Category: Daily Dose

An archive of the Daily Dose to inspire us through the most challenging times.

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.