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!

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

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.

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!

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 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.

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

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 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/.