes.” Even if you’re nervous about being judged or dismissed, putting yourself out there requires a bit of a risk, and it’s the first step to authentic connection. If you’ve made something — say your doodle or dance move or pie — this can be a catalyst to sharing. Simply explaining what you’ve made may make it easier to open up about who you are.

4. Find a group that matches your interests: Whether it’s volunteering for a cause you believe in or playing frisbee or Scrabble, try to find others who share your interests. And if you follow your natural curiosities, you may find something new. In his book, Nobel describes an online group that has a quirky shared interest: a fascination with brown bears in Alaska, which led to Fat Bear Week. “Share your thoughts and feelings in creative ways with other people who have that interest,” he says. And, hopefully, in those interactions you can begin to reveal yourself and share the unique things that matter to you. “Then, other people recognize that, share their story in return, and it’s like an electric circuit is connected,” he says.

5. Other people’s loneliness matters too: Loneliness can spiral. If the pangs of loneliness go unaddressed, people can end up in a world of hurt. “If you see someone who’s experiencing loneliness, tolerate the risk of asking them how they’re doing,” Nobel says. Be kind. Be willing to share something about your own experiences of loneliness, and take that risk. “Other people’s loneliness makes us lonely too,” he says.

Holiday Hostility Helpers

Many of us will be observing a variety of holidays in the coming month. This often means gatherings and, even amongst the closest families and friend groups, some tension as popular yet uncomfortable topics arise.

With that, we offer some advice via Heidi Godman, Executive Editor of the Harvard Health Letter.

  1. Recognize Vulnerability Factors: Some things predispose us to arguing. Common factors include financial worries that are more pronounced at the holidays, colder and darker climates, tracking modified work and school schedules, painful memories and reminders of loss, as well as behavioral factors like alcohol consumption. Gillis recommends recognizing your vulnerabilities and mitigating what you can while working toward coping with things beyond your control through regular self-care.
  2. Plan Ahead: Gillis offers three ways to prepare ahead of time if arguments are possible. These include:
    • Set a time limit: If you’re hosting the event, let your guests know in advance what time the festivities will end.
    • Ask for help: To help you rein in reactivity, ask someone you trust to give you a sign if a conversation appears to be risky or escalating.
    • Schedule breaks: Think about when and how you’ll be able to take breaks during a gathering. This gives you an opportunity to check in with your emotions.
    • Prepare words of deflection: If you know loved ones might ask questions that will lead to conflict, have a prepared answer and practice it. “Make a statement acknowledging the person’s feelings and letting them know it’s best for the topic to change,” Gillis says. He suggests using a version of the following statement. “I appreciate your thoughts, but let’s talk about something we agree on or share.”
  3. Learn to De-escalate:
    • Don’t take the bait: Don’t answer nosy questions if you don’t want to. “Change the subject. Move the focus back onto the other person and ask how they’re doing,” Gillis says. And if someone asks a loaded question (such as, “I suppose you voted for that candidate?”), use humor if appropriate (“Let’s talk about the Bruins instead”) and change the subject or the activity.
    • Adjust your mindset: “We have to accept that there are perspectives we don’t like and that engaging in conflict isn’t likely to change anyone’s perspective,” Gillis says. “You can choose not to participate in an unhealthy conversation.”
    • Respond with kindness: “If someone is angry with you, that suggests they really care what you think. Remember that and try to maintain a compassionate stance and response,” Gillis advises.
    • Remember why you’re there: The goal of the gathering is celebrating, not solving painful or controversial issues. “It’s the holiday. It doesn’t have to be the day when everyone puts their cards on the table to work out problems,” Gillis says. “Make it festive and enjoyable so you can feel that you created a pleasant holiday memory together.”

10 Gratitude Activities to Do This Thanksgiving

Ruchira Roy Chowdhury is a former business journalist turned health and wellness writer, meditation teacher, Ayurveda practitioner, and Art of Living volunteer. Like many, she extoles the importance of offering gratitude as part of wellness. She shares that “Practicing gratitude—not just on a particular day, but as often as we can—is said to have phenomenal benefits for our body, mind, and spirit. For example, research studies link gratitude with fewer signs of heart disease and demonstrate research that practicing gratitude can reduce stress levels, get feel-good hormones flowing, lower anxiety levels, activate parts of the brain associated with pleasure, and aid in good emotional and mental health.”

Below you will find her 10 recommended activities for this Thanksgiving, and you can read her full article at https://artoflivingretreatcenter.org/blog/10-gratitude-activities-to-do-this-thanksgiving/.

Perform Five Random Acts of Kindness

Studies suggest that kind people have 23% lower cortisol (stress hormone) release and age slower than the average population. Engaging in kindness also produces feel-good hormones like oxytocin and endorphins that reduce pain, help you live longer, activate the brain’s pleasure and reward centers, and make you as happy as the receiver of the kindness, if not more.

Sometimes when the pressures of our daily grind take over, we might find it challenging to engage in all these activities. But as a group or a family, you may find it easier to execute, fun, and emotionally rewarding. Performing these random acts may also encourage the introverts in the family to participate and enjoy activities they would never think of doing on their own! These do not have to be elaborate, but they must be spontaneous for these activities to be fun and meaningful. Some of these activities could include

  • Volunteer at a shelter
  • Check with a shelter about their immediate needs and organize the material for them
  • Pay for the person behind you—a coffee or a meal
  • Shovel snow for a neighbor
  • Make time with elders who live alone. Invite them over for a meal and a fun evening. Ask them about their life stories and let them share their happiest memories.

Cook a Meal, Feed the Needy

In this, each person in the family can prepare one dish, not more, to feed at least ten people. Play music while you cook. Designate the responsibilities of getting vegetables, spices, paper plates, containers, organizing knives, chopping boards, and wrapping foils among the members. This makes every person feel involved.

Then, load up all the food in a car, and take it to a street corner where you may find people who could use a sumptuous meal. Spend time with them, sing, dance, and share a meal. Let this not be a once-a-year activity. As they say, if it makes you happy, keep doing it.

Create a Gratitude Board

The task here is simple. As family members go about their day, they must write down five things/people/situations they are grateful for on colorful paper and stick it on the gratitude board (this can be made out of cardboard, poster board, or using the family bulletin board). This board can stay up throughout the year—a sweet reminder of how abundant and fulfilled our lives are, even when we don’t feel it.

A Day of Giving Joy

Let’s make these activities slightly more interesting. The idea is to bring a smile to the face of a certain number of people—each person can decide what that number is for them. You can do anything—dance, sing, perform, write a poem, or share a compliment. Nurturing positivity in the environment is much like being in the perfume business; the fragrances, the joy, and the happiness of uplifting someone invariably rub off on you. As you get together for dinner, share what you did and, more importantly, how you felt. Just remembering the feeling of having done something nice for a stranger can bring a sense of gratitude.

Share Your Gratitude Story

Don’t take this process lightly—it can fill you with strength, positivity, and gratefulness. It will bring everyone closer and strengthen your bonds with each other. During this process, you may feel emotional or vulnerable. Let the emotions flow out. Know this is your safe space. Build a safe space for everyone to share openly, wholeheartedly, and without judgment.

Every person will have 5–10 minutes to think of one or more stories/incidents/blessings they received this year that they are grateful for. Remember, this is not about sharing a gratitude list. Here, the idea is to pick a story/incident and flesh out all the details about how it transpired—everything that went behind receiving it and how you feel about having it now.

Consciously reliving a pleasant memory replicates the neural activity as if it were happening in the present, which can reproduce the positive feelings associated with the incident.

Have a Gratitude Bowl

You can purchase a bowl for the occasion or use a bowl handed down from parents or grandparents. Next, everyone will drop in an object they are grateful for or an object that represents something they are thankful for. It could be a key chain, a wedding ring, a book, a pen—anything that is special and makes you feel grateful. Then, at dinner, share why this object is special to you. What makes you grateful for it?

One Thing I Did Not Notice

Email or DM people for one thing they are grateful for that they took for granted. The responses could be the sunrise—a good night’s sleep, a co-worker who always has their back, or a spouse who cooks like magic! You can also help out with generic prompts to make it easier.

Pay a Compliment

Write the names of everyone attending Thanksgiving dinner on pieces of paper and put them into a bowl. Each person picks a name and as you go around the table, you will compliment the person whose name you choose.

You must mention one or more qualities you like in this person and share why you are grateful for them. Then, if you wish, you can go and hug this person. This activity may seem time-consuming, but it will leave everyone feeling appreciated, loved, and grateful for each other.

Say a Prayer

While we spend time with people we love, we often forget the power of faith that has sometimes helped us brave the wildest storms of life. So before starting dinner, try a few minutes of silence.

Use this time to think of all the blessings life has offered and in the heart of silence, share a quiet prayer of gratitude to the divine or any other power you believe in. Gurudev says gratitude is a powerful magnet to bring in more of what we have. The more abundant and generous we feel, the more reasons we attract to feel that way into our lives. This can also be a poignant time to remember the lives and contributions of people who are no longer with us and whom we miss every day. We can pray for their onward journey, wishing them peace, love, and freedom.

Watch a Film Together

And finally, as you end the day, dim the lights and watch a classic heart-warmer like It’s A Wonderful LifeLife is BeautifulFreedom WritersPursuit of HappinessBambi, the Kung Fu Panda series, Inside Out with your family—holding them closer than ever.

Whether you participate in various activities or do nothing but spend time with each other, whatever you do and wherever you are, do not miss a chance to be grateful in life.

Tai Chi for Memory

The below is an excerpt from NPR’s wellness blog. Read the full piece at https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/11/06/1210507968/thai-chi-word-games-cognition-mentally-sharp-meditation-motion

There’s plenty of evidence that exercise can help protect our bodies and brains. And as we age, daily movement doesn’t need to be super intense. In fact, a new study finds tai chi, a slow-moving form of martial arts, can help slow cognitive decline and protect against dementia.

The study found that people who practiced a simplified form of tai chi called Tai Ji Quan twice a week for about six months improved their score by 1.5 points. This increase may not sound like a lot, but study author Dr. Elizabeth Eckstrom says “you’ve basically given yourself three extra years” of staving off decline. The study is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Her theory on why tai chi is effective is that it combines the memorization of the movements, known as forms, almost like a dance choreography. “So, you’re getting the physical activity, plus the memory piece,” she says.

Step Right Up!

Cooper recently relaunched one of it’s physical activity initiatives, now known as the Cooper Climbers Club (formerly the Zenith Climb Challenge). You can read full details at https://wellness.cooperhealth.org/ccc/, but in brief its goal is to connect all Cooper team members to climb as many stairs as they can in a month – getting healthy together!

But getting our steps in every day can sometimes be challenging. To that end, Jennifer Garefino, Cooper Operational Excellence Specialist and CCC founding member, recently passed along the following article outlining how to try to get steps in, as well as scientifically backed benefits of doing so. More details available below and at ABCNews.com.

So You Want to Live to Be 100…

Many people fear a long life span, e.g.  living to be 100, due to possible loneliness, poor health, and solitudeI. Peter Attia, physician and best-selling author, acknowledges that many of those fears are valid and so he believes in maximizing what he calls “health span” instead. Attia’s focus is on addressing “the Four Horsemen of Chronic Disease” — cardiovascular disease, cancer, cognitive diseases (such as Alzheimer’s) and metabolic diseases (such as Type 2 diabetes). Below are some guidelines he provides for achieving this, and you can read the full article at https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/10/13/peter-attia-longevity-advice/.

First, Be Specific: the greater the specificity with which you train for your physical goals, the more likely you are to achieve them. Attia asks patients to think specifically about what they want to be able to do when they are in their 80s or older, and to start training for that when they are in their 40s or 50s or 60s, setting milestones along the way. For example, if you want to lift your great-grandchild when you’re 80, you need to, in your 50s, 60s, and 70s, focus on hip flexibility and abdominal and spinal stability that will sustain you to be able to pick up at 30 pound weight at that age. 

Second, Focus on Moving: Attia says “If you’re starting from zero, just getting to 90 minutes a week of exercise will result in a 15 percent reduction in all-cause mortality [including the Four Horsemen]. That’s dramatic. I mean, we don’t have drugs that can reduce 15 percent all-cause mortality across the board. And the good news is it’s not just like this abstract thing of “we’re adding a couple of years to your life.” No, no. You’re going to feel better in three months.”

10 pieces of well-worn life advice you may need to hear right now

Life Kit is a podcast produced by NPR. They believe everyone needs a little help being a human. From sleep to saving money to parenting and more, they talk to the experts to get the best advice out there. Recently, three of their contributors, Becky Harlan, Sylvie Douglis, and Andee Tagle asked professional advice-givers the question “What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?” Below are their answers, but feel free to read the full article at https://www.npr.org/2023/02/19/1157287474/best-life-advice-tips

  • ‘There’s more than one way to do something’ – I remember scrubbing a pan when I was maybe 8 or 9 years old. There was something stuck on the pan that wouldn’t come off, and I just kept scrubbing it. My dad stopped me, grabbed a fork and just scraped it off. And he looked at me and said, “Jody, there’s more than one way to do something.” From that moment on, I’ve been looking at every problem in my life like how can I do this a different way? — Jody Adewale, clinical psychologist.
  • ‘The hate will come at the same rate as the love’ – The best advice I ever received was that the hate will come at the same rate as the love. There will always be people who are so dissatisfied with themselves that they have to project that onto other people. And instead of trying to focus on the negativity, I tend to try to put more energy into the people and the things that are showing me love, support and good energy. — Kiaundra Jackson, marriage and family therapist
  • ‘Do smaller loads of laundry’ – I used to work at a small grocery store, and before moving away to college, I asked the store manager, “What’s the No. 1 thing that I need to know about going away to college?” And he said, “Do smaller loads of laundry. Your clothes will come out cleaner.” — Shaun Galanos, a relationship coach and host of The Love Drive podcast
  • ‘Being vulnerable means taking off our armor’ – I was talking with my therapist about how I didn’t mind being vulnerable as long as I knew the other person would be warm, that they wouldn’t judge and all of that. And she said, “that’s not vulnerable. Being vulnerable means taking off our armor and going in not knowing how we’ll be received, but putting ourselves out there a little bit anyway.” — Tania Israel, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara
  • ‘Go where the energy goes’ – The best piece of advice I ever received was “Go where the energy goes.” What has good vibes? What makes you feel good about yourself? Where is that good energy? Head in that direction. — Betty Who, pop star and the host of the reality dating series, “The One That Got Away”
  • ‘It’s not all about you’ – The best piece of advice I was given was, “Shanita, it’s not all about you.” When I’m in a situation where a tough decision has to be made and it feels personal, I remind myself it’s not all about me, and that I’m one piece of a bigger universe that’s at play right now. — Shanita Williams, career coach and the author of Feedback Mentality
  • Expect yourself to change – We all change every five years or so. More or less, we have to expect ourselves to change, and we have to expect people in our lives to change. That little piece of advice has given me a lot of space for room and for growth. — Lindsay Bryan-Podvin, a financial therapist and host of the Mind Money Balance podcast
  • ‘When people show you who they are, believe them’ – When people show you who they are, believe them. Far too often, I have seen us try to recreate who we want people to be, only to later find out they are exactly what they’ve been demonstrating. — Nedra Glover Tawwab, licensed therapist and the author of Set Boundaries, Find Peace.
  • Pace out your self-improvement – Don’t be so overly involved with your self-improvement. Accept the gifts and abilities that you have, and don’t spend so much time trying to develop new ones that you sacrifice your gifts. Be yourself. — David Defoe, a psychotherapist who specializes in depression, anxiety and grief
  • It’s OK to say ‘I don’t know’ – Something I’ve benefited a lot from is telling yourself, “I don’t know. And that’s exactly where I should be when I take that first step.” I’m as ready as I ever will be. I’m going to do it, and I’ll know more after. — Becky Kennedy, clinical psychologist and author of Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be

It’s 10 p.m. Do you know where your thoughts are?

Racing thoughts at bedtime can be a real sleep disruptor, leading to intermittent wakefulness throughout the night but luckily there are ways to clear your head before you lay it down on your pillow.

Recently, the folks at Calm looked at why this happens. Common causes include Life stressors: Whether it’s stress from work, family, or financial situations, daytime worries have a habit of reappearing at night. Anxiety and panic disorders: For some, these continuous thoughts might be a symptom of a bigger issue, like an anxiety disorder. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): OCD might cause recurring, unwanted thoughts. Caffeine: That afternoon coffee might be the reason you’re awake at night. Caffeine can stay in the system for hours, preventing your brain from relaxing for sleep. Fear of sleeplessness: If you’re worried about not getting enough sleep, this sleep anxiety can make you hyper-aware, with thoughts zooming around your alert brain. Over time, this cycle can lead to insomnia.

Want to learn more about what to about it? Check out Calm’s full article and practices at https://blog.calm.com/blog/racing-thoughts-at-night

Social Media and Adolescent Wellness

Bots and corporations excluded, there are 4.9 billion social media users globally, meaning 60.49% of the global population use social media. That is unsurprising given that there are nitch networks for just about everyone in addition the the giants like Facebook and Twitter (now X). But what is social media usage doing for our wellness? It may differ by generation and, in some regards, we are not entirely sure.

Take adolescents as an example. The New York Times recently summarized the state of the science for this group and, yes, social media is of concern because the rapidly developing adolescent brain may be uniquely vulnerable to what the platforms have to offer. But the science is not nearly as settled as some of the most dire headlines would make it seem. Biologically, during adolescence, neuronal signals do not always travel through the brain rapidly enough to help kids regulate their emotions and impulses as mylnation continues to occur, and likewise, the prefrontal cortex, responsible for tasks like weighing, consequences and planning is still maturing. But extant researcher has yet to show any kind of consistent causal connection between social media use and poor mental health outcomes is difficult as a function of their unique needs or biological vulnerabilities. So why are mental health-related E.R. visits are up, and why is anxiety skyrocketing as social media bombards kids with unrealistic academic and health messages, dangerous and deadly challenges, and disinformation? As ever, the message is complicated.

Like many things, social media is not inherently good or bad. Rather, the changes happening in adolescents’ brains may make them particularly drawn to these platforms and more susceptible to the potential pitfalls. When tweens start obsessing about their social lives — talking endlessly about their peers and who sits at the “popular table” — that is a sign that they are maturing normally. But now, adolescents are experiencing those changes in an online world that is creating the opportunity for reward and social feedback incessantly, almost 24/7. And that’s a combination to be concerned about for teens.

The moral of the story? It is important to talk to our children early and often about the function that social media is playing in their lives but not just emphasizing the negatives. Encourage them to build meaningful connections, but also encourage them to diversify how they are connecting on and offline. How do we promote teen wellness in the digital age? Here are some tips offered by Children’s Hospital of Orange County:

  • Encourage teens to be involved in a variety of free-time activities, like spending time with friends, joining clubs or after-school activities, and exercising.
  • Encourage your teen to be physically active every day and get enough sleep.
  • Turn off all screens during meals and at least an hour before bedtime.
  • Keep devices with screens out of your teen’s bedroom after bedtime and don’t allow a TV in your teen’s bedroom.
  • Spend time together with your teen watching TV, playing games or going online. Use this time as a chance to talk and learn together.
  • Teach your teen about safe Internet and social media use. Make sure they know the dangers of sharing private information online, cyberbullying or sexting.
  • Set a good example. Turn off TVs and other screens when not in use. Don’t leave screens on in the background. Turn off or mute your phone when you’re not using it and during family times, like meals.

Coffee Talk

Coffee is everywhere at Cooper and society at large. In Starbucks, break rooms, public spaces, the delicious drink has been ubiquitous throughout human history. But how much is too much? Coffee is linked with lots of health benefits, but there are some risks to consider from the caffeine it contains.

Alice Callahan at the New York Times recently wrote a piece exploring the pros and cons of coffee consumption.

Most adults can safely consume 400 milligrams of caffeine — or the amount in about four eight-ounce cups of brewed coffee or six espresso shots — per day, according to the Food and Drug Administration. If you’re pregnant, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends no more than 200 milligrams.

“Overall, coffee does more good than bad,” said Rob van Dam, a professor of exercise and nutrition sciences at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. But between your breakfast brew, lunchtime latte and afternoon espresso, is it possible to have too much? And if so, how can you tell?

Having too much caffeine can cause a racing heart, jitteriness, anxiousness, nausea or trouble sleeping, said Jennifer Temple, a professor of exercise and nutrition sciences at the University at Buffalo. It can also lead to headaches, acid reflux and, at high enough doses, even tremors or vomiting, said Dr. Adrienne Hughes, a medical toxicologist and an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Oregon Health and Science University.

Caffeine overdoses typically result from taking in too much caffeine from concentrated forms, such as powders or supplements, in a short period of time, she said. And in most cases, you would need to consume at least 10,000 milligrams of caffeine — or the equivalent of about 50 to 100 cups of coffee, depending on the strength — for it to be potentially fatal, Dr. Hughes said.

That said, if you’re prone to abnormal heart rhythms, or if you notice palpitations after having caffeine, you may be more sensitive to its effects and should not consume more than you’re used to, or ingest large doses from concentrated sources, like supplements or energy shots, Dr. Hughes said. And having too much caffeine while pregnant is associated with an increased risk of miscarriage, Dr. van Dam said.

At the end of the day, “you just kind of have to listen to your body,” Dr. Temple said. “If you’re starting to feel nauseous or jittery or anxious, maybe cut back,” she said. “If it’s affecting your sleep, cut back.”

Read the full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/26/well/eat/coffee-benefits-caffeine-risks.html

You’re Not Being Paid to Ruminate at 2 A.M.

Jancee Dunn is the Well columnist for the New York Times and, for over two decades, has written about health for a variety of publications in addition to being a New York Times bestselling author of nine books. Recently she turned her attention to a common problem: how to stop thinking about work all the time. Rumination is a common issue, whether our focus is on work, relational problems, geopolitics, or anything else under the sun. Her full article can be read at https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/21/well/mind/work-stress-burnout-strategies.html and some tips for battling this phenomenon are listed below:

Keep a Journal – Experts suggest keeping a “rumination journal” to record the hours they devote to chewing over work issues each week. This can help orient you to how much time you are really dedicated to ruminating, which one can think of as hours as overtime for which you’re not getting paid.

Set Guardrails – Establish a clear line when your workday ends, and be strict about maintaining it. Ritualize your transition from job to home by changing your clothes, putting on music or taking a walk. Doing so not only erects a psychological boundary but it can also make us more likely to use that time to rest or connect with people in real life. Keep in mind that technology “empowers rumination” so if possible turn off your notifications for email and workplace messaging apps after a certain hour; if you must check them, do so at a designated time. And set a timer, so you don’t spend the rest of the night responding to messages.

Turn Ruminative Thoughts into Productive Ones – There’s evidence that ruminating about work during leisure time can affect our emotional well-being, but thinking about creative solutions to problems does not. So when you’re stewing ask yourself: “Is there something I can do about this situation? And if so, what?” Frame specific concerns as problems to be solved. Are you brooding that a new hire is performing better than you? Ask yourself what that person is doing well, and what he or she is not doing that you are.

Learn the Difference Between Unplugging and Recharging – Unplugging at the end of the day will not stop rumination, but recharging will. A recharging activity leaves you feeling energized mentally, and pleased with yourself for doing it. That can include activities like working out, crafting or meditation.

Distract Yourself – Distraction techniques have been shown to break the rumination cycle. If you can’t find a way to solve an issue doing something that requires focus, such as a crossword puzzle or a word game, can help. Or, if it’s the middle of the night, try a memory exercise, like naming every teacher you can remember from kindergarten on up.

Radically Inclusive Running

Martinus Evans is a fitness influencer and the founder of the radically inclusive Slow AF Run Club. He calls himself proudly slow and has taken great pride in proving wrong the people who have underestimated him. Told by his doctors to lose weight or die, Martinus Evans decided to do something no one thought his body was capable of – run a marathon. His new book empowers would-be-runners to lace up, no matter what their size.

Since a doctor’s appointment over a decade ago where he was confronted with this, Evans has founded the Slow AF Run Club, a community of over 10,000 members worldwide, has been featured by the likes of The New York Times and Men’s Health and has even appeared on the cover of Runner’s World US. With 84K followers on Instagram – @300poundsandrunning – he’s become a voice for ‘back-of-the-packer’”, encouraging and empowering those who perhaps thought that running wasn’t really for them and campaigning around issues related to size-inclusivity.

Read more about Martinus’ inspirational story at https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/health/weight-loss/a44282905/martinus-evans/

Healthy Conflict

Recently, the New York Times lead health and science reporter Jancee Dunn took a look at the role confrontation plays in our daily lives and in our overall wellness. In her article, which can be read at nytimes.com, she interviewed Karen Osilla, an associate professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford Medicine. She posits that not only are disagreements inevitable, they can have benefits. Research suggests that resolving conflict in healthy ways increases your well-beinglowers stress and improves self-esteem. Productive disputes, for all their challenges, “are pathways to a bigger life,” she said.

They offer the following tips for ways that even the most conflict avoidant among us can navigate their way through healthy conflict:

Start with people you trust: If confrontation puts you on edge, practice disagreeing with people you trust, said Seo, “because honest, open-minded disagreement requires psychological safety.” Try getting comfortable saying, “I actually disagree with that,” she said. Think of healthy dissent as a muscle you can build over time, she added.

Ease into the discussion: First, take a deep breath, Dr. Osilla said, which reduces anxiety and helps you stay calm. Next, in a polite tone, concede that you don’t know the other person’s intentions. People often waste time imagining the other person’s motivations, she said, but these are impossible to know for sure. “Either way, the impact of their action is the problem you want to solve,” she said. Then, calmly share your concern, focusing on how the situation has affected you. You might say something like, “Hey, you may or may not be aware, but I’m cleaning up after your dog regularly in my yard.”

Describe your emotions: After you express the effects of their actions or words, communicate your emotions, and invite the other person to share theirs. An example would be, “I’m frustrated,” she said, or, “That comment you made stung.” Don’t bottle up your feelings, because they can manifest as passive aggression, or translate into anger or accusations, she said. “Better to name emotions,” Heen added, instead of using them to “blame and attack.”

Shift to a “learning conversation.” Once you’ve shared your feelings, have a “learning conversation” to trade perspectives and solve the problem together, Heen said. She suggested asking, “What worries or concerns you most about this?” and “What do you think I’m missing?” Listen, ask follow-up questions and suggest possible solutions, she said. If, for example, a friend keeps canceling plans, you could discover that the person has had a major life event. From there, you can brainstorm other ways to stay connected.

Remember that you can only control your actions: Even if we say everything right, we don’t have any control over how the other person will react, Dr. Osilla said. “In those moments, be compassionate with yourself,” she said. “Tell yourself: ‘I’ve said my piece. I’ve done what I can.’

Watch What You Say to Yourself

Many of us have a near-constant internal monologue running in our head. Sometimes the content is as dull as listening to someone read the dictionary, other times it is joyful or entertaining, but all too often the content contains harsh criticisms toward ourselves. As Ethan Kross noted in a recent interview with NPR’s Life Kit this kind of negative self-talk can get in the way of creating strong relationships with ourselves and others. Researchers of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) have studied this phenomenon for some time, and much of CBT focuses on techniques such as Socratic questioning to begin to address this. In the above linked article, Kross and others summarize several of this techniques in six tips for quieting that harsh critic, summarized below.

  • Get Perspective – Assessing a situation from different angles can help you avoid the unproductive thought loop that can prevent our ability to move on. Try coming up with as many different explanations for something that is bothering you, regardless of how unlikely they initially feel, then way the evidence for and against each.
  • Be Your Own Best Friend – The next time you’re tempted to disparage your looks or criticize your decision-making, ask yourself: would I talk this way to my best friend? If not, practice using the same kind and gentle language that we use with the people we love, because we’re also people who we hopefully love, right?
  • SIFT – The acronym SIFT (source, impact, frequency and trends), developed by research scientist Mike Caulfield, can help you figure out whether you should listen to feedback from others or just ignore it. Say someone calls you out for poor email communication. Did that criticism come from someone you trust and value? Is it demanding a big change or a minor tweak to your behavior? Is this something you’ve heard from other people? And have you heard this from different communities in your life, or just at work? Consider these points before deciding to act.
  • Focus – The mind is a tricky thing. It can lead us to fixate, for example, on one bad aspect of a year-end review from a manager instead of their positive feedback. This is called “negativity bias,” says Yale psychology professor Woo-kyoung Ahn, and it illustrates our propensity to weigh negative events a lot more heavily than an equal amount of positive events. This “thinking error,” she says, is dangerous because it can lead us to make the wrong choices. Find out how to counteract this bias here.
  • Talk It Out – If someone you love is causing you distress, don’t be afraid to communicate with them about it, says psychologist Adia Gooden. It may help clear up any assumptions you may have and offer new perspectives about the incident. For example, instead of jumping to conclusions if your partner is always on their phone at dinnertime, you might say to them: “Because you’re always on your phone, I feel like you don’t think I’m worthy of your attention,” says Gooden. “And they might say, ‘Oh, shoot, I didn’t mean to be on my phone. Or, you know, I’ve been kind of frustrated with you and I didn’t know how to bring it up. So I’ve been looking at my phone instead of making eye contact. Let’s talk.”
  • Focus on Growth – Instead of defining yourself by your failures or limitations, consider every loss as part of your learning process. This idea, developed by psychologist Carol Dweck, is called a “growth mindset,” and it can help bolster that internal dialogue when you’ve taken an L and can’t stop kicking yourself about it. Let’s say you lose a round of pool. Those with a fixed mindset, she says, think that talent and intelligence are static: I give up, I’ll never get good at this! Growth-minded people believe that effort can lead to mastery: Hey! I’m getting a lot better at putting some power behind the ball! It’s all about finding the right perspective.

Rules for Life from the World’s Happiest Man

Matthieu Ricard is an ordained Buddhist monk and an internationally best-selling author of books about altruism, animal rights, happiness and wisdom. Recently, he was interviewed by David Marchese at the New York Times interviewed him. While you can read the full piece at here, within the article Ricard shares some rules for a fulfilled life, however one of the most meaning exchanges between Ricard and Marchese is summarized here after Marchese asks if Ricard, a peaceful monk, ever feels despair:

Marchese: “Your response to my question about despair was, “There’s no point,” which suggests that you’re making conscious choices about your feelings — whether to follow them or not — based on their perceived value. That’s not something everyone is able to do. Short of also becoming a Buddhist monk, how might other people start developing the ability to control their emotions like you can?”

Ricard: “Emotions are just like any characteristic of our mental landscape: They can change. We can become more familiar with their process; we can catch them early. It’s like when you see a pickpocket in a room: Aha, be careful. Twenty-five hundred years of contemplative science and 40 years of neuroplasticity — everything tells you we can change. You were not born knowing how to write your columns. You know it’s the fruit of your efforts. So why would major human qualities be engraved in stone from the start? That would be a total exception to every other skill we have. That’s why I like the idea of Richard Davidson’s that happiness is a skill. It can be deeper, more present in your mental landscape. We deal with our mind from morning to evening, but we spend very little attention on improving the way we translate outer conditions, good or bad, into happiness or misery. And it’s crucial, because that’s what determines our day-to-day experience of the world!”

Do You Validate?

Maureen Salamon is the Executive Editor at Harvard Women’s Health Watch. She recently penned a piece looking at the importance of validation. As she writes, validation is fundamental to a type of talk therapy called dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), which is geared toward people who experience emotions very intensely. Many people use some aspects of validation in everyday communications with family members, friends, and colleagues, but usually fall short, Jordan-Arthur says. As she said, people “jump into problem-solving, saying something validating, but then immediately tell the person what they should have done or what they should do next,” she says. “They don’t let that validation sink in. It’s like putting on anti-itch cream and then immediately washing it off.”

So how can you offer good validation? Salamon suggests starting with the following for validating another person:

  • Give them your full attention.
  • Make eye contact and nod appropriately, saying “uh huh” while showing your interest.
  • Reflect what you’ve heard by restating their message, such as, “It sounds like you feel worse about this situation today than yesterday.”
  • Verbalize the unspoken, such as, “I hear that you feel you can’t get anything done because of this obstacle,” or “It sounds like you’re frustrated.”
  • Give it time to work! Be sure to let the validation sink in before attempting to problem- solve.

Validation is an approach that can help people feel heard and understood, validation is especially useful when navigating emotionally charged situations. Validating someone shows you understand their feelings and point of view, even when you disagree. It establishes trust, helping the other person feel supported and open to discussing solutions.

Ready to learn more? Read Salamon full article at Harvard Health Publishing.

Record a Win Every Day

Christina Caron is a reporter for the Well section at The New York Times, covering mental health and the intersection of culture and health care. Recently she wrote a pice discussing how cultivating a grateful outlook, and taking a few minutes a day to count our blessings, can reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, increase self-esteem, and improve life satisfaction. Noting that, she asked her readers to tell her how they practice gratitude, and curated the nearly 800 responses she. received. Some of the best are highlighted below, but be sure to read the whole list and her entire article at nytimes.com. Then ask yourself, which of these might you be able to apply today?

  • Record it. More than 100 respondents said that they use journals or apps like Day One, Gratitude Plus and Flavors of Gratefulness to keep track of the good things in their lives. “The best thing my therapist taught me was to record my ‘win’ every day,” said Elizabeth Chan, 35, who lives in San Antonio. “Doing so helped me develop my optimism muscles, which had atrophied for decades.”
  • Walk It. Deborah Rathbun, 66, from Sharon, Conn., goes on a walk several times a week, always focusing on the beauty that surrounds her: “the blue of the sky, the leafy green trees, how the flag is moving nobly in the breeze, a drizzle that’s badly needed for the gardens.” Next, she reflects on the last 24 hours and thinks about the “very small things that went well or I’m pleased about.” It might be a friendly or funny exchange with a cashier or the thoughtful text she finally sent to a friend.
  • Give thanks as a group. Louise Miller, 52, from Boston, said she writes her gratitude list in a journal and then texts the list to a group of friends who also share theirs. “They almost always include something that inspires more gratitude in me — it’s contagious!” she said. Zach Ford, 33, a Brooklyn resident, said he has been following a near-daily gratitude practice since his first weeks of sobriety about six years ago. Each morning he shares his gratitude list in an email with a handful of others.

Your Brain on Music

How is your summer playlist looking? According to researchers, a good list of tunes can be an important contributor to your sense of wellbeing.

In a recent NPR article, Rob Stein interviewed a team of neuroscientist at McGill University. They shared that music can evoke a sense of wonder and awe for humans by stimulating pleasure and reward centers in the brain, specifically the amygdala, ventral tegmental area and the nucleus accumbens which, in turn, produces dopamine and endogenous opioids. They share that “neurons in the brain even fire with the beat of the music, which helps people feel connected to one another by literally synchronizing their brain waves when they listen to the same song.”

As all of this happens, music can produce a calming effect, slowing our heart rate, deepening our breathing, and lowering stress hormones. This makes us feel more connected to other people as well as the world around us, especially when we start to dance together. It can even “counter the epidemic of our times, which is loneliness,” according to researcher Dacher Keltner.

So what are you listening to this summer? Need some inspiration? Below is one of Spotify’s recent top playlist. Turn it on, call over a friend, and sing along!

The Benefits of Morning Meditation

Research has shown it to help with everything from anxiety and depression to better sleep, lower stress levels and chronic pain relief. In a recent New York Times article, health and wellness writer Holly Burns reviewed why incorporating a mindfulness practice into your daily life can be beneficial, and how to get started.

She suggests starting small, with five minutes of breathing exercises to calm and focus the mind every morning. Not only will it “set the tone for the day,” said Dr. Eva Tsuda, a meditation instructor at the UMass Memorial Health Center for Mindfulness, but meditating earlier may make the practice easier to stick to.

Burns offers a few additional suggestions and things to consider as you get started. These include deciding on a specific, quiet place where you are unlikely to be interrupted. Once you do so, set a timer, again, for as little as 5 minutes and go in without expectations of “success.” Just noticing what that 5 minutes is like is a good start. If you need some place to rest your focus during these 5 minutes, see if you can simply describe your breath or what you are noticing via your 5 senses. A grounding exercise is a good place to start. You can read her full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/21/well/mind/meditation-morning-practice.html. Or, if you are looking for some help getting started, try a different, brief exercise via any one of many playlists available on YouTube.

Trust Your Gut

The number of publications describing the brain/gut connection has increased significantly in recent years. There are consistent findings that he connection between our mind and gut isn’t just metaphorical. The mind and gut are in constant communication via the brain-gut axis, a “information superhighway” that provides updates on what’s going on at both ends. That sinking feeling you get when taking in bad news or the way your gut twists when you’re anxious or stressed is the superhighway at work.

The folks over at Calm.com recently published a full article describing this connection as well as giving some advice on how to take advantage of this connection, but also how to become more attuned to and make use of our instincts. Some of this is summarized below, but be sure to read the full article at Calm.com.

  1. Get in touch with your feelings – Research shows that the quality of your gut instincts depends on your overall emotional intelligence (EQ) aka your ability to recognize, understand and manage your emotions and the emotions of those around you. Luckily, it’s possible to strengthen your EQ, which in turn, will strengthen your intuition. In order to build your EQ, you’ll need to get more in touch with your emotions. Use the Feelings Wheel to expand your emotional vocabulary. Learn how you experience emotions with the Emotions Series and use this information to help you Label Your Emotions. Try this meditation to Check-in with Your Emotions each day, helping you stay connected to your feelings.
  2. Tune into your body – Most of the time, gut feelings express themselves through a range of sensations in the body. That may look or feel like: “Butterflies”, nausea, or turning in the stomach Clammy or sweaty palms Muscle tension or tightness Increased heart rate Tightness or sense of calm in chest Goosebumps or prickling on skin Sometimes they are faint, sometimes they are strong, but either way if you don’t take the time to slow down and tune into your body you may miss the signs. Practices like a Body Scan help you build your body awareness so you’re able to recognize (and listen to) your gut feelings in the moment. 🔹 Let Jay Shetty teach you about Sensations vs Emotions. Learn to tune into your body and raise your EQ at the same time
  3. Find small opportunities to practice – Taking the time to practice listening to your gut, especially when the stakes are low, is a great way to strengthen your intuition. When faced with a daily decision like what outfit you want to wear, where to go for lunch, what type of workout you want to do, or even what tv show you want to watch at night, pay attention to: Your first thought: what is the first thing that comes to mind when you approach this decision? How you feel about the choices: how does your body feel when you consider different choices. Tight or loose? Excited or Shut down? How you feel after: once you make a choice and have followed through, notice how it plays out and if it feels like the right decision after the fact.

Again, be sure to read the full article and learn more tips at Calm.com!

Wellness Basics: Finding a Therapist

Finding a therapist pre-2020 was difficult and, for many, finding one now feels almost impossible. Factors include geographical limitations, accessibility of telehealth options, insurance coverage and overall cost, and goodness of fit for your concerns. That is why Andrea Muraskin at NPR create a step-by-step guide to finding a therapist. The full story can be read at https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/07/02/1185661348/start-therapy-find-therapist-how-to, below is an abbreviated version of her recommendations.

Step 1: Figure out what you need help with: There are lots of reasons to consider seeing a therapist. Maybe you feel depressed, or unlike yourself. Maybe you’re feeling burnt out or under pressure with family obligations. Knowing this helps you seek out a therapist who matches your goals.

Step 2: Assess your financial resources: Therapy can be expensive – or not, depending on where you go for care or whom you see. Know your coverage options and budget before deciding where to look for a therapist. If you have health insurance, your insurer will typically provide a directory of covered therapists on their website. However, bear in mind that payment often works differently for mental health providers than medical doctors. Instead of a copay, many therapists will ask for the full payment at the time of your appointment. Then it’s up to you to submit your receipts to your health insurer for reimbursement.

Free and low-cost therapy: Some county mental health departments and non-profit organizations like Mental Health America provide free and low-cost therapy for people on Medicaid. Some health centers that receive funding from the federal government also offer low-cost or free mental health care. Find federally-funded health centers in your zip code using this searchable directory. If you are employed, another free option worth exploring is if your workplace offers an EAP, or employee assistance program. EAPs are time-limited, typically five to six sessions. Cooper partners with Carebridge for this, more info at https://wellness.cooperhealth.org/carebridge/. Finally, many local universities offer free or sliding scale services with their mental health trainees. These include Temple, Drexel, and La Salle among others.

Step 3: Do some searching – and understand credentials: Now that you know the lay of the land cost-wise, start hunting. The directory at psychologytoday.com and goodtherapy.org are useful for learning about the therapists in your area and targeting your search. Many share bios, photos or short videos about themselves. You can search by issue, like “depression,” “addiction” or “marriage counseling,” or by type of therapy. You can also search by age, gender, ethnicity, language, sexuality, and insurance accepted.

Step 4: Assess if they’re a fit for you, personally and culturally: While it can be meaningful to work with a therapist from a similar background, Nguyen recommends prioritizing matching goals over race or ethnic group in your search – especially because the demand for therapy is so high right now.

Step 5: Reach out, and persist: It can be a struggle to find a provider with availability because therapists have been overwhelmed with demand since the pandemic. If you feel comfortable asking around your social circle, you might get some valuable recommendations. And if you have friends or relatives who work in mental health, consider telling them you’re looking. They might be able to reach out to their professional network, or point you to a resource you hadn’t considered. It’s an irony of the system that at a time when you need help, dogged effort might be required to find it. And when we are feeling distressed and overwhelmed, we don’t have the energy. It can actually be a great idea to ask for help finding help, she says. If you have a trusted friend who’s able to make some phone calls for you, even just to find out, you know, this clinician doesn’t have any availability, that can be a reasonable way to go. And if you are a friend or family member of somebody who’s really struggling, and if that’s something that you’re willing to offer to do, that may be really, really helpful to someone.

Step 6: Interview a prospective therapist: There’s a limit to how much you can learn about a person online or second-hand. Some therapists offer brief consultations for free, typically about 15 minutes. You’ll probably want to know about their past experience and expertise, and their experience dealing with the kinds of issues you’re facing. Questions can be open ended, like ‘Can you tell me about your experience working with adult ADHD?’ You may also ask questions about length of therapy, or number of sessions, if you can expect to see gains after a certain amount of time, what might therapy look like, and so on.

Step 7: Try at least three to five sessions: After a first appointment, if you think you might be able to work with this therapist, give it three to five sessions to see if the fit is right. Some discomfort is normal, especially if this is your first time in therapy. But early on you can kind of tell, is this a person that I can slowly let into my life? Do I feel like I can be honest with myself and be honest with them?

Promoting LGBTQIA+ Wellness Year Round

As we close out Pride Month 2023 it is important to drive home the point that, as for all people, but especially those who are consistently discriminated against which harms wellness, we should be promoting wellbeing and health year round. As such, we are including here a list of resources compiled by Main Line Health aimed at not just those in the LGBTQIA+ community, both those who seek equality along side them.

American Psychological Association – Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Health
The information and resources provided on this page represent an ongoing effort by the APA’s Office on Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity to bring together recent and ongoing policy and advocacy work in LGBT health disparity areas, and both in government agencies and the non-profit health care community to address these issues.

Centers for Disease Control – LGBT Health
In addition to considering the needs of LGBT people in programs designed to improve the health of entire communities, there is also a need for culturally competent medical care and prevention services that are specific to this population. Social inequality is often associated with poorer health status, and sexual orientation has been associated with multiple health threats. These pages provide information and resources on some of the health issues and inequities affecting LGBT communities.

GLMA – Health Professionals Advancing LGBT Equality
GLMA’s mission is to ensure equality in health care for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals and health care providers. Through the expertise of its members and in collaboration with other LGBT civil rights and health organizations as well as with health associations and policy-makers at all levels, GLMA is a major force in the effort to ensure the health and well-being of LGBT individuals and families. 

National Alliance on Mental Illness – Find Support for LGBTQ
The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) community faces mental health conditions just like the rest of the population. However, you may experience more negative mental health outcomes due to prejudice and other biases. Knowing what challenges you may face as a member of the LGBTQ community and how to find and work with LGBTQ-inclusive providers can help ensure more positive outcomes.

PFLAG
PFLAG reaffirms that unity and inclusion and a shared commitment to human dignity of all people are critical to fight discrimination and bigotry in any form so that all families can live free of fear. We commit to fight for fairness inclusive of people’s sex, race, ethnicity, national origin, socioeconomic position, religion, level of mental or physical ability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or any other perceived or actual characteristic. 

The Fenway Institute
The Fenway Institute at Fenway Health works to make life healthier for those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT), people living with HIV/AIDS, and the larger community. The Fenway Institute is an interdisciplinary center for research, training, education, and policy development, focusing on national and international health issues. Its mission is to ensure access to quality, culturally competent medical and mental health care for traditionally underserved communities, including LGBT people and those affected by HIV/AIDS.

The National LGBT Cancer Network
The National LGBT Cancer Network works to improve the lives of LGBT cancer survivors and those at risk by educating the LGBT community about its increased cancer risks and the importance of screening and early detection; training health care providers to offer more culturally competent, safe and welcoming care; and advocating for LGBT survivors in mainstream cancer organizations, the media and research.

William Way LGBT Community Center (Philadelphia)
The William Way Community Center seeks to encourage, support, and advocate for the well-being and acceptance of sexual and gender minorities through services, recreational, educational, and cultural programming. The center serves the LGBT community of Philadelphia and its allies 365 days a year. From social groups, networking events, and counseling and support services to art exhibitions and cultural experiences, the Center consistently strives to provide new and innovative programs for the LGBT communities of Philadelphia.

World Health Organization – HIV/AIDS Topics
This section contains comprehensive information on key topics related to the work of the WHO HIV Department, including HIV in key populations HIV in key populations such as men who have sex with men, people in prisons and other closed settings, people who inject drugs, sex workers, and transgender people. You’ll also find resources about prevention and treatment, such as HIV testing, post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH)
This is a non-profit, interdisciplinary professional and educational organization devoted to transgender health. Its mission is to promote evidence based care, education, research, advocacy, public policy, and respect in transgender health. Its professional, supporting, and student members engage in clinical and academic research to develop evidence-based medicine and strive to promote a high quality of care for transsexual, transgender, and gender-nonconforming individuals internationally.

The GLBT Helpline: 888.340.GLBT (888.340.4528)
Fenway Community Health’s GLBT Helpline and the Peer Listening Line provide information, referrals and support with issues such as coming out, HIV/AIDS and other relevant topics. Open every evening.

From https://www.mainlinehealth.org/specialties/lgbtq-inclusive-care/resources

Mental Health America: Pride and Mental Health

As we continue to observe Pride Month we are invited to continue to understand the relationship between Pride and mental health, and what we can do about it. As such, Mental Health America has put together a useful guide on this issue. The full resource can be found at https://mhanational.org/lgbtq/pride, and a summary is provided below. We encourage everyone to continue to explore these resources to promote equality and good mental health for all.

“Pride Month is a time for LGBTQ+ folks to gather and celebrate their freedom to live authentically. The LGBTQ+ community deserves affirmed, safe, supported, joyful, and mentally healthy lives. Anti-trans legislation, hate-based crimes, and discrimination shouldn’t overshadow Pride, but they can’t be ignored. We hope those struggling with their identity or living in unsupportive environments find these resources helpful to living a life of well-being and resilience.”

Exploring and affirming your gender

Affirming your loved one’s gender exploration and identity

Providing gender-affirming mental health care

Pride Month: Offering Good Support

Recently, Allison Young, MD and Kaitlin Sullivan at Everyday Health set out to offer some advice on ways to support those who just came out as trans. They shared that for queer people who are transitioning — which can mean many things — getting support throughout their lives is critical, especially specific inflection points of transitioning. The authors spoke with José A. Romero, the director of community advocacy, research, and education for the Pride Foundation in Washington and Corinne Votaw, PsyD, a psychologist and gender diversity advocate based in Denver. Their advice is summarized below, and can be read in full at https://www.everydayhealth.com/healthy-living/ways-to-support-a-friend-whos-transitioning/

  1. Respect Their Identity: Romero says that the first thing you can do is believe them. When they tell you they are becoming who they truly are, respect their identity as their truth. “Trust the person who is transitioning. Believe that person. There are going to be a lot of people who do not,” says Romero, who is nonbinary.
  2. Learn About the Trans Community: If you don’t know where to turn first, Romero suggests that people reach out to education-focused LGBTQ+ organizations such as the Pride Foundation. Romero also recommends looking through the Digital Transgender Archive for historical information and resources on transgender folks.
  3. Decide What Kind of Support You’re Willing to Offer: Your role as the friend of a person transitioning may be decided by that person, but there are some considerations you need to contemplate yourself, Romero says. He says to ask whether you are willing to drive your friend to another state to support their physical transition. Are you willing to donate money or meet with legislators? Decide what it is and commit.
  4. Don’t Over Apologize if You Make a Mistake: Each person has their own preference for how they’d like to transition socially, which includes that person’s name and pronouns. Ask — never assume — what they’d like to be called. Then do your best to incorporate those choices into your vocabulary. Be sensitive, acknowledge your mistake, move on, and work to adopt the person’s true name and pronouns into your language.
  5. Drive Change: Supporting a friend who is transitioning often doesn’t just involve being there for that person one on one. It can also take the form of working to create a safe, supportive environment for queer and transgender people. This will depend on where you live and who you are, but driving change should start by looking at your own life and beliefs. “What’s important, more than external advocacy on behalf of whatever counterpart they came out to, is a period of reflection of what you do that might be harming the trans or gender nonbinary community,” Votaw says. “Start to look into your own life and look at what is not in harmony with being a supporter or family member or friend or even coworker.”

Read the full article at https://www.everydayhealth.com/healthy-living/ways-to-support-a-friend-whos-transitioning/

Pride and Joy

This year’s Pride Month spans from Thu, Jun 1, 2023 – Fri, Jun 30, 2023. Born out of the Stonewall riots, this is meant to be a time dedicated to celebrate and commemorate the ongoing work and legacy of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people everywhere. Year round, and especially this month, Pride Month is meant to both honor the movement for LGBT rights and celebrates LGBT culture. To that end, the wellness blog will focus this month on content relevant to promoting wellness in the LGBTA+ community, and we start with a story published by Margot Harris at NAMI entitled “Being Queer is Joyful,” which describes her coming out story, a discussion of privilege, and her hope the future. Please be sure to read this piece at https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/June-2023/Being-Queer-is-Joyful.

Relief Through Forgiving

Some time ago Archbishop Desmond Tutu began writing extensively on the transformative power of forgiveness. He reflects on his role as an anti-apartheid and pro human rights activist during some of the most difficult years in South Africa’s history and the role forgiveness played in moving things forward. So Archbishop Tutu would not be surprised by the findings offered by the International REACH Forgiveness Intervention, a multi-site randomized controlled trial that, amongst other things, explored what forgiveness can do for us in terms of, among other things, reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and PTSD.

Ready to learn more? Check out this recent article from the New York Times or visit the REACH website at https://osf.io/8qzgw/.

Are You Ready For The Summer?

While it may seem like we just rang in the new year, the unofficial start of summer is slowly creeping up on us. And while you might not think Minneapolis when you think summer, the good folks at the University of Minnesota have put together some great tips for a season of wellness! These tips are summarized below, but be sure to check out their full summer of wellness site at https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/summer-wellbeing.

Explore new foods: Expand your palate by trying new recipes that include seasonal foods you can’t get year-round. You can visit local farmer’s markets for fresh ingredients, or harvest your own veggies at home. Take advantage of the long sunny evenings while they’re here and grill healthy options outside. [Learn More]

Exercise outdoors: If the weather is pleasant and you have the ability to get outside, do it. If you’re tired of going for a jog, think outside the box of a traditional workout. Mowing the lawn with a push mower, gardening, or swimming at a local pool are all great ways to move your body while soaking up some sunshine. [Learn More]

Get better rest: Long, sunny days may mean you stay up later than usual, and hot, sticky weather can also prevent you from falling into a deep slumber. Make your bedroom summer-friendly by keeping it cool with a fan or open window (experts recommend about 68 degrees Fahrenheit), hanging light-blocking curtains, and relaxing before bed by putting away your phone and reading a few pages of a new novel. [Learn More]

Catch up with loved ones: This summer, double your wellbeing by spending time with the people you care about while doing nature-based activities you can’t do during colder months, such as visiting a beach or eating dinner outside. Funnel your energy toward staying connected even when your schedules don’t match up—if you go out of town, send handwritten postcards to let friends know you are thinking of them. [Learn More]

Ease stress with mindfulness: Even if you go on vacation to a tropical destination, even if you plan on summer to be completely relaxing, there will undoubtedly be situations that cause stress. But that’s not a problem. Rather than putting an expectation on the season to bring a sense of calm, cultivate it yourself. Being in nature is one of the best ways to unwind from stress. Take a few minutes each day—maybe right when you wake up in the morning—to step outside and simply enjoy the outdoors as a child would. Drop thoughts of any plans for the day and simply notice the green of the grass and trees, the feeling of a breeze on your skin, and the sound of birds and other animals. [Learn More]

The Buddy System

Matthew Solan is the executive editor of Harvard Men’s Health Watch. Recently, he and Howard LeWine, MD, Chief Medical Editor at Harvard Health Publishing, produced a piece examining how friendships can help you stay socially active, the health benefits of this, and how to make new friends while maintaining old ones. This can be a challenge for everyone, though compared with women, men especially struggle with making and keeping friends as they age. The full article can be read at Harvard Health, but three good places to start to get your friend journey on the right track include:

  • Get into group dynamics. Join a group activity, such as a walking club; a golf or bowling league; a card, book or chess club; or a continuing-education class at an adult education center. Or ask a current friend to join you so you both can expand your friend circle.
  • Schedule time together. If you already have friends but don’t see them regularly, take the initiative and schedule a set time for get-togethers. Choose a designated day, time and place for coffee or lunch, ideally a setting designed for easy conversation. Begin with a weekly or every-other-week schedule to help everyone ease into the new outing without feeling overwhelmed.
  • Work on a project. Another way to stay connected with existing friends and meet new ones is to launch a group project. Schwartz knows of a group of retired fishermen from Gloucester, Massachusetts, who, once they retired, decided to build a boat together.

Combating Loneliness

The New York Times’ Christina Caron recently published a piece reviewing advice given by the Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, on how to build meaningful social connections in an increasingly lonely world.

Americans have become increasingly lonely and isolated, and this lack of social connection is having profound effects on our mental and physical health, the surgeon general warned in an advisory on Tuesday.

Advisories from America’s top doctor are typically reserved for public health challenges that require immediate attention. This is the first time one has been used to highlight the issue of loneliness.

More than half of Americans are lonely, according to a 2021 poll, which also found that young adults are almost twice as likely to report feeling lonely as those over age 65.

So what can one do? Dr. Murthy’s advice is summarized here, if you interested, learn more at https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/02/well/mind/loneliness-isolation-surgeon-general.html

Reconnect with people. To get started, take 15 minutes each day to contact a friend or a relative. Put a reminder in your calendar, if needed, so that it remains a priority. Your relationships cannot thrive unless they are nurtured.

Minimize distractions. How often have you caught yourself looking at your phone while someone is speaking with you? What about during meals? Do other people do this when speaking with you? For more satisfying quality time, put the devices down and give your full attention.

When people call, pick up the phone. Imagine your phone ringing. You see it’s a call from your best friend from college whom you haven’t caught up with in a long time. But instead of accepting the call, you decide not to answer. You tell yourself you’ll call back later when you have more time to chat.

Serve others. Studies show that volunteering can ease feelings of loneliness and broaden our social networks. Consider donating your time to an organization in your community, or offering to help your family, co-workers or friends.

Get help. Finally, tell someone if you are struggling with loneliness. It could be a relative, a friend, a counselor or a health care provider.

Optimism

What does optimism do for us? In a study conducted by Ciro Conversano and colleagues at the University of Siena in Italy evidence was presented that of a strong relation between optimism wellbeing. Through the use of specific coping strategies, optimism influences both mental and physical well-being by the promotion of a healthy lifestyle as well as by adaptive behaviors and cognitive responses, is associated with greater flexibility, as well as problem-solving capacities.

So how do we cultivate optimism? Carmen Drahl at National Public Radio asked that very question to her readers and listeners. Below are some tips from everyday people on how they stay optimistic in trying times:

  • Humor continues to be one of the things that gives me hope. No matter how hard life can get, there are always people who find a way to make things feel lighter. It could be as simple as silly viral animal videos or the more complex comedy that contextualizes our lives in the broader arc of history. Either way, we as humans tend to know when we need to break the tension and give ourselves a mental reset. –Eric Conrad, Washington, D.C. | 101 Good Clean Jokes
  • I try to keep in mind how little control or influence I have to change the state of the country (and world) and let go of the feeling of responsibility. I do what I can and understand that change is slow. One of the greatest gifts of getting old is knowing how little power you have in the grand scheme of things. It relieves you of the feeling that you have to DO something and the frustration and anger that goes with it. –Mary Theresa McCarty, Halfmoon, N.Y.
  • To remain optimistic I have to deliberately and regularly make room for my grief. If I acknowledge this weight I carry it can be a tool. It will still cripple me occasionally because burying a trans child is just that hard, but I can also fight for change if I bring my grief with me. – Carrie Black, Salt Lake City, Utah
  • I am Buddhist and there is a meditation that helps me: You elect to feel hopelessness or lovelessness as a way of empathizing with others who feel these things. So when I feel hopeless or sad or overwhelmed, I can think, “I am going to fully let myself feel this because this is what hopelessness feels like, what millions of others have felt, going back millennia.” Ironically, framing it this way actually feels more connected, more human, more manageable. –Kristin Harriman, Sacramento, Calif.
  • One of my favorite books is Garth Stein’s The Art of Racing in the Rain. I remind myself, as the book states, “The car goes where your eyes go.” It’s so important, especially as the news cycle is full of cruelty and suffering, for us to carefully choose what we read, listen to, pay attention to. The car, my brain, goes where my eyes go — so I need to keep looking at hopeful art and look for joy in the children I love and remind myself to keep watching for good things. I see more of them this way! -Naomi Krokowski, Berthoud, Colo.
  • Doing something for someone else is my all time high — it always lifts me. –Dianne Oelberger, St George, Maine
  • I read a single poem every morning. There is hope in the verse or between the lines, something else to drift on, beyond the headlines. –Mark Karason, Pittsburgh, Pa.
  • Music in particular kickstarts me and really helps me articulate my feelings in both subconscious and conscious ways. I like to have active listening sessions throughout the day. But what helps me the most is listening to music in bed in the early morning before doing anything else. It puts my mind in a place of zen and allows me to be the best version of myself that day to radiate positive energy not only within, but to the surrounding world as well. –Sean Nguyen, Seattle, Wash.
  • My favorite technique for getting happy is definitely playing loud techno music (or other very rhythmic dance songs), and freestyle dancing in my living room. –Robin McMillan, North Port, Fla.
  • When I’m feeling stressed, I take a walk outside in the sun or in a green space like a park or a forest. Despite the noise in my head, the sounds of nature, including those of birds, wind and rain, comfort me. –Whayoung Cha, Seoul, South Korea
  • Early spring walk under blooming cherry trees with daughter Analesa, beloved pup Rosko and warmth of the sun on my face. –Cassandra Zimmerman, Portland, Ore.
  • The way I stay optimistic is waking up early to watch the sunrise and meditate on where I find light in the darkness. There are great things of beauty and peace in this world. –Michelle Middleton, Reno, Nev.
  • For 30 years, I have volunteered with a nonprofit whose mission is to teach gardening to home gardeners throughout our community. I feel constantly renewed by the generosity and energy of the people I volunteer with. While I often feel overwhelmed by the magnitude and variety of troubles in our world, I am also mindful of the abundant blessings that fill my life. I cannot stop war or famine on a global scale, but I can teach a family how to grow food — and flowers. –Robbie Cranch, Fresno, Calif.
  • I find my source of joy in nature. I salute the sun every morning and affirm the blessings of the five elements: the earth, space, sun, air and water. When I recognize that my body was born from these five elements, I feel a deep kinship with nature, our womb. I talk to the trees, recognizing their generosity and strength. –Pankaja Cauligi, Mysore, India

Autism and Wellness Week 4: Our Job

As we close out April where we have focused on Autism Acceptance and wellness we are left asking, what practical things can we do to promote acceptance and wellness. Today you are tasked with reflecting on that questions, but you are not alone! Here are some practical things you can do to promote acceptance and wellness in the Autism community.  

Instead of dismissing, try educating. Many folks have been in an awkward situation in a public setting where they or a family member stares at someone who looks different from them or behaves differently from what they typically see. It is completely normal to want to tell yourself or others to stop staring or be quiet because the situation makes you feel uncomfortable. Instead of dismissing that reaction, use this as an opportunity to educate about differences and build understanding. If you see someone with ASD, engage in motor and/or vocal stereotypy such as spinning in circles while humming repetitively, you could say, “Sometimes people do different things when they’re feeling different emotions. It looks like she’s feeling happy. What do you do when you feel happy?” 

Offer support through advocacy. While those with ASD are often able to receive support at school or work either through special education services or 504 accommodations or federal programs, the same supports are not necessarily guaranteed in the community, such as extracurricular activities (e.g., baseball games or birthday parties) or places of worship (e.g., churches, mosques, synagogues, etc.). If you see that another person is trying to advocate for accommodations for their child with ASD, such as creating a sensory-friendly religious service, then have their back. This means offering support through listening to them and learning from them, as well as personally reaching out to the individuals in charge who can make accommodations happen. 
 

Use language appropriate to the individual. While person-first language (e.g., “person with ASD”) is commonly used among professionals and parents, many self-advocates within the ASD community prefer identity-first language (e.g., “autistic person”) as they view ASD as something that cannot and should not be separated from their identity. There is much debate about what terminology to use; however, it is important to use language most appropriate to an individual with ASD in order to show acceptance of their individual identity. This could mean asking individuals or their family members what language they find to be the most respectful and appropriate.

Focus on strengths, not just challenges. Though many children and adults with ASD face challenges, it is important to identify and recognize the strengths that also accompany ASD. For instance, many individuals with ASD exhibit highly focused interests, such as technology or animals, which could make it difficult to form and maintain relationships if these interests dominate their lives. However, if that individual can participate in an activity or group that involves that interest, it becomes a pathway to form friendships. Further, that individual might pursue employment in line with their interests, promoting individual self-determination. Focusing on the unique abilities of an individual will strengthen their sense of self and achievement.
 

Expand your social circle. Many with ASD are socially excluded from a very young age because they engage in behaviors that that are viewed as falling outside societal norms. Expanding you and your child’s network of friendships and activities to include individuals with different abilities, such as ASD, is not only the kind thing to do, but it can also provide opportunities for you and your child to connect with and learn from others from different backgrounds and experiences. This in turn broadens perspectives of the world and teaches open-mindedness to new ideas, beliefs, and values. This includes learning that differing abilities are, as Dr. Temple Grandin has famously said, “different, not less.”

Provide meaningful opportunities for individuals with ASD to be included. Beyond inviting individuals with ASD to social gatherings, you can make a difference by helping to promote and create opportunities to include teens and adults with ASD in the workplace. As noted in President Biden’s Proclamation on World Autism Awareness Day, the Department of Labor’s recent apprenticeship initiative focuses on developing career paths in information technology, healthcare, and other fields for individuals with ASD and other developmental disabilities. Talk to your employer about why it is important to employ differently-abled individuals and how your workplace can do a better job of recruiting, supporting and retaining individuals with ASD as valuable team members. 

Autism and Wellness Week 3: In Their Own Words

This month’s wellness series has so far focused on building awareness and fostering acceptance to promote wellness in the Autism community. But, as is the case for any group, it is often most helpful to hear directly from the lived experiences of those who are members of that community. So for this week’s Autism Acceptance wellness post we are sharing an article in which different folks from different places on the spectrum share their experiences of what it is like to navigate wellness in a world that often runs contrary to their ideals and needs. This piece was written by Marianne Eloise in collaboration with Dana Glauser, LCSW, and Anna Harris.


In my ideal world, I’d live inside a spa—only leaving to buy necessities like snacks. In my current, more realistic life, I put a lot of effort into making my bedroom and bathroom feel a sanctuary. Every aspect is designed for maximum peace and comfort. Think: cotton sheets, scented candles, warm lamps, and new products. Every single day I make sure to spend as much time alone in these spaces as I can, diligently following a nightly routine of stretching, bathing, acupressure, and skincare in an environment designed just for me. While all of these behaviors fall under the overused buzzword of “wellness,” for me, as an autistic person, they’re necessary.

Autism spectrum disorder encompasses many ways of experiencing the world, but something we all tend to share is sensory processing issues.1 This can mean extreme sensitivity to some stimuli, like certain textures or sounds. We struggle to process things in the same way someone else might, which can lead to sensory overload and meltdowns, but we’re also driven to seek out positive sensory experiences to enjoy with a unique intensity.

In recent years, tools designed to help keep autistic people stimulated—like fidget spinners—have been assimilated into everyday life. More recently, weighted blankets, designed to help prevent autistic meltdowns, have found their way into more common usage for everything from anxiety to feeling nice. While this could de-stigmatize the use of these tools, it also makes it difficult to explain why you need something that everyone else finds to be a fun novelty. Similarly, a cultural fixation with the ever-growing industry of “wellness” has made it so the significance for those who need curated sensory experiences to function is lost.

Autistic people need structure and often engage in repetitive behavior, so we thrive on routine. Tom, 35, has a number of elaborate sensory rituals. He owns 10-15 different types of lighting which he uses along with a projector or VR while he’s in the bath every day. “A comfortable environment filled with the kinds of sights, sounds, and smells to help you relax can go a long way in allowing a neurodivergent person to focus without distractions and triggers. It gives us a level playing field to think and emotionally respond to things in a much more natural way,” he says. Many autistic people have dopamine processing anomalies,2 but by building up these coping mechanisms, Tom creates an environment that makes it possible to function: “Our bodies don’t naturally react well to a lot of the stimuli in the world, but these are things we do react well to and have control over. It makes sense for us to seek them out and work them into a routine to improve our general moods,” Tom says.

A cultural fixation with the ever-growing industry of “wellness” has made it so the significance for those who need curated sensory experiences to function is lost.

I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 27—but growing up, I had frequent meltdowns and burnouts as a result of overwhelming stimuli. I didn’t understand why everything felt so bad. All I knew was if someone came near me with an itchy sweater I would scream, lashing out at them and insisting that it hurts. That’s how it felt, and how it still feels to me: a wrongness, an itch that is so deep it burns my skin. I will not eat anything outside my limited selection of “good” foods and I have extreme reactions to noisy environments. The only thing that really ever felt good was swimming. I knew once I was underwater, the world became silent and dark and my body was wrapped in water. I didn’t want to get out.

As I got older, I began to understand the link between my senses and wellbeing. I gained new awareness that I was different and started to orient my life around my sensory needs. For example, I only wear certain materials and comfortable clothes, which means most of my wardrobe is loungewear and the rest consists of the same American Apparel skirt in five different colors. I only surround myself with colors that feel “right,” struggling to look at anything bright. My home is quiet, I eat what I want, I wear earplugs and an eye mask to sleep, and I avoid situations I know will send me into meltdown. As a result, I have a much easier time being who I am. In the absence of these negative triggers, I fill my life with carefully curated sensory experiences to put me back in touch with myself. 

Lindsay, 37, was only recently diagnosed as autistic but has always known she had different sensory needs, and created rituals to fulfill them. “I got really into wellness for a while but it didn’t feel like a ‘spiritual’ expression for me. It felt more like a way to understand and manage the unique energy I had that I didn’t totally understand,” she says. On a daily basis, Lindsay “stims,” a term for the movements that autistic people do to seek stimulation. She uses tools like Chewlery, adult jewelry that you can chew on, fidget toys from Black Girl Lost Keys and handmade stimulation toys from A Sense of Self. Being able to use these tools is integral in preventing Lindsay from shutting down. “I find it pretty strange that ‘wellness’ stimming is seen as socially acceptable and ‘autistic-type’ stimming is not,” she adds.

What is Stimming?

A self-stimulatory behavior that is marked by a repetitive action or movement of the body.

Lindsay puts her wellness rituals into two categories: “preventative” (things that allow her to start with a good sensory baseline) and “rescue” (things to be brought back down from sensory overwhelm). Her preventative behaviors include a morning tea ritual. The movements of scooping and pouring, the way the tea smells, and the feeling of steam put her in a good place. Her rescue behaviors include baths, lights, and candles. “The salt bath is usually unscented salt. I like to soak in the water and enjoy the splashing water sounds. It’s calming and centering,” she says. She also uses a dim-colored light in her bedroom and sound baths to recover from meltdowns. Without these behaviors, Lindsay says she either has a meltdown or just feels “off.”

While these rituals are likely to improve anyone’s mood, they can be essential to autistic people’s wellbeing. We may not have interoception, which is the internal sense of what a person feels or what they need.3 Throughout the day, without intervention, I will forget to eat, drink, or even go to the bathroom. My body feels completely separate to my brain, and I don’t even know that I’m in pain until it’s too late. While I can’t fake having a sense of interoception, what I can do is have time daily to deliberately get in touch with my body. I force myself to finish work and I go to do some stretching and yoga in a dark room with a nice-smelling candle, drink lots of water, and have a long bath. Without that routine, I’m much more likely to burnout, lose the ability to speak, or have a meltdown (if not that day, then soon). 

What Is Interoception?

Interoception is the perception of sensations from inside the body and includes the perception of physical sensations related to internal organ function such as heart beat, respiration, satiety, as well as the autonomic nervous system activity related to emotions.

Chloé, 23, is an autistic influencer and advocate who goes by Princess Aspien. Her daily sensory rituals are diverse depending on her needs. “When I need more input, dancing, singing, and stimming help me to gain that,” she says. “When I need less input, allowing myself to retract from the world is incredibly vital for me to be able to continue to function, be settled, and be happy.” Without the ability to sensory seek in a way that she needs, Chloé shuts down. “Allowing myself both the time and understanding of what I need is absolutely vital to me as a neurodivergent person,” she shares. However, she also finds joy in her sensory-seeking activities. “As a neurodivergent person, my body needs more help with sensory input than someone who’s neurotypical,” Chloé says. “It’s so important we reduce that stigma both within our own community and as a society, and create the understanding that sensory differences and sensory seeking are a normal, vital thing.” 

Tom has found that by occupying and overwhelming all of his senses with good stimuli, he can take his mind off everything else and be present: “Our external environments have more of an effect over us in getting to a place of internal calm,” he says. Basically, the same principles as mindfulness or wellness for anyone apply, but to an extreme extent. While these things reduce pain and the risk of meltdown, they are also incredibly enjoyable for us. “These behaviors activate our senses and our bodies respond to them more intensely, so we are drawn to them,” Tom says. 

Conversations around sensory-seeking behaviors are often negative and geared towards parents to make their kids stop “stimming,” as it’s often considered “inappropriate” or “embarrassing.” What people miss is not only the necessity of these behaviors, but how much joy and comfort can be found in them. Without the ability to control my own sensory experience, like Chloé, I do shut down. But exploring new ways of feeling good, whether it’s through bath products, new candles, massages, acupuncture, playing with my dog, or swimming, is the baseline for both my wellbeing and my happiness. Autistic people exist on a spectrum of extremes, but for every painful, difficult extreme, there is something that we enjoy so much more than someone else can.

Autism and Wellness Week 2: Five Ways to Improve Wellness for Autistic Adults

Promoting wellness in those diagnosed with Autism can look very similar to general wellness approaches, though at times can benefit from some modifications and insight into each individual’s needs. Recently, in their paper titled “Five Ways Providers Can Improve Mental Healthcare for Autistic Adults: A Review of Mental Healthcare Use, Barriers to Care, and Evidence-Based Recommendations“, researchers at The Ohio State University reviewed the literature from 2017 to 2022 on autistic adults’ use of mental healthcare and barriers to care and from this produced five strategies mental health providers can use to better care for autistic adults. They start by noting that while autistic adults use mental healthcare more often than non-autistic adults their experiences with mental healthcare are characterized by (1) lack of providers knowledgeable about autism, (2) use of treatments that may not be accommodating to individual needs, and (3) difficulty navigating the complex healthcare system. All of this contributes to unmet needs. You can read the full paper at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11920-022-01362-z, and review the five recommendations offered by the authors below: 

Be an Agent of Change in the Workplace

Attending continuing education courses on autism, completing other autism-focused trainings, or self-directed study is a simple way to increase knowledge about autism and correct misconceptions and harmful stereotypes about autistic people. Trainings can help providers to understand their autistic patients’ needs and provide better care, which has been recommended by autistic adults. In particular look for trainings and materials that were created by autistic people or co-created via collaboration between autistic and non-autistic people; and select trainings/materials that emphasize neurodiversity-affirming care by promoting well-being in autistic people rather than encouraging “passing” as non-autistic at the expense of the autistic person’s health and well-being. They recommend providers look to the following sources of information to enhance their knowledge about autism: Autistic Self Advocacy Network’s resource library (https://autisticadvocacy.org/resources/), Academic Autistic Spectrum Partnership in Research and Education (AASPIRE)’s topics for healthcare providers (https://autismandhealth.org/?a=pv&p=main&theme=ltlc&size=small), Asperger/Autism Network (AANE) provider resources (https://www.aane.org/resources/professionals/).

Make Thoughtful Language Choices

The language that is used to talk about autism or to refer to autistic people is very important. How autism is discussed, especially by healthcare providers, has implications for how society views autistic people and how autistic people shape their own identity. Some language choices perpetuate the idea that autism is something to be “fixed” or that autistic people are inherently inferior to non-autistic people. The authors strongly recommend that providers use thoughtful language that does not perpetuate biases against autistic people or focus solely on perceived deficits. For example, instead of using “functioning labels” (e.g., high/low functioning, high/low severity), they recommend providers instead refer to the individual’s specific strengths and needs, while recognizing that the level of support likely varies across contexts and environments. Rather than referring broadly to “challenging behavior” or “problem behavior,” providers should use more accurate, specific terms such as meltdowns, stimming, self-injury, aggressive behavior, or other descriptors as appropriate [54••, 5663,64,65]. Additional examples of potentially problematic language choices and preferred alternatives recommended by members of the autistic community are summarized in Table 1 of [54••].

Additionally, when speaking to an autistic individual, the authors recommend providers mirror the language used by the autistic person (e.g., when deciding whether to say “adult with autism” or “autistic adult”) or ask the individual how they would like to be addressed. If this is not possible to do, we suggest using the language “adult on the autism spectrum” as this phrasing may be considered the least offensive. Providers can positively impact the way that autism is discussed in their workplace by sharing these suggestions, and the importance of language choice when speaking about autism, with colleagues.

Take an Individualized Approach for Autistic Adults’ Mental Health Treatment

Recognizing autistic adults as individuals rather than as members of a homogenous group is an important step to meeting their needs. Like with any patient, providers should aim to build a working relationship with autistic adult patients to better understand their needs. Ultimately, this may help improve mental health outcomes for autistic adults. For example, providers can take steps to accommodate an autistic adult’s sensory needs to help the individual feel as comfortable as possible and promote satisfaction with healthcare. These accommodations could be as simple as dimming the lights or using only natural light from a window, shutting a door to reduce background noise, or allowing the patient to bypass the waiting room before their appointment.

Regarding treatment and planning, the authors recommend providers collaborate with the patient to find a treatment approach and style that works well for them. Providers are also encouraged to adjust their patient schedules for autistic adults who may need more mental health session time, or increase the frequency of appointments for medication management, as autistic adults may be at increased risk for side-effects of psychotropic medications often used in mental healthcare. To modify CBT to accommodate a patient’s literal use and understanding of language, providers may increase the use of visual supports by using video models of relaxation exercises or reduce abstract language by using concrete terms to explain concepts. Developing autism-specific crisis management plans may be beneficial as well. These, and other individualized patient-centered approaches, are a solid foundation for successful mental health care for autistic adults.

Leverage Autistic Adults’ Strengths in Treatment

Another benefit of establishing a relationship with autistic adults is that providers can learn about their strengths, which can often be leveraged in treatment. For example, if an autistic adult has strengths in planning and decision-making, the provider can encourage them to develop a schedule for how they would like to spend the appointment time or prepare a list of talking points. If an autistic adult is experiencing high levels of stress or anxiety, the provider can inquire about and encourage the autistic adult’s intense interests, which may be effective coping strategies. Importantly, leveraging strengths may improve confidence, and is congruent with high-quality patient-centered care and a neurodiversity-affirming approach to care.

Provide Actionable Steps to Promote Patient Progress

Providers can facilitate autistic adults’ progress in meeting their mental health goals by providing practical recommendations and guidance for how to navigate life situations that impact their mental health. Focusing heavily on autism itself, early childhood experiences, or other topics (unless directed by the patient) may not be helpful for autistic adults in their day-to-day lives. Many autistic adults have jobs, relationships, community involvements, and many other facets to their lives, all of which may affect their mental health and may need to be points of emphasis during mental health treatment. For example, if an autistic adult is struggling with social anxiety about interactions with work colleagues, it may be more helpful to talk through recent situations and identify practical strategies for managing anxiety rather than to analyze early childhood experiences that could have originated the social anxiety. The authors encourage providers to check-in with autistic adults regularly about their experiences with treatment, listen to their feedback, and be willing to modify treatment approaches when necessary.

Autism and Wellness Week 1

As we welcome in April we look forward to longer and warmer days, the blooming of our favorite plants, and the return of baseball. Nestled in there alongside those things is Autism Acceptance Month. There has been a shift of late from Autism Awareness to Autism Acceptance, and for good reason. As one advocate, who themselves are on the spectrum, shared “Awareness is focused on shortcomings or deficits. Acceptance is focused on what you’re good at and what can you do for yourself. Awareness means you can identify a neurodiversity. Acceptance means you’re able to talk to neurodiverse individuals and gain understanding and compassion.”

So as we move into AAM we wanted to highlight the unique ways in which we can promote wellness in the Autism community, today starting with sleep. Whether you are a member of the Cooper community with an Autism diagnosis or you care for someone with Autism keep in mind that navigating life gets a bit easier when we have good sleep! So here are some thoughts on promoting sleep-related wellness across the Autism Spectrum.

Researchers have extensively researched sleep and its influence on health, behavior and other areas of life for those with Autism. Many kids, teens, and adults with autism have problems sleeping which can be hard on the them and those with whom they live. Some have trouble falling and staying asleep, or wake up too early and have a hard time getting back to sleep.

Problems sleeping happen more often in the setting of the restricted and repetitive behaviors common in ASD, as well as secondary to anxiety, or sensory problems that are often common on the spectrum. Watching TV, videos, or playing on the computer, especially if the shows are very stimulating (highly humorous, intentionally frightening) can lead anyone, especially those living with ASD, to having more trouble sleeping. Fixing this usually starts with gathering data and trying some of the most common solutions related to the problem, whether you are experiencing this yourself or trying to help a loved one.

Sleep Resources

ATN/AIR-P Strategies to Improve Sleep in Children with Autism Parent Booklet and Quick Tips
This informational booklet is designed to provide parents with strategies to improve sleep in their child affected by autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The suggestions in this tool kit are based on both research and clinical experience of sleep experts.

ATN/AIR-P Sleep Strategies for Teens with Autism
Many teens with autism have difficulty with sleep, which can affect their daytime functioning, as well as that of their families. This tool kit is designed to provide parents with strategies to improve sleep in their teens affected by autism. It helps tackle the problems of falling asleep and staying asleep through the night. 

ATN/AIR-P Melatonin and Sleep Problems: A Guide for Parents
Melatonin is a common medicine your doctor or healthcare provider may suggest to help improve sleep. This tool kit is designed to provide you with information about melatonin and help you decide if trying melatonin is right for you child.

Download a one-page overview on sleep for quick tips you can use at home.

Establishing Good Sleep Hygiene

Carin Lamm, MD is Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics Diplomate American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Director Pediatric Sleep Disorders Center Columbia University Medical Center and shares the below regarding sleep and Autism:

  1. Sleep environment: the bedroom should be dark, quiet and cool. As those with ASD might be particularly sensitive to noises and/or have sensory issues, the environment should be adapted to make sure one is as comfortable as possible.
  2. Bedtime routine: the routine should be predictable, relatively short (20 – 30 minutes) and include relaxing activities such as reading or listening to quiet music. Avoid the use of electronics close to bedtime such as TV, computer, video games etc. that can be stimulating making it difficult for individuals to fall asleep.
  3. Sleep\wake schedule: the schedule should be regular with not much of a difference between the weekday and weekend schedule.
  4. Exercise: Daytime exercise can make it easier to fall asleep and those who exercise tend to have deeper sleep. Avoid exercising too close to bedtime as it can make it difficult to fall asleep.
  5. Avoid caffeine particularly close to bedtime, which can be alerting making it difficult for people to fall asleep. Caffeine is found not only in coffee, but also in tea, chocolate and some sodas.
  6. Naps – avoid them at all costs! While a good nap can be needed from time to time, over-reliance on this can perpetuate sleep problems.

It is important to address medical or psychiatric issues that potentially interfere with sleep. Medications might need adjustment if they affect sleep. If one suffers from a sleep disorder such as sleep apnea, sleep walking, sleep terrors, restless legs syndrome, they may need a referral to a sleep specialist. Some with persistent insomnia will need further behavioral or pharmacological treatment to improve their sleep.

In summary, although sleep problems are common those with ASD they often can be helped. Better sleep for these children can potentially improve their daytime functioning as well as the sleep of family members.

Growth, One Small Step at a Time

Hard to believe, but March has flown by and we are ready to welcome April and the renewal that comes with Spring! If you are looking for some help shaking off the last remaining blues that may have come with a long, dreary winter consider checking out calm.com’s April Calm Calendar. As they share on their site, “The Calm Calendar is an invitation to meet your life with presence and curiosity. Our daily prompts serve as encouragement to learn more about yourself and the world through the lens of mental health, mindfulness, and wellbeing. It’s not about getting it right, but rather checking in with yourself, deepening your awareness and supporting yourself through each step of your journey.”

Remember, growth comes one small step at a time. Ready for the first step, download the calendar below or at calm.com!

10 pieces of well-worn life advice you may need to hear right now

Recently, Becky Harlan, Sylvie Douglis, and Andee Tagle published a piece on “Life Kit”, NPR’s advice column where experts answer your most pressing and personal anonymous questions. The authors provided 10 indispensable pieces of advice to help shape habits that can directly contribute to improved wellness. These tips are offered below, and the full article can be read at https://www.npr.org/2023/02/19/1157287474/best-life-advice-tips

  1. ‘There’s more than one way to do something’ – I remember scrubbing a pan when I was maybe 8 or 9 years old. There was something stuck on the pan that wouldn’t come off, and I just kept scrubbing it. My dad stopped me, grabbed a fork and just scraped it off. And he looked at me and said, “Jody, there’s more than one way to do something.” From that moment on, I’ve been looking at every problem in my life like how can I do this a different way? — Jody Adewale, clinical psychologist Sponsor Message
  2. ‘The hate will come at the same rate as the love’ – The best advice I ever received was that the hate will come at the same rate as the love. There will always be people who are so dissatisfied with themselves that they have to project that onto other people. And instead of trying to focus on the negativity, I tend to try to put more energy into the people and the things that are showing me love, support and good energy. — Kiaundra Jackson, marriage and family therapist A behavioral scientist’s advice for changing your life LIFE KIT A behavioral scientist’s advice for changing your life
  3. ‘Do smaller loads of laundry’ – I used to work at a small grocery store, and before moving away to college, I asked the store manager, “What’s the No. 1 thing that I need to know about going away to college?” And he said, “Do smaller loads of laundry. Your clothes will come out cleaner.” — Shaun Galanos, a relationship coach and host of The Love Drive podcast
  4. ‘Being vulnerable means taking off our armor’ – I was talking with my therapist about how I didn’t mind being vulnerable as long as I knew the other person would be warm, that they wouldn’t judge and all of that. And she said, “that’s not vulnerable. Being vulnerable means taking off our armor and going in not knowing how we’ll be received, but putting ourselves out there a little bit anyway.” — Tania Israel, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara Sponsor Message
  5. ‘Go where the energy goes’ – The best piece of advice I ever received was “Go where the energy goes.” What has good vibes? What makes you feel good about yourself? Where is that good energy? Head in that direction. — Betty Who, pop star and the host of the reality dating series, “The One That Got Away” Need A Career Change? Here’s The Best Job Advice We’ve Heard On Life Kit LIFE KIT Need A Career Change? Here’s The Best Job Advice We’ve Heard On Life Kit
  6. ‘It’s not all about you’ – The best piece of advice I was given was, “Shanita, it’s not all about you.” When I’m in a situation where a tough decision has to be made and it feels personal, I remind myself it’s not all about me, and that I’m one piece of a bigger universe that’s at play right now. — Shanita Williams, career coach and the author of Feedback Mentality
  7. Expect yourself to change – We all change every five years or so. More or less, we have to expect ourselves to change, and we have to expect people in our lives to change. That little piece of advice has given me a lot of space for room and for growth. — Lindsay Bryan-Podvin, a financial therapist and host of the Mind Money Balance podcast Dear Life Kit: My husband is living under COVID lockdown. I’m ready to move on DEAR LIFE KIT Dear Life Kit: My husband is living under COVID lockdown. I’m ready to move on
  8. ‘When people show you who they are, believe them’ – When people show you who they are, believe them. Far too often, I have seen us try to recreate who we want people to be, only to later find out they are exactly what they’ve been demonstrating. — Nedra Glover Tawwab, licensed therapist and the author of Set Boundaries, Find Peace
  9. Pace out your self-improvement – Don’t be so overly involved with your self-improvement. Accept the gifts and abilities that you have, and don’t spend so much time trying to develop new ones that you sacrifice your gifts. Be yourself. — David Defoe, a psychotherapist who specializes in depression, anxiety and grief
  10. It’s OK to say ‘I don’t know’ Something – I’ve benefited a lot from is telling yourself, “I don’t know. And that’s exactly where I should be when I take that first step.” I’m as ready as I ever will be. I’m going to do it, and I’ll know more after. — Becky Kennedy, clinical psychologist and author of Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be

Why Doctors Should Care About Happiness

Dr. Sarah Pressman is an award winning Assistant Professor of Psychology and Social Behavior in the School of Social Ecology at the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Pressman’s work seeks to understand how positive emotions are beneficial for objective physical health and longevity. In her 2015 TED Talk, Dr. Pressman shares research from her lab about why doctors should care about happiness in their patients.

International Women’s Day: How And Why Women Can And Should Prioritize Their Wellness

Recently, Rittu Sinha at Forbes penned an article that contrasts the difference between what we saw as a culture about women and wellness, and the types of attitudes we foster about this topic. She shared that “As the World Health Organization reminds us, “The health, well-being and needs of half the world’s population cannot be treated as an afterthought.” However, for most of my own life, I never took the time to figure out how feminism actually sat with me. It was only in the last decade I that came to the realization that although I am not inclined toward “femininity,” I am a feminist (these questionnaires helped me clarify my thinking). Where does feminism intersect with women’s health? In short, in every area—physical, mental, emotional, environmental, existential and spiritual, which are all places I champion. Many women even today put their health on a back burner for years of their life. When we’re in this space, we consider our own needs to be less important than those of others (spouses, partners, kids, parents).”

Read Rittu’s full article on the hows and whys of fixing inequities that limit women’s wellness at https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2022/10/25/how-and-why-women-can-and-should-prioritize-their-wellness/ 

The Science of Kindness

Yesterday we wrapped up our formal Random Acts of Kindness initiatives, but just because the formal time of recognition is over does not mean our kindness should stop! Want more proof of how important kindness is? Check out this video detailing the Science of Kindness and its benefits to all involved:

Kindness in Six Acts

Need help getting your random acts going? Here are six ideas to get your imagination going!

Bring treats to work

Next time you’re on the way to work, grab your coworkers some coffee or pastries. 

Show local businesses some love

It’s no secret that we love our local businesses. Next time you stop by your go-to spots, tip generously or write a positive review. You can also combine this and the previous, get you coffee and donuts from a local shop!

Plant native species

Add some green to your community by planting native species. Use the National Wildlife Federation’s Native Plant Finder to start your search.

Help our furry friends

Consider fostering or adopting a furry friend in need of a home, or volunteer at a local shelter, details available through Camden County. You can also donate monetarily or drop off blankets, toys, food, and supplies.

Volunteer with local organizations

Check out some local volunteer opportunities through Camden County at Volunteer Match.

Gift something just because

Whether it’s to recognize a teacher or just surprise someone special in your life, we suggest some gifts from local shops. Check out this directory here.

The Unexpected Power of Random Acts of Kindness

Feel free to read the full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/02/well/family/random-acts-of-kindness.html

New research shows small gestures matter even more than we may think.

In late August, Erin Alexander, 57, sat in the parking lot of a Target store in Fairfield, Calif., and wept. Her sister-in-law had recently died, and Ms. Alexander was having a hard day.

A barista working at the Starbucks inside the Target was too. The espresso machine had broken down and she was clearly stressed. Ms. Alexander — who’d stopped crying and gone inside for some caffeine — smiled, ordered an iced green tea, and told her to hang in there. After picking up her order, she noticed a message on the cup: “Erin,” the barista had scrawled next to a heart, “your soul is golden.”

“I’m not sure I even necessarily know what ‘your soul is golden’ means,” said Ms. Alexander, who laughed and cried while recalling the incident.

But the warmth of that small and unexpected gesture, from a stranger who had no inkling of what she was going through, moved her deeply.

“Of course, I was still really sad,” Ms. Alexander said. “But that little thing made the rest of my day.”

New findings, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology in August, corroborate just how powerful experiences like Ms. Alexander’s can be. Researchers found that people who perform a random act of kindness tend to underestimate how much the recipient will appreciate it. And they believe that miscalculation could hold many of us back from doing nice things for others more often.

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“We have this negativity bias when it comes to social connection. We just don’t think the positive impact of our behaviors is as positive as it is,” said Marisa Franco, a psychologist and author of “Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make — and Keep — Friends,” who did not work on the recent research.

“With a study like this, I hope it will inspire more people to actually commit random acts of kindness,” she said.

Underestimating the power of small gestures

The recent study comprised eight small experiments that varied in design and participants. In one, for example, graduate students were asked to perform thoughtful acts of their own choosing, like giving a classmate a ride home from campus, baking cookies or buying someone a cup of coffee.

In another, researchers recruited 84 participants on two cold weekends at the ice skating rink at Maggie Daley Park in Chicago. They were given a hot chocolate from the snack kiosk and were told they could keep it or give it to a stranger as a deliberate act of kindness. The 75 participants who gave away their hot chocolate were asked to guess how “big” the act of kindness would feel to the recipient on a scale from 0 (very small) to 10 (very large), and to predict how the recipient would rate their mood (ranging from much more negative than normal to much more positive than normal) upon receiving the drink. The recipients were then asked to report how they actually felt using the same scales.

In that experiment — and across all others — the people doing the kind thing consistently underestimated how much it was actually appreciated, said one of the study’s authors, Amit Kumar, an assistant professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Texas, Austin.

“We believe these miscalibrated expectations matter for behavior,” he said. “Not knowing one’s positive impact can stand in the way of people engaging in these sorts of acts of kindness in daily life.”

Another experiment in the study was devised to help researchers better understand this tendency to underestimate the power of our own kind acts. In it, Dr. Kumar and his team recruited 200 participants in Maggie Daley Park. A control group of 50 participants received a cupcake simply for participating in the study and rated their mood. Another 50 people who did not receive a cupcake rated how they thought the receivers would feel after getting a cupcake.

A third group of 50 people were told they could give a cupcake away to strangers, and were asked to rate their own mood as well as how they believed the recipients would feel. Once again, the researchers found that those who got a cupcake as a result of a random act of kindness felt better than the person on the giving end thought they would.

Also, people who got a cupcake because of an act of kindness rated themselves higher on a happiness scale than those who got one simply for participating in the study, suggesting they got an emotional boost from the gesture, in addition to the cupcake itself.

“People tend to think that what they are giving is kind of little, maybe it’s relatively inconsequential,” Dr. Kumar said. “But recipients are less likely to think along those lines. They consider the gesture to be significantly more meaningful because they are also thinking about the fact that someone did something nice for them.”

How to show others you care

The notion that kindness can boost well-being is hardly new. Studies have shown that prosocial behavior — basically, voluntarily helping others — can help lower people’s daily stress levels, and that simple acts of connection, like texting a friend, mean more than many of us realize. But researchers who study kindness and friendship say they hope the new findings strengthen the scientific case for making these types of gestures more often.

“I have found that kindness can be a really hard sell,” said Tara Cousineau, a clinical psychologist, meditation teacher and author of “The Kindness Cure: How The Science of Compassion Can Heal Your Heart and Your World.” “People desire kindness yet often feel inconvenienced by the thought of being kind.”

Stress can also keep people from being kind to others, she said, as can the “little judgy voice” in people’s heads that causes them to question whether their gesture or gift will be misinterpreted, or whether it will make the recipient feel pressured to pay it back.

“When the kindness impulse arises,” Dr. Cousineau said, “we totally overthink it.”

But an act of kindness is unlikely to backfire, she said, and in some instances it can beget even more kindness. Jennifer Oldham, 36, who lost her 9-year-old daughter, Hallie, in July after a tree fell on the car she was in during a storm, recently created a Facebook group — Keeping Kindness for Hallie — that encourages participants to engage in random acts of kindness. People have bought groceries and baby formula for others in Hallie’s honor. They’ve donated school supplies and given hydrangeas to strangers.

“No small act goes unnoticed,” Ms. Oldham said. “It will help your own heart, maybe even more than the recipients.”

Sometimes, it is something much sillier. When Kimberly Britt, president of Phoenix College in Arizona, left for a week of vacation in July, her vice president of student affairs hid 60 rubber chickens in her office.

“She did it so I wouldn’t find them all immediately, and it did take me a while,” she said. “But it was meant to bring a smile to my day when I returned.”

It did, and has since inspired Dr. Britt to begin a random acts of kindness challenge on campus. They have recorded 200 acts of kindness so far: a teacher who went above and beyond to spend time with a student who was struggling emotionally, a staff member who brought food to the office, another who made coffee for all of their colleagues.

If you are not already in the habit of performing random kind acts — or if it does not come naturally to you — Dr. Franco said to start by thinking about what you like to do.

“It’s not about you being like, ‘Oh man, now I have to learn how to bake cookies in order to be nice,’” she said. “It’s about: What skills and talents do you already have? And how can you turn that into an offering for other people?”

Random Acts of Kindness Month: The Health Benefits of Kindness

Since 1949, the Mental Health Foundation has been the UK’s leading charity for everyone’s mental health. They take a public mental health approach to prevention, finding solutions for individuals, those at risk and for society, in order to improve everyone’s mental wellbeing. It is not surprising, then, that they have a thing or two to say about the benefits of kindness, and so we start Random Acts of Kindness Month by looking at their review of the health benefits of kindness. You can learn more at https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/about-us

The health benefits of kindness

  • Helping others feels good – Research shows that acts of kindness are linked to increased feelings of well-being.  Helping others can also improve our support networks and encourage us to be more active.  This, in turn, can improve our self-esteem.  There is some evidence to suggest that when we help others, it can promote changes in the brain that are linked with happiness.
  • It creates a sense of belonging and reduces isolation – Helping others is thought to be one of the ways that people create, maintain, and strengthen their social connections. For example, volunteering and helping others can help us feel a sense of belonging, make new friends, and connect with our communities.
  • It helps to keep things in perspective – Many of us don’t realize the effect a different perspective can have on our outlook on life. There is some evidence that being aware of our own acts of kindness, as well as the things we are grateful for, can increase feelings of happiness, optimism and satisfaction. Doing good may also help us to have a more positive outlook on our own circumstances.
  • It’s contagious – Acts of kindness can make the world a happier place for everyone. They can boost feelings of confidence, being in control, happiness and optimism. They may also encourage others to repeat the good deeds they’ve experienced themselves – contributing to a more positive community. 
  • Helping others helps you – The benefits of helping others can last long after the act itself, for those who offer kindness, and those who benefit. This, in turn, can improve our self-esteem.

3 Ways to Refill Your Empty Cup

Harvard researchers recently published findings that suggest nurturing yourself in small ways can help ease burnout and exhaustion.

It’s hard to care about anything when you feel exhausted, burned out, or ragged around the edges. Your once-fiery enthusiasm may seem more like charred rubble due to overwhelming family responsibilities, a job that drains you, or financial struggles. Or maybe an illness, the uncertainty and disruptions of the age we live in, or a combination of factors has left you feeling as if you have precious little to give.

“What you’re experiencing is burnout. It’s real and it can lead to depression, anxiety, relationship damage, and an inability to function at home or at work,” says Dr. Marni Chanoff, an integrative psychiatrist with Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital.

Take heart: With time and effort, you can refill your cup, slowly adding back a bit of the energy and joie de vivre you’ve been missing. Here are three ways to start.

1. Carve out time for yourself

Taking time for yourself isn’t a luxury; it’s essential to self-care. “You need to slow down and give yourself the opportunity to rest and rejuvenate,” Dr. Chanoff says, “Schedule it if you have to, starting with 10 or 15 minutes, a couple of times a day.”

How can you reclaim precious minutes in an overly full schedule? “Look at your day, week, or month, and be discerning about how many things you say ‘yes’ to in one period of time. Give yourself permission to say ‘no thank you’ to things that deplete you or don’t serve you,” Dr. Chanoff says.

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Make small moments count: choose what makes you feel at peace. For example, have a cup of tea, or simply lay a blanket or mat on the floor at home or work and lie on your back. Don’t look at your phone or email. “You want to tell your body to take a break. It helps you reset and back away when stress draws you in,” Dr. Chanoff explains.

2. Commit to better health

A strong body helps balance the stressful situations that have caused your burnout. The basic recipe for good health includes:

  • Exercise. Moderate intensity exercise, the kind that works the heart and lungs, releases important chemicals that help regulate mood, sleep, and many body systems. Aim for at least 150 minutes of exercise per week, which amounts to about 22 minutes a day. Start with just a few minutes a day if it’s all you can do. It doesn’t have to be fancy. “It can be any movement that brings you joy, like dancing, yoga, or brisk walking,” Dr. Chanoff suggests.
  • A good diet. Eating lots of junk food (typically full of sugar, salt, and unhealthy saturated fat) fuels chronic stress, fatigue, depression, and anxiety. Choose more unprocessed foods such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, lean proteins (fish or poultry), and unsaturated fats (such as avocados or olive oil). If time is an issue, Chanoff suggests batch-cooking simple, healthy foods you can have several days of the week. (Lentil or bean soup is a good one-pot meal. Throw in as many vegetables as you can.)
  • Sleep. Insufficient sleep affects overall health, concentration, and mood. Try to sleep seven to nine hours per night. “It helps to wind down an hour or two before you fall asleep. And practice good sleep hygiene: turn off your phone, keep your room cool and dark, and go to sleep and wake up at the same time each day,” Dr. Chanoff advises.

3. Surround yourself with comfort

Hygge (pronounced HOO-ga) is the Danish concept of cozy comfort that brings happiness and contentment. Folks in Denmark know a thing or two about finding sunshine in cold dark months.

To practice hygge, surround yourself with people, activities, and things that make you feel cozy, loved, happy, or content. Go simple: spend time with your favorite people, add a small vase of flowers to your space, don fuzzy slippers once home, eat a treasured comfort food, or listen to a favorite song.

More ideas to try:

  • Light a candle.
  • Get under a heated blanket.
  • Frame a photo of a happy time.
  • Have breakfast in bed.
  • Use pretty table linens.
  • Indulge in art (check out various works at museums online).
  • Stand still outside to listen to the sounds of nature.
  • Curl up in a cozy chair.
  • Window-shop in your favorite store.
  • Wear a soft sweater that feels good on your skin.
  • Use a silk or satin pillowcase on your bed pillow.
  • Take a warm bath.
  • Get an oil diffuser with a scent that reminds you of a place you love, like the beach or a pine forest.

People Need People

Listen to the full story below, or read it at NPR.org.

Sending a text to a friend can bring a smile to your face. Now, research suggests it could also help bring long-term health benefits.

Psychiatrist Robert Waldinger and Psychologist Marc Schulz have spent decades studying what helps people thrive. Their research followed people through the decades, consulting with their parents and now their children, who are mostly of the baby boomer generation. They identified different kinds of happiness.

“We do like that sugar rush high, that ‘I’m having fun right now at this party’ kind of high. And then there’s the happiness that comes from feeling like, ‘I’m having a good life, a decent life, a meaningful life,” Waldinger explained. “We all want some of both, but some of us really prioritize one kind over the other kind.”

Their conclusion? Long term health and wellbeing comes down to one thing: investing in relationships with other people.

Waldinger emphasizes the importance of putting effort into friendships, saying that many valuable relationships can wither away from neglect. And even if you find yourself realizing that you may not have the connections you seek, today’s as good a day as any to start forming those bonds.

So if you’ve been prioritizing your well-being lately, and perhaps meaning to reach out to a friend, family member or loved one, it’s never too late to send a quick message and catch up.

A Happiness Challenge

For over 80 years, researchers at Harvard have studied what makes for a good life. They found one surefire, scientifically proven predictor of happiness: developing warmer relationships. A team of reporters on The Times’s health and wellness desk, Well, developed a self-paced challenge to help you do just that. Ready to start the new year right? Start below!

How Strong Are Your Relationships?

Relationships with friends, family, coworkers and even casual acquaintances play a crucial role in your well-being. Find out how robust your social ties are.

Day 1: Take Stock of Your Relationships

Today, you will identify the areas of your life in which you would like to be more connected.

Jan. 1, 2023

Day 2: The Secret Power of the 8-Minute Phone Call

Even a brief chat has measurable effects on our well-being.

Jan. 2, 2023

Day 3: Small Talk Has Big Benefits

Regular exchanges with your “weak ties” will bring you more happiness.

Jan. 3, 2023

Day 4: Why You Should Write a ‘Living Eulogy’

Happy people express their gratitude for others.

Jan. 4, 2023

Day 5: The Importance of Work Friends

People who are close to their colleagues are happier and more productive.

Jan. 5, 2023

Your Best Intentions

Psychologist Angelica Attard has the following thoughts on resolutions headed into the new year: “The end of December represents a transition point. It is a time when people share their reflections on how the last year has gone, their joys and sorrows, and set resolutions in the hope that they will fare better in the new year. We hold on to a vision of a better year, a better us, a better future. New year, new start, new resolutions. The concept and implementation of resolutions can be hard for many to grapple with. If New Year’s resolutions do not work for you, I invite you to consider the idea of setting intentions and starting now.”

She suggests that, rather than resolutions, we consider setting intentions. Dr. Attard shares “Intentions are about who we want to be in the present moment and how we want to show up in our lives. Intentions are based on what our values are, i.e., what is important to us in different areas of our life, such as our physical health, mental health, career, hobbies, relationships with family, friends, partners, education. Intentions are different from goals because goals are about what we do. However, they are related because intentions give us a direction and will that empower us to set and achieve goals; to act and take decisions that honor the person we want to be based on what matters to us. This can enable us to live a meaningful life and have fulfilling relationships with others and ourselves in the present. Here are a few other points to consider regarding the traps that come with resolutions and how intentions can step in to help.”

You can read her full article at https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/human-beings-being-human/202011/set-new-years-resolutions-or-live-intention-now. Below are some steps she outlines to begin the process of setting our intentions.

  1. Set your intention at the start of the day (whilst you are still in bed and before the rush of the day begins).
  2. Take a moment, slow down, and take a few deep breaths.
  3. Check in with yourself. (How are you feeling? What thoughts are going through your mind?)
  4. Check what you have planned for your day ahead.
  5. Based on your state of mind and the plans for the day, think about what matters to you in how you face the day, what you need, what is going to help you. (Remember to think about this based on your values and what kind of person you want to be as you approach this day.)
  6. Set your intention for the day using the language that works for you. Today I commit myself to… My intention is to approach the day with…
  7. Write down your intention on paper or your phone or share it with another person(This can make it feel more real.)
  8. Set your mind, focus, and approach throughout the day towards this intention. (It is OK if you forget about your intention during the day. It is not really forgotten because your intentions are linked to your values and your values are always part of you.)
  9. Find a moment to come back to your intention to reflect on how you lived by this. (The aim is not to judge yourself as good or bad or as having succeeded or failed. Rather, it is to acknowledge where you are at and learn about what you may want to carry forward to the next moment or to tomorrow.)

4 Mindful Tips to De-Stress This Holiday Season

Not feeling particularly cheery this time of year? You’re not alone. Many find that the holidays bring as much stress as they do joy. But there are ways to ease through the season. To help make the most of your festivities, Neda Gould, Ph.D., clinical psychologist and director of the Johns Hopkins Mindfulness Program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, shares some mindful tips. Those tips are below, and you can read the full article at https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/4-mindful-tips-to-destress-this-holiday-season

  1. Accept Imperfection – Can good be good enough? “As we gear up for the holidays, we often set the bar impossibly high for ourselves and then feel upset when our celebrations don’t live up to expectations,” says Gould. Before you start preparing, acknowledge that things may not go exactly as planned. “It’s OK if it’s not perfect. Imperfection is healthy and normal. For some of us, it might just take a little practice,” reminds Gould.
  2. Don’t Lose Sight of What Really Counts – With long lines and nasty traffic, the holidays can get hectic. When overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle, ask yourself: Where does this fit in the grand scheme of things? If you’re frustrated by the long grocery line you’re standing in, remember that it is just a long grocery line — nothing more. Don’t let it spoil your afternoon. Can I use this moment of frustration as an opportunity to reflect? While the cashier rings up the customers ahead of you, take inventory of the good things that have happened today or the things you are grateful for. Even if this moment seems stressful, can I find a way to make it pleasant? Connect with someone else in line with a compliment or kind gesture, or notice what’s around you with fresh eyes and an open mind.
  3. Respond with Kindness You can’t change how others act during the stresses of the holiday season, but you can change how you respond to situations: “Whenever I encounter a difficult person, I tell myself, ‘this person is suffering, and that’s why they’re acting this way.’ It softens my frustration, helps me be more compassionate and reminds me that it’s not personal,” says Gould. Keep in mind that the holidays are especially difficult for those who are alone. See if you can extend an act of kindness to those you know are without family and friends during this time of year. If things do get tense with someone, take a few deep breaths. “Those few breaths can shift things and give you new perspective,” says Gould.
  4. Rethink Your Resolutions “Typical New Year’s resolutions set you up for failure,” warns Gould. If you want to better yourself in the New Year, follow these tips for success: Start small. Break your goal into tinier steps over the course of the year. If weight loss is your goal, it doesn’t have to be drastic. Try to eat more veggies during your first month and gradually cut back on sweets throughout the next, suggests Gould. Be kind to yourself. If you didn’t achieve last year’s resolution or stray from the path this time around, let it go. “We often contrive these stories (‘I’m never going to quit smoking!’) that only add to our distress,” says Gould. “With practice, we can notice this self-critic, let go of that negativity and pick our goals back up without the guilt or shame.”

Reading with Mr. Herman

Part of any good wellness initiative is finding ways to remind each other that there is still goodness in the world, even amongst all the difficult things. While coming into contact with these reminders does not fix the underlying bigger problems, the hope is that it gives us a little extra wherewithal to continue to work toward their resolution. To that end, today we share the story of Mr. Herman and his kids.

New Jersey school bus driver Herman Cruse noticed that a kindergartner seemed a little sad and out of sorts during one morning ride to Middle Township Elementary #1. “Bus drivers are the eyes and ears of students when they’re away from home,” said Cruse, 55, who drives students of all ages for Middle Township Public Schools in Cape May Court House, N.J. “We have an uncanny gift to discern what kids are feeling,” he said.

When Cruse asked the kindergartner what was wrong, he said the boy explained that he wasn’t able to complete his reading assignment because his parents were busy with his four siblings at home. It was hard to find one-on-one time to practice reading with his mom or dad, he told Cruse. Cruse said an idea popped into his mind. “I told him, ‘Listen, I have some free time, and if you don’t mind, I’d like to come to the school and read with you,’” he said.

Cruse received permission from the 6-year-old’s teacher, Alex Bakley, to show up at her kindergarten classroom the following week. When he walked in, he said the boy shouted, “Hey, that’s my bus driver!” Herman Cruse has driven a school bus for more than 30 years. He has spent the last nine years driving for Middle Township Public Schools. (Alex Bakley) “We went into a quiet corner and began reading together,” Cruse said. “It was a book called ‘I Like Lunch,’ about a boy who likes sandwiches, a boy who likes apples, a boy who likes cookies and a boy who likes milk. Put it all together and you have lunch.” “So he read to me, I read to him and we read together, and from there, it took on a life of its own,”

Cruse continued. “A second student wanted to read to me, then a third. All these kids were going to the teacher asking, ‘Can I read with Mr. Herman?’” A stranger called. He had photos of her family from the Holocaust era. Almost two years later, Cruse now volunteers to help Bakley’s 18 kindergarten students and another kindergarten class with reading two days a week, and on a third day, he tutors the school’s first- and second-graders. After dropping the kids off at school, of course

Read Mr. Herman’s full story and see pictures of him in action at https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/12/07/bus-driver-reading-herman-cruse/

Freudenfreude.

There is a new term making it’s way around the social science circles: freudenfreude. Freudenfreude is a term inspired by the German word for “joy” and it describes the bliss we feel when someone else succeeds, even if it doesn’t directly involve us. In a recent New York Times article professor Catherine Chambliss says freudenfreude is like social glue in that it makes relationships more intimate and enjoyable.

The same article cites Erika Weisz, an empathy researcher and postdoctoral fellow in psychology at Harvard University, who shared that this feeling closely resembles positive empathy — the ability to experience someone else’s positive emotions. A small 2021 study examined positive empathy’s role in daily life and found that it propelled kind acts, like helping others. Sharing in someone else’s joy can also foster resilience, improve life satisfaction and help people cooperate during a conflict.

So, that challenge for you today, where can you experience a little Freudenfreude? Need help? Check out Dr. Chambliss’ Freudenfreude Enhancement Training!

More Than a Feeling

Saleem Reshamwala hosts “More Than a Feeling”, a podcast on emotions from the meditation and mindfulness platform Ten Percent Happier. Recently she published a piece on NPR sharing five practices for managing that nagging feeling of impending doom. She encourages us to recognize that the list of things we dread is almost endless, from the Sunday scaries and climate change to deadlines, the holidays, simple errands, and more. So what do we do about this? You can read the full article at https://www.npr.org/2022/11/22/1138759124/transform-the-way-you-deal-with-dread but a quick summary is offered below:

Rewrite your dread – We often struggle to talk about dread because it can feel so heavy. Poet and clinical psychologist Hala Alyan has a suggestion: Write down the things you’re concerned about. She shares a journal prompt to help you emotionally distance from your dread.

Draw your dread – What happens when we express our dread without words? Art therapist Naomi Cohen-Thompson and meditation teacher and writer Jeff Warren explain why reframing our attitudes toward dread nonverbally can help us accept what scares us.

Find the joy in dreading – Fear of death may be the ultimate type of dread we face, but clinical psychologist Rachel Menzies and death doula Alua Arthur say that facing death can be a joyful exercise. They make a compelling case for why remembering we will die – instead of trying to forget – can help us accept the inevitable.

Schedule your dread – This is how my dread works: I dread something. I try to avoid thinking about it. I fail. Before I know it, I’ve spent an entire day stuck in an endless loop of worry. Mattu shares some tips around this conundrum, including the benefits of carving out “worry time” to keep dread from becoming too overwhelming.

Notice your surroundings – After speaking with More Than a Feeling listeners, it became clear that one of the biggest issues they’re worried about right now is the state of our planet. I spoke with therapist Patty Adams, who helped me understand how connecting to the environment can help us build emotional resilience — so that even if we feel paralyzed by “eco-dread,” as it’s called, we don’t stay there for too long.

Everyone Is Photogenic

Occasionally this wellness blog will share information whose sole intent is to, rather motivate you to take action, just feel good. Today is such a post, and it comes to us via this Washington Post story about photographer David Suh. His goal is to elevate the everyday people through portraits. Suh has since created posing tutorial on TikTok and elsewhere. “His work and videos are built on his unshakable belief that you are camera-ready exactly as you are. ‘For me, everyone is inherently beautiful,’ he tells [the Post] over Zoom from a low-lit nook in his studio. ‘Just the fact that they exist is beautiful.’ All you need to look fantastic in photos, he insists, is some posing and picture-taking practice, plus — and he knows this is the hard part — genuine faith in your own innate beauty, as defined on your terms and no one else’s.”

Suh gives a combination of general and practical advice. He says “you build who you are, and because you feel more secure in your identity, to me, that is what is attractive.” And that, in turn, “applies to being attractive on film. When you get to express that … you get to represent yourself the way you want to.” But he has also built a library of practical guides. He posts a combination of useful how-tos and earnest affirmations. You can find him responding to a disabled trans man seeking guidance on how to pose with his walker; showing a woman how to take solo pictures (which built to an impassioned takedown of the way society tells women not to take up space); offering a posing guide that contrasts a “Shy Couple” with a “Power Couple.” He ends his practical-yet-playful lessons with a duck quack sound effect.

Want to learn more? Check Suh out at https://www.tiktok.com/@davidsuh/

Stop Hurting Your Own Feelings

Andee Tagle (she/her) is a reporter-producer for NPR’s Life Kit podcast. She recently posted an article discussing some key aspects of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Specifically the role of our automatic thoughts and the language we use to describe ourselves and our experiences. You can read the full article at https://www.npr.org/2022/11/04/1133860237/stop-hurting-your-own-feelings-tips-on-quashing-negative-self-talk and below is a brief summary to consider.

Talk to yourself the way you would talk to a friend In our episode on how to curb negative self-talk, psychologist Joy Harden Bradford says to be aware of the harmful things we might say to ourselves. So the next time you’re tempted to disparage your looks or criticize your decision-making, ask yourself: would I talk this way to my best friend? If not, practice “using the same kind and gentle language that we use with the people we love” on yourself, says Bradford. “Because we’re also people who we hopefully love, right?” Listen to the episode here.

‘SIFT’ through what people say about you The acronym SIFT (source, impact, frequency and trends), developed by research scientist Mike Caulfield, can help you figure out whether you should listen to feedback from others or just ignore it. Say someone calls you out for poor email communication. Did that criticism come from someone you trust and value? Is it demanding a big change or a minor tweak to your behavior? Is this something you’ve heard from other people? And have you heard this from different communities in your life, or just at work? Consider these points before deciding to act. Listen to the episode here.

Don’t forget that our brains have a tendency to focus on the negative The mind is a tricky thing. It can lead us to fixate, for example, on one bad aspect of a year-end review from a manager instead of their positive feedback. This is called “negativity bias,” says Yale psychology professor Woo-kyoung Ahn, and it illustrates our propensity to weigh negative events a lot more heavily than an equal amount of positive events. This “thinking error,” she says, is dangerous because it can lead us to make the wrong choices. Find out how to counteract this bias here.

Don’t dwell on something that bothers you — talk about it If someone you love is causing you distress, don’t be afraid to communicate with them about it, says psychologist Adia Gooden. It may help clear up any assumptions you may have and offer new perspectives about the incident. For example, instead of jumping to conclusions if your partner is always on their phone at dinnertime, you might say to them: “Because you’re always on your phone, I feel like you don’t think I’m worthy of your attention,” says Gooden. “And they might say, ‘Oh, shoot, I didn’t mean to be on my phone. Or, you know, I’ve been kind of frustrated with you and I didn’t know how to bring it up. So I’ve been looking at my phone instead of making eye contact. Let’s talk.” Listen to the episode here.

Adapt a ‘growth mindset’ Instead of defining yourself by your failures or limitations, consider every loss as part of your learning process. This idea, developed by psychologist Carol Dweck, is called a “growth mindset,” and it can help bolster that internal dialogue when you’ve taken an L and can’t stop kicking yourself about it. Let’s say you lose a round of pool. Those with a fixed mindset, she says, think that talent and intelligence are static: I give up, I’ll never get good at this! Growth-minded people believe that effort can lead to mastery: Hey! I’m getting a lot better at putting some power behind the ball! It’s all about finding the right perspective. Listen to the episode here.

Fall Back Without Falling Over

Yup, it’s about that time again. The end of daylight saving is nigh. For many the extra hour of sleep as welcomed, but for most any change to routine, especially our sleep routine, can have a number of undesirable downstream effects. To that end, Holly Burns as the New York Times wellness blog has compiled a list of things to consider as we prepare for this year’s tradition. Some of this tips are below, you can read the full article at NYTimes.com.

  • Try shifting your bedtime 30 minutes later a few days in advance, so that by Sunday, the time on the clock is closer to the time your body feels it is, said Jennifer Martin, a professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and president of the board of directors for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. That means, though, that you should also be sleeping 30 minutes later in the mornings, which isn’t feasible for everyone.
  • Extra time in bed sounds glorious to some, but it can be hard if you struggle with insomnia, said Dr. Martin, because “the night basically just got an hour longer.” In that case, focus on keeping the time you spend in bed the same, rather than the time you fall asleep. So if you usually spend eight hours in bed — say, between 10:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. — go to bed an hour later on Saturday night, which may reduce your chances of lying awake during the night.
  • Move your workout. It can be demoralizing to find that the pleasant afternoon stroll you’ve been accustomed to is now a gloomy trudge through the dark. Shifting your walk, run or bike ride to the morning means you’ll get a dose of direct morning light, which is important for regulating sleeping and waking habits. Your cortisol spikes, giving you energy, and your brain stops producing the sleep hormone melatonin.
  • Eat with care. Aim to stick to your normal mealtimes once the clocks change — so if you were eating dinner at 6:30 p.m., keep eating at 6:30 p.m., said Hayley Wilkes, an integrative nutritionist in Chicago who works with clients to navigate potential disruptions to their eating habits. Prepare the week before by gradually shifting mealtimes forward 15 minutes, so your body gets used to eating a little later.
  • Seek creative activities. In the days after we put the clocks back, it’s natural to feel sad that summer is over or frustrated that some activities aren’t an option anymore, Dr. Hill said. A Danish study of more than 185,000 people over 17 years found that the transition to standard time was associated with an 11 percent increase in depressive episodes. As it gets colder and darker, it may be tempting to indulge in nothing more mentally taxing than a Netflix binge, but sedentary behavior and media consumption are strongly associated with decreased life satisfaction and increased depression, said Dr. Hill. Instead, try to focus on “activities where you create rather than consume.”

Happiness, Joy, and Meaning in Difficult Times

Happiness, Joy, and Meaning are related, but ultimately separate, concepts.

  • Happiness: to the pleasurable feelings that result from a situation, experience, or objects
  • Joy: a state of mind that can be found even in times of grief or uncertainty.
  • Meaning: Taking the opportunity to define our own purpose, and taking responsibility for ourselves and other human beings

Recently, Harvard physician Stephanie Collier, MD, MPH wrote a piece describing how one can find joy, or at least peace, during difficult times.

Dr. Collier hilights the distinction amongst joy, happiness, and meaning in that “We can work on cultivating joy independent of our circumstances. Winning the lottery may trigger (short-term) happiness; spending time engaging in meaningful activities may result in long-term joy.” This, then, gives us guidance on how to navigate times of tumult. She ultimately highlights that doing the work of finding joy can lead to a stronger immune system and decrease stress hormones, improve pain, and relieve depression, all helping us to live longer. Check our her tips for finding joy below, or read the full article at Harvard Health.

  • Perform regular aerobic physical activity. Think of physical activity as releasing a bubble bath of neurotransmitters — and their effects linger long after the exercise is over.
  • Dedicate yourself to others. Activities such as volunteering produce greater joy than focusing on oneself.
  • Connect with your spiritual side. When we join with something larger than ourselves, we develop feelings of gratitude, compassion, and peace. Meditation is a powerful way to modify brain pathways to increase joy.
  • Discover something new. As humans, we are hard-wired to experience joy when experiencing novelty. Developing a new pursuit can help us refocus our energy.
  • Give yourself permission to take a few moments of pleasure, especially when you are feeling low. You can try NPR’s Joy Generator for a taste.
  • Pay attention to the good. A joyous mindset can be developed, but takes practice. The three good things exercise helps you keep an eye out for the positives during the day.
  • Conversely, limit negativity. Whether it’s gossipy coworkers, a toxic relationship with a family member, or a complaining friend, spending time around a negative mindset influences us directly. It’s okay to set limits.
  • Focus your efforts on what brings meaning to your life (and don’t focus on money).
  • Ask your doctor about whether your medications can affect your ability to experience pleasure, especially if you are taking antidepressants.

The Little Rituals That Keep Us Going

Living through a period in which there is so much that divides it is sometimes helpful to also attend to what we have in common, and what keeps us going. To that end, the New York Times’ Well Desk recently surveyed their readers and asked what their wellness “non-negotiables” are. Thousands of people shared practices that anchor and animate their days. You can read a few examples below or the full article at nytimes.com. But today perhaps ask yourself, what are your wellness non-negotiables? And can you share that with someone else? These might be ways to stay grounded, become healthier, or just a little bit happier.

“I use different plates for breakfast on the weekends. Rather than the grab-and-go-shovel-in-the-food weekday morning routine, my bright blue and yellow plates with bread, jams and fruit are a reminder to enjoy life, slow down and savor.”

“Every morning I walk around our town for what I call my Banana Walk. My wife dislikes the smell of bananas in the house, and I love her, so I take my banana and spend the next hour figuring out the universe, life, and while I’m at it, my work day.”

“Every morning — all year — my husband and I do a “bird sit,” a 20- to 60-minute phone-free time when we watch the birds from our patio. The first time I did this practice was at a weekend workshop; it was the first time in over 10 years that I’d been by myself, sitting quietly without my children and without my phone. I thought I was going to burst it felt so long. Now, the practice is just as important to my day as eating breakfast and getting to work. Our 7-year-old often joins us. In the winter, we get bundled in sleeping bags. We have a family of sharp shinned hawks we’ve been watching, and hummingbirds come so close we can hold them in our hands.”

“I used to read all the time when I was younger and wanted to get back into it. For the last few months, it’s become a non-negotiable for me to read for at least half an hour a day. It usually ends up being more than that, but on days when I’m exhausted or busy with other things, I cut it off at my mandatory 30 minutes. Since I started reading every day, I’ve become more productive overall. I feel like my imagination has improved since I’m watching less TV and spending less time scrolling on my phone. My mind is moving more, and I feel more present in my life.”

“Having tea with my 11-year-old son after school. He likes iced mint tea with some honey; I go for English Breakfast with a splash of soy milk. It’s our time to connect, joke around and chat about the day. It doesn’t have to last long — maybe 15 to 20 minutes. I cherish this mom-son teatime and look forward to it every school day!”

“At least once a day, I choose to savor a moment of joy. The occasion might be a taste of delicious food, a laugh with a loved one, finding a prize parking spot, discovering my next library book, catching a glimpse of the moon through my upstairs window. It’s amazing how these wonders multiply when I come to see them as ubiquitous gifts, not rare anomalies.”

Hope Fatigue

Lesley Alderman is a Brooklyn-based psychotherapist who recently wrote a piece for the Washington Post describing what she feels is an unusually high degree of weariness in the people coming to her for therapy. She feels she has noticed a trend wherein those who had been concerned about national and world events and visibly frightened during the pandemic now seem exhausted. Related, she feels many are experiencing a deficit of optimism, and are overwhelmed about important issues that are beyond their control. Ms. Alderman has labeled this “hope fatigue” and feels it is, in least in part, due to the fact that humans were just not designed for this level of chronic threat to every aspect of our lives. To counter this, she offers the following practical advice to counter this problem. We encourage you to pick just one of these interventions to start, try implementing it over the next two weeks before trying another.

Take a break from the news.
A total creak at first may be good, but when you come back, try reading the news just once a day, turn off alerts on your phone and, if possible, check social media sparingly.
Take care of yourself. Get back to basics: work toward sleeping and eating well, and getting exercise where you can. Otherwise, find ways to engage in life-affirming activities.
Focus on the present.
Get in the habit of anchoring yourself in the here and now. Fretting about the future is not helpful.
Try a breathing exercise.
Taking a few deep breaths — for instance, inhaling to the count of five and exhaling to the count of five — will help calm your sympathetic nervous system (the fight or flight response) and lower your anxiety.
Think about your victories.
Remind yourself of what’s working well in your own life — whether it’s your job, friendships, or the uplifting array of houseplants you nurtured during the pandemic.
Be your own therapist.
Ask yourself, what do I specifically feel hopeless about and why? Being able to put into words what’s getting you down can help you feel less flooded by emotions and better able to process the information rationally.
Take action.
Worrying doesn’t help one’s mental health, but taking action does. Look around your community. Maybe your local playground would benefit from a basketball court, or your church or synagogue could sponsor a refugee family. When people engage in local issues, they have a renewed sense of optimism.
Join forces with a friend.
Pick a cause. There are hundreds of nonprofits dedicated to addressing some of the most tenacious challenges on the planet. Donate money to an inspiring organization or volunteer.

Aging Joyfully

What if instead of seeing aging as something to defeat and conquer, we were to embrace what gets better with age, and work to amplify these joys while mitigating the losses of youth? Ingrid Fetell Lee, designer and the founder of the blog The Aesthetics of Joy, recently asked herself this question. Ms. Lee outlined her thoughts on this in her article “Aging is inevitable, so why not do it joyfully? Here’s how” which can be read at TED.com. Briefly, though, she outlines the following 8 areas of emphasis. Those interested should read the full article at TED.com.

  1. Seek out awe – In a study of older adults, researchers found that taking an “awe walk,” a walk specifically focused on attending to vast or inspiring things in the environment, increased joy and prosocial emotions (feelings like generosity and kindness) more than simply taking a stroll in nature. Interestingly, they also found that “smile intensity,” a measure of how much the participants smiled, increased over the eight-week duration of the study. These walks were only 15 minutes long, once a week, and are low impact, so this is an easy way to create more joy in daily life as we age.
  2. Get a culture fix – A 1996 study of more than 12,000 people Sweden found that attending cultural events correlated with increased survival, while people who rarely attended cultural events had a higher risk of mortality. Since then, a raft of studies (a good summary of them here) has affirmed that people who participate in social activities such as attending church, going to the movies, playing cards or bingo, or going to restaurants or sporting events is linked with decreased mortality among older adults. One reason may be that these activities increase social connection, deepen relationships, and reinforce feelings of belonging, which are positively associated with well-being. Cultural activities also help keep the mind sharp. While the pandemic has made this one challenging, as things start to open up again, getting a culture fix can be an easy way to age joyfully.
  3. Stimulate your senses – The acuity of our senses declines with age. The lenses of our eyes thicken and tinge more yellow, allowing less light into the eye. Our sense of smell, taste and hearing also become less sharp. So, while you don’t have to recreate setup camp in your local Yankee Candle Shop, enriching your environment with color, art, plants and other sensorially stimulating elements may be a worthwhile investment not just for protecting your mind as you age, but also your joy.
  4. Buy yourself flowers – As if you needed an excuse for this one, but just in case, here you go. A study of older adults found that memory and mood improved when people were given a gift of flowers, which wasn’t the case when they were given another kind of gift. Why would flowers have this effect? One reason may link to research on the attention restoration effect, which shows that the passive stimulation we find in looking at greenery helps to restore our ability to concentrate. Perhaps improved attention also results in improved memory. Another possibility, which is pure speculation at this point, relates to the evolutionary rationale for our interest in flowers. Because flowers eventually become fruit, it would have made sense for our ancestors to take an interest in them and remember their location. Monitoring the locations of flowers would allow them to save time and energy when it came to finding fruiting plants later, and potentially reach the fruit before other hungry animals.
  5. Try a time warp – There’s something joyful about a mini time warp. Maybe it’s revisiting a vacation spot you once loved, and steeping yourself in memories from an earlier time. Maybe it’s a getaway with friends where you banish all talk of present-day concerns. Maybe it’s finding a book or a stack of old magazines from back then and reading them while listening to throwback tunes.
  6. Maximize mobility – Exercise is often touted as a way to stay healthy and vibrant at any age, but one finding that makes it particularly relevant as we get older is that movement has been shown in studies to increase the size of the hippocampus, a part of the brain that plays a vital role in learning and memory. This is important because the hippocampus shrinks as we age, which can lead to memory deficits and increased risk of dementia. In one study of older adults, exercise increased hippocampus size by 2 percent, which is equivalent to reversing one to two years of age-related decline.
  7. Refeather your nest – Once you start looking at negative tropes around aging, you start seeing more and more of them. Take the phrase “empty nest,” which carries strong connotations of loss and deprivation. One Lee-Anne Ragan offers up as a joyful process in the wake of children going off to start their own independent lives. She points out that the idea of an empty nest suggests that there’s nothing left, while refeathering takes a more ecological lens, imagining a kind of regeneration that happens as the home, and the family, transforms into something new. A refeathered nest is a place of possibility, creativity and delight.
  8. Stay up on tech – While technology is often blamed for feelings of isolation, some studies show that for older adults, being technologically facile can offer a boost to well-being. One reason is that internet use may serve a predictor of social connection more broadly, and social connection is one of the most important contributors toward mental health and well-being throughout life, but especially in old age. Other studies suggest that when older adults lack the skills to be able to use technology effectively, it leads to a greater sense of disconnection and disempowerment and that offering training to older adults on technology can promote cognitive function, interpersonal connection and a sense of control and independence.

The Consequences of Happiness

What would it look like if we flipped the script on happiness? Rather than viewing it as the logical outcome of good things, could we look at happiness as the cause of good things? It is these questions and more that Dr. Ed Diener attempts to answer in his lecture “The New Science of Happiness.” Dr. Diener was a psychologist, professor, and author at the University of Utah and the University of Virginia as well as a senior scientist for the Gallup Organization. He is noted for his research over the past thirty years on happiness, including work on temperament and personality influences on well-being, theories of well-being, income and well-being, cultural influences on well-being, and the measurement of well-being. His body of work ha been cited over 257,000 times and remains impactful to this day. Check out his lecture below!

Show Your Friends You Love Them!

In a recent NPR interview, psychologist and friendship expert Marisa Franco details going through a rough breakup in 2015 and her attempts to learn on her friends for support. They did yoga, cooked and read together. As she and her friends grew closer, she realized they were a deep well of love, community and healing. And she began to understand the importance of non-romantic, non-family relationships.

Franco’s professional work now focuses on helping others experience that same profound level of friendship. Her latest publication offers tips on how to improve the quality of our platonic relationships. Some of these tips are below, but you can read the full article at

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/01/1120550646/how-to-show-your-friends-you-love-them-according-to-a-friendship-expert:

  • Say it – Tell them how much they mean to you. Tell them when you think of them in passing. Remind them you are grateful to know them. These simple acts provide a layer of security in the relationship. It shows your friends that you genuinely care for them and lets them know it’s safe to invest in your friendship.

  • Show them – “Think about what your skills and talents are and find a way to turn that into a generous act,” she says. For example, when she found out that her friends wanted to learn more about how to set up investment accounts, she used her research and analysis skills as a psychologist to put together a presentation on the topic for them. You can share acts of generosity like this with your friends, too. If you’re great with kids, you might offer to babysit for your friends who are parents. If you’re a gym rat, you could help your friend train for a race they have coming up. Or if you got a raise at work, treat your friends to a fancy dinner to celebrate.

  • Be Honest – We feel a deeper connection to our friends when our vulnerability is met with validation and support, says Franco. It means they accept us for who we really are, the good and the bad. So don’t be afraid to share your struggles with your friends, whether it’s an ex you’re having trouble getting over or a new job you’re having second thoughts about. They’re not going to judge you — and it may bring you closer. If you’re looking for a way to let your guard down without divulging your darkest secrets, Franco suggests sharing something positive, like a personal achievement — maybe you just finished sewing your first quilt, or you broke your own time record on a run.

  • Fight – But being able to deal with conflict with friends in a healthy, constructive way can strengthen your friendships, she says. It might be painful at first, but it shows you want to be authentic with them — and that you want to make your relationship better. Start by telling your friend how much you value them, says Franco. It signals that the reason you’re bringing up the issue is because you’re invested in the friendship. Use “I” statements when explaining your concerns so your friend doesn’t feel like you’re blaming them. For example, if you’ve noticed they’ve been canceling plans at the last minute since they started a new job, you might say: “I feel hurt when you bail on our plans without giving me any notice.” Ask your friend for a different behavior you want to see in the future. For example, “It would be great if you gave me a heads up a few hours in advance if you know you’re not going to be able to make it.”

How to Have Fun.

The following is summarized from the NPR article “How to have real fun — even when life’s got you down” which can be read in full at https://www.npr.org/2022/02/22/1082374139/how-to-have-fun-and-why-you-should

Catherine Price, author of “The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again,” defines fun as a time when you are able to embody a mix of three things: playfulness, connection and flow.

Playfulness – “I don’t mean you have to play a game. You don’t have to play make-believe, you have to do charades,” says Price. Playfulness is when you embrace a spirit of lightheartedness and freedom. It means letting go of the idea that you have to be perfect or to achieve something.

Connection – You feel a sense of connection with the activity that you’re doing. You feel a sense of connection with your physical body. Or, most likely, you feel a sense of connection with another person or group of people through a shared experience.

Flow – You know that thing where you’re totally immersed in something and can even lose track of time? That.

Price also offers a handy acronym to help bring more fun in your days: SPARK

S — make Space for fun! Put your phone down, or even set aside some time on your calendar to make sure you are really dedicating yourself to looking for fun.

P — Pursue passions. “You don’t need to put pressure on yourself and think ‘I’m going to become a professional snowboarder,'” Price says. Set the bar low! Look for things that interest you and let those guide you.

A — A is for attracting fun, which means having an open mind about when and where fun might appear. Price recommends an improv-style “yes, and” approach to having fun, where you look for fun as well as jump into other folks’ fun.

R — Rebellion! Price found in her research that a little bit of gentle rebellion was a good way to make fun happen. So, jump in a pool with your clothes on! Go roller skating in the middle of the night! Stepping out of what is expected of you can be a great way to seek out fun moments.

K — Keep at it! Like any new practice, the only way to really incorporate it into your life is to try it many times. So don’t give up if basket weaving doesn’t work for you — maybe it’ll be guitar or making zines or working in the community garden that becomes your next fun magnet!

How Can I Tell if I’m Depressed or Burned Out?

Dani Blum is an associate writer for Well at The New York Times. the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Philadelphia magazine. She recently penned an article meant to help people distinguish between burn-out, depression, and what do to about each. You can read the full article “How Can I Tell if I’m Depressed or Burned Out?” at NYTimes.com.

Dani writes “Workers can become burned out when they feel like they don’t have control over their day-to-day lives, getting bogged down in the minutiae of their tasks. People who are burned out may feel depleted and cynical about their jobs; they can resent their assignments and co-workers. They might feel irritable and ineffective, like they just can’t get anything done. For people who interact with others in their jobs, like health care workers or people in the retail and service industries, they might start to lose empathy, thinking of patients or customers as just another number, or a rote task to complete. There are also a litany of physical symptoms that can come with the unending stress of burnout: insomnia, headaches, gastrointestinal issues.”

She goes on to write “The World Health Organization includes burnout in the International Classification of Diseases, its diagnostic manual, characterizing it as an “occupational phenomenon,” not a medical condition. Depression, however, is a clinical diagnosis. People with depression often experience anhedonia, the inability to enjoy activities they once treasured. “You can be reading a book you used to love and now you hate it,” said Dr. Jessi Gold, a psychiatrist at Washington University in St. Louis. “Or you love watching Bravo, but now it doesn’t make you laugh anymore.” With burnout, you might not have energy for your hobbies; with depression, you might not find them fun or pleasant at all, said Jeanette M. Bennett, an associate professor who studies the effects of stress on health at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.”

A key differentiator is that burnout gets better when you step away from work, said Dr. Rebecca Brendel, president of the American Psychiatric Association. When you take vacation time, or a mental health day, you feel at least slightly recharged. Depression doesn’t go away if you change your circumstances. “There’s not that bounce-back effect,” she said. “It takes more than that.”

The authors recommend the following for burnout:

  • Take a mental health day or a “sad day” off work, if you’re able to, can offer a reprieve from your symptoms.
  • Consider a career change — which is easier said than done, Dr. Gold acknowledged. “Being able to say, ‘This is a bad workplace, that’s it, I quit,’ is a privilege beyond privilege,” she said.
  • Turn off notifications from your work email or Slack at certain hours.
  • If there’s one meeting you consistently dread, try to block off five or 10 minutes right after to do something that can help you relax,
  • Accentuate the elements of your job that you find meaningful. Maybe that means mentoring a more junior colleague.
  • Exercise can help relieve work-related tension, as can carving out even a few minutes to decompress — without your phone.

But depression is a different story and they recommend:

  • Reach out to a mental health provider
  • If you tell yourself you’re going on a five-minute walk, you’ll probably end up walking for longer than that, Dr. Gold said. “But it’s hard when you’re exhausted and sad to make yourself do anything.”
  • Getting out of the house won’t alleviate all your symptoms, but any kind of movement can help you feel a bit better, she said.
  • You can write down coping mechanisms that have been helpful for you — calling a friend, or going for a quick run — and keep the list on your desk or on your dresser for when you’ll need them.
  • Pay attention to what works for you, Dr. Gold said. “If you don’t like mindfulness, don’t force it,” she said. “Do the things that actually help you feel better in the moments when you feel bad.”

Be sure to read the full article “How Can I Tell if I’m Depressed or Burned Out?” at NYTimes.com.

10 Things the World’s Longest-Living People Do

Recently, researchers Héctor García and Francesc Miralles have expanded their study of the Japanese concept of Ikigai, the rough translation of which is “the happiness of always being busy.” García and Miralles suggest every person has an Ikigai, and that it can be found through patient soul-searching. This generally involves finding balance between your passion, mission, profession, and vocation is the key. While the answer to your Ikigai may take time to uncover, here are 10 general rules to start you on your way:

  1. Stay active and don’t retire. Once García and Miralles arrived in Okinawa, they were shocked to find out how many people simply do not retire — in fact, they even note the lack of a Japanese word for the concept. In order to do what you love for as long as you can, the authors suggest that you make it a priority to stay active in all stages of life.
  2. Take it slow. “When you leave urgency behind, life and time take on new meaning,” the authors advise. So instead of rushing your daily tasks, try to savor and enjoy them for the sake of your Ikigai. ikigai book cover
  3. Don’t fill your stomach. “Less is more when it comes to a long life. Eat a little less than your hunger demands.” According to García and Miralles, one of the most popular phrases in Japan is “Hara hachi bu,” which means something akin to “fill your belly to 80 percent.”
  4. Surround yourself with good friends. “Friends are the best medicine, there for confiding, sharing stories, getting advice, having fun, dreaming… in other words, living.” Basically, it’s a great excuse to gather your girl squad for drinks more often. Hey, it’s for your health!
  5. Get in shape for your next birthday. “The body you move through life needs a bit of gentle daily maintenance.” While the folks on the Japanese island of Okinawa do not perform rigorous exercise, they do regularly get up and move their muscles. Try setting an alarm on your phone every hour to remind yourself to get out of your office chair and move around.
  6. Smile. “It’s a privilege to be in the here and now — and in a world so full of possibilities,” say García and Miralles. Do your best to stay positive no matter what life throws your way, lady.
  7. Reconnect with nature. “Human beings are made to be part of the natural world. Return to it as often as you can,” the authors say. In other words, do your best to make time in your busy schedule to get back to nature, whether that’s a weekend hike with friends or a summer goal to bike to work once a week.
  8. Give thanks. “Give thanks for everything that brightens your day and makes you feel lucky to be alive.” Whether it’s committing to writing in a gratitude journalor simply being more conscious of voicing your gratefulness to the Starbucks barista who saves your morning, do your best to give more thanks throughout the day. ADVERTISING
  9. Live in the moment. We all have those moments where looking ahead at our busy schedule leaves us feeling mega overwhelmed and stressed. “Today is all we have,” the authors note. “Make it worth remembering.”
  10. Find your Ikigai. “There is a passion inside you, a unique talent, that gives meaning to your days and drives you to share the best of yourself until the very end.” You heard it — go get ’em, lady!

2 Minutes to Better Health

A new paper suggests that it takes far less exercise than was previously thought to lower blood sugar after eating. While previous research focused on a 15-minute walking goal, a new meta-analysis from University of Limerick found that light walking after a meal, in increments of as little as two to five minutes, had a significant impact in moderating blood sugar levels. When participants went for a short walk, their blood sugar levels rose and fell more gradually which is a key goal in diabetes management. In a recent interview with the New York times Dr. Kershaw Patel, having review the research, said “Each small thing you do will have benefits, even if it is a small step.” Further proof that our journey through wellness does not need to be marked by successive big achievements, the small ones add up and set us up for success!

You can read the full study at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-022-01649-4

10 Things to Tell Yourself When Going Through a Hard Time

Author Lori Deschene runs the website tinybuddha.com. She shared that her site “is about reflecting on simple wisdom and learning new ways to apply it to our complex lives—complete with responsibilities, struggles, dreams, and relationships.” In one of her most recent posts she offers 10 suggestions on how weather the storms that will invariably come our way. They are as follows, but feel free to visit her post or download them in poster form!

1. You don’t have to feel guilty about feeling sad, bad, anxious, angry, or any other “negative” feeling. You’re not a “negative person.” You’re human.

2. You have a right to feel how you feel even if other people have it worse. Your pain is valid, regardless of what anyone else is going through.

3. You’re doing the best you can based on your life experiences, traumas, conditioning, beliefs, current challenges, and coping skills. As you learn new skills, you’ll cope better, but you may still struggle to apply what you’ve learned, and that’s okay. No one copes perfectly in an imperfect situation.

4. You don’t have to push yourself to be productive. It’s okay to rest or do the bare minimum when you’re struggling. This isn’t being lazy; it’s being kind to yourself—and you deserve it.

5. You’re not “falling behind.” It’s possible that you’re exactly where you need to be to learn, grow, and heal, meaning someday you might look back and consider this chapter a crucial part of your life journey.

6. You don’t have to please or impress anyone else, including yourself. Sometimes it’s enough just to live and make it through the day.

7. You don’t need to have anything figured out right now. You just need to take it one day at a time, trusting that you’ll find answers and solutions if you keep moving forward.

8. You are not alone, and you don’t have to pretend or hide. There are people who care and want to help—and because they’ve struggled too, they understand and would never judge you.

9. You won’t feel this way forever. Just as you’ve survived dark times before, you’ll eventually get past this and maybe even feel proud of yourself for how you made it through.

10. Nothing is guaranteed in the future, but you have the strength to handle whatever might be coming, and the capacity to make the best of it.

The Magic’s in the Music

While music may not be an integral part of everyone’s life there is a growing body of evidence that playing that funky (or soulful, or rocking) music carries with it a number of benefits and can promote overall wellness.

As outlined by Lorrie Kubicek, MT-BC, contributor to the Harvard Health Blog, ongoing research suggests that music boosts our mood and well-being, and music therapy may help during treatments for certain health conditions. Some of these benefits include easing a transition to sleep with a soothing playlist, finding motivation for exercise by listening to upbeat dance music, aiding self-expression of emotions by singing, and connecting to others by attending a live musical performance.

In medicine, certified music therapists have helped patients by combing active and receptive interactions with music to decrease anxiety, shift patient mood, decrease pain perception during cancer or other medical treatment, increase expression and those living with dementia, and increase motivation among other benefits.

You can read the full article, “Can music improve our health and quality of life?” at https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/can-music-improve-our-health-and-quality-of-life-202207252786

Need some music in your life right now? Check out Barack Obama’s 2022 Summer Playlist!

Wellness in the Age of Facebook

A 2019 study by NYU and Stanford has recently resurfaced as companies begin to consider how to impact employee wellness beyond incentivizing and otherwise promoting healthy diet and exercise.

The results of the study suggest some benefit to Facebook use, but also highlights its addictive properties. More to the point, even after a four week “detox,” the participants spent substantial time on Facebook every day and needed to be paid large amounts of money to give up Facebook. The findings overall made clear the diverse ways in which Facebook can improve people’s lives, whether as a source of entertainment, a means to organize a charity or an activist group, or a vital social lifeline for those who are otherwise isolated.

But the results also make clear that the downsides are real. The authors found that the four week detox improved subjective well-being and substantially reduces post-experiment demand, suggesting that forces such as addiction and projection bias may cause people to use Facebook more than they otherwise would. They found that while deactivation makes people less informed, it also makes them less polarized by at least some measures, consistent with the concern that social media have played some role in the recent rise of polarization in the US.

Ready to change your relationship to social media? Try these tips from Michael LaNasa:

Limit Time

Apps like Moment or AppDetox will allow you to track and set alarms for time spent on social apps. Mindfulness and accountability are key to this approach.

When made aware of the time we spend chasing dopamine hits, it’s possible to snap out of the addiction. Coupled with keeping ourselves accountable and we can regain control.

Unfollow

Admit it, you likely follow people you don’t know because of the glamorous lifestyle they showcase. (I still have a few holdouts like this.) Remember, most of the social media is purposeful curation. No shame in it — but know that it’s intended to make you envious. The effect of envy or resentment can be detrimental.

Find some of the people or pages that draw your attention but give you little in return. Turn off notifications. Or unfollow them.

Reflect

This comes down to your own choice after all. Choose to be envious. Choose to let comparison ruin your general happiness and self-worth. But what if these aren’t the only paths?

Psychologist Leon Festinger hypothesized that we make comparisons as a way of evaluating ourselves. Some benefits include positive self-image and self-motivation. The downsides of social comparison are familiar: deep dissatisfaction, guilt, or remorse.

What if you choose to reel in that comparison to others? Recognize that the need for comparison should aim at your previous self, not others. Stop comparing and start competing with the person you once were; aim to be the best version of yourself. Not someone else.

Many people find value in journaling. One huge benefit of that exercise is the ability to reflect upon previous wins. Gratitude compounds and you’re reminded that you’re doing pretty well, in fact. Instead of observing others’ lives, observe your own.

988: The Mental Health Crisis Hotline

988, the new number for the well known 24-hour hotline to assist callers experiencing a range of mental health emergencies, launches this Saturday, July 16.

Starting then anyone in the US who texts or calls 988 will be connected with a trained counselors who can help them cope with a mental health emergency and direct them to additional resources for mental health and substance use treatment.

Per the New York Times, the line will be referred to as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, to emphasize that the service is for people experiencing a mental health crisis of any kind, not just those involving suicidal ideation.

“Anyone experiencing a mental health or substance use issue can call 988. Counselors on the other end of the hotline are trained in handling a wide range of mental health issues, including self-harm, addiction and suicidal ideation, said Hannah Wesolowski, chief advocacy officer at the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Ideally, when someone calls 988, they will first be connected to one of 200 local call centers, which can help connect them to community resources or dispatch emergency services if necessary. If those call centers are busy, the caller will be automatically directed to a national backup center.”

Need more info? Check out the 988 fact sheet at https://www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/988-factsheet.pdf.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Canadian writer David Sax has written for the New York Times about virtual kindergarten, Zoom Thanksgiving, and other failures of digital technology. Most recently, he penned an article discussing why strangers are good for us. He contrasts the not-too-distance past in which it was impossible to go through life without speaking, in some way, to a variety of strangers in your life to present day wherein one can spend a week in place as crowded as New York, shopping, traveling, eating and working, and never utter a sound to another human being, or even take your headphones off. He argues that strangers are actually one of the richest and most important resources we have because they connect us to the community, teach us empathy, build civility and are full of surprise and potentially wonder. In particular he cites a study published last fall that showed that despite our fears of awkwardness, deep, meaningful conversations with strangers are not only easier than expected but also left participants feeling better about themselves. Mr. Sax highlights his points by observing that connection still possible as evidenced by his son’s propensity for going to the playground, being near other children, and walking away a short time later calling them friend, without ever knowing their name.

Read Mr. Sax’s full piece, Why Strangers Are Good for Us, at https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/12/opinion/strangers-talking-benefits.html?referringSource=articleShare

Read the study he cites, Overly Shallow?: Miscalibrated Expectations Create a Barrier to Deeper Conversation, at https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/psp-pspa0000281.pdf

Or just head to the caf, sit down next to someone you don’t know, and make a new friend!

Pride in Wellness: Week 05

Strengthening Our Schools to Promote Resilience and Health Among LGBTQ Youth

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) adolescents face well-documented health disparities in suicide risk, substance use, and sexual health. These disparities are known to stem, in part, from stigma directed toward LGBTQ youth in the form of minority stressors such as violence, discrimination, and harassment. Given the proportion of time that LGBTQ students spend in school, schools provide a critical context within which protective factors may be developed and leveraged to improve the health and wellbeing of these populations. This article provides a summary of key findings from a discussion among researchers, practitioners, and community members who participated in “The State of LGBTQ Youth Health and Wellbeing: Strengthening Schools and Families to Build Resilience,” a public symposium held in June 2017. We detail emerging science on and future priorities for school-based research with LGBTQ youth which were identified by attendees at this meeting, with a particular focus on intersectionality, supportive adults in schools, and in-school programs. We call for more school-based research on priority gaps such as how LGBTQ students’ intersecting identities affect their in-school experiences, how to design professional development programs that cultivate supportive educators, and how to leverage gay–straight alliances/gender and sexuality alliances as sites of health programming for LGBTQ students.

Read more at https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/lgbt.2018.0109

Pride in Wellness: Week 04

While we have been observing Pride Month we want the momentum to last all year, every year. As such, this week we encourage you to check out The Human Rights Campaign “Won’t Hide My Pride” page. There are numerous resources here that contribute to wellness directly, but also directly by raising awareness of relevant issues and providing opportunity to get involved in promoting humans right for those in the LGBTQIA+ community. Resources include information now how to become involved in the HRC “Count Me In” campaign, aimed at building a grassroots army of support for the transgender & non-binary community; Pride greeting cards; an HRC staff curated Pride playlist, and countless resources for yourself and the whole family.

Visit https://www.hrc.org/campaigns/celebrate-pride-with-us for more details!

Pride in Wellness: Week 03

The concept of Intersectionality is key in understanding wellness for all, especially members of the LGBTQIA+. Briefly, this is the concept that the many, interrelated systems that exist in our world and that often influence power and autonomy impact those who are most marginalized in society. To promote wellness, it is important to look beyond a person’s individual identities and focusing on the points of intersection that their multiple identities create to try to better appreciate their lived experience. To be a health care provider, or simply a good friend, family, or ally, an intersectional lens is needed.

You can learn more about Intersectionality, how it manifests, and how we can use what we learn from taking this perspective to promote wellness at http://www.lgbtiqintersect.org.au/learning-modules/intersectionality/. Some key take-aways are reflection questions are below.

Key Points

  • Part of taking an intersectional approach is recognizing people’s lives are multi-dimensional and complex; we expect multiple stories
  • Human lives cannot be explained by single categories, such as gender, race, sexual orientation etc. Lived experience is an interactive process that goes beyond individual labels
  • Lived experience is shaped by the interaction of identities, contexts and social dynamics
  • People can experience privilege and oppression simultaneously
  • Structural inequity interacts with contextual factors and social dynamics, increasing marginalization, inequity, and health disparity
  • To understand someone’s experience, we must also understand structures and systems
  • Relationships involve power dynamics and power imbalances are inevitable. The question is how we acknowledge and negotiate power, particularly in institutions
  • Reflexivity can support service providers to increase their awareness of their positions of power
  • Urges transformation and collective work towards social justice

Reflection Questions

  • How do your own race, gender, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, and other identities intersect to form your experiences? Do you experience any forms of inequity or discrimination due to your identities? Are some more privileged? Are some less so?
  • What power dynamics do you experience in your occupation, family life, and other social contexts? Are there times in which you hold more power due to the nature of the relationship (e.g. between a doctor and their patient) or vice versa? In what ways do these power dynamics affect your interactions with other people and services?
  • What are some ways in which you can support people to share the complexity of their lives?

Pride in Wellness: Week 02

Coping strategies can buffer the impact of identity-related stigma and decreased psychological well-being. As such, there has been increased interest in the ongoing coping strategies used by LGBTQIA+ people to promote their wellness, especially over the last several years as threats to their identity and emotional and physical wellbeing have increased. Accordingly, some guidance is offered below from psychologists Kirsten A. Gonzalez, a Latinx, heterosexual, cisgender woman; Roberto L. Abreu, who identifies as a first-generation Latinx gay cisgender man; and Lex Pulice-Farrow, a counseling psychology doctoral student who identifies as a White queer nonbinary person. Their recommendations are summary of what was shared by 335 LGBTQIA+ individuals who have been negatively impacted by a variety of discriminatory and threatening events in recent years. Complete details are offered in their article “In the Voices of People Like Me” at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00110000211057199

Pride in Wellness: Week 01

Pride Month is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. While the Stonewall Uprising was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States, there is still a long road to go toward equality. The treatment of those in the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community by our society historically and at presently has had a significant impact on wellness, and so to honor Pride Month we will be posting weekly content meant to promote wellness in this area.

As if often the case, the first step toward change is education. So for Week 01, check out Boston University’s comprehensive education library. If we want to promote wellness for all, it starts with understanding the issues pertinent to the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community, connecting with local and national organizations and initiatives, and re-assessing what it means to be truly inclusive and welcoming. You can do all of this at https://www.bumc.bu.edu/wellness/diversity/creating-diverse-environment/key-lgbt-health-resources/.

Mental Health Awareness Month – Week 04: Going Beyond May

Sign the Pledge

Having a month dedicated to raising awareness to a cause can be helpful, but that is only a starting point. We need to be called to sustained action going forward to make real, permanent change happen. For mental health, part of that involves every day efforts to eliminate the stigma of mental health conditions and seeking treatment. As outlined by NAMI, “the need to eliminate stigma is nothing new. Fifteen years ago, a U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health—the first and only one to date—identified stigma as a public health concern that leads peoples to “avoid living, socializing or working with, renting to, or employing” individuals with mental illness.” So as we wrap-up mental health awareness month, will you consider taking NAMI’s pledge to work toward eliminating the stigma of mental health and mental health treatment? Learn more and take the pledge below…

Sign the Pledge

Mental Health Awareness Month – Week 03: We’re In This Together

While the emphasis on addressing the growing mental health needs of our country is often placed no the role professionals play, we often lose site of what it is we can do for each other.  As shared on their website, this is the focus of mental health month at National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI). As part of this they are seeking to amplify the message of “Together for Mental Health.” They are using this month and their platform to bring our voices together to advocate for mental health and access to care through NAMI’s blog, personal stories, videos, digital toolkits, social media engagements and national events.  In this they feel that we can realize our shared vision of a nation where anyone affected by mental illness can get the appropriate support and quality of care to live healthy, fulfilling lives.

Ready to learn what you can do to help those in need? Check out NAMI’s “Together for Mental Health” resource page at https://www.nami.org/Get-Involved/Awareness-Events/Mental-Health-Awareness-Month

Mental Health Awareness Month – Week 02: Self Check-In

As Mental Health Awareness Month continues we want to assure everyone is checking in with themselves. While the names of many mental health diagnoses have made their way into our everyday vocabulary, not all of us have been given the opportunity to learn what they are and to what degree the are part of our lived experience. As such, this week we encourage you to have a look at the mental health screening tools offered by Mental Health America at https://screening.mhanational.org/screening-tools/. If you suspect you are living with one of these conditions, be sure to check out our resources page to get connected with a professional to discuss this further. Cooper employees and their families can take advantage of CareBridge, more information is available at https://wellness.cooperhealth.org/carebridge/. Everyone can also have a look at the PsychologyToday therapist locator at https://www.psychologytoday.com/us, which lets you filter by location, insurance status, and specific issues you would want to address in therapy.

Mental Health Awareness Month – Week 01: Just the Facts

Each May, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services observes Mental Health Awareness Month. During this month, our featured posts will focus on promoting information about promoting and maintaining good mental health, as well as what to do when you are someone you love are struggling. This week, we are focusing on some basic facts about mental health as presented by Mental Health America (MHA).

With mental health entering more and more of our daily conversations, it’s critical that everyone has a solid foundation of knowledge about mental health.

  • Addressing mental health symptoms early is critically important for overall health. From social determinants of health to genetics, many factors are in play when it comes to mental health conditions, but there are protective measures that can prevent mental health conditions from developing or keep symptoms from becoming severe.
  • While 1 in 5 people will experience a mental illness during their lifetime, everyone faces challenges in life that can impact their mental health.
  • About half of Americans will meet the criteria for a diagnosable mental health condition sometime in their life, with symptoms starting by age 24 for the majority of people.
  • The average delay between symptom onset and treatment is 11 years, meaning a lot of people spend months or years facing mental health challenges before getting a diagnosis. It is never too early to seek treatment for your mental health. Intervening effectively during early stages can save lives and is critically important for people living with mental health conditions.
  • Social, cultural, and historical factors often impact the mental health of communities that have traditionally been marginalized. These communities experience overt racism and bigotry far too often, which leads to a mental health burden that is deeper than what others may face.
  • Life can be challenging, but every day shouldn’t feel hard or out of your control. If it does, one of the quickest and easiest ways to determine whether you are experiencing symptoms of a mental health condition is to take a mental health screening at mhascreening.org.
  • The delays in treatment for mental health conditions are longer than for many other health conditions. Getting screened increases the chances of getting treatment. Mental Health America has free, anonymous, and scientifically validated mental health screens at mhascreening.org.
  • Your screening results can be used to start a conversation with your primary care provider or a trusted friend or family member, and you can begin to plan a course of action for addressing your mental health.
  • When facing a mental health concern or living with a mental health condition, it’s common to feel like no one understands what you’re going through. You aren’t alone – help is available, and recovery is possible.
  • Starting July 16, 2022, call 988 for matters of mental health crisis. Calling 988 will connect you directly to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which is staffed by trained crisis counselors 24/7, 365 days a year.

Get Connected!

One of the most consistent and powerful predictors of wellbeing is a sense of being connected to our fellow humans. That sense of connectedness was already fraying pre-COVID and, in may ways, has worsened since. But this is a solvable problem! The folks over at The Art of Health Living have created a list of 10 very different ways you can improve your sense of connectedness to your community today. These range from longer term commitments like volunteering, to things that may only take a half hour or so like donating blood.

Check out the full list in the article 10 WAYS TO GET INVOLVED IN YOUR COMMUNITY at https://artofhealthyliving.com/10-ways-to-get-involved-in-your-community/

Burnout and Change: The Perspective of a Behavior Change Scientist and Mom

Dr. Jacqueline Kerr left a 20 year career in academia back in 2018 and has since dedicated herself to helping to prevent burnout in others. She is a burnout survivor. She recently spoke at the annual meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine and presented on the 12 Stages of Burnout (below), how burnout happens, and how we can take a comprehensive approach to fixing it now and preventing it going forward.

Dr. Kerr’s behavior change approach considers the systems we are part of and empowers people to change themselves and to advocate for change in others. She is now applying her research to different settings; schools, senior centers, retirement communities, workplaces, neighborhoods, healthcare systems, and government agencies. She leverages her background as an implementation scientist to guide a collaborative approach to behavior change and to build quality improvement learning cycles into the process. Her approach now incorporates using mobile devices, software systems, mobile applications, and machine learning to maximize precision in solving complex personal and systematic problems.

Learn more about Dr. Kerr at https://www.drjacquelinekerr.com/

Save It for a Rainy Day

Even when the sun is out sometimes it can feel like there are clouds following us around. But that does not always need to bring us down. We can embrace literal or metaphorical rainy days, which is the goal of the below mindfulness exercise. Enjoy!

Want to be happier? There’s a class for that!

Science and business journalist Sara Harrison recently wrote a piece for Wired.com examining the recent increase in popularity of online happiness courses. The full article, “Online ‘Happiness’ Classes Might Work Better Than You Think“, can be read at https://www.wired.com/story/online-happiness-classes-might-work-better-than-you-think/. In a nutshell, she is told and settles into the conclusion that the concept of having unremitting happiness, while a good aspirational goal, is not sustainably achievable. More to the point, she quotes Science of Happiness professor Bruce Hood in concluding that to “register a positive emotion, you have to know what those less pleasant feelings are like you need to experience both sides of the coin.” They jointly suggest that improving our sense of well-being and satisfaction is possible and what will give us the greatest benefit.

You can consider taking a Science of Happiness course online, but for starters, consider taking a moment today to pick a target for well-being and satisfaction and set one small goal toward it.

What Dentists Can Teach Us About Mental Health

Many of us avoid our dentists, and the mere thought of dental care can feel anxiety provoking for some – a perceived detriment to our mental health! All kidding aside, though, dentists can teach us a lot about how to manage mental health well, both proactively and reactively. David Kouba, attorney turned licensed clinical mental health counselor and active contributor to National Alliance on Mental Illness’s (NAMI) mental health blog, recently published an article outlining what dentistry can teach us about fostering healthy habits at an early age, preventative care throughout the lifespan, identifying and assisting at-risk individuals, modeling recovery, and decreasing stigma. You can read his article, entitled “What Mental Health Care Can Learn from Dental Health Care Strategies“, at https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/March-2022/What-Mental-Health-Care-Can-Learn-from-Dental-Health-Care-Strategies

Jakoś to Będzie

The following was written by Olga Mecking of BBC Travel. It captures what many of us having been grappling with for a long time, especially over the last two years. Many of us feel, as Ms. Meckling describes, that we have been through one of the greatest trials imaginable and have little fuel left in the tank to go forward, but we must. Enter the Polish concept of Jakoś to Będzie.

Growing up in Poland, Ms. Mecking describes hearing people people say ‘Jakoś to będzie’ (pronounced ‘Ya-kosh toe ben-jay’). The phrase means ‘things will work out in the end’ – but “it’s so much more than that” the author says. Rather than sitting around and hoping things will work out by themselves, ‘Jakoś to będzie’ is acting without worrying about the consequences. It’s reaching for the impossible. It’s taking risks, and not being afraid. It is a phrase born out of a country that was the focal point of conflict and upheaval from 1772 to 1795, disappearing from the map for 123 years, and after World War II was left destroyed and its population decimated before shifting to Soviet control in 1981. And still, the people say “Jakoś to Będzie.”

Read more about the author and the phrase “Jakoś to Będzie” at the full article “The Polish Phrase That Will Help You Through Tough Times” at https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-polish-phrase-that-will-help-you-through-tough-times

When the Headlines are Scary

Almost anywhere you turn these days you will find a reminder of how scary the world can be. This can be overwhelming for adults, a fact that predated the pandemic and that has certainly been underscored by it. But imagine how much more scary it is for the young people around us.

If you are noticing increased sadness or anxiety as the scary headlines pile up in the young people around you, or yourself for that matter, then have a look at the recent publication from Claire McCarthy, MD, pediatrician at Boston Children’s Hospital and Senior Faculty Editor at Harvard Health Publishing. In her article “Talking to children about tragedies and scary headlines in the news” she offers four simple things all adults can and should do to manage the distress of young people around us and ourselves. These are summarized below, and you can read her full article at https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/talking-to-children-about-tragedies-in-the-news-2017101012567

1. Tell them what happened, in simple terms. Be honest, but skip the gory details. Answer their questions just as simply and honestly. If you think — or know — that your child has already heard something, ask them what they’ve heard. That way you can correct any misinformation, and know not only what you need to explain but also what you may need to reassure them about.

2. Be mindful of the media that your child sees. The news can be very graphic, and because the media are as much in the business of gaining viewers as of delivering news, they tend to make things as dramatic as possible and play footage over and over again. When the planes flew into the Twin Towers on 9/11, my husband and I were glued to the television, not realizing that one of our daughters, who was 3 years old at the time, thought that planes were literally flying into buildings again and again. It wasn’t until she said, “Are those planes going to come here too?” that we shut off the TV and didn’t turn it back on again until all the children were in bed.

3. Make sure your child knows that you and others are always doing everything you can to keep them safe. Talk about some of the ways you keep them safe, ways that are relevant to the tragedy you are talking about. Make a safety plan as a family for things like extreme weather or getting separated. Help them think about what they might do if they are ever in a scary situation, and who they could turn to for help. Which leads me to the most important thing to do…

4. Look for the helpers. The wonderful Fred Rogers often talked about how when he saw scary things on the news, his mother would tell him to look for the helpers, because there are always people who are helping. That may be the best thing we can do as parents: help our children look for the helpers. In all of the recent tragedies, as in all tragedies, there were so many helpers and heroes. When we concentrate on those people, not only do we give our children hope, but we may empower them to one day be helpers too.

What We Owe to Each Other

150 years before the publication of Tim Scanlon‘s “What We Owe to Each Other,” which outlines the basic tenants of the philosophical school of Contractualism, the term Ubuntu, long established in the oral traditions in the Nguni Bantu language, began to emerge in African writing. The term Ubuntu can be roughly translated as “humanity,” and philosophically emphasizes the significance of our community and shared humanity and teaches us that ‘A person is a person through others.’ While individualism appears to be running rampant globally, Ubuntu offers a counterpoint, and is the focus of the following BBC short film. Have a watch, and consider how you can step outside of yourself today.

A Bit Of A Stretch

Prioritizing wellness pre-COVID was hard. With ever changing schedules and the persistence of virtual alternatives to things we once did in person superimposed on top of the baseline chaos it is a wonder anyone has the chance to exercise. If you are thinking you want to ramp up your physical wellness, it may be best to start small with something like daily stretching routines.

Daily stretching can loosen up tight muscles, increase flexibility and range of motion, improve posture, reduce pain, lower your risk of injury, boost your circulation, relieve stress, and ease headaches.

Ready to jump in? Check out these 10 stretches to do every day!

Ikigai

Ikigai (pronounced ee-key-guy) is the Japanese concept that translate roughly to “a reason for being.” It’s made from two Japanese words: iki, meaning “life” and kai, meaning “effect, result, worth or benefit.” Combined: “a reason for living.” It’s the idea of seeking a purpose in everything you do in life. Hobbies, friendships, community and travel all add to your ikigai. This is relevant now more than ever and can help us be more intentionally in how we conduct ourselves in every aspect of our lives.

For the last few years, many of us have been putting one fire out after another. It is no wonder anxiety has become as prevalent as it has, at every turn there is something else threatening our health and wellness and so we have become keyed up to react automatically rather than respond intentionally. Ikigai can help us to address this.

Interested in learning more? Have a look at the brief roadmap to Ikigai below, then visit Elaine Mead’s article at https://darlingmagazine.org entitled “How the Japanese Concept of ‘Ikigai’ Can Help You Live More Intentionally.”

Getting Smart with Our Phones

Annie Sneed at the New York Times recently published a piece exploring the findings and opinions of addictions psychiatrist Dr. Anna Lembke regarding our at times addictive relationships with our phones. Whether smartphone overuse constitutes a true addiction is still up for debate and, as with many things, when we feel the relationship is no longer healthy here are always ways to scale down. First we have to appreciate what drives the maladaptive relationship which, according to Lembke is Control (the behavior in questions s considered out of control or more present than it should be) Compulsion (being intensely mentally preoccupied with the behavior / performing it automatically); and Consequences (continued use in spite of negative social, physical and mental consequences). So what do we do with this?

  • Take a ‘screen fast’: try  completely avoiding using all screens, not just phones, for anywhere from a few hours, to a do, to a month, whatever your life will allow. This is an especially helpful approach when going on vacation. Take note of which changes you observe in yourself during the fast, even if it lasts only an hour. If you like it, keep going!

  • Set boundaries: Healthy boundaries are important in any relationship, including our relationship to technology. This is a less intense alternative to fasting, and might look like setting aside times of the day or days of the week when you don’t use your phone at all, such as before and after work, or on your lunch break (when many people are most tempted). It may also mean leaving your phone in the other room, keeping it out of your bedroom or putting everyone’s phone in a box outside of the kitchen during dinnertime.

  • Make your smartphone less appealing: You can also make your phone less engaging. This might look like changing the screen to grayscale or turning off notifications, as well as uninstalling some of your more addicting apps (Wordle, we’re looking at you!) In addition you might periodically rearrange the apps on your phone so that they become harder to find and less likely to lure you into a mindless loop of checking and rechecking simply out of habit.

“The big question to ask yourself with screens is: ‘What else could I be doing right now? Is there something I could be doing that would be better for me?’” Dr. Alter said. “That’s important now more than ever because of how much time we’ve been forced to spend on screens during the pandemic.”

To read the full article, entitled “I’m Addicted to My Phone. How Can I Cut Back?” visit https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/08/well/live/smartphone-addiction-tips.html

Music as a Language, or, Why It’s Good to Act Like a Baby

Victor Wooten is an American bassist, songwriter, and record producer whose professional career spans nearly 40 years but who has been playing almost his entire life. In that time he has also formed his on record label, published his novel “The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music” and earned five Grammy Awards along the way. How has he been so successful? He has treated music like any other language, which means maintaining a child-like mindset. This means, among other things, staying curious, being open to mistakes and learning from them, and simply learning by doing without judgement. Listen to Mr. Wooten in his own words in this TED-ED video.

The Best Way to End Your Workday

Fully half of U.S. workers are now experiencing burnout (feelings of exhaustion, ennui, and negativity toward one’s occupation, overall symptoms of depression and anxiety). The rise of remote work, mobile email, and other technologies has made it difficult to disconnect but doing so has become more important than ever. Creating rituals that help you disengage from work so you can fully savor your free time is key. Author Markham Heid reviews current research and offers recommendations which include:

  • Finding and scheduling 30 minutes in the morning to write replies to E-mails that came in at the end of the previous day as you were preparing to wrap-up. Rather than just letting them linger, you have created a specific task for the next day and, in doing so, swapped out something your brain one categorize as n unfinished task for one that your brain can mark as “handled.”
  • Knocking out simple, completable tasks at the end of the workday — and avoiding complicated ones — is another good way to psychologically disconnect.
  • Don’t make checking (or worse, organizing) your inbox the last thing you do each day. “In terms of detachment, checking email is really a no-win scenario,” psychologist Brandon Smit says. “If there is nothing to attend to in your inbox, checking email was a small waste of time. If there is something urgent, a new task has now been activated in your mind, which will press for completion.”

You can read Markham Heid full article, “The Best Way to End Your Workday” at https://elemental.medium.com/the-best-way-to-end-your-workday-c91caf4677d5.

The Healthy Habit Countdown

Looking for a novel approach to improving your wellness? Consider the healthy habit countdown challenge! Health behavior change is usually most successful when done gradually. Below you will find a countdown to guide you in that gradual change. In the coming weeks, consider focusing on one of these goals (steps, sleep, water intake, etc.) and only that goal for a period of two weeks. Once you have worked toward and maintained that goal, move on to the next. The order below will work for some, but if starting by upping your steps seems too much, and reducing electronic usage before bed is more feasible, start there. Reorder the list as needed, and then start your countdown to better health!

Diets Make You Feel Bad. Try Training Your Brain Instead.

A recent New York Times article by Tara Parker-Pope shared that “there’s mounting scientific evidence to suggest that diets don’t work. Research shows that food restriction just makes you want to eat more. And over the long term, dieting can backfire, triggering your body’s survival defenses, slowing your metabolism and making it even harder to lose weight in the future.”

The alternative is to is a new approach to healthy eating based on brain science. According to Dr. Judson Brewer “the paradigms around willpower don’t work, you have to start by knowing how your mind works.”

One tip offered by Dr. Brewer, mapping your eating habits, is outlined below. Read the full article, including more tips and links to additional resources, can be found at https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/well/eat/healthy-eating-habits-new-year.html

Mapping Your Eating Habits.

Use this exercise to work on an eating behavior you’d like to change, like excessive snacking or ordering fast food. Our eating habits have three elements: a trigger, a behavior and a result. By mapping your habits, you can provide your brain with new information about how the habit really makes you feel. You can download a worksheet on Dr. Brewer’s website to help you with this exercise.

  • Start by choosing one eating behavior you’d like to change. Maybe you want to snack less during the day, cut back on takeout or indulgences like cookies, potato chips or ice cream. While there’s nothing wrong with enjoying these foods, you’ve identified this as a problematic eating behavior. Why is that?

  • Now think about what triggers this behavior. Is it an emotion, like anger or stress, or are you rewarding yourself with a treat? Or it could be a situation, like watching television or grocery shopping when you’re hungry.

  • Focus on the result. Before you eat, ask yourself some questions. What am I getting from this? How will eating this food make me feel? Think about how you felt the last time you ate it. Did you enjoy it? Did you end up eating too much? Did you feel uncomfortably full or nauseous? Did you feel guilty later and beat yourself up for eating it? Thinking about how a food makes you feel before, during and after you eat updates the information your brain has about how rewarding (or not) a food really is. And it can help break the hold a particular food has on you.

100 ways to slightly improve your life without really trying in the new year

Whether it’s taking fruit to work or being polite to rude strangers there are countless ways to make your life better in the new year with little effort involved. The Guardian recently summarized this in their article “100 ways to slightly improve your life without really trying.” Below are the top 10, but check out the article for the full list at https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/jan/01/marginal-gains-100-ways-to-improve-your-life-without-really-trying

  • Exercise on a Monday night (nothing fun happens on a Monday night)
  • On the fence about a purchase? Wait 72 hours before you buy it.
  • Tip: the quickest supermarket queue is always behind the fullest cart (greeting, paying and packing take longer than you think).
  • Bring fruit to work, bring fruit to bed!
  • Consider going down to four days a week. It’s likely a disproportionate amount of your fifth day’s work is taxed anyway, so you’ll lose way less than a fifth of your take-home pay.
  • Everyone has an emotional blind spot when they fight. Work out what yours is, and remember it.
  • Plant spring bulbs, even if they’re just in a pot.
  • Send a voice note instead of a text; they sound like personal mini podcasts.
  • Keep a bird feeder by a window, ideally the kitchen. It’ll pass the time when you’re washing up.
  • Always bring ice to house parties (there’s never enough).

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/jan/01/marginal-gains-100-ways-to-improve-your-life-without-really-trying

4 Steps to Fun

Prioritizing fun may feel impossible right now, but science journalist Catherine Price offers a four-step plan to help you rediscover how to feel more alive. In a recent New York Times column, she summarizes some of the key points from her book “The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again.” These include findings from five years or research into the question of what makes us feel the most engaged and alive. She feels that many people radically underestimate how important fun is to their resilience, happiness, and mental and physical health, and offers these four starting points to help change that. You can read the full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/23/well/mind/having-fun-suceeding-coronavirus-pandemic.html

Most Beautiful News of the Year

As we continue to round out the year we can acknowledge but the difficulties and challenges that we have faced individually and as a group, and also at the same time give some attention to the good things that have happened. To that end, the folks over at informationisbeautiful.net have put together an interactive graph of the most beautiful and inspirational news of the year. Whether you are interested in the environment, health, or community there were many good things. Check it out!

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Holiday Social Anxiety

Jancee Dunn of the New York Times recently wrote: “Last winter, with the Covid-19 pandemic in full force, some families sat out the festivities, keeping celebrations with friends and family small or virtual. Some even admitted that the slower pace worked for them, said Thema Bryant, president-elect of the American Psychological Association and a professor of psychology at Pepperdine University. Now, with nearly 60 percent of the country fully vaccinated and restrictions loosened, all the things we took a pass on last year seem to be roaring back — and many are feeling uncomfortably out of practice when it comes to social situations. Not everyone, it turns out, is ready to party like it’s 2019.”

Whether you think you are completely ready for the holidays, are dreading it, Dunn offers the following advice that can help you get through the season. You can read her full article at, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Holiday Social Anxiety,” at NYTimes.com.

  • Reflect on What You Missed (and Didn’t) During the Pandemic: We all only have so much social energy these days, so be sure to reflect on what you did and did not miss throughout the pandemic, and spend your social energy wisely only on those things that you truly missed.
  • Leaving the House is a Win: If you have committed to leaving the house to socialize for even just a little you have already won. But be sure to prepare yourself before hand, have some tools to cope if you get overwhelmed during, and plan some self care afterward. For example, listen to music that matches you want to be in for the party before going, know where to sneak away to during the party to takes some deep breaths and reset and, when you get home, get right into your bedtime routine.
  • Know the Difference Between Pre-Party Jitters and Anxiety: Nervousness before coming into a social setting is common, said Itai Danovitch, an associate professor and chair of the department of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. “But if you find that your anxiety is distressing and disproportionate and interferes with your daily living, and is preventing you from doing things that you would otherwise be doing, then that impact on function is an indicator that there’s a problem.” If this anxiety is persistent and recurs in multiple settings, Dr. Danovitch added, “it’s a good idea to be evaluated by a professional to determine if you have an anxiety disorder.”
  • If You’ve Ventured Out, Be Present: Have a review of the wellness programs “Minute to Arrive” exercise and apply these principles as you get to your gathering, and keep them in mind if you need them throughout to stay present and focused on what is actually in front of you.

Dialectics for the Holidays!

The period from late November through to the new year is marked by multiple secular and religious holidays. For many people these holidays can mean trying to balance multiple competing priorities, and ostensibly competing emotions. For those looking for some guidance on how to navigate this we can turn to the world of DBT, or Dialectical Behavioral Therapy.

In DBT, the term dialectical refers a synthesis or integration of opposites. Observing and reconciling these dialectics leads to relief of distress and overall improve wellbeing by helping people get unstuck from extreme positions, e.g. “either I host the perfect holiday dinner or I am a failure.”

The image below highlights a number of dialectics that people often get trapped in, especially during the holidays. Have a look, see which might hit home with you, and take a moment to consider how you can honor both sides of the dialectic today and going forward.

Mindfulness Meditation: Gratitude at Thanksgiving

As we have highlighted throughout the month of November, gratitude is an important part of psychological wellbeing, and has several health benefits. As we prepare for Thanksgiving we are invited to pay extra close attention to gratitude, to all we are thankful for. This can be a busy time of excitement for some, a time of anxiety for others, and there are those of us who will experience sadness through this and other upcoming holidays. Regardless of what emotions you are experiencing, making space for an eased sense of gratitude can be helpful.

As such, today we will spend a few minutes acknowledging our appreciation, followed by three minutes of restorative silence. Let’s begin…

Gratitude and the Heart

According to Monique Tello, MD, MPH, offering gratitude and overall adapting a positive stance even toward our challenges can protect against heart disease.

Dr. Tello cites researchers in the UK who examined the psychological characteristics of over 8,000 people, and found that those with the above described positive orientation enjoyed a 30% lower risk of developing heart disease.

In addition, extant research suggests that having a positive outlook and engaging in activities such as regular gratitude practices may even be benefit people who already have cardiovascular disease, which is significant, because they are at very high risk of having heart attacks and strokes.

According to Dr. Tello, “Researchers have also studied gratitude in patients with heart failure. Those who kept a daily gratitude journal, where they listed three or four things for which they were thankful every day for two months, had lower levels of inflammatory hormones and a lower heart rate during a stressful exercise. This suggests that the simple daily habit of expressing gratitude can have big long-term health effects.”

Ready to start your journey of gratitude? Consider starting a gratitude journal or, if you want to get started right this minute, visit Cooper’s new virtual gratitude wall.

10 Easy Gratitude Exercises

They are wise who do not grieve for the things which they have not, but rejoice for those which they have. – Epictetus

The following is a list of 10 simple exercises to cultivate gratitude, adapted from this post from Leo Babauta at zenhabits.net. Any one of them can be chosen and implemented with ease, so try one today!

1. Create a Gratitude Ritual. Anything you can easily do every morning when you wake or every night before you sleep. It can be as simple as closing your eyes and taking a couple of minutes to think of the people and things you are grateful for – loved ones, co-workers, the person who served you coffee this morning, anyone!

2. Send a thank-you note. You don’t need to send someone a formal thank-you card (although that’s a nice touch), but just a little note (or email) saying thank you for a specific thing the person has done for you can go a long way.

3. Give a free hug (when safe). OK, do this only do this when appropriate (no hugging strangers) and safe from a COVID standpoint … but if you have a loved one in your life, give them a hug! Often we can go too long without showing our affection and gratitude, even to those who are closest to us. Don’t neglect this important part of your relationship.

4. Give thanks for today! You don’t even have to thank a person … you can thank life itself! Wake up, and greet the day with gratitude. Be thankful you’re alive! Per the Dalai Lama: “Everyday, think as you wake up, ‘Today I am fortunate to have woken up, I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others, I am going to benefit others as much as I can.’ ”

5. Do someone a free favor. Without expecting anything in return, do something nice for someone. Just something small. Get them a drink or a coffee, do a chore for them, offer to do an errand, anything they’d appreciate, really. Think of what the person likes, wants or needs, and try to do something (even something small) to help them. Actions speak louder than words, and doing something nice will show you’re grateful more than just saying it.

6. Give a little gift. It doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive, but a little gift can be a tremendous gesture. Here are 30 ideas.

7. Give someone a list of all they’ve done that you’re grateful for. Take 5 minutes and make a list of 10 or 50 things you love about someone, or things they’ve done for you that you appreciate.

8. Acknowledge them publicly. Who doesn’t love public praise? Find a way to acknowledge the contributions of someone, to show your gratitude, in a public way. Here at Cooper you can use the Cooper Rewards Website or our new virtual gratitude wall.

9. Surprise them with kindness. Actually, this is mostly the same as Item #5, but with a twist: surprise the person. That little extra step of surprising them can make a big difference. When your partner or other loves one comes home from work, have a lovely meal prepared. When your parent walks out her front door in the morning, have the car nice and clean. When your child opens their lunch pail, have a little note and a treat waiting for them. You get the idea.

10. Say thanks even for negative things in your life. This is the hard part, in truth. When things go wrong, when we’re not happy, when people are mean to us, when we are worn down by the million slings and arrows of everyday life … we don’t want to say thank you. But in truth, this is the time when it matters most. If you’ve mastered the first 9 items on this list, you’re ready to master this one.

Gratitude, the Brain, and Behavior

Anecdotally we all know we should try to be as grateful as possible. Many of us here in the US are reminded of this each year as Thanksgiving approaches and we are prompted by friends and family to share what we are giving thanks for. But what are the practical benefits for gratitude? Researchers at The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley set out to answer that very question and came away with four key findings:

  1. Gratitude unshackles us from toxic emotions – In their study, researchers found that participants who both used a higher percentage of positive emotion words and “we” words, and a lower proportion of negative emotion words in their communications were significantly more likely to report better mental health. In fact, it was the lack of negative emotion words—not the abundance of positive words—that explained the mental health gap between a gratitude writing group and other writing group members. So be sure to pay attention to the words you are using!


  2. Gratitude helps even if you don’t share it – The authors told participants who were assigned to write gratitude letters that they weren’t required to send their letters to their intended recipient, and found that those who didn’t send their letters enjoyed the benefits of experiencing gratitude nonetheless. So go ahead and express gratitude wherever you can, regardless of whether or not anyone hears you!


  3. Gratitude’s benefits take time – The authors found that the mental health benefits of gratitude writing in their study did not emerge immediately, but gradually accrued over time. The greatest benefits were most evident 4 and 12 weeks after the exercise, so manage your expectations and, as importantly, give yourself some slack on the more difficult days!


  4. Gratitude has lasting effects on the brain – The authors also used an fMRI scanner to measure brain activity while people from each group did a “pay it forward” task. In that task, the individuals were regularly given a small amount of money by a nice person, called the “benefactor.” This benefactor only asked that they pass the money on to someone if they felt grateful. The participants then decided how much of the money, if any, to pass on to a worthy cause. What they found was when people felt more grateful, their brain activity was distinct from brain activity related to guilt and the desire to help a cause. More specifically, they found that when people who are generally more grateful gave more money to a cause, they showed greater neural sensitivity in the medial prefrontal cortex, a brain area associated with learning and decision making. This suggests that people who are more grateful are also more attentive to how they express gratitude.

To read more about their study, visit the Greater Good Science Center homepage.

Laughter Is Still Good Medicine, Even in a Pandemic

Researchers at Penn State University have scientifically proven that laughter may still be the best medicine for some things, even throughout a pandemic. The authors write “As COVID-19 quickly spread across the globe, social media memes about life in a pandemic also spread across the Internet.”

The authors conducted an online experiment involving over 700 people to assess how viewing memes during this pandemic era may influence their stress and coping.

The authors go on to say “In terms of psychological responses, we found that meme viewing was associated with stronger cuteness responses, higher levels of reported humor, more positive emotions, and lower levels of information processing.”

The findings also suggest that viewing memes, as compared with nonmeme content, indirectly increased COVID-19 coping efficacy. There was specific benefit for those who consumed memes featuring animals as opposed to humans.

Stand Up for Mental Health

Today’s wellness post comes to us from NPR News, where columnist Cha Pornea notes “Of all the ways in which the pandemic has affected Americans’ well-being, perhaps the one we’ve noticed least is how much we’re sitting. And it’s not just bad for our waistlines — it’s hurting our mental health.”

“The sneaky effects of the pandemic that we might not even notice [is] that we’ve changed our sitting patterns,” says Jacob Meyer, director of the Wellbeing and Exercise lab at Iowa State University.

Though most people saw their mental health gradually improve as they adapted to a new reality, people who stayed mostly sedentary didn’t see get the same improvement, according to a follow-up study by Meyer. “People who continued to have really high levels of sitting, their depression didn’t improve” as much, says Meyer.

Does this hit home with you? If so, fear not! The trend is easily reversed and the benefits are usually noticed quickly. Any bit of movement helps, so start by setting small, achievable goals such as 5 minutes of walking per hour. Having a hard time staying focused on the walk? Get board easily? Try a mindful walking exercise.

You can read the full story and get more tips on how to get active over at NPR.org.

Mindfulness Monday: Letting Nature Nurture

Social psychologist Mathew White conducted a study at the European Centre for Environment & Human Health involving 20,000 people, the findings of which suggest that those who spent at least two hours a week in green spaces were substantially more likely to report good health and psychological well-being than those who did not. This was true regardless of variables such as gender, occupation, ethnic group, SES, area of residence, and regardless of whether they were living with chronic illnesses and disabilities at baseline. This is just one of many studies presenting such findings, and so the goal of today’s mindfulness exercise is to help bring our attention back to our connection with nature throughout the day, to let it nurture us.

Today’s background music is (Nothing but) Flowers by Talking Heads and is licensed under Section 107 of the US Copyright Act.

Languishing

If you’ve been feeling off—but can’t exactly call it depression—you could very well be languishing. Similar to burnout, more and more people are experiencing this phenomenon on a global scale. If you feel that this might be something you or someone you care about my experiencing, you can read the article “Languishing Is A Rising Mental Health Issue: 7 Signs You’re Experiencing It” by psychologist Kristina Hallett, Ph.D., ABPP. The findings of this article are summarized below, you can click on the image for a full size, printable handout.

Mindfulness Monday: Compassion

One topic that seems to keep coming up in recent weeks has been compassion. It is something that we would all benefit from giving more of to ourselves and to those around us. When Mindfulness Monday last covered this, we discussed the work of psychologist Kristin Neff, who studies compassion. She tells us “Self-compassion involves acting the same way towards yourself when you are having a difficult time, fail, or notice something you don’t like about yourself as you would act toward other under the same circumstances. Instead of just ignoring your pain with a “stiff upper lip” mentality, you stop to tell yourself “this is really difficult right now,” how can I comfort and care for myself in this moment?”

Find Your Why and Exercise

Psychologist that study health behavior change are increasingly verifying what many of us have known for a while, harsh approaches to health behavior change do not work. Quitting cigarettes cold turkey, completely eliminating treats from your diet, forcing yourself to run miles a day because someone else said it was good for you – all of these fail to produce sustained change.

Why tends to work better is finding the value in the change, figuring out why it would be personally meaningful, and keeping that goal in mind.

The folks at Healthline.com note that “fitting in exercise is hard for everyone, hearing what keeps other people going can help you find your “why” too.” It’s true, exploring all the values to a health behavior change like exercise, not just the ways measured on a scale, help people sustain change for the long haul.

They go on to say that fitness is about so much more than losing a few pounds, getting shredded, or trying to emulate a “perfectly” toned body. Fitness is about what you can gain. It’s about measuring success by how you feel, not by the scale. It’s about improving physical, mental, and emotional health. It’s about moving in a way that brings you joy so you’ll keep going for years. And it’s about meeting you where you’re at on your fitness journey.

To help kick-start your journey toward finding the “why,” they interviewed 12 trainers, yoga instructors, parents, and others about WHY they exercise, how they fit it in, what inspires them to keep going, and a favorite motivational phrase they share with others.

Read the reasons others have to keep up their health routines at https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness/why-i-exercise, then pause today to consider what goals you have and the direct and indirect reasons they are important to you.

Mindfulness Monday – What the Nose Knows

When you see, hear, touch, or taste something, sensory information first heads to the thalamus, which then sends that information to the relevant brain areas including the hippocampus for memory-related tasks and the amygdala, home to a good deal of our emotional processing. But with smells, it’s different. When it comes to olfaction, scents bypass the thalamus and go straight to the olfactory bulb which is directly connected to the amygdala and hippocampus. This helps us understand why the smell of something can so immediately trigger a detailed memory or even intense emotion, and why we are focusing on this sense today.

Today’s background music is “We Know” by Ketsa and is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

The Holes in Your Cup

One common metaphor in the world of wellness is that you cannot pour from an empty cup. It is a way that we encourage people to think about prioritizing their wellness. If you want to be a good health care provider, a good parent, a good partner it requires you to give of yourself, but you cannot do that if you have depleted your resources and have nothing to give. But often we put the emphasis on refilling the cup through exercise, mindfulness, and other acts of self-care without taking time to assess through what holes our water is draining in our cup that leave it near empty to begin with. 

Krissy Brady, noted health and wellness writer, recently reflected on 12 everyday phenomena that, despite being considered “normal” may be contributing to our sense of burnout. She notes that feeling drained has become the status quo which leaves us overexerting ourselves just to get through the necessities of the day.  We can take a step toward wellness by looking out for some of these common things that are emptying our cup, before taking time to refill it. These things include 

  • consuming emotionally charged television shows and news
  • waiting too long between meals
  • working at a messy desk
  • planning too far in advance
  • having too many tabs open
  • taking calls right away
  • leaving off in the wrong spot
  • slouching
  • shallowing breathing
  • letting little tasks pile up     
  • too much light at night
  • applying advice to yourself that does not apply

How many of these apply to you? Learn more about each problem and what you can do to fix them by reading Ms. Brady’s full article 12 Mindless Habits That Are Secretly Exhausting You.   

Mindfulness Monday: Appreciation

Today, our mindfulness exercises focuses our present-centered attention on the ordinary, to offer it our appreciation. As you listen along here, or as you go about your day, choose any 5 commonplace things in your life. The things that sustain you, that have become such a given that we rarely notice them, but without which our lives would be more difficult or less meaningful.

As you go about your day, keep tabs on these things. Take note of their inner workings, how they are benefit you and perhaps those around you, notice the finer, more minute details.

A Matter of Time

New research from the University of Pennsylvania and University of California, Los Angeles describes the need for us to strike a balance with our free time. When we have too much or too little, we start to feel distress and, in some cases, overwhelmed. The authors offer some insight and advice to manage this.

Specifically, they acknowledge that many people living in modern society feel like they do not have enough time and are constantly searching for more. They asks the questions of to what degree having limited discretionary time actually detrimental, and if there can there be downsides of having too much discretionary time?

In their large-scale data sets spanning 35,375 Americans and two experiments, they explored the relationship between the amount of discretionary time individuals have and their subjective well-being.

Findings suggest that, whereas having too little time is indeed linked to lower subjective well-being caused by stress, having more time does not continually translate to greater subjective well-being. Having an abundance of discretionary time is sometimes even linked to lower subjective well-being because of a lacking sense of productivity. In such cases, the negative effect of having too much discretionary time can be attenuated when people spend this time on productive activities.

While there is no single “best” way to manage one’s time, Forbes.com provides a good overview of many common strategies people can use to manage their time best. Just be sure that among that activities you plan going forward is self-care!

Mindfulness Monday: Mindful Immersion

Often times we find ourselves so focused on the next thing that we lose sight of what is right in front of us. The purpose of this exercise is to help you to cultivate contentment with the present moment.

Today, pick a chore or a routine task. One of those things you “have” to do, something you usually try to rush through to get done before moving onto the next thing. Today, challenge yourself to treat this is a completely new activity rather than the chore it has become.

A good example is washing the dishes, or simply washing your hands. While doing this, you can observe the job through your five senses. You can notice the feeling of the water on your skin, the sound it makes as it hits the sink. Perhaps you can observe the smell of the soap, and visually attending to the lather as it builds, and then as you wash it off, aiming for specific areas of your hands as you clear the later.

Get creative as you discover new experiences within the familiar!

7 Things to Do When Your Tank Is Empty

This week we continue to look at the topic was explored last week, resiliency. This week we specifically look what to do when you do not feel resilient, when you feel burn out, or when you just need a boost.

Karen Nimmo is a clinical psychologist and author from Aotearoa, New Zealand. She describes 7 ways to refill your tank when it feels empty. These methods are listed below, and you can read her full article at https://forge.medium.com/resilience-burnout-7-ways-to-cope-when-your-tank-is-empty-bf7cfa5320e1

1. Know when to quit the day.

I love this line from the young woman who was feeling she’d lost a chunk of her twenties. If you get to 3pm and absolutely nothing’s going right, take your foot off and quit the day. Curl up and have a cry if you need to. Know you’re not going to make your mark on anything today. Dump it in the way-too-hard-basket. And know that all feelings are temporary. Just because one day goes wrong doesn’t mean the next one will. Often, it’s quite the opposite. You can try again tomorrow.

2. Live in “day-tight compartments.”

One of the early founders of the self-help movement, Dale Carnegie had a strategy for reducing worry: “live inside day-tight compartments.” It’s a tidy way of saying take things one day at a time — to stay in the present, which is especially helpful during times of turmoil. Just live each day until bedtime.

3. Throw your heart over the bar.

One of the traps of feeling low is to do everything half-heartedly, which means you don’t enjoy anything much, you persistently feel like you’re going through the motions. So do fewer things. Or, better still, do one thing at a time. But whatever you do, bring all your focus to it. Do it with your whole heart. Your distracted mind will follow — at least for a little while.

4. Phone a friend.

Because it’s helpful for you to stay connected. But also just because someone, somewhere, may need a friendly ear. They may welcome a chat with you, they may benefit from it — and that confirms you as a good person. Bonus benefit: It takes you out of your own life (and head) into someone else’s.

5. Keep the routines but kill the to-do list.

Basic routines are helpful for framing your day. But 25 things on your to-do list? Seriously? Don’t do that, you’ll just end up transferring most of it to the next day and that’ll just make you feel bad. Be objective and real about your to-do list. Or throw the list out altogether and just do what you can.

6. Tiny, novelty projects

Routines help ground and steady us. But the downside is the sheer repetition of them. Humans are wired for novelty and stimulation. So we have to keep finding ways to spark our interest. Pick tiny, novelty projects that you can complete on the same day, or at least quickly. Cook a new dish, walk a new route, paint a picture, write a poem, put up a shelf, plant some seedlings. The rule is active — not passive, though. So finding a new TV show to stream doesn’t count. Aim for something that engages body as well as mind.

7. Remember to laugh.

There’s some really sad stuff going on in the world right now. And some shocking stuff, and some stuff to make you angry, all of which make it easy to lose your sense of humor — and feel guilty when you hang onto it. Even during suffering there are moments of weirdness, of fun, of joy. It’s a sign of emotional health that you can keep leaning into them.

7 Traits of Resilient People

While these articles are meant to be informative and inspirational, sometimes that starts with acknowledging the more challenging aspects of our daily lives. Many of us had hoped that COVID-19 would be mostly in our rearview by now, but that is not the case. And while this continues to contribute to fatigue and burnout so, too, has it shown the resiliency many of us never knew we had or that we did not see in each other. Registered Nurse Pantea Vahidi recently wrote on this topic and identified 7 traits that she has noticed are common to resilient people. They are shared here, along with some recommendations on how to connect with these traits when you feel you have lost touched with them.

1) Resilient People Accept the Baseline: Baseline is your current situation. It is a term we use in the medical field to describe the usual health condition of patients. Your normal may be different than someone else’s, but it’s yours to own. Resilient people do not ask “why me?”, they accept their baseline and put in the effort to change it if they are bothered by it. If you want to try to work on this area, check out these six Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) worksheets.

2) Resilient People Are Flexible: Being willing to change plans and pivot is crucial to being resilient. Those who have experienced adversities know that often life does not go as planned, and the frustration of refusing to change is an unnecessary source of depletion and burnout. Need help with this? Daniel Amen, MD offers these 5 ways to increase your emotional flexibility.

3) Resilient People are Willing to Learn: When challenges and change strike us, we need new skills and knowledge to cope with and overcome the adversities. Resilient people are open to learning about the topic that they are facing. They know that the more equipped they are with information and facts, the better they can make decisions and battle what they are facing. Ready to expand your boundaries? Any number of websites offer free course on a variety of topics, including Harvard, EdX, and Stanford.

4) Resilient People Seek Solutions: When life takes a turn, we can either sit and complain or immediately look for solutions. Resilient people are quick to look for ways to resolve or at least improve the situation. They do not expend their energy in reciting why the problem is difficult or unfair. They channel that time, mental, and emotional energy to find solutions. The VA offers online resources for finding solutions in challenging times.

5) Resilient People are Resourceful: Unusual circumstances call for unusual measures. Those who are resourceful make do with what is available and use their accessible resources to the best of their ability. Many can function and perform in ideal situations, but to be able to work with what is at their disposal is the difference between wishful thinking and being realistic and resilient. Often times this means asking for help. Check out this article from the National Alliance on Mental Illness on asking for help.

6) Resilient People are Creative: When we face trials and turbulences, we often need to think outside the box to come up with new ways to overcome. Resilient people know that they need to tap into their creative thinking to adjust and adapt. They somehow know what Einstein knew that “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Author Matt Richtel offers advice on how to maximize our creative side.

7) Resilient People Set Realistic Expectations: Expectations are what we believe about the future. While not crossing the line of being pessimistic, resilient people know that by having unrealistic expectations, they are setting themselves up for a major disappointment, which will lead to frustration. Having realistic expectations is a mental rehearsal which makes us more prepared for what is to come. If you think you need help adjusting your expectations, have a look at this advice from PsychCentral.

Wellness Wednesday: From Cynicism to Hope

Extant literature suggests the acquiring cynicism is a natural part of human development. Much of this research provides evidence that people’s beliefs and statements are not always aligned and, further that people may attempt to deliberately deceive others beginning at a young age. Consequently, we begin to become sensitive to a variety of sources of inaccuracy in people’s presentations, also from a very early age, as a protective measure against being taken advantage of our outright harmed. The last few years have offered plenty of fuel for cynicism, but what happens when cynicism becomes the rule rather than the exception in our daily lives? Writer Aida Knezevic recently reflected on this in her own life. She found a significant negative impact on her personal relationships, her ability to affect change in her life, and her overall mood. With that in mind, there are a few steps you can take to help combat cynicism based on what Knezevic found:

  1. Challenge yourself to go just a few days without consuming negative content (especially on social media) and take the time you would have spent doing so to examine your automatic thoughts to emotionally provocative situations. Before passing judgement on a situation or seeking out sources of information that confirm these automatic thoughts, list those thoughts out and then list out their complete opposite and gather what evidence you can for and against each.
  2. Knezevic says that “when cynicism becomes your default state, it makes it incredibly difficult to be hopeful or optimistic about any challenge you’re facing. And when you lose all hope, you also lose any willpower to make your life better.” Naturally, this would cause one to become risk averse. As such, challenge yourself to try something new or wonder out of your comfort zone at least once per week if not daily. Even if you do not end up with desirable results, you can take pride in having learned something new.
  3. Knezevic  also suggest that “cynicism impairs your ability to celebrate the good not only in your own life but also in the lives of others, it can also cause your personal relationships to suffer.” As such, practicing at least one act of gratitude and compassion daily can help strengthen your relationships which can lead to improved quality of life and bolster you through difficult times.

To learn more, you can read Aida Knezevic’s full article here.

Empathy and the Latest Wave

COVID has been here long enough that many people have lost count of what wave of infections we are on, or even when to start and stop counting one from the next. As the current delta-driven wave surges so, too, have many of the emotions of earlier waves resurfaced. In particular this time around we are seeing a fair amount of anger between two camps of people, the vaccinated and the unvaccinated. While anger is a natural and valid emotion, in times like these it is often worth reflecting when and why the anger is coming to the foreground, and how we can put to use the energy it is producing.  One means by which we can accomplish this is through the building of empathy. Today, we are offer a few guidelines to help increase our empathy for others with whom we disagree, and toward ourselves to assure we are always responding in a way that is consistent with our core values:

  • Remind ourselves that much of what divides us is a sign of shared trauma. Trauma in what we have lost in the last 18 months; for the vaccinated, trauma over now potentially losing all the gains that were made through vaccination efforts; for the un-vaccinated trauma over feeling pressured to accept a vaccine that their anxiety tells them may harm them, and that anxiety being compounded by others, often times those whom they love, shaming them and causing them to feel guilt.

  • Remember our shared humanity. We are all doing the best we can, and all working from the best information we have, even though sometimes that information may be incorrect or internally conflicting. Try to approach those with whom you disagree with genuine curiosity, and a desire to truly understand their choices rather than having your primary priority be changing their mind.

  • Practice the art of noticing. Get comfortable noticing when an emotion comes up, and notice all the subtle changes in your emotions throughout the day. Each emotion usually comes with an impulse to rally our resources and respond. Before you respond, though, ask yourself if your action is being taken in the name of your values and long term goals, or if you are going to do something for the sake of ridding you of an emotion you no longer want to sit with.

  • Connect. One sure fire way to manage any emotion is to connect with the present moment. Reach out to someone and check up on them, or reach out to your trusted source for your own check-in. We can often counteract the corrosion by promoting connection, not exacerbating the disconnection. Engage in a valued activity, or go get exercise to burn some of that energy. Have a snack.

Remember, anger is a natural emotion, and these days many of us feel it is well justified. But using that anger to make others feel bad will never lead to change. Reconnect with our own values, and finding new ways to connect with those with whom we disagree with may offer a path forward.

Little Habits, Big Differences

For most of us, mornings are rough. We snooze, wake, repeat. Jump out of bed. Java. And then start firing off emails and Slacks. It’s no way to greet the day and its disruptive energy that carries into our work. To help you kick-start your day the right way, here are 10 tiny, two-minute switches from the folks at Ladders.com that are easy to implement and can have a major impact on your day.

Attending to Intellectual Wellness

Often the focus of wellness initiatives is on physical health, followed by mental health, and sometimes spiritual health. Often times we forget to focus on what makes us, us – our intellectual wellbeing. For adults and children alike, COVID has changed the way we engage with those things have kept us cognitively sharp and engaged in the world around us. And so today’s wellness post comes to us from Tracy Kennedy and provides 12 ways to improve your intellectual wellness.

1. Try Something New – Neuroplasticity is the brain’s capacity to continue growing and evolving in response to life experiences. Your brain can change and adapt through stimulation, stress, and experiences. What new thing will you try to do outside your comfort zone today? You might start with a Wikipedia Treasure Hunt to generate future ideas!

2. Read – One of the common habits of the most successful people in the world? They read. Oprah, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Warren Buffet, Sheryl Sandberg, LeBron James are all avid readers. Don’t start with War and Peace, start with a shorter work on a topic you already like just to build the habit.

3. Exercise – Not only is exercise good for your heart and body, but it can also help improve another major muscle, your brain. In a study done at the University of British Columbia, researchers found that regular aerobic exercise—the kind that gets your heart and sweat glands pumping—appears to boost the size of the hippocampus, the brain area involved in verbal memory and learning. So get out and walk, run, swim – get active anyway you can!

4. Be Social – We are social beings hardwired for connection. That means we need to spend time engaging with others to thrive as we learn how to get a life we can enjoy. Studies have shown that people who socialize often have higher levels of happiness than those who don’t. Plus, when you’re around others, we learn and grow because we hear different perspectives and new stories.

5. Stay Curious – Curiosity increases brain activity and activation. Being curious about something not only improves learning about that specific subject but increases your overall learning and retention capabilities, too. Curious why your local baker started her bakery? Ask her. Curious about the plant-based movement? Watch a documentary!

6. Eat Well – The food you eat fuels not just your body but your brain. In fact, your brain consumes about 20% of your daily calories! Inflammatory foods such as sugar, dairy, and refined carbs affect you negatively, while clean, nutrient-dense foods affect you positively.

7. Get Creative – Creativity stimulates your intellectual wellness and improves your overall health. Take music, for example. You’ve likely heard that music makes you smarter. One study showed that executive functions (EF) were enhanced in musicians compared to non-musicians. These include problem-solving, working memory, processing speed, and cognitive flexibility.

8. Stay Hydrated – The human brain is composed of over 75% water, with some studies suggesting that the number is closer to 85%. Do you want to improve your focus and clarity? Aim to drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses daily. Increase the hydration factor by adding electrolytes or a little sea salt to increase absorption into your cells.

9. Sleep – Sleep. Sleep, you say? Doesn’t that seem like an odd thing to do if I want to grow my intellectual capacity? Shouldn’t I be actively doing something? When we sleep, our brain removes stored toxins and takes out the ‘mental trash,’ which allows our brains to function better. According to research, “sleep has a restorative function. Lack of sleep impairs reasoning, problem-solving, and attention to detail, among other effects.”

10. Practice Self-Reflection – Just like physical wellness is about growth and strength, so is intellectual wellness. Taking the time to reflect on yourself and your life is a great way to engage your brain. It’s about taking a step back and reflecting on your life, behavior, and beliefs. Self-reflection improves self-awareness, provides perspective, facilitates a deeper learning level, challenges your assumptions, enables learning and growth opportunities, and even improves confidence.

11. Meditate – Meditation and mindfulness seem to be the answer to all that ails you, and yes, they can help with increasing your brainpower, too. Meditation allows you to calm your thoughts and achieve greater mental and emotional clarity.

12. Pick Up Your Rubik’s Cube – Working through puzzles or finding words in patterns uses a great amount of brainpower. Increasing your ability to work through these activities can maintain and build your intellectual wellness. Want to go old school? Pick up a crossword puzzle, grab your book of sudoku, or play a game of chess. New school? Grab your smartphone for a game of Words with Friends or check out one of the many free brain game apps like Lumosity or Brain HQ.

Carpool safety: COVID and beyond

As the COVID pandemic finally begins to recede and Americans emerge from their homes, parents, guardians and caregivers are returning to the carpool line. While children are undoubtedly excited to see their friends, return to school and rejoin their favorite activities, this newfound freedom does come with some risk. Despite ongoing vaccinations, coronavirus has not been entirely defeated. We have put together some extra preventative and safety measures you can take during carpools to keep your children safe and healthy. Learn more about this at https://www.bankrate.com/insurance/car/carpool-safety/

Joyscrolling, and other Doomscrolling Antidotes

Joyscrolling, and other Doomscrolling Antidotes

It is official, Doomscrolling has been added to the dictionary. For those who are not familiar, this term describes the practice of obsessively checking online news for updates, especially on social media feeds, with the expectation that the news will be bad, such that the feeling of dread from this negative expectation fuels a compulsion to continue looking for updates in a self-perpetuating cycle. This behavior has been associated with poor sleep, increased depression and anxiety, as well as increased substance use.  

Dr. Ariane Ling of the Department of Psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine says that we engage in this behavior because we as humans are hardwired to constantly assess for risk as a survival mechanism. The problem is that when this hardwire connection was made in the human brain early in our evolution there was no such thing as social media, and so our risk assessments did not take very long since the amount of data was small and did not change that often. What we are seeing today is maladaptive belief that is understood well through basic behaviorism: “I consumed all the information possible about the plethora of terrible things out there, I did not die, thus I must continue to consume all the information possible to be sure nothing catches me off guard and thus will not die.” Sadly, this logic will not stand the test of time for any of us.

So what do we do to combat Doomscrolling? Dr. Ling has some practical advice:

  • Be Informed, Not Inundated: We do need to stay informed, so choose some trustworthy sources and check in only at regular intervals. For example, you can commit to checking in with the CDC and WHO websites once per day or even only once per week if your focus remains on gathering COVID-related information.

  • Joyscroll, too! If you are going to be online, balance your exposure to distressing content with some Joyscrolling, or intentional exposure to positive content. This can help combat the impact of its more negatively focused counterpart, Doomscrolling. While John Krasinski is no longer producing his “Some Good News” series, other websites continue to curate more inspiring content.

  • Build Awareness, Set Limits: Set a limit and be intentional about how much news you are consuming. Ask yourself if you were not on your phone, what would you be doing? Build awareness is usually the first step in any behavior change. Once you are more aware you can set a reasonable, specific time limit and set a firm boundary for yourself on how much news you are consuming. Once you have reached that limit, and found your good news balance, log off and find a way to re-engage with the world around you. Need help re-engaging? Check out this article from Positive Psychology.

Delta Blues

Historically when one thinks Delta Blues they think of musicians like Robert Johnson and one of the earliest-known styles of Blues music here in the States. But as COVID cases rise again, and the majority of those cases are of the Delta variant, and many are already feeling anxiety about potential new waves, hospital utilization, impact on schools come Fall, and countless other issues. This is to be expected. During times like this it may be a good idea to return to some of the basic coping skills we learned early in the pandemic.

  • F = Focus on what’s in your control – You cannot control what others think, believe, or do. You can, however, control things your diet, your exercise, your sleep behaviors. You can turn to reliable sources about COVID.
  • A = Acknowledge your thoughts & feelings – Thoughts and feelings tend to pop up automatically, almost like any other reflex. We can, however, manage our response to them once they show up and that starts with acknowledging them. Acknowledge them as normal responses to an abnormal situation. Here is an exercise to help you with this.
  • C = Come back into your body – Many times these distressing thoughts and feelings we have about COVID or anything else are treated like actual, physical threats. Sometimes it is a good idea to bring our attention back to our body, to help our brain understand what is actually going on around us in this moment. You can learn how to do this via Grounding Techniques as explained here.
  • E = Engage in what you’re doing – As above, often our goal is to keep our attention on what is here, and what is now. We can often benefit from keeping that attention on activities that are important to us. You can learn more about this from the author of FACE COVID Russ Harris.
  • C = Committed action – Committed action means effective action, guided by your core values; action you take because it’s truly important to you; action you take even if it brings up difficult thoughts and feelings. Once you have dropped anchor using the above methods you will have a lot of control over your actions – so this makes it easier to do the things that truly matter. What are simple ways to look after yourself, those you live with, and those you can realistically help? What kind, caring, supportive deeds you can do? Can you say some kind words to someone in distress – in person or via a phone call or text message? Can you help someone out with a task or a chore, or cook a meal, or hold someone’s hand, or play a game with a young child? Can you comfort and soothe someone who is sick? Or in the most serious of cases, nurse them and access whatever medical assistance is available?
  • O = Opening up – Opening up means making room for difficult feelings and being kind to yourself. Difficult feelings are guaranteed to keep on showing up as this crisis unfolds: fear, anxiety, anger, sadness, guilt, loneliness, frustration, confusion, and many more. We can’t stop them from arising; they’re normal reactions. But we can open up and make room for them: acknowledge they are normal, allow them to be there (even though they hurt), and treat ourselves kindly. You can learn more about Developing Self-Compassion here.
  • V = Values – Committed action should be guided by your core values: What do you want to stand for in the face of this crisis? What sort of person do you want to be, as you go through this? How do you want to treat yourself and others? Your values might include love, respect, humour, patience, courage, honesty, caring, openness, kindness …. or numerous others. Look for ways to ‘sprinkle’ these values into your day. Let them guide and motivate your committed action.
  • I = Identify resources – Identify resources for help, assistance, support, and advice. This includes friends, family, neighbours, health professionals, emergency services. And make sure you know the emergency helpline phone numbers, including psychological help if required. Also reach out to your social networks. And if you are able to offer support to others, let them know; you can be a resource for other people, just as they can for you. One very important aspect of this process involves finding a reliable and trustworthy source of information for updates on the crisis and guidelines for responding to it. The World Health Organisation website is the leading source of such information.
  • D = Disinfect & distance – I’m sure you already know this, but it’s worth repeating: disinfect your hands regularly and practice as much social distancing as realistically possible, for the greater good of your community. And remember, we’re talking about physical distancing – not cutting off emotionally. If you aren’t quite sure about what this means, read this. This is an important aspect of committed action, so align it deeply with your values; recognise that these are truly caring actions.

Work-Life Balance: The Sunday Struggle

One aspect of wellness often discussed clinically, in the research literature, and simply amongst friends is the ongoing effort to strike a satisfactory Work-Life Balance. Many of us want to be successful and be considered hard workers by our peers and family members, and at the same time to not want to give up time with our loved ones, leisurely pursuits, and other aspects of self-care. One place where this often manifests for those working a traditional work week is Sunday afternoons into the evening. This phenomenon was recently described by Jessica Stern, PhD, who also offered some tips on how to manage it.

Dr. Stern describes feelings of worry, fear, dread, and anticipatory feelings of being overwhelmed at what is coming up in the next week, along with sadness at leaving other things we enjoy behind. She feels that this anticipatory distress is often chronic, is common, and is a sign it is time to check in with ourselves, what we have on our plates, and how we are coping with this.

The goal is not to avoid the thoughts that trigger these uncomfortable feelings but to manage them effectively by finding ways to take control of what you can. To help with this, Dr. Stern suggests that we prep for the week throughout the weekend in brief ways through activities such as meal preparation, putting together outfits and hanging them in order in the closet, or scanning your calendar to get a good sense of what your game plan is going into the week, so things feel more predictable when you hit the ground Monday morning.

Small Change

If we are being honest, most of us know the changes we could make to improve our health and wellbeing, but it is complicated. Even the easiest changes have prerequisites as well as impact on what is often already a very right schedule. This is why the field of psychology often puts early emphasis on breaking big goals down into smaller ones, and taking things step by step.

First, think about what needs to change. Are you ready for tweak your diet? Up your exercise? Rededicate to personal or spiritual relationships? Pick JUST one, and figure out where you are in the change process with this brief guide.

Then, develop a SMART goal using this guide.

The key is to start SMALL! If we try to do everything all at once we set ourselves up for failure and become less likely to do anything. If you want to lose weight, start by tracking your diet for a few weeks before you try to change anything. Then, identify that one snack, soda, or other indulgence you do not need and see if you can reduce or eliminate it for two weeks, then on to the next goal, and so on.

Your progress may seem painfully slow at first but, before you know it, you will be well on your way to where you want to be!

Self Check-In

How are you?

This is question that you may ask others all throughout the day, and that others may ask you, to which you or they may provide a very automatic “find, and you?”

But everyone now and again it is helpful to stop and take stock of how you are actually doing as objectively as is possible.

One of the ways we might do this is through formal or semi-formal assessment, which also lets us track how we are doing over time. One such measure, called “The Wellness Assessment” is available for free here.

There are no standardized metrics to consider here. The authors simply suggest that as your score increases so, too, as your attention to wellness. So be sure to check in with yourself today and, if the assessment suggests one area in particular is suffering, consider a review of our Setting Intentions exercise to address that area.

How Nurses Can Combat Compassion Fatigue

Day in and day out, nurses provide empathetic, compassionate care for patients experiencing some of the most difficult times of their lives. This kind of work takes an emotional toll on nursing professionals over time, potentially leading to compassion fatigue, or a decline in the ability to provide empathetic, compassionate care.

Many nurses experience this problem. Compassion fatigue reportedly affects 16% to 39% of registered nurses, with most reports coming from nurses working in areas like hospice, oncology, and emergency care. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of compassion fatigue is reportedly far greater among nurses.

Recognizing and addressing the signs of compassion fatigue may allow nursing professionals to seek the help they need to provide the best nursing care possible.

Read more about how to address compassion fatigue at https://nursejournal.org/articles/combating-compassion-fatigue-in-nursing/.

Life IRL

For almost sixteen months, the vast majority of our social interaction happened through screens. Whether it was work, school, meeting with friends, or online dating, research tells us that Americans spent more time on our devices in the last year than we ever had before, which is saying something.

But now in-person activities are considered safer if not safe, and families are talking about how to start setting the phones and pads aside more often. Wellness experts Jill Riley and Dr. Jodi Dworkin offer these insights into the transition back to life IRL (in real life).

  • Recognize that there was some benefit, and may still be, to screen time so do not try to eliminate it completely or all at once. We want them to continue to learn to build good digital citizenship skills as this will be part of their life in the future, and so that requires some screen time. But too much means they may be engaging in avoidance behaviors due to anxiety about returning back to public spaces, and also places them at greater risk for online bullying. When trying to find the balance for you and your family, and may help in the beginning to make pros and cons lists, and set specific limits on screen time each day but in terms of actual time and types of activities.
  • Not all screen time over the last year was fun, a lot of it was school and work. Adults and children are feeling the pull that they want something to do that is not online, and that is still not easy to find as society transitions at different paces in different spaces. Sit either by yourself or, if you have a partner or children, with them and reflect on what you love. Then, search for specific activities happening in your community that relate to that and get them scheduled in the near future.
  • Be a good example for colleagues and family alike, and look for good examples. Own the degree to which you have become somewhat dependent on screen in the last year and let people know. Look for simple ways to model a good relationship. If you are out to eat with friends, have everyone put their phone in the middle of the table. The first person to touch it has to leave the tip! At home, leave a basket by the door for devices and invite everyone, family or visitors, to leave their devices there for the first five minutes they are in the house.

Our relationship with technology changed gradually throughout the pandemic, and so we should expect that relationship will continue to shift back in the other direction as society opens back up. Be patient with yourself and with those around you.

Pretty Loud

Among the most underprivileged ethnic communities in Serbia, the Roma largely live in segregated settlements on society’s fringes, facing poverty, joblessness and prejudice. A UNICEF study published last year showed that over one-third of girls in Roma settlements in Serbia aged 15-19 are already married. Of them, 16% were married before they were 15. Many experience significant abuse and neglect. Now, over the last 18 months, activists have warned that the COVID-19 pandemic has further fueled the social isolation of marginalized groups and increased their poverty. Disruptions of regular schooling due to the virus lockdowns have made it even harder for Roma children to stay in the system. Much of this has gone unnoticed on the world’s stage, but an all-female Roma band in Serbia is seeking to change that by using music to preach women’s empowerment within their community, challenging some deeply rooted traditions and centuries-old male domination.

Their songs are about “women chained” in abuse witnessed by generations, or teenage brides being forced into marriage by their fathers. And they tell women to seek love, fight back and stand up for their right to be equal with men. Formed in 2014, “Pretty Loud” symbolically seeks to give a louder voice to Roma girls, encourage education and steer them away from the widespread custom of early marriage. The band has gained popularity and international attention, performing last year at the Women of the Year Festival in London.

Sinani, 24, said the idea for an all-female band was born at education and artistic workshops run for Roma, or Gypsies, by a private foundation, Gypsy Roma Urban Balkan Beats. The girls initially danced in GRUBB’s boys’ band and then decided they wanted one of their own, she said. “They (GRUBB) named us ‘Pretty Loud’ because they knew that women in Roma tradition are not really loud,” she said.

Learn more about Pretty Loud on their GRUBB page at https://www.wearegrubb.com/pretty-loud.

Mindfulness Booster: Building Awareness

Welcome to our second installment in our Mindfulness Booster series.

As life continues to inch towards some semblance of normalcy there will be a natural tendency to lose sight of some of the good habits we built during the pandemic. Whether we miss a day in our newly found exercise streak or the late night snacks start creeping back in, a regression to the mean is normal. Acknowledging that, we here at the RRT want to provide some encouragement to keep up one healthy habit – mindfulness based practice.

Today we move on to review another basic skill, building awareness.

This exercise is designed to cultivate a heightened sense of awareness and appreciation for simple daily tasks and the results they achieve.

First think of something you do every day more than once that you take for granted. For example, unlocking a door. Stop for a moment as you put the key into the lock, feel the mechanism at work and how your body and the lock works together.

Notice how you feel in that moment then you first prise open the door and how you feel about where the door will lead you.

Pick a task and do this process for it the whole day.

Mindfulness Booster: Listening

As life continues to inch towards some semblance of normalcy there will be a natural tendency to lose sight of some of the good habits we built during the pandemic. Whether we miss a day in our newly found exercise streak or the late night snacks start creeping back in, a regression to the mean is normal. Acknowledging that, we here at the RRT want to provide some encouragement to keep up one healthy habit – mindfulness based practice. Today we start with a return to one of the more basic skills, mindful listening.

It is natural for humans to want to analyze every sound we hear and integrate it into what we think we know about what is doing on, consider the implications for the future, and so on. While the can be helpful at times, at other times we want to approach all the sounds in a non-judgmental way, just noticing what is there.

Most of what we hear, or at least what we attend to, is influenced by past experiences and expectations. With mindful listening, we can achieve a neutral, present awareness and so reduce our level of reactivity, leading to a lower sense of distress.

For this exercise, we encourage you to find a piece of music you have never heard before. Having a hard time coming up with one? Check out this list of 38 Classical Hidden Gems or check out the lesser known work by Haydn below, String Quartet in E-Flat, Op. 20/1.

If you have headphones, putting them on may add to the experience. Once you are ready, close your eyes and hit play. Do not judge the music by its genre, artist, or title. Let yourself focus on the song you have chosen, note by note, instrument by instrument. Follow the piece where it takes you, and notice what thoughts, images, or sensations arise in your body.

The idea is to just listen without preconception of the lyrics or instruments. Keep listening, and let yourself be intrigued by what you find!

Gardening is Cool

In a continued effort to recognize not just the challenges brought by COVID but also the sometimes unrecognized gifts, the RRT is always on the lookout for the ways in which people used their time in lockdown to do good things. The latest example is the results of survey research commissioned by Draper Tools that suggests that 8 in 10 youth think gardening is cool, and half would rather visit a garden center than a nightclub! A poll of 2,000 people found horticulture has enjoyed a renaissance among 18 to 34 year-olds during lockdown. The results suggest the primary motivators were a desire to make their homes and gardens a nicer place to be, to improve mental health, and create a space they can escape to. In addition 72 percent intend to keep on investing in plants, tools, equipment, and more to fulfil their vision for their garden. You can read more about the results of this survey at goodnewsnetwork.org.

Young People Bouncing Back

While many of us have fond memories of our youth, the process of maturing is rarely an easy one. Finding your feet in the world while it is being shaken by a pandemic made that process all the more difficult. Recently, writer Eloise Barry profiled the story of three young people in particular who have exemplified recently and managed to succeed despite the pandemic. These individuals overcame homelessness and trauma, innovated around financial limitations, and used the grief of losing a mother to bring something great into the world. Read the stories of Hannah Green, Myles Jardine, and Frankie Davies at Positive.News.

The School Has Left The Building

With so many school events canceled because of COVID-19, yearbook editors haven’t had much to work with. NPR spoke with a pair of graduating editors chose to document a year of mostly remote schooling. Solutions include replacing missing pictures with empty tiles from a Zoom class, and taking a more journalistic approach and try to dive more into the student body away from school, since the events that would have been documented in school did not take place this year. The interview can be heard below, and the full article available at https://www.npr.org/2021/06/02/1002604408/the-school-has-left-the-building-the-making-of-a-pandemic-yearbook

The Lollipop Theater Network

The Lollipop Theater Network (LTN) is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing current movies and entertainment to children confined to hospitals nationwide due to chronic or life-threatening illnesses. Like many, LTN has been forced to change how they pursue their mission due to COVID, especially given that their work is with sick children. To that end, LTN recently arranged a surprise for one young patient from Hamilton star Christopher Jackson, who played George Washington in the original Broadway cast. Watch the video below of this 12-year-old with a with common immune variable deficiency as Mr. Jackson unexpectedly Zoom bombs here call, and check out the work of the Lollipop Theater Network here. 

Class of COVID

From https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/ – Everyone has a COVID story now, and for those aged 16-18, the story likely has something to do with school and extra-curricular disruptions during a critical period of their lives.

We often like to say they were the best years of our lives, and noticing this—despite the fact that he didn’t even have a child on the podium—Graham Williams wanted to make sure that Denver Public Schools graduates from the ‘Class of COVID’ had something special to make them feel celebrated, as well as something to turn to if they ever needed advice.

As the CEO and founder of Impart, a unique gift-giving company, Williams put together a graduation book brimming with life lessons and advice from Colorado’s celebrities big and small.

After all, what could be more inspiring for a high school football player who hasn’t been able to play because of the lockdowns than a heartfelt message from Payton Manning?

“We’re big believers in the power of sharing life lessons, and we thought ‘Boy, we see a need in the community where these high schoolers have really had a tough time and shown their mettle, and we’ve got a platform where we can use the tools we have to put a gift in front of all of“We wanted to say: ‘one, that the entire community is behind you and you’re not alone in this, and two, what a great job you’ve done in difficult times.’”

Featuring everyone from local news anchors to philanthropists, athletes, artists, and civil servants, the 21-page book—which you can download for free at home—poses a simple question to each person featured: If you could go back and tell your high school graduate self one thing, what would it be?

“Passion and love will take you further and fulfill you more than anything else will,” says Missy Franklin, a five-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer.

“Question everything and never turn down an adventure,” says Colorado House Representative Jennifer Bacon.

“Live your life, not the life you think your parents, friends, or society want you to live,” says KBCO, 97.3 FM radio host DJ Keefer.

“What we wanted to do was gather a diverse and inspiring set of responses based on different experiences, and we wanted those responses to resonate with the students of Denver schools,” explains William.

“We didn’t know what was going to come back when we made the request, but we were really gratified at how the community really rallied around the students, wanted to show their support… and how genuine the respondents were.”

Hopefully with 21 pieces of wisdom, the students of Denver schools will feel a little more prepared for life beyond high school classrooms—and that their graduation was a special day after all.

Giving Back in Style

This story comes to us from APNews.com “Celebrity stylist gives free haircuts to isolated clients

Roberto Novo has styled the hair of a constellation of stars, from singer Britney Spears to supermodel Naomi Campbell. But during the pandemic, he’s turned his talents to the heads of lesser known, older New Yorkers — and he’s done it for free.

The Argentina-born stylist welcomes them to his Manhattan apartment or visits them in their homes. His two French bulldogs keep everyone company. He calls his initiative “Free haircut and puppy love.”

It started last summer when he and his dogs visited a client who had been isolated for months due to the pandemic. Seeing how happy it made her, he asked if she had friends in her apartment building who might be interested in a free hairdo.

“It doesn’t get any better than that — bring some joy to senior citizens in these hard times,” Novo said. “People really suffer with this situation right now. So if God blessed me (to help) with a simple haircut, making somebody happy, that’s a gift.”

On a recent day, Novo and his stocky, smush-faced dogs — Machitwo and a pregnant Tulula — walked into Marena Erdogan’s apartment and quickly turned the living room into a salon.

Sitting on a couch in a black cape, Madelon Spier waited to get her hair styled.

“I think he’s miraculous, an artist … and we’re all pictures that he’s painting,” Spier said.

“There’s his personality, and his way of cutting — a way of looking at a person and knowing what’s right for them,” said Spier, who copped to being in her “high 80s.”

Neighbor Andrew Langerman said Novo also gave him his first haircut in months.

“I’ve just been so deeply lonely through the (pandemic),” he said, and now, “I feel a lot better, actually. I wasn’t truly feeling very well when I came in here. It was great meeting everybody. I had a good haircut.”

Scissors snipped. Dogs grunted. Neighbors chatted. And Erdogan added to the din by playing her white baby grand piano, though the melodies were sometimes drowned out by Novo’s blow-dryer.

Others took turns petting Machitwo and Tulula or held them in their laps. The loyal Frenchies stayed close to Novo, who occasionally bent to give them a kiss on the head.

As Novo finished a cut, Erdogan ordered pizzas that the group later shared. They talked and laughed.

“I always tell people if I die and I’m born again, I’ll do exactly the same,” said Novo, 62.

“The power that we have with the scissors to bring happiness … it doesn’t matter what age you are, that’s incredible.”

This story comes to us from APNews.com “Celebrity stylist gives free haircuts to isolated clients

DSU Cancels $700,00 in Student Debt to Ease COVID Strain

Just down the road, Delaware State University is canceling $730,655 in student loans for 220 of their recent graduates impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. On average, each eligible student will qualify for about $3,276 in debt relief.

DSU’s Vice President for strategic enrollment management Antonio Boyle recently shared that “too many graduates across the country will leave their schools burdened by debt, making it difficult for them to rent an apartment, cover moving costs, or otherwise prepare for their new careers or graduate school.” She recognizes this effort will not help with all of obligations held by these students they felt compelled to do something.

Adding to this, DSU president Tony Allen shared his thoughts: “Our students don’t just come here for a quality college experience, most are trying to change the economic trajectory of their lives for themselves, their families, and their communities. Our responsibility is to do everything we can to put them on the path.”

98-Year-Old Moves “The Ladies Room” Online

98-year-old Trudy Berlin began hosting “The Ladies Room” at the JCC’s Sandler Center in 2000. For this group of women, generally ages 70 and above, no topic is off the table and any given conversation may range from thoughts on grief to politics and beyond. Each week Berlin comes up with a theme for the show, and then the conversation moves in whatever direction the woman care to take it. Participants have dubbed Berlin “ the Jewish Oprah” and feel that Berlin challenges them and that “her energy is absolutely unbelievable. She brings out thoughts that you never thought you would ever express.” Berlin notes “as you grow older, I think that the world can become very difficult for old people and they give up, ” and this is what she wanted to address, and did not want this hampered by COVID. When the coronavirus pandemic shut down the Levis Jewish Community Center last year, she predictably sprang into action to keep the group going. So with a little help from Stephanie Owitz, the Boca Raton, Florida, center’s director of arts, culture and learning, the show went virtual and it has been going strong with participants throughout the US and Canada since.

Learn more about Berlin and her group at APNews.com.

2020: The Year We Got Better

A recent poll conducted as a joint venture among OnePoll and the charity Eyes of Hope suggests that, while many acknowledge the difficulties of 2020, just as many acknowledge that it has also, in some ways, help to make them better people.

The poll, which surveyed 2,005 Americans, revealed a specific theme of cultivating care for our neighbors. Examples of how this has played range from 87% of respondents indicating that they have donated a portion of their paycheck, despite their own financial difficulties, to smaller acts of kindness including helping a stranger across the street, taking out their neighbor’s trash, walking a neighbor’s dog, or shoveling someone else’s property when it snow.

Overall, 72% of those who participated in the survey said they found themselves caring about the health and well-being of others significantly more in the past year. Want some more ideas of how to incorporate kindness into your own life, or stories of how others are already doing so? Check out https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/!

Ramadan Kareem!

Muslims around the world will mark the end of Ramadan today. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, lasting from one sighting of the crescent moon to the next, which is traditionally dedicated to fasting (sawm), prayer, reflection and community to commemoration Muhammad’s first revelation.

But like everything else, Ramadan was impacted by COVID last year and has been again this year. Specifically, the iftar meal that breaks the fast at the end of each day is usually shared by friends, family, and strangers alike but to stem the tide of the pandemic these gatherings have remained highly limited. Enter Mariam Yehia.

As highlighted by APNews, a few years ago, Mariam, her mom and a friend started a Ramadan tradition of bringing hot meals to the needy in Cairo to observe iftar together.

“We feel really good that we try as much as we can to help people,” Yehia said. But “we feel always that we’re not doing enough.”

This year, when Mariam read the story of Mahmoud Kamal, she found a way to do more. Kamal, a chef by training, was struggling financially due to COVID, and so she decided to purchase her iftar meals for herself and those in need in Cairo from him to bolster

She and her group placed a first order of 60 meals that included chicken, rice and vegetables. For a little extra money, Kamal added dates and juice.

In Egypt, free communal iftar meals typically see strangers huddled around long tables on the street to break their fast together. But such tables were banned due to the coronavirus, and Yehia felt the need to give had been amplified.

Yehia then decided to make a post of her own, recommending the meals and encouraging people to either order from Kamal or suggest other cooks who may also need more business. Her post ended up getting about a thousand shares.

“The idea of going an extra mile to do two good things instead of one in one simple act, I think this is what resonated with people,” she said. “It’s all about encouraging people to do good things.”

Read more about Mariam Yehia and her efforts at APNews.com

Giving Walls

Bless Parker is the 51-year-old volunteer mayor of Miami (pronounced my-am-uh), a former mining town with a population of about 13,000 located in the Northeast corner of Oklahoma. During the pandemic, as in former crises, Parker helped homeless people get into church shelters to have their needs meet however, more recently, he and his colleagues have decided they needed to do something to help people who were having a tough time. From here, the idea of the Giving Walls was born.

Since the inception of the Growing Wall, a growing number of restaurants in Miami and other towns around Oklahoma, these walls are decorated with hanging receipts and anyone can walk in, take a receipt, and order a meal free of charge. The receipts are put there by customers who prepay for food and tack them to the wall, leaving them on offer for anyone who is hungry. Customers can order anything from a three-egg omelet to chicken-fried steaks, no tips expected, no questions asked.

“Maybe if we can show people what it’s like to take care of your neighbor during a time of need, it will spread throughout the United States,” said Parker. “We want to bring back the old hometown values that I saw when I was growing up here as a kid.”

Learn more about the Giving Wall and read the full story at WashingtonPost.com.

A Lookback at the Good News

Years of research in the field of psychology have provided consistent findings that suggest people who are able to observe and integrate both the positive and challenging aspects of any given situation, a part of what we consider cognitive flexibility, are the ones who fair best in the face of difficult situations. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the most difficult aspects of this global problem have often been front and center, contributing to ongoing distress in the general public. So, to try to bring balance, a number of writers have taken to cataloging good news. Recently, elle.com cataloged 80 of the most uplifting news stories from early 2020 to the present.

Among the more recent of these stories include those of Europe’s oldest COVID survivor, and the role of fitness experts in promoting both physical and emotional health. Sister Andrea of Toulon, France was diagnosed with COVID just before her 117th birthday. She isolated from the rest of her cloistered retirement home but has since celebrated her birthday surrounded by a small, safe group of her closest loved one. When asked of her experience, Sister Andre shared that, since she was asymptomatic, she did not realize she had it, but was grateful for her outcome and the support she received.

Meanwhile, personal trainer Joe Wicks of the United Kingdom, helped parents throughout the country who suddenly found themselves acting as teachers when schools closed. Recognizing the role of physical fitness in mental health, Mr. Wicks helped parents teach and model for their children the most important aspects of physical education at home. Every Monday through Friday at 9am, Wicks streams 30-minute long live PE classes that children can do from their homes with their parents. Despite the UK seeing some relief from COVID, Mr. Wicks continues these courses. To recognize the impact of these efforts, he awarded an MBE from the Queen for his contribution.

Do you have a positive news story or positive experience from the last year that you would want featured in the Daily Dose? E-mail your story to Fizur-philip@cooperhealth.edu.

Bagasaurus

While lockdowns, quarantines, and homeschooling have been highly stressful for many some have been able to have fun with it now and again. Such was the case with Carly Catalano, who moved from British Columbia to Australia with her partner, Sam, and their 3-year-old daughter Florence during the pandemic which required a mandatory 14-day hotel-room quarantine.

Knowing that two weeks in tight quarters with an active toddler might be a challange, Carly and Sam found at least one very creative way to keep Florence entertaining: “discovering” a new breed of dinosaur: “Bagasaurus”.

The family used the items that came with their takeout food: bags, containers, cutlery, and an ironing board amongst other things to make their own DIY dinosaur which now stands at about 5 feet tall. Since it’s creation, Florence and her parents have also created matching paper-bag-scaled outfits for her to continue the fun.

COVID Quinceanera

This story comes from the APNews.com One Good Thing series. The full story is at https://apnews.com/article/miami-health-lifestyle-religion-coronavirus-0a06fa112049586b62bc8de73ffad1f6

Entering her magical quinceanera on by her father’s arm, her tiara sparkling and her fuchsia ballgown trimmed with ruffles to perfectly match her cake, Adriana Palma scanned the crowd for familiar faces.

Most of the guests were strangers. But they would soon become like family — without them, this Parisian pink fairy tale of a 15th birthday party would never have come to life.

At least one very important person was missing — Adriana’s grandmother, who according to custom would have imparted wisdom and a special gift. She remained in Mexico.

“Don’t worry,” a volunteer at the homeless shelter told Adriana before the February celebration. “Today, we are all your godmothers.”

When the teen left Mexico in early 2020, she looked forward to a new life in Miami with her parents and three younger brothers. But when the pandemic hit, her father’s job disappeared.

Alone and impoverished, they spent four months living in their SUV. Adriana and her brothers — hungry and unfamiliar with English — crammed in homework assignments whenever they could find WiFi.

The Miami Rescue Mission had been inundated with housing requests after the pandemic, but in June they found a small apartment for the Palmas. The family slowly adapted to new routines.

But Adriana’s 15th birthday was coming, a day she had dreamt of since she was a little girl. Quinceaneras are revered in Hispanic culture and celebrated with all the gusto of a wedding. But after her father lost his job, Adriana said, “I lost all hope of having one.”

Itzel Palma tried to console her daughter.

“We will be together as a family,” she told her. “That will be my gift to you.”

Lian Navarro, a community development associate at Miami Rescue Mission, asks caseworkers every month for the names of children celebrating a birthday at the shelter. Her nearly 60 volunteer “Cover Girls,” named after the protective covering of an umbrella, bring cupcakes, balloons and small toys to ensure children aren’t overlooked.

When Navarro, a Cuban American, heard of Adriana’s upcoming 15th birthday, she knew the importance of the occasion. And she resolved to make the quinceanera happen.

Elle Montero and Tadia Silva, Miami real estate agents and longtime Cover Girls, were used to pulling off events with scarce resources. But as they scanned the bare room of a Miami church filled with nothing but a tree and a few tables, they thought: This is impossible.

Then they set out to do the impossible.

They’d already settled on a Parisian theme, something feminine and floral, and remembered some vintage trunks with big brass buckles that Silva had in storage. They found small gold Eiffel towers, placed cupcakes in delicate floral teacups, filled elegant glass jars with pastel macarons and sweet madeleines, and finished each table with pink floral centerpieces.

Nearly 50 Cover Girls joined in. Some gave money, others donated food or services. A makeup artist gave Adriana her very first makeup lesson, a hair stylist put her glossy, dark locks in soft curls and a professional photographer spent three hours capturing the event.

“We want them to have these memories. They have to believe they are worth all that because they are,” said Silva. “Some people don’t excel because they think they can’t do better because they’ve been conditioned that this is their fate, but little by little they get back on their feet.”

The Cover Girls stacked Adriana’s table with everything on her wish list, bracelets and purses, pajamas and gift cards, laughing like proud aunties as she peeled off the wrapping paper.

She danced with her father, swaying under the palm trees to Ed Sheeran’s “Photograph” as many of her new godmothers wept with joy.

As the party was about to end, Adriana tucked handwritten notes into each hand; in her halting English, she thanked her godmothers for the magical memories.

“I felt like a princess,” she said.

This story comes from the APNews.com One Good Thing series. The full story is at https://apnews.com/article/miami-health-lifestyle-religion-coronavirus-0a06fa112049586b62bc8de73ffad1f6

Arizona Third-grader Holds Food Drives to Help in Pandemic

8-year-old Dylan Pfeifer has been staging food drives from his home in metro Phoenix in response to the pandemic.

Dylan’s initial dream was to provide Internet access to students around the U.S. who were having a hard time taking advantage of the same virtual learning opportunities he had because they didn’t have internet. “My mom said it was going to be hard to provide internet, so we decided to do food drives,” he said.

Each drive is the culmination of hours of work that involves drawing posters, going door-to-door to hand out flyers and working with his mother to post information on Facebook.

Dylan has hosted three drives from his home in Chandler, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) southeast of Phoenix. He said he is planning his next one in June, when summer vacation begins.

“I would plan one every day if I could,” he said.

Dylan says he has collected more than 1,000 cans and boxes of nonperishable food and more than $900 in donations. On its website, St. Mary’s Food Bank in Phoenix says it can convert $1 into seven meals, meaning Dylan has been able to provide more than 6,500 meals on just monetary donations.

Learn more about Dylan, his food drives, and what you can do to help feed the hungry locally and around the country at APNews.com.

Extending the Environmental Positives of COVID

The lockdown caused by COVID globally has led to several positive, though perhaps short term, environmental positives. These include reduction of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, reduction of water pollution, reduction of noise pollution, and ecological restoration and assimilation of tourist spots to name a few.

With Earth Day 2021 fast approaching, the writers at the Good News Network have compiled a list of some less thought-of ideas to make near and long-term environmental change. These include

  • Buy biodegradable plant-made smartphone cases: At least one such manufacturer of cases for all Samsung and Apple phones has also partnered with Eden Reforestation to plant five trees for every case sold, contributing to reforestation in places like Madagascar, Haiti, Nepal, and others.
  • Plan the Greenest-Possible Funeral: While celebrating Earth Day is not when most people imagine planning their funeral, Better Place Forests allows people to leave behind a legacy of conservation through a reservation of a memorial tree in their unique “memorial forest preserves.” At a fraction of the cost of a normal funeral service, one can reserve a tree in some of the most beautiful forests in the country, around which ashes can be scattered. The costs of the service go to preserving the forest in the highest possible standard forever.
  • Ocean plastic bracelets: The famous maker of bracelets that pulls plastic out of the ocean is offering a special Earth Day bracelet. Pairing with a non-profit that plants coastal trees, the normal deal of one pound of marine trash per one bracelet sold is also including a $1 donation to tree planting. Their limited edition bracelet comes with two charms, one for 4Ocean and the other for SeaTrees, the non-profit, and features green beads in addition to blue ones. GNN featured 4Ocean’s efforts last year, when they reached 8 million pounds of diverted ocean garbage, to try and show this brand is actually making a huge difference.
  • Recycle (or Reduce) Your K-Cups: Coffee roasters such as Don Francisco have announced they will give those who buy their product a pre-paid shipping label to mail them back all coffee-pod waste, and earn points towards donations to charities of your choice. Want a good, single cup of coffee without a K-cup? Consider a French Press!

Four Critical Pathways of Environmental Wellness and How to Make an Impact

April 22nd is Earth Day. The health of our beautiful planet is the health of our patient. As healthcare providers, we must recognize the link between environmental health and wellbeing and our patients’ health and wellbeing. The environmental impact we have can be categorized within four critical pathways: Shelter and Energy, Transportation and Travel, Food and Water, and Consumer Purchases. Each of these pathways contain habits, actions, and behaviors that can affect our global and local impact. While none of the pathways exist in isolation, individual changes to one pathway may have drastic implications to the impacts of an individual’s sustainable footprint. By exploring each pathway, you can identify your impact, how it relates to the global sustainability challenge, and what you can do to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

Here are some practical steps you can take. You can also join the Green Team and get involved within Cooper by contacting ward-john@cooperhealth.edu or cerceo-elizabeth@cooperhealth.edu.

Ecological Footprint Calculator

What’s Your Water Footprint: Water Footprint Calculator Home Page (watercalculator.org)

FOOTPRINT CALCULATOR (henkel.com)

Bridging Divides to Protect the Environment During and Beyond the Pandemic

Devoid of human habitation since a 1974 war that spawned the country’s ethnic cleave, Varisia, an abandoned village inside a U.N. buffer zone that cuts across ethnically divided Cyprus. Is a buffer zone that has become an unofficial wildlife reserve in the last several decades. This 120 mile no-man’s land divides the island’s breakaway north from its internationally recognized south, and is home to many endangered and rare animal and plant species that have flourished in recent decades.

This unlikely refuge has been embraced by two environmental scientists, one Greek Cypriot and one Turkish Cypriot, as an open-air laboratory where complex politics and physical divisions can be put aside to focus on the overriding concern of protecting the parched country’s fragile ecosystem. Before, throughout, and beyond the pandemic Greek Cypriot Iris Charalambidou and Turkish Cypriot Salih Gucel, both biologists, have led a pioneering survey in 2007 that explored the thriving flora and fauna inside the buffer zone.

This partnership and the resulting survey garnered international accolades and provided impetus to a budding ecological consciousness-raising on the island. It also underscored the need for cooperation for the sake of what all Cypriots share — their environment and serves as a model for our global community.

Read more about Drs. Charalambidou and Gucel and their efforts at APNews.com

Optimism and the End of the Pandemic

A recent poll from GoodNewsNetwork.org indicated that roughly 60% of Americans feel optimistic that the pandemic will end before 2022 and are preparing themselves for a better future. Many are also saying that being at home during the lockdowns has motivated them to focus on self-improvement and, as such, have dedicated their time in quarantine to chipping away at lingering health and wellness goals.

When asked for people to reflect back through the pandemic, 52% of respondents indicated that they have volunteered for the first time during the pandemic; 6 in 10 have a new appreciation of nature; two-thirds believe they’ve become a better person; and 64% have experienced a transformative ‘eco wake-up call’, becoming more environmentally-conscious during the COVID crisis.

Another silver lining, With time to pursue new hobbies, 6 in 10 people have ‘leveled up’ and 40% saying they’ll make money from it, and nearly 70% of Americans are more appreciative of loved ones than ever before.

Read more about these polls, a new found optimism, and the good that has come in the wake of COVID-19 at GoodNewsNetwork.org.

The Study.com Mental Health Guide for High School Students

High school is tough and a lot of teens struggle with mental health issues as a result. In fact, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), one in five teens (aged 13-18) are experiencing a mental health condition. For LGBTQ teens, this number is three times higher. And these mental health issues can become chronic (meaning they follow you into adulthood); 50% of chronic mental illnesses develop at age 14. COVID as amplified all of this.

To see some places where students themselves, parents, and health care providers might intervene check out The Study.com Mental Health Guide for High School Students.

3 simple ways to build a better brain at any age

The pandemic has impacted us from a psychological perspective in many ways. While there is growing recognition that COVID itself may have near and long-term impacts on cognition so, too, do depression and anxiety in general and each of those specific to the distress caused my living through the pandemic. Psychologist and author Dr. Melissa Burkley recently published an article entitled “Are These Bad Habits Ruining Your Brain? 3 simple ways to build a better brain at any age.” In it she discusses some simple approaches anyone can take to improve cognitive health. Some areas discussed include avoiding sensory overload, finding any opportunities to unplug from our ever growing digital lives and, interestingly enough, attending to our auditory health. Read the full article at PsychologyToday.com.

Feel Good Friday: Stump the Maestro

It began last March when the coronavirus locked them down in a one-bedroom apartment near Miami and is still going strong.

Name a show tune, jazz standard or movie score, and chances are 91-year-old Peter can not only hum it, but play it from memory on his keyboard. Once a week Peter and Veronica Fuchs takes requests on their daily Facebook Live show “Stump the Maestro.” While every now and then the former composer, conductor and Holocaust survivor is confounded by a request overall it is rare that someone truly stumps him.

In his quest to play what people want to hear you will occasionally find him stumbling through a stack of books beside the keyboard, furiously searching for the music while his wife continues talking to the audience they’ve grown over months of isolation. But almost without fail he will get there, in time, and give people the sonic break they need from the weight of the pandemic.

Learn more about Peter, Veronica, and their musical adventures at APNews.com.

Feel Good Friday: Rescue Lifting Medical Debt

When flight paramedic Rita Krenz boards a helicopter, she knows her patients are about to face problems she can’t fix — a health care system that buries people in debt after a car accident or stroke.

So she decided to do something about it. She turned for help to RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit that buys and forgives medical debt.

Krenz started a fundraising campaign that brought in more than $18,000 for the charity. That money has helped RIP Medical Debt forgive the debt of more than 900 people so far, with the average bill abolished totaling around $1,340.

Learn more about Krenz, her efforts, RIP Medical Debt, and more at APNews.com.

Feel Good Friday: Food for the Soul

Once a week Glenda Andrew and other volunteers prepare hot meals with the zing of their Caribbean heritage and deliver these meals to Britain’s older immigrants who have been isolated from friends and family by the pandemic.

“It’s a great way to connect and build that relationship, but I didn’t know that at the time,″ Andrew said of the project’s beginnings. “I just knew that I wanted to do something and make sure that they were getting a hot meal — not sandwiches, not soup — getting something that they’re accustomed to eating and hope that they would enjoy it.”

Once a week, for the last 42 weeks, the lucky seniors on Andrew’s list have been treated to delicacies such as jerk pork, curry goat and cow foot soup accompanied by rice and peas, yams and plantains. Portions are hefty, so there’s enough to go in the freezer for another day. Last week, some 400 meals were packed into yellow foam packages and delivered by volunteers.

In addition to food, the volunteers offer a bit of human contact. The loneliness and isolation of the past year is painful for many of the seniors. When deliveries arrive, they seek out friendly gossip with the volunteers about what their neighbors are up to.

Learn more about Glenda and her efforts at APNews.com.

Body Awareness

Recently, Crystal Hoshaw wrote a piece on the subject of body awareness, why it may be beneficial to improve this, and how that can be done. Her takeaway message is that everyone can benefit from improving their body awareness, and especially helpful for people who’ve recently been injured, had surgery, or have a developmental or neurological condition. Simple exercises, mindfulness, and focused therapies can all help you deepen your connection with your body. Covered in this article are how to combine physical exercise with meditation & mindfulness, as well as the specific benefits for different groups including those with autism, The full article can be read here:

https://www.healthline.com/health/mind-body/body-awareness

Feel Good Friday: Floral Hearts

When artist Kristina Libby started the Floral Heart Project to give the survivors of COVID-19 victims’ places to mourn, she was thinking of people like Michelle Pepe, who last saw her father just before she went into quarantine after contracting the coronavirus — and unwittingly infecting both parents. Her last goodbye to him came by phone. Pepe and her family never had the chance to have a proper memorial, and so Libby stepped in.

Each week she would construct and lay large floral hearts around New York City.

“I would watch people kneel down and pray. I would watch people sort of kiss their fingers and then kiss the heart,” Libby said. “It was allowing them to feel like it was OK to admit our sadness in this moment.”

Watch the story of Kristina Libby and her efforts to help provide memorials below and read the full story at APNews.com.

Feel Good Friday: How to Keep the Upbeat

Early in the pandemic, researchers from University College London found that control was the number one contributor to people’s overall level of happiness, and that this had taken a hit as COVID touched every part of people’s lives. One of these researchers, cognitive neuroscientist Tali Sharot, recently spoke about how, in the months since the height of the pandemic, people have adapted and the average person’s happiness level has returned to a “baseline.” She referred to this as a sort of happiness treadmill.

“You can go up and down, but people do converge to a certain baseline of happiness,” she said. “That’s true when things are very, very difficult; they eventually find their way back to that baseline. But also when things are good; after a while, they adapt to these good things and go back to the baseline.”

However, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t find new ways to boost our happiness levels, said Sharot.

One of the best ways of doing that is to start making plans, or what she calls “anticipatory events.” Such tactics can not only help us regain feelings of excitement but also that sense of control, she said.

She says that such plans don’t need to be huge or immovable. They could range from vacation for next summer to smaller highlights like dinner with friends, watching a movie or going on a hike.

“It’s important to still get into the habit of making those plans, putting them in the diary, and having things that we can look forward to,” she said.

Read the full article at CNBC.com and check out Dr. Sharot’s TED Talk here or below.

What Loss Looks Like

A favorite mug, now empty, that a loved one used to sip tea from.

A notebook full of scribbles from a dream job that ended in a layoff.

A child’s backpack, that never saw the inside of her Kindergarten classroom.

As part of a project to memorialize the lives — and livelihoods — of all that has been lost in the pandemic, The New York Times is asking readers to submit photos of objects that remind you of what you personally have lost during this time.

Read more about this project and submit your Objects of Remembrance at https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/19/well/share-objects-of-remembrance.html

Mindfulness Monday: A Minute to Arrive

While the ways in which we engage in work, school and our personal lives have significantly changed over the last year the demands placed on us throughout the day have remained steady, if not increased. While it may be easy to bring our bodies from one physical space to another, or click over from one video conference to the next, or minds are often elsewhere – either hung up on things discussed in a previous appointment, or dreading some upcoming task. This prevents us from being focused on the task at hand and can leave us cognitively and emotionally drained. This is why companies like SAP encourage what they call the “Minute to Arrive,” which is based on the mindfulness practice of Simply Stopping, and which is the focus of today’s exercise.

Feel Good Friday: The Remarkables

Neil Renton, Headteacher at the Harrogate Grammar School, cautions that we must avoid labelling a generation of schoolchildren negatively, e.g. “the COVID generation” and focus on their amazing resilience instead,

Renton likens this experience to World War II era British children who “played games in air raid shelters as children, grew stronger for knowing that they could adapt and survive, and grew up to appreciate small pleasures. The pain and suffering that they experienced was remarkable, but they adapted and shaped our future.”

He also discusses the work of Rosenthal and Jacobson looking at how the expectations of teachers affect student performance. Specifically that “when we expect others to behave in particular ways, we create a script that makes the behaviour more likely to occur. A teacher who is made to think that a student is high performing, expects higher performance and ultimately creates actual higher performance.” To the point, we can use that.

Renton ultimately says that he is “optimistic for this generation and wants to dedicate our collective efforts as educators to helping these children who have experienced the remarkable, become remarkable. They are not the disease ‘Covid Generation’. They are The Remarkables. Let’s forget the ‘Covid Generation’ and focus on The Remarkables.”

Read Neil Renton’s full piece at positive.news.

Music Therapy Brings Solace To COVID-19 Patients And Healers

Tom Sweitzer knows firsthand how social isolation and loneliness are real side effects of living through a pandemic — just as mental health professionals have warned. After he tested positive for the coronavirus last July and recovered from the worst of his initial symptoms, Sweitzer joined a COVID-19 support group on Facebook to help him deal with the condition’s lingering effects.

As he watched people join “by the hundreds every day,” he decided to start another support group where he could incorporate his skills as a music therapist.

Music therapy treatments, tailored to each patient’s needs, can involve creating, singing, moving to and/or listening to music in ways that have been shown to promote physical and psychological healing. Research has shown the reduction in pain and stress from such treatments can be profound.

Interested in learning more? Visit the full story at https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/02/13/965644120/music-therapy-brings-solace-to-covid-19-patients-and-healers.

Feel Good Friday: Eerie Inspiration with Stephen King

A group of promising elementary school students will soon publish the first book with some help from Maine’s most famous writer, Stephen King. King views this as helping these children cope with COVID through the art of writing. His foundation, along with number of groups from the Lewiston, Maine area, have sent donations that will be used for the Author Studies program to cover the $6,500 cost of publishing a 290-page book written by students participating in Farwell Elementary School’s Author Studies Program. This manuscript started with a story written by the elementary students entitled “Fletcher McKenzie and the Passage to Whole,” which reflects experiences of the students during the pandemic.

Learn more here and see the description and preview of the book here.

Pandemic Journaling Project

The Pandemic Journaling Project is a combined journaling platform and research study that lets anyone, anywhere in the world create a weekly journal of the coronavirus pandemic, while also putting their story on the record as part of a historical archive. Participants contribute by writing, uploading photos, or recording audio on their phones. So far, over 700 people in more than 30 countries have participated. All are welcome, and we are especially eager to hear from those who are especially vulnerable to COVID-19, who are on the front lines of COVID-19 response, and/or whose stories might not otherwise be recorded.

No computer is needed — just a smartphone. Weekly email (or text/SMS) reminders invite participants to contribute, and participation only takes about 10-15 minutes a week. The platform runs in English and Spanish, but entries can be created in any language. Participants can log in securely to download their journals at any time, and they choose whether to keep entries private or give permission to share them publicly on our Featured Entries page. 

To learn more, or to start journaling now, please visit our website. If you have questions, you can reach us at PandemicJournalingProject@gmail.com. 

More links:

Feel Good Friday: You Must Know Everything

Even before his daughter Rasa was born, Jeremy Smith says he couldn’t wait to teach her important life lessons. A decade later, Jeremy admits he has a lot to learn from his daughter. As soon as he learned that he would become a father, Jeremy Smith thought he knew what to do. But a decade later, Mr. Smith admits he has lots to learn from his daughter, Rasa. So last March, when Rasa started remote learning from home, the two of them created a podcast called “You Must Know Everything.” While sheltering at home this past spring, they began to share everything the other needed to know to get through life. Read more about Rasa and Jeremy smith at NPR.org or listen to their podcast from their website youmustknoweverything.com.

10 parenting strategies to reduce your kids’ pandemic stress

Parents are dealing with huge demands on their time and energy. Children may not be attending school or involved in regular activities. As the pandemic continues to wreak havoc on families, routines have collapsed, patience is wearing thin and self-care is a distant memory.

The folks at PBS News Hours have compiled a list of 10 parenting strategies to reduce your kids’ pandemic stress. Click the previous link for the full article, features details on how to implement each of these approaches. Our take-away? Do not feel pressured to be excelling at all of these, all the time. Pick one per week to focus on as your and your child build your coping repertoire.

  1. Connect with one another – Make time to talk, listen and play without distractions (put your and their screens away for at least 30 minutes of play)
  2. Support children’s friendships – Let them play together outdoors, talk via technology or play a video game virtually with friends. Only kids can really get how other kids are feeling right now.
  3. Find ways children can help others – through donations, kind acts, or any way you can imagine.
  4. Help children stay involved in clubs or groups – Many have felt disconnected throughout the last year, outdoors or virtual clubs help kids feel part of something.
  5. Stay in touch with important adults – Children benefit from relationships with other grown-ups, like grandparents and teachers. Don’t feel that you have to care for them alone.
  6. Keep up with hobbies – Boredom is a parent’s worst enemy. Having an enjoyable hobby is rewarding for kids; it provides engaging leisure time and opportunities to master something. 
  7. Be physically active – Make exercise a part of family routines. Take walks or ride bikes, play active video games like Wii, go to the park, stretch or do yoga together.
  8. Create routines – Routines are a powerful nonverbal signal to children’s brains that they are safe and that life is predictable. Keeping a routine can reduce the number of conflicts, and children know what to do and expect during different points of the day.
  9. Keep realistic expectations for learning – While schoolwork is indeed important, not all learning takes place in class. Involve children in opportunities to learn during everyday tasks such as cooking (measuring, timing), gardening, shopping (figuring sales prices, adding), and games (cards, dominoes, board games) that build memory and thinking skills.
  10. Maintain a healthy and safe home – In addition to maintaining COVID-19 precautions, make nutritious meals, declutter and organize toys, games, hobby supplies and learning materials. 

Mindfulness Monday: Back to Basics – Mindful Eating

We are now many months into the Mindfulness Monday series, and have experienced a variety of mindfulness exercises. But as any long term practitioner will tell you, no matter how long you engage in mindfulness, revisiting the basics will always be needed to keep you skills shape. As such, this week will be our third session in our return to basics series.

Many of us have taken to indulging ourselves in greater quantities of our favorite healthy foods, or more calorie-dense treats over the last year. The holidays did not help. One evidenced-based means of reversing this process is through mindful eating, which is the topic of today’s exercise from the website MyLife and their Stop, Breathe, and Think series.

Feel Good Friday: Students Feed the Hungry

Traditional school stores might offer snacks and knickknacks, school gear and notebooks — but the one at Linda Tutt High School in Sanger, Texas, has a very different inventory and clientele.

At Linda Tutt you can get everything from produce, milk and eggs to pasta, peanut butter and canned goods to dishwasher soap and laundry detergent. Students and staff can shop there, but on Tuesdays the store is open to the community.

And it’s all free.

“I like seeing their smiles, seeing how appreciative they are, and knowing that they are thankful that we’re doing something like this,” said Hunter Weertman, a 16-year-old junior who stocks shelves and takes inventory at the store housed in an unused art room. It has been open since November..

Read more about the efforts of the students of Hunter and the rest of the student at Linda Tutt High School at APNews.com.

Coping with “Panger”

“Panger” or “Pangry” is a new word gaining momentum on social media. It refers to the anger one feels each time we encounter some aspect of the pandemic that we feel has negatively impacted our lives. This is a feeling that has come up for many when they large groups continue to gather indoors for maskless get-togethers or otherwise ignore the public health recommendations that many of us have painfully adhered to for the last year. But what do we do when we begin to notice anger toward others who are not following the same rules we are? Recently, journalist Kelsey Borresen spoke with a variety of professionals to help us understand this phenomenon and respond tin the most effective ways possible. These are summarized below, and you can read the full article at huffpost.com.

Mindfulness Monday: Back to Basics – Progress Muscle Relaxation

We are now many months into the Mindfulness Monday series, and have experienced a variety of mindfulness exercises. But as any long term practitioner will tell you, no matter how long you engage in mindfulness, revisiting the basics will always be needed to keep you skills shape. As such, this week will be our second sessions in our return the basics, with another fundamental element, progress muscle relaxation (PM&R).

Feel Good Friday: A Good Deed a Day

This is an excerpt from the article “Romania activist urges people to do something good every day.” Read the full piece at APNews.com.

A gentle hero to many in Romania, Valeriu Nicolae says that, at heart, he is more like former NBA star Michael Jordan — highly competitive and eager to improve in what he does best. In Nicolae’s case that is helping others.

The Romanian rights activist has earned praise for his tireless campaign to improve the lives of the Balkan country’s poorest and least privileged residents, particularly children. This is a daunting task in the country of 19 million where hundreds of thousands of children lack basics and are unable to attend school.

Nicolae told The Associated Press that for society to change, individuals should, too. He also thinks it should become mandatory for politicians to help someone before they take public office.

“It should be the basics: do good things for others!” he said. “Even a tiny bit of good for someone around you, and no bad at all.”

Since starting in 2007, Nicolae’s humanitarian organization Casa Buna, or Good House, has taken upon itself to support and supervise 315 children.

Learn more about Nicolae’s work, and get ideas about how you can follow his lead, at APNews.com.

The Important Role of Art in the Time of COVID

This is an excerpt of the article “What Art Does for Us, And Why We Should Support It”, read the full piece at the New York Times

Recently, art critic Jason Farago made suggestions regarding what the Biden administration can do to provide relief for the arts, a sector that has been hit especially hard during the pandemic. He argues that the country is in urgent need of Aristotelian catharsis — of art, music, drama and the emotions they summon, saying “You go to the theater, you listen to a symphony, you look at a painting, you watch a ballet. You laugh, you cry. You feel pity, fear. You see in others’ lives a reflection of your own. And the catharsis comes: a cleansing, a clarity, a feeling of relief and understanding that you carry with you out of the theater or the concert hall. Art, music, drama — here is a point worth recalling in a pandemic — are instruments of psychic and social health.”

Farago advises Biden to create a new Works Progress Administration-style program treating artists as essential workers, and to make it easier for artists to receive unemployment benefits, among other recommendations.

We’re all waiting for things to open up so we can resume what we think of as normal life. Considering what that will take is daunting, but it makes the promise of going to a play, hearing live music or standing awed before a painting that much more exciting to anticipate.

When was the last time you had a strong emotional response to a play or film? The last time a book or painting freed you from “the feeling that there’s only one way to live, or only one way to go about your day,” as the writer Ben Lerner put it?

This is an excerpt of the article “What Art Does for Us, And Why We Should Support It”, read the full piece at the New York Times

Mindfulness Monday: Back to Basics – Breathing

We are now many months into the Mindfulness Monday series, and have experienced a variety of mindfulness exercises. But as any long term practitioner will tell you, no matter how long you engage in mindfulness, revisiting the basics will always be needed to keep you skills shape. As such, this week will be our first return the basics, starting with the most fundamental element, breathing. This week, our exercise is lead by John Davisi.

Feel Good Friday: 100 Dolls

This story is published by APNews.com, more information and media resources are available there.

In the wake of a massive explosion that devastated Beirut, 93-year-old Yolande Labaki sought a way to help bring healing to the Lebanese capital.

The internationally recognized painter’s solution was to make dolls — 100 of them, distributed to children traumatized or otherwise affected by the destruction.

Her inspiration was another Lebanese tragedy, etched in her memory: the look on the face of one of her grandchildren, then about 3, when his home was damaged during the country’s 1975-1990 civil war.

“He saw all his toys on the ground amid the rubble and asked me: ‘Who broke my toys?’ His eyes were filled with tears,” she said.

So when a huge stockpile of ammonium nitrate stored at the Beirut port ign